Before I had kids, I used to imagine what my life as a mom would be like.
We would spend our days doing crafts and baking cookies. We would have long, leisurely days at the park and hiking. We would attend church on Sundays and host Bible studies during the week. We’d sit down for family meals every night.
Sounds heavenly, right?
Except that couldn’t be farther from my life right now.
With three small children, a husband who travels, and a part-time job, the noise in my life was LOUD. There was never enough time to get all the things I needed to finish in a day completed.
I was not prepared for motherhood. I was not prepared for being fully responsible for other human beings. I was not prepared for the craziness, the crying, the fussing, the whining, and the meltdowns. I was not prepared for just how exhausting it would be, or how alone I would feel.
I couldn’t keep up--with my house, with my marriage, or with my job. I felt like a failure in every sense of the word.
In other times in my life when I faced darkness, my faith always helped bring me back to the light; but there just wasn’t any time. Church activities were the first to go.
It was okay, though, as I promised myself I would always have a few minutes to pray and spend a few minutes with Him.
Except there wasn’t any time. I seemed to fill any spare moments with folding laundry or returning text messages or cleaning up messes–or sometimes even Netflix.
And my spirit deteriorated. I started feeling anxious all the time. I snapped at my husband and my kids. I was exhausted and ashamed.
I was drowning in motherhood.
I stumbled across the WRITE the WORD journals late one night while browsing Instagram. The description grabbed me right away:
The best-selling Write the Word Journals get you right into the Bible without the fluff—it’s so simple!
1. Open your Write the Word journal
2. Write out the pre-selected scripture
3. Feel your faith grow—no perfection required!
No perfection required. No planning. Not even a lot of thinking.
It took one week for me to find my connection to God again. Seven days.
The
WRITE the WORD series of journals was created by a mom, for moms. Each day, you get a pre-selected verse to copy, and then a space to write your thoughts, prayers, or anything else God places on your heart.
I chose the
Fruit of the Spirit journal because the color was gorgeous (if I’m being honest) and also because it focuses on the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control–all areas where I knew I needed to grow as a mother.
I’m not going to lie. In the beginning, it was hard. On the first two days, all I completed was copying the verse. Days 3-5, I scribbled a few notes in the space labeled “What I’m Grateful for” and then prayed how I hoped I could make it to bedtime. But, by day 6, I looked forward to spending a few minutes with my beautiful journal and pulling my Bible out of my nightstand. I wanted to see what verse would be waiting for me.
By day 7, I was hooked.
I wanted to pray.
I wanted to connect with God the way I had before I became overwhelmed with motherhood.
If you’re not sure how to communicate with God lately, this journal is a great tool. It doesn’t solve all my problems–like all that laundry and dishes–but it does help me stay connected to Him, and gives me an opportunity to practice some gratitude for all the blessings in my life.
While I bought my
WRITE the WORD journal to help me get out of the trenches, it’s now my go-to gift for the women in my life–because I don’t know a mom out there who doesn’t need a little encouragement and can grow in her relationship with God. Plus, I love how gorgeous the journals look and the quality and variety of products. They even have one for
kids!
Getting Started with your WRITE the WORD Journal
I want you to begin your journal experience on the right foot. Here’s what worked for me.
1. Be flexible. At first, I tried to pick a time every day I would sit with my journal every day, which for me, was early morning before my day started. But then, the baby woke up early. Or my alarm didn’t go off. I felt defeated before I even started. Instead, I had to make a conscientious choice to use it. That meant sometimes the dishes waited until later, or my kids watched 15 extra minutes of a show. Letting myself have this time whenever I could fit it in was a major mind shift, but it was so important for my relationship with God and my personal well-being.
2. Get familiar with the journal first. The night before I started, I read the intro. I skimmed the book and read some of the verses. I placed sticky-note placeholders in my bible so I could easily access relevant scripture. I also found an app that I could use on my phone in the instance I did not have access to my Bible. This meant I could use my journal at the park when my kids played or even in the car while waiting for my daughter to finish with dance.
3. Talk about it with your family. The journal is just a conduit to something much more important: finding a way to reconnect with God. Share with your family how you are trying to reestablish your relationship with Him, and how you hope they will try and support you.
4. Have fun! The intro of the journal stresses this. It encourages users to use colored pens and stickers, to make a mess, to do the pages in whatever order you’d like. This was hard for me to grasp at first, but now it reminds me that God doesn’t want me to be perfect. He just wants to have a relationship with me.
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