Everyone who reads my blog or knows me well, knows that I am always busy. I do believe I thrive off of being busy. I know other ladies who are even more busy than I am. Often times I hear ladies (as well as men) talk about how they have forsaken their "alone" time with God. How they feel bummed and sad that they haven't spent time with him, or how they feel lonely or distant from him. I have to admit that I have had those times. As believers we all know that God has not went anywhere. He is right there. It is us as humans that have wondered away from him and are not doing are part of the deal. Remember "He never leaves us or forsakes us". This morning I was reading during my devotion from a cute little book that I recommend to all you moms out there. The book is called "The Bathtub is Overflowing but I Feel Drained". It is book simply on "how to defeat mommy stress". I am going to share something from this book in a moment but first I feel I must reflect on what brought this blog on this morning.

This time of year typically seems to always send my mind spinning about the way I was raised. Being raised in a particular denomination with tons of "man" made rules. I think it is because I know there annual gathering is going on. I am not saying that I am not thankful for good, God fearing parents. I feel they did the best they could with my brother and myself. We were taught to"fear" God and to be obedient. I do sometimes feel that the "fear" we experienced was not the "fear" the Bible is talking about. Many times I did the "discipleship" deeds such as reading the Bible, praying, serving as if I were fulfilling my "spiritual responsibility" not out of a heart of worship or out of a desire that was to please God but to please man and even please myself. In the past I have felt like my walk with God was not what it should be. I realized that it was my fault, not God's of course. It is important that we read our Bibles, pray, seek God, and serve but not out of duty! Often times we make this a duty and not an act of worship or discipleship. I want to share with you part of my devotion this morning. It is my hope that this will speak to some of you in the same way it spoke to me.

"When we serve God merely out of duty, we add religious items to our already full days: read the Bible, spend time in prayer, go to church, serve in some ministry, and keep a good Christian smile on while doing it all. God's life-giving principles are reduced to another set of rules we're forced to follow. Instead of refilling and refreshing us, our relationship with God becomes another source of stress."

The author, Lysa Terkeurst goes on to tell us how we can change this, how we can capture the lover of our souls and how we can make it change for our good. Three ways she gives...1. Praise God for the Good 2. realizing our struggles are a tug towards eternity 3. It all hinges on choice.
I encourage each of you moms to go purchase this book so that you can gain more insight than I can share through a single blog.

May each of desire to draw closer to our heavenly Father out of desire and not duty!!!!