TIPS AND ADVICE FOR CHRISTIAN LADIES
Bible Reading
I always have the hardest time not reading my bible, but just taking a minute to sit down and actually concentrate on what you are reading. All the things that need to be done today race through my mind, and I just cannot focus on my bible reading. Then, I read this amazing book by Elizabeth George called "A Woman After God's Own Heart." Yes, she was the one that inspired me to create a website with the same title as her best-selling book. Well, to get back on topic, she said something on the lines of making a "special" place in your house that is used for your "quiet time" with the Lord. Make a specific place in your house where you will go there and it will mean something to you. It will feel more special if you have a specific spot where it is an area where you "meet" with God. You will be motivated to read your bible, and will always be anxious to go to your "quiet place" in search of a talk with God.
Another way to motivate or get yourself going into bible reading, is to sing first. Turn up your favorite christian radio station, or put in a praise CD, and just sing your heart out. Your will be filled with the Holy Spirit and will yearn for a talk with God through His word.
Prayer
Have you ever felt like you have nothing to say to God? You know that there are plenty of things to talk to Him about, but you just don't have the yearning to pray? You just don't want to? I've had that many times. Too many times I would either wake up in the morning and not be able to get in the mood of prayer. I thought prayer was just a long thing that you had to do. I felt like it was something I had to do in the morning and at night, like a duty of some sort. I had to thank God for His blessings, pray for others, pray for my church; and it just felt like a list that I had to recite. Then I read in the bible where in it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 "pray without ceasing" and that was when it hit me. We dont' have to pray strictly in the morning and before we go to bed. We have to pray whenever we want to. We have to pray ALL THE TIME. If we are doing the dishes; thank God for the food that made the dishes dirty. If we are cleaning the house; thank God that you have a house, or that you have everything to clean it with. Pray everywhere and about everything. Not a memorized recitation, but prayers that are from the heart and that are about the present. Prayers of what you need at the present moment. Yes, it is great to start with morning prayer, and a bedtime prayer...but don't forget the in between prayers, so that you will be having constant "talks" with the Lord, instead of recited reports to give Him every morning and night. When you do start having constant conversations with God, then you will get into the "mood" of praying all the time. God will help you. If you still feel like you just cannot pray, ask God for His help. But you also have to try. Nothing will happen if you just sit on the bed and say "God... i'm waiting." You might even have to force yourself to pray, even if you don't want to...it will come later. You will love praying and will always have the yearning to pray.