Finding time for God with an infant and toddler!

Kerri first introduced you to Trisha in her two-part series, Staying Focused on Christ in Seasons of Little Money. If you missed that, be sure to click over. Then come right back here! Because I have the pleasure of introducing Trisha today as she shares some wonderfully practical tips…

Finding time for God with an infant and toddler!

Its almost impossible. Good Luck! The End.

I’m kidding… kind of.

I am needy when it comes to time with the Lord. I MUST have it or you don’t want to be around me. I guess that makes me extra sinful… because I need so much of Him just to make it through the day.
It was pretty easy in high school and college. I just set my alarm and hour or so early… no problem… just a little sleepy. When I got married things changed a little. Adjusting my schedule to Mark’s was a little more complicated than I thought. But eventually I adjusted. When I had my son, I went through a really dry spell. I was not prepared for the “24 hour-ness” of motherhood. There was no more morning… all the days kind of evolved into another. Finally after he got on a little better schedule, I “found” regular time to be alone with God. I usually woke up when Mark went to work (which has been extremely early our entire marriage) and read after he left and before Trey woke up. Life was pretty easy as far as schedules go there for a little while. My son slept from around 8am-8pm and took a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. Beautiful.
{enter my daughter}
And CRASH all sense of schedule and normalcy vaporize!
She tricked us at about 4 weeks and slept through the night, like 9am-6am through the night, for about 3 or 4 weeks. Ever since her 3 month “b-day”, she and my son have have stopped sleeping. Yes, I have read and “done” babywise. Yes, I know I should let them “cry it out” and I have…. but its harder when the one wakes up the other. They both get energy from an unknown source and I swear to you just don’t sleep!
Waking up early just doesn’t work when you went to bed at 3am or when I do wake up early I usually have company.
So back to the drawing board.
(I know the Lord is always with me but there is nothing like that “time” with Him you know?)
So here are some tips if you are in the same boat as me.
#1 Take a drive!
Put on some worship music… load so as to drown out the backseat… and DRIVE! I used to do this without kids. Now they come along and usually are pretty mellow and/or sleep! You can talk to God out load or sing or whatever! The car is a wonderful place!
#2 Paint, draw, or sing!
You can involve your kids or not, that is up to you. But I will sit down to paint and be able to worship the Lord even with whining or chatter from my children. Sometimes I sit down to color with Trey and draw out my prayers to God. One day we played with play dough and I sculpted some things I was praying through. It keeps me focused and adds a whole new element to my prayer time with the Lord.

#3 Google
I love space! Nothing makes me see the awesomeness of the Lord like looking at stars and such. Sometimes Trey and I sit down and google pictures of stars, moon, far off galaxies, pictures from the space station… you name it. NASA has a “picture of the day” page. It is really cool! This one is two fold. You show your kids the wonders of God and can worship Him and admire yourself!
#4 Lock the kids in their room!
Although my kids are young, the can handle quiet play in their room. Sometimes, I send Trey to bed with a couple cars and throw a couple toys in Miss Priss’s bed and buy myself about 30 mins of alone time!
#5 Put scripture everywhere!
I don’t have a dishwasher. So I spend A LOT of time at my sink! I put scripture along the sides of my cabinets. I just about have all the scripture I have placed there memorized. I also put scripture inside the cabinets, on the back of certain doors I open a lot, and by the chair I sit in to nurse. I put what I need to hear and remember in strategic places to always try to keep God’s Word on my heart.

#6 Take a Walk
Obviously this is good in more than one way… but walking is a great time to talk to Jesus!

#7 Get away!
Sometimes, you just need to get away! Hire a babysitter or a husband and leave! But don’t just leave… leave and be alone with your God. One time, I was low on gas so I just left and parked the car in a safe parking lot and just read and watched the sunset. It was good!

This is just another “phase” of my journey with the Lord. It has its obstacles but it is just like another relationship and takes work! Enjoy finding your place and time with the Lord!

Be sure to follow Trisha on her blog Writing About the Journey.