Yesterday I shared part of my personal story of learning the importance of my role in setting the spiritual atmosphere in the home. If you missed that post or previous ones, you can find all the posts for this series on the Parenting With Purpose Series page.

Today I promised to reveal the resource God led me to as I sought a different way to start my mornings and set the spiritual tempo of my days.

Once I realized that my selfish behavior was dishonoring my husband and leaving me spiritually empty, I knew something had to change!

Searching for An Answer

Not really knowing where to turn, I Googled “intentional mornings” and landed right onto Kat Lee’s site, Inspired to Action.

She had recently released an ebook called Maximize Your Mornings, and I quickly found out it was exactly the direction I needed. Her grace-based, habit-focused, baby-steps approach allowed me to ease into waking up earlier just five minutes at a time without feeling guilty.

Honestly, her approach was refreshing since I’d tried and failed at other online programs designed at improving your life at home. (Someone please tell me I’m not the only one who tried FlyLady’s cleaning routine and failed miserably!)

I needed an approach to mornings that provided concrete “wins”.

I Can’t Do This Alone

While the baby steps approach helped break down the mental block I had constructed for myself surrounding my ability to get up earlier in the mornings, trying to turn this new concept into a lasting habit proved more than I could manage alone.

It turns out, God created people to be in community with one another and I needed just that – accountability to stay the course and a group of people to notice when I didn’t follow through with my commitment.

Success…and Failure

Right around the time I downloaded the Maximize Your Mornings ebook, one of Kat’s blog readers suggested starting a challenge for women on the Maximize Your Mornings journey. They called it “Hello Mornings” and I enthusiastically signed up for an accountability group on Twitter, a new social media platform to me at the time.

Not uncharacteristically, I committed to the first week or so and then promptly dropped off. I’d experienced just a tiny bit of success and then there it was again, failure.

Let’s just say I was glad to remember that God can redeem all of our failures!

Through that experience I realized I was trying to fit my morning time into a list of religious checkboxes. My church upbringing was in a culture that often focused more on rules and religious “to do” lists, leading me to think it was all up to me to be a “successful” Christian woman.

And in this season of my life, I thought “successful” equalled getting up early to do a devotional.

Trying Again – The Hello Mornings Challenge

I was relying solely on myself and found out quickly that it was only in God’s strength that my inner night owl would transform into a willing early bird as I sought a deeper relationship with Him.

And so, I decided to try the Hello Mornings Challenge again.

With a new perspective and focus on God’s strength not mine, I relished my newfound freedom in Christ to pursue relationship, not rules.

This time around in January of 2013 I joined a different Hello Mornings group, one that embraced me and my imperfection while helping me stay accountable to my desire to grow in consistency with my new morning routine.

Almost two years later, four ladies from the original group are still checking in with one another on Twitter in the mornings. We provide encouragement, pray for specific situations in one another’s lives, and share praises from the day to day journey. We certainly don’t do it perfectly, but each of us continues to grow and transform as we seek to reflect Christ in our lives and in our parenting.

Wake Up FOR Your Children, Not TO Your Children

As we continue our exploration into Parenting With Purpose, one key message I want to convey is one that Kat emphasizes when she talks about the Hello Mornings Challenge.

The goal is to wake up FOR your children – to pray for them, to prepare for the day, to center yourself in God’s Word, and to get your body moving instead of groggily rolling out of bed when the littles are pulling your hair, patting your cheeks, and asking for Cheerios and cartoons.

Our purposeful choices in the morning, no matter how small we start, will make a lasting impact on the spiritual environment of our homes and our children will begin to notice the difference!

Setting Yourself Up For Success

As I promised, I’m sharing some key resources to set you up for success in making your mornings a time to set the spiritual atmosphere of your home first thing in the morning.  

It’s my prayer that these will be tools you can use wherever you are in your morning quiet time journey.

Maximize Your Mornings – {ebook} – This free ebook is available on InspiredtoAction.com and walks you through the process of taking your very first steps in a morning routine. You’ll also find a blog series by the same name of this page.

Tips For Getting Up Early – {blog series} – This is where you should start if you’re just looking for some practical tips to help you get up earlier (and to save yourself from your husband dragging you out of bed like my husband did!).

Hello Mornings Challenge – {accountability & relationships} – The challenge is OPEN for the upcoming six week challenge through Sunday, October 5th. If you’re ready to find out more about how the challenge works and how you can get involved in a group, this is where you need to start! Note that everyone who accepts the challenge will get a Bible study guide, a free worship song, and an awesome document you can use to walk you through your morning time if you need a little more structure.

God Day: A Morning Song – {morning inspirational music} – If you’re just starting out on your morning quiet time journey, I encourage you to just get up 5 minutes early and listen to this song. As I understand it, Jen Stanbro wrote this song in the midst of her own Hello Mornings journey. I know it will bless you and encourage & challenge you as it does me in the mornings.

If you’d like to get to know Jen’s story about being a mom who said “yes” to God in spite of uncertainty, check out her interview with Kat on the Inspired to Action Podcast.

31 Days of Waking Up Early – {blog series – real life} – Need some boots-on-the-ground inspiration for waking up early? Jacque at A Joyfully Abundant Life is sharing her real life experience of creating the habit of waking up earlier. Join her during October for more inspiration!

How To Transform Your Mornings – {podcast} –  If you’re a person who likes to listen and learn, then Kat’s latest podcast is for you! She walks you through her morning time journey and explains both her approach and the Hello Mornings Challenge more in detail.

Follow Along!

If you’re not already receiving blog posts by email, you can sign up to follow along with the series and have the posts delivered right to your inbox. Or, if you’d prefer, follow along onFacebook,Twitter, Pinterest, or BlogLovin.

For those of you who would like to dive deeper into the topic each day, join the moms gathered in our private Facebook group for this series. I can’t wait to meet you and encourage one another on this parenting journey!