10 Things I Love PLUS My Hello Mornings Story

I'm so excited to start another session of Hello Mornings in just a few days!  To celebrate, today I'm sharing what's in my Hello Mornings bag, and my Hello Mornings story:

10 Essentials in My Hello Mornings Bag

1. My NASB Study Bible - it's getting to the point of being held together with tape and glue, but I treasure this Bible and I'll use it until it totally falls apart
2. My prayer journal
3. My daily journal
4. Sharpie pens - my new addiction <3
5. Colored pencils
6. Index cards (for Scripture memory)
7. Index card holder
8. My Bible study notebook - I just reorganized it, and I'm loving it!
9. Post-It notes
10. My all-time favorite devotional, Jesus Calling

 

 

   I originally posted this in April of this year, but wanted to share it again: I'm a rule-following kind of girl. Its a great trait to have...sometimes. Sometimes it can really get in the way, though. When it comes to my morning quiet time, it can be downright dangerous.
As a college student and into my early married years in my 20's, it was easy for me to get up early and spend an hour ir more with God every morning. Then we had kids, and everything changed. Suddenly I was a 22 year old stay at home mom who considered taking a shower a major accomplishment. Days went by without me ever even opening my Bible. My prayer time dwindled to, "Lord, how am I going to get this done?"

I'm a voracious reader, so as my kids got older, I started reading again - along with my Bible, I read books on marriage, parenting, and being a Godly woman. I learned a lot from those books - mainly that I was failing. One book said I should spend an hour or more a day in Bible study. Another told me it should be easy to pray for an hour a day. Still others told me I should tithe my time - spend 10% of my time with God and never miss a day. I beat myself up a lot during those early years of marriage and motherhood. I knew there was no way I could live up to what those books suggested. I was breaking all the rules.

Then, a few years ago, I discovered something amazing - grace. Its my morning grace - grace for my times with God. My goal is to get up early every morning and spend time with God. Most days it happens, but if not, there's grace. Some days its long, other days its just a short devotional. One day I might spend more time in Bible study, another day might be focused more on prayer, and still another might focus on journaling or scripture memory. Whatever I'm doing, there's grace.

I believe that God delights in our efforts and our successes to spend time with Him, but I also believe that He's ready to wrap His arms around us and carry us when we're frazzled, frustrated, and struggling to keep up. He made us, He knows us, and He understands our ups and downs. My morning quiet time is again something I look forward to. In fact, its one of my favorite times of the day.