Experience God

Fall is often a busy time for women. If you have children, the school year has begun and your life is filled with activities and schoolwork. I’m already seeing Christmas products and memes that remind me it’s only 94 days until Christmas. Lots of bloggers are publishing posts to help you get ahead of the busyness that is on the way.

We have so much to do!

I no longer have children in school, and I have a very flexible schedule working from home—but even I feel the pressure of a to-do list of things that need to get done.

Don’t let the to-do list get in the way.

We need to be careful. It is easy to get caught up in our busyness because we want to be the Good Christian Woman. What will people think if we miss church one Sunday, don’t have our homes nicely decorated for the holidays, or say no to a volunteer request?

When we start to think we need to earn people’s approval, our to-do list becomes a higher priority than it should. Our marriages often suffer. When our to-do list involves church things, we tell ourselves that we are doing those things for God—and therefore those things are more important.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

God loves you so much that even before you were born, He provided a way for you to spend eternity with Him.

You do not need to earn God’s love—or anyone else’s approval.

Friends, even if you fail at every endeavor, you are still loved by God. Sweet sisters in Christ, your relationship with God is so much more important than whether you made your bake sale contribution from scratch or said yes to running the church nursery.

Spend time with God.

It’s common to hear women say that they’ve been so busy that their prayer life has suffered. Friends, if your prayer life is suffering it is a sign that you are doing too much.

You know what else? If your sex life is suffering, you’re also doing too much.

As you head into this busy season, do things that help you truly experience God’s presence in your life.

Especially spend good time in prayer. I’m not talking about praying about things. Rather, just spend time with God. (True story: When I began this blog, I spent a two-hour drive praying about what my blog should be. There I was, driving through northwestern Illinois on an early spring day, chattering away at God: What should I do? Who should I write to? Am I supposed to be doing this? What if it gets boring and I can’t do it after three months? Chatter, chatter, chatter. I finally heard, clear as day: SHUT UP. You can’t hear Me if you don’t stop talking.)

Spend time with God to put your to-do list in perspective.

What does sex have to do with God?

I write about sex for several reasons: It is important to our marriages. It is important to our husbands. It is important to us.

But there’s another reason I write about sex, and it’s way more important than any of those things. It’s something I don’t write about nearly enough:

When we are truly naked—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—with our husbands, pursuing intimacy and pleasure in our one-flesh union, we get a small glimpse of the intimacy that we will one day have with God.

I am never more filled with prayer, praise, and joy in God than when I am making love with my husband.

It wasn’t always like this, but as I worked on my issues with trust and allowed God to soften my heart for my husband, sex became so much more than I had thought it could be.

I encourage you to work on sexual intimacy with your husband because it gives you a taste of spiritual intimacy with God. Making love with your husband is good for you spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

Make God your priority.

As you face decisions about schedules, activities, and the allocation of your time over the next few months, be intentional about putting God first—not the things you tell yourself you’re doing for God, but the things you do to experience God.

Being with God is far more important than your to-do list. Take care of your priorities.

Start right now to make God your priority in two ways:

1. Take half an hour this weekend to simply be with God. Read one of the Psalms or an inspirational Bible verse. Then just sit. Close your eyes. Be with God. Feel His love for you. And then open your heart and just soak in God’s presence for a while. Do you think you don’t have half an hour? Find it anyway. When you take care of your priorities, you are better able to manage all the smaller things in life.
2. Then, at another time this weekend, take an hour to be with your husband. Pray together. Hold each other and know that while your arms are around each other, God’s arms are around both of you together. Be together. Feel your husband’s love for you and your Father’s love. Pray, praise God, and experience joy as you make love with your husband and get a small glimpse of the intimacy you one day will experience with God.

Start right now to get your priorities in order so your fall to-do list doesn’t get in the way of what truly matters.

Image credit | Christianpics.co