Blog | Women Finding God

How To Study The Bible One Verse At A Time

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Having a hard time fitting Bible study into your daily quiet time with God? Verse mapping is an easy way to dig into God’s word one verse at a time. These step-by-step instructions will help end your Bible study struggles for good!

I was really looking forward to my time with God that morning.

I was feeling a little worn and weary and just needed a word of encouragement to lift my spirit. I grabbed my quiet time basket and headed to my favorite spot.

There was just one problem that morning, I wasn’t sure what to read or study. I didn’t know where to look for the comfort I desperately needed at that moment. So I prayed. I asked God to speak to me through His word.

I grabbed my Bible and started flipping through the book of Proverbs. My go-to place when I need some wisdom or guidance. I scanned the pages until my eyes landed on Chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart . . .”

Familiar words. I’d heard them many times before. I was sure that I had read them a few times a well. There was just one problem. I wasn’t really sure what they meant. There had been times when I truly believed that I was trusting in God with all my heart but I always seemed to make a mess of things.

Can you relate to that feeling?

Wanting to follow God’s commands and obey His word but having no idea where to get started. Have you ever read your Bible but couldn’t figure out how to walk out what the scripture said?

It’s a common struggle to have. And God promises in His word that will give undertstanding and wisdom to anyone that asks for it.

That day I asked God to help me to understand that Proverb so that I could walk in obedience to His word. And He did. God used verse mapping to help me finally understand this verse and so many others!

The Ultimate Guide to Verse Mapping

Verse mapping is simply a method of verse by verse Bible study. You will take one verse and study every single word so that you have a better understanding of scripture.

This method can take as little as 15 minutes to as much as an hour. It all depends on how much time you have, how many verses you want to study and how deep you want to go. This is also a Bible study method that is easy to start and stop.

Whenever I run out of time on my verse map, it’s super easy to just pick back up where I left off.

Verse Mapping Supplies

Before we get started with the step by step instructions you’ll need to gather your supplies:

A Bible: you can use any Bible you have access to. I like to have multiple translations to work with but you can easily find different translations online at places like Bible Gateway and Bible Study Tools.
Notebook or a journal: You will be taking lots of notes so you’ll need something to write on. Index cards are also a good option if you are just doing one short verse.
Writing Tools: You will want to have a few pens/pencils/highlighters available to you. These will help you stay organized as you begin to map out your verse
Reference books: At a minimum, you’ll need access to a dictionary. I also like to have a Bible dictionary and concordance close by when I study. You can access these online as well. My two favorite sources are Bible Study Tools and Blue Letter Bible.

Choosing a Verse to Study

Once you have all your supplies ready, the next step is to choose a verse to study. Don’t spend a lot of time stressing over this decision. Here are some ways to choose your verse:

Monthly Reading Plan: A great way to get more out of a reading plan is to map out each verse daily
Scriptures from Sunday’s sermon: Jot down the scripture references your pastor teaches from on Sunday mornings and then spend the week meditating and studying these verses on your own
Verses that you don’t understand: When you come across a verse that makes you scratch your head, mapping it out will help you gain a clearer understanding.
Passages of scripture: You can dig deep into a section of scripture by taking the time to map out each verse. This will really help you understand that entire passage so much more than if you just read it in one sitting and moved on. The Promise Keeper study helps you map out each verse in Psalm 23!

Now we are ready to get to work!

4 Simple Steps to Verse Mapping

Step 1: Read/Write the verse

Once you have your verse picked out, take some time to read the verse. If time allows it’s always a good idea to read the entire passage of scripture around your verse. This will help you to have context for all the notes that you will take as you begin to look up words.

This doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Read what you can. If it’s just a few verses before and after that is fantastic. If you have more time and can read the entire chapter or even the whole book of the Bible even better. You just want to have a picture in your mind about what’s going on in scripture as you begin to study.

Then write the verse down. Write out the entire verse that you want to study on a piece of paper, in your journal or on a notecard. If you have time copy the verse in 2 other translations.

Step 2: Start digging into the verse

Using a highlighter, colored pencil or your favorite pen mark the words or phrases that jump out at you. The things that you want to learn more about. There’s no right or wrong here, different things will jump out at you at different times.

Here’s an example, if I was going to study Proverbs 3:5 I would mark the following words to study (The words in bold are the ones that I will look up in my resource materials.):

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Once you’ve marked your words it’s time to pull out your dictionary. Look up each word and write down what they mean. Be sure to take note if the word is a verb, adjective or noun because that can sometimes affect the meaning.

I always like to start with a regular English dictionary when I get to this study. But if I have more time I also like to look up the words in my Bible dictionary. Sometimes, words don’t mean what we think they do when we get back to the original Greek or Hebrew. If you don’t have time for that no worries.

By the end of this step, you should have a nice list of definitions ready to use.

Step 3: Insert the definitions into the verse

Now that you have looked up each word, take a few minutes to rewrite the verse using the definitions of the words. Our previous example might look something like this:

Believe in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of the Lord with all the central or innermost part of your being, and do not rely for support or inspiration on your own ability to understand something.

If you have more time, pull out your concordance and look up other verses that use the words that you marked. Read a few of them to help you see how it was used and what it meant in different parts of scripture. This will add to your understanding. And it may give you more verses to map later.

Step 4: Apply the verse to your life

No Bible study is complete until we take some time to apply it to our lives. Often studying scripture will reveal something that we need to change about our walk with God.

I like to ask myself the following questions:

How can I apply this verse to my life/situation?
What did I learn about God from this verse?
Are there any commands/warnings/promises I should make note of?

Take some time to think through each of these questions and make note of anything else that comes to mind. Finally, I like to end with a few minutes of prayer.

I know that was a lot of information to throw at you at once. No worries! I created a printable guide to Verse Mapping to help you get started!

Your turn: What verse will you map first?

The Best Prayer Books That Will Make Devotions Quick and Easy

By LaToya 1 Comment

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Inside: There are seasons where you just don’t have the time or energy to study the Bible or write out your own prayers. A devotional for beginners is a great way to be consistent with your quiet time with God.

Can I share something with you? I have really been slacking with my devotions: both prayer and Bible study.

I talk to God when I’m trying to figure something out or when I have a need. But I have not been intentional or consistent about really studying or praying for myself or my family.

Honestly, there’s just so many needs that I have felt overwhelmed. And I’ve been feeling really exhausted. We have been walking a hard road for the last 3 years and it just seems to get harder and harder.

I’ve been too tired to take the time to create a prayer strategy or a Bible reading plan. So I decided to take a short cut this month.

I let someone else write out my prayers for me. I decided to let someone else handle my devotions.

One lesson that I have learned over the last 10 years is the importance of recognizing when I need a break. Rest is so important and it’s actually an act of warfare against the enemy. He wants us to be so busy trying to put out all the fires and fix all the problems so that when he really attacks us hard we are too worn out to fight. That’s how I felt for about half of last year.

I’m not having that this year. So I knew that I needed to get back on my prayer game but I also knew that I needed to take it easy for a little while. I really wanted to dig deep into scripture but I wasn’t ready to take it on myself.

So I walked over to my bookshelf and pulled off some of my favorite prayer books and I decided to use them as both my devotions and prayer strategy this month.

It’s so easy. I open the page to where I left off and pray the prayer that someone else so graciously wrote out for me.

My Favorite Prayer Devotionals for Beginners

When I first started using prayer devotionals I felt like I was cheating. But then I realized that it was okay to let someone else do the leg work for a little while if it meant that I would actually be intentional and consistent with my quiet time.

I reminded myself that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

And you know what? God spoke to me through the pages of those books. Books that I hadn’t picked up in almost 10 years. Such a wonderful time of renewal.

I could focus on hearing the voice of God without having to worry about what to say in my prayers or what to study in my Bible.

You want to be sure that you aren’t wasting time on fluff. When choosing a devotional you want to make sure that it’s scripture based and not just a book full of someone else’s thoughts. The best devotionals for beginners will have solid biblical teaching, scripture-based prayers and always point you back to the Word.

When you need to pray for yourself:

For some reason, I always forget to pray for myself. I don’t mean that I don’t talk to God about what I need or want. I do that all the time. However, I do forget to pray specifically for God’s will in my life. That’s one reason I like having a devotion or prayer book — to remind me of things I forget.

The Power of a Praying Woman: This was the first book that I read that helped me to understand how important it is to pray for myself. Stormie Omartian is one of my favorites, she always gives great spiritual guidance and her prayers are based on scriptures.
Fervent: A Woman’s Battle Plan to Serious, Specific and Strategic Prayer: If you have not spent time understanding the strategic plans that the enemy creates to destroy each of us, you much read this book! Priscilla Shirer does an excellent job of helping you prayer scripture-laced prayers that yield great spiritual results.
Praying God’s Will for Your Life: Spend 20 days praying with Stormie Omartian in the areas of your spiritual life that matter the most. This one even has journaling space!

When you need to pray for your marriage:

Just like Satan is after you, he’s also after your marriage. If the devil can destroy families then he has a better chance of getting to our children. Over the years I have learned the importance of covering my husband in prayer, especially when hard times come.

The Power of a Praying Wife: This is a great place to start when it comes to covering your husband in prayer. Stormie shares stories from her own marriage, solid biblical teaching and scripture-based prayers to cover him for an entire month.
The Power of Prayer to Change Your Marriage: Don’t think that this book only applies if your marriage is in crisis. Yes, this is a good book to pick up during those times but it’s also a great book to pray in advance. Prayer can also prevent things from happening.

When you need to pray for your children:

My children are the true reason that I became super passionate about prayer. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t do something to really mess them up, LOL. Really I knew that I needed God’s help to raise my boys and stay sane.

The Power of a Praying Parent: This was my go prayer book for a long time. I would pray one prayer a day for a month or I would pray the same prayer for an entire week. This book helped me to see the different areas of my boys’ lives that I needed to pray over.
Praying for Boys: Asking God for the Things They Need Most: My friend, Brooke, wrote this books a few years ago and it really helped me understand the importance of specific and consistent prayers for my boys. If you have girls, check out Praying for Girls: Asking God for the Things They Need Most.
Praying Circle Around Your Children: This is a short and quick read but it’s very powerful. Praying for your children can sometimes leave you feeling discouraged. When I feel like my prayers aren’t making a difference this is the book I go back to.

Your Turn: Did I miss one of your favorite devotionals for beginners? Leave a comment and let me know!

3 Quick And Easy Ways To Stay Focused During Quiet Time

By LaToya 3 Comments

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Inside: These 3 tips will help you stay focused during quiet time with God. No more falling asleep or being distracted during prayer or Bible study!

It was as if all the stars aligned that morning.

I actually woke up on time … relatively
My boys were happily entertaining themselves in their room
I even got out of the bed instead of hiding under the covers

I grabbed my Bible, journal and headed to the living room for some much needed time with God. I couldn’t wait to just sit down and enjoy some time in His presence.

There was just one problem …

I couldn’t focus. My mind was all over the place. I stared at the pile of laundry that still needed to be folded. I thought about all the errands that needed to be run that day. And for some reason, I suddenly couldn’t remember if it was time to get the oil changed in my car.

Distractions often derail the best-laid plans when it comes to time spent growing our faith and deepening our relationship with God. And they aren’t always things related to housework or the kids.

Sometimes there’s just so much going on that it’s hard to reign in our thoughts and emotions.
Our children are going through a tough situation and we are overwhelmed by the desire to help
We feel burden by the weight of all the evil going on in the world
There’s so much pain in our personal life that it’s hard to take a breath and look up for help

3 Quick And Easy Ways To Stay Focused During Quiet Time

Whatever the reason or the cause we can’t allow distractions to keep us from the one thing that will help us find hope, peace and maybe even finally put that laundry away.

What are we to do when distractions come? Here are 3 things that have really helped me in the past.

1. Have a Plan

One the best ways to avoid being distracted is to have a plan. Knowing where you are going to have your quiet time, what you are going to study or pray about and having all your supplies in one place is a great way to get started.

Having a plan also helps to take the guesswork out of your time with God. No more decision fatigue. No more minutes wasted trying to figure out what to read when you open your Bible.

2. Reading and Praying Aloud

Confession: I have a bad habit of falling asleep while I pray. And sometimes I fall asleep face down in my Bible instead of reading it.

I have found that reading and pray aloud helps me to stay awake during my quiet time, especially if it’s evening after the boys have gone to bed.

One reason this is so helpful is that it helps with retention. As you are reading your Bible and saying the verse aloud it begins to take root in your heart. After an entire week of reading the same verses over and over again, you’ll definitely have it hidden in your heart.

3. Dealing with Distractions as they come

Sometimes God will bring a person or situation to mind while you are studying and praying. This is not meant to be a distraction. Instead, it’s usually the Holy Spirit’s way of prompting you to pray for them.

Sometimes no matter what you do distractions will come. But all hope is not lost. Here are a few things you can do:

Pray and ask God help you stay focused
Take some time to do a brain dump before you get started. This will clear space in your mind and heart so that you can hear from God more clearly
When something interrupts your thoughts during your quiet time keep a scrap piece of paper nearby to jot those thoughts down. This way you quickly refocus but still have a list of things that need to be looked at later

The next time all the stars line up for your quiet time with God you’ll have a few tips to help you deal with any distractions.

Your turn: How do you handle distractions during your time with God?

Why First Thing in the Morning is the Best Time for Prayer

By LaToya 9 Comments

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Inside: Prayer is an important part of your quiet time with God and spiritual growth. Here are 3 reasons why early morning prayer is a good idea plus a little trick to help you consistently get up earlier each day!

I was really going to do it this year. I was going to get up early so I could have my quiet time with God before the day started.

Yes, I made that same commitment every year before that, and yes I always fell short every single year. But this year would be different. I had a plan. And I knew I could stick with it.

Go to bed early so I’m not dog tired when my alarm goes off in the morning
Have all my supplies ready to go right next to the bed
Exercise during the day so I’m good and tired when it’s bedtime so I’m not up all night thinking about all the things

It was a good plan. I followed it perfectly. And guess what?

I woke up the first morning and promptly went back to sleep. The second morning I woke up and made it through my quiet time. The third day it just didn’t happen.

Consistency gets me every time!

I bet if you’ve ever decided to get up early or spend more time in the word you’ve had the same struggle. Big changes like that are hard to do even when you have the perfect plan and the best motivation.

But hope is not lost!

I found a little trick that helped me be more consistent. Not perfect. But I am doing better at getting up and starting my day with prayer and Bible study. I still have to do all the other things on my list but this one thing this what helps me see the most success.

Ready for it?

I get out of bed when my alarm goes off.

Yep, that’s it. I kick the covers off and stand up. Once that happens I grab my prayer notebook and Bible. It’s a simple step but it packs a big punch.

Sometimes we get overwhelmed by big goals and too many steps. One way to get over that feeling of overwhelm is to find something that will give you quick win. Something that you can do in 30 seconds that will get you one step closer to your goal.

Why 30 seconds? Because it’s enough time to make progress but not enough time to talk yourself out of moving forward. And it’s something that’s easy to check off your to-do list. Which then motivates you to keep going so you can check something else off.

For example, if you want to floss every day. A 30-second task that you can commit to is flossing one tooth each morning. Why? Because if you floss one tooth you’re not going to stop there. You are more likely to finish the rest of your mouth.

So the challenge is to figure out what is that one thing that you can do every day to achieve your spiritual goals.

My goal is to start my day with prayer.

I know there can be some controversy about if you have to do quiet time at a certain time each day in order to be in God’s will. I don’t want to get into that but if you give me a minute I want to make a case for starting your day with prayer.

3 Reasons Early Morning Prayer is Best

1. Jesus did it

Our main goal as Christians is to be more like Christ. So it’s important to take our cue from Jesus when it comes to our quiet times.

Mark 1:35 NLT – Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.

Jesus rose early in the morning to have time to talk with this Father. I don’t believe that God is calling all of use to rise before daybreak to pray but I do believe that He wants to hear from us first thing in the morning.

2. It’s the perfect time to get instructions for the day

One thing that I pray for daily is that God will lead and guide our day. I’m not prideful enough to think that just because I have a plan in place that things will go smoothly. Remember my plan for getting up early?

Psalm 5:3 NLT – Listen to my voice in the morning LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

God already knows what we will face that day before we even open up our eyes. Why not take a few minutes to ask Him what that plan is? Do you have a BIG day at work … God has a plan for that. Spending the day taking care of your little ones? God has a plan for that as well.

God’s plans are perfect. And if we simply take the time to ask Him about it, He’s willing to share with us the right path to take.

3. Sometimes we need a little encouragement to put one step in the front of the other

If I’m 100% honest many times the reason that I struggle to get out of bed in the morning had nothing to do with how tired I was. Or my laziness or lack of consistency. Most of the time I just didn’t want to get up and face the day.

Psalm 119:147 NLT – I rise early, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in your words.

Starting the day with prayer …

Talking to God about what’s on my mind and heart helped me put one foot in front of the other. Because when things are as bad as it can get the only thing that we can do it cry out to God for help and for mercy.

I always feel better when I spend time talking to God. He promises comfort when we need it and He never fails to deliver.

Make the commitment to start your day by talking to God. Make it even sweeter by spending a minute or two in the Word. And don’t forget to find that one thing that you can do in 30 seconds to make sure you keep that commitment.

Your Turn: Do you pray first thing in the morning? Does some other time work better for you?

The 15 Minute Daily Routine That Will Make Your Faith Stronger

By LaToya 4 Comments

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Inside: This simple trick is the best way to start your quiet time routine every day so you can grow your faith through prayer and Bible study.

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I’m already exhausted from thinking about all things that I need to cross off my to-do list for the day.

Of course, I still have a long road ahead before I can relax at the end of the day:

Homeschool lessons with the boys
A load (or 3) of laundry
Meals to prep and cook
Work that needs to be done so I can keep paying the bills
Tidying the house so it’s not a complete disaster when we all wake up the next day

At the top of my list, each morning is the one that must be done if I’m going to make it through the day without completely losing it: my quiet time with God.

Here’s the truth

I’m a single mom of 3 boys, WAHM, and I homeschool. I’m busy. Trying to do an hour straight doesn’t allow me to accomplish much because I get interrupted. So chunks of 15 minutes throughout the day work best.

I spend about 45 minutes a day in prayer and Bible study but not all at one time.

I like to think of it as my way of praying without ceasing.

I am not an early riser. I don’t think it’s necessary to be up before the sun. I don’t try to get up before my children because they seem to think 4am is an appropriate wake-up time. (No idea where they get that from)

My goal is to be up by 7. And then I break up my quiet time into the following chunks:

Chunk #1: Quick Start with God

This chunk is meant to focus my heart and mind before I start my day. This is not when I pull out my Bible study or journaling. I’m not trying to go really deep. I just want to start my day off by checking in with God:

Singing a song while I make the bed and get myself ready
Finding just one verse or passage to read or pull out my current devotion
Spend a few minutes in prayer

I’m looking for a nugget to anchor myself throughout the day.

Chunk #2: Deep Dive with God

After school is done and my littlest guy is napping I have some time to go deep with God. I use this time for Bible study. This is anything from working through a video-based study to working through a word or topical study on my own.

The goal is to take at least 15 minutes to go deep in whatever God is sharing with me. I might also use this time for some focused prayer.

Chunk #3: Prayer and Journaling

I like to end my day with prayer. I pray for issues/concerns that have pop up during the day. I take a few minutes to pray as I write my to-do list for tomorrow. I take some time to pray for my friends and family.

This is also when I take some time to journal because I’m able to process and have complete thoughts because my boys are all asleep for the evening. I often make notes of how the anchor verse from that morning blessed me.

I use these 3 daily chunks for quiet time Monday to Friday. I don’t set aside quiet time on Sundays because that’s when we go to church. Once we get home from service I try to rest.

Saturdays are reserved for catching up on anything that I didn’t get to during the week or for another deep dive. Typically I spend time studying (and journaling) more about something that puzzled me during the week or just something I want to know more about. It’s also a day where you’ll find me reading a book on spiritual growth.

The important thing to do is find a routine that works for you. Even if everyone thinks you’re nuts.

I’d love to an interrupted hour to spend with God every day but in this season of life, I don’t. So I take my 15 minutes where I can grab them.

Your Turn: What does your quiet time routine look like?

12 Worship Songs that will Revitalize Your Quiet Time

By LaToya 6 Comments

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Inside: These 12 worship songs will add a new dimension to your quiet time with God. Next time you need words to pray or want to feel closer to God watch a few of these YouTube videos.

A few years ago I started keeping a playlist of worship songs that I liked or ones that spoke to me. Whenever I heard a song on the radio that blessed me in some way I looked it up on YouTube. I didn’t have a radio at home and I wanted to have some good Christian music to listen to.

I was out running errands one day, listening to the radio, singing a worship song and suddenly I started to cry.

Here are a few of the lyrics:

Good intentions
Never saved a soul
They never changed reality
You had to die for me
Cause I’m only human, you mend me
Tried so hard and still get lost
Give our all, but nothing’s complete
We need your love so strong
And I’m so flawed that you know I’m gonna fall
And you catch me
Your mercy
Your grace
My faith gives me strength to feel perfectly safe
Cause you’ll catch me

I don’t know about you but I make a lot of mistakes trying to get it “right”. I think I know what I need to do but then it ends up being a mistake. Then there’s the aftermath of a choice that seemed right at the time but ended up being out of God’s will.

I worry that I’ll really blow it one day. Completely miss out on the breakthrough that God has for me.

Can you relate?

Listen, we make mistakes. There’s no way to avoid it. Even when we seek God’s guidance there’s a chance that we may not get it 100% right. It’s easy to beat ourselves up and think that we are beyond hope and help. That’s a lie from the enemy.

God loves us. He loves you. He knows that you are going to make mistakes and He is waiting to catch you. You will be safe in His arms. And it took that song to remind of that.

Why You Should Add Worship Songs to Your Quiet Time

1. To Put Words to Your Feelings

That morning while I was running errands I was trying to sort through my feelings. Being in a funk for a long time can often be overwhelming. I knew that I was feeling a lot of something but I couldn’t express exactly what it was.

As I listened to the words of that song that morning I realized that they were literally singing my feelings. All the things that I was struggling to make sense of where suddenly clear as I listened to the music.

2. To Find Words when you can’t pray

Just like there are times when I can’t put words to my emotions … I often struggle to find the words to pray. When the weight of my circumstance feels too heavy. Or the burdens of others are more than I can bare I find myself singing my prayers.

God always brings a hymn to mind during these times. But often as I listen to other worship music I begin to pray the lyrics to my Lord and Savior. As I pray the burden lifts and I often find myself able to pray again.

3. To remember who God is and what He’s promised you

My favorite reason for adding worship songs to my quiet time with God is to help me focus on Him and what He is doing in my life. Those songs that are written as if God is speaking directly to me.

Yes, I often hear God’s voice through the lyrics of a good worship song.

12 Worship Songs That Will Revitalize Your Quiet Time with God

1. Elevation Worship – O Come to the Altar

2. Chris Tomlin – Jesus Loves Me

3. Lauren Daigle – How Can it Be

4. Kari Jobe – I am Not Alone

5. Natalie Grant – Clean

6. Passion – My Heart is Yours

7. I am They – Make a Way

8. Eddie James – Breakthrough

9. Gateway Worship – Grace that Won’t Let Go

10. Ellie Holcomb – Find You Here

11. Geoffrey Golden – Glory to the Lamb

12. Tauren Wells – Hills and Valleys

You might also enjoy: 10 Easter Quiet Time Songs

Your Turn: Do you have a favorite worship song?

How to Make Quiet Time with God a Priority

By LaToya 4 Comments

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Inside: Daily quiet time with God doesn’t have to be hard or stressful. Here are the best steps for how to make quiet time with God a priority so you can have a healthy prayer life and grow stronger in Bible study.

I hesitated for just one second before I walked into the living room. I wasn’t sure what kind of disaster waited for me around the corner.

My boys had been up for hours already and when they came in to ask for TV time I quickly said “Yes, just make sure you eat breakfast!” and hurried them out the door. That morning I woke up desperate for a few minutes with God and I knew that a cartoon would occupy them and give me some quiet to focus.

I closed my door and settled in for some uninterrupted time in prayer and God’s word. It was just what I needed. By the time I heard the closing theme song through the walls I was ready to face the day.

I had peace about my mile-long to-do list and I had spent a few minutes praying for some of my closet friends that were walking through a hard time.

As I entered the living room, I realized that I probably should have prayed for God to help me manage the mess that was waiting for me.

My boys did their best to contain the mess of milk and cereal for breakfast. I saw the placemats on the floor and a paper towel attempting to soak up the mess. I simply smiled, sent them to wash up and got to work cleaning up the spill.

I was so thankful for the time that I spent with God that the mess didn’t send me over the edge. I simply took the 5 minutes I was cleaning to pray a little longer.

I’ve learned over the years that I need to make quiet time with God a priority or it just won’t happen. Even if it means my boys veg out in front of the TV so I can make it happen.

What about you?

Do you know that you need to be more consistent with prayer and time spent reading your Bible? Do you long for a deeper and stronger faith but just don’t have the time to do one more thing?

All you need to focus on is doing the most important things first!

How to Make Quiet Time with God a Priority

1. Evaluate your time

Have you ever had to track your money before creating a budget? It’s a great way to actually see where your money is going so that you can figure out how to best steward your resources. You need to treat your time the same way. Take a week and jot down what you doing with your waking hours. You may be surprised by what you find.

It’s hard for us to see where we might be wasting time or not making the best use of our time. Having it on paper makes it easy to see that you spend way too much time on social media.

Have you ever fallen down the Pinterest rabbit hole (or binged on Netflix) for hours and then claimed you have no time for God?

You can also see if you are too busy. If you look at your time evaluation and there is no margin whatsoever, it’s time to start seeing what can you take off your plate.

Simply replace your time on Facebook or extra volunteer meeting with time spent with God.

2. Just Make Quiet Time with God a Priority

I have a friend that gets up at 4 and gets a bunch of stuff done. She prays, reads her Bible, works out and even works for a while before the rest of her family wakes up. I don’t believe in 4am. My house would have to be on fire for me to get up that early, LOL.

That kind of schedule just wouldn’t work for me. But she has committed to keeping God a priority and does what she needs to do. If 4am works for you, great!

If you’re like me and it doesn’t hope is not lost. Simply find a time that does work for you.

How? Through trial and error.

But remember to be reasonable. If you have a brand new baby, aren’t sleeping and can’t remember the last time you had a shower give yourself some grace. If you are in a crisis same thing. Give yourself permission to scale back to 15 minutes a day instead of an hour.

It’s still possible to have a close relationship with God in 15 minutes a day (or less) God is not watching the clock penalizing you for not spending enough time. He looks at your heart.

If all you have is 2 minutes while you hide from the kids in the bathroom God will honor that and bless you for it.

3. Get creative

Once you’ve done #1 and #2 sometimes you just have to get a little creative.

A few years ago I was spending the night at a friends house. When I woke up one morning I heard voices coming from her kitchen. At first, I thought that she was chatting with her hubby or kids but when I got in the kitchen I realized that she was listening to an audio Bible.

She was still serving her family and taking care of me and my boys (we still rave about those pancakes) but she was also getting her time in the Word.

I remember thinking what a wise woman she was for having a great idea (and what a wise person I was to choose her as a friend).

Think about a time during your day when you are folding laundry, washing dishes, preparing meals or even nursing a baby when you could be listening to the scripture. Where ever you are, God is there with you and you can have that time with him

Praying in the car on your commute to work
Listening to a sermon or worship music as you go for your morning run
Watching a sermon or bible study on TV while your kids sit around you eating popcorn

God is creative! There is no one way to spend time with him. When you purpose in your heart to grow closer to God just pray and ask Him to show you how to make it happen.

Your time with God doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. God made you unique and special. So just make up your mind to do it, even if you have put your kids in front of the TV to make it happen.

Your Turn: How to make Quiet time with God a Priority?

10 Must Have Tools for Journaling Newbies

By LaToya 6 Comments

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Inside: Journaling is a great tool for spiritual growth. Here’s a list of must-have supplies for Christian women looking to get started! [Read more…]

Do you make this mistake when it comes to reading your Bible?

By LaToya 2 Comments

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Inside: One common mistake when it comes to studying the Bible is not knowing what to focus on. Here’s how to overcome that.

There’s a difference between reading your Bible and studying your Bible. They are both equally as important. But they are not the same.

I hear from ladies that are having a hard time with their Bible study or reading their Bible, usually, it’s because they’re trying to do both at the same time. If you’re just reading your Bible, then it’s probably not the time to study your Bible. And if you’re studying your Bible, you don’t want to just read it.

So what do you do when you’re studying your Bible? How do you know if you’re reading the right thing? How do you know what’s important and what needs to be written down?

Are you making this mistake when it comes to reading and studying the Bible? Find out how to get back on track!

The Key to Studying Well

When I was in high school, I was in a very strong, stringent academic program where I was basically doing college-level work from freshman year all the way through.

During our freshman year we took a class, and while I can’t remember the name of it, the whole point of the class was to teach us how to study.

We learned note-taking skills. We learned how to read a textbook and take notes. We learned how to listen to a lecture and take notes. We learned how to organize our notes and how to put together notebooks for our different classes.

The big thing that they really focused on, because most of the learning in high school was through textbooks, was how to read your textbook to be able to pull out the important information so that you could study it.

Step #1: Open up the section you’re supposed to be reading and skim it

Read all the bold headlines, look at all the bold words, look for definitions of the bold words, read any captions. Flip to the back where the questions are and look through them.

The reason for doing that was to have an idea of what that particular section was about. Reading all the headings and bold words, along with any captions and definitions gave us a broad understanding of what that chapter was about.

Step #2: Go back to the beginning and actually read through one time

Once you have a basic idea of what the section is about, it’s time to read it through carefully. You know what to look for after skimming it.

The key here is to just focus on reading the material. You are not taking any notes or highlighting things you want to remember. Just read, no studying!

Step #3: Take Notes

Go back through the same section this time and highlight the important parts. Take notes in the margin or on a piece of paper. And see if you can answer the questions you skimmed in the first step.

Applying the Method to Studying your Bible

Those same principles apply to your Bible study and your Bible reading.

Skimming helps introduce you to what you are about to read. The first full read through gives you a basic understanding so that by the third read those important parts jump out at you.

You can read the entire Bible from cover to cover and you’re not going to go deep because you’re not taking the time to study and go into all the meanings and all the words and all the events. But you will have a wide and basic understanding of what the Bible is about.

That’s like skimming the chapter before you read it.

When you get ready to study, you’re not going to study from Genesis to Revelation in one sitting. That’s too much. You’re going to take smaller sections, like maybe one book of the Bible or maybe just one chapter, and you’re going to really go deep when you’re studying.

The inductive Bible study method does a great job of breaking the Bible down like this.

What to Focus on When Studying your Bible?

How do you know what’s important, what to highlight, what to write down, and what to focus on?

That depends on what the Holy Spirit prompts for you. You’ve got to have a purpose.

Why are you reading?
Why are you studying?
Do you want to learn more about something you’re going through?
Do you just want to have more knowledge about something like what it means to have more peace?
Are you trying to understand more about an event like the Passover or something like that?

That’s going to help frame what jumps out and is important for you to mark down as you study.

What Jumps Out at You?

When you’re taking the time to read through a passage of Scripture, certain things will jump out at you, depending on what you need.

If you’re going through a financially hard time and you’re reading the Scriptures, then the stories of God providing for His people are what’s going to jump out at you. If you are struggling with fear, then those kinds of things are going to jump out at you.

There’s really no way to determine that ahead of time. You just have to read and see where God leads you. A great way to be able to focus and know what’s going to be important is just to pray and ask God before you even start studying.

Letting God Lead

“Lord, I am reading through the Psalms because it’s what I feel like You are calling me to do.” Or, “I’m not familiar with this book of the Bible, so I’m going to spend my time digging deep into the book of Psalms. What is it that You have for me, that You want me to learn, that you want to reveal to me, while I’m reading or studying this book?”

Just ask Him!

You might not get an answer immediately, but as you continue to read and you notice certain things that are like, “Oh, that fits. Oh, that’s interesting.” Maybe there are points of conviction, where you read something like, “A soft answer turns away wrath”.

And you know you really need to work on that, so you keep reading and even more things about anger or words begin to jump out at you. You know what to focus on then.

Reading for Overall Understanding

When I decided to read through the Bible in 6 months last year, I had to force myself not to highlight and mark and dig deep and ask questions. My purpose was not to dig deep and understand the deep level things about the Bible.

My purpose was to read the whole book, from Genesis to Revelation. I wanted to see the big picture. I wanted to understand how it all connected because I had never done that before. So when you’re reading, even if you’re just reading a small passage as you begin your quiet time, try to focus yourself so that you’re not getting distracted by all the things you want to go really deep on.

Just be there. Just read it. Just read it.

Just read it like you’re reading your newspaper or your favorite book. Just read to have an understanding of what that passage or word of Scripture is about.

Studying your Bible doesn’t have to be difficult!

Bible study and prayer are not meant to be difficult. It’s actually very simple. It’s easy. But we have built it up in our minds into this big mountain that we can’t climb.

That’s a trick from the enemy. He doesn’t want us reading the Bible because that’s how we learn how to find victory in every area of life. He doesn’t want that.

Don’t be intimidated. It’s God’s Word. It’s there for you!

How to Stop Feeling like a Bible Study Failure

By LaToya 2 Comments

I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.

Inside: When you fall behind in your Bible study it can be tempting to quit. Here are some other ideas to help you get back on track.

I don’t always stay on a schedule or a plan that I have for my quiet time or my Bible study. This summer I signed up to do an Armor of God study, and the first week I was on the ball. I had all my homework done three days early.

But a few weeks in found me scrambling to try to catch up!

I went through the same thing when I was reading through the Bible in a year. Some days I was on track, but every now and then I got seriously behind.

4 Tips Ways to Catch-Up When You Fall Behind in Your Bible Study

Option #1 Don’t try to catch-up!

If you are doing a small group study it can be really hard if you fall behind. It means that you won’t be able to follow the conversation or discussion. Or maybe you will have nothing to add.

One thing that you can do is skip over what you’ve missed and just stay where everybody else is. If it’s a 5-week study and you get week 1 done but you miss week 2, and then everybody else is on week 3, just skip over week 2 and go on to week 3 and keep going forward.

Please don’t stay home just because you aren’t caught up.

You can still get a lot of learning and encouragement from just listening to what’s going on. Especially if it’s a video-based study. You can learn so much from watching the videos even if you can’t keep up with the homework.

Just skip over the week you’ve missed and when the study is over or you have extra time during the week, go back and work on the parts that you missed.

Option #2 Pick up where you left off

Instead of skipping over what you missed, simply pick up where you left off. If you left off in your 7-week study on week 3, and this study is over, then just start where you left off and work forward.

Maybe you just do a week at a time and that means you finish later than everybody else. Or if you have some extra time, work in there. But just keep going.

This is an especially good option if you’re in a study where each week builds on itself. In most studies, the content will be related, but there are some studies, like Beth Moore’s Daniel study, where if you try to skip over a week and then catch up, you would be lost.

Option #3 Do a Bible study blitz

Carve out a block of time and just plow through whatever it is that you need to get done. And that way, you’re all caught up.

Option #4 Consider your season

The last option is to evaluate where you are. There are different seasons of life where you have more (or less) time to focus on spiritual growth and your faith.

Often for me, especially when my older two kids were small, I found that every time I joined a study, I was always behind. And I had to realize that that was the season I was in where group studies weren’t going to be a really good fit for me. Because I didn’t have the time to keep up.

That doesn’t mean that you should abandon them altogether or that they’re a terrible idea for everybody. But there are seasons in life where you’re not going to be able to keep up with the homework.

What happens when you realize that you’re in a season where a Beth Moore or those types of studies aren’t going to work for you?

You can choose not to do groups at all and do something different
Study your Bible in a way that doesn’t require the commitment of daily homework assignments
Join the group but just don’t do the homework. Go every week, watch the video, take notes on what’s in the video. Participate in the discussions as much as you can. Be there in prayer and enjoy the community and fellowship.

It’s okay to go sit in a group study and not even buy the member book. Just sit there with a pen and a piece of paper or your journal. Watch the video and take notes. Jot down the different references that the teacher mentions.

Then as you have time during the week, pull out your Bible and read that verse and take some notes. You’re still a part of the study and you’re still able to have that dedicated time where you’re working on growing your faith and being with God.

You’re in fellowship with other women, you’re in that community, and that can be a really great thing. Especially if you’re going through a hard time, don’t isolate yourself. Just go and be honest. You can always, when life calms down a little bit, buy the member book or pull out the member book that you bought and never used and work through the study on your own.

What Not to Do When You Fall Behind in Your Bible Study

Do not beat yourself up.

You don’t want to be so hard on yourself. The Bible says that there is no more condemnation once you’re in Christ Jesus. God is not going to come down like whack-a-mole and bop you on the head because you fell behind in your Bible study!

He loves you. He wants to spend time with you. But He’s not concerned with the amount of time. If all you have is 5 minutes, He is happy to have those 5 minutes with you and He will bless you during those minutes.

Remember, God looks at your heart. If your heart is motivated and your intention is to be with Him and spend time with Him, it doesn’t matter if it’s 5 minutes or 5 hours.