Nothing could ever prepare me for the constancy of having two children sixteen months apart. A given hour of my day touts the demands of a dirty diaper from one child while the other child unravels a toilet paper role, spills and spit ups, totes of toys strewn across the room, a meal to cook, emails to answer, and loads of laundry to fold. What is even more surprising to me is that I’m not the only one who endures this kind of day-to-day chaos. In fact, nearly all women go through the season of having little kids.

One thing I’ve tried to figure out about this stage of life is where time with God fits in. And this isn’t just physical time, it’s also mental time—which seems even more sparse. I’ve surveyed some women older than me, simply picking their brain of what they did in their Christian walk when their kids were little. I’ll confess I’ve been disappointed with the answers I’ve received.

“Oh that’s just such a crazy season of life…it’s all a blur.”

“I’ll just listen to the Bible as I’m able.”

“I didn’t do very well with that. I would study the Bible some when prepping to help lead a class at church.”

As someone who has treasured time with the Lord in the Word and in prayer for over a decade, I wasn’t satisfied by the list of half-hearted suggestions. Yet I wrestle many weeks with half-hearted abilities to meet with the Lord myself.

Many would suggest that I wake up early, before my kids. That’s sure hard to do when one of them has been waking up at 5:30 for months on end. Others would suggest simply an as-you-go approach to spending time with God.

While nothing I may share with you is profound, I must offer the following thoughts as you strive to know God more deeply in one of the most physically challenging seasons of life.

Time with God is worth fighting for.

YES, I will finally admit that time with God cannot look the same in this season of life. But that doesn’t mean it’s worth giving up completely. You may not have an hour, but you definitely have 10 minutes (our social media scroll time can attest to that). You may not get to pour out your heart in prayer while in silence on your closet floor, but you can certainly spout prayers for help and wisdom on your knees as you’re playing beside your kids.

Everything in life is about priorities. Spending a month off social media helped me realized that if we have all of our priorities in line, we typically can do the most important things in any given day. For me, that’s time with the Lord, my kids, my husband, working on the house, working my job, and exercising. If those things haven’t been done, nothing else should be.

You can get creative.

The year I had only one child, I was able to complete the Bible Recap, even if there were days I would have to listen to the reading and podcast instead of using my physical Bible. Last year, I listened to the Bible in a year in addition to my brief study time each day. I’ve had to learn to pray throughout the day (which is good practice anyways). As a working mom, all of these things are more challenging since my brain is occupied with a host of projects in addition to my motherhood tasks. The most difficult barrier to my time with God has been my own mind. But loving God with my mind means having set aside times to rest it before Him. For me, that’s always been the evenings, and I’ve held on to that sacred space even in motherhood. It continues to be a time where I can be quiet and reflect on my day and all God has done.

Perhaps the most creative way to know and glorify God in the season of littles is to bring the Scripture your learning to them. I spend lots of time singing Bible songs and repeating verses with my kids, especially when they relate to what we are doing and seeing. Almost every time we’re outside, I’ll quote Psalm “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” You can also make up phrases that you repeat to remind yourself and your kids of God’s goodness. For the littles, keep it simple: “God made the birds and God made the trees, God made the skies and God made the leaves. God made Millie and Micah too, God made Mommy, how about you?”

If you find yourself in a hard moment with crying babies or skinned knees, start praying aloud. Your littles will catch onto that too! I have been shocked how many verses and phrases and songs my kids know and they are only 2.5 and 1!

This is a love relationship, not a legal contract.

Spending time with God is not a box to be checked off or an obligation. The purpose of cultivating time with God is that it is a privilege to know and be known by the Author of the Universe! He is not waiting for one imperfection to punish us or berating us for our lack of time with Him. Rather, He is a loving Father who is present and waiting to offer us the strength, perspective and grace we need to make it through each next day.

I try to have one day a week I can have a more extended time with God (kind of like a date night we might have with a spouse, but that’s for another blog post). Listening to worship music and pouring out my heart to Him reminds me of how much I need Him and desire His partnership in my life and motherhood. We can’t do this alone.

I see God’s love for me differently than I ever did before because I have experienced the love I have for my children and I couldn’t imagine sacrificing their life for someone else—much less, someone I didn’t like.

As you spend time with God, do you remember what He did for you? Jesus was the ultimate example of what it looked like to be emptied, to be a servant. All those feelings of exhaustion and wondering if what we’re enduring is worth it—he experienced that times a million. And he did it for us. God allows us to feel and walk that same journey of service and laying our lives down, in a much smaller way, so that we can better understand what He did for us and His love for us. Every act of sacrifice — the unseen, the exhausting, the mundane — is an echo of Christ’s love. Motherhood invites us to lay our lives down daily, not out of duty, but out of love.

So while Jesus was never a mother, don’t for a second believe that He doesn’t understand what you’re going through or can’t relate to the mundane or difficult aspects of your everyday life. In fact, it’s Jesus who models for us how to live. But even more than that, He’s the very reason we have life in the first place.