How to Do Devotions for Busy Moms (With Kids & Chaos)

When I was a single nurse, I often did shift work, working eight-hour evenings (second shift), eight-hour night shifts (graveyard), or twelve-hour nights (overnights). I did my devotional whenever I would wake up from sleeping after my shift; I counted that as my “morning”. Sometimes, especially when I would have to care for people on Sabbath, I would bring a small Bible and read it during my break.

When I got married and had our first child, I became a stay-at-home mom. I thought life would be simpler, but finding time for devotions for busy moms like me proved to be a real challenge. Things are more flexible now, but that’s also what makes things so hard. Having a newborn who has to get up every two hours to eat means your sleep is fragmented. I found that if I read the Bible during the night, it was too hard not to drift off to sleep, which is NOT an option when sitting in a chair with a newborn.

I also found it hard to be awake enough to process spiritual truths in the morning. I could read and reread a passage and still not process it. My days were kept very busy between making meals, infant care, trying to keep up with housework, infant checkups, helping my husband with our homestead, and church ministry. In the evening, by the time I thought of my Bible, I was already tired again and found it hard not to fall asleep.

I would go many days without reading God’s Word until, suffering from spiritual starvation, I would reach for my Bible out of deep need at an odd time. These odd times were usually in the middle of the day between chores, or even in the middle of the night during an occasional bout of insomnia when the baby wasn’t also up; bonus points if it made me tired enough to go to bed during these times.

Overcoming Guilt About Quiet Time

During one of these deep need studies, I had a breakthrough. I learned that biblically, God is always available, so there is no one time of day that is better than any other time of day for personal devotions. In fact, when you look at when to do devotions according to the Bible, every single time of day is represented in Scripture. As long as you make time to connect with Him each day, your relationship will grow. This lifted so much guilt from me about not being able to maintain an early-morning devotional time.

Ways to Do Devotions for Busy Moms

Here are my best techniques for fitting in some time for the daily bread of God’s Word in the midst of life’s chaos. These techniques even work through the sleep deprivation of raising infants or (our current season) toddlers with varying sleep schedules, such as when you can’t prevent the dreaded late afternoon nap!

1. Keep Bibles Visible and Accessible

Keep a Bible on the kitchen counter to reference between dishes or cooking or on a side table where you regularly sit, so you can pick it up when you get a quick break. If you’re breastfeeding an infant and sleep-deprived, a feeding in the middle of the day when the sun is at its brightest is one of your best bets for personal devotions. Bonus points if your chair is by a sunny window. Sunlight increases serotonin, which makes you feel alert and happy.

2. Listen to Audio Bibles

Play an audio Bible on your phone. My husband’s favorite audio-Bible narrator (and my default) is Alexander Scourby on YouTube. There are lots of other great options, though. This enables you to listen to God’s word while doing housework or even while driving. You could even invest in some audio Bible CDs for your car.

3. Combine Family Meals and Scripture

Do family devotions at the table when you’re already sitting down for a meal. I highly recommend A Promise a Day by Mark Finley. We’ve enjoyed Volume 2 so much that I ordered Volumes 1 and 3.

4. Embrace Micro-Moments

If you feel a random need to connect with God during the day (and are not driving), take a break to pray and read at least a few verses.

5. Learn alongside Your Children

Study your kids’ Sabbath school lesson with them and teach it to them. Memorize their memory verses. This makes it easier to teach the verse to them because you can review it with them from memory throughout the day. If you have older children, quiz them to see how much they remember of their verses.

6. Model “Parallel” Devotional Time

I learned this trick from our new Sabbath school lessons. Have a special Bible time where you and your kids have special time with Jesus separately. Get their Bible picture books if they’re not old enough to read, and teach them to pray and look through the pages while thinking about God. Meanwhile, you can model having your own time with Jesus. At first you will need this to be very short, especially when you have very young children; it will only be a few minutes, but over time this can be lengthened as their ability increases. I recommend finishing with doing some worship together. If your kids can’t read (like mine), read a Bible story to them. Readers or not, it’s nice to end with a little singing praise songs and maybe playing music.

7. Post Memory Verses Around the House

Write down a few memory verses and keep them handy to review throughout the day; index cards are really good for this. I like to keep a verse card on my fridge because it’s beside my sink, and I can read it and think on it while I hand-wash dishes.

Keep Returning to the Source

The important thing is that you keep returning to God no matter how busy life gets. He is our source, the Bread of Life and Well of Living Water that will never run dry.

“For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength…”
Isaiah 30:15