How Being a Mother Has Drawn Me Closer to God

Before I became a mother I was a very different person then I am today.

Before I got married, I was a very different person then when I was single.

From where I stand right now, this very day, I can look back in time and see where I have been and where I am now. I can see the changes and choices.

Every year, as Christians we should see change...positive change. A drawing nearer to the Savior. A releasing of the world and the things in it. By the Grace of God, I am so thankful to see a change in my life. Where I started, years ago I was rooted in baby Christianity. It was a stand still. There wasn't much change. I was a Christian but teetering as close as I could to the world without falling off. Passing by me, you might not have known I was a Christian.

Over the years though things started changing. There was yearning for something different. A desire to hear the Word and follow it. It has been a journey and it is being made alongside my husband. How dear it is to follow the Lord's path with your spouse by your side.

Well as the years have come and gone, I have been blessed with three little boys! What gifts to be entrusted with. And with motherhood, once again, the Lord uses it to draw women closer to the Lord. I know I am not the only one.

Motherhood changes and trasforms everything. Not just the things that are obvious or written about in pregnancy magazines.

Motherhood draws me closer to God .....

• By giving me more patience. Course, I don't have a perfect dose of patience yet. But, amen, I do have more patience then I did. Before I had children, I had very little patience. I was not one to hold my tounge or pray about something before making a decsion. Now, with little ones, esp. little ones that are in their early learning ages, I practice patience daily. Sometimes, making dinner takes a half an hour longer because little hands are measuring and mixing and mistakes are made. Often, patience is exercised all day long while correcting and diciplining. Who was it that said, practice makes perfect? That saying goes right along with patience. A mother's work is never done and there will probably never be a mother that has patience perfected, so to speak.  But us mothers sure have a great training ground.

• By helping me trust more in HIM then myself. Mothers have big loads. (And I don't just mean laundry) We carry burderns for our children's salvation, their walk with the Lord, their character, if homeschooling- their education, their social relationships, their health...well, you get my point. And so often, it is overwhelming. How many times can I remember taking my own problem and trying to solve it on my own? Many times. And how many times, did using my own solution work? It didn't. It made more of a mess usually and wore me out. Being a mother, there isn't enough time at hand to work out my own solutions for each of my children. I must give it all to Jesus. I know Jesus has a plan for each of my children, even myself and my husband. During weary and hard days, I have to look to Jesus and give Him by burdens. During joyful days, I give Him thanks and try not to take forgranted my blessings. This is a constant circle, a circle of trust, thanks and prayer. Being a mother I find myself on my knees, which helps for those times scrubbing the floor, too!! ;-)

• By giving me new priorities. Who would have thought five years ago, we would be homeschooling.  Things change! But believe me, for the good. As a single woman, I was very much wrapped into myself! It is funny to think about it now, even. The time spent looking in the mirror, checking makeup...reapplying coats of lipstick, ha! How long I spent on my hair or in the shower. Now, showers are much quicker, my make up routine has simplified, (and my husband likes the way I look this way better! Less is more!!) and my focus has opened up to not just me but my family. As a mother, I find myself always asking...is this more important or should I get down on the floor with the kids and play? Or is there time for the computer right now or do I need to get dinner started? Will this effect my children's worldview? The Lord gives us discernment if we are in tune with Him and often, my priorities are re-evaluted.

There are countless other ways motherhood has drawn me closer with the Lord. For each one I must give thanks...some are easy to speak of and others are not because they are the parts of motherhood that bring frustration, tears, heart aches, and pain. But our relationship with our children closely traces the relationship Jesus has with His Children. Next time you wipe your childs tears away, kiss a boo boo, rejoice over a victory won, or get that warm, swell in your heart watching them play sweetly with their sibling....Think of Christ. He watches from Above, cares for you, rejoices with you, has concern for you, is happy for you... And is always there to teach and mold you.

The Busy Hum of Life

It has a busy and full week! Every day practically there has been somewhere to go. I have an over flowing plate. Thus, we scramble on only for me to be reminded "less is more" sometimes! With a new homeschooling co-op, childrens gym classes/soccer, finishing up the final touches on our new home, packing, and getting involved with church ministrys it sometimes feels like I am actualy burning calories just by going throughout the day but I am trying to see the good in it and keep up with my kiddos...whew, I am starting to feel old some days LOL.

As I sit here in the complete darkness and still of the evening tonight--I am filled with a sense of contentment in our busy and full schedule. It reminds me that we are in the prime of our family-hood and that each busy day brings a blessing, a chance to interact with strangers and to witness Christ's Love. A lesson blooms from a totally unexpected event and my children are captivated. Busy, for right now in our lives, is okay.

As spring and summer approach the turn of events will slow down and I will welcome that, too. I'll be ever so happy for nowhere to go and to dig my toes in sand.....Warmer weather brings a whole new pallette of places to go and things to do but just in different paces...

God, Please help me to be satisfied in the busy hum of events that this winter has brought. Thank You Lord for laying on my heart the conviction to homeschool my sweet boys. Help me to be ready to teach my children life lessons out of anything that transpires and help me to be filled with Your holiness and mercy.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven {Ecclesiastes 3:1}

Scripture Catapillars

Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee

Deuteronomy 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Teaching our children to memorize the Scripture has been laiden on my heart for quite some time now. I never did this as a child, truthfully, and I look back and wonder if I had...would I have avoided certain heartaches? I will never quite know for sure but I wish to enstill in my children a love for the Bible. My prayer for them is to know the Bible...to fall in love with the Bible...to know the pages within their hearts. To know Jesus' Promises word for word is an amazing comfort and will not only be of a help to them but to others they minister to in the future.

Jesus when tempted by Satan quoted Scripture in Matthew Chapter 4. In Hebrews 4:12 we are told, "For the Word of God is For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

It is critical for children to learn the Word. Sometimes, it can be hard to know the best way to go about this. I have found Ruth Beechick has great insights on how children should memorize.

A really fun and visual way to get your children excited is to start a Scripture Catapillar. This is not my orginal idea! I first learned about it from Marilyn Boyer who is a homeschooling mother, speaker, and author. I love Marilyn's articles and books. She is a lovely inspiration. Her website is here.

Here is a picture of our catapillar:



Unfortunately, the picture is blurry because I had to take it with my cell phone!! {My camera's charger is MIA currently! :( }

 

For every verse your child memorizes you place that verse on a round peice of construction paper and hang up as part of your catapillars body! We hope to get our catapillar growing around all four walls! It is really exciting and fun to see the catapillar growing l-o-n-g-e-r and my boys are learning the Word! We keep reviewing the verses that are hung up while learning new Scriptures. It takes different amount of times to learn different verses but keep going at it! It is so rewarding to hear children quote Scripture! I also have always included Noah who is 3 but when we started was 2. He was a bit young to get every word but he has caught on quite nicely now and delights in being a part of the fun with his big brother!

 

I hope this in some way or another motivates you to keep on or get started memorizing the Word with your children! :-[)

Propitiation



A couple years ago when Chad my husband and I were taking night classes at Bible college we were blessed to sit under a pastor and teacher who made the Bible come alive. He taught the book of John. Never had I studied the Word so intently and he taught us a whole new way to read the Bible and study it. This has remained with me since then and I now am a better Bible reader because of it.

One particular lesson we looked at Romans 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;


The teacher went on to ask us what propitiation meant. Put it in your own words, he said. I felt really stumped. I had read this verse so many times, had seen the word, even felt as though I understood what the verse was saying but I couldn't exactly say what propitiation was! He then proceded to give an example, a picture of what propitiation was ....and I have never thought about the word and it's meaning the same since then.

This is the picture he gave to us:

Imagine you loaned someone 10,000. Loaned, not give. You didn't tell them when to pay back the money but it was expected. This particular person was really low on money, perhaps. Your more then happy to help out. Well, a couple months go by and you still have not recieved the money back.  You still give the person the benefit of doubt and don't worry about it. Six months later, no money returned. The person is actually starting to get back on their feet! This is truly good, you think...still giving him the benefit of doubt that your money will be returned. A year later, you run into the person and they are doing great! They are not having any more financial troubles and in fact, quite the opposite. Boy, you could really use the 10,000 by now and you mention the debt to the person. Quite relieved, he assures you the money will be paid back soon. A few more months pass on. Now it has been almost 2 years and you are still without the money. You no longer see this particular person anymore. It is like they are avoiding you...you try to call them. No answer. You try stopping by, no one comes to the door. In fact, you never hear from them again. No returned money.

Now fast foward 5 years. You've never seen that person since. Any time you think about your money and that person you get so ticked off. You wish you never, ever loaned that money out! It makes you livid! One day, the same person who you loaned the money to comes to your door. You can't believe it. 5 years later and here he is. Wow. Your angry. Your put out with disgust. How dare he, show up here after all the times you've tried to contact him!!!?? Asking him what he wants....and where he's been...he simply apologizes and gives you the money in an envelope. He leaves, he knows it's been too long and has ruined any friendship you may have had with him in the past.

You inspect the envelope, still irritated. Surprised, you pull out the check. WAIT. He has paid you back more then you loaned him....Your gasping for air now....The grand total is 100,000 dollars!!! You are amazed and totally shocked and giddy!

Now, think on this. If the man were to have paid the money back...10,000 only--you still would have accepted the money back, yes of course. But you would have still been irritated, surely. If he would have paid you the money and interest you would of been happy to see the money but most likely still ticked off and thinking why did he avoid me for so long still???  But him paying 100,000 dollars...well, that was above and beyond what you loaned him. That soothed your anger, made you forget about the years in between the loan. It was more then enough to satisify you.....more then enough to make peace. In fact, all you can do now is think about the 100,000 dollars!

In the same likeness, God sent Jesus Christ to die on a cross for our sins! Jesus' blood appeased God...Only a Perfect, Sinless Sacrafice would do. God was angry at mankind for their sinfullness and disobedience. But when Jesus came and died for humanitys sins God's wrath was satisfied. It was more then enough!!!!!!

I hope this story helps you a little better understand the word propitiation. Maybe you can tailor this story for your children and share it with them. If nothing else, I hope your able to give God glory today thinking about propitiation! ;-)
For more on propitiation and Jesus' FREE gift to you click here

Monday Humor Link Up

(Click on the picture to view larger)

Now, I have never been a coffee drinker but there are those Mondays where I sure wish I was! When I saw this picture, I chuckled because I think it does really reflect a lot of mom's out there. Why do Mondays do this to us? Even the thought of a Monday gives many a downcast face and a hearty groan. The thought of Mondays are usually followed with a big to do list, going back to work, and getting back to reality.

Well, I really believe Mondays have gotten a bad rap so I am really excited to be linking up with Sarah Beth @ His Loving Presence! You can too here I can't wait to laugh a little and be inspired at the same time!

This picture reflects the verse from John 14:14 where Jesus declares boldly~ "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

This verse depicts, for believers, a well that never runs dry! As a mother and wife and all around just plain ol busy woman I do get weary and tired. I do dream of a "bottomless cup of coffee!" Thank God Jesus gave us Matthew 11:28 as well to help us mothers on those hard and trying days...

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Can't you just see Jesus' arms wide open, inviting us to sit close with Him, perhaps lay our head on his strong chest and lay our burdens on HIM? Sadly, many of us never do and we attempt to take on all our problems throughout the day on our own. BUT, this will never work. We will become burned out!!

Come unto ME--Jesus says. Won't you take Him up on that this week...He is so much better then a bottomless cup of coffee!!

A New Year, A New Beginning

2010 is officially over. I am not quite sure where it went exactly but a whole lot has happened. This isn't the entry to ponder over or list everything but just to simply say and exclaim I am so blessed to have a Loving and Wonderful God in my life. He really never ceases to amaze me everyday and is continuing to challenge me and reveal to me His Ways and Plans for me and my family all the time.

I am not sure what will happen in 2011. I don't know everything that will cause me to cry, lament, or question why. I don't know everything that will cause me to rejoice, to laugh, or to sing praise. But one thing is certain. God is my Guide...and He will be with me...leading and paving the way. Holding my hand, arms wrapped around me...leading me....

How can I fret and worry about all of the up coming year's unknowns. But what is most certain in my life is Jesus. And that's enough to calm every worry before it starts.

Thank you Jesus for simply and majestically being YOU.  Please bless this New Year. Help it to be a year where I draw closer to You. Help me to cling to your Word and less and less to the world. Thank You for giving me 2010, for giving me a son...for revealing Yourself in countless ways....A thousand thank you's wouldn't be enough for all You've done in our lives. I love You. Amen