What's a Moms Biggest Job?

"Teaching my children to obey is not to make me look good in the grocery store and family reunions.

Teaching my children to obey will directly affect their relationship with God, and ultimately affects an entire society." Kelly Crawford

I cannot tell you how many times I get caught up in the actual offense and not address the heart issue. I don't want my kids to obey me "because I said so", I want them to love God enough to obey HIM, which means for a child to obey Mom. Being the mother of a prodigal is the most gut wrenching experience I have ever had. I sit back and pray for the day that this child, who is now a young adult, will LOVE GOD enough to obey HIM.

Kelly has a great post on her blog about what our biggest job as Moms is.

May we all call on God and ask for wisdom in our parenting and may He gracefully pour out His wisdom on our children.

Giving Praise

We have so much to be thankful for, and as I try to prepare my heart for worship tomorrow I am trying to focus on God's blessings. Sad how we pray so earnestly for things, then spend so little time praising...or maybe that is just me? How often do we enjoy hearing our children say 'I love you', without asking for something in return?!

Sunday morning our Prodigal came home RETENTIVE! He shed many tears and then asked each one of us, one at a time, for forgivness. When he came to our door knocking, his first words to me were, "I want to go to church today!", then he burst into tears.

He was met at church by the Church (the Body of Christ), with open arms and alot of love. It was beautiful to see so many people show love to a one who has been a rebel...a royal jerk! (I can say that because I am his MOM) ;o)

He has moved back home and we are working on things. I never dreamed that it would be so hard to parent 'adults'. It is a tough balance trying to parent (guide) and letting them walk and fall all on their own.

But tonight I am thanking God for His mercy, because He is the ONLY ONE that can turn hearts!

Other things to be thankful for:

Jeff got some work lined up (halleluia!)
Jeff, Josh and the rest of the Fire Dept. were able to fight 2 big fires without getting hurt!
Our Sewing Party went off smoothly, 32 dresses made! whoo hoo!
Car insurance issue resolved, I think...
Olivia is leaning alot of new CHALLENGING things with her new piano teacher.
Emma is showing great improvement in many of her homemaking skills.
We were able to make plans to go to Atlanta to the Entrepreneurs Conference.

There are many other things, but I'll talk to the Lord about that now...

Have a blessed Lord's Day, focus on Him, because everything else is meaningless!

Loving Prodigals

Barbara of MommyLife.net posted my email to her on her website. She shared some encouraging words in response I thought I'd share. You can go HERE to read it.

Before I go any further I want to say that I live a VERY good life, God has given me more than I could ever hope for. I know that He alone is God and that none of our trials come as a surprise to Him, in fact He is the One that orders my footsteps. I am ashamed when I question His providence in my life.

All that being said, I don't know if there is a pain deeper than the pain of a grown child going wayward. (by the way, I have suffered the pain of a child dying) When a parent spends the majority of their blood, sweat and tears with a child and then when given the chance that child turns away from Truth, the pain is almost unbearable. It is a constant struggle not to let this pain consume your every thought of every day. But as the hours turn into days, and days into weeks, God slowly brings YOU into repentance. Repentance of the sin of 'idolizing' the creation, rather than the Creator. It is Christ alone that our joy must depend on. If we have to have comfortable, ideal situations to walk in peace and joy then we have no idea what suffering for Christ is all about.

Parenting adults is HARD! When I say parenting I do not mean controlling, I mean loving, nurturing, guiding etc... As our son is making bad choices (that is putting it mildly), he has completely broken our hearts. I've had days that I have felt like I would never see day light again, but I am. I am not my son's Holy Spirit, neither is his Dad, we are only his parents. He is now under direct care of OUR Heavenly Father, who does NOT fail. I know in time that God will make Joshua's faith real and strong. I don't understand why we have to travel down this road, and I don't have to understand, I simply have to trust the Lord.

God gave us a job of loving and training our children, and we have (and still are) poured every ounce of our being into this God given task. I have to constantly remind myself that the story is not completely written yet, there are always dark times before before the glorious resurrection of God's power in our lives.

I struggle with showing love when I am hurt or angry. I live under a family curse of running from problems and writing people off when wronged with the slightest offense and I am determined to break that curse with God grace.

This morning I read:

If someone forces you to go one mile,
go with him two miles.
Mathew 5:41

I feel like Joshua is forcing me go two miles with him. This should be the time of our lives when we should be enjoying the fruit of our labor of his raising. It should be an exciting time as he begins his young adult life and establishing himself...but I guess not. So as he is FORCING me to go down this road that I DO NOT want to travel, I will go with him....loving him, praying and fasting for him, yet keeping my eyes on the only One that can save!

Lord, use me according to your will, not mine, where ONLY YOU can receive the glory!