Making Time for God When Life is Busy

One question I receive quite often is “How do you make time for Bible study and prayer when life is chaotic and busy?”

It’s a valid question to be sure. As women, we have so many hats to wear and responsibilities to fulfill. It’s no wonder that our relationship with God is put on the back burner. We’re often tired and stressed just trying to make it through the day. There seems to be no place to fit God into our lives.

What’s ironic though is that when we do spend that time with God, we find refreshment, peace, direction, and joy. Our hectic lives are put into perspective, and we’re better able to deal with challenges as they arise.

But how do you get there? How do you fit in meaningful time with God when there seems to be no room?

I have found that there are two things we need to help facilitate a consistent time with God…discipline and an understanding of how we are spending our time.

Discipline

Oh, how I dislike the word discipline! It makes me think of pain and sacrifice which are not pleasant. However, having the discipline to make the time to spend with God is key if this is something you want to do consistently.

Chances are if you don’t have the discipline to carve out time for God, then you most likely have an issue with discipline in other areas of your life. That leads me to the second thing we need to help facilitate a consistent time with God and that is understanding how we are spending our time.

Understand How You Are Spending Your Time

Many years ago, when my kids were little, it was understandable that I would not have a lot of time to devote to Bible study and prayer. After all, I was caring for their needs and it seemed as if there was never a free moment in the day to spend meaningful time with God.

However, after I assessed how I was spending my time, I came to realize that I was spending a lot of time doing things that really did not matter. Activities such as watching TV, reading, and surfing the internet. 

While these activities are not bad in and of themselves, they were distracting me from more important work. I began to see I was even neglecting some of my home tasks. And that was beginning to take a toll on my family life.

I had more time to spend with God than I had realized. 

To help you understand how you are spending your time, get out a sheet of paper or a notebook and begin to log what you do each day and for how long. Do this for a week or two and you will have a good idea of how you are spending your time. Don’t forget to write down all the times you get on social media, watch TV, or do any other leisure activity. You want a clear picture of where your time is going.

So now you may be thinking, “Ok, I have some time to spend with God, but I don’t have a big chunk of time. Can I still have quality time with Him?”

The answer is YES!!!

There is no instruction or command in the Bible for how long we are to spend time with God. He just wants our full attention at some point throughout the day.

Realize that your current season of life may only allow for small pockets of time throughout the day. That will change as you move through different seasons of life.

For example, when my kids were little, I only had 15-20 minutes to spend with God. Now that they are in college, I have more time to devote to God without interruption. So don’t put the pressure on yourself that you’ve got to spend a certain amount of time in Bible study and prayer each day.

Here are a few ways to fit in time with God when you feel pressed for time:

• Start small. As I’ve already mentioned, it’s not required that you spend an hour each day in Bible study and prayer. So if you only have 5 minutes to start out with, find a devotional you can read. Or pick a book of the Bible you’d like to read through and read just a few verses each day. 
• Keep a Bible accessible. Keep a Bible wherever you spend the most time during your day. It may be on your kitchen counter, by your favorite chair, or on your desk at work. In this digital age, you don’t even necessarily have to have a physical copy. You can download a bible app on your phone that you can access at any time. Having a copy of God’s Word available at all times allows you to pick it up when you have a few moments so you can read a few verses and meditate on them.
• Have a way to record prayer requests, praises, and things you learn from the Bible. Keeping a journal or notebook of your prayers and things God has taught you will help you to remember how He has been at work in your life. You could also do this digitally with the notes app on your phone. 
• Utilize times of waiting. We all have pockets of time during the day where we’re waiting. Whether it’s for an appointment, at your kid’s sports practice, in the pickup line at school, there are so many places where you have time that could be spent reading the Bible or praying to God about things going on in your life. Make the most of those small pockets of time.

What does your quiet time look like?