Every day is a gift.  Your job is much more than cooking foods, cleaning house, changing diapers, and nursing babies.  Your job is to shape hearts and the lives of your children.  If you are faithful in nurturing, training, and teaching your children, than your reward will be an eternal blessing.

How do we go about doing that?

Live and interact with your children on a daily basis.  Let the little one, help wash dishes.  That big pile of water on the floor can be picked up with one large bath towel in seconds.  But that nurture and training will build a good relationship for when your child is 13 and can  be a blessing to you.

Make it a game with your toddler when gathering up the dirty laundry and throwing it into the basket and then making it be a dump truck, traveling to the dumping yard(laundry room.) Your children will learn that work is enjoyable instead of drudgery.  They will also learn that it is important to work for the benefit of others and they will bond with you in the process.

A mother finds her satisfaction in losing her own life for the cause of raising her children.  Life is NOT about pleasing ourselves for the here and now.  Possibly not even focusing on what we want.  It is about being committed to God first.  Then to our husbands, to our children, and to the journey that we are making together.

God is in the business of seeking mothers who are seeking Him.  In a world that has forgotten Him, God is looking for mothers who will be in charge of their homes and their children.

The godly mother will share love with her children.  She will also seek to “win” the hearts of her sons and daughters.  The first step to facilitating both of these is to place our children under authority.  In the same way that the fear of God prepares our hearts to have fellowship with God, disciplining our children and being in authority over them lays the foundation for wholesome parent-child relationships to develop.

Think of your role as the role of a store manager.  We must be filled with confidence, purpose, and decisiveness when it comes to parenting our children.  When we carry ourselves in a manner which shows we are in charge, it puts our children at rest.  This way when we are looked upon as “in charge” sometimes just giving “the look” will prompt your child to behave.

We need to be gentle mothers, who live AND laugh with our children.  Don’t be afraid to smile MOST of the time.  In fact, if you don’t your children will remember that.  Get down on their level, look into their eyes, and give them kisses and hugs.  Take the extra 2 minutes and go see their fort they have built, be impressed with the 20th picture that they made.

All those little moments will have lasting memories on your child.  Let them have a mother whom they remember as one who smiled and laughed and most importantly whose heart is safe with them.

Build those bonds, tie those heartstrings, and ENJOY your role as mother.  Is is like we are handed this big pile of unrefined gold.  Gold that we have to refine through discipline, direction, and love for eternity and fellowship with God.  That is a mighty job to have!!

 

We do what we can do to avoid “pain” in our lives.  Most of us would naturally shy away from it.  We dread the sound of having to endure it at any time.  Some of us may even take extra measures to ensure an easy way: pain free and as carefree as possible.

The Bible seems to take on a different view on pain:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  Romans 8:18

The trials of our life are meant to bring us closer to God.  The pain that you may be faced with and maybe even dreading may be just the thing that God is going to use to draw you nearer to Him.

Even though, we cannot see more than the pain that is before us at times, we should rest in the fact the God has a plan and that will lead us to a greater glory.  To endure for the present will be worth it all.

I think of the song “Trading my sorrows”

I’m trading my sorrows
I’m trading my shame
I’m laying them down for the joy
of the Lord

I’m trading my sickness
I’m trading my pain
I’m laying them down for the joy
of the Lord

Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Amen

I’m pressed but not crushed
persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I’m blessed beyond the curse for
his promise will endure
And his joy’s gonna be my
strength

Though sorrow may last for the
night
His joy comes with the morning.

Sometimes our fears keep us from experiencing all that God has planned for us.  But if we walk by faith and go through the present pain, we can rest assured that God is going to use it to help us grow in our life.

This is one of the greatest things about God, that He even when going through our trials, he will be there holding our hand the whole time.  It is the joys of our walk with an intimate God.

Then when our trial is over, we can see and understand what we went through and why, then we can say with all confidence that by the grace of God, He brought me through it.  Sometimes looking back, we can think, “Well, that wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.”  That is confidence and faith in a God we can trust.

Then what are we to do with our experiences??? Share, testify, and encourage others who may be going through the same trials that we once went through.  It does us know good to be prideful, holds our heads high, and pretend that everything is fine.  We need to talk about the struggles we went through, share how we felt, share how God helped us and be a light to others.

God has spoken the light of Jesus into our hearts.  That light shines so powerfully through us that we are like the stars in the universe that point the human race toward real life.

That is a picture of discipleship with Jesus.  He is the light of the world.  If we have fellowship and faith in Him, we because we are in a supernatural union with Him, will have light.  We can not do it ourselves, it is only through our relationship with Him. Jesus said in John 8:12

I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

Our focus must always be on the light, humbly trusting Jesus to reveal the light through us.

When sharing, encouraging, or ministering to someone prayerfully remember :

• The influence and visibility is a result of who lives in you, not because of what you do.
• It is God only that put you in a place of influence and visibility.
• You are a steward of influence and visibility, remember to get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit do the work.
• Only God can measure the significance of your influence and visibility.  It is not our job to force things upon people, we do what God would have us do and leave the other person to free will it with the Lord.