"When we believe in Jesus,...He gives us a new heart...and puts His very Spirit into us."
page 43 Desperate
"Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrew 4:16
Between this post and the last post, I spent time with Sally Clarkson at the North Carolina Mom Heart Conference. What an amazing time! She shines the light of Jesus so brightly, and speaks with such inspiration and encouragement. I am forever thankful that God orchestrated the events allowing me to meet and spend time with the woman who has mentored me for years through her writing. I will post about all that God showed me through that weekend once I finish working through my thoughts and bringing them to more clarity on paper.
Chapter four, like the preceding chapters, brought conviction and encouragement. Do I allow my children to approach me with confidence that they will receive mercy and grace? In my mind, I say, "yes!" but in the day to day grind of life, I am not so certain. Do I view the difficulties as opportunities to exercise faith and take a stand for God?
I particularly like the imagery of home as a battlefield. Most of the time there are swords, capes, light sabers and such flying around my home, so I understand the battlefield aspect of home! But do I expect and prepare for the inevitable battles in my home? Battles to overcome sin and selfishness, taming, subduing, civilizing...or am I coming to the battle unprepared?
"Wrong expectations produce anger and depression."
(page 46)
What are my expectations? Are they realistic? Am I prepared for the inevitable?
Preparation, expectations, and training all take time...the time that comes from a different pace. The go and rush survival mode that we have grown accustomed to think is normal in many of our homes will not allow for it. Intentionality, time, a willingness and preparedness to teach and train through the so-called interruptions takes a different pace. God has been using the word "pace" in my heart a lot lately. As a runner, it is something that He has used to show me several analogies with motherhood and pace. More on that to come, but as it relates to this chapter, my pace must intentionally slow. My morning must have time with Him, in the Word, choosing to live and walk in the Spirit...not so I can check a box for completed quiet time, but because motherhood is a calling and it calls for the supernatural. I need my manna for each day, my new mercies for each morning, to approach His throne and receive grace abundantly.
Most of us women today, I believe, have not been trained or prepared to create a life giving home. As a woman who has undergone many years of academic training, I can honestly say that that is the training that is valued in our culture. Not that academic instruction is not important, but I believe we need to change our perspective about motherhood. It is the calling that will change generations. Motherhood is a high calling, not merely a philosophy choice, as Sally stated on page 49.
We cannot force our culture to change their perspective on motherhood, but we can live and believe that it is a high and divine calling of eternal importance. And our culture will notice.
Precious friends, don't minimize your role as a mother to the world. When you are filling out all of those forms at the pediatrician and dentist office, don't feel "less than" if you stay at home with your children, and you don't have some savvy career to write on the occupation line. I pursued the career, but I am called to be a mother to my four amazing gifts from God. And it is God, through His calling, who will sustain you, prepare you, and give you a secure identity.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
2 Corinthians 5:17
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