The Peaceful Mompreneur

Quiet Time in the Chaos: How to Stay Rooted in Jesus in Every Season

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Have you ever felt like life's chaos is pulling you away from what truly matters? Join me on a journey through the everyday challenges faced by busy moms striving to keep their spiritual connection with Jesus Christ alive. I'll share a personal story about a day that didn't exactly go as planned due to a child's illness, highlighting the grace and understanding needed in our spiritual journeys. We'll tackle the guilt, distractions, and busyness that often hinder our time with God and discover practical strategies to overcome these obstacles, ensuring that even amid life's madness, we can find meaningful ways to stay connected to the divine.

This episode dives into the reality new parents often face when trying to maintain a spiritual routine in the whirlwind of life changes. I open up about my own struggle after the birth of my son, dealing with the guilt of not meeting unrealistic spiritual expectations. We'll explore the distractions posed by modern technology and how to manage them for more intentional moments with both loved ones and the Lord. Plus, discover how carving out personal quiet time, even just a few minutes a day, can foster a consistent habit of spiritual connection. Let's embrace the chaos, find peace, and renew our strength by staying rooted in the divine source.

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Aliese:

staying connected to the vine, to jesus christ, makes everything better. It makes our life more peaceful, more abundant, more full of joy all around. It's just better. Right, I know that you know that, but the thing is, are we doing it? Are you living it out as moms with young kids and young businesses, or flourishing businesses? I don't know where you're at. It can be really difficult to know that everyone needs something from you all the time. Right, your clients need you, your children need you, your husband needs you, your family needs you, your friends need you All the time. There are all of these things that are coming at you from a million directions. I totally feel you.

Aliese:

Even just today, I was in a meeting in my backyard on a zoom meeting coaching call a mastermind, and it was awesome, it was super great. But my son has been sick and so his sleep schedule is everywhere, and so he wasn't asleep yet. Normally we would be somewhere where I could be totally and completely connected with the people that I was talking to, but it didn't work out that way, because we have kids and with kids, your life just looks different. Often, right, you have a plan, but sometimes that plan doesn't always work out, and so, like I said, he's been getting over being sick and so he is needy and once in my lap, once in my face and he's dirty because our backyard's muddy and I'm trying to get him to not touch my computer and, honestly, I just had to leave because I could watch the replay later. It was very good, but the thing is it was not the moment I needed to be on that call. He needed me not the moment I needed to be on that call. He needed me, okay. And so I said that to say I know that life can absolutely be crazy, and what that means is this is the season, these are the challenges in this season that you're in. It is not an excuse to not spend time with the Lord. It is the obstacles that you've been given right now to overcome, and so I know that you can do that and I know that I can do that, and I don't always do it. Sometimes I fail. Often I fail.

Aliese:

Now I want you to give yourself grace, like 100% give yourself grace, because there are times when your kids are sick and you are sleeping on their floor and you are not sure what time it is because you don't have your watch or your phone and so you have no idea if you're getting up on time or not. But you know he hasn't been sleeping, so now you're not going to wake him up, you're just going to stay on the floor. And now you've missed your quiet time and the day has started. So give yourself some grace. That's a real thing that just happened to me today, actually and so just be aware that the things that I'm saying give yourself grace. God gives you grace, and allow yourself to fall and to make mistakes right. We are not giving ourselves excuses to not do it normally. We are giving ourselves grace to know that God's not going to smite you. Jesus still loves you, Even if you miss a day spending time with him and, honestly, you can spend time with them in a different way that day, saying prayers all throughout your day.

Aliese:

So, saying all this, I have for myself, my own personal life and from talking to lots of different women, I have found three things that really distract us or really keep us better word, keep us away from doing the time that we know we need to do with the Lord, giving him what he deserves, because he is the God of the world, right Of the universe, and he asked, he wants to spend time with us. What a beautiful, glorious thing. He wants to spend time with you and he wants to spend time with me. Why aren't we doing it? Now? These are the three reasons that I have found that really hinder it, and so we're going to walk through these three and we're going to talk about how to combat these three, and then we're going to talk about how to make sure that even in this season, the season of little people, business, regular life, being a wife, being a friend, all the things that you can still find that time to spend with the Lord. Okay, these are the three things that I have found often keep us from making that time and making an effort to spend that time with the Lord Staying connected to the vine, there are guilt, distractions and busyness.

Aliese:

So let's start with guilt first. I have shared this before, but it is mentioned. It can be mentioned again. I very quickly felt guilty after I had my son, because the time that I was spending with the Lord well, first off, it was like nothing in the very beginning Newborn life did not expect, did not understand what I was about to get myself into Anywho, that's a side note so I just felt so bad that I couldn't get myself one out of the bag and two, I couldn't figure out how to make my time look like it used to look whenever I didn't have kids. Like what it looked like before, which was a lot. I did a lot, I spent a lot of time with the Lord, but then I just couldn't do it. And so all that guilt of not making it look like the way it used to look was a big deal to me and it hindered me from even giving him what I did have, what I did have.

Aliese:

You know, we talk about tithing and with money, right, if you make no money, then there's no tithe to give. If you have no energy, there's very little energy to give. So, like, honestly, it's not really in the Bible like that, but it's a good way to think of it, right, if you have very little energy, then God is not expecting you to spend four hours with him in the morning. If you give him what you have, that is what he's expecting. And I was talking about what also, like what do you think it should look like? What we expect our quiet time to look like? If, before you had kids, you were spending time with them. Maybe you wanted to look just like that, but maybe you weren't spending time with him. Before you had kids, you were spending time with them. Maybe you wanted to look just like that, but maybe you weren't spending time with them before you had kids. Maybe you weren't even a Christian, maybe you didn't know the Lord yet.

Aliese:

Now the Internet is full of Bible studies, devotionals, curriculums, pins that tell you all these things that you can do on Pinterest, instagram, posts of people's quiet time and all of those things. They're cool, they're great, actually, if you want to use one of them, but honestly, it's terribly overwhelming to try to do everything that the internet tells you to do. So the thing is, it doesn't have to be complicated, it doesn't have to look pretty, it doesn't have to be, at a certain time, like none of those things matter. So just take a step back from the overwhelm which is the internet, which is can be good, but also not great. Okay, it can take over your life. So take a step back and realize that you can spend time with the Lord without all of that extra stuff Not important at all. He just wants to spend time with you, all right. So that is guilt. So let's back away from guilt. Let's say no to that Distractions.

Aliese:

If I had my phone, I wasn't recording this on it. I would show it to you. Okay, our phones are a beautiful thing. We are the first time in history at least recent history at the very least because the internet came out when I was a kid. It's came out for public use, like regular people. I was little whatever. The AOL CDs came out. Maybe you don't know what those are, but I'm telling you I'm only 34 and the internet has not been around that long. Okay, so there is that, and so the internet and these smartphones. They're definitely haven't been around for that much longer. I was 18 when I got a smartphone, and so the history of them are not that it's not that long in the scheme of the world Right, and so we don't know what it does to us to have so much access to so many things. Now, I love the internet and I love my smartphone, and I can get places that I would never be able to get to if I didn't have my GPS.

Aliese:

Now, all that being said, it can certainly take away your time that you're spending with your family, your kids, with the Lord, with your clients, all of those things, because it's always there and there's always something to look up, something to learn, a podcast, to listen to a YouTube video, something that you forgot, a calendar event to add which I love my calendar, by the way Something that you could be doing at every moment in time, and then you're not available for the people that you need to be available for, you're not present with the Lord whenever you're trying to be present with him and whenever there are times in your day when you could be connecting to the vine. Instead, it is full of this Guilty, totally guilty. I am guilty of this, and it is so easy to do. It is a habit that has to be broken, and intentionally broken, because it won't just go away because you want it to. You can pray to ask to take it away, ask the Lord to help you find times to put it down, and I have found myself doing that. Lord, please help me. Not want to just pick up my phone all the time.

Aliese:

And then also, there are apps out there that will lock you out of your phone, just straight up. Lock you out. I think it's literally called lock me out. I think that's the app that I use and it is very helpful, and so I put a time limit on my phone that I can use it every day and then a certain time at night it locks me out of almost everything, except for my GPS, which I need to get places just in case I'm somewhere, traveling or whatever and texting people. Those are basically the only things I can do after nine o'clock until 8 pm the next or 8 am the next day. So if you need something like that, I needed something like that so I wasn't so distracted, especially at night when I could have been doing something more productive, like spending time with the Lord, or in the morning, when I could be looking at my phone. Instead I'm spending time with the Lord, or in the morning when I could be looking at my phone. Instead I'm spending time with the Lord, and I can't get on my phone anyway. So it's very helpful for me. So if that's helpful for you, go ahead and use that thing as well.

Aliese:

Another distraction is using me time selfishly. We do need time to ourselves. Moms 100% need to spend time on their self doing things for themselves. I agree with that. But it is so easy to say, oh, I'm spending me time and then wind up watching four hours of television Now. Do you feel better after that? I don't feel better after that. Watching a movie that I really wanted to watch, that's one thing, something that made me feel good, right. But binging something that is not important in any way just because I feel like I need to be alone and do something that I want to, that's never made me feel better, right. So using me time more constructively, right, like what actually fills you up, and if you are actually being filled up regularly, then you'll be distracted less by me time and you'll feel like you can wish first off, we should be giving the Lord our first time, you know, before the meantime anyway. But not feeling like you have to do something for yourself constantly because you're not actually filling yourself up with the stuff that you're doing will make it easier for you to not be distracted by spending time with the Lord, and you will feel better if you just spend time with the Lord, like I know. We've talked about this already. All right, moving on Busyness, that's the last one of the three Busyness. No, they're all pretty important. Busyness takes over. Now are you?

Aliese:

You allow too many things into your life, into your family's life, and we've talked about this in the seasons of a little kid, of all kids, of all seasons of life, you cannot do everything. You can do a lot of things, you can do important things, but you cannot do everything at the same time. You can do it all in your whole life, sure, but you can't do it all at the same time, so you need to back up and figure out what's most important. Where are you spending your time that's actually good for you, good for your family and good for your business? Are you glorifying the lord and all of the things that you're doing now? If not, then it's time to back up. If you're burning yourself at both ends and you don't feel like you ever have any time to breathe and you can't find the time to spend with the Lord, then you don't need to be doing everything that you're doing Now. Are you adding those things to your calendar or is someone else adding them to your calendar? That is a conversation you need to be having, because that is an easy thing to happen Family obligations, friends that feel like you need to be there for them and for particular reasons.

Aliese:

You are the steward of your time and your families. You and your spouse are a team and the two of you need to decide in this season of life little little kid season, new business season Are you? Should you be doing everything that you're doing? Because that will rob you of all of your energy, rob you of your peace and take away the time that you could be spending and should be spending with the Lord. So that's how you combat them, right? We combat guilt by saying it does not have to look like anything. Certain God of the universe wants to spend time with me.

Aliese:

So, yes, jesus, let's do this thing, okay, whatever it looks like, however long it is, whatever I've got time for, whatever you've got for me in this block of time that I'm going to give you because you are important to me, I will give that to you. Take away the guilt, move away from the guilt, move away from the distractions. Put your phone away, put the screens away, take away your brain. That is just. You can't take away your brain. That's crazy. But ask the Lord to calm your mind so you can spend that time with him and you can stay calm, the undistracted that you can stay. Pay attention, I don't know the right word is and then remove busyness from your life because it'll wear you down. Wear you down. So now, after you know these three things that really could be hindering you from spending the quality quiet time that you want with jesus christ the being connected to the vine so that the heat can pour into you and you can overflow into all of the areas of life that you have Mom, wife, business owner, friend all of those things Now, how do you find the time to do it?

Aliese:

Where is it? Now, what I want you to do is look at your day and find some spaces that you can intentionally give the Lord. What does that look like With little people? We often have a couple of blocks right. We could get up before them if you can. You know, there was a season of my life where I was literally not able to get up before my son was up. It felt like every time I tried to get up before him, he would know and he would wake up. We've passed that season, but like there was a point, and so the mornings were not it for me, okay, but maybe they are for you.

Aliese:

There's nap times, and maybe nap time would be your time. Maybe that's the time that you work on your business time. I work on my business, but it each of us get to do it differently, right? And if the nap time is the only time, let me just give you this If you got, give God the first time, he will bless the rest of it, okay. So if you feel like I really need to work on my business in the two hours that my son or my daughter is asleep, give God some of it and see what he does with the rest of it. Give, put your heart towards him and see what he does with the rest of it. Put your heart towards him and see what he does with the rest of it. Just focus on him. God is so much bigger and so much so and is outside of time Sorry, words that he can help you do amazing things. Just put your energy with him first, get your mind right.

Aliese:

So if you're finding morning time or nap time, or maybe after they've gone to bed, right before you go to bed or right after they go down for sleep, like whenever, that would work best for you, you know that I need to lay him down or lay the kids down, and then for the next 30 minutes, I'm just going to be in my Bible, read the word, do journaling or whatever it looks like for you when you do your quiet time. Just set that up and have conversations with the people around you that it will affect, like your spouse, and so you're just finding these pockets of time and if, for some reason, you can't find one, you're too busy. You are too busy. There is something in there, even if it's only 10 minutes. There is something in there. Find a time, put it in there, make it sit on your calendar.

Aliese:

Tell the people that it's going to affect mostly your spouse, maybe older children who aren't asleep yet, or whatever that looks like for you. Tell some people, tell your best friend, that you want to do it, hold it, let them hold you accountable and just do it and keep doing it and show up over and over and over and the habit. That in the beginning will be hard. It'll get easier as it goes and then something will happen. You'll have to change it, but that's just the way it goes, because we've got little people to keep alive.

Aliese:

That's just the way it is this season, like we said, not an excuse to not spend time with the Lord. These are the challenges that you've been given. These are the little people, the business that God has given you and you are called to steward them, and I know that you can do it, and I know that you can do it, in his grace, by being connected to the vine. Let us find times to spend with him. Set yourself apart him.

Aliese:

Set yourself apart, stop being busy, don't be so guilt-ridden and remove distractions. I know those things can be hard, but they absolutely can be done, especially in the power of the Holy Spirit, which you, my friend, you, my sister, have. In the name of Jesus, I ask him that he would help you step away from all of the distractions, all of the busyness, all of the guilt that's holding you down, and that he would clearly illuminate a time that you can spend with him and that you would see the fruit of being connected to that vine the joy, the peace, the patience that you didn't know you had until you actually started getting filled up by Christ. Okay, my friends, go do it, spend time with the Lord. Amen.