Guest Post: God Will Help You Find The Time

This week's post is by my good friend and family member, Christi Toth. She is an amazing mother to three (third one set to make her appearance any day now). She has been an encouragement to me as long as I've known her, and she shares some thoughts in this short post that I hope will uplift others as much as it uplifted me! It's so easy to convince ourselves as moms that we don't have time for quiet time with God (I know I struggle with that!) with the constant noise, busyness of housework, and young kids. Sometimes it feels like making the time isn't worth it. Here is what Christi encouraged me with the other day:

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I had kind of an epiphany several months ago after hearing a message about when the Jews were returning to Jerusalem after the exile and rebuilding.  It was based out of Haggai 1 where God is rebuking them for focusing on their lives/ comfort/ work but not rebuilding his temple. He says that they strove constantly but saw little fruit (plant much, harvest little, eat but are never full, wear clothes but are never warm, etc).

I could see in those conditions people saying what I often feel... just keeping up with my day-to-day life takes up so much time and effort, how can I even think about adding one more thing (bible reading, prayer, whatever service I feel God is calling me to, etc)?  I realized that I've often heard this principle applied to finance (tithe first, and just see how God provides; can't afford NOT to tithe, when I don't tithe there is never enough money), but had never applied the principle to my time, especially as a parent. I'm constantly striving in my "mom work" and never done and never feeling like I can keep up, BECAUSE I'm not making God a priority in my time. Putting dishes over devos pretty much guarantees the dishes will NEVER be done, the laundry will always be overwhelming, etc.  But, by prioritizing time with God, all of a sudden that stuff somehow gets done so much faster and easier. Not as weighty. Not as overwhelming, or depressing, or as much pressure. Basically, that work becomes blessed instead of cursed.

I guess it's probably an obvious principle, and one I have heard before, but it hit me like a wall of bricks. So the last several months I've been really focusing on changing my mindset and priorities. I can see a very big difference in my daily workload in the weeks I actually spend time with God daily and the weeks I don't. It's been pretty eye opening, but also hard to do.  I've never been good at setting aside the to-do list and just sitting with God. Relationship is probably the hardest part of Christianity for me to grasp. But I'm hoping this is the year something clicks in that regard!

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Me too, Christi!  Thank so much for sharing your encouragement with the rest of us!

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Christi Toth loves Jesus and lives in Georgia with her husband and is a SAHM to three beautiful children.