February 11, 2025 • 14 mins
Is the all-or-nothing mindset unhinging your attempt to consistently spend time in God's Word? In this episode, Ahna shares personal experiences to explore how we can break free from this trap. We'll uncover how the pressure of turning our spiritual practices into overwhelming tasks can lead to burnout, and why it's crucial to embrace a more sustainable routine.
Discover how simplifying your devotions can transform your spiritual life into a source of daily strength and inspiration.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And then spending time in God's word starts to
become in and of itself a to-dolist item and it becomes too
overwhelming.
It ends up not happening at all.
And, ladies, hi, allison, Ihope you guys are having an
amazing week.
(00:20):
It is rainy here.
I don't know where you guys allare, but I have my tea and I'm
looking out my window and seeingthe rain, which I love and also
makes me sleepy, all at thesame time.
My productivity is definitelydown if I'm cold or if it's
rainy, but that's all right.
Today we are talking about howto ignite the powerful daily
(00:45):
habit of reading God's word witha surprising tip.
Tell me, if this has ever beenyou, you maybe have started an
early morning routine.
Those of you here in earlymorning habit.
You're working on that.
You made your coffee, you haveyour tea.
Working on that.
(01:06):
You made your coffee, you haveyour tea.
The home is quiet and you areexcited to sit down and renew
your heart and mind with God'sword and prayer.
When you sit down, you get yourblanket, you make yourself cozy
, you're still a little sleepybecause it's six or 630 in the
morning and you look at yournightstand or your side table
and you see your 30-page thickstudy guide from Beth Moore or
(01:29):
whomever, and you open it andtoday's exercise is two pages
long and there's a bunch oflittle fill-in-the-blanks and
even though you're a lover ofworkbooks, at the moment it just
feels a little too much andyou're too tired.
So you say, ah, close, that I'mnot going to do that right now.
And then you search for alittle devotional that you used
(01:52):
to have.
Maybe it's this one that Ihappen to love.
Then you open it and it has youreading chapters two through 10
and John and you think, ah, twothrough 10, it's a lot, even if
it's 10 verses.
And then you're like, oh, maybeI'll just read the Psalms.
And then you open your Bible toPsalms and you're like I don't
(02:14):
know where to start.
Do you start at the beginning?
You've been to chapter 30 orPsalm 30.
You think maybe you'll startthere now, maybe I'll start back
at the beginning.
And then you look at the clock15 minutes have passed.
You've really not spent anyreal time in the word.
And now you're questioning whatdo I do next?
(02:35):
Maybe I just scrapped thisentirely because today it didn't
work out.
So you go to your to-do list ormaybe you just go to get your
workout done, for those of youin early morning habit, or maybe
you just go to get your workoutdone for those of you in early
morning habit.
But the point is this like somany areas in our life, for many
of us, myself included, when wetry to establish the habit of
(02:57):
quiet time or devotions, ourtendency is still very much all
or nothing and the cycle becomeswell, I'm going to do the full
Beth Moore workbook, I'm goingto do the full study guide that
accompanies the women's Biblestudy that I'm in, and for the
first couple weeks, you do itbecause you're a doer and you
(03:22):
want to meet people'sexpectations, and you are going
to fill in all two and a halfpages of every day's assignment.
And then spending time in God'sword starts to become in and of
itself, a to-do list item, butwhen it becomes too overwhelming
(03:43):
, it ends up not happening atall.
So the question is how do weimplement this same concept that
you've heard me talk about inearly morning habit in all other
areas of our life fitness,nutrition, sleep, discipline?
(04:03):
Something that I say over andover again is that we need to
forego the all or nothingmentality in pursuit of
sustainability, because if it'snot sustainable, it's not
attainable.
You might enjoy the results fora brief period of time, but you
are not going to be able tosustain the result that you
(04:25):
actually want.
So the question that we'reanswering today is how do we,
even in reading God's word,avoid the all or nothing
mentality, Hi friend?
How do we avoid this all ornothing mentality, even as it
concerns our morning devotions?
So I shared a little bit abouthow this might look in your life
(04:49):
, but let me tell you how itlooked in your life.
But let me tell you how itlooked in my life when I was in
college.
It was really common for uswomen, or the small groups that
would form in college, to doBible studies together, and it
always included a workbook,because we ladies love workbooks
and we like our multicoloredpens, and so we would all get
excited about the workbooks.
And even in college it was thesame truth that is still
(05:12):
accurate of me today as a mom Xnumber of years later that the
first couple of weeks I was inpumped up.
Me and other women are doing ittogether, and I see my roommate
she's doing she was way moredisciplined than me, by the way.
She was filling in all herlittle blanks, her two and a
half pages a day in her studyguide.
But then in the busyness oflife, even in college I ran
(05:35):
track, I did stuff in music, Idid multiple other things.
It did not take long for thediscipline to wear off and the
motivation to be doing two pagesof a study guide to also wear
off, and what would happen is,instead of finding a middle
ground, I would scrap it alltogether and end up completely
missing daily time in God's word.
(05:57):
As I got older.
What ended up happening is, Irealized I kind of don't feel
like hearing what other peoplehave to say about scripture.
I just sort of want to readscripture To be clear.
I just sort of want to readscripture To be clear.
There is absolutely nothingwrong with devotions and books
that are really beautifullywritten by other people who are
(06:20):
infusing their thoughts and howthey're applying God's word to
their life and offeringapplications for yours.
Absolutely nothing wrong withthat.
But what I started to find isthat in my daily morning time I
have this brief window whereevery day I'm creating a
non-negotiable to hear from God,and so for myself it started to
become okay.
What would it look like if,just during this time, the only
(06:44):
voice that I read and that Isought to hear from was God's?
And again, there's no right orwrong here, but I'm helping us
try to eliminate this all ornothing mentality, because in
this early morning time, simpleequals sustainable across the
board, even when it comes tospending time in God's word.
So what I started to look forwere devotionals that only had
(07:06):
compilations of scripture.
This is one that I talk aboutin early morning habit.
It is tiny little thing.
I got it in a hardware store,not even kidding, on the little
carousel.
You know you live in aChristian county when you have
these in the hardware store, butit's just a compilation of
scripture under one theme forevery day.
(07:26):
And then, lately, I've pared itdown even more because, as much
as I love this, and lately I'vepared it down even more because
, as much as I love this, in onepage there's multiple different
thoughts.
And so I found myself even like, as I read it, there was almost
so much to think on and to tryto apply to my life that I ended
up.
My brain already started goingover here because mom, life and
(07:50):
so many other things to thinkabout, and so it was hard for me
to even focus in on applyingone of these 12 verses.
Maybe this works, too for you,but one of the most amazing
things that I've experiencedthat I just started doing this
past year is something called asingle scripture study, where I
(08:11):
take one verse, just one verse,and in full transparency.
What it's been is what we'reposting on the Early Morning
Habit Instagram or for any ofyou that sign up for the email,
like one daily verse to yourinbox.
I literally that is the onlyverse that I reflect on in the
(08:31):
morning, and it has been sotransformational and powerful
because of this idea that's truein business and it's true in a
lot of our areas in life is isthis idea that the riches are in
the niches?
Right, that's like a businessphrase, but what's amazing is
how it's actually true, even forthis time in God's word,
because the spiritual riches offocusing in on one piece of
(08:58):
information, as written in God'sword and then allowing that to
be applied in my life veryspecifically, has given me clear
intention every morning.
I'm not doing the whole likeside eye, all the devotionals
that I maybe could read thatmorning, but I don't feel like
reading that morning becauseit's too overwhelming and I'm
(09:18):
already tired and I still haveto work out yet.
And then it makes it so mucheasier to follow that up with
either prayer journaling if youprayer journal, or just even in
your prayer, especially as youstart to infuse emotionally
intelligent gratitude into it.
Because now you take that oneverse and you think, god, how do
(09:40):
I apply this one thing?
Maybe it's a verse aboutallowing the Lord to restore
your soul.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
How am I not allowing you tolead me?
Where in my life am I toodistracted and I'm actually
running ahead of you, being like, okay, catch up, when really
you're just asking me to fix myeyes on you as you walk ahead of
(10:04):
me and lead me, and allowingthat to kind of shape how you
enter your day, and then youfocus on that one application
point for the day.
It's again this concept ofwe're just trying to deconstruct
the all or nothing mentalitythat even the Christian culture
pushes on us as women, and it'snot intentional.
(10:25):
But the Christian culture isalso being influenced by secular
culture, right?
Because we can't reallyseparate the two, like we still
have to live in the world andfigure out how to not be of it
through the power of the HolySpirit.
So this is a tip.
It is not one that has to beused by you, but I do highly
encourage you to avoid thewomen's Bible study, the
(10:48):
inductive 30-page workbook thatyou have.
I wouldn't do it during yourearly morning time because it
very quickly starts to becomelike a to-do list in and of
itself.
To spend time in God's word andalthough we want to be
intentional with the strategy,it needs to be something that is
simple.
It's not full of decisions.
So this single scripture studyhas really made a big impact in
(11:12):
my life.
And also looking for devotionalsthat for this time.
Other times awesome, like dothe studies, do the women's
workbooks, but just in themorning my encouragement if you
want to make it sustainable,keep it really simple and if you
feel so inclined, limit it tojust hearing the voice of God
(11:32):
and resensitizing your spirit,to be hearing from Him maybe
instead of the voices of otherpeople, just in that time.
But I would love to hear fromyou guys thoughts on that, on
what you've seen in your ownlife, or even devotionals or
books that you highly recommendin that morning time.
(11:54):
I would love to hear yourthoughts on that.
It's so lovely seeing people'sfaces here.
I love it.
Let me pray for us.
Dear Jesus, I thank you so muchfor the women that are listening
, that are hearing this now,that are sitting here or hearing
it later.
And, father, as we talk aboutbeing in your word, I just ask
(12:15):
that in the morning, when wehave this quiet time in our
hearts, in our minds, our homes,that you would speak, whether
it be through Proverbs, whetherit be through Jesus Calling,
whether it be through anotherbrother or sister in Christ who
has written what they have heardfrom you.
(12:35):
But I also pray, lord, that youwould speak to us specifically,
that we would feel the realpresence of your voice in our
lives and that we would start tolearn to hear from you in our
own hearts and in our ownspirits, and that we would feel
the beautiful, beautiful powerthat you have given us through
(12:56):
the Holy Spirit, to commune withyou, to know you and to be
known by you, and that thatwould be testament of our lives,
especially in our homes.
Lord, we love you.
I pray for these women thatthey would go forth with calm
confidence anything that is ontheir heart and mind the trials,
(13:17):
the struggles, the challenges,that you would just give them a
sense that it is well becauseyou are present, you are there.
That you would just give them asense that it is well because
you are present, you are thereand you are going before them.
So I just ask that, despitecircumstances, you would give a
peace that passes understandingin all of our lives.
We love you, amen.
And then spending time in God's word starts to
become in and of itself a to-dolist item and it becomes too
overwhelming.
It ends up not happening at all.
And, ladies, hi, allison, Ihope you guys are having an
amazing week.
(00:20):
It is rainy here.
I don't know where you guys allare, but I have my tea and I'm
looking out my window and seeingthe rain, which I love and also
makes me sleepy, all at thesame time.
My productivity is definitelydown if I'm cold or if it's
rainy, but that's all right.
Today we are talking about howto ignite the powerful daily
(00:45):
habit of reading God's word witha surprising tip.
Tell me, if this has ever beenyou, you maybe have started an
early morning routine.
Those of you here in earlymorning habit.
You're working on that.
You made your coffee, you haveyour tea.
Working on that.
(01:06):
You made your coffee, you haveyour tea.
The home is quiet and you areexcited to sit down and renew
your heart and mind with God'sword and prayer.
When you sit down, you get yourblanket, you make yourself cozy
, you're still a little sleepybecause it's six or 630 in the
morning and you look at yournightstand or your side table
and you see your 30-page thickstudy guide from Beth Moore or
(01:29):
whomever, and you open it andtoday's exercise is two pages
long and there's a bunch oflittle fill-in-the-blanks and
even though you're a lover ofworkbooks, at the moment it just
feels a little too much andyou're too tired.
So you say, ah, close, that I'mnot going to do that right now.
And then you search for alittle devotional that you used
(01:52):
to have.
Maybe it's this one that Ihappen to love.
Then you open it and it has youreading chapters two through 10
and John and you think, ah, twothrough 10, it's a lot, even if
it's 10 verses.
And then you're like, oh, maybeI'll just read the Psalms.
And then you open your Bible toPsalms and you're like I don't
(02:14):
know where to start.
Do you start at the beginning?
You've been to chapter 30 orPsalm 30.
You think maybe you'll startthere now, maybe I'll start back
at the beginning.
And then you look at the clock15 minutes have passed.
You've really not spent anyreal time in the word.
And now you're questioning whatdo I do next?
(02:35):
Maybe I just scrapped thisentirely because today it didn't
work out.
So you go to your to-do list ormaybe you just go to get your
workout done, for those of youin early morning habit, or maybe
you just go to get your workoutdone for those of you in early
morning habit.
But the point is this like somany areas in our life, for many
of us, myself included, when wetry to establish the habit of
(02:57):
quiet time or devotions, ourtendency is still very much all
or nothing and the cycle becomeswell, I'm going to do the full
Beth Moore workbook, I'm goingto do the full study guide that
accompanies the women's Biblestudy that I'm in, and for the
first couple weeks, you do itbecause you're a doer and you
(03:22):
want to meet people'sexpectations, and you are going
to fill in all two and a halfpages of every day's assignment.
And then spending time in God'sword starts to become in and of
itself, a to-do list item, butwhen it becomes too overwhelming
(03:43):
, it ends up not happening atall.
So the question is how do weimplement this same concept that
you've heard me talk about inearly morning habit in all other
areas of our life fitness,nutrition, sleep, discipline?
(04:03):
Something that I say over andover again is that we need to
forego the all or nothingmentality in pursuit of
sustainability, because if it'snot sustainable, it's not
attainable.
You might enjoy the results fora brief period of time, but you
are not going to be able tosustain the result that you
(04:25):
actually want.
So the question that we'reanswering today is how do we,
even in reading God's word,avoid the all or nothing
mentality, Hi friend?
How do we avoid this all ornothing mentality, even as it
concerns our morning devotions?
So I shared a little bit abouthow this might look in your life
(04:49):
, but let me tell you how itlooked in your life.
But let me tell you how itlooked in my life when I was in
college.
It was really common for uswomen, or the small groups that
would form in college, to doBible studies together, and it
always included a workbook,because we ladies love workbooks
and we like our multicoloredpens, and so we would all get
excited about the workbooks.
And even in college it was thesame truth that is still
(05:12):
accurate of me today as a mom Xnumber of years later that the
first couple of weeks I was inpumped up.
Me and other women are doing ittogether, and I see my roommate
she's doing she was way moredisciplined than me, by the way.
She was filling in all herlittle blanks, her two and a
half pages a day in her studyguide.
But then in the busyness oflife, even in college I ran
(05:35):
track, I did stuff in music, Idid multiple other things.
It did not take long for thediscipline to wear off and the
motivation to be doing two pagesof a study guide to also wear
off, and what would happen is,instead of finding a middle
ground, I would scrap it alltogether and end up completely
missing daily time in God's word.
(05:57):
As I got older.
What ended up happening is, Irealized I kind of don't feel
like hearing what other peoplehave to say about scripture.
I just sort of want to readscripture To be clear.
I just sort of want to readscripture To be clear.
There is absolutely nothingwrong with devotions and books
that are really beautifullywritten by other people who are
(06:20):
infusing their thoughts and howthey're applying God's word to
their life and offeringapplications for yours.
Absolutely nothing wrong withthat.
But what I started to find isthat in my daily morning time I
have this brief window whereevery day I'm creating a
non-negotiable to hear from God,and so for myself it started to
become okay.
What would it look like if,just during this time, the only
(06:44):
voice that I read and that Isought to hear from was God's?
And again, there's no right orwrong here, but I'm helping us
try to eliminate this all ornothing mentality, because in
this early morning time, simpleequals sustainable across the
board, even when it comes tospending time in God's word.
So what I started to look forwere devotionals that only had
(07:06):
compilations of scripture.
This is one that I talk aboutin early morning habit.
It is tiny little thing.
I got it in a hardware store,not even kidding, on the little
carousel.
You know you live in aChristian county when you have
these in the hardware store, butit's just a compilation of
scripture under one theme forevery day.
(07:26):
And then, lately, I've pared itdown even more because, as much
as I love this, and lately I'vepared it down even more because
, as much as I love this, in onepage there's multiple different
thoughts.
And so I found myself even like, as I read it, there was almost
so much to think on and to tryto apply to my life that I ended
up.
My brain already started goingover here because mom, life and
(07:50):
so many other things to thinkabout, and so it was hard for me
to even focus in on applyingone of these 12 verses.
Maybe this works, too for you,but one of the most amazing
things that I've experiencedthat I just started doing this
past year is something called asingle scripture study, where I
(08:11):
take one verse, just one verse,and in full transparency.
What it's been is what we'reposting on the Early Morning
Habit Instagram or for any ofyou that sign up for the email,
like one daily verse to yourinbox.
I literally that is the onlyverse that I reflect on in the
(08:31):
morning, and it has been sotransformational and powerful
because of this idea that's truein business and it's true in a
lot of our areas in life is isthis idea that the riches are in
the niches?
Right, that's like a businessphrase, but what's amazing is
how it's actually true, even forthis time in God's word,
because the spiritual riches offocusing in on one piece of
(08:58):
information, as written in God'sword and then allowing that to
be applied in my life veryspecifically, has given me clear
intention every morning.
I'm not doing the whole likeside eye, all the devotionals
that I maybe could read thatmorning, but I don't feel like
reading that morning becauseit's too overwhelming and I'm
(09:18):
already tired and I still haveto work out yet.
And then it makes it so mucheasier to follow that up with
either prayer journaling if youprayer journal, or just even in
your prayer, especially as youstart to infuse emotionally
intelligent gratitude into it.
Because now you take that oneverse and you think, god, how do
(09:40):
I apply this one thing?
Maybe it's a verse aboutallowing the Lord to restore
your soul.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
How am I not allowing you tolead me?
Where in my life am I toodistracted and I'm actually
running ahead of you, being like, okay, catch up, when really
you're just asking me to fix myeyes on you as you walk ahead of
(10:04):
me and lead me, and allowingthat to kind of shape how you
enter your day, and then youfocus on that one application
point for the day.
It's again this concept ofwe're just trying to deconstruct
the all or nothing mentalitythat even the Christian culture
pushes on us as women, and it'snot intentional.
(10:25):
But the Christian culture isalso being influenced by secular
culture, right?
Because we can't reallyseparate the two, like we still
have to live in the world andfigure out how to not be of it
through the power of the HolySpirit.
So this is a tip.
It is not one that has to beused by you, but I do highly
encourage you to avoid thewomen's Bible study, the
(10:48):
inductive 30-page workbook thatyou have.
I wouldn't do it during yourearly morning time because it
very quickly starts to becomelike a to-do list in and of
itself.
To spend time in God's word andalthough we want to be
intentional with the strategy,it needs to be something that is
simple.
It's not full of decisions.
So this single scripture studyhas really made a big impact in
(11:12):
my life.
And also looking for devotionalsthat for this time.
Other times awesome, like dothe studies, do the women's
workbooks, but just in themorning my encouragement if you
want to make it sustainable,keep it really simple and if you
feel so inclined, limit it tojust hearing the voice of God
(11:32):
and resensitizing your spirit,to be hearing from Him maybe
instead of the voices of otherpeople, just in that time.
But I would love to hear fromyou guys thoughts on that, on
what you've seen in your ownlife, or even devotionals or
books that you highly recommendin that morning time.
(11:54):
I would love to hear yourthoughts on that.
It's so lovely seeing people'sfaces here.
I love it.
Let me pray for us.
Dear Jesus, I thank you so muchfor the women that are listening
, that are hearing this now,that are sitting here or hearing
it later.
And, father, as we talk aboutbeing in your word, I just ask
(12:15):
that in the morning, when wehave this quiet time in our
hearts, in our minds, our homes,that you would speak, whether
it be through Proverbs, whetherit be through Jesus Calling,
whether it be through anotherbrother or sister in Christ who
has written what they have heardfrom you.
(12:35):
But I also pray, lord, that youwould speak to us specifically,
that we would feel the realpresence of your voice in our
lives and that we would start tolearn to hear from you in our
own hearts and in our ownspirits, and that we would feel
the beautiful, beautiful powerthat you have given us through
(12:56):
the Holy Spirit, to commune withyou, to know you and to be
known by you, and that thatwould be testament of our lives,
especially in our homes.
Lord, we love you.
I pray for these women thatthey would go forth with calm
confidence anything that is ontheir heart and mind the trials,
(13:17):
the struggles, the challenges,that you would just give them a
sense that it is well becauseyou are present, you are there.
That you would just give them asense that it is well because
you are present, you are thereand you are going before them.
So I just ask that, despitecircumstances, you would give a
peace that passes understandingin all of our lives.
We love you, amen.
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