When God Needs Your Attention at 5am

My sweet blogging friends at A Fractured Faith wrote about “why do you get out of bed in the morning?” To quote them,

“Some mornings both the flesh and the spirit are unwilling when it comes to rising and facing the daily grind. “

This had me cracking up! It’s soooooo true! I am one who needs and LOVES her sleep! I like to go to bed early and sleep in as late as physically possible. I can totally relate to the “flesh and spirit” not being willing to rise!

We recently were back on the mainland for my father-in-laws funeral. During this week away, my internal clock shifted to their local time in Texas. Even after returning to Hawaii, I find myself on their time. To be honest, I kind of like getting up at 5am! Stop everything-YES! I just said that!

My goal is to always get up at least 30-60 minutes before the kids do so I can have my coffee and spend some time with God and do a devotional. However, I’ll admit, pressing that “snooze” button had gotten to be a much to common thing for me. In fact, there were times I’ll admit I woke up AFTER the kids-yikes! That’s fun to wake up to! Imagine an entire box of cereal “fitting” into a child’s cereal bowl with only the marshmallows missing from the Lucky Charms with the dog happily licking up any stars that landed on the kitchen floor! Someone was “lucky” alright, but it wasn’t this momma! haha

It’s not that I don’t enjoy my devotion time. I just enjoy my pillow at 5am much more. However, this has changed since our trip. The first few days back, I grumpily got up at 5am thinking, “I can’t sleep so I might as well get up. And, man am I going to pay for this later!” And, I did. I was dragging by the time 2 hours of basketball practice was over (an hour for each kid).

But, something kept waking me up at 5am.

We’ve been back for a week now, and I’m still waking up at 5am-no alarm clock needed! I don’t even have the option of getting that satisfaction of pressing “snooze!” ha

It dawned on me about 4 days in….maybe it’s God speaking to me. Maybe He’s trying to get my attention. Maybe He is trying to tell me, I need to go back to making Him a morning priority. When I think of it that way, I can’t help but laugh. It’s like he’s saying, “Well, Lacy! You wouldn’t get up at 6am to spend time with me….I’m going to wake you up at 5am and see if that get’s your attention!” And, he can do that-he’s God! lol

I always bounce around my devotional books. My favorite “mommy” one is still Pressing Pause. I buy it every time I see it at the thrift store and pass it on to someone else. It was a game changer for me! I picked up a new mommy devotional recently: From Grouchy to Great.

I feel like having a devotional book that relates to my season of life is vital. Sure, I enjoy the general devotionals like Jesus Calling. But, there’s just something about a mommy devotion that speaks right to my heart! It’s always what I need to hear in that moment because, let’s face it-my kids ARE my life right now and that is what I need to focus my attention on.

I will speak more on this in tomorrows blog about why it’s important for moms to take a break from time to time. But, I’ll touch on it a bit now too. I have come to REALLY enjoy this quiet time alone in the mornings. Time when the kiddos are still tucked up in their little nest and I have a moment to enjoy the silence that doesn’t last long enough!

Beginning the day and ending the day with some time to myself makes me feel complete.

I’m not just a busy mom. I’m Lacy. I can spend time with God without interruptions which I feel is probably the biggest advantage of making time for myself. It’s God’s guidance that gives me grace, patience and understanding when it comes to raising my kids each day. Being a military wife, I do it on my own 90% of the time. Without God, I wouldn’t be as loving and I would constantly be stressed out doing it “alone.” But, with my relationship with Christ, I don’t feel alone. I know I have God in my corner fighting for me and guiding each decision I make as I shape their lives.

So, here I sit, at o’dark thirty in a quiet house where I can actually hear the clocks ticking. I’m enjoying a cup of coffee. I listened to God’s beckoning and read my devotional and I’m actually EXCITED to hear the pitter patter of my kids’ feet running down the stairs to find me. I am THANKFUL for this day. I am THANKFUL for my Godly 5am alarm clock. Maybe I’ll even have their Lucky Charms ready for them? ha

With Aloha,

Lacy

Daily word prompt: nest

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