(If you have ever flown with a baby, please go to my other blog and leave your much-needed advice! Thanks.)
I've been reading A Mother's Heart: A look at values, vision, and character for the Christian mother by Jean Fleming at the suggestion of Ann. I found my copy for $1.50...what a deal!
"It is easy to feel frustrated by the seemingly conflicting demands of children and ministry to those outside the home. Reaching the world for Christ with a toddler hanging on your skirts isn't easy...Much of this frustration can be eased when we realize the family is an important part of God's strategy for propagating the faith and redeeming a people for Himself."
"[T]here is no more natural way for a mother to influence her world for Christ than through her own children."
"Although our children should not be the total focus of our lives, if we neglect them to pursue other opportunities we may one day find we lacked a biblical vision of mothering."
Motherhood has changed me. I've noticed things about myself since I became a mother 9 1/2 months ago that I don't particularly like. I'm selfish. Really selfish. I have spent so much time focused on myself that I have missed so many of God's beautiful gifts.
Laura at Here and Now has been pondering thoughts like this herself lately, and today she wrote about how we often try to water fields all over the world but neglect the little garden right here God has planted for us. Go read the rest of her thoughts on this.
Here's part of my comment on Laura's site: "Our God is truly using this time to refine you, and you are indeed changed by Him. It hurts, doesn't it, but the result is so sweet...a life lived in closer communion with Him. I, too, have spent too much time the last 9 months mourning the loss of "my" time that I haven't fully enjoyed what God has granted me. May we never make this mistake again.
Be blessed today by watering the beautiful garden He has planted just for you."
I echo Ann's prayer for today:
"Lord, quiet time isn't relationship with You. Living with You is. So I come. Let's spend all of today together."
Go read Ann's post today about relationship with God in the midst of (crazy) family life. You'll be blessed!
"How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God...
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere"
~Psalm 84:1-2, 10
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3 comments:
I am going back and forth between your blog and Laura's right now--and I am thankful that you all shared this--because I was totally unaware. From reading your blogs--I had not picked up on an inner struggle.
I suppose each mom has to decide the balance (back to what Laura wrote yesterday)of where God wants her to be. If we listen, I think He will tell us.
I didn't really plan on being a stay at home mom--the first few days home from the hospital people kept dropping by and saying almost every time "I wish I would have enjoyed them more when...". I really believe that was a huge way God communicated His plan for me. I was far from a perfect mom--but I have few regrets on this side of parenting.
Ann's post today was so good, too.
I pray you will be at peace--and filled with joy for the gardens God has planted just for you!
That looks like a great book. Thanks for the recommendation. Being a mom means being a servant. The key for me is not resenting it. Sometimes I do, but other times I truly can find joy in sacrificing my needs for those of my family. Sometimes.
And how did you find such a good bargain? I love books--cheap books are great. I just got a whole bag of books from our library sale for $5. I am looking forward to reading through the Streams in the Desert devotional I got, and The Blessing, by Gary Smalley, which I hadn't heard of, but looks great, and I also got a Serendipity study Bible, which I had heard of, but didn't want to buy full price.
Thanks for sharing! It's very thought provoking.
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