…ever since adding a little more personal growth time into my day, i’ve really tried to keep it a part of my daily routine!! what i’ve realized is that i can keep it super simple and quick on days when i’m out of steam, or i can kind of sit and keep going if i need or have time for more of it. i think for a long time, the notion of some big, mandatory devotional quiet time every day just felt like an hour of boring homework, and i could never really get myself to commit to it. but!!! not so!!! the pressure is OFF in that respect, and i’ve officially grown to love taking just a few minutes or thirty to decompress and refocus. it helps to take time out from burning fuel that you don’t have and fill back up just a tad with something that actually keeps you going! 🙂
what i’ve been reading through lately!
5 Minutes with Jesus – this is a series of little devotional books!! i first read Peace for Today, and i loved it *sooooo* much, i put two others on my wish list. 🙂 i am now working through the original one! and next i have A Fresh Infusion of Joy. then, there’s one more i still don’t have! they have been seriously so encouraging and pertinent… and easy to squeeze into my days! hallelujah. i can’t say enough good things about these.
Pressing Pause – this is a similar type of devotional… short and sweet! this one is especially geared towards those in the midst of motherhood. there are two different authors that switch back and forth, so you get two voices and perspectives! and bonus… it’s so pretty sitting on a table or book shelf!
Power of a Praying Wife – i love this book so much! i found it both encouraging and educational. while the readings are probably a bit geared toward “traditional” couple roles [as in, wife as the head of homemaking, husband as the head of bread winning… but not that both wouldn’t or couldn’t do both!], the prayers are topical and pertinent and cover just about everything. there’s also just a simple prayer book version that has amazing prayers in it! the author actually has written a lot of these books, for kids, moms, everyone, and i’d love to check out more of them.
Heaven – ahhhh, i LOOOVE this big book!!! i’ve mentioned it before, but it’s been aaamazing. enlightening on so many levels. it’s literally a huge book about heaven! [this one is not a devotional, but there is a devotional version!] i know each person would take away different things from all of it, [there’s SO much.] but one thing i’m most thankful for is how it’s helped me understand my own self better… how clear it is that my desires are not truly for this world as we know it, but for the perfectly beautified life i was actually created for. i feel like i make more sense as i better understand the bigger picture! and ahh, even my love for sunsets and blossoms and all the gold things has better clicked into place. 🙂 and after making it through part I of this book, i found myself so much more pleased and relieved at the idea of life one day with Jesus and loved ones… no longer worried about their health or safety… no longer far away from so many of them… without the perils that satan constantly hurls at us… not in a boring, vast eternal setting, but finally enjoying God’s creations the way He intended for us to. without the crap that we’re all just really tired of! the author references how our society has made heaven out to sound boring, when really, the beauty of the world we live in today is only a tiny preview of the incredible life that will open up to us one day. and maybe i’m just an over-thinker [maybe?!?] but it’s also helped me to understand, too, why this life matters in the next life. how things connect. i don’t know. clearly, i needed a ginormous book of information on eternity and that is exactly what i got! haha. he addresses pretty much every question you could come up with in the book based on biblical text. [the idea of animals in heaven was a big one for me previously!] and most of it does seem to revolve around eternity after earth’s restoration, which i love. i mean, i’m obsessed with earth… its beauty and colors and sunsets and all of it! just imagine it in its full glory! anyway, i could never sum up all my thoughts on this in one little blob! but pour me a glass of wine and watch me really get carried away. 😉 also, this book can also be used just as a reference book, looking things up topically when you have questions and curiosities… but i have loved at least cruising through the first half! there’s also a version for kiddos, and i can imagine that would’ve come in handy for all the past little questions on heaven i’ve tried to clumsily field!
so, these are what i’m working on right now!!! any recommendations for my next round?! and oh my gosh, i don’t have this… but how BEAUTIFUL is this bible?!
Where is that gorgeous notebook from?!?
ahhh that was a target dollar spot snag!!!! i have a rose gold one, too. i could nottttt resist them! maybe keep an eye out? i feel like they’ve had them a couple of times, but i’m not sure!!
Ohhh I’m so glad you mentioned the book Heaven! As a fairly new Christian, my brain is full of SO many questions, specifically regarding heaven, and I can not wait to get my hands on this book!
oh gosh i SO relate!!! i’m obviously obsessed with this book haha, so i hope you will like it!! someone biblically more educated than i and focused on this specific topic is *just* what i was in the market for when my questions starting piling up… and i have loved every bit of the book!! i’ll admit, i started out skeptical about this huge book of heavenly information, but i really like this author a whole, whole lot. 🙂 🙂
Well, you just made me even more excited to get it! Thanks so much for recommending it in your post! Even my waaaaaay more biblically educated husband said he’d like to read it once I’m done 😊 Have a great day!
I probably should get back into these types of reading. Especially with my kiddos. David asked me what a bible was the other day and I was like WHAT!? We have them I assure you. But yes. Thank you for the suggestions!
lolol just pull up the bible app on an ipad for these kiddos, right! haha!! and i have to say, it has been a lifesaver to literally start with a devotional that specifies that it only takes 5 minutes!! taking away the “pressure” of thinking i had to put in some required time did the trick for me. i sit down, read 2 pages, soak it in, and move on to another one if i have time! if i don’t, i don’t, but if i do, i’ve found that i really crave it. i’ll change up which books sometimes, or write a list of 10 things i’m grateful for, or go back to a specific verse i’d marked or something. but if not… i can sure sneak in 5 minutes! and i really have enjoyed taking the time to actually feel uplifted, because i think we all know that adult life isn’t about uplifting you for the most part haha!!!
Love that you are so disciplined in your time with your devotionals…..that is where my problem lies, I am not disciplined enough.
But I keep trying to get better. Our church is reading through the Bible together…..not too much reading each day but it’s so easy to get behind.
And for children, The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name is a great book!!!!
oh i promise i am sooooooo not disciplined!!!! that’s why the 5 minute title completely sold me. 😉 it’s often the most pertinent and uplifting 2-3 little pages in my day! i think when i thought i had to “schedule” my quiet time it was much harder for me to get on board with. but i do it morning or noon or night. less if i’m in a hurry or more if i’m feeling extra tapped out. most of the time i crave it, but i occasionally have to remind myself it’s more important to squeeze in a tiny reading *before* i sit down to edit photos or blog or whatever. but reading the bible together! that’s incredible!! i’m so intimidated by that idea but i’d love to do the same! and thank you for the recommendation!! i will look that up for sure!!!