A year ago I polled you all about your daily quiet time and any resources you had found. I also said I was going to begin research into it myself. These are the questions I asked: 

1. What percentages of Christians are spending daily quiet time with God?
2. If so, why? What motivates them?
3. If so, what resources have they found helpful?
4. If not, why? What barriers are standing in the way?
5. What resources are currently available to encourage daily quiet time?

Though I haven’t had the time to do as much research as I would have liked over the last year, I have been surprised by the informal results I have found.

First, though we want to, few of us seem to find the time to spend with God daily. Despite how important we know it is, our lives are just so full with our jobs and other commitments, and when you add children into the mix, our lives are even fuller. I don’t know how many times I set my alarm for 6:30 hoping to get a few minutes to myself and one of my boys wakes up even earlier. Ironically, since I have children living at home there is even more at stake as I seek to spend time with God. 

Second, as you have seen on my Friday Favs postings and some coming up, there are some resources out there. And as some of you have mentioned, there are good groups like Bible Study Fellowship and Ladies Classes, and studies like Precepts and Beth Moore that help to encourage you. I have also found many good resources at my local Christian book store and online. Whatever topic you may want to find a devotion or Bible study on, there seems to be one out there, though I did find that there are only a few for moms with little time on their hands.

So what motivates those that do find the time? It seems that building a relationship with God and the knowledge of the importance and value of that relationship, is what motivates many people. If this isn’t enough motivation for you yet, that’s okay! When I first began trying to spend time with God daily, I needed something a little more tangible. To motivate us, some of my friends and I had a challenge between us that whoever finished the study would go out to eat together at our favorite restaurant. That incentive helped me a lot!

I love one of the ideas that came out of the poll. One of my friends, Kelly, shared that studying God’s word with a group, staying in contact with them via email, encouraging each other, and sharing their insights really helped her to stay committed to daily quiet time with God.

I’ve been thinking lately, I would like to try it. I don’t always have time or the space from my kids to meet with a group in person. My Wednesday night class can attest to this. Liam always ends up in there with me! But I do have time to meet online.

So here’s what I was thinking. We could meet here on Overacup.org’s Facebook page. That way there’s not one more social network to keep up with. Any comments will just show up in your regular Facebook newsfeed or notifications.

Next we could decide on a study to do together. If you’re already in one you like, feel free to use the group to encourage you and share your own insights from your study, too. But I thought if several of us were studying the same thing, it might make it easier to keep going. Since it is summer and the kids are home from school, I am thinking something short each day. That way even if we only have a few minutes it will be possible to do it.

Here are some of my suggestions to get us started:

• Philippians
• James
• 15Minutes Alone with God, by Emily Barnes
• BusyMom’s Guide to Bible Study, by Lisa Whelchel

So what do you think? Are you in? If so, go over here and Like Overacup.com’s Facebook page, or click on the Facebook link on the right hand side. Then post to my Facebook wall that you’re in and which of these ideas you like or another study idea if you have one. Next Monday, June 4th, I’ll post which study we decided on, and we can begin the following Monday, June 11th.

I’d like to get as many women involved as possible, so if you think some of your friends would be interested please invite them, too!

I’m excited to see what God does with us working together!