Many years ago I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a conference in Ephesus. The guest speaker, Elizabeth Elliott. Yeah, it was pretty great. I have two memories from that conference. The first one is when we were at the amphitheatre in Ephesus and Elizabeth Elliott stood in the middle of the stage, no mic, no nothing, and began reading Scripture. It was amazing.
The other memory I have is when Elizabeth Elliott shared how moms need to be intentional about their quiet time even if it means getting up at 3 a.m. to do it so you won't be disturbed. Well, being that I was single at the time, I thought that was crazy. And guess what? Now that I'm married and have three kids, I still think that is crazy!
But it is something that has stuck with me. And there have been times in my days of motherhood that I have had opportunity to have quiet times of prayer at 11 p.m., 2 a.m., and 5 a.m. There have been prayer times at 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Special times of praying for my children. Quiet time to focus and reflect on my Lord.
Those middle of the night quiet times of prayer, however, have ceased. You see, as of last week, Isaiah is weaned. I actually haven't been up in the middle of night for a couple of months now but I cant' help but think of those special times and most definitely amazing times of prayer as this particular season of mommyhood has come to an end.
Yes, my prayer life has diminished in quantity of set aside times of prayer BUT no way have I stopped praying. My reliance is on the Lord. It is He who sustains me through each day as I raise my three children. I pray that they will grow to love the Lord with all of their hearts, minds, and souls. And I pray that they, too, will understand the importance of prayer.
3 comments:
This is a good reminder! Thanks Keri
Thank you for this post. I needed it!
I've been thinking about this post for a few weeks now. Maybe it's my age (a little more mature) or the consistency of a morning nap, but I have become so much more determined to make sure I use morning nap as my reading and prayer time. I often think of all the things I could do morning nap, but if I choose to skip the time with God the rest of the day just seems off. Years ago when I was in college I went to a conference and heard Ann Graham Lots say "Sleep deprivation is far better than God deprivation." It didn't really mean anything to me until I had Lily.
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