CHM146: Spending Time with God Through Journaling with Beverly Schweigert

Hi, and welcome to the Christian homeschool Mom's podcast. On this show, the goal is to encourage the Christian mom to homeschool with joy during this limited season of your life and to stay hopeful on your homeschool journey. I hope to help you in your everyday life as a mama faith. I'm Demitria, your host, a veteran homeschool mama of two wonderful daughters, one in college, one in high school, wife, songwriter, podcaster, and child of the King, and I'm very happy to be your host. Have you been struggling with finding time to read the Bible and develop a quiet time with the Lord. Well, on today's show, we'll be talking about journaling and a few tips on how to make devotional times a regular part of your life routine. So today we have with us Beverly Schweigert and she is the owner of Blessed be Bouty. She's a woman with a heart for God, family and service. She's based in western Pennsylvania and she's a wife, a mom, a grandmother, and an active member of her church. She leads a mission team called Missions Possible and strives to give back to her community daily. Bev's commitment to her relationship with God led her to develop the Blessed Method, which is a system of Bible study journaling that helped her grow stronger in her faith. Through her daily devotionals and uplifting messages, Bev shares her passion for God's love and she helps others find answers to their spiritual questions. She's a lay speaker and a lay leader, and she brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her teachings. And she's very excited to share the Blessed Method with you. So join us today as we journey to a deeper connection with God and a stronger faith. Tune in to the next twenty five minutes to our beautiful conversation. And if you're listening to this audio on Apple Podcasts or another podcast platform, I also invite you to visit my YouTube channel at Mom's Est and see our interview over there as well. The link to that YouTube channel is in the show notes. So, without further ado, let's hop into this interview with Beverly. Hi, everybody, I have with me today Beverly Schweigert. She is the owner of Blessed Be boutique and She's a woman with a heart for God and family and service. She developed the Blessed Method, which is a system of Bible study journaling, and she'll be sharing about that with us today. So thank you so much, Beverly for being here Todaylcome, I'm very excited to be here with you. I want to ask you about yourself and your family. If you could just introduce us. I know you have grandchildren, so sharing us who you are and what makes you happy. Sure, I am. I am a wife. I've been married for thirty almost thirty seven years now, Yes, and we are live out in the country in western Pennsylvania, and we have two grown and married daughters. Becca is thirty one and Jillian is twenty eight. And Gillian is the youngest and she has a six year old and Becca is the young oldest and she has a almost six month old. So we have but too. Yeah, so they are my world. Two little boys after raising two girls. It's a big difference to have little boys around. But that's really different, it is. But they're sweethearts. I just had to pick up Josiah from his other grandma and we're driving down the road and he's so scrammy. I love you just out of the blue. He's so sweet, precious. Okay, so you're a grandmother, you are a mom, you are a woman that does many things, and what do you believe are some of the reasons busy moms like yourself and like menia of us? Why do we find it hard to connect to God? So? How are what are some reasons that we're finding it hard to have that special time with God? Number one lack of time. Lack of time. There are just so many demands on our time. You know when I was when I was younger, I was working full time and trying to juggle the kids. Being a household, chores, work, other commitments you have. It just leaves so little time for personal reflection or even any spiritual practices. And that constant business makes it so difficult to find moments of stillness or solitude that you really need to connect with God. Right. There are so many other reasons too. With their guilt is another one. They feel like if they take time for themselves, then they are neglecting their children, which is not true, because if you are, you know, raising your child and showing your child that God's a priority, it can make a whole huge difference in their life as well. So it's just it's it's a vicious cycle of knowing when to give and when to take. I think. I think you're absolutely right, And there's just so much pulling at us in our society from every direction, and sometimes we do we feel guilty because we don't feel like we're doing enough of them here, or for these people, for this organization, for our own family, for ourselves and yeah, and then in the middle of that is the guilt of oh, I didn't spend time with God. So I think a lot of it, like you said, is guilt and not finding the time. But you started a business called Blessed Bee Boutique. I love that name, and so what inspired you to start it? Well, I had worked when my girls. When my girls were a little I was able to stay home with them, which was a true blessing, and active baby sat two other little girls. So until they were in elementary school, I was home with them and I had the four little girls, and it was wonderful. Once they got into school, which I wish I would have been able to homeschool they, I felt I needed to go back to work, so I did, and I worked in an office for fifteen years. While my girls were in school, they were very active in different activities, sports and my youngest was a majorrette and she did competitions and all kinds of things. And as soon as we got them through college and married, I told my husband that's it. I'm done. So we were blessed that we were able to, you know, make do on his income. Well, once I got home, I have done a lot of different mission trips. I go on mission trips to Peru, and I felt like I was called to go back more and more, and I didn't have the funds then that I had when I was working to be able to go. So I decided to come up with an idea of selling something so that I could make and help pay for those mission trips. And I started with Christian jewelry. And I sold Christian jewelry for quite some time. Was very went very well. The business was growing very strong, especially during COVID because everybody else was shopping online, so the business did really well. However, then I started feeling like I was missing something. I was sharing the jewelry, but I wasn't really sharing my faith. And I was so busy that busy thing I was so busy working my business that I was neglecting being in the word I was talking about it. I was going to church, I was doing everything else, but I was not personally myself spending any time with God. And I decided to start journaling. And I designed a dot journal that's just blank on the inside, and I started journaling in it. And I decided to invite some friends to have an accountability Facebook group, and we joined a group together. We started journaling every day, and I realized while I was doing that that I was using the same format every day when I was journaling, and I decided to come up with an acronym for it, and I called it blessed, And so that's what got me started with the blessed method. And then I made another journal with actually having the acronym in it, and we we just we just launched that a couple of weeks ago and it's brand new. So he said, it's the acronym. So what does the the bee stands for? The Bible Verse? And normally I have a scripture that I give everybody in my Facebook group once a month, is as a topic, and then I have scriptures that relate to that. So the bee is the is the Bible verse. The l is listening for God's word, listening for his voice. The E is exploring the history, what the meaning is of the scripture, who wrote it and when. The first S is for studying the keywords, what those keywords are and what they mean and how they pertain to the verse. And the second s is summarizing it and doing a little devotional about what it means to us in today's history. Oh wow, that's really in depth though, because that way it's not just you're reading a verse and then you're like, what do I do with it? Do I memorize it? Or do I just meditate on it? And how does meditation? What is meditation? Right? It's also that your blessed method actually propels us into the meditating of the Word of God because thinking about the history the context that means to us right now, so very good. I like that you have some practical tips that you have then for moms that are trying to find that deeper connection with God no matter the time or the place wherever we are, How can we get that time in with God? I would say, embrace the small moments, so realize that you don't need a huge chunk of time to connect with God. That's why I like the blessed method because you can get through it in a very you know, quick manner, or you can really dig deep. I find those brief moments throughout the day to pause, to breathe, to offer a prayer of gratitude. You know, they say pray without ceasing, and you can do that. Once you get the hang of it, you can do it all the time. You know, thank you Lord for this, Thank You Lord for that. You know. It just just whenever you're doing anything, whether you're changing diapers or cooking or whatever, you can be praising God at the same time. The other one is prioritizing your own self care. You have got to remember that. It's it's you cannot be a good mom if you're not taking care of yourself. And part of that is beyond just your physical self. It has to be part of your spiritual health as well. That is so important. And if you just take a few minutes a day, even if it's just a couple of minutes, to engage in activities that are going to help give you energy and bring you joy. Whether it's whether it's meditating, whether it's journaling or even just going for a walk in nature. When you recognize and prioritize that self care, it is going to help your well being more than anything. Oh that's so true. And I think a lot of times we feel guilty or we feel like, well, do I actually deserve to have that few minutes to myself when there's so many people reaching out for me to me for help. Yeah, my kids need help, my husband needs help. Everybody needs help. So I love that you're giving us permission to take care of ourselves. Self care is important, and it's important for Christian women too, not just everybody else in the world, but they're Christian women that need help, and we need our own self care. We need to take care of ourselves because God loves us, so we should love us absolutely. I love that you give us permission to do that. So do you have any last words of encouragement on this show today for our listeners. I just I also think encouraging to involve your children in your devotions is really important. You know, whether you get a little journal for them while you're journaling is a great way. You know, we have tons of stickers and different things that you can use that while you're talking doing your personal time, you can tell a story and have them right in their journal, whether things or draw pictures or something like that, and then you can you know, call that your you know, mommy and me time or whatever while you're sharing God's word with them. I love that idea, and I think it's something that can help all moms to get their kids involved in That's such a good idea. And you have journals for mammy and me. I do, yeah. I have actually have some some downloads that are available too for like summer activities and things like that. But the regular, the regular journals I had that were the dot journals are just the ones that have well let's see if we can see that, Yeah, as the dots on it and you can put stickers or something in it. That's really powerful. I like that. Yeah. And then our new journal has the Blessed Method right in it. It's got the blss O. I see. So yeah, it's they're both just a great way of connecting with God. And like I said, you can dig deeper or you can just you know, go through quickly, you know, figuring out what that scripture means to you and spending that little bit of time with God. I like that, take it at your own pace exactly according to where you are in your journey with God. You can go deep or you can just do what you need to for the day, but you're still having that time with God. Yes, and that's so important. That helps get rid of that guilt of that A little bit is better than nothing at exactly exactly. Yeah, can you have the products to help our listeners with that process of getting in touch with God and talking to the Lord and it's kind of solidifies it. Always talk about how when we're teaching our children, whatever they write down physically solidified within their brain, So that kind of brain hand connection, so they're making I think we make that connection when we write down scripture and write down the meanings of scripture to us. So very important. Well, how can our listeners reach you to get those wonderful journals and do you have any discounts or anything that they might be looking forward to? Yeah, but two places. First of all, my website is www. Blessed b L E S s Ed b B boutique dot com. And then my Facebook group is called Blessed Intentions. And if you go to my Facebook group, what I wanted to tell you about is on May twenty fifth, we are having a big launch and I'm going to have all day of crafts activities, different things like that that you can follow along with and join in with us as we do these. To have a big launch for the Blessed Journal. Okay, We're so excited about it. And if you if you sign up, if you go to my website, you can sign up to get three free sticker of sheets on there whenever you join my website. Awesome, Okay, I would love for our listeners to just go to Blessed be boutique dot com and join our book group and learn about any of the anything that you have going on at that. Absolutely, yes, that would be perfect. Thank you so much, Beverly, Ay Jem and a breath of fresh air to talk to today, So thank you, thank you for being on the show. Thank you well. I really had a great time talking with Beverly. She is such a sweet lady and just a wise woman who shares her faith with those of us who are seeking to grow deeper in our faith with the Lord, and she's very encouraging. So a few of the takeaways that I received from this week's conversation. Our number one embrace small moments with the Lord, because sometime is better than no time at all. As you start to spend more time in journaling and Bible reading and in prayer, you'll find that your appetite for the Word of God will start to increase. So it's better to start with a little so that you don't get discouraged, and with time, you will not be able to wait until you have more time with God in prayer. Number two, prioritize your own self care by engaging in activities that bring you energy and joy. That seems to be one of the themes that keeps coming up in my recent podcast episodes, so obviously this is a topic that really hits home with us as busy women busy mamas. It's a great reminder that as God cares for us, we should indeed care for ourselves and take time out to enjoy the things that He's put in our hearts to enjoy. And then, thirdly, Beverly gives us some ideas for mommy and me time. If you have younger children, this is going to be a great idea for you. You want to involve your children in your devotionals by encouraging your children to journal at the same time that your journal, and just an extra food for thought. For those of you with older kids like myself, Journaling and Bible reading with your children can be as simple as reading one verse together or taking turns reading passages of Scripture together and having simple conversations and having your kids ask if they have any questions about what you talked about. And then, as Beverly suggested, if you want to journal together, that would be a great time to reflect on the passages that you've been studying and take time and reflect on what God is doing in your lives. And you can do it at the same time grab a cup of tea together, or make a nice heartwarming snack. I know that I always like to make chocolate chip cookies, and I like things to feel really cozy and warm and inviting, So that's one of the things that I sometimes do with my daughter when we have our devotionals. But those are just some ideas, and Beverly has been just so instrumental in helping us to get our wheels turning and get start thinking about what we can do to make sure we're bringing in those daily routines of Bible study and prayer with our family. So as always to see the show notes, please be sure to visit my website at Christian Homeschoolmoms dot com where you can view all the links and the resources that my guests mentioned on the show. And as I mentioned in my last episode, I'll be offering podcasts a bit more frequently this summer, so I'll plan to be back in about two weeks to share about homeschooling in the high school years. And also, if you feel led to support this show, you can donate by using the buy me a Coffee link which is in my show notes. It's also at buy me a Coffee dot com slash Dmitriya Zingev. And that's all for now. Thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate each and every one of you, and until next time, happy homeschooling.