Category Archives: Quiet Times Podcast

It Can’t Wait: Teaching Our Children About God

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I wonder, as families, are talking about the Lord very often? I mean, really, if I were to ask you if we should be talking about the Lord, you’d answer, “Yes, of course we’re supposed to be talking about the Lord!” However, when it comes down to it, it’s not as easy as it sounds, is it? It’s easier to put the Lord at the end of our day or at the end of our conversation, if we even remember Him at all.

Sometimes, we only mention His name when we need help. I think this is the common response— we we run to God only in times of crisis or emergency. Certainly, God is there in those times, but I wonder what our families would look like if we ran to Him on a daily basis rather than in times of crisis or struggle.

If you already have your Bible, turn with me to a familiar passage that most of you probably know. It’s in the Old Testament, in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6:5-7. This is what it says:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

A couple of years ago, my husband and I began a writing project called Firmly Planted. The heart behind this Bible study is to engage the whole family in the study God’s Word. One book, with activities and engaging questions for all ages. We began this project in response to something that we saw happening within the homeschool community, but as we spoke to our friends outside the homeschool community we began to see that many of us were struggling with the same thing. We talk a lot about walking with the Lord, but we are not doing anything proactively to teach and train our children in the ways of the Lord.

This may require a sacrifice of time and energy on our part as parents, but one thing is certain: if we don’t teach our children about God, the world will do it for us. We want our children to know the Lord, we want them to give Him the same place in our families that He holds in the universe. The Bible says that God is the Creator of all things.

So, as you consider your family, take a step back and ask yourself, “Are we studying the Bible as a family? Do my children see me reading the Bible? Do they know that God has a place in our family, that He is the most important part of our family?”

God deserves a place in your family, busy mom, and, you know what? He deserves first place. He deserves to be at the head of the table. Our children need to know that God is real and personal. They need to know that He loves them and wants to have a relationship with them.

Does this take effort? Yes, it does.

Someone asked me one time, “How do you make your children love the Bible?” I had to laugh a little as I remembered all the times that my children had grumbled and complained when we gathered the family for devotions. They would say things like, “Really mom? Do we HAVE to do that?” I’d like to say that it was perfect, but there were times where arguing was involved. Looking back, I can honestly say that the most important times that I remember with my adult children were when we were reading the Word and God really spoke to them in such a way that they began to see their relationship with Him in a personal way.

Let your kids see that God takes first place in your family. Although God deserves to have priority in the lives of your family members, don’t just do it for Him. Put Him first in your family for the sake of your family and you will find that there is tremendous blessing in walking with God.

My grandpa used to say,

“If you keep God outside of your family, there will be problems inside your family.”

Grandpa was right. We see this in our culture, too. Where we remove God, we struggle and suffer. Walk with God, busy mom. Spend time in His Word with your kids and then see what God will do.

P.S. Have you been enjoying these daily devotions in podcast format? I hope so—because I’m sure enjoying recording them! Let me know how you’re doing—and feel free to post questions, too! I hope these daily devotions are helping you get into the Bible on a consistent basis.

Rarely Early, Never Late: God Can be Trusted

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Hi Moms…

Today I am in the book of Genesis, so if you have your Bible with you, go ahead and take it out and get your highlighter or your ball-point pen (or whatever makes you happy when you sit down with your Bible) and get ready to mark it up a bit. Today, I want to talk about the faithfulness of God and how trust worthy God is.

I’m not going to read the whole passage, but I want to encourage you to read all of it on your own, and that Scripture is Genesis 22:1-19. This is the story of Abraham and Isaac. Some of you might not be familiar with this story so I am going to give you some background on it. Basically, Abraham has been asked by God to lay down his son on the altar and to sacrifice him. It is an incredible story of God testing Abraham’s faith.

In Genesis 22:14, we read,

“So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Now, this is the end of the story, where God clearly provides a sacrifice for Abraham and Isaac was not a required sacrifice. But, here is a tremendous lesson we learn about the relationship God had with Abraham, because God is the same as today than He was all those hundreds of years ago.

The Bible says that God and Abraham were friends. Can you imagine that? As God and Abraham became friends, God tested Abraham. He offered to enter into an agreement with Abraham. God told Abraham that if he would obey Him and would be blameless, He would Abraham’s family with many children and that God’s blessing would be on Abraham’s family forever.

As part of that agreement, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham. God often changed people’s name in the Bible to signify a new beginning; Jacob became Israel, for example, and Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter. So, Abram became Abraham and now, we see, he has a son named Isaac. Abraham was like any father, he loved his son very much and Isaac meant more to Abraham than anything on earth, except for Abraham’s love for God.

One day, God told Abraham to take his son Isaac to a particular mountain and offer him up as a sacrifice. I can’t even imagine what it was like; it’s always gut-wrenching to even think that God would ask Abraham to do this! It’s a good example of our inability to understand God’s ways. God asked Abraham to do this and, of course, Abraham was upset and afraid, but the Bible says he obeyed and he trusted God.

Can you imagine trusting God that way? He gathered two of his servants, a donkey, some wood to build a fire, and he set off with his son Isaac. After several days, they arrived at the mountain and Abraham and Isaac went alone the rest of the way. Isaac carried the wood and Abraham only took his knife and a flint to light the fire. Suddenly, Isaac looked around and realized they had no lamb for their offering and he asked his father where they might find a sheep. But, Abraham answered saying, “God will provide a lamb for us.” And they continued on their way.

Now, just for a few seconds, try to put yourself in Abraham’s position. Abraham loved the Lord, he knew that God had been faithful to him in the past and God had demonstrated His power and His sovereignty in Abraham’s life over and over again. And now, He was asking Abraham to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Let’s continue with our story…

At last they had arrived at the place that they were instructed to go and Abraham began stacking the wood to make a fire. Now, all this time, Abraham knew God had asked him to sacrifice his son. Could you imagine how sad he would’ve been as he walked for three days toward the mountain? What do you think was going through Abraham’s head? He must have believed his own words and I’m sure he was praying as he walked with his beloved son towards their destination.

This story illustrates how hard it can be to trust and obey God—but it’s also a wonderful example to us of following God through difficult circumstances. Abraham trusted and loved God. He knew God’s heart toward him and his son was good. In the end, Abraham was going to obey the Lord, no matter how hard it was.

When Abraham and his son reached the place they were going, Abraham had Isaac lie down on the wood on the altar. The time of the sacrifice had come—and still God had not supplied a lamb, so Abraham obediently took out his knife (could you imagine this?) and prepared to sacrifice his son. To Abraham’s relief, at the last moment, God finally spoke and told Abraham not to harm Isaac. He then provided a ram for a sacrifice.

Could you imagine how relieved and thankful Abraham was at that moment? He had trusted and obeyed and the Lord did not let him down. God came through for Abraham at the last moment, and because Abraham obeyed, God reaffirmed the covenant with him. Today, God’s promise remains in effect; Abraham has many, many descendants.

We see this kind of faith throughout Scripture, but never more poignantly than in the story of God’s own son, Jesus. Just as God would someday offer His only son Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins, so was Abraham willing to offer his son as a sacrifice.

Are you facing something difficult in your life right now? Is God asking you to do something difficult? Maybe He is asking you to move to a different city. Maybe He is asking you to homeschool your children. Maybe He is asking you to take a quieter time around the table in relationships around you. Maybe God is asking you to trust Him in the midst of an illness or financial struggle. Maybe God is asking you to spend more time with Him.

Whatever He is asking you to do, the Bible tells us that one thing is for certain: God can be trusted.

You can trust the Lord today, busy mom. Take your burdens to Him, let Him guide and direct you, and then believe that He will come through for you. God is rarely early, but He is never late.

Finding Balance {Part 4} Setting Boundaries

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Have you ever struggled with setting boundaries in your life?

Today, we are on step 4 of the four-part steps of finding balance. Remember, we are using the acrostic word HATS, because of all many HATS we wear as women. Here they are:

H- Have right priorities
A– Act according to your priorities
T– Take the pulse of the relationships in your life … and finally …
S– Set boundaries

I think there should be a verse in the Bible that talks about how every one of us will have struggle with this in their life, everyone is going to have a difficult person they have to deal with, because we are constantly learning (as women, especially) to set boundaries. We need to set boundaries with relationships with the opposite sex; we need to set boundaries with friends and family members that sometimes suck the life out of us I wrote about this a few posts back. We need to be a NO DRAMA MAMA! That means that we learn to say “no.”

As Christians, we have a sometimes hard time setting boundaries because we want to be godly, we want to be gracious, we want to be good, and we don’t want to say no.

The good news is, while it is hard to set boundaries, you can learn to do it!

Jesus set boundaries, too! There are verses in the Bible that talk about Jesus getting away by Himself to talk with the Lord, and to bring back His spirit into alignment with the Holy Spirit so that He could do what God wanted Him to do. There are many times when Jesus says, “Father, help Me.”

As women, we need the Lord’s help, don’t we?

I love this verse in Proverbs 29:25. It reminds us to seek God’s will. If we’re trying to find balance, the place to begin is to listen to God first and not other people. The verse says, “The fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.”

Mom, love is not always giving people what they want. We see this in Jesus’ life that He often set boundaries. He drove sellers out of the temple, He rebuked the Pharisees’ hypocrisy, He turned away potential followers, and He left the disciples so He could spend time alone with His Father. If Jesus needed to refresh and come away, surely busy moms need to do the same thing.

We need to set boundaries in our own life. Often times when we forget to use boundaries it leaves us despaired and exhausted, and we look at the end of the day and wonder where did our time go?

Part of setting boundaries in our own life is learning what our own limitations are. When was the last time you asked “What are my limitations?” Knowing our limitations helps us set boundaries. What drives one mom crazy is going to make another mom happy: we are not the same.

I have a dear friend and we’ve been friends for about 25 years, and…she thinks I’m crazy. Mainly because she could never live my life. She thinks my schedule is crazy, she thinks me having all these children is crazy, and I look at her life and think I could never live her life—after all—it would be so boring!

The reason our friendship works so well is that we get each other. We know that we are different people with different temperaments, and we each have a set of different limitations. It sounds easy enough, right? But learning to set boundaries according to your limitations and your priorities is a lifelong pursuit for most women I’ve met.

Don’t forget about priorities, either. Once you have figured out what really matters to you, you can begin to build those boundaries around your priorities, and base your boundaries on what is important in your life. For example, if having too much on your calendar stresses you out, you’ll struggle in the more important role of taking care of your children the way you want to. In this case it’s time to let some things on the calendar go or push them to a different season.

Speaking of seasons, remember the tree in Psalm 1? Among other things, it reminds me to bend, not break. I love the imagery of a tree planted by the streams of water. I can imagine the wind blowing and that tree bending back and forth but it doesn’t break, because its roots go down deep in the soil of God’s Word. That’s what we want in our own lives—to be so rooted in Christ that our priorities and our boundaries come from Him.

If you’re in a place where you need to make some changes, start today. Take some time, if you haven’t already, to ask yourself those four questions:

What is important to me?

Where am I going?

How do others perceive me?

What are my limitations?

We can constantly feel a pull of wanting to do what other people want us to do, but, in the end, we need to do what God wants us to do.

Are you ready? You’ve got this!

Finding Balance {part two} Acting According to Your Priorities

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I have been talking to you for the last couple of days about priorities and today, we find ourselves in the book of Galatians, in chapter 6 verse 9. I have talked about this verse before, but today I want to give a little spin on it at look at it from a different angle.

Remember the acrostic that we are doing is the word “HATS” and we’re talking about the different hats that we wear as women? The ‘H’ is for ‘Have Right Priorities’ and ‘A’ is for ‘Act According to Your Priorities.’

So, once you determine what your priorities are, you want to act upon them. Don’t sit around, but make steps in the right direction.

Galatians 6:9 says, “We cannot allow ourselves to get tired of living the right way; certainly each one of us will receive everlasting life at the proper time if we don’t give up.”

One of my favorite things to say to moms is “Plant with the harvest in mind.” In other words, as you go about your day, be thinking “What do I want to have accomplished by five o’clock today?” Or, “What should I get done so I feel like this time tomorrow I’ve done something successful?”

Sometimes, it just means sit around and read to your children. Sometimes, it means we need to manage our homes so there is no chaos in the evening or chaos in the morning. Sometimes, it means we need to spend more time with our husband. Once you’ve figured out what your priorities are, you have to take steps to act upon those priorities.

So, the question that you want to ask yourself today is: Where am I going?

A few days ago, I was talking to the Lord about this.

Before my surgery, I was really been feeling burdened, because we had so many things going on in our lives—and we knew that we had some things coming up that are going to take me “off the grid” for a while. I’ve been worried about those things and have been praying about them.

I really sensed the Lord saying, “You know what? You need to rest in Me.” Let me tell you, moms, I have a hard time doing that. And so, I sat down and began to write some things down that I felt that the Lord was prompting me to write. Wouldn’t you know it? One of them was just for me to slow down.

Now, some of you may be the opposite of me and need to get up and get moving, yet some of you may be like me who need to slow down and enjoy your children more.

And so, I told one of our kids to go and pick a missionary story because I haven’t read to our kids in a little while. I used to read to them all the time, but now I have adult children and little children and middle children, and, you know, the whole thing. And, I find that those things that I love doing are getting lost somewhere. So, my determination was to act upon my priority, and my priority was to read to my children. So, I developed my own P.O.A. – a plan of action.

I want to encourage you today as you go about your day remember the golden rule of time management. As you prepare to act upon the priorities that you’ve determined, the golden rule of time management is it’s not time management but ME management.

At the end of the day, you’re the one who determines how you spend your day, busy mom. Ask your children how you’re doing, sit down with your husband, and write out your goals together. And trust the Lord to help you find balance in your life.

Three Burdens You Can Lay Down Today

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Would you rather listen to an audio version of today’s devotion? Click on the audio player below!

Hi, busy moms!

I’m in the book of Romans today—Romans 6:14, and I want to encourage you think with me about three burdens, three things that would be good for you to lay down. First, let’s consider what the Apostle Paul had to say to the Roman people about sin that they carried:

Romans 6:14

New International Version (NIV)

14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

I’ve been noticing that I carry a few burdens with me that I don’t need to carry. There are three burdens that I have been thinking about lately … burdens that I don’t want to continue to carry with me. The first one is the burden of being right. This is a heavy one, isn’t it? We want to be right. It’s in our nature.

Have you ever been around someone who always has to be right? It’s burdensome to keep up that appearance of knowing everything, and it’s habit-forming, too. As moms, it’s easy to feel like we have to have all the right parenting advice or the best home-making skills—but here’s the thing: we don’t. No one has all the answers, and a “know it all” soon finds herself carrying around a heavy burden. It’s freeing to realize that we don’t have to have all the answers. Continue reading →

God Works Through Suffering

Finding Rest Through Surrender

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Are you struggling and in need of rest? As mothers, we spend our lives taking care of others. So how do we find refreshment and rest for our own bodies and our own souls?

In Matthew, Jesus said,

Matthew 11:29

New International Version (NIV)

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

I’ve been thinking about what that means during this season of recovering from surgery and walking through some difficult changes in my life. It’s caused me to stop and think about whether or not I’ve taken His yoke, or if I’m wearing a yoke of my own design. One thing’s for sure: when I wear a yoke of my choosing, it’s not a “easy” or “light.” It’s burdensome and heavy.

God wants His children to learn to conform to His heart for them. He wants to carry our burdens with us. More often than not, I’m discovering that whenever I struggle under the weight of a trial in my life it’s because I’ve been unwilling or unable to surrender to the season of life that the Lord has me in.

In the verse above, we can see that Jesus extends an invitation to rest—and He gives three things we must do in order to find that rest from burdens we carry:

Come to Me: God wants us to come to Him first, before we do anything. Before we take on a project or say “yes” to another weekly activity. He wants us to come to Him.

Take My Yoke: Don’t take God’s good idea for someone else’s family on yourself. Jesus taught us that that His yoke is designed just.for.you; for your soul alone.

Learn from Me: I think Jesus’ gentle reminder here was intended to keep us from relying on the teachings men rather than getting into God’s Word and seeking after Him personally. As we have seen over and over, people fail. But God doesn’t. His heart is that we would seek Him first.

So why do we still struggle, even after we’ve come to Christ? Here’s the key: Jesus said in John 15:4,

“Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.”

It’s the abiding that gets us most of the time, isn’t it? Surrendering and laying down our will for His is something we must do. It’s an act of the will. When we choose to remain in Him, we find rest. Rest is found in remaining in Christ when things get tough. This doesn’t mean thing will be easy—but I’m here to bear witness to God’s unfailing mercy and the peace He gives that really does “pass all understanding.”

If you’re struggling to find a way to surrender to the Lord today, remember that He’s waiting for you. The God of the Universe is waiting—just for you. We are loved by our Creator!

Surrender is a daily thing. Ask the Lord to help you abide in Him today, busy mom. Ask Him to help you learn what surrender looks like. He wants to carry your burden with you.

Stay surrendered and find rest,

Listen to today’s devotional here:

Order Heidi’s book on time management surrendering your days here

Heidi St. John

Speaking the Truth in Love

Category Archives: Quiet Times Podcast

It Can’t Wait: Teaching Our Children About God

Rarely Early, Never Late: God Can be Trusted

Finding Balance {Part 4} Setting Boundaries

Finding Balance {part two} Acting According to Your Priorities

Three Burdens You Can Lay Down Today

Romans 6:14

God Works Through Suffering

Finding Rest Through Surrender

Matthew 11:29