What My Quiet Time Looks Like Each Day Now and In the Past

Quiet time, a concept that almost seems foreign to some of us in today’s world, is a necessary part of the Christian life.  When I speak of quiet time, I don’t merely mean time spent in silence.  Instead, I mean time spent alone with God.  For Christians, I believe that this should be done daily.  Trust me when I say I know how hard it is to do so, but also how rewarding it can be when done.

Let’s talk about what a quiet time with the Lord might look like and what mine looks like now and what it looked like in the past.

 

What Quiet Time with God Looks Like

I learned to spend time alone with God as a young teenager.  This concept and the concept of prayer journaling were two things that made a huge difference in my young Christian life and its growth and maturity.  In fact, they have made a large impact in my life in general at all ages.  These concepts were taught to me in youth group, which I attended regularly as a teenager.

Over the years I learned that everyone’s quiet time is different and there was really no right or wrong way to have a quiet time.  The most important thing is to do so, to spend time with God.  A person’s quiet time can include any or all of the following:

Worship –  As a senior in high school my quiet time was spent in the mornings before school in my Bronco II out in front of the school listening to Christian music on the radio, praying my heart out and reading Scripture. This was my own little daily worship service with the Lord.

Prayer –  Prayer is an integral and almost necessary part of one’s quiet time.  After all, why would you spend time with God or better yet how would you spent time with God if you did not communicate with him?  Prayer is simply that, communication or conversation with God himself.

Scripture –  It is important to study God’s word during your quiet time.  Reading Scripture is just one of the ways we can hear God speak.  Also, reading God’s word allows us to learn and gives us wisdom with how to deal with life’s challenges.  The Bible says that it is “sharper than any two-edged sword” and that it is “a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.”

Journaling –  This may not be the case for everyone, but for me quiet time means journaling time.  I have used a prayer journal since I was a teenager and it is an absolutely necessary part of my quiet time.  You can read more about why I use a prayer journal here.

What my quiet time looks like now is different from what it has looked like in the past.  As you grow in your relationship with the Lord, as your life changes, as the season of life that you are in changes, then your quiet time changes as well.

In the past, I spent my quiet time in my car before school when I was in High School.  I also spent my quiet time at night many times because I was young and have plenty of free time.

As a young mother, I was blessed if I was able to actually be able to be “quiet” with a preschooler, a toddler, and a baby to care for each day.

Now since my children have grown and two of them attend school each day I am able to spend more time uninterrupted.

No matter what your season of life, I pray that you have a flourishing quiet time in your daily life.

If you’ve never been a journaler I encourage you to start that as well.