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