Time. To me, time is super important. If you know me, you know I don’t like to waste my time. I’m a huge multitasker, and I’m always doing something. Right now, I am in class, writing a blog and taking notes. I want to think I’m not doing half bad in any of the tasks either! Haha! While I love the time-efficient things in life, I have recently started to surrender my time to God. (Now that can be vague so that I will explain further later) What has stood out to me is how much God uses you when you surrender! If you want to be used by God, keep reading.
In our society today, it is easy to say, ” I am so busy,” “I don’t have any free time”. Trust me; I get it. In fact, I say those phrases way more than I should. Then a couple of weeks ago, I had a thought what if I gave God my time? What would it look like if my time, my day, wasn’t mine but God’s….. The craziest thing happened when I did that. God used me. He used me to encourage people and to guide them through difficult situations. He led me to great fellowship. He led me to a great time with him. What is even more brilliant is this didn’t just happen when I had my bible in my hand or just on Sunday. God can be everywhere and in everything, if we would only invite Him. Jesus is a gentleman, and He doesn’t force us to do anything with Him. However, when we invite him into everything, there is so much more beauty in mundane things.
How to find Jesus in everything? Well, that’s for a different post, but for now, let’s stick to how to put God in the center of your time.
1.Ask Him
I feel like this should be self-explanatory. We should already ask God to be with us every day. But if we are honest, many of the “shoulds” get lost in the sauce of everyday life. Can I get an Amen??
To be as straightforward as possible, this is step one. When you start to plan out every month, every week, every day, ask God that He would use your time to bring Him glory. Ask Him to use you to bring a little bit more of heaven down to earth. This might sound too churchy and not fun. I challenge you to do it anyway. I can say it’s a blast every day, but until you experience it yourself, you won’t believe me. Try it tomorrow and see what happens.
2.Leave room
We love to budget every second of every day for something. I am very guilty of doing that. At some point in all of the clutter in our day, we take the focus off of God and on to us. Our needs, our wants, and that is super normal. But I don’t want to be ‘normal.’ I want to thrive. I want joy, peace, and patience. I want to walk into a room, and people say, “wow! She is doing it.” Whatever it is, I hope you do it well! However, to do well, you need to give yourself room to do well.
Hear me: I am not saying drop a class or don’t go to Wednesday night church or don’t do your homework. No, dear, I am saying drop social media one day a week. I am saying don’t watch so much tv. I am saying maybe take a day off at the gym and make time for real friendships. I am saying put yourself in a position to grow in whatever way God has for you in this next season.
3.Sabbath
This last one is something long forgotten. A day of rest?? A whole day??? How could I ever find the time??
People actually did it for years. The world wasn’t always 24/7. It use to be 24/6, and before that, even less. However, with so much “good” technology we are now busier than ever! Wild, right?
Not only did people once practice taking a sabbath but God did too. The God of the entire universe work for six days and rested on the seventh. (Check out the beginning of Genisis 2 if you need a reminder) I don’t know about you, but if the God of the entire universe can rest, I think I can too. In fact, I think I need it infinitely more.
At first, Sabbath will feel daunting, but slowly it will become the best part of your week. I am a person always on the go, but man is my Sabbaths the best! I can write a whole post on ideas of how to spend your sabbath, but for now, be encouraged to start. This practice will refresh you. All you need to do is begin.
I think this is something I will continue to grow in, so I plan to update this. I want everyone to know the tips I have found helpful to begin to connect with Jesus authentically. I hope you found this helpful, and I will post on social media when I update this. That said, follow me if you haven’t @isabel_paoloni on Instagram. As always, message me any prayer requests. Much love and God bless – Isabel 🙂
