Do you struggle in the waiting? Maybe you anticipate finding the right spouse or hope for children. Perhaps you need a breakthrough in finances, a relationship, direction, health, or your career. Or you might just be praying for something more from life.
Whatever battle you face today, I pray this post lifts your spirit, reawakens passion, and strengthens you to run after everything God has for you.
Last weekend I attended my first writer’s conference. It was a great experience. I met many wonderful writers and industry professionals and learned a lot. But most importantly, I realigned my focus.
I don’t know about you, but I frequently find myself scattered in countless directions. Responsibilities like cleaning, laundry, taking care of my kids, homeschooling, and paying bills deplete much of my time, energy, and resources. Yet, I also squander my time on social media and television more often than I care to admit.
If you’ve ever said, “I don’t have the time for that,” this post is for you.
It’s time to take control of your life.
God seeks good stewards. Matthew 25:14-30 depicts the Parable of the Talents, demonstrating God’s expectation that we do something with whatever He has given us. Regardless of how much time we have each week, God desires for us to use it wisely to advance His Kingdom.
Could you stand before Jesus today and proclaim you have faithfully utilized your time, talents, and resources?
Honestly, I couldn’t.
I tend to get sucked into the time vortex. A few scrolls and suddenly social media steals 30 minutes (multiple times a day). I find a million ways to avoid the tasks I don’t want to do (like dishes and laundry).
We are called to live our lives in a way that honors and pleases God.
How we spend our time matters.
Therefore, each one must answer for himself and give a personal account of his own life before God. Romans 14:12 TPT
I realized I needed to take control of my time and more faithfully steward this life Christ gave me. Perhaps you do too. I’ve found I can’t control what I don’t understand, so here’s how I took control of my time:
I printed a weekly planner with 30-minute increments and tracked what I did each day. Once I had a grasp of where my time went, I began setting goals and scheduling the important things into my week.
If I’m fortunate enough to get eight hours of sleep, that leaves 16 hours daily—112 hours weekly with which to do something.
If you work fulltime, you have 72 hours every week. How do you invest them? I can tell you, I didn’t like what I saw when I looked at the way I spent my weeks.
The 2nd aspect of faithfully managing our lives requires us to look at the manner in which we serve. Are you doing your best each day, or just the minimum to get by? Do you have a great attitude and give 110% to all your tasks or complain?
Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work. Colossians 3:23-25 MSG
I want to intentionally steward my life and make the most of those 112 hours every week.
I started by sitting down with my planner and asking what things are most important in this season of life. I scheduled time for those first (worship, prayer, Bible study, church, morning cuddles with my kiddos, homeschooling, writing books and blog posts, and personal development [reading books, listening to podcasts, etc.]). Then, I built in time for the necessary evils—like laundry, household chores, and weekly errands. Finally, I blocked out time for fun and scheduled the time-suckers (social media and TV) so they couldn’t secretly steal any more of my life.
I also left room for grace and chaos.
At the writer’s conference this weekend, I had the privilege of hearing an amazing author and woman of God, Robin Jones Gunn. She said something that resonated: “Do the hard work.”
If you want something to change, you’ve got to invest in it and do the hard work.
I committed to doing the hard work of writing, homeschooling and equipping my kids to transform this world.
It’s amazing how much I can achieve in a week when I intentionally take control of my days. It feels great to get back in the driver’s seat of my life.
What will you commit to?
I’d love to hear your goals and pray with you. Leave a comment or send me an email. Also, please like and share this post if you found it helpful.
As a bonus, you can download my FREE planner to get you started. Utilize the editable weekly planner to track how you spend your hours, then you can use the Grow Your Faith daily planner to set goals and schedule your days. Each page includes a passage of scripture to meditate on.
Blessings,
Hi Katie,
I met you briefly at that writer’s conference, while waiting in line for the 1:1’s. Thank you for this blog. I was wondering if anything came of your book proposal? Your book sounded interesting and useful and practical. I think I’ve learned some of the same lessons, unfortunately still am not too faithful in applying them. Just wanted to say, your book proposal sheet showed me what a real cleaned-up proposal should look like.
Hi Katie,
My pitch didn’t go too well. I wasn’t really prepared, or sure that I even wanted to move forward with my book. I realized that in a book proposal you have to make it very specific.
Something I learned was that, these conferences aren’t designed to share your work or to get feedback. You go when you know you’re ready to move forward with publishing. That’s what the one-on-ones are for: one book about, one subject matter for a publisher. Getting a 2nd set of eyes has to be done in my own time. I had alot of stuff.
A lot of my writing was birthed out of my own season of transition over the past few years. You were right in your post in saying that we have to keep in alignment with the Holy Spirit every step of the way. Not give in to doubt, fear, disobedience, procrastination. Unfortunately, I let this happen.
But I still enjoyed the conference and learned a few things, about the industry and the process.
Don’t know how to move forward from here. I can still submit my shorter essays.
Lila