It’s 5:30am on Monday morning. Alarms are going, kids are racing around to get ready, making breakfasts, coffees, prepping lunches; and all the while, trying to get everyone out of the door by 6:55am. No small task, that’s for sure.
Life comes at us fast, and furious. The busyness of life for us Moms is no joke, right ladies? (Can I hear a collective amen?) So when I was asked to write this blog article about Moms and Mobile Apps, I was excited. Because in my life, my church’s app has become such a vital part of my daily walk with God. (Along with a key lifeline to my church.) So I thought – YES! It’s important to get out there, just how impacting mobile apps are. And I don’t just mean as time savers or convenience factors (although both are applicable here for sure), but as keys to a deeper walk with Jesus.
As I write this, I hope you hear my heart, as it isn’t to sound like an infomercial. But rather to share my own personal testimonial, of specifically how my church’s mobile app has impacted my daily walk with God.
Now before I go any farther, first let me introduce myself. My name is Carla, and I am a “30-something-year-old” mother of 2 boys. (You didn’t actually think I would tell you my age, did you? Haha!) I’m also a wife, a working mom, small business owner, blogger, household manager, the maid, the chauffeur, the chef extraordinaire, amongst many other titles. I’m sure you ladies can relate, right? We wear so many hats, whether we work in the home, or outside of it.
The one common denominator I always see, is how busy we are; and how we struggle to balance the kids, work, household, cleaning, and most importantly – God.
I’ve personally seen how my own devotional life and walk with God can suffer, as a result of all of my busyness day to day. Days and even weeks going by, without those moments to “be still with God”. These times leave me feeling frustrated, and of course guilty. And I know I’m not alone here, and that you can relate.
That’s when I began listening to sermons via podcast on the mobile app, as well as listening to the audio Bible. I’d be going about my daily routine – cleaning, cooking etc; only I’d have my bluetooth in my ear and I’d also be focusing on a word, or listening to scripture. Letting my focus go of the mundane activities, and allowing myself to focus on the Lord. And I have to say, those moments became far more enjoyable. Dare I say, I actually looked forward to doing those mundane activities, because I knew I’d be tuning out of the busyness, and tuning into the Lord.
I did this with listening to worship music too. Driving to work, or the kids to their sports activities, we’d have worship turned up and just letting His Spirit flow. And boy did it flow. It became apparent to me that God not only speaks to us in church, but also during the moments when we allow ourselves to focus on Him. The situation doesn’t have to be perfect, our house doesn’t have to be clean, and the setting doesn’t even have to be entirely quiet. We can be on the go, in a doctor’s office, at a sporting event, in the car etc, and those can be the moments that God chooses to minister to our hearts. All that we need is, to be focusing on Him, worshipping Him; and my mobile app allowed this to happen wherever I went.
And it isn’t just the sermons, podcasts, audio Bible, videos and music that help in this journey. The daily Bible reading plans, and those amazing push notifications, that remind you to get your Bible reading in for the day. Over the years, all of these things have added so much depth to my walk with the Lord. It’s honestly immeasurable.
Ok guys, at the risk of sounding “infomercially”, (is that even a word? Oh well, I may have just invented a new one!), just stay with me here. Because it isn’t just those things about my church’s app that is so helpful, it’s also the event reminders, church calendar, note taking journal, rsvp’ing to events through the app, and so much more. Yeah, it really has become an essential part of my daily life, and walk with God.
Don’t get me wrong, I still do devotions the “normal way”. But using my church’s app has allowed me to become more intentional with my time with God. And added too, and deepened it, in so many ways.
It’s kind of funny, coming from someone who, back in the day, didn’t think I needed a smartphone at all. Yup, that was me, I’m embarrassed to say. My hubby still laughs, and makes fun of me for this. Haha! He won’t let me forget it, and I don’t really blame him. Because I’ve become someone who relies on it for so many things now. And well, this is our culture nowadays. Apps reign supreme far above websites, and they don’t just have practical application. They also have spiritual application.
So from one mom to another – I am simply here to say how thankful I am for my church’s mobile app. And if you are a Pastor of a church, who doesn’t have an app for your ministry yet, I hope that you will see the incredible value that a church app brings to all areas of our lives. It’s so easy and convenient; and yet so impacting.