How to Connect with God as a Busy Mom - An Interview with Mari Hernandez Tuten

CONNECT WITH GOD As moms of little ones, it’s often a struggle to personally find time to spend with God and read His Word. But when we don’t take time to read our Bibles and connect with God, we often become dry sponges, with nothing left to pour into the lives of our kids.  So what’s the solution?  I have a special guest on the show today that I think will be an encouragement for you. Keep listening.   Welcome to episode #5 of The Family Bible Connection Podcast with Laurie Christine!  SHOW INTRO Hey Momma, do you ever feel inadequate to teach your kids about God?  Do they have questions about the Bible that you don’t know how to answer?  Do you want to have family devotions, but you’re just not sure where to start?   You’re in the right place. Welcome to The Family Bible Connection – A community of moms who desperately need Jesus for every step of our parenting journey.  We want our kids to KNOW the Bible and GROW in their love for God & others. We want to prepare our kids to GO into the world as passionate followers of Jesus. I’m your host, Laurie Christine. Through devotional resources, family routines, and Bible study, I will teach you how to create a Christ-centered culture in your home.     WELCOME  Laurie I am excited to welcome a dear friend onto the podcast today. She is a godly wife and momma of three boys, a counselor, speaker, former missionary, Christian life coach, Bible teacher and published author. Mari Hernandez Tuten, welcome to the Family Bible Connection! Mari   Hey, I’m so glad to be here this morning with you guys!   Laurie  Well, we are excited to hear what you have to share with us today. I have talked a lot on this podcast about the importance of spending time in God’s word together as a family. I would love to talk to you a little bit today about why it’s important for us as moms to spend our own personal time to connect with God. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that.   Mari Yeah, I feel very passionate about this topic. Mostly because it’s a topic that’s very personal in my life. I was a missionary, as you said, and I was in another country, serving God with my family. I realized in the midst of all that, after being a Christian for a long time and going to seminary, that I was not spending time in God’s Word. I was not connecting with God and I was trying to thrive out of my own energy, my own strength, and my own knowledge.  And that’s when God showed me that I really needed to go to Him to be strengthened in order to be able to minister to other people.  I wanted to share from His Word, and not just my own knowledge.  I think it’s important for us as moms to understand that we can’t give our children what we don’t have.  And it was important for me to connect with God through His Word so that he could transform me.  A question my kids ask a lot is: Why do we have to read the Bible? I tell them we read the Bible so that we know God and recognize his voice. There are so many voices vying for our attention. But if I don’t know His words and His truth, then I won’t be able to tell the difference.  And ultimately, the Bible transforms us. So it’s not only about knowledge, but it’s about a heart transformation that only He can do and His word can do for us.   Laurie  I loved what you said about not being able to give our children what we don’t have ourselves. If we are not filled with the Spirit of God and the Word of God, then we will become dry. It will be really difficult to minister to our children and to overflow into their lives, if we ourselves are not filled with his Spirit and filled with the joy that the Lord gives u...