Tag: quiet time

Successful days start with successful mornings

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

I’m trying so hard to get ahead of the chaos that having a large family brings but I also know that there will be days. Days when NOTHING seems to go right, days when EVERYONE seems to get up on the WRONG side of the bed, days when NOBODY wants to listen or behave … the list could go on but I think we all get the idea.

Photo by Simon Berger on Pexels.com

One thing I’ve been trying hard to do is to get up a little early. I did this before and somehow fell out of the habit yet again but this is one habit that I am really trying to bring back. This starts by making sure that I get to bed at a decent time. This also means that I’ve really been trying to make sure that little Miss sleeps in her own little bed instead of wallowing all over me and Daddy in our bed.

Continue reading “Successful days start with successful mornings” →

Making Time For Devotions

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

If you’ve been following along with my blog you probably have seen that we are really trying to make some positive changes around this little cabin. I will be the first to admit that towards the end of last year I was not a very happy Momma. We were in the midst of a very rough parenting phase with my two special needs kiddos who are 16 & 11 (going on 30)… their attitudes and behavior were at a point that I really doubted my parenting skills and abilities. Something had to change, actually, a lot of somethings had to change.

Personal Devotions

One big thing that I had gotten away from was my daily devotions. I wasn’t having my ‘quiet time’ in the mornings before the kids woke up which meant I wasn’t having any one on one meetings with my LORD. Boy have I missed those sessions!

Well, 2019 is the year for me to stop wishing for CHANGE and to start making it happen! I’ve been posting a lot about some of the things we’ve been working on and one of those the past couple of weeks has been to start making time for devotions.

Not everyone may feel the same as I do but I really do need some time to myself. I need time to plan, to organize my thoughts, and talk to my LORD. I also have things I want to do like blog, arts & crafts projects, and I have a ton of reading to catch up on.

First things first though is making time for my daily devotions. I’ve been trying to get back into the habit of getting up early before the kids so that I can have my ‘quiet time’. I’ll admit that this hasn’t been easy especially on cold mornings like this today. Then yesterday I got up early but I had issues with the coffee maker and ended up not getting to my ‘quiet time’. I like to get comfy when I study or read so I like to have a drink with me. Sometimes I will snuggle up with a warm blanket and other times I might like to sit outside on the porch just depending on the weather and how I feel.

I also keep a notebook with me to jot down notes and also to keep track of different things I am praying about or people/situations I am praying for. One of the really important things I really try to include in prayer is our homeschool journey because without GOD’s help I can’t do this. This is a good way to keep myself organized and I can look back through my notebook to see just how much GOD has done for me and my family through the year.

Before we moved I had transformed part of my closet into a place where I could find some ‘quiet time’ even in the middle of the day. I kept my BIBLES, devotionals, and prayer journal on my desk there. It was so easy to ‘find’ time because I had everything organized. However here, in this little cabin, I don’t have a dedicated space so it has been more of a challenge for me.

Secondly, I never seem to know where to start when it comes to reading my BIBLE. Sometimes I’ll go through a phase where I just open it up and read wherever and then other times I try to follow along with a book like one of these here:

First Light Women’s Daily Devotional & Journal

Starting Your Day Right

I have started both of these books at different times but have never completed either one of them… sad but true. This year I am determined to finish one of them!

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I also like to keep some of these FREE booklets in my bags so that I have something to read when waiting at appointments or such:

Our Daily Bread

In Touch

There are also a wide variety of email devotionals and apps that you can use from your phone which make it so much easier to do this on the go. I have also found this site HERE which has many plans to use and I am going to try to read through the BIBLE this year… even though some of it may be more listening than reading. This is a goal I have had since I was young and I’ve never completely read through the entire bible yet. The site has several other FREE plans to help you with your spiritual life and you can even join as a group with friends to encourage each other.Y

Many people think that devotions need to be an in depth study but that’s not true. Your devotions should be what feels right for you. The LORD will lead you to more in depth studies when HE knows you are ready… and HE will make it all POSSIBLE.

I do have a couple of Proverbs 31 studies that I’ve bookmarked to work on this year as well as some others that I’ll share as we go through the year. I don’t want to overwhelm anyone with too much information. If there is something specific that you FEEL led to study then you can always do a GOOGLE search on the subject (ex: becoming a proverbs 31 woman bible study) and find many options to choose from.

If you aren’t sure how to set up your prayer journal you can find lots of useful ideas and printables HERE or some more great ideas HERE.

Family Devotions

I feel that not only do I need to do my personal devotions but I probably need to start including more time for family devotions as well. Now we do have some BIBLE studies and such worked into our homeschool routine but sometimes we may need to add to it.

We may try to start having a scripture reading at a designated meal time or maybe just have a certain time of day to read scripture… I’m not really sure about my plans for this additional devotion time yet but I am working on it. Sometimes we have BIBLE discussions in the van when we are going places so really it could happen anytime and anywhere.

I have found a few different ideas for family devotions HERE and HERE. If you don’t like either of those you can check out this GOOGLE search. My kids and I really enjoyed using this book here too:

Our Daily Bread for Kids: 365 Meaningful Moments with God

Couple Devotions

This is another area that I think is important but we don’t really do this yet. We have discussions on occasion but never anything set or intentional. Now for this to work it has to be something that we both can agree on and something we can work into our schedules.

Many other people may find it difficult as well but remember that you don’t have to physically be in the same place at the same time. You can decide to them via phone, FACETIME, or SKYPE or maybe just have a designated time each day to spend on your devotions.

I’ve found a few ideas for couple devotions HERE and HERE.

Not married or don’t have a partner? You can always spend a little time praying for that special person. I know I prayed for Mr. Awesome before I even met him and I am so glad I did. I loved these books HERE and HERE for this.

In the end, I don’t think you will regret any time you spend on your devotions. You should definitely start out slowly and work your way into this new routine. It takes a little while to get a new habit started and if you happen to be like me this will be a habit that will grow on you and get easier as time goes by. This one habit can make such a BIG difference in your whole LIFE… I know it does in mine.

If it seems that you are having trouble getting it started then pray for GOD to lead you in the way you should go. Maybe you are trying to do too much? Or maybe what you are trying to do just isn’t what is best for you or your family.

Have a blessed weekend!

My War Room

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog5 Comments

I don’t know how many of you have read or watched ‘The War Room’. This is one book and one movie that I can read and watch time and time again because the message is so powerful.  Even before watching the movie and reading the book I had a desire to have my own little quiet space just for me. After watching the movie and reading the book that desire grew.

So with the recent changes of rooms in our house I had intended on turning a corner of my closet into my private little area. My ‘War Room’ if you will. Things just didn’t work out as planned when we first changed rooms. My closet had turned into the catchall for everything that didn’t have a home.

Some other events happened and it made me realize there was some things that I needed to get rid of. While clearing out those things I was able to make room in another area of the house to move our pantry cabinets that had previously been in my closet.

I also had a desk on the porch outside that my brother had brought to me before with the intention that I could use it in my private little space. It has been touched by the weather and isn’t quite as pretty as it once was but I enlisted some strong muscles to help me bring it in.

I also gathered a few little items from our shed and from around the house. Just a few little things that meant something to me, things the kids had given me or things the kids had made for me. Some of them were items that others close to me had given to me.

I moved a collection of Bible verses to hang on the wall. These had been hanging on the bulletin board in the kitchen but kept getting covered over with other things. Now they can give me inspiration and motivation to start my day with.

I also brought in a small bulletin board that wasn’t really being used. I may use this to post little verses or maybe even pictures that kids make for me. I reclaimed a small CD player and gathered up some inspirational and relaxing CDs to play. In another closet I found a basket to put all of my current books in there to set on the desk.

I put up a couple of small shelves, one of which my oldest son had made, to use for knickknacks that people have given me. My oldest son had given me a tiny turtle, a little peacock came from my sister, and a couple of beautiful mugs that other people have given me.

I had a peacock clock, which if you don’t know already I enjoy collecting peacocks, that is now sitting on my desk ticking away.I also placed one of my favorite coasters on the desk to hold a drink or a cup of coffee.One of the drawers is now home to my prayer journal and my daily devotionals.

There’s even a space for my laptop. I was able to run an extension cord from an outlet close by so I have a little bit of power in my little room also. (This is only temporary until I figure out a better solution.) DD 17 gave me a little lamp from my desk and I was able to finally unpacked some Christmas gifts from a couple years back.

Among those gifts was a water globe to hold pictures, I intend to put pictures of my kids in it, a small little battery powered fountain which makes a very soothing sound, and a beautiful candle holder that may hold a scented candle in the near future.

My space is not big but it’s cozy and it’s filled with things that remind me of the people that I love the most. So while I’m sitting in my little space I can look around and see things that remind me of my friends and family and it helps me just to get in touch with those feelings and those people that I’m praying for in a deeper way.

I have some other ideas about things about a few things I may add. I will probably add an aromatherapy device of some sort as I know that Santa has brought me some oils. I may hide a stash of chocolate in one of the drawers for emergencies. I’m sure there will be a few other things as well that I think of but I plan to try to keep it as decluttered as possible.

This morning was my first day to enjoy my little space and let me tell you it was so relaxing and peaceful.  I was able to come in and put a CD on very softly, go through my devotionals, go through my prayer journal, and  give thanks to our most awesome God.

It is a very humbling experience to actually be able to spend time in the presence of God. To just sit, relax, and be still. I thank Him every day for all the blessings that He has bestowed upon me, my family, and my friends. I thanked Him today for bringing the images of what I needed to do to rearrange my house in my life in order to have this little space. I thanked Him for the awesome sense of peace I had this morning while in my ‘war room’. Note: I need to put some tissues in a drawer.

This morning I went through my normal activities and had so much peace from them. I prayed about a few things like the fact that our furnace has not been working properly. I asked God to touch it and to guide me as to what I needed to do. I got my answer and I will be replacing the thermostat soon.

Another prayer is something I have been praying about everyday for the past several months. It concerns a person, I don’t know who this person is yet for sure, but I am praying for God’s wisdom and guidance for him and for myself. Today I heard the words ‘Prepare him room’. (I know this is a phrase from a song we hear at Christmas but I wasn’t playing a Christmas CD.)

I will be taking that phrase quite literally as I’ve seen what needs to be done. I have faith that God is working for my good and that He has marvelous things in store for me. I’m telling you that this morning’s experience in my war room was one of the most humbling, gratifying, and blessed time that I have spent with my Father.

I desire to have more of these moments and experiences in the near future. I know that now I have a place where I can truly ‘be still’ and listen for His voice. It is His voice of wisdom that I have been so desperately seeking and that my heart yearns for. I long to hear Him whisper the promises of His love and His plans for me. Now I have a private place to meet with Him. I left my closet with a happy heart!

My desire now is that everyone can have a place like this to go to.I know a lot of you may not have a spot in your home or a closet big enough but just try to make some little space for yourself to spend time with God. This has been over a year in the works. Before this ‘war room’ my space was a little ottoman beside my bed. My nightstand held a stack of books and a small lamp. The top drawer of my nightstand held my prayer journal and devotionals. It was a very comfortable little space and I enjoy it so very much. However it was not my own little private space as my kids would often come in. I enjoy having them around me but sometimes Momma just needs a place to get away for a minute or two.

I challenge you each to find your own little corner, your own little closet, or just somewhere that you can go into and quietly spend some time alone doing something that makes your heart happy.

Have a blessed day! While I was finishing up this post my furnace started working! God is so good!

  

See also:

Pray In Secret

Pray In Secret

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog4 Comments

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. – Matthew 6:6

I’m sure we have all heard or read this verse at some point in our lives. It has been my desire to have a ‘secret place’ to pray. After reading ‘The War Room’ this desire became more intense. While I do feel it is important for my kids to see me praying, sometimes I just need my own little space.

Yesterday morning was one of those times. It was a bit cold in the house so I decided to turn on a heater in the bathroom before my shower. My plan was to have some quiet time while the bathroom warmed up a bit. I was sitting on the ottoman beside my bed trying to read my devotional when DS3 popped in. He had a million and one questions, maybe more than that, and he was super excited about Christmas.

Well DS14 heard little brother’s excitement and decided to make some noise of his own. His room is right next to mine so it just added to the disruptions. I was able to settle down the little one and send him back to his room for a few minutes. However DS14 was up and at it.I had to take a few minutes to get him calmed down and settled back into his bed.

I checked the bathroom and it was still a bit chilly for my liking so I attempted my quiet time again. I prayed about a few things that had happened the night before and asked God to show me what to do. I also went through my prayer journal and reviewed some of my previous requests. One of them was to be able to create a little space for myself, a prayer closet of sorts, where I can find some peace and relaxation.

I don’t know for sure if it was the Holy Spirit or just my imagination, which would have had to have been influenced by the Holy Spirit, but an idea popped into my head. I know it sounds crazy but I kept hearing the words, ‘pray in secret’, and some visions flashed in my head. I saw what needed to be done. Every obstacle was no longer an obstacle as I had seen the solution to fixing several issues, even the issue from the night before.

My faith and energy was renewed as I finished up my prayers and quiet time. I hummed a little tune as I showered and got ready for the day. I worked with a purpose to finish our morning tasks so I could set about making the vision become a reality.

Well, at nap time, it happened. I was able to rearrange some furniture in the laundry room to make room for our pantry cabinets. The pantry cabinets had been in my closet as we had no other place to put them. They had previously lined a wall in my bedroom when I had one of the smaller rooms. When we switched rooms a month or so ago I had planned on making a portion of my closet into a quiet area but the cabinets had taken up more space than expected.

Once the cabinets were out of the closet I had more space but some more things needed to be rearranged. I wasn’t sure how to do it but I had faith that it was going to happen. My dad helped me to carry in a desk from the porch. My brother had brought me the desk when we had switched rooms as I had all intentions of using it at that time. This poor desk had gotten wet and didn’t look as nice as it did before but I intended to use it anyway. We brought the desk in and left it near the closet door.

Then came the measuring and trying to decide where to put it and what would need moved. My closet is kind of a catch all for many other areas of the house. I have a filing cabinet that holds cleaning supplies, some paper supplies, and some files. There are a couple of shelves that hold other various items like my crafting tote, my sewing box, and my sewing machine. And another that holds the surplus of items that are bought at Sam’s club.

Not too mention that I have totes upon totes overhead that hold our party supplies, party decorations,camping/overnight supplies, extra bags, etc. And of course my clothes and shoes have a place in there as well. It is not really a huge space, even though I had once thought of converting it to a small bedroom, but it holds a lot of stuff. Last week I had went to my closet to hide for a bit as I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and needed a place to clear my head. Well, that wasn’t the place but after spending a few minutes in there I was motivated to declutter and organize it. This was a good thing as it made this project so much easier.

It took about another hour to finish the rearranging and moving stuff around. After taking a stroll through the house and shed to ‘shop’ for things I was able to pull it together. There are still a few more things I may add but I don’t want to clutter it up as I want to be able to relax and just ‘be still’.

I will be writing another post in the next day or so to show you my ‘war room’ and what I’ve put in there. So until then I pray that you may be able to find your own little ‘private space’.

See My War Room for how it came together.

Getting Routines Started 101

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog6 Comments

‘Your first obligation as a parent is to not bring chaos into your kids’ lives.’

OK, I should’ve written this before I started on the other posts about routines. I didn’t realize until I was writing another post, how complicated and daunting routines can seem. Truth be told we all have some kind of routine already. Continue reading “Getting Routines Started 101” →