How Do We Abide In Christ?
As women, we carry many roles—wives, mothers, professionals, ministry leaders, friends, daughters, caregivers, and members of our churches and communities.
Most of these are good things. But even good things can begin competing for our time, attention, and energy.
Before we know it, we’re being pulled in so many directions that we have to stop and ask:
How do I abide in Christ in the middle of a busy world?
Sometimes We Need to Prune
At a recent Sarasota Women of Faith Coffee Date, we talked about John 15 and Jesus’ picture of the vine and the branches.
Jesus tells us to remain in Him. He also tells us that branches that are already bearing fruit are pruned so they can bear even more fruit.
That reminds us that pruning isn’t always about removing something bad.
Sometimes God may ask us to prune something good to make room for what matters more.
That led us to ask some honest questions about our own lives:
What roles has God actually called me to fulfill?
What responsibilities are truly mine?
Have I taken on roles that perhaps weren’t mine to take on?
Where is most of my time and energy going?
Is there anything God may be asking me to trim back in this season?
When we stop long enough to really assess our lives, what we discover can be eye-opening.
Does Your Life Reflect Your Priorities?
Jen shared an exercise she has been doing to identify what matters most to her and compare those priorities with how she actually spends her time.
Her list included God and her faith, her husband and marriage, herself, her children, her career, her ministry, her church, her friendships, her extended family, and other interests.
But she had to make the list more than once.
The first time, she forgot to put herself on it.
Like many women, we can become so focused on caring for everyone else that caring for ourselves ends up somewhere near the bottom.
Healthy habits like exercise, journaling, reading, rest, and doing things that restore us matter too. If we continually pour ourselves out without being replenished, eventually we have less to give.
And above all of those priorities is an even bigger question:
Where is Jesus?
We can say God is first, but does the way we spend our time reflect that?
When We Feel Pulled
One word that stood out during our conversation was pulled.
That’s often how busyness begins.
Another responsibility comes in. Another person needs something. Another opportunity appears. We say yes, and then yes again.
Eventually, we may not even be intentionally choosing how we’re spending our time anymore—we’re simply responding to whatever is pulling on us the hardest.
That’s when we may need to reestablish our priorities.
Ask yourself:
What matters most in this season?
What has God actually entrusted to me?
What deserves my best energy?
What needs to move down the list?
What may need to come off the list altogether?
The goal isn’t simply better time management.
It’s living in alignment with what God has called us to.
Jesus Is Our Source
For Jen, three things have become non-negotiables for staying connected to Jesus:
Worship
Prayer
God’s Word
Those practices may look different for each of us and even change during different seasons of life.
But one thing doesn’t change:
Jesus has to remain our Source.
Jen shared that she can often tell when she hasn’t been abiding because she begins noticing the fruit—or lack of fruit—in her responses.
Maybe we’re becoming more impatient. Less loving. Less caring. More easily frustrated. Those moments can become an invitation to ask:
Have I been going to the Source first?
Abiding Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
Abiding can look different depending on the season you’re in.
For Jen, drive time has become part of that rhythm. She can listen to worship music while taking her children to school and listen to the Bible on the way home.
For another woman, it may happen during a walk, workout, lunch break, or quiet moment before bed.
Sometimes we need to sit completely still with God. Other times we can intentionally bring Him into what we’re already doing.
The point isn’t to create a perfect routine.
It’s to stay connected.
Give God the First 1%
One simple practice we discussed is giving God the first 1% of your day.
That’s approximately 14 or 15 minutes.
Imagine beginning your day before all the demands start coming in by intentionally turning your attention toward God.
That time could include:
A few moments of silence
Prayer
Reading Scripture
Remembering who God is and who you are in Christ
Journaling a few thoughts about what God is showing you
A little movement or stretching while preparing yourself for the day
Some women may have 30 minutes or an hour. Others may only have five or ten minutes in their current season.
Start with what you have.
When we begin our day connected to Jesus, we’re allowing Him to set the tone for everything that follows.
Invite Jesus Into Your Everyday Life
Abiding doesn’t end when morning quiet time is over.
We can invite Jesus into the ordinary moments of our day:
The school drop-off.
The meeting.
The workout.
The conversation with our husband.
The difficult moment with one of our children.
The decision we need to make.
The unexpected interruption.
We can’t control everything that happens around us.
But when we’ve been abiding in Christ, we can become much more intentional about how we respond to what happens around us.
From Pruning to Fruit
This brings us back to John 15.
There is pruning, then there is abiding, and then there is fruit.
The spiritual fruit we need in our marriages, families, friendships, workplaces, churches, and communities doesn’t come simply by trying harder.
A branch doesn’t produce fruit by working harder. It produces fruit by remaining connected to the vine.
When our hearts are aligned with Jesus and we’re filled with His Spirit, we have more capacity to respond to life with:
Love
Patience
Kindness
Grace
Self-control
Abiding isn’t another task to squeeze into an already crowded schedule.
Abiding changes how we live everything else on the schedule.
Take an Honest Look
Maybe this week isn’t about adding something else to your life.
Maybe it’s about stopping long enough to ask:
What matters most to me?
Does the way I spend my time reflect those priorities?
Where am I feeling pulled?
Is there something God may be asking me to prune?
What are my non-negotiables for staying connected to Jesus?
Am I staying connected to the Vine?
We’ve created a Life & Role Inventory to accompany this episode and help you prayerfully examine your priorities, responsibilities, and how your time and energy are being spent.
Life And Role Inventory Sarasota Women Of Faith Final
46.7KB ∙ PDF file
As you work through it, perhaps the prayer is simply:
Lord, what belongs in my life in this season—and what doesn’t?
The goal isn’t simply to become less busy.
It’s to live more intentionally, remain connected to Jesus, and allow everything else to flow from Him.
We don’t bear more fruit simply by doing more. We bear fruit by remaining connected to the Vine.
A Prayer
Father, thank You for everything You have entrusted to us.
Help us recognize where we have become pulled in too many directions. Give us wisdom to know what needs to be pruned, what needs to be reordered, and what deserves our attention in this season.
Most of all, teach us to abide in Christ. Help us put You first, align our daily lives with You, and remain connected to You as our Source.
Fill us with Your Spirit so that Your fruit flows into our marriages, families, friendships, workplaces, churches, communities, and the lives of those around us.
In Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Until next time, stay encouraged, walk in faith, and be blessed.
Jen & Nadia
Women of Faith Conversations
