Being a Godly Mother

Being a mother is definitely challenging and difficult.  I found this on the Desiring God website and felt I just had to share it.  It is well written and convicting in a gentle loving way.  It is a reminder of what we should be as mothers despite any situation we come across.  It is an inspiring blog that makes you want to do better as a mother and a child of God.        http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/motherhood-is-application

God's Children

With the increase of internet use in the young and social networks, the children of this generation need God and Godly parents.  Cyber bullying has become an issue in this generation and children have not been equipped to respond to it properly. (See link below). God calls us (parents) to train up our children, to teach them His truth and gospel, and discipline them, that as they become teenagers they will be more equipped with discernment and wisdom; in how they conduct themselves and the situations they get involved with.  

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” ~Proverbs 22:6 

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates”.     ~Deuteronomy 6:6-9 

Children must also be taught from a young age the Love of God and how to love others, so that they may have love and compassion on those around them as Christ had for us.  

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” ~John 13:34

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters…Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” ~1 John 3:16, 18

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” ~Romans 12:9-10

Let’s show them God’s love; discipline our children through Godly discipline not worldly discipline, and train up your children as God has called you to.  It is not the church’s role, or the school’s role to train up your children— it is yours! I pray that ours will be the generation to heed His call and hear the cries of our youth who are in such dire need of God’s truth and love.  

http://abcnews.go.com/US/bullied-teen-amanda-todds-death-investigation/story?id=17489034#.UH7Q5Wc25QA

Equipped By God

God has a purpose for the lives of all Christians and He has and will continue to equip you for His work.  Too often, we get caught up in feeling the need to have certain skills or education to do God’s work.  People use the excuse of not having the right ‘resume’; but we have the ultimate ‘resume’, one that is not of this world—Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:3-11).   God has made this clear in my life, and in lives of others I have met and read about.  God is enough and He will make all things possible in His time.  One simple way we can obey God’s call today, “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:4-7).  No matter where you live you can do what is listed in this verse.  God longs to hear His people lift up the nations and cry out for them.    Rise up and be a moving, active body of Christ and raise the nation that you call home up to God in prayer, petition, and love.   

Be a Giver: Invest Your Life

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.”  ~Philippians 2:3-8

It is easy to take and consume.  It is a part of our flesh— we need, want, and sometimes are led astray by the clutches of greed.  Paul warns the brothers in Galatians 5:13-15 that sin can devour them through the greed around them.

We are called to receive God and accept His salvation through Jesus Christ but so many Christians forget that there is more to God’s calling.  He wants us to share His truth and Gospel message with others through our words and actions.  God wants us to give and invest in the relationships we are engaged in, without the expectation of receiving anything in return. 

Jesus is the perfect example of the humble giver as he gave his life and withstood separation from God that he may provide sinful, unworthy people with salvation.  Jesus did so much for us, more then we can ever repay.  We are not burdened or expected to repay this great gift but asked to ‘love others,’ serving them as better then ourselves.  For we are but servants of God.

A Mothering Community

Growing up I was a part of a community of women that make up parts of who I am today; my mother, aunts, cousins, step relatives, and different community members.  Most of the women were not Christian, yet they loved me, protected me, and shared in various responsibilities like discipline (not punishment), teaching me skills or techniques, or took me for a few days. I have seen many Christian communities with far less fellowship. Currently, I am blessed by a group of women I can rely on, in my immediate surroundings all the way to my home country.  But I know with growing individualism in families, it has brought a division between being an active or a passive member of the church community.  To be clear I am not talking about roles like punishment and teaching, but being a role model, loving, being helpful in ways that relieve the mother when she needs two hands (holding a child, or playing with a child), redirecting the child from potentially dangerous or harmful situations.  Sadly, there is this attitude in some women today of each mother for herself, almost an “I don’t need help or to give help to others to survive” approach.  How have we allowed this to become acceptable and ingrained in how we interact within the church and at church activities?  I am not saying that people should help to the point of neglecting their children.  Jesus told us, not just the parents, to take care of the ‘little ones’ (Matthew 18:5-6).  This is one of the reasons why we have baby dedications.  Baby dedications remind us about our call to fulfill this “active” role in the upbringing of all the children in the church family.  We must not forget we are the body (Romans 12: 4-5) called to work together, each with their own function but helping one another in those functions.  We need to remember that we are not Christians by birth but by the blood of Jesus.  We’ve been adopted into God’s family, bought at a price.  We are His family called to share and grow together.  The early church knew God’s will for His family and obeyed (Acts 2:42-47).  Let’s come together and be that church, family, community again.

“How good and pleasant it is when brothers [and sisters] live together in unity.”  ~Psalm 133:1