Fellow moms of young children will understand me when I say that alone time is a rare commodity for me. I am almost never alone. Like, ever. Even when I’m taking care of business in the bathroom, I usually have at least one child following me around. If I do manage to steal away some truly private time, it’s not usually quality private time, as I can still hear my kids yelling across the house … and more often than not, they STILL manage to find me in under 5 minutes and bam, private time is donezo. It’s like they have a built-in Mommy GPS or something!

Anyway, I’ve been really struggling to find a new time to do my QTs lately. Well, I say lately but if I’m being honest, I’ve been struggling with this for almost a year now. Back when D used to take 2 daily naps, it was easy for me to designate the first nap for QT/Bible reading and the second nap for lunch/mommy relaxation. When he transitioned down to one nap last year I suddenly found myself trying to cram everything into half the amount of time. Not very practical, to say the least. I’ve struggled with prioritizing Bible reading since then and as much as I’d love to give the first fruits of sacred nap time to the Lord, nap time generally coincides with lunch time and the truth is I am starving by that time. So then I will eat first, thinking I’ll read after eating, but then I get caught up in some article I was reading or a show I DVR’ed the night before .. and soon enough, nap time is over.

I am a morning person so I considered waking up first thing in the morning to do my QTs but I already wake up at 5:20 AM everyday to hit the gym and unless I start going to bed at the same time my kids do, I don’t think I could manage waking up any earlier than that. For awhile I tried reading my Bible as soon as I got back from the gym but sometimes the kids are already awake and it’s noisy -or- I find myself lulled back to bed by the quiet and peaceful house and cuddle with Hubby for a bit.

Doing Bible reading at night before bed works for some people but because I do wake up so early, I am usually exhausted by the time my own bedtime rolls around. That, and I didn’t like feeling like Bible reading was a chore at the end of the day when all I wanted to do was sleep. I like being able to read first thing in the morning because I feel like it helps start my day on the right foot but how would I fit that in with my current schedule?

I had an aha moment the other day when I was pulling into my driveway post-workout. Why not just stay in my car and do my Bible reading in there? It’s the perfect environment because it’s toasty and COMPLETELY free of distractions. I know my kids are either asleep or being watched by daddy; nobody really need me to be at home until close to 8 am when it’s almost school drop-off time… Why NOT?!

SO! That’s what I’ve been doing! When I leave for the gym, I make sure to grab my Bible and leave it in the car while I work out. It doubly works out because after I’ve exercised I’m pretty alert and ready to face my day; I feel like I’m giving my best attention and focus to the Lord and not the leftovers of a long day. I’ve been doing this for about a week and absolutely loving it! I love that my kids can’t find me and pull me away from what I’m reading and I love that I have a consistent and regular time & location to spend some quality time at the Lord’s feet. Maybe I should start a #CarQT movement 😉 Let me know where your go-to spot for some quiet Bible time is and how you manage it if you have little kids around. And if you haven’t figured out an answer to that conundrum yet, give my CarQT solution a try!