Crazy Busy is Just Plain Crazy: We can always have time for God.

When I am speaking to women’s groups I often get the question “How do you make it work?”   And truth be told, it is the very same question I have asked my friends, who are busy women and moms.

We seem to be stuck in this extremely dangerous realm of thinking.  It tells us if we aren’t operating in a chaotic frenzy that is just one step away from implosion we are doing something wrong.   But thank God He is showing me that being Crazy Busy is just Crazy.   God is a God of order and peace.  Confusion and chaos are not from Him.   They are from the devil.   They did not exist in the world until after the devil tempted Eve in the garden.

So keep that in mind as I go on from here.

Busy Moms have 24 hours in a day, just like everyone else.   For us, we have to divide it up with caring for the kids, making meals, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, grocery shopping, exercising, etc.  And that great big list is exactly what the devil wants us to focus on completely.  If we are looking all the stuff we have to do we can easily think I don’t have time for the one thing I truly need to survive.  That would be time with God.

“But Victoria, how am I supposed to find time to be with God, reading His Word and praying?  I can’t even get my ‘to do’ list done each day.”

I used to struggle with that very same feeling.  I knew that God wanted my undivided attention on a daily basis.   But I couldn’t see where it would fit into my busy schedule.  Then I had that “Ah-Hah!” moment.  God showed me the secret to successful quiet time with Him.  Just Start!

I had spent so much time trying to figure out how I was going to fit it into my hectic schedule.  But then I realized (thanks to the Holy Spirit showing me) all that time could have been my time reading God’s Word and praying.   It’s like a group of people standing around planning the best way for all of them to get onto a bus and it takes so long that the bus leaves without them.   Don’t miss the Bus!

God blessed me with some inspiration from other busy women.   They shared what worked for them, kind of like I’m doing with you right now.    Can I tell you I was a hard sell at first?   But one of the first great suggestions came in the form of a starter program for Bible Reading.   Did you know that the book of Proverbs has 31 chapters?   Hmm… that seems very close to the length of a month.   The idea:  read one chapter a day.  Not sure what chapter you’re on, check the calendar.   That was a simple way to start the habit.  Simple and yet so helpful.   Proverbs is the book God inspired after Solomon asked for wisdom.

There was a lingering frustration for me.  Almost everyone said she started her quiet time early in the morning.   But my day already starts at an incredibly early hour.  I go to work at 4:00 a.m.   I looked at my time and thought, maybe I would get my “start with God” before I closed my eyes for the night.   Stay with me here – I spent time talking to God, asking Him to bless me with rest so I could be fully in line with His plan for the new day.   It was a good plan.   And it worked for me for awhile.

The quiet time advice included daily Bible reading.   But there are 66 books in the Bible where do I start?  You can find some great Bible Reading plans.   I also like the “Change Your Life Bible Daily” with Becky Tirabassi.  My friend and mentor, Lori Frank, shared it with me.  It is a great way to make your way through the Bible in a year.

Some of my Favorites

Another great tool is to find a 30-day devotional to get you started.   Research shows repetition is the secret to making a habit stick.   Some say 21 days is the secret, others 28 or 30.  Here’s how I looked at:  I would give this “daily devotional” idea a month.  If I saw some changes I would stick with it.   The book I happened to use was “The Frazzled Female: 30 Days to Finding God’s Peace in Your Daily Chaos,” by Cindi Wood.   That brief monthly investment led to changes in me.   I wasn’t looking at life in the same way.  I saw my Husband in a different light.  Same thing with my son (Little Princess hadn’t arrived yet.)  I had stopped making excuses and started giving God what was already His – my time.

A couple of my other favorite devotional writers include: Lori Frank, Elizabeth George, Lysa Terkeurst, and Sarah Young.  I know I am leaving some out.   But this gives you a few names to explore.

As life has changed I have had to change when I meet with God.  I was able to shift my wake up time and have my quiet time with God before work for a couple of years.   Then, the schedule shifted and I had to shift it to another part of my day.    I will tell you starting the day with the quiet time with God is best.  And I still read over a brief devotional and have prayer when I first wake up.  At least 10 minutes to get my heart and mind in the right place for the new day.   Then I spend more time with God diving into His Word and offering up praise to Him in our special time.   Ultimately, I don’t want you to beat yourself up if you can’t pull off the quiet time exactly the way someone else does.   Just take the very deliberate step of putting God at the top of the To Do List for your life.  Keep Him at the center of all you do.  You will soon find out that the idea that you are too “Crazy Busy” is just plain Crazy.

Update:  Since I wrote this blog for the Oodles World website God has been working.  He knew I wanted to get back to the connection in the early morning – before work.  So He started waking me up 10 minutes before my alarm.  I said, Lord if this is your way of saying I can manage losing a little more sleep, I’m in.  (Keep in mind we on a good night I was getting about 6 hours 20 minutes of sleep).  But the change has been great.  So when you tell God you want to get connected and have that intimate time with Him – trust that He will make it work.  I am no more tired than I was before I started getting up a little earlier.   But I am feeling so much more in tune with my Heavenly Father.   Thank you, Lord for teaching me that “Crazy Busy” is just plain Crazy.