Yesterday I missed church again. This last year has been rather hard on us when it comes to missing church. It use to be that we only missed church for the birth of a child. In the last 10 months we (mostly meaning me and at least one child) have missed church for the following reasons-
chicken pox: we discovered on Christmas of last year that Daniel had chicken pox and two of his sisters followed suite. Then after missing several weeks of church (with all the children staying home because we didn't know if the others were contagious yet not showing symptoms yet) the night before we were to go back to church the other two children came down with the pox. It was then Dan graciously said that he would stay home with the sickies and I could go to church with the others.
Ben's birth- Ben was born on a Friday night so we missed one week of church with him.
In June Danny was hit by a car on a Sat. night and we were up till 4am so we missed church again.
mastitis- I had a horrible case of it at the end of July where I could hardly stand up straight. It started Saturday night and went through Sunday before I felt half myself again.
Three weeks ago I missed church because some children were sick.
This week I missed church because Daniel is having stomach problems.
That is all I can think of but there are probably a few more I missed. That makes two months of Sundays out of the last 10 months. Of course if you ask me how many sermons I have heard in the weeks I *have* gone to church and the number would not be very high. It seems I am always missing a lot of the sermons anymore.
Mothers seem all too often to lay aside their spiritual walk in order to take care of the more demanding needs of the house and family. It is important that we take the time to strengthen our relationships with the Father and to grow in our faith.
It is also a good example to our little ones if they see momma immersed in the scriptures. Of course I wrestle with that as I usually find the most opportune time to have a quiet time is when the children are all asleep- if they can't see me then how is it helping to set a good example?
I have not been very up on reading scripture for myself. I was doing one book but didn't find it to be very good truthfully. The lady who put the devotions together would use one scripture verse to go with her five paragraphs of thoughts and a lot of the time the verse really didn't have a lot to do with the topic she was writing on. Some of them could have applied if they were taken at face value completely out of context.
I do have scripture time with the family and with the husband but that isn't the same as spending one on one time with God alone. I need to find something to use to help me in this area.
What are you doing for your quiet time?
4 comments:
Kate,
I have often been clueless on the way to go about Bible study, but something always comes around. I am very picky about who I read after. One favorite is 'Streams in the Dessert'... a GOOD devotional...real...Also, I pick a chapter in Proverbs or a 'story' in the Bible and read and re-read it every day until it is IN my heart and mind. That way I can really meditate and seek what God would have me know from that bit of His Word. It is much more pleasant to gain quality instead of quanity...Also, sometimes, I just read an old 'lamplighter book' or other story where the characters are pious and true... this encourages me and they are often full of scripture for meditation. Stepping Heavenward by Prentiss is a good book for devotional purposes (think about what devotion means.. if something makes you more devoted to Christ by reading it, then by george yo have a devotional!)... you can get it rather cheap at 'good things for your family' Just some thoughts,
Hilda
Kate,
Getting up early, before the kids is key for me. If I miss that in the morning, then quiet/devotional time with the Lord just doesn't happen that day. If you look on the sidebar of my blog there are a few things that would be useful for 'quiet time'. The 'Sermons to grow on' and 'Sermons to grow on 2' are good ones to just sit and listen and be fed. Also, there's 'Metro Moms' that is directed just to women and you can hear messages on there too. Its the easiest way to get the 'word' when you don't feel up to reading. And its solid biblical truth. I love it.
Many blessings to you. Lynn
I'm with Lynn...I have to get up early before the kiddos. I get up at about 5:45 and they don't get up until 7:00. I get some good quiet time then. I am finishing Pipers book Battling Unbelief and also reading through Isaiah. We are starting Self-Confrontation (which looks like a phone book!) in our women's bible study in a week so I need to start looking at that one too!
Hope you can get to church soon!
I hate missing Sundays too!!! or any church services for that matter. When my grandmother passed away last month I had to miss two weeks in a row- it seemed like MONTHS!! And now my baby is sick so I've missed this week. I have dvds of past services and I watch them. btw, I am in BFS too!
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