6 Ways to Walk Mindfully With Jesus During Your Day

Each morning I wake up with the best intentions to get through the day being the mother that I dream of being. That mother is gracious and serene. She does not get flustered, terribly annoyed or yell at her children. She deals with the day’s challenges with quiet confidence and kindness is the rule upon which she governs her responses. She truly tries to show Jesus to her children in all situations.

But reality kicks in, and this mother is a fallen sinner. I do get flustered, I do yell at my children, this is swiftly followed by a truck-load of guilt being deposited on my very soul because I did not handle things the way I had promised myself earlier on in the day that I would!

When I reach the end of the day and come before God in repentance and prayer, seeking His strength, I am always so grateful that my Heavenly Father is nothing like me and that when he looks at me, He does so through the redemptive blood of Jesus.

I have found that there are certain little ways – and some bigger things that I can do that really help me ‘keep-my-head’ when I am in the thick of things. Little ‘helps’ that remind me of my daily lofty goal of serving Jesus by loving my children, fulfilling my role of wife and mother and in growing in my Christian walk. I really do want to be a woman after God’s heart, and these little tips that I will share with you have – and continue to – help me in a practical way as I actively live out my day walking with Jesus.

1. First Time is God’s Time – so here is a confession: each morning I would wake up at the last possible moment that I could. This was still before my children’s compulsory ‘wake-up’ call, but it did not leave me any time to spend with the Lord. My personal one-to-one time that is so vital in a Christian’s walk was not happening! The result? Well – I have to say that I was not walking closely with the Lord at all! I would try and handle it all on my own, convincing myself that I truly was living life walking with Jesus, when the reality was that I was walking alone and expecting Jesus to trail after me. 

As day after day passed and each day I felt more alone, God spoke to me through a sermon in church. The little picture above pretty much sums it up. You cannot just sit in the saving grace of God and expect to grow. Our faith must be accompanied by action. As a Christian I need to pick up the Bible and read it. So I determined in my heart that I was not going to rest in laziness each morning – squeezing out every last minute of sleep – instead I was going to set my alarm for 40 minutes earlier and spend that time with God. I have to say that the first few mornings were hard! It sure was tempting to just hit snooze. But I was determined to change, I needed to, wanted to change. 

I am still on this journey, most days are good, some I fail. But I cling to the scripture Matthew 7: 7 & 8, ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.’ I am seeking to be closer to Jesus, knocking on the door, asking for Him to draw closer to me. If I am diligent in this asking, seeking and knocking, I will find, the door will be opened and I will live my life in victory not in slavery to my sinful nature.

If you want to walk with Jesus – you have to pick up His Word and read it. It is the map-book to heaven. It strengthens us, instructs us, enlightens us, encourages us, ground’s us. It is essential to our Christian walk.

2. Sing Praises to the Lord! – Did you know that certain Levites were appointed to give continual praise and thanks to God? 1 Chronicles 16: 4 ‘He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to make petition, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.’ Praise and thanksgiving should be a regular part of our routine, of our day.

 As soon as my quiet time is finished, I jump out of bed and move to the living room. I pop on a favourite worship CD, loud enough so that my daughters waken to the sound of praise and my husband is seen off with songs of praise and worship playing in his mind as he heads off to work. Then I open the curtains to let the light stream in and fling open the doors and windows to allow the cool morning air to flow in, refreshing our home. My heart is lifted as I go about our morning before-school routines in praise and worship to my Saviour! This sets the tone for the home and my heart!

3. Bible Time Together – with the children. Each day we start in the Word of God. This helps focus all of us on our common goal of living for Christ. It is our time in the day when we talk of the things of God, how we can apply God’s Word into our daily living, and of any issues that the girls want to talk about. 

Yes, this is our local Christian Radio Station :o)

4. Switch on Your Local Christian Radio Station – When it is time for lessons to begin, I switch off our praise and worship CD and turn on our local Christian Radio Station. There are so many benefits to having this softly playing in the background.

* It is a constant reminder that I need to use gentle kind words with my children, to pray when I feel frustration building up inside. When I have a background of godly messages and songs playing, I am more aware of my actions, thoughts and speech patterns and how they should reflect Jesus.

* Our day is punctuated by our favourite songs, favourite speakers, Biblical messages, even the plights of other Christians – brothers and sisters in Christ – who need prayer. The persecuted church in Syria has recently been brought to my attention this way. I have put them onto my prayer list and pray for them.

* My favourite ‘Focus On The Family’ is played on our local Christian station. I am ALWAYS uplifted by these programs. They usually are broadcast around lunchtime in our part of the world, so it is an uplifting break for me before we head on into the afternoon. When I hear a good message I am encouraged on my journey as mother/teacher/wife/ homemaker/Christian.

5. Feast Your Eyes and Mind on a Scripture Verse – I like to memorise scripture that helps me to be the person I want to be. As we move through the day I can recite a verse that might be applicable in the moment to myself. We also have scripture posted around the house in eye-catching places. A friend of mine from long-ago had a verse of significance to her behind the toilet door. Everyone who used that loo was faced with that scripture. To this day it is etched on my mind ;o) and to those who visited who did not know Jesus, I think that it is etched on their minds too!

I found this {below} on a Pinterest board and found it’s sentiments ringing true to my heart. I have printed this out for all to read, and in fact have read it frequently to my girls during our Bible time. It really does help us understand what being a true Christian is all about and has so far been an encouragement to all of us.

6. Prayer – Truly, the power of prayer cannot be underestimated! This should happen all through your day. My first prayer time comes with my morning quiet-time, little prayers are shot up while I listen to our praise music, things like, ‘ I love you Lord’, or ‘You are so amazing’, or ‘Thank you for your love Lord’, you know the kind of little love prayers that move between earth and heaven when you are involved in the act of Praise and Worship. Then the girls and I pray together after our Bible time and the rest of the day is punctuated with short prayers, calling  out to the Lord for strength during a trying lesson, lifting up someone who has called/emailed or has just popped into my mind, and so it goes. Bedtime prayers as a family still happen in my home. These are important to the girls and even though they are 15 and 13, they still call us each evening to pray together before bedtime. My next focused time of pray is when I go to bed. I have a prayer journal that I use to help me remember those I need to pray for, often times I write out whole prayers.

These 6 things help to keep me mindful of the way I live, speak and act. Please do not think that I must have it sorted because I certainly don’t! I STILL have bad days, where I yell at the children, allow my frustrations to bubble out and affect the tone of the home, forget things, slip up and a host of other nasties that will for always be a blight on my life as long as I am living here on earth.

These are my ‘helps’ in my quest to be more gentle, kinder, meeker. I have had to let go of the picture of the ‘perfect’ mother in my mind. She does not exist. I am encouraged to know that God gave me each of my children because they needed a mom just like me! I am the perfect mother for them, because God fashioned them from me and knew that I had all the qualities that they would need. The same is true of you. So feel free to loose that guilt-ridden mom that is clinging onto your back, and instead live in the freedom of Christ. Lean on Him, seek Him and He will help you to be the perfect mom for YOUR children.

Blessings in Christ…

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