Category Archives: Being a Mom

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Joyful Hearts

Great Great Grandmother Brandt

I heard the most wonderful words this past week – “Nana, I asked Jesus into my heart.”

My heart was filled with joy.

Words cannot express all that we felt. As parents and grandparents who are Christians, our hearts’ desire is to see our family members become members of the Family of God. Both our oldest grandchildren accepted Jesus a into their hearts last week. Their dad prayed with these precious girls aged almost 8 and 6 years old. We are thankful for their parents who have introduced them to God as their heavenly Father and Jesus as their Savior.

I told my granddaughters when talking to them on the phone that I was blessed that they are now my sisters in the Lord as well as my granddaughters. What joy! We are now each our Father’s daughters.

We have prayed for all our grandchildren since we were first aware of their existance inside their mothers’ womb. We pray for their hearts to be open to God and that they would desire to follow Jesus at a young age. Their great grandparents pray for them daily as well as other family members on both sides of their family. All this prayer might seem to guarantee that all our grandhchildren would become Christians. Yet Scripture does not teach that. If it was an automatic result that our children and grandchildren followed Christ, we would not have responded with such joy and excitement at the news of their decision to accept Christ as Savior.

John 1:11-13 (KJV)

11 He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.

12 But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

This Scripture makes it clear that we become part of God’s family by “believing on His name.” That means believing all that God’s name or charactor involves. Now each grandaughters’ journey as a Christian begins. Our responsibility is to encourage them, pray for them, and live as godly examples by following Jesus ourselves.

We will make mistakes. When this happens, we must ask forgiveness. By living honest, transparent lives before our children and grandchildren we allow them to see that following Jesus is not always easy, nor is it without suffering. In fact, if we follow Jesus we WILL have trials and difficulties. The good news is that we have the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to walk with God.

The above picture includes my grandmother (on the left) in the lap of her grandmother. Notice the tents in the backgound? They are at a camp meeting of the Methodist church in 1898 when my grandmother was two years old. What a rich heritage I have of godly women who have been followers of Jesus! Our granddaughters are now part of a lineage that we trust will continue until Jesus returns.

You may not have that heritage of Christian relatives. It is a blessing – but it is NOT what causes children to desire to follow Jesus. Children desire to become Christians because they sense God’s Spirit in their hearts and want to accept His love for themselves. YOU may be the start of a line of those who walk with God.

Let your light shine before your children and grandchildren – God is faithful! My heart is full of joy!

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It is Finished

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One of the greatest challenges for me as a mother of young children was feeling that I was never finished with anything. I would clean up the kitchen after a meal and almost immediately someone was getting a snack, needing me to fix something for a bake sale ….the list could go on and on.
Never ending tasks:
• Laundry – need I say more?
• Clean sheets – someone throws up in bed right after you wash the sheets, bedspread, etc.
• Vacuuming – our children used to ask “who is coming over?” when I got the vacuum cleaner out, then as soon as I vacuumed, someone tracked in newly mown grass or mud.
• Meals – we all need to eat, but for moms the day often seems to flow from one meal to the next and looking back on my day, sometimes that is all I seemed to do.
• Picking up – I have sorted the toys, put all the puzzles together, and straightened the books …..then the children wake up from their nap. All is undone in a matter of minutes.

The fact of feeling that nothing was ever finished discouraged me. Yet that was a false belief because in reality my children were fed, their clothes were clean – these tasks were finished. The tasks just had to be repeated again… and again… and again. Our children had a clean organized home to live in…

Wait – clean and organized home is NOT an accurate description of our house at that time. The Health Department was never called in, we never had to call exterminators, but we lived in our house and you could tell we had four small children.

The issue of never finishing tasks was the concern for me. Yet in the flow of daily living these repeated tasks were essential to the well being of our life as a family.

During the past week following our Easter celebration, Jesus words on the cross “It is Finished” have caused me to see His death and resurrection in a new way.

John’s description of the crucifixion of Jesus shares this scene – John 19: 28-39

v.28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” v.29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. v.30 When He had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Jesus death and resurrection was a complete work. Jesus Himself said “It is finished”. There is nothing that anyone can do to make His salvation more complete – neither doctrine nor effort on our part will replace or enhance the salvation that Jesus bought for us with His shed blood.

WHAT A WONDERFUL TRUTH!

Jesus paid the price so that I can live in freedom from the guilt and weight of my sin. It is not something I must do over and over again like the laundry. Once I confess my sin and receive His forgiveness, I am a new creation – not just a remake – but completely new.

2 Corinthians 5:16-18 (NLT)

v.16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! v.17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! v.18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him.

It is finished and I am so thankful!

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Hanging In….

What is he eating?!

What is he eating?!

I was talking to one of our daughters on Saturday and I sensed a note of tiredness in her voice. I asked if she was feeling ok and she said she was … but there was not the tone of conviction I am used to hearing in her voice. My “mom’s antennae” went up. I asked a few annoying but probing questions and it finally came out. She was tired of correcting her children’s behavior.
“It’s just constant, Mom. I find myself saying the same things over and over. I get so tired of it”
Oh, how well I remember! It has been 30 years, yet I can still remember feeling exhausted – wondering if my repeated corrections and instructions were making any difference at all. It seemed at times that my words went in one little ear and out the other. It WAS tiring.
I had a friend named Marty who numbered her “lectures” – those words mothers repeat over and over.
• Number 1 – “pick up your toys, quit leaving them around to get stepped on and broken.”
• Number 2 – “hang up your wet towel after a bath so that it will dry and not leave wet, moldy stains on the floor.”
• Number 3 – “Talk nicely to your sister, someday she will be your best friend.”
“It’s so easy, Gayle. I just say “Number 1 – they know to start picking up their toys.” Marty assured me.
“What happens if you forget the number for a lecture?” I asked.
“Well,” Marty started laughing. “I have forgotten a few times and then my daughters give me a lecture about remembering the correct numbers to the lectures. It has helped them remember their responsibilities, if just to keep me on my toes.”
I couldn’t help laughing. This may work for Marty but it was not my style.
As parents we do repeat instructions and corrections over and over. We all learn through repetition, but it is especially true of young children. Some children need more repetition then others – they have a nature that tests the boundaries and their parents.
It is important not to give up or give in when we become tired of parenting. Training our children is our responsibility as parents whether we are tired or not. IT WILL PAY OFF!
I remember being so tired – wanting to just quit and let my children fuss or watch TV all afternoon. At these low times, God’s Word encouraged me with two important truths:
1. In my weakness – God is made strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-11 (NIV)
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2. When I hang in – God is faithful. Galatians 6:9-10
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

So, hang in….keep on parenting!