Hey, you.
I know you.
You’re the woman with a toddler on your hip and peanut butter in your hair. You’ve got a baby napping in a swing and a preschooler shrieking in time-out while you attempt to collect a week’s worth of dirty clothes from various corners of the house. Throw the whites in with the colors, sister. Whatevs.
I see you. You’re buried in Veggie Tales and T-ball socks and Gogurt tubes. Your once educated mind has atrophied to the point of danger—you refer to the baby by the dog’s name and the dog by your husband’s name and your husband, well, he’s half to blame for all this so you’ll call him whatever you want, yeah?
Clients are e-mailing, your mother is texting, the kiddie monitor is blaring—gimme that back, it’s mine; no, I had it first—Mooooooooom!!!
For the love, you can’t remember the last time you ate a warm dinner much less prepared one—that is if nobody’s counting the mashed carrots you left in the microwave from lunch.
And you’re so—so—exhausted you kind of want to rip your eyeballs out.
Oh yes.
I’ve been where you are.
So let me guess. You struggle to take a shower and find the car keys much less wrap your head around the Bible, right? Maybe once upon a time you were an avid reader, an eager studier, the kind of gal who gladly rose at 5 a.m. to drink devotions with her coffee.
But now? 5 a.m. isn’t quiet time. It’s a diaper change.
I get it.
You’re not alone.
May I offer some encouragement for this hectic season of life—from my own exhausted experience?
Remember God loves you. I mean He really, really loves you, more than you realize. And He accepts you, too—not for what you do, but for who you are.
You already know studying God’s Word is a good discipline and you don’t need anyone to make you feel more guilt about neglecting it. You’re beating yourself up just fine.
Yet that’s exactly why you need to know—reading your Bible is important, yes. But it’s not what makes you a Christian. Resting in His grace does. When was the last time you really, truly welcomed God’s amazing grace and let it wash over you, heal you, and restore you? Today sounds like a good day to try.
“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5a).
Read it anyway. Yep, I said that. Got kids playing at your feet? Crack open a psalm. Read it right in front of them. So what if they spill apple juice on the carpet and send you running for the Oxi Clean after only two verses? You did it. You touched God’s Word in the middle of your chaos.
At this stage of life, quantity doesn’t matter so much as quality. Every single verse is powerful truth. Proverbs in particular are wonderful for grabbing a quick nugget or two to meditate on all day long while you rock a fussy child or push a kiddo on the swing. Maybe listen to an audio Bible. Sing truth-filled worship songs. Grab what you can, whenever you can.
By making God’s Word a part of your crazy day, you’re showing your kids that faith is a priority—in your home and in your life—no matter what gets in the way.
“Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).
This won’t last forever. Eventually the kids will grow up. They’ll go to school. They’ll know how to give you space. And you’ll get your quiet time back again.
But until then—just think. Wouldn’t it be sad if our children rarely saw us reading God’s Word? In life stages of busyness or fatigue, it can be tempting to give up on any sort of consistent Bible reading just because we don’t have the time or energy to do it the “right” way.
So let’s redefine what the “right” way is.
Bible time is not only an hour at the crack of dawn, or an intense evening devotion, or a dedicated small group meeting. Those things are ideal but not always feasible. If you’re waiting for that elusive season in which you once again have ample space and silence to reconnect with God—don’t. He shows up in your mess and your noise, right here, right now.
And He’s inviting you to meet Him in the middle of it.
Isn’t that awesome?
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
So do what you can, when you can, amen? And sister, don’t be afraid to let the laundry sit for another day.
Jesus won’t mind.
He’s waiting for you—with arms open wide.
Blessings,
Becky
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This post first appeared on TheCourage.
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