Ten Practices for Moms Seeking God

I’d like to introduce you to Julia Roller. Her new book, Mom Seeks God: Practicing Grace in the Chaos, is a beautiful and honest account of her struggles as a new mom and her desire to grow closer to The Lord. It was a privilege to read and endorse Julia’s book. May her heartfelt words encourage you on your journey.
xo Becky

Becoming a mom was the best thing that ever happened to me.

But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard.

On the contrary, I think it was precisely because I took motherhood so very seriously that I found it so hard.

I wanted to be really good at being a mom, but instead I struggled.

I struggled with the lack of sleep, with the lack of alone time and quiet, but mostly I struggled with self-doubt, with the sense that I wasn’t good enough for this challenge, that I wasn’t doing everything–or anything–right.

At the same time, I found myself struggling to reach God. The conditions that I’d felt I needed to connect with God–quiet and time to myself–didn’t seem to exist in my new life as a mom. I was confronted with my own limits–my impatience, my exhaustion, my own selfishness–and I craved forgiveness. I needed God.

So I set out to learn how to reach God in my new life as a mother–through a year in which I focused on ten different spiritual practices–prayer, fellowship, submission, study, simplicity, service, silence, fasting, worship, and celebration.

Perhaps the most surprisingly effective practice was simplicity. I realized that my tendency was to seek God by piling spiritual tasks onto my to-do list–staying up late to carve out extra time for prayer, reading through five books of the Bible, etc. Yet many of my most meaningful times of meeting God came when I instead subtracted things from my life–through practices like silence, fasting, and simplicity.

Throughout it all I also learned to give myself a little more grace about not being perfect all the time. Most importantly, I discovered that motherhood itself, in the way it shifted my focus onto another person, was perhaps the most effective discipline of them all.

How did motherhood change your spiritual life?

Apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

Julia Roller‘s most recent book is Mom Seeks God: Practicing Grace in the Chaos. She writes and edits in San Diego, CA, where she lives with her husband, two sons, and a miniature dachshund named Jane Austen. For more about Julia and her books, please see www.juliaroller.com.

Julia’s new book, Mom Seeks God, is the story of her journey through her ten practices, including her “non-expert” tips on how other busy moms can connect to God. If you’re a mom or just find yourself struggling to find the time for prayer and other ways of meeting God in your daily life, check out Mom Seeks God.

Books are available at www.juliaroller.com.

© 2014 Becky Danielson. All rights reserved.

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