Creating a Morning "Selah Space"

It's hard to start a new habit. Getting up early to spend time with God takes effort, and it takes time to create a routine. Do you realize there's one simple step that can help you create this habit? Creating a place to meet with God takes only a few minutes, but it can give you an extra boost to get up and start your day.

You probably already have a place for your Bible study and prayer, a place where you meet with God. But do you have a space for it? Even if you have limited room, you can create a "Selah space" - a place to pause, listen, and reflect on God's Word each day.

1. Find a workable space.

What works is different for everyone. It depends on your home, yours and your family's schedules, and what makes you comfortable. Some people have an office area. Others like the kitchen table, so they can spread out their notebooks and study supplies. When my husband and I first got married, we lived in a huge 3,000 square foot parsonage and I used our double walk-in closet for my quiet time. Now we own our own home, and I spend my mornings with God on our living room couch. I don't wake anyone up, it's comfy, and I have space to sprawl out and work. Look at your home and your needs, and use what you have to plan the best area.

2. Gather your supplies.

Get everything you need for your quiet time and put it all together. This can be anything from your Bible, journal, and pens, to a blanket and a candle. Whatever you need to be cozy and spend time with God, take it to your space. For me, it's my Bible, journal, Sharpie pens, colored pencils, sticky notes, and my favorite blanket.

3. Contain your supplies.

This doesn't have to be anything fancy. Grab a pretty basket or your favorite tote bag and stash your Bible, your favorite journal, your Bible reading plan, and whatever else you need. I found a beautiful little Paris trunk at Ross for $11.00 a few months ago. Since I'm kind of obsessed with Paris and it matched our living room decor, I bought it. It sits at the end of our couch, tucked neatly between the couch and a corner table. It's the perfect size for my Bible study stash, and I'm not digging for my Bible in the dark at 5:00 a.m.

4. Decorate.

Keep it simple. Throw a couple of decorative pillows on the couch. Put a candle out. Frame printables of your favorite verses. Take a few minutes to make your space your own.

5. Pray.

Take a few minutes to pray over your Selah space. Ask God to help you as you make time with Him a priority. 

With a few minutes of prep time, you can create a quiet, welcoming place to meet with God. It's a perfect motivator for spending time with Him.

Creating Time With God

We know we need time with God. We've heard it a thousand times: we can't give away what we don't have. We can't be the wife, mom, daughter, sister, employee, or woman we need to be if we don't first fill ourselves full of God.

But the things that create our great need for Him are the very things that make it hard to find time with Him.

Everything else in our lives clamors for our attention, and we push our time with God to the back of the list.

I struggled for years to find my niche when it came to Bible study and prayer. I tried groups and plans, books and online studies, detailed guides and unplanned time. I finally learned the truth: there is no "right way." My time with God has changed with the seasons of my life. Over the past twelve years, I've moved from stay at home mom to part-time working mom to full-time student, and now to working mom.

One thing I have learned is that no matter what your quiet time looks like, you have to have a plan! It doesn't have to be elaborate, but you do need a general idea of where you're headed. Here are a few simple ways to get started:

1. Create a space.
You don't have to set aside a whole room, but create a space where you meet with God daily. My space is our living room couch. It might be your kitchen table, or your deck, or even your car. Designate a space that is yours for meeting with God.

2. Gather your supplies.
If your time is limited, the last thing you want to do is waste time digging for your Bible, your notebook, or anything else you need for your time with God. Again, this doesn't have to be anything fancy. Grab a pretty basket or your favorite tote bag and stash your Bible, your favorite journal, your Bible reading plan, and whatever else you need. I found this adorable mini-chest at Ross for $11.00 - cute, cheap, and Paris themed. (I'm kind of obsessed with Paris, thanks to Sabrina and Les Miserables.)

3. Create a schedule.
There is no "one size fits all" schedule, but without some kind of plan, you will most likely find yourself aimlessly wandering through your time with God. Write out a simple list of the things you want to accomplish. For me, it's 1000 gifts (my gratitude list), scripture memory, Bible study, prayer and journaling.

4. Choose a Bible study.
There are SO many to choose from, but don't get overwhelmed. There are great free resources out there to help you get started. A few that I love are Hello Mornings/Quench Bible Studies, She Reads Truth, and YouVersion.

If you're serious about spending time with God, read Savoring Living Water by Katie Orr and Laura Williams. This book is amazing!

5. Make yourself accountable.
Find a friend or family member to hold you accountable for spending time with God. Or sign up for Hello Mornings. Not only does this amazing site provide Bible studies, but it provides a whole accountability program, bringing together women from all over the world. Sign ups for the next session start Monday, February 17. Check out one of the dozens of groups on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram - including my CST Twitter group, Morning Grace.

I won't promise you that you're going to be perfect. I won't promise it will always be easy. But I will promise you this: it's worth it. Make time for God in your life, and you'll be amazed at the difference He makes.

Praying for Boys Giveaway!

There is nothing on earth that can compare to being a mom. My two boys stole my heart before they were ever born. I would fight for them and die for them without hesitation--it's what moms do. I want nothing but the best for them. 

But there is so much about life that is out of my hands. That's why I'm passionate about praying for my boys.

I first read Brooke McGlothlin's book, Warrior Prayers, several years ago. By the time I finished, there were tear stains on many of the pages. It was an amazing resource, full of Scriptures to pray over my sons. Now, Brooke has a brand new book, Praying for Boys: Asking God for the Things They Need Most, and it's even better. I'm so excited to be a part of the launch team for this fantastic book.

I started off the new year by reading Praying for Boys and adding notes to my prayer journal. Once again, the tears flowed freely as I asked God for big things for my boys.

At the end of this post, you'll find a Rafflecopter giveaway where you can enter to win a FREE copy of Brooke's new book! First, let me share a little more about why Brooke wrote Praying for Boys:

What led you to write your book Praying For Boys?
My husband and I have two boys who were born just 23 months apart. I probably don’t need to say much more than that, do I?? That’s enough to keep any mama on her knees! Actually, I’ve done a lot of hard things that I’m very proud of in my life, but raising my boys ranks up there as THE hardest thing I’ve ever done. In the book, I talk about how I asked God to give me boys, and that’s true, but the reality of the day to day mothering of what I like to refer to as “those boys,” (you know, the ones who are 250% boy?) often leaves me completely worn out. I realized early on in our parenting journey that I had no power to change their hearts. And while everything in me wanted to be able to snap my fingers and produce good, godly men, the Bible just doesn’t give us that parenting formula. So in an effort to just do something, I started praying verses from the Bible for my sons…verses based on things I wanted to see the Lord develop in their hearts. It was my way of crying out to God to change them, but it ended up changing me, too. After a year or so of doing that, and of constantly hearing from moms on the MOB Society, my blog for mothers of boys, who wanted to raise godly men, but felt like they were losing the battle, I decided to create a resource that helped them learn how to pray for their sons. It seemed a simple answer to me at the time, but the longer I encourage moms to pray the more convinced I become that prayer is the most overlooked part of raising godly men.

So you have two young boys, you homeschool them and you oversee a popular blog as well. How do you even make time for prayer?
That’s a great question, because I’ve had people ask me even recently how I do it all. The answer is that I don’t. We’ve recently hired two Virtual Assistants to help us run things at the MOB Society, and I have a team of over 35 writers who make that community strong and consistent. I have a co-owner of the site who runs the marketing and advertising, which frees me up handle the writing team, and dream of our next big thing. And most importantly, I have a husband who serves me and loves me way better than I deserve. When I was writing Praying for Boys, and again while I’ve been preparing to launch it, he has basically taken over the household duties. The only things he doesn’t do are homeschooling our boys, and cooking. But he does everything else—laundry, cleaning, paying the bills. It’s a season we’re in, and he’s definitely stepped up to the plate for me in many ways. I couldn’t make any of this work without his heart to serve me and the boys. But even more important than having people help me, is that I’ve learned that in order to function well, I HAVE to pray. I HAVE to stay connected to the heart of God, I HAVE to hear Him leading me, I HAVE to pour out my heart to Him and beg Him to help me raise my boys, and I HAVE to petition Him to fulfill His Word in their lives. If I don’t pray, I’m useless. If I didn’t meet with the Father regularly in prayer, there’s no way I could ever live out the life He’s called me to with any kind of integrity or excellence. I’m not saying prayer is a “magic lamp” so to speak, that makes my life turn out the way I want it to, but I am saying that prayer keeps me focused on HIS plans for my life, and helps keep HIS voice as the loudest, and I just have to have that, both as an entrepreneur and as a woman trying her best to follow Jesus. If I didn’t pray, I wouldn’t want to do ministry.

What do you feel is the greatest obstacle moms must overcome in order to be women who make prayer for their boys a priority?
We give priority to the things we find most in important in life. For example, I’m pretty partial to eating. I get sick and grumpy very fast if I don’t eat when I’m hungry, so because of that, I tend to place a high priority on meal time. I make time for it. Some of my friends are dedicated to exercising, so they find time for it and let others things on their to-do list slide to a lesser priority status. So it is with prayer. When we know how powerful a praying life can be—not just because it allows us to join with God in shaping the hearts of our sons, but also because it keeps us connected to His heart, shaping us into the kind of parents HE wants us to be—we make time for it. So really, the greatest obstacle to overcome is how important, or unimportant, we believe prayer really is.

More About Brooke:
Brooke McGlothlin is Co-founder of Raising Boys Media, where moms and dads come to discover delight in the chaos of raising boys. You can find her writing about fighting for the hearts of her sons at the MOB Society blog, or living a life in pursuit of Jesus at her personal blog www.brookemcglothlin.com. A normal day finds Brooke homeschooling her two boys, wrangling two large Labs, Toby and Siri, writing to bring hope to the messes of life (in the midst of her own messy life), and falling more and more in love with the man she’s had a crush on since the third grade (who just happens to be her husband).

The giveaway ends Friday, January 31!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Staying Focused

We're almost at the end of the summer Hello Mornings session.  Where did the summer go???  How is it going - is it going well, or are you struggling?  If you're struggling, don't worry - you're not alone.  Confession time: sometimes I struggle with my Hello Mornings. (Click to Tweet that!)

This is not my first time to do the challenge - actually, I can't remember if it's my fifth or sixth challenge - but I still find myself struggling from time to time.  My biggest challenge isn't getting up early.  After finally finishing three years of juggling full-time college with a family and an almost full-time job, a 6:00 a.m. wakeup is considered "sleeping in" for me.  I can get up with no problem.  What I struggle with is staying focused.

Too many times, my morning goes like this:
5:00 a.m. - Get up, check emails on phone, make coffee
5:10 a.m. - Check in on Twitter
5:15 a.m. - Still on Twitter, because I had to read more about that post
5:20 a.m. - Chatting on Twitter
5:25 a.m. - Move to Facebook
5:30 a.m. - Check Pinterest
5:45 a.m. - Finally pick up my Bible and journal
6:00 a.m. - Back to my phone to follow up on an email

Ok, y'all, fess up - I know I'm not the only one who battles distractions!

My morning time is limited.  I often have to leave my house at 7:00, and I want to maximize my time.  I have a few strategies I'm using to help curb distractions and keep me focused:

Create a schedule.

I wrote out a simple schedule a few months ago to help me stay focused.  If I find myself wandering, I go back to this.  Sure, checking in with my group is important - but spending time in the Word is much more important.

Set a timer for your phone or computer time.

Limit yourself - whether it's five minutes or thirty minutes, decide what is absolutely essential to start your day, and stick with it.

Be accountable!
Let your Hello Mornings group know you're struggling.  They are there to help you - and they have probably struggled with same issue at some point.

Stick with it and finish strong!

A Beautiful Way to Pray for Your Kids

As I've mentioned before, nothing moves this momma to tears quite like the subject of praying for my kids.  I loved this idea the moment I saw it.  In fact, I loved it so much that I'm planning this as a project in our children's church class...

You can check it out here: http://lillightomine.com/a-praying-mom---part-1.php

What verses will you be praying for you kids?  I'm praying over the perfect ones for my boys right now...I can't wait to make these!

Building Your Prayer Journal: Part Four

This will be my final post in my prayer journal series!  This will a short and simple post, but it involves praying for something that we, as wives and moms and daughters and sisters and friends, often overlook - praying for ourselves.  It's easy to get so wrapped up in everything we are to others and everything we do, that we forget to take care of ourselves. 

Take time to pray for yourself.  Pray over your priorities.  Pray over your schedule.  Pray for your ministry.  Pray for the strength and wisdom to do all that God has called you do.

Stormie Omartian's book, The Power of a Praying Woman, is an amazing resource for this portion of your prayer journal.  She brings out 30 areas that we need prayer in, such as being drawn into a closer walk with God, asking God to bless the work that we do, and seeking guidance in all our relationships. 

If you're signed up for the Hello Mornings challenge that begins next week, this is the perfect time to put together a prayer journal.  Having a plan ahead of time is an important part of having daily time with God.  The payout will be worth the effort!

Thanks so much for reading and taking this journey with me.  I hope this series has helped you.

Building Your Prayer Journal: Part Three

Nothing moves this momma's heart like talking about my kids.  When I start talking about praying for my kids, you're probably doing to see tears.  What amazes me is that as much as I love them - God loves them infinitely more.

This week we're going to add prayers for our kids to our prayer journals.  It doesn't matter how old your kids are - pray for them.  Again this week, if you don't have kids, you can skips this one, but if you want kids one day - pray for them now.  You can never pray for them enough!

Again for this element, I used a Stormie Omartian book, The Power of a Praying Parent.  And again this week, Kat at Inspired to Action has a great FREE resource for you: A Mother's Prayer Calendar complete with scriptures to pray over your kids.

This week you'll add a prayer topic and a scripture for your kids to each day of your journal or Word document.  What's great about this week is that there are so many fantastic resources out there for praying moms.  Your journal is just a starting point!

I highly recommend The Power of a Praying Parent.  Brooke McGlothlin also has an amazing book for boy moms, Warrior Prayers, and the MOD Squad (Mothers of Daughters) has a book, 31 Days of Prayer for our Daughters.  All of these are available on Amazon Kindle.  Finally, I recommend Angie Smith's great post on praying 7 times a day for our kids.

THIS WEEK: Add prayers for your kids to your journal.
NEXT WEEK: Praying for our own nees

Building Your Prayer Journal: Part Two

Last week you got your notebook and you personalizedit.  Now it’s time to start filling it up and building your prayer journal!  Ready to start?

The first topic we’re going to cover is praying for your husband.  If you’re single, why not go ahead and list some areas to pray for your future husband?  Or you can skip this week and join in next week.

The resource I used for this part of my journal is Stormie Omartian’s book The Power of a Praying Wife. Don’t have the book?  No problem.  Kat at Inspired to Actionhas an amazing prayer calendar and it’s totally FREE. 

Now, there are a couple of different ways you can do this next step:

1.     Label each page – Day 1, Day 2, etc. and write in a specific prayer request for your husband each day

OR

2.     If you’re OCD and perfectionistic like me, you can start a Word document on your computer to be printed out when you’re finished.

My slight OCD issues aside, I like to type mine for the plain and simple fact that it’s easier to update.  When my prayer journal is full and it’s time to make a new one, or if I just need to update information, its much easier to print it out than to rewrite all the info.

Here’s an example from my prayer journal:

I've also included a scripture to pray along with each day's topic.  Praying scripture is powerful!  Kat has made it easy with her prayer calendar - it includes a verse to pray for each topic.  If you get a chance to buy The Power of a Praying Wife at some point later on, please do - Stormie's teachings on prayer are amazing. She totally revolutionized my prayer life.  She talks often about the benefits of praying scripture - praying God's promises over your family and situations you're facing.

THIS WEEK:
* List a prayer topic and scripture to prayer for your husband each day for 31 days.

NEXT WEEK:
* Praying for our kids - PLUS lots of great resources

Building Your Prayer Journal: Part One

It seems like we all have good intentions when it comes to prayer. We all want to pray for our family, our friends, our church, missionaries, and more. But when its time to actually sit down and pray, if you're anything like me, its easy to draw a blank on exactly what to pray for.

I'm so excited about starting this series! It's been on my heart for a while now, and I'm really looking forward to sharing my prayer journal with you. I've been using it for several years now, but I went through several variations before I found what works best for me. Now I use it almost every day. It has made such a difference for me! It keeps me focused and lets me pray over so many important areas of my life on a regular basis.

I want to spend the the next few weeks helping you build your own prayer journal. Each Monday, I'll post about a different step in making your journal. At the end, I'll host a link-up so everyone can share their finished journal. Ready to start?

The first step is finding the right notebook. It sounds simple, but take a little time on this step, because having the right notebook makes a difference. I've used different sizes and types, but I've found that a Moleskine-style 8 in by 6 inch notebook works best. I like this size and style because I can easily slip it into my Bible and take it with me. Its also large enough to give me plenty of room to write. I found a set of three notebooks made by C.R. Gibson at Walmart for about $8.00. I'm using one for my prayer journal, and another for a journal to record thoughts, quotes, Scriptures that stand out during my quiet time, etc.


Whatever size and style you choose, make sure you have enough pages. You'll need 15-30 sheets (15 for larger journals, 30 for small) for the main part of the journal, then at least 15-30 more pages (I prefer to have a lot more pages left over). You may want to leave your journal as-is, or you might want to get creative. I recently made a fitness journal and had lots of fun with it! I created a collage of inspirational quotes and some Bible verses and covered it with contact paper. You can cover yours with photos, fabric, or whatever you'd like.


THIS WEEK: * Find your journal. * Get creative if you'd like to - decorate and personalize it.

NEXT WEEK: * We'll start building the "bones" of your journal. * I'll share pictures and examples from my journal, plus lots of great resources!

Why I Pray

Today marks the beginning of the newest 21 Days for Sons prayer challenge at The MOB Society.  Although I'm drowning in the stress and assignments of my last two weeks of the semester, I'm not about to miss this.  Why?

Because they're worth it.  Because if their Daddy and I don't pray for them, who will?  Because they are my precious gifts from God.  Because they are my knights in training.  Because the world needs men after God's own heart.  Because I love them, heart and soul.  Boys moms - join 21 Days for Sons.  It will change your life - and their lives - forever.

Morning Grace

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.

Beginning May 14th, I'm going to do something a little different with my quiet times, and I'm so excited about it!  I've pulled together a group of friends from throughout my life to form a Good Morning Girls group on Facebook.  Together, we're going to study Proverbs 31, pray, and support each other.  We stretch halfway across the country, from Texas to North Carolina, but each day, we'll connect on Facebook.  I can't wait to see what God is going to!
Do you want to have consistent time with God every day? Sign up for Hello Mornings or Good Morning Girls!  These amazing websites have encouraged me so much.  If you're struggling with your quiet times with God, check these out and discover your own morning grace.

My Simple Prayer

Okay, I'll admit, I stole it from Pinterest...but this is it.  This is my prayer, my goal, my dream, the lifeblood of motherhood.  This is what I desire above all else from being a mother, and what I want my kids to remember most about me (along with my absolute, whole-hearted love for them).  This is it...