Quiet Times In Loud Households

    Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?   If you have little ones, or lots of littles and middles and bigs, you know just how loud things can be and what a challenge it is to have a quiet time with the Lord.

    Yet we are called to have quiet time with Lord each day.  To begin in the Word and spend time alone with Him in praise and prayer.

    This eludes me.  Not that I like to sleep in, I am by God's blessing a morning person (much to the dismay of most of my family.)   It's just that some mornings I cannot get up early enough for some of the children.

  And truthfully, if I did get up, what would I do?  Sure, I could work on my 90 day Bible reading plan, but I wanted more direction.  I knew something eluded me as to my time with God.

     A class at church helped.  A Twitter group and blog, Maximize Your Mornings helped with accountability.  But then I happened upon a book called "Quiet Times In Loud Households" and knew this was for me.   Written by Kimberly Eddy who blogs at Joyfulmomma, it was just what I needed.

   First of all, it was practical.  Second it was written by a mom who has been there.  With five children who came back to back, she has been in the trenches and knows the struggle to get most anything accomplished.

     Second of all, she has a heart for her children and knew that "her" time with God should and would spill over into the discipling of her family.

     Third, and most importantly, she was real.   She has opened up her life and shown her own shortcomings. Oftentimes we may feel that we cannot possibly attain such a devoted spiritual life, disciple our children, submit to our husbands, serve God...the way some authors describe it.   Not so, with Mrs. Eddy.

    I want to share with you some of the wisdom she talks about:

•  Her desire for wanting practical advice for raising children in the Lord and the Bible's role in that.

            "If God felt it were in our best interest as parents, He'd have written us a 2000 page tome chronicling exactly how to raise perfect children.  He's God, so He could do that.  However, He gave us the Bible, full of principles to govern our olives, including principles on parenting, but not a lot of specific details.  Why?  
                 I believe it's because He wants us, as parents, to stay on our knees in prayer, crying out for wisdom and grace for each days' task, and because He wants us to view each of our children as unique individuals He created them to be."  (Emphasis mine.)

• Knowing that God is available to us at any time of the day...and night.To live a devotional lifestyle (not just for a set time in the mornings!) "...a mistaken idea that a devotional time is one event in our day, instead of a lifestyle God is calling us to." 
• "Children need to see mother having a devotional life in order to have a model to follow."
• "In being an example, we need to be examples of a devotional life, rather than feeling the need to show the children how religious mom is.What you are trying to convey is how much mom needs the Lord, not how much the Lord needs mom."
•  "They need to see moms who run to the Lord (not the phone or email) with their problems."
• Not to be a hypocrite.  "What am I going to show my children that a Christian does when a Christian messes up?"

Other topics include:  Mothering On Sundays....Serving (In and out of seasons).....Family Devotions..

    I had the opportunity (via Twitter) to show my appreciation for her book; thanking her for being practical and  genuine.  I let her know I was going to write about it.  (How could I NOT..it was such an eye opening book for our family!) and she offered a $2 coupon off anything in the store.

     Just go to the Joyful Momma Store, make your selection and put TMMETZ11 in the coupon code field.  This offer is good until August 31st.  (I also have, but have not finished reading, two of her Ebooks:  "Momma's Guide to Thriving On One Income"  and "Momma's Guide to Growing Your Own Groceries.")

   You may find Mrs. Eddy on Twitter @KimberlyEddy and on Facebook Joyful Momma Publishing.  I hope you too will be blessed by her wisdom.