Sermons for Sleep

It's a trade-off, really.

One thing my mom has always been good about is listening to sermons in the mornings. She'll turn on WAVA to Charles Stanley first, and then later on listen to Tony Evans. If I have (for some random reason) decided to drag myself out of bed earlier than usual, then I'll get to catch the tail end of a message. And once I hear whatever little portion that I do, I always end up wondering why I don't get up earlier and catch the whole thing!


Well as most people know, I got my license recently (woohoo!) so my mornings now begin even earlier due to me taking my siblings to school and dad to the slug line. (That means I have the car alllllll to myself now!! I'm such a grown-up hehe.) I'm usually out the house around 6:30 AM, which for me is quite early, especially since I'm not in school right now! During my driving time I have the opportunity to turn on the radio and listen to sermons and Christian talk shows. Beginning with Dennis Rainey and ending with Allistair Begg, with John MacArthur, David Jeremiah, and more in between, I have had the opportunity to sit/drive (lol) under sound biblical teaching, much of which has been highly applicable to my every day life!

The thing is, I'm only driving for about an hour. I get back home around 7:40 AM, and thus begins my inward struggle:  To climb into bed or to listen to more sermons? That is the question... At this point I've only listened to two messages/shows, and there are still several yet to come on! Sadly, I must say some days sleep has truly won out. Those days I barely remember what route I took to get home because I was so sleepy! (This extreme sleepiness follows nights when I was up far too late... and don't worry, I stay safe on the road by blasting plenty of Israel, Lecrae, and Trip Lee :)) Thankfully (and I give all credit to the Lord for enabling me to do this!) more days have won out in which I have stayed up to listen to the sermons. I don't simply sit and listen though, otherwise there'd be no hope of me staying awake (sad, but true). So I'll put the radio's message on full blast and occupy myself with something, be it cleaning, or brushing my teeth, or something.

Now I do enjoy my sleep. Very much, for that matter. But the moments spent drinking in the preaching of God's Holy Word are truly sweet, and worth staying up in the morning! As a matter of fact, it's helped me to get to bed earlier (well, earlier for me, hehe) knowing that I won't be sleeping again once I get up in the morning! Once the day starts moving, it's not bound to slow down until the very end of the day. Meaning that if I don't take time set-apart for the Lord early on, it's probably not going to happen later! I still need plenty of growth and discipline in this area, but God is pruning the dead branches of my life that have kept me from being more fruitful in my personal time with Him. I'm definitely excited about how God's working in me thus far; incremental growth is better than no growth!


I totally encourage you guys, if you live in the metro DC area, to listen to 105.1 WAVA for their daily morning sermons. So worthwhile! I know many of you are finishing up school years/semesters, and don't quite plan on starting out your summer getting up earlier than you have to! Totally understandable, hehe. But in that case, you can just check out the website and listen to sermons online! The different pastors are listed, and you can download many of their sermons for free! If you guys have any suggestions on people to listen to online, be it on Youtube or some other site, please do share! I'd really like to hear from you :) Take up the challenge of spending more time with Jesus than you already do... You won't regret it!