women in the Word~quiet time edition

Happy Wednesday, friends! I hope your week has been good...as usual, I can't believe it's already Wednesday. I don't know how I manage to stay so busy without working outside of my home, but I do and the days fly by.

I love to share devotional type posts on these days, and I pray they somehow encourage you. I'm going to share a bit of how I have my quiet time each day, and I pray this inspires and encourages you to pray—I always say that prayer is the most under-used tool we have in our spiritual tool box. I really do mean this and the Lord has been faithful to show me the proof of this over my years of walking with Him.

Take this picture below, for instance. I was praying on Monday morning and the Lord caused me to remember this verse. {I believe with all my heart that because His word is in my heart, He often brings it to my mind. I love to memorize Scripture, and that also helps.}

I've written this before, but in case anyone is new here, I always prefer to start my quiet time with prayer. I believe that praying helps still my mind and my heart, and when I pray I like to start by thanking the Lord for the new day. I quickly turn that into praising Him for Who He is and I offer up more thanksgiving throughout that time of adoration—to me, that often goes hand in hand. After that I ask the Lord to show me any sin I have in my heart, like if I was gossipy or judgmental about someone, and I confess that to the Lord and ask Him to forgive me of that and to change me. I pray for myself after this and right off the bat, because as wives and mothers, we are the emotional barometer in the home. An older friend of mine told me this once, Mrs. Teresa, my friend Sunday's mom and I know it's true from being married for almost 24 years and from being a mom for a good portion of that.

How many of you have experienced something like this: your day start out great and you're in a great mood all day long, but then one of your kids smarts off to you and it makes you mad and that's all it takes. You snap and yell {well, this is what happens to me} and when your husband gets home, you're frustrated with the kid still, but instead of talking to him about it and communicating what's going on, he says one thing that you take the wrong way and you lose it on him.

Check out this passage in Ephesians 4:26-30a.

Be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, and odn't give the devil an opportunity. Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has somethign to share with anyone in need. No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. And don't grieve the Holy Spirit.

This is what happens, and this is why it's important to never neglect praying for yourself. An older friend of mine told me that once, because I used to feel selfish praying for myself. She compared it to the flight attendant's speech before the plane leaves the ground: she demonstrates how to use the gear in case of an emergency and they usually say something along the lines of helping yourself first, because if you miss that one step, you will be no good to anyone else. So it is with yourself and praying for yourself. Don't skip that, because nobody else knows what you go through everyday—and why would they? We don't go around broadcasting all of our "ugly".

After this, I pray for my husband, my sons and their future spouses, all the extended family, my faith family and pastor, my friends who are missionaries, and our governing officials. About praying for my husband, though, there are books that every married couple should read either on their own or go through on their own and then share about it together. I'd show you mine, but I don't know exactly where it is. Here's Todd's copy, not that he's ever read the book. 😂 My dad bought him this as a gift for one of our first Christmas events as a married couple.

I had this picture on my phone today because I shared it with a young friend of mine who's getting married next spring. I have worn my copy just about plum out. 

It's vitally important to pray for your husband—nobody else will ever know him like you know him and nobody else knows his business like you do. I feel like when you spend time with Jesus talking about your husband and pouring your heart out to Him about your spouse, that the time you spend doing that is sacred. Our marriages should represent the love of Jesus to others. We should treat each other better than we treat our ownselves and we should always be kind and loving, patient, compassionate and gentle. We should represent the Lord Jesus well to those who don't know Him, and we can do that by honoring God in our marriage. Nobody is perfect in this—I am the furthest from it, but the Lord is faithful to teach me from His word every single day on how I can improve in my role as a wife first, then as a mother, a daughter, sister and friend.

When I was praying on Monday morning, I was thanking the Lord that He is the Giver of every good gift {James 1:17} and everything we need required for life and godliness. That was what I prayed and the Lord reminded me of that verse in 2 Peter 1:3. And speaking of how the Lord reminded me of that verse, the Word of God is living and active—that is from Hebrews 4:12. My pastor says that as you read the Word of God, the Word of God is reading you. That's why a certain verse will jump out at you during your reading.

I like to have a journal or a notebook to help me stay focused when I pray. I don't always do this, but I've learned that I can pray easier when I have a prompt of things to remind me to pray for each day. I use a composition notebook for this, but you can use anything. I use the same list for a few weeks and try to update it once a month; I like to ask friends on social media how I can pray for them on those days when I think about it.

I don't always pray my entire list, but I sure do if I have the time. Did you know that as you draw near to God, He draws near to you? {That is according to James 4:8.} I'll give you an example: lately it seems as I go on and on in prayer, I can sense the presence of God. Now before you get off this page because of this statement, hang with me and read these next sentences. I love to pray God's Word back to Him and it's when I do that, that He seems right there with me. And He is! Read this verse below.

As I abide in Him, I am often reminded that He abides within me! I woke up troubled Saturday morning and I can't explain why, but I prayed Psalm 121 to the Lord as I sat at my kitchen table. Before I even realized it, tears were streaming down my face, because every word out of that Psalm is true—and I know that to be so, deep in my heart. I was humbled and honored that He would choose to sit and have this fellowship with me as I sit here in my kitchen, pouring my heart out to Him. There's nothing magic or mystical about this, by the way. The Lord knows what is in your heart and it's an overwhelming sense of peace and calm that I feel when I sense Him near. I almost feel as if He is wrapping me up tightly in His arms, like my dad used to do when I was a little girl.

Before I end my prayer time, I submit my plans for the day to the Lord, because I love and revere Him. His name is Holy and Awe-Inspiring, the Psalmist tells us. I ask the Lord to teach me from His Word that day, to help me understand what I read and to help me practically apply it to my life. He is always so sweet and faithful to answer this request. I continue to talk to Him all throughout the day and oftentimes, someone will walk in on me doing this. Just ask them if you don't believe me. They also "catch" me worshiping Him in the kitchen or talking to Him fairly loudly as I vacuum. I also pray every Thursday morning at 3:00 for thirty minutes and I've been known to walk my house at night and step into their rooms and pray over them, or at least pray for them at their doorway. I kid you not—just ask my husband and he would confirm all of this to you.

I'm going to wrap this up with all of Psalm 121—it's just a few verses.

I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? 

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.

Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.

The LORD protects you; the LORD is a shelter right by your side. 

The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night.

The LORD will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life.

The LORD will protect your coming and going both now and forever.

I know every word of this to be true. I have experienced it personally and on a very daily basis. There is something coming up for me later today that is way outside of my comfort zone, but I know the Lord will help me to navigate through it.

Thank you for reading this, if you're still here. Love to all.

P.s. I am going to leave you with some worship music that I currently love. I have some version of worship music playing all throughout the day, and some of these songs I listen to as I get dressed or shower or just sit about in the kitchen. I pray they're a blessing to you. The first one is The Blessing by Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes, then it's Authority by Elevation Worship, and lastly Graves to Gardens by the same group.