Making time for devotions

[Sammy Boy]

Hi everyone, I am struggling with this again...

Since our daughter's birth, it has been hard to find the time to pray and read / study the Bible together.

On most weekdays after coming home from work I spend a few hours helping with the housework and helping to look after our baby. By the time I finish dinner and the dishes I feel mentally exhausted and want to bury my head in the pillow...

I realise being new parents it will take some getting used to, and a friend of mine advised that I should just concentrate on surviving the first year (because there are quite a few nights during each week where I only get less than seven hours of sleep).

That said, I really think we need to make some time to pray and read the Bible regularly.

To this end I recently bought a short Bible study the other day, but it seems the booklet has now been misplaced. This usually doesn't happen ... I generally leave it in an easily seen location around the home. However, I have checked all the "easily seen" locations already.

So, I am hoping I can find it again, soon. It's not the money, I could buy another one. But, I would like to be able to find the one we already have.

As always, your prayers are much appreciated. Thanks so much!

[QtheQreater]

So, are you and your spouse struggling to find time together to read and pray, or is it any time at all? Even if you have to do it separately (and even if you aren't as in depth as a Bible study), you can still talk with you partner about making time to individually spend time with God until baby's sleep patterns level out a little bit. Somebody is in charge of the baby for, say, 10 minutes at a time (don't make it too long) while the other one reads and prays. Spending even just a little time each day gives you enough communion with God to ask about the things that will help you get through that first year, especially patience with baby when you've had so little sleep.

How old is kiddo now, might I ask? I'm not very good with baby advice (and goodness knows it's annoying when people give it to you all the time), but before a year old mine was sleeping about 9-10 hours per night after going through some (dramatic in her case) sleep training. Just as a little "light at the end of the tunnel," she (almost 20 months) is still asleep right now and it's been about 12 hours. Sleep training is a good idea for everybody involved when kiddo is old enough.

Will be praying, Sammy. You want to spend time with God; He will honor that desire if you continue to take steps forward towards that goal.

[Sammy Boy]

I would say that it's finding the time to read and pray together. This is mostly because I am lazy. On most days I only have two waking hours in which I do not have to either do housework or tasks to help look after our girl.

I usually spend this time with my wife. I know we should take some of this time to pray and read the Bible, and sometimes we do. But it's inconsistent, and I think it's because we feel so mentally tired that we just want to do something else like watch TV. I have read that some people feel rested when they pray or read the Bible - personally I do not experience this often. I feel reading the Bible and praying requires much concentration. It could be I am approaching this the wrong way, LOL.

Our daughter is nine months old, she usually wakes up once or twice during the night. During the day she hardly sleeps for a baby her age, I think she is a hyper alert baby and a very light sleeper (even a car being started outside of the apartment block can be enough to wake her). I would say it's not really our girl stopping us from doing our devotions.

For myself, I've kinda struggled with this for quite some time. It's just that now with less time it's gotten a little harder. What I wish for is to have that strong desire to pray and read the Bible again - like I used to when I was in my 20s...

Thanks.