Mother's Day always stirs up mixed emotions inside me - on the one hand, I'm so thankful for the wonderful children the Lord has given me, and I'm thankful for the work the Lord is doing in and through them. But on the other hand, I sometimes look back and wish that I had believed and understood the gospel much sooner and that I had been able to apply it to my parenting when my children were small. When I'm feeling this way, I must look to Truth and know that God is working all things together for my good, His glory, and to conform my children and me more to His image. And when I remember Truth, it helps me to be cheerfully pressing forward to win the race that the Lord has now set before me, knowing that my children have the same Savior I do who will take all my sinfulness towards them and use it to make them more like Christ in some way. What a Redeemer we serve!
My role as mother has changed a lot in the past couple of years as our children are one by one launching into adulthood. This past year has been a tremendous year of blessing and spiritual growth for all of us, and none of us are the same as we were last year at this time. Praise be to our wonderful Savior!
It hardly seems possible that Joel has already been out of school for a year and that John will be graduating in a couple of weeks - the years fly by so quickly! The Lord has blessed us with His grace in so many ways, and our sons are growing to be fine Godly young men, who are serious about the Lord and pleasing Him with their lives. Dave and I are so thankful for them and we rejoice in what the Lord is doing in each of their lives. Although they are two very distinct people with varying talents and ambitions, both bring a great dynamic to our family, and I'm anxious to see how the Lord is going to lead each of them in the days ahead. The Lord has been very good to provide both of them with jobs at present.
As our children are growing up and our parenting roles are changing, there have been many challenges. Some we've faced biblically and some we haven't; I'm continually seeking the Lord as to how to have a spiritual relationship with my children as I transition from being authority to friend as they mature into adulthood. Since I've only recently "gotten" the gospel, I've had to re-evaluate many of the ways I raised my children in the past and repent of wrong attitudes and actions and ask for forgiveness. I've had to lean hard into Jesus and know that He's already been my perfection before Holy God, and that He wants to be the same Savior to my children that He is to me. I find great joy and freedom in the knowledge that nothing I do or don't do is going to thwart God's sovereign plan for them; my children have their own choices to make as to whether they will trust God and accept His sovereign will for them, sinful parents and all! I'm not my children's savior and I'm glad! This liberty doesn't make me want to go out and do my own thing and be disobedient to the Lord, but rather has the exact opposite effect.
Instead, it leaves me free to love them freely, just as I've been loved freely by God. As they launch out into life and begin making more of their own choices, my prayer is that they will seek God with their whole heart, soul and mind; that they will be willing bond-servants of the One Who bought them with such a great price; and that they will live their lives in the power of the gospel, remembering what Jesus has done for them. As they remember these things, then they will be passionately in love with the Lord Jesus, who first loved them. A mother could ask for no more than that! May God be glorified in and through our children.
My role as mother has changed a lot in the past couple of years as our children are one by one launching into adulthood. This past year has been a tremendous year of blessing and spiritual growth for all of us, and none of us are the same as we were last year at this time. Praise be to our wonderful Savior!
It hardly seems possible that Joel has already been out of school for a year and that John will be graduating in a couple of weeks - the years fly by so quickly! The Lord has blessed us with His grace in so many ways, and our sons are growing to be fine Godly young men, who are serious about the Lord and pleasing Him with their lives. Dave and I are so thankful for them and we rejoice in what the Lord is doing in each of their lives. Although they are two very distinct people with varying talents and ambitions, both bring a great dynamic to our family, and I'm anxious to see how the Lord is going to lead each of them in the days ahead. The Lord has been very good to provide both of them with jobs at present.
As our children are growing up and our parenting roles are changing, there have been many challenges. Some we've faced biblically and some we haven't; I'm continually seeking the Lord as to how to have a spiritual relationship with my children as I transition from being authority to friend as they mature into adulthood. Since I've only recently "gotten" the gospel, I've had to re-evaluate many of the ways I raised my children in the past and repent of wrong attitudes and actions and ask for forgiveness. I've had to lean hard into Jesus and know that He's already been my perfection before Holy God, and that He wants to be the same Savior to my children that He is to me. I find great joy and freedom in the knowledge that nothing I do or don't do is going to thwart God's sovereign plan for them; my children have their own choices to make as to whether they will trust God and accept His sovereign will for them, sinful parents and all! I'm not my children's savior and I'm glad! This liberty doesn't make me want to go out and do my own thing and be disobedient to the Lord, but rather has the exact opposite effect.
Instead, it leaves me free to love them freely, just as I've been loved freely by God. As they launch out into life and begin making more of their own choices, my prayer is that they will seek God with their whole heart, soul and mind; that they will be willing bond-servants of the One Who bought them with such a great price; and that they will live their lives in the power of the gospel, remembering what Jesus has done for them. As they remember these things, then they will be passionately in love with the Lord Jesus, who first loved them. A mother could ask for no more than that! May God be glorified in and through our children.
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." 1 Cor. 6:19-20
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