on my heart {devotions or devotion?}

I love showing you pictures of my sweet babies.
I love talking baby names and nursery ideas.
I love decorating and showing you glimpses around my house.
I love all the details of planning a party.
I love crafting with my friends.
And I love getting so many ideas from all of you talented and creative ladies.

But there is something else that the Lord seems to keep bringing back to the forefront of my thoughts.
Something that I constantly battle to keep a priority.
Something that I am learning and growing in.
Something that is sometimes easier not to talk about...
because I'm guessing, if you are like me,
it is an area that tends to be a daily struggle...
and it is an area that we often tend to feel guilty about.
But something that is far too important to keep to myself.

It has to do with my daily devotional life.
Not so much about whether I am checking my "devotions" off of my daily to-do list, but do I have "devotion" for my Lord? Am I daily cultivating an intimate love relationship with Him?

I'm sure you would agree with me that we are all busy. No matter what stage of life you are in, whether you are married or not, whether you are working outside the home or working from the home, no matter how many kids you have, whether your kids are babies or grown...we are BUSY. And I feel like far too often as I've shared this long time struggle of setting aside meaningful time with the Lord and others have shared their similar struggles with me, we make excuses for each other. We sympathize in each others busyness. Especially as young moms. We remind each other that we have small kids at home and it is just about impossible to find time to squeeze in a shower or a meal, let alone time alone with the Lord. I leave those conversations feeling a little better about myself and a little less guilty. I leave continuing to run through the excuses in my head. And yet a few days later I find myself in the same place again. Knowing that I desperately NEED alone time with the Lord every day. I NEED Him to fill that hole in my life that only He can fill. I NEED His strength and wisdom to make it through each day.

Losing Cora has opened my eyes to my desperate need to be connected to my Heavenly Father EVERY DAY. Death and grief challenged me to really get to know this God that I was putting all my hope in through my darkest hours. For me, those times of desperation, drove me to my knees. It wasn't hard for me to spend time with the Lord because I knew that His strength was the only thing that would get me out of bed and through those days without Cora. Now, more than two years later, God has done and continues to do an incredible healing work in my life. The grief and heartache are still there. I don't know if I will ever feel completely "normal" again, but my life looks much more "normal" than it did in those initial weeks and months after Cora's death. As my life returns to a little more of a "normal" stay-at-home mom routine, I find myself slipping back into the same struggles of giving the Lord priority of my time.

A friend sent me a link to a breakout session from the True Woman conference. It is Nancy Leigh DeMoss speaking about our devotional lives. I loved it because I felt like it summarized so many of the things that the Lord has been teaching me over the past several months. If you have a chance today or in the next few days to listen, it is SO worth your time.

LISTEN

In this session Nancy challenges the ladies to a 30-day challenge. So, as summer begins and my schedule changes, I am feeling like this is the perfect time to do my own 30-day challenge. If there are any of you that are needing a little accountability in your own personal devotional life I would love for you to join me.

You will get a much better idea of where I am coming from if you listen to the link above. I am starting my challenge on June 1...I wanted to give you all a few days to listen to the link and consider joining me before I started. There are thirty days in June, so the challenge will be June 1-30. Basically, the challenge is this:

So, what do you think? Anyone want to join me? It will definitely take a little planning and discipline, but it is going to be so worth it. We can do it! I'll post a little more about the challenge tomorrow...