Organic/non-organic,
dresses/pants,
unschooling/school-at-home,
dating/courting, married/single,
big family/small family … on and on it goes.
Let’s not be divided over things that do not have eternal significance.
…the greatest of these is LOVE. ♥
~Heidi St. John
After my daughter had just given birth, I had the privilege of walking through a learning season with her. Little Noah was a couple of weeks old and I was really loving the new season I was in—a season with little ones of my own and a grandma is truly a special time. But Noah’s birth was a little scary and ended in an emergency c-section. So began our daughter’s new journey of learning to trust the Lord with her child. It’s never as easy as it sounds, is it?
Matthew 14:22 is a passage that I wanted to share with you. Something that jumps out at me in the this passage is the fact that Jesus went to get alone by Himself and pray. Don’t you love that? The Lord Himself, God incarnate—prayed. Shortly after that, we read the story of Peter walking out onto the water to Jesus. As soon as the storm grows, his faith falters. Jesus calms the storm and then says to Peter, “You of little faith!” Why did you doubt?”
I think it’s easy for us to find ourselves in the same position that Peter was in. As I was explaining to my daughter at her baby shower, life throws things at you that you cannot possibly expect.
Here are a few things I’ve been learning about how to be a faith-filled mom:
Faith-filled mothering is constrained by love. As mothers, we are preparing our children for a world that we will likely never see. Often, we make decisions that our children do not like—even painful decisions because love tells us that it is the right decision to make.
Faith-filled mothers are dependent on prayer. We read in verse 23 that Jesus got alone to pray. Even the Lord needed to pray. Here was Jesus, physically tired, tempted and alone—yet He took the time to pray to His Father.
Finally, faith-filled mothering is not fear-based. It is not afraid. My grandfather used to say that “fear was present when Jesus was absent, but always absent when Jesus was present.”
Matthew 28:20 says, “I am with you always.” If you want to be a faith filled mother today, anticipate God’s grace and goodness in the lives of your children. Believe His promises for your family. “Train up your children in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
Be brave! The Lord is with you.
Even though I hate to see the winter go, I love the change of seasons. Change is just part of life, isn’t it? Change happens with our children, our families, and our friendships. It happens in politics and in our churches. Sometimes change is very hard. Sometimes, it hurts. Sometimes I struggle to accept change as it comes into my life and disrupts the way I like things. Sometimes, I resist—but I’m learning acceptance is better.
I’ve been thinking lately about all the changes my husband and I have been through over the past 25 years. From ministry to marriage, we’ve seen a lot of ups and downs. When I was younger, I thought I knew so much more than I do now! I didn’t know there would be so.many.changes. in my life. From my parenting style to the realization that I had a lot of growing up to to … change has just become part of life. Isn’t it funny how the older you get the more you realize how much you DON’T know?
Looking back, I can see that very few of the painful changes have ever happened on my terms—and many of the good ones were on God’s terms, too. His terms, His timing.
I still have so much to learn about God’s timing.
Accepting God’s timing is just part of accepting the changes that inevitably come. I find myself very nostalgic as I watch the kids grow and leave the nest we’ve spent over 25 years building. But then, I remind myself, “that’s why we built the “nest” … so that the kids could grow and leave it! Funny, isn’t it? As I get older, changes in my life have given me another reason to be grateful for God’s Word. His mercies are new every morning. He is so faithful. He is trustworthy. That means that even when I’d rather things were different, I can trust God’s heart for me. Listen to what the prophet Jeremiah said about God’s unchanging nature:
Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
God never changes. He’ll see you through whatever you are facing today. His mercies are new for you right now, busy mom!
Hang on tight to the Lord in every season of life. He’ll get you through.
Thankful for an unchanging God,
Heidi
Tired.
Exhausted, really. Some days, we wake up and we seriously don’t know where we are. Texas? Florida? Tennessee? Louisiana? Michigan? Kentucky?
You see, the inside of the RV looks the same every morning. Often times, we pull into a site late at night. So it is quite often a surprise to the kids to see where we are. This morning, we started the day in Niagara Falls, NY. Tonight, we’ll end the day in Ludington, MI.
As I type this, the kids are settling in for six more hours on the road. A movie is playing. RV is gassed up and tummies are full. It’s a good feeling.
Got a lot on your plate?
But in case you get that “wouldn’t it be nice to RV with our kids” feeling, I’ve gotta admit: it’s not easy. Just a few hours ago, kids were crying, dad was stressing, cars were cutting us off, cell phones were ringing, baby was crying and a half-gallon of orange juice was spilling behind the couch. But that’s just this afternoon.
That brings me to homeschooling. It’s not easy. And anyone who has been at it for more than a week knows it. It’s not a secret that homeschool moms sacrifice their time and energy (and sometimes, their sanity!) in order to educate their kids at home. More often than not, homeschool moms share many things in common: her pastor thinks she’s crazy, her mom wonders what she did wrong and her best friend is always trying to talk her into putting her kids in school so she can “have a life.” As my dear friend Steve Lambert says, “Only homeschool moms would choose to be LOCKED UP all day with little people while the rest of the civilized world sends their kids off to be taken care of by someone else!”
So true. It is a sacrifice. It’s hours of work, days on end. And just like everything else worth doing in this life, we are looking far down the road. Successful homeschool moms are not looking at today. They’re looking years down the road. They know that the sacrifice they are making today will, Lord willing, pay huge dividends in the future.
Yes, it’s worth it, homeschool mom! At the end of the day you won’t find a more worthy calling as a mom than to homeschool your kids. And really, nothing worth doing is EVER easy. Take marriage for example. Or parenting. Or being an entrepreneur. It’s difficult. But stick with it … and one day …you’ll get to see that your little tree bears fruit. Fruit that has an impact into eternity.
You see, for the Christian parent, homeschooling provides an amazing opportunity for for you to disciple your children. To have them by your side, to teach them of God’s love – to show them- what it looks like to “stay the course” even when it’s difficult … these are lessons that homeschooling will help you teach without making one lesson plan.
If you’re wondering if it’s going to be a pain in the neck at times, well, it is. But if you’re looking for a lifetime investment that will yield dividends far into the future, then homeschooling is for you.
Stick with it, busy mom! Fruit takes time to grow. But in due season, you’ll reap a harvest of JOY for the sacrifice you’re making now.
It’s worth it!
heidi