Haylee (Daughter)

Children are great forms of accountability, especially when it comes to your faith and spending time with God. Before becoming a mom, it was easier to make excuses for myself and the time I spent working on my relationship with Him. Now that I have a little one though, it definitely is a lot more difficult to do that, especially at this age. She’s like a sponge – watching, repeating, mimicking everything she sees me doing. I literally caught her sitting in the exact position I was sitting in the other day!

All that to say, I want to make sure that I am setting the best example possible for her. So, here are some things I do to stay close to God in the chaos of motherhood – and how I include her in most of it.

Family Worship

Starting your day with God is SO important. It sets the tone for the entire day. It’s kinda like when you don’t have time for your coffee in the morning because you’re running late or you have a disruption in your morning routine, so the whole rest of the day feels off and terrible…skipping time with God first thing is like that – at least it is for me and my family. Every morning we listen to a devotional and spend time in prayer. Now, with a toddler, sometimes it means having to repeat the devotion a couple times or pause then restart a prayer, but we make it work, and it’s so worth it!

Music

I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up. For a long while they were involved in the choir at church and even after they weren’t, my Papa played the guitar, so he was always playing songs or melodies just because. Music has always been a huge part of my life, so it makes sense that I find comfort and closeness to God in it. It’s so easy to include music in your day too. Driving somewhere? Turn on worship music. Cleaning the house? Turn on your favorite hymn. Putting your little one down for a nap? They have lullaby versions of a lot of some of your favorites. Swapping secular music for worship music can change an entire mood around. 

Alone Time + Prayer

An ongoing goal of mine is to spend more time in my Bible without distraction. Obviously I say “ongoing” because toddlers love to be a part of everything you’re doing. Nap times (if there is one) usually mean catching up on chores, business tasks, or just taking a moment to decompress. Sometimes, and not as often as I’d like to, I spend alone time in my Bible, meditating on His word, and praying for whatever comes to mind – and most importantly thanking God for all He’s done in my life. I also find myself praying a lot when I’m driving somewhere or even in the shower of all places. As a mom, I don’t always have the luxury of being able to turn off my brain except in these places, so it makes sense that’s where I do some of my best praying.

Sharing God with My Toddler

This is probably one of my favorite ways to stay close to God. She also loves music, so it’s no surprise that music plays a big part in her daily routine. The Minno App has great videos filled with music for little ones, and we use it every day – definitely worth the small subscription fee. It also has Bible stories with children friendly explanations that she loves.  My favorite thing to do with her though is singing in the car. She loves to sing and dance, watching her jam out in the car to worship music and kids Christian music is one of the greatest things in the world.