Candace Nassar (00:00.856)
Hello, MomQ family. I am so glad that you’re here. Today, I am chatting with the gentle yet incredibly wise warrior mama, Bethany Kimsey. And we’re talking about prayer today. And friends, it’s such an amazing privilege that we get to enter into the throne room of our creator, sharing our concerns and our cares, requesting his help, and then just watching him work. Bethany and I are both passionate about the peace and power that prayer provides.
and this is gonna be an amazing conversation. So welcome, Bethany.
Bethany Kimsey (00:33.816)
Thank you, I’m so excited to be here, Candace.
Candace Nassar (00:36.32)
So excited. We both found out that we’re from Atlanta. There’s just so many of those out there. So what a coincidence! And you have, as I explained in our intro, you have eight children. And so why don’t you tell us a little bit, the first thing I want to know are the top three tips from, you know, whatever you would pick.
Bethany Kimsey (00:49.272)
Yes.
Bethany Kimsey (01:01.472)
Well first of all, a lot of people will ask me like, we have four boys and we have four girls and right now their ages range from nine to 26. And so they basically came about every two years. There was just one bigger chunk of time in there. And people are always curious. They’re like, “How did you do that?” I think these are my top three tips.
If I were to tell you how to survive having a bunch of children, I think the first thing is just to embrace that you’re not in control. And that’s gonna be okay. You don’t have to be in control. You have to be wise. So sometimes I wanted to always be in control. So I wanted to do this around, like circle everybody up and instead just wisdom. I think another tip I’ve learned is glitter’s terrible. So.
Candace Nassar (01:41.453)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Nassar (01:46.733)
Love it.
Bethany Kimsey (01:59.928)
Glitter’s just terrible. You should not have that in your home if you have eight children. It’s not good for you. Don’t have those things. And then honestly, the most important tip that I have learned is that your God wants to walk with you so closely when you’re walking with your kids. And He promises in Isaiah 40:11 that he will gently lead those with children.
Candace Nassar (02:03.374)
That’s hilarious.
Candace Nassar (02:19.756)
Mm.
Bethany Kimsey (02:25.96)
And we had our first three right out of the gate. We had three in three years and I didn’t know what I was doing and I felt very much like I was lost and God was so faithful in those years of teaching me, “Bethany, I will lead you.” And so when I talk to moms and we spend time about this, whether you have one or two and you feel lost. I did two. I had one and I felt overwhelmed. But God is a gentle leader. And so I think that my third tip really is just be at His feet and He will tell you your next step.
Candace Nassar (03:09.954)
That is so beautiful. Yeah, that’s so beautiful. And I love how you talked about control because you said it’s with one or however many you have. I mean, we as moms, just don’t have control and that’s actually freeing to know that. Yeah.
Bethany Kimsey (03:25.646)
It is, it is, it is. I mean, well, because I think what the Lord did even for me, because of my temperament, my personality, who I was before I came in. I’m a high achiever just in general. So motherhood for me was a place where I began to fall flat on my face and couldn’t figure out how to right myself and get up and go and achieve.
Candace Nassar (03:54.146)
Okay? Mm-hmm.
Bethany Kimsey (03:55.002)
If you listen to me inside of my podcast or anything I’ve ever written, I try and be very honest about this because I am now 26 years into having kids and I still struggle with wanting to be in control and it’s still a place where I have to actively lay it down before the Lord and say, “God, You’re in control. I’m seeking Your face and I’m choosing to walk with You.” Versus, “I gotta have this all under control.”
Candace Nassar (04:20.014)
Absolutely.
Yeah, that’s the number one source of anxiety and I think depression too for moms and you know, I have the same personality as you do it sounds like and and I think one of the verses that really stuck out to me when I was a young mom is, I believe it’s in Timothy, where Paul is talking about how women will be saved through childbearing and really that word for safe there is more about sanctification,
and not salvation. So, I think that the most valuable lesson that I’ve learned through all of that is just how to surrender every single day, my children, and then it flows down to other things in my life, right? And so God has sanctified us. He is sanctifying us through our children, learning to surrender and just let Him….
Bethany Kimsey (05:07.042)
Yes.
Candace Nassar (05:19.16)
handle it. And I think that’s an important part of what we’re going to be talking about today as we go into prayer and all of that. But before we do that, you said that God radically changed your messy motherhood from weary, anxious, and frantic to peaceful, joyful, and triumphant. So can you tell us more about that? I would imagine it has something to do with your learning to pray. But tell us a little bit about that journey.
Bethany Kimsey (05:44.43)
Thank you.
Sure, well like I kind of said, I’ve already referenced even, we had our first few children very quickly and my husband, his job, he is in medicine and so we were in training and back then, like I’m dating myself, but back then in the career path he chose, he’s a surgeon. And surgery back then really meant that there were 160, I think there were 168 hours in a week, and he was working over, usually between 135 and 140 something hours. His home time was two and three, four hours a night, like to sleep. And so again, we chose this together, and we believed and knew that we were walking into medicine. We knew that was gonna be a ministry God was gonna use Troy for.
So I was an active participant. I am not maligning his career choice. But what that in essence did was I was suddenly in motherhood, a lot of motherhood, without a whole lot of partnership. And I was having to muddle through. That was what was happening, as I was just trying to make it through every day. very, very quickly, I had this night.
Well, a day, I’m not proud of the day, and I’ve shared it before, but where I really had messed up a lot. I had a potty-training toddler. I had another little person, and I had a nursing baby, and it was a rough day, and I remember sitting in this moment thinking, what am I doing with my life?
Candace Nassar (07:35.969)
Yeah.
Bethany Kimsey (07:37.382)
And this is not what I want to do with my life. I don’t like any bit of this. And really beginning to descend into poor pitiful me and I can’t do it, and all that. But in that moment, what God does is He will begin to bring to mind scripture. It may not even be scripture that you know that you’ve memorized, but our God is faithful to us.
And He began to bring to mind some scripture of, call to me Bethany, call to me. I’m gonna answer you. I’m gonna tell you what you need to know for this moment, which is Jeremiah 33:3. And he began to bring scripture to mind and he said, “Let’s get all the babies to bed and let’s begin to pray.” And that night began a laying down of everything because I had already proved. So here I am.
Three years in, I’ve now proved that I’ve messed this up. This is not going well. And God, instead, begins to show me in His word that He is so fully committed to me and to my children. And He knew that this would be a muddy mess. Like He knew that this day was not confusing, but He pursues us because He loves us. And so this was part of His plan even.
Candace Nassar (08:38.894)
Thank you.
Bethany Kimsey (09:06.054)
And it began a journey with the Lord of learning, “Okay God, if your word is true, then it’s true for me in the middle of this.” And beginning to go, “So how do I look at this?” And learning to pray God’s word and learning to stand on it. I had to, for me, I can forget stuff so easily. I think most moms can, like our brains are running so fast.
Candace Nassar (09:24.237)
Mm-hmm.
Bethany Kimsey (09:35.104)
And so I had to put scripture, if you had come into my house when I was a young mom, I mean, there were just like note cards of scripture on all these walls and mirrors and everywhere, my car. But I had to. I couldn’t remember it because I would get so tired and so confused or so emotionally charged. And I had to have it in front of me. But God began to use that.
Candace Nassar (09:47.598)
How powerful.
Bethany Kimsey (10:03.606)
And teach me how to walk with Him.
Candace Nassar (10:06.936)
I love that. That’s so good. That is the power of scripture. We get to know who God is and we can apply His truths to our lives when we memorize scripture or put scripture wherever we need it and utilize that in those moments. And so I just think that’s perfect. And I know that that’s going to weave into the journey of you creating the prayer journal that you have.
Why don’t we talk a little bit about the Bible and what it has to say about praying for our children?
Bethany Kimsey (10:39.886)
It has a lot to say. And really my story is for many years, like I love Jesus and I came to know the Lord as a child. So my testimony is that I’ve enjoyed walking with God where God has taught me evermore, evermore, taking me deeper, taking me deeper. That’s really my testimony with God. And so inside of motherhood, He absolutely, I agree with you, He has used motherhood.
Candace Nassar (10:42.006)
Yes.
Bethany Kimsey (11:09.56)
Some seasons carve on me and some seasons gently mold me. And we walked into a season in 2014 that I just didn’t realize could happen, but very quickly realized I was in desperate need of God’s word. So I had been walking in God’s word. If you had asked me before, “Do you pray for your children?” I’d be like, “Yes, I pray for my children.” And I did.
I even prayed specifically for my children about things. But I walked into a season with my kids where within about four months, four of my eight kids were significantly facing big, big problems. One had a traumatic brain injury.
Candace Nassar (12:00.782)
Mm-hmm.
Bethany Kimsey (12:08.396)
One had a blood disease that placed us on a cancer floor. It was not cancer, but it was something that the doctors were very puzzled by. We had a newborn at the time too, and then we had another child with some big orthopedic injuries that also happened. All of this is within, in the same four months. It was almost crazy. And then our fourth was struggling and came to us.
Candace Nassar (12:30.264)
Good grief.
Bethany Kimsey (12:38.37)
We realized our fourth was struggling with extreme mental health issues and was in the fight of her life, for her life. And it was overwhelming. I mean, it just was overwhelming.
Candace Nassar (12:51.596)
Yeah, that’s a lot of, that feels like a lot of heavy darkness.
Bethany Kimsey (12:57.006)
It was, and I remember being just assaulted because that’s what the enemy does. He will begin to pound your mind with thoughts that are not true, but it will feel like it’s true, and it will feel like it’s coming from you, and you’ll begin to feel like they’re your thoughts and they’re probably true thoughts. But that’s how the enemy works. if, you know, I teach moms all the time to be able to discern the lies from the truth. But one of them is that the lies are gonna be, “You’re a terrible mom. You never do this. You always do this.” Those kinds of big blanketing statements. And what I was hearing was, “You never pray right for your kids. That’s why all your kids are having these issues. You always just think about it, but you don’t really pray.”
Candace Nassar (13:45.887)
Ooh, yeah.
Bethany Kimsey (13:52.618)
“You’ve been terrible. You took your eye off all the balls and look how all the balls are falling. And like all of your children are suffering.” So, there’s a lot of “alls” and “nevers”, like big statements. That’s how the enemy loves to come in with lies. And in that space, how God speaks, how the spirit of God speaks is He speaks very precisely and He speaks very clearly.
Candace Nassar (14:04.663)
And “nevers”.
Bethany Kimsey (14:20.802)
So if you are trying to discern, do I know God’s voice? God will speak to you very clearly and with pinpoint accuracy. And so in His true language with me, He was like, “Bethany, number one, my sheep hear my voice and they know me. And number two, why don’t you learn how to pray with me? So, instead of your terrible prayer, so that’s a lie.”
There’s an invitation, “Why don’t you learn how to pray?” And I’m like, “That sounds like a good idea. I should probably learn how to pray.” And in that space, God began to teach me a way. It’s just like what I’ve put out there as the Warrior Mamas Prayer Journal is just my learning method of praying for my children. And what I learned was more powerful than me praying, “God help my children.”
Candace Nassar (14:55.565)
And….
Bethany Kimsey (15:17.078)
More powerful than that is actually praying God’s word for my children. Because God’s word, He honors, He upholds, He delights when we pray His word. So going back to, and that’s what He began to reveal, “Is Bethany, praying My word? Don’t make up your own words, pray Mine. Mine hold power.” And beginning to go, “Okay Lord, so what would I begin praying for my children?”
Candace Nassar (15:21.591)
Right.
Candace Nassar (15:35.18)
Mm.
Bethany Kimsey (15:46.542)
And then the other part of that that the Lord began to teach me about praying His word is that if I’m going to do this, I’m gonna do this, like with a push, I need to know what I prayed yesterday. And remember, I’ve already confessed in this podcast to y’all, like my brain can go so fast in so many different directions and I become forgetful.
Candace Nassar (16:04.717)
Yeah.
Bethany Kimsey (16:15.99)
And so like what I prayed yesterday was important, but then I wasn’t because I wasn’t writing it down because I was just praying. I wasn’t then, when God was answering, I wasn’t able to see it. It was missing, I was missing all these glorious spaces that God was at work and God began to teach me, write it down. And you know, it says that in Habakkuk, it’s like Habakkuk 2:4.
It says write these things down so that they can run in it. And I’m not a good quoter of Scripture, but the Lord began to teach me, Bethany, if you will write these things down, you will watch me at work and it will only further your desire to.
Candace Nassar (17:05.121)
I’ve experienced that as well and just praying. I have journal after journal of prayers over my children. And there are times when I, you know, we always get our eyes off just like the Israelites, right? We forget what God has done. And when I pick up those journals and see the prayers that God has answered, my goodness, it’s so, I mean, you can’t doubt God at all when you have those.
Bethany Kimsey (17:26.444)
Yeah. Yes.
Candace Nassar (17:35.0)
I completely concur that that’s critical. Awesome. And so you, did you, did you find the verse? Habakkuk?
Bethany Kimsey (17:43.456)
It is Habakkuk 2:2, not 2:4. It says, “Lord said to me, write the vision, make it plain on tablets so he who runs may read it.” Then it says, He goes, “The vision awaits at a point in time. It hastens to the end. It will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay.” And this was, you know, he’s talking to Habakkuk and he’s saying, “You’re gonna live by your faith.”
Candace Nassar (17:45.934)
And what does it say?
Bethany Kimsey (18:13.27)
And this is one way that your faith is bolstered. Write it down. See so that other people can see. The beautiful truth is for my daughter who was struggling with mental health, we walked through lots of years. And as this prayer journal became the entity that it is now, what it was before was in my own journals with all my other stuff I’m learning and I’m learning to write these things down every day..
I’m bringing a compilation together because God did an amazing, beautiful work in her life and has freed her, freed her from the struggles that she was deep inside of for years. And it is miraculous and it’s her testimony and she shared it on my podcast before, but it’s glorious. But what I realized was I wanted to compile and show her faith walk.
Candace Nassar (18:55.566)
Praise the Lord.
Bethany Kimsey (19:11.202)
This is what was prayed for you. Because now I actually see God doing that specific prayer. And that bolsters the faith of whoever you have prayed that for. And so learning, there’s power in this writing down, not even just for me, but for that person. And when the time is right, sharing it with that person, in terms of the journal I wrote. It’s for your child one day, maybe to read, It’s life-changing.
Candace Nassar (19:38.668)
Yeah. Well, so tell us, walk us just a minute through the prayer journal. What’s it, how’s it structured? How do you write scriptures to pray and then, yeah.
Bethany Kimsey (19:50.38)
Yeah, so it’s designed for a mom to pray for a year for her child. And so it’s designed on a monthly schedule. There are 30 days. So February, you miss a couple and all the 31 days you get a day off, I guess. But it is four weeks of seven days. And then there are two days of the month that you are praying for yourself.
Because you and I both need to be actively praying, “Lord, help me walk this way, help me have the right perspective.” And so there are two days set up like that. So what happens is, if it’s the fourth day of the month, then you would go to day four and you would read what is written for day four. And what I’ve given you is scripture to pray over a concept. And then down below, I kind of help you see why we would be praying that scripture.
I’m not writing out a prayer for you. I believe this is your journal. And so you get to walk with God in it. And I want you to experience how the Holy Spirit would teach you to pray. And so then next to it is, it will just say month one and you get to label month one. So you can start this any month of the year. It doesn’t matter. And you would just write in your month. Let’s say it’s February, February 4th.
You would write your prayer about your one child or it could be many children, you know, if you have a lot like me, or you may pick one and you go, “This month I know I need to pray this prayer for this child.” And you just write that. You have a little section where you can write that prayer out. And then the next month on the fourth, you’ll come back to that same concept. And then you’ll read back through your prayer from the month before and you’re like, “My goodness.
praying that this child would whatever it was they’re doing” My encouragement is the first thing you write is prayer-answered, prayer-changing. Write that on the side, “prayer-changing” and then you write your prayer again that month. The concept of the four different weeks-the first week the seven ideas that were praying all circle around the idea of praying that our children….
Candace Nassar (21:59.17)
Yes.
Bethany Kimsey (22:18.134)
understands the gospel so that they would understand who God is, who they are, what sin is, who Jesus is, what Jesus’ death does for them, how do they walk in grace, what does it mean for mercy to be applied. We want to be actively praying that our children understand the gospel. And so I’ve broken it down into seven smaller pieces. They all have multiple scriptures.
Candace Nassar (22:39.938)
Yes.
Bethany Kimsey (22:47.842)
For each day you can pick one. And what I’ve kind of taught you at the beginning of the book is, for instance, if it is Lord help, let me think of a good one. in Ephesians 4, because I think this is one. So, the second week, let me do this way. So, the second week then. The first week is all by the gospel, the second week is all about the sin struggles our kids have.
So you’re gonna be walking through and for me, I have eight kids. They all, I’ve noticed, have different primary sins struggles. We all kind of have different ones. Like some of my kids have really struggled with honesty. Other kids are as honest as the day is long. That’s not like them lying to protect themselves, not maybe their first impulse, but maybe they have no self-control. And so, you know, they’re little and they’re always hitting, they’re older and you know, so I’m praying for more self-control for them.
Candace Nassar (23:25.014)
Yep. Mm-hmm.
Bethany Kimsey (23:46.38)
These are spaces where God can work and they’re written in the positive, so it’s not written, Lord help my child not lie, it’s help my child understand to walk in truth. And so then there may be a scripture that’s about walking in truth and so in your prayer as you write it out, it may be, “Lord I am praying specifically for John. God he is struggling with walking in truth right now, but your word says….”, and then I would write that scripture out.
Candace Nassar (24:16.961)
Okay.
Bethany Kimsey (24:17.08)
Just sitting right beside you, just write it out and say, “I ask that you work this work in my child’s life this month, that I may see it.” And then the third week is when we’re praying for the spiritual battle that rages around your child. There is an enemy and he is seeking to destroy and discourage and take our kids off course.
Candace Nassar (24:32.974)
Mm.
Bethany Kimsey (24:46.178)
That’s just the truth of life. So if your child is saved, they still have a battle. If they’re not saved, they’re dead spiritually. And we’re praying for life first of all. And the enemy would love for your child never to understand Jesus as their savior. But then once they are saved, there’s still a battle for their life, for their heart, for discouragement and despair to be held away from them.
Candace Nassar (25:05.934)
That’s right.
Bethany Kimsey (25:14.006)
Right? And so we want to pray in accordance with that and what God’s word says. And then the fourth week is all about their future. So it’s all about decision-making, friends that they are making now and friends that they’re making in the future. It’s all about walking wisely, understanding kingdom life perspective, seeing the vision that God has for their life and running hard after that. And then you would start over.
Candace Nassar (25:39.82)
That’s it. Those are such critical things to be praying about. I love how you’ve grouped all of that. And then, like you said, you’re starting over and you’ve got it written down and you can continue to see it. I’m wondering if you said you can share these with your kids to show them how God is answering. Are you praying with your kids as well or praying with some of them? I mean, you’re praying over them. How are you praying with your kids?
Bethany Kimsey (26:05.866)
So I began to learn what this method has done for me. And again, it’s just a method. You can do this in different ways. I had eight kids, I had a lot happening. I was desperately in need of some boundaries to stay inside of and to stay consistent with. So I always say that when I’m sharing this journal with a mom. But what I found by doing it this way is….
these scriptures began to be very central to me. You pray the same scripture 12 months in a row, you begin to know that scripture and that scripture comes out of your mouth and you begin to pray with your child about that. The powerful thing for me is I teach a mom to give, especially when they’re walking with their child in a disciplined conversation. So whether you’re correcting a little one, or a teenager, and you’re having this moment of conversation about discipline. The most powerful part of a discipline conversation is the blessing that sits at the end. And a blessing is, “This is what I see God doing in your life and this is how I’m praying for you.” And so that is really where I began to incorporate these prayers.I began to say to that child who maybe is struggling with self-control,
Candace Nassar (27:09.966)
Yeah.
Bethany Kimsey (27:26.38)
and we’re now in a discipline conversation about self-control. And I’m like, I am actively praying that the Spirit will begin to help you with self-control.
Candace Nassar (27:30.15)
Uh-huh.
Candace Nassar (27:37.186)
I can see that being so comforting.
Bethany Kimsey (27:39.286)
Yes. And then I said, “I want to tell you what I have seen so far this year. This is what I’ve seen. At the beginning of this year, you would never have stopped and tried to have a conversation about your brother taking that toy. And you know what now I’ve seen? You did stop.” So have a conversation. Moms, we know this happens. Like that child begins to exhibit some self-control. The spirit’s beginning to work in that. And then of course they’ve got this other little sinner, this other little, this other sibling, there’s also a sinner who’s ignoring their conversation, which makes my little guy with no self-control lose self-control that he tried to have. And now he’s hit this kid to get his toy, right? That happens, that’s life. But to be able to speak in that moment and go, I am seeing God at work. He is growing self-control in you. And I’m committed all year. I’m praying this for you over and over.
Candace Nassar (28:24.11)
Yes.
Bethany Kimsey (28:37.752)
“You wanna know the scripture I’m praying? I’m praying this scripture. Do you wanna pray with me together right now?” And you and I can begin praying this scripture. That is with a little child, that was how I began to walk out this. But it came because I was experiencing it. And I was in this, and I was like, these scriptures have power when we pray them, because God cares.
Candace Nassar (29:04.748)
Yes, yes, that is so great. I can’t get over how positive that is. You know, that’s one thing that I see a lot, and I know I even struggle with it in my own life, is we want to, we see, you’re never going to get this with your children sometimes, you know, or we want to, we want to point out. It’s hard to find the positives, but they need that. They need that encouragement, just like we do. And we need that from God.
Bethany Kimsey (29:30.594)
Yes.
Candace Nassar (29:32.404)
And they need that from God, they need that from us. So when you have those things written down and you know how they’re improving and growing and how God is working in their heart, you can speak it out loud and that is powerful in a child’s life. So good, so good. Wow. Well, so, you know, as we start to wrap up this conversation, why don’t you just…
Bethany Kimsey (29:46.604)
Yes. Yes.
Candace Nassar (29:56.694)
Is there anything specific other than what you’ve shared already that you can think of that you’ve seen God do in your home since you’ve been praying intentionally? What about within, you know, your whole family or with your husband and or just something that you, some other benefits?
Bethany Kimsey (30:14.296)
Well, I think that one of the primary benefits was that both of us pray this way for our children. So I have written a journal for a mom. I’ve had many dads ask me, “Can you make this like a little more guy oriented, a little more like leather bound and not linen bound?” I think that learning to pray this way as a couple….
If you and your husband are walking in the same way, you can pray this way together. There is a power that comes when you join together in unity and then you begin to pray. In our home, it became kind of, because I did use it as a talking point with my children, it became a place of my kids saying, “Hey, I need you to pray for me about this.”
And it shifted from me trying to figure out what to pray to “Now mom prays for me. So I should ask mom to pray about this because she prays for me.” There began to be that shift. Now that doesn’t, again, like I loved, I always want to clarify, like we have all the same warts and struggles in a family as most families have.
Candace Nassar (31:19.81)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Bethany Kimsey (31:37.346)
But what I have seen is the redemptive power of the Holy Spirit walking in your home. When you as the mom are going, I am going,” I am willing to die on this hill. I am going to pray for my kids from now until the end.” And that for me was an important thing that the Lord kind of said, “Are you willing to do this if they’re never interested, if they never want to know about Me? Would you still pray for them?”
Candace Nassar (32:03.15)
Mm.
Bethany Kimsey (32:07.03)
And I had to come to a point of going, “You know what? I will pray for them until I die.” Like, I will do this until I die. And then it doesn’t matter. Like, I think sometimes we think our kids are a product, and so we’re trying to get this end result. And I think what God wants you and I to know, as moms, is your children are in process with Him. And so we just walk with Him.
Candace Nassar (32:16.664)
So good.
Candace Nassar (32:25.038)
Mmm, mmm.
Candace Nassar (32:31.756)
Yes.
Bethany Kimsey (32:35.458)
We don’t walk with our kids trying to create a product. We walk with him and he’s in process with them.
Candace Nassar (32:41.734)
That’s great. That is beautiful. And let me just ask you one question that just popped into my mind. Okay, you’re making this time to pray for your children. When are you doing it?
Bethany Kimsey (32:43.426)
And that changed everything for me.
Bethany Kimsey (32:57.654)
Early in the morning. So the journal is designed for it not to take you long. So it’s designed in essence for a mom to, in 10 minutes, connect with Jesus over her child and then close the book. Now you can stay as long as you want to stay, but I wanted to make something. I also know what it’s like to have a ton of kids and not have a ton of time. And so it’s designed for you to be able to do in 10 minutes.
Candace Nassar (33:03.032)
Okay.
Bethany Kimsey (33:27.448)
Quickly engage, sit with Jesus, write it out, shut the book, and go take care of whoever needs breakfast.
Candace Nassar (33:36.684)
Well, and you know, this is something that we talk about a lot with our moms is that we don’t want to feel guilty. Okay, I don’t even have 10 minutes. So, you know, how am I going to do this? And I’m not going to, right? So I just won’t even try. And I think, you know, just starting even a minute, five minutes and just trying to find time. It just becomes a habit.
Bethany Kimsey (33:58.574)
Well, and I think the thing is, what I had to learn is I actually do have 10 minutes. It may be at night. Mine sits by my bed. And I often do mine at night. It’s just the last thing I do, I kind of sit there and I go, “Okay, Lord.” I settle in for a minute. And I go, “Okay, I can write.” I needed it to be accessible to me. I didn’t need to be hunting for it.
Candace Nassar (34:23.81)
in her.
Bethany Kimsey (34:28.174)
And so I think that’s one thing I’ve taught moms a lot is whatever you want to do, make it super easy for you to get to. So put it where you can access it. Some moms I know keep it right where they nurse. And they’ve just been like, “Oh, but I’m not writing it down right now because I’m nursing.” I’m like, “Girl, I don’t care.” I mean, like, are you praying for your kids? God’s not up there going, “Mm, you didn’t write it down.”
Candace Nassar (34:35.79)
That makes sense.
Bethany Kimsey (34:56.718)
You know, that’s not our Lord’s way. So it’s a tool. Use the tool and figure out where you sit quietly. So if it’s there in your nursing, open it up, keep it open. Every time you sit down to nurse, pray it again, right? Or if it’s, I have some moms and they do it in car lines.
Candace Nassar (34:56.802)
Yeah, right.
Candace Nassar (35:02.296)
Right.
Candace Nassar (35:14.51)
And….
Candace Nassar (35:20.684)
That’s a great place.
Bethany Kimsey (35:21.932)
And it just sits in their car and they just open it in the car line and they do it in the car line every day. Make it accessible for you. Don’t think it has to be this holy moment where everything is in quiet Zen. One mom told me, she goes, “Honestly, I have it and it’s in my kitchen. I’m in the kitchen a lot and it’s in the kitchen and I just open it and I just do it in the kitchen. I’m like, “Girl, that works.”
Candace Nassar (35:48.59)
That’s great. That’s so good. Love it. Well, Bethany, thank you so much for all of this. It’s just been so powerful to talk about this with you. And I’m excited for the journey that I know our listeners are going to start and hopefully be motivated by this and encouraged. And I thank you for writing this journal and your heart for prayer. And how can our listeners find your resources?
Bethany Kimsey (36:14.286)
Sure, you can find my resources on my website. It’s BethanyKimsey.co. So it’s a little tricky. It’s not, it’s .co. Or you could find me on Instagram. I’m always on Instagram. That’s kind of where I hang out. I talk to a lot of moms there. And then my podcast, the Warrior Momma podcast.
Candace Nassar (36:34.894)
Yeah, you’re so good on that. I love that you’re sitting at the kitchen table just chatting, you know, and so yeah, we appreciate that. And then obviously your journal can be found on Amazon and other spots. Yeah. So yeah, good. Well, we’re going to post all that in our show notes. So thank you again. And I wish you the best. Hopefully we’ll talk soon.
Bethany Kimsey (36:47.936)
Yeah, it’s on Amazon as well.
Bethany Kimsey (36:55.746)
Yeah. Thank you, Candace. Yes.
