By Amy Hafner
“I spend my time with God at 4:30am,” a wise pastor once said to me. “Well, mornings just aren’t my thing,” I replied. I went home thinking, “I want to give God my best and my best is in the evening.” When I did study his word, pray, or worship Him, evening would be the time.
About a year later I was feeling empty in my relationship with God. I wasn’t absorbing His Word. Sure, I was reading but I didn’t feel His Word was speaking to me. My heart wasn’t changing. To be completely honest, time with Him was boring and I was doing it to check it off my giant to-do list. I didn’t enjoy it at all.
One morning, while getting ready for my day, I prayed, “Father I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I want to know you better, I just don’t know how.” A few weeks later, I went to a conference with my husband. The theme that kept popping up to me was, if you really want to know God, you need to know God’s word.
I heard a woman speaker there, who was also an author. She had something about her that I wanted. She could quote more scripture than anyone I had ever met. She had so much confidence, so much joy, and so much energy and I wanted it too.
I went to her breakout session and she hammered home reading the Bible and reading it in the morning. She talked about the One Year Bible Plan and I felt God convicting me. Committing to this was something I needed to do and I needed to do it in the morning.
“Seek first the Kingdom of God” Matthew 6:33
Remember, I don’t like mornings. I didn’t want to wake up earlier. Mornings are “ugly” for me. Then something hit me, God’s unconditional love for us. He doesn’t care what any of us look like in the morning, if we have messy hair or if even we are grumpy. And personally, that was probably why I should be hanging out with Him first thing!
No matter what side of the bed I roll out on, if He is on my side, my day is better and my day has more meaning. Hopefully, if I don’t fight Him, I will do His will, not mine, which I’ve learned is such a better plan.
When God is on my mind first thing, He tends to be on my mind all day and I am continually in prayer. I’m able to be a better, wife, mother and friend.
If you have been struggling with your relationship with God, pray. This has been a journey for me and the beauty of it is that He has a unique journey for you! He wants to know your heart. He loves you, and He is waiting.