How to Get Close to God in Busy Seasons

Life gets busy—and spiritual growth is often the first thing we unintentionally neglect.

In this episode of The Bible Made Real, Kathy Abraham shares how to stay close to God in the midst of full schedules, constant demands, and everyday responsibilities. Rather than adding more pressure or unrealistic expectations, this conversation focuses on simple, faithful practices that create real intimacy with God.

You’ll learn what it means to set the Lord before you, how small daily decisions can honor God, and why consistency matters more than perfection. Kathy also introduces the five-minute rule—short, intentional touch points with God that can transform your relationship with Him over time.

This episode is an encouragement for anyone who feels stretched thin but still longs for a deep, abiding walk with God. Even in busy seasons, God meets us with grace, presence, and peace.

Key themes:
Daily devotion • Prayer • Intimacy with God • Spiritual growth • Obedience in ordinary life

If you desire closeness with God but feel overwhelmed by life’s pace, this episode will help you take small, faithful steps toward Him—right where you are.

Welcome to The Bible Made Real.

Be sure to follow or subscribe so you don’t miss upcoming episodes.

You can connect with Kathy on Instagram @kathyabidinglight and learn more at kathyabraham.com.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Bible Made Real podcast where scripture transforms your everyday life. I'm your host, Kathy Abraham, and I'm here to help you fall in love with scripture like never before. Not in a confusing or overwhelming way, but in a simple, accessible, everyday life kind of way. If you've ever felt intimidated by the Bible, unsure where to start or wondered how God's word actually connects to your everyday life and your struggles, this podcast is for you.

Each week we break down scripture in a way that brings clarity, depth, and transformation. We talk about anxiety, purpose, identity, spiritual habits, relationships, and what it means to walk closely with Jesus in your everyday life. Expect biblical truth, real life wisdom, and practical steps that you can use right away. If you're ready to grow spiritually, think biblically and let the word of God shape every part of your life. Hit follow and join me for this journey. Welcome to the Bible Made Real.

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Welcome to the Bible Made Real podcast where scripture transforms your everyday life. I'm Cathy Abraham and together we're going to walk through challenges of life, the truth of scripture, and how scripture can transform every part of your life. Thank you so much for being here with me today and I'm so excited for this journey. And today we're going to talk about how to get close to God during your busy life seasons. Let's jump right in. The truth is that most of us are not running away from God. We're just running away from our busy schedules, our calendars, exhaustions.

pressure and demands of everyday life. But deep inside, we really want to be close to God. So this episode, we'll talk about how to actually be close to God in practical ways when life feels busy. I know what it feels like. I've felt many times that I feel far from God and I want to be close to him. And specifically, I remember the busy season of my life when I had two babies under two. This was a really emotionally and spiritually testing season for me and really hard. I remember feeling this so closely as a new mom.

Two babies under two, totally sleep deprived and exhausted. I wanted to be close to God, I just didn't know how, nor did I really have the time or mental energy to do so. I just remember asking, when? When will I ever sleep again? When will I ever take a shower uninterrupted? When will my body go back to normal? And most importantly, when will I be able to spend time with God again? So I remember asking a very seasoned mother whose kids were in college for advice.

And she said, you need the five minute rule. And I wondered, what is that? And she said, it's just five minutes. When the babies are napping, don't go to the laundry or the dishes. She said, go to your room, shut the door, grab your Bible and just say one verse. And that's it. Give it to God. Give God those five minutes and you will see what God will do in your life. And I was shocked. At first, it seemed too simple, too easy and just not enough time for God to bless. But consistency brought blessings.

Every time I went in my room and I shut that door and I spent those five minutes with God, guess what? He met me there over and over and over again. He was there. And that's when real transformation happened. Before we get into scripture, I want to share a story with you. A few weeks ago, my family and I were in New York City over the holidays. And as you know, New York is so busy, hustling and bustling and trying to keep up with my husband and not get lost was a real thing. So the boys and I.

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tried to stay close by, but every time he would speed up or get lost in the crowds, we would lose him. And he'd look back every now and then and say, keep up, stay close behind. So when we were close enough to see the back of his head, we were fine. But the second we drifted just a little bit, we could no longer see him in the crowds. And it reminded me that it's the same with our walk with God. The closer we are, the more intimate we are to him, the harder it is for us to be separated. But it's really hard to follow someone or something that you cannot see.

And this brings me to our verse of the day. Today, Psalm 16, verse 8, David says, have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. This verse actually holds many spiritual secrets. It talks about stability, spiritual consistency and intimacy with God. And most scholars believe that David wrote this Psalm from a cave. He was running for his life from Saul. Saul wanted to kill him. So picture this.

He is the anointed king, but he's not enthroned yet. Okay, he knows God's promise, but he's not living in it yet. He is called, but everything around him is contradicting his calling. So this Psalm is basically a man saying, my circumstances are totally chaotic, but my trust is in God and God is my certainty. And that's where his stability comes from. He says, because I have set the Lord before me, I shall not be shaken. The Hebrew word here for set is Shavah, and it's incredibly intentional.

It actually means to make standard and to use as a reference point. This is a discipline that David knew he had to carry. So basically, David is saying that he's going to rearrange his entire world so that it revolves around God. God is the center of his mental horizon and the reference point for every decision he's going to make. This is the language of a man who refuses to let the world around him dictate his emotions or his circumstances, and yet he knows to put God first in his life.

So when our mind is set before us, we put something before us, this is what we're gonna focus on. And the truth is there's always something set before us, either by default or by decision. So whatever you put before you is what you will focus on. And that was David is trying to tell us now. Because he's put God before him, his life revolves around God and he is stable, he is not shaken. So ladies, set the Lord before you and be unshaken like David is. The verse goes on to say, because he's at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

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This is very significant because in Jewish culture, the right hand was a place of strength, defense, honor and protection. And David always had his sword in his right hand. But when he's saying that God is at his right hand, he's basically saying, Lord, you stand in my vulnerability. You stand in the place of my protection and you defend me because you're at my right hand. So when I am weak, Lord, I know that you are strong. And that's exactly what David's saying. And that's exactly how we should position God to, standing at our right hand.

When David declares this, means that nothing will uproot me from God. There is inner stability in my life, there is spiritual consistency in my life, and there's emotional grounding happening here. So when you choose to focus on the Lord, that's exactly the kind of woman that you will be, intentionally acknowledging Him and putting Him before you to be unshaken in this life, immovable and anchored in the Word of God. Modern psychology and neuroscience actually tells us that our life does need focus. So where our attention goes, our emotions go.

where our attention goes, our thoughts go, where our attentions go, we place our sense of stability. So what does it actually mean to set the Lord before you in your real busy everyday life? I'll tell you. Number one, set him before you at the start of your day. Why is this important? The morning is so important. It honors God. says, Lord, you are so important to me right now that I seek first the kingdom, as it says in Matthew. Put him first. And because what you do in the morning actually sets the tone for your entire day,

you will benefit the most by putting God first. So give him the first fruits of your morning. Give him the beginning, the first few minutes of your mind without checking your phone, checking your emails, tell him, Lord, I want you today and I wanna be with you today. Number two, set him before you in the moments of pressure. When anxiety hits and life gets stressful, take a small pause and say, Lord, you are before me. You are at my right hand. I shall not be moved.

This completely shifts the entire atmosphere and energy and focus of your day, and it re-anchors your power to the Lord, not to what you're trying to do, what someone else is trying to do. The power belongs to Him, and you're reinforcing that.

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Number three, set him before you in your decisions, small decisions, big decisions, all decisions. Ask yourself, does this honor God? This is how real intimacy grows because you are honoring him and you're trying to please him and he sees that, he meets you there. Number four, set him before you in the evening. Let the last voice you hear be scripture. Before you go to bed, let his word be the last thing you hear. So as you're sleeping, it calms your racing minds and trains your mind and your soul to rest in his presence. Number five,

Lastly, set Him before you in rearranging your inner world. That doesn't mean that you need to do more. It doesn't mean you need to be busier and have more tasks. It means that you need to re-shift and re-focus your priorities. By doing that, you place God, number one, in your life and everything else follows. And that's what it says. It says, seek first the kingdom and that everything else will be added onto you. So that is how our life works if we want to be planted and unshaken. So our attention, our focus, our priorities, our reactions, our habits,

The way we interpret life, our relationships, if they honor God and God is the priority, everything else will fall into place. This is the rearrangement that this verse calls us to do. And David was not alone in this. Scripture gives us many examples of key figures who were super busy and had many responsibilities yet made time to be with God. Daniel, Daniel, for example, he was the prime minister of Babylon, yet he found time to pray three times a day. Mary, the mother of God.

living a hidden ordinary life, yet she pondered these things in her heart day and night. Jesus, the Messiah, had crowds pressing in, yet he often withdrew to the wilderness to be alone with the Father. These were not people with empty schedules, sitting on the couch, nothing to do. They were tired, overwhelmed, pressured, and had so many things being pulled in many different directions, yet they had their touch points with God. And this is what allowed them to finish the work they needed to do and live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So I know you're thinking, I've heard this before, but how do I actually implement this in my life? I want to introduce you to the five minute touch point with God. Super simple. It's just five minutes. The first minute you read scripture. It could be a Psalm. It could be a small passage from the gospel. Just a portion. Doesn't even need to be a whole chapter. Number two, reflect on what you read. What stood out to you? What tugged at your attention? Number three, pray. Take a minute and say, Lord, speak to me today. Or Lord, this is what I need from you today.

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Number four, surrender. Surrender the day to God. Say, Lord, I give you this day. And lastly, the last minute, just listen. Sit in silence. Don't get up too quick. Give time to hear the Holy Spirit's voice in your life. This will steady your heart and give you peace and allow you to be in the presence of God. Think about this. When you get in your car and you start driving, who do you call? Maybe it's your husband, your mom, your best friend.

And it's usually not a long 45 minute, one hour conversation, right? It's just a five minute touch point. You're just saying, hey, how's it going? I'm just checking in. Everything okay? Just wanted to hear your voice. It's the same exact thing with God. These five minute touch points create intimacy between you and God, just like it does for you and your friend or you and your mom. It's the same thing. Create these five minute touch points. Don't think that they're insignificant because they are. Zachariah 410 tells us, do not despise the day of small beginnings. God loves to breathe on the small.

He loves the quiet, the humble, the simple, the faithful. He loves obedience more than volume, and he blesses obedience. In 1 Corinthians 3, 6, Paul says, Apollo's planted, I watered, but who gave the increase? God. It says God gave the increase. All the increase comes from him. Your job is just obedience, but transformation and increase come from God. And this just reminds me of the story of the five loaves and the two fish, right?

The disciples knew that there wasn't enough food. They told Jesus, what do you want us to do? They knew they didn't have enough. They found the little boy's lunch. The little boy knew it wasn't enough food. Everybody knew it wasn't enough food, but when they had given it to the hands of God, it became enough. It became more than enough. God is not asking you for enough. He's saying, give me what's in your hands. Give him what you have, even if it's just five minutes. If that's all you can give him,

That's okay, because you place it into the hands of God and He multiplies it. He increases it. The abundance comes from His hands, not yours. Your job is to place whatever you have in His hands. So even those five minutes, when given to the Lord faithfully, when given to the Lord obediently, when given to the Lord out of humility and trust, multiplication happens and increase happens into the hands of the Lord. So that is your job. This also reminds me of the widow and the two mites.

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Everyone overlooked her offering. Nobody thought it was significant. But Jesus took time to point it out and say, hey, what she gave was more than all of you guys combined. Why? Because he knew her heart. He knew that she gave everything she had. It was nothing in their eyes, but it was everything to Christ. So don't measure yourself. Don't even judge yourself because you don't even know that what you're giving him could be everything. So learn to be obedient like the widow was. Give those two mites place.

everything in his hands and let him tell you, yes, this is enough. Yes, I will increase this. Yes, I will bless this. This is abundance. So no matter what season you are in your life right now, if you're nursing a baby, if you're a college student bombarded with finals and essays, it doesn't matter. God will meet you where you are. And this five minute touch point can be used no matter where you are in your life. And that's what I love about it. Even in the busy seasons of my life.

When things are go, go, go, I learned that this five minute touch point can be more than enough and God will meet me there. So I want you to take a moment right now and just pause and ask yourself, what did I learn from this episode? What really stood out to me today? Where is God asking you to reorder your life or reset your rhythm? And how will tomorrow look different if scripture met you first thing? So here's a challenge for this week. Do your five minute touch point. Prepare it from the night before. Set your Bible out and put it right next to your bed.

Even choose a scripture that you want to study for in advance. I've done this before and it actually really helps. So when you wake up, you are ready to give God the first breath, your first moments. And if you miss a day, it's okay. Don't spiral. Start again the next day. It's consistency, not perfection that God wants from us. So my prayer for every woman listening today is that God would just meet you in the middle of your busy, ordinary, and holy life. And that He would just give you strength when you feel weak.

rest when you feel empty and focus when you feel scattered. I pray that you have a hunger and thirst for His Word and that His Word just transforms your life like it did mine in those faithful small moments with Him.