Entrusted to Your Care: Be the Mom

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Let’s talk about children today. Go ahead and open up your Bible to Proverbs 22:6. This is a verse that we have all heard before, but, if you haven’t highlighted it or underlined it,  now would be a good time to do that.

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

I love the imagery of Scripture, because as I read verses in Ephesians and Matthew and again in Proverbs, we read over and over again that it is the parents responsibility to train up their children. It’s not the responsibility of the school, the pastor, the church, community (or the village); the responsibility rests solely on the parent.

That is an incredible task!

One of my favorite verses is Luke 6:40.  It says, “When a student is fully trained, he will be like his teacher.”  There is probably another way you can look at that. When a child is fully trained, he’ll be like his mother or his father: he will be like his parents. That’s why we say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It really is true.

We need to take our job as parents seriously and train our children in the way they should go. The Bible says that the person who does that is blessed.  Need more convincing?  We read in Psalms and again in Jeremiah that the person who follows the Lord and obeys Him is like a “tree that is planted by a stream of water who yields its fruit in season,whose leaf doesn’t wither, and whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1)  Isn’t this what we desire for our children?

If you are struggling to get your children to obey you today,  I want to encourage you!  I know it’s hard, but keep at it!   Training your children is more important than schoolwork, it is more important than school, actually. Training your children is more important than that grocery trip you need to make; it’s more important than that phone call you need to make.  It trumps playing on the Internet.

A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from a friend who was struggling with disrespect from her 12 year old son. We were going back and forth exchanging ideas and perspectives. Twelve years old can be tough; it’s is an age where the discipline method that we used to use doesn’t always work anymore.  My friend was realizing that her son was coming into a different season of his childhood. All I could do was pray for her, because I didn’t have the answers she needed. This seasoned, capable mom was navigating the sometimes rough waters of parenting.  We all need to learn to do it.  Our kids are counting on it.

It’s humbling (but also freeing) to realize we don’t have all the answers.  Be encouraged, busy mom.  You can do this job you’ve been given. God says He calls us to the task that we have have before us. In other words, He knew, even before she even had that little boy, that she was the perfect mother for him.  It’s an awesome thing to realize that our children have been entrusted to us.

Entrusted.  It’s a powerful word.  It means we are being trusted with something precious. Moms who see the power of being entrusted with children love them by giving them boundaries, by teaching them, by disciplining them, by correcting them and by giving them unconditional love.

Often, it’s easier to just “let things go.”  After all, parenting is exhausting. It’s a marathon of never-ending questions, refereeing, guiding and forgiving.  Do the harder thing, mom.  Don’t give up on the oh-so-daily job of redirecting and correcting and guiding your children.  The results of your investment will be worth it.

Love your kids, busy mom. But remember—you’re the mom.

Be the mom.

Love and train up your kids.

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Heidi St John Firmly Planted Family Devotional For All Ages

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About Heidi St. John

Heidi has been married to her husband Jay since 1989. Together they have seven children and three grandchildren! The St. Johns homeschooled their kids all the way through high school. Heidi is the the author of seven books, host of the popular podcast "Off the Bench," and the founder of MomStrong International, an online community of women learning God's Word and how to apply it to every day life. She and her husband Jay are also the founders of Firmly Planted Family and the Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center, located in Vancouver, Washington.

26 thoughts on “Entrusted to Your Care: Be the Mom

  1. Emily Galvez

    I have been struggling with my 9 year old. Last night I had all but given up when I decided that maybe he just needed a little extra love. So we did his favorite thing and let him cook dinner. It was a great bonding time and a wonderful break from trying to make him listen. Almost instantly his attitude changed and it has flowed into a wonderful morning as well. Thank you for this post!

    Reply
  2. Jenny Forsyth

    Also needed this on this particular morning this made me cry, it was very encouraging and inspiration thanks so much for speaking to all us moms out ther, with different walks of life we still share the same true real raw emotions.

    Reply
  3. Cassy Holzhauer

    The other day my 2 year old was just not listening and was going crazy it seemed, so I closed her bedroom door while in there with her and dimmed the lights. I sat down on the floor in the midst of her meltdown, closed my eyes and started praying the Rosary out loud. After the first decade I got up and put her in her bed. After repeating that for a couple more decades, she was very calm and quiet in her bed. It definitely kept my blood pressure in check and eventually got her into a more peaceful disposition.

    Reply
  4. Joanna Harvey

    My son was not obeying last night. I was too tired to get off the couch, so I nicely invited him to come over and place his neck between my hands for strangling purposes. He laughed, declined because “I like my neck the way it is,” and then obeyed with a good attitude.

    That joke/connection communicated my love and frustration simultaneously and worked way better than yelling.

    Reply
  5. Jericho Holly Castillo

    @ Laura Stephens Ward I can relate in a way. Not that my hubby let’s the kids do what they want. He has a bad habit of not responding in a immediate, peaceful and teaching manner. This just undermines everything I do for eighteen hours per day. It makes me feel disrespected as a wife. I am not trying to bum you out, or try to make you upset with your hubby. I’d like to encourage you to love him and pray for him just as he is. It has taken my hubby nearly ten years to see how he hurts me in mountains by the little things he does daily. It’s my refusal to give up, even to selfishness that he and I both need to love each other. (It’s OK to take a mini break. My hubby has so gotten over his sleeping with the fan on drives me crazy. I can put up with it 95% of the time. The other 5% when I am just to mentally tired to try to shut off the noise, I sleep on the couch. He knows I am not trying to be selfish and that I am majorly sleep deprived and deprived of adult time.)

    Reply
  6. Angie Williams Crook

    I love this ministry. This goes hand in hand with my belief that God has entrusted me (and all if you moms too) with HIS children. All children are God’s children. He gave them to us and can call them back home whenever He sees fit. It’s an amazing idea that God believes in me for this monumental task. Thanks for this reminder today.

    Reply
  7. Oscar N Kelli Wood

    Wow I did horribly this morning’ migraine for three days and stress of my Christmas fund getting lower and lower this were brakes went out and that cut my budget in half (4 kids) now found out they didn’t pay hubby for the turkey day two days off :””( I took it out on my kids 🙁 now I see that my hubby has been trying to teach me that its big the gifts that matter and now I have no choice but to relax and embrace that very thing. Thank You Lord for stepping in and helping me see what is really important here! He knows I’m hard headed ! I think this is not coincidence and sometimes it takes a painful lesson to see what He wants me to see 🙂

    Reply
  8. Sarah Sims

    I so needed to read this today. My oldest two girls fight what feels like non-stop. It’s exhausting. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and praise them for having peacefully played together for the last ten minutes. 🙂

    Reply
  9. Kristina Eriksson

    But what about the hundreds of thousands of children that grow up with abusive parents, neglective parents or some other version of a “bad parent”. How did god choose them? The harsh reality is that virtually anyone not using protection could get pregnant, whether they are suitable parents or not. I agree that parets that have chosen to live spiritual lives are better suited to raise their children, since part of their beliefs are that you should only treat others the way you wish to be treated, but even among the really Christian families There Will be abuse, neglect and sadness. Sadly.

    Reply

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