Lexi Shipp is a passionate writer, speaker, and Bible teacher. With a Bachelors in Religion and Masters in Human Services Counseling, both specified in Christian Ministry, Lexi is currently serving alongside her husband as Girls Student Ministry Director at London Bridge Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Working with middle and high school girls for years, she has a heart for connecting all generations of women and championing the next generation for the cause of Christ – starting within her own home as a mom. Lexi serves as a regular LifeWay Girls blogger, the Blog Team Lead for the SBC of Virginia’s Women’s Ministry Blog, and as a part of the SBCV Ministry Wives and Women’s Ministry Strategy teams. To read more of Lexi’s writings or to book her as a speaker, connect with her on Instagram @alexisleeshipp.
As a ministry leader, there can often be pressure to have a quiet time that looks a certain way. Not only because of other’s expectations, but because of what’s required to simply function within your job role and to do it with excellence as unto the Lord. We cannot effectively minister on His behalf without being consistently filled by Him.
To say that this season looks differently than other seasons in my own life would be a gross understatement. Before I met my husband, my time with the Lord was everything you’d hope it to be. We then encountered the transition of married life, and change didn’t stop there. Newborn life flipped our routines as we knew them upside down. Now, as a mom with a toddler and a new little one making their arrival any day, everything is even more flipped than it was before.
Flipped in the very best way, but flipped in a practically hard way when it comes to sitting down and getting to soak in the Word.
What the Lord has been showing me in this season is not to focus on what I feel like I can’t do, but instead to ask myself, “What CAN you do?”
He doesn’t care about me having an hour long quiet time just for the sake of having one – the 5 minutes here and there throughout the day where I’m casting my gaze upon Him, the moments that show my heart and affections are hungry for His nearness in the everyday – that’s what He desires most of all.
Just me. Showing up just as I am.
And just when I think that the 10 minutes I have the Bible app reading the Bible out loud to me while making breakfast or eating it is a compromise compared to what once was, something beautiful happens…
My husband has a Christian program playing for my son and the Bible is being discussed. My son says, “Bible? Mama?”
It struck me – he associates the Bible with me and me with the Bible.
Despite its simplicity, I almost always invite my son to listen to the Bible with me. Instead of trying to keep this time for myself, I include him in it.
No, my quiet time doesn’t always feel perfect. No, he is probably not getting anything from it at this stage. But what are my kids associating me with? What are they associating the pillars of faith with?
This simple action of inviting him into my Bible reading time not only allows the opportunity for me to encounter the Word, it shapes his little heart and mind. My kids will grow up feeling that my own personal faith wasn’t something that I kept for myself, but something that I openly shared with them. It didn’t pull me away, it pulled us closer together.
Conventional or not, this season is built for discipleship.
Our kids are not interruptions in our walk with the Lord – they may be the very thing that causes us to most intentionally press into our deepest calling, the Great Commission.
Discipleship is hardly ever convenient.
How can I be a faithful disciple myself and disciple my kids well?
By the way I view both what God expects of me and how to include them in that.
Motherhood is where our relationship with the Lord and our relationship with our kids bleed so heavily into one another they can’t be separated.
Our children are a treasured gift to be stewarded – an assignment from the Lord.
From now on, every morning, to the best of our ability, we will be listening or reading the Bible together. I’m sure this will look different season to season, eventually they will be able to have their own quiet time while I have mine.
But it will always look like doing what I can with what I have, for my growth and for theirs.
