A College Sized Faith: Quiet Time

Every year, the week after Mother’s Day, my church back home has Graduate Sunday. This is the week all the High School graduates go up on stage to be acknowledged before going to college. Then, the sermon is focused on them and becoming a Christian adult. And every year a few things are said, ‘So many lose their faith in college, strive to be among the few who don’t’ ‘Make sure you find a good church to get involved with’ ‘Make good Christian friends’ AND, ‘Don’t forget about your quiet time, because if you aren’t talking to God *insert something bad here.*’ The problem with all of this is no one ever tells you HOW, they only say it needs to be done. Then when you move to college and become overwhelmed by all the changes these things become the first to fall to the wayside. Today I am going to give you 5 tips to help you have and keep your quiet time in college.

1)     Schedule time everyday to read your Bible and Pray. Whether this is right when you wake up, while you are eating breakfast, or before bed. Whatever time you chose STICK TO IT!!! It doesn’t matter what happened that day or what will happen, stick to the time you set out for yourself.  If you never set a time it will always be, ‘I will do it later’ which turns into tomorrow which turns into never. Or if you do set a time and don’t stick to it then the habit will never form.

2)     Have a schedule of what you want to read each day. This could be choosing a book of the Bible and reading through it one chapter a day, or finding an app that gives you a plan. Whatever you chose to do, again, stick to it! But also don’t forget that if you get behind a day or two don’t worry about catching up, just pick up where you left off. God wants to spend quality time with you, He doesn’t want you stressing about reading 7 chapters in an hour because you forgot all week.

3)     Find a way to keep yourself interested in your reading. I like to underline different colors for different meanings, pink for love, silver for blessings etc. Other people write their favorite verses out in a notebook, some do Bible Journaling. Find something to keep you interested even as the semester goes on.

4)      Find an accountability partner. This could be an older woman back home you check in with once in a while, a good friend who isn’t afraid to call you out, or even a Sunday school teacher or pastor (if your church is small enough). Find someone who will keep you accountable but who you are also comfortable sharing with. If aren’t comfortable with this parson you will just end up saying, ‘yeah everything is great’ even when it isn’t.

5)     Lastly, and most importantly, you have to do it because you want to, not because you have too. Never do anything for God because you think you have to do it. You have to want to spend time with Him every day, otherwise it becomes a chore and God does not want spending time with Him to be a chore. If you love God you will want to spend time with Him and finding time for your daily quiet time will be a piece of cake.

Love God, Love Others, Love Disney,

~Lacey