You know that feeling you get when you can feel God leading you in a direction you weren't sure you really wanted to go? I'm feeling that right now as I'm writing this post. I started blogging way back when Gavin was a toddler and Owen was a baby, mostly about the musings of our lives. It wasn't anything spectacular, mostly a way for family and friends far away to keep up with what we were doing. I've always enjoyed writing and it was a way that I could get a little creative. Well, life happened and it totally went by the wayside. I didn't make the time for it and I didn't have a clear direction I wanted to go with it and so it kind of just fell apart. It's kind of embarrassing to admit that something we started just kind of fizzled out, right? Especially, now that I'm sitting here, trying to get a new blogging venture going. There are a lot of reasons people blog. Maybe some enjoy the creative outlet, some want to make a little extra money, some find it to be their claim to fame (Hello, Pioneer Woman), and some just have a message that's on their hearts that they want the world to know (OK, maybe not the whole world, but their own little community.) I'm of the "something has been on my heart," group.
If you know me at all, you know I'm madly passionate about my family and if you don't, well.......there it is. I love being a wife and mom. For the past few years, I've been on a journey of deepening my faith in Jesus and discovering what it means to live for Him and how that affects my role as a wife and mom. It hasn't always been something I've deeply pursued, even in my early years of being a mom. I was missing the big picture of my calling and mostly just saw it as "I'm raising kids." I'm not quite sure when it really started to sink in that I wasn't JUST raising children, but that my purpose was to be used by God to shape the hearts of my children for His kingdom. I wasn't just there to meet basic needs and "shape them into decent and successful human beings who contribute to society." My main goal, as a mother, is to lead them to Jesus. Once I finally got that thought through my head, it drastically changed the way I mother and just live life in general. There is something so freeing about realizing that it's not something I have to do in my own strength or power. It takes so much pressure off of my "performance," and things that the world says make me a good mother. Because, I've found grace.
This is a message I'm passionate about sharing with other moms who are in the trenches of raising children. Moms who know Jesus but struggle to let him be in control, moms who are consumed with the words of the world, moms who are looking for something more than their own strength to get through the hard days, and moms that don't yet know Jesus and the life giving promises He offers. Finally coming to the realization that what I'm doing has eternal implications in the lives of my children, has completely overhauled my mindset about motherhood and led me to the foot of the cross.
And here's where I get challenged. I feel like there's a message on my heart that I want to share but I also feel like I'm unqualified to share it. I'm afraid as coming off as a know-it-all or a hypocrite. Neither is what I want to be. I know some of what I may share may be controversial in the eyes of the world, because Jesus is controversial this day and age and I don't want to be in the middle of a social media war all the time. I know there will be those who don't agree with what I write and sit behind their computer screens rolling their eyes. Heck, some of what I may write, might come out of my own sinful heart and not a scriptural basis and I'm afraid to be called out on it. Sure, there's a lot of fear, but I've recently heard that fear is the opposite of faith, and if there's something that I long for, it's to be faithful.
So here I am.......preparing to write......on something I'm not really all that qualified to write about. Because I fail at it on a daily basis. I long to be a mother who follows Jesus with her whole being and daily leads her children to Jesus. And daily, I fail. I don't say this as a "Oh, I'm such a failure as a mother," but as "I am a sinner in need of Jesus because I will fail and I can't do this on my own." My hope is that this blog will be a place of encouragement and truth about what it means to live with eternity in mind in our lives and motherhood. And trust me when I say that I don't have this all figured out. There's a lot of sanctifying for Jesus to still do in my life. Choosing to follow him, wholeheartedly, doesn't come without its challenges and my flesh clings to my selfish nature. But, at the same time, I don't want to leave anything on the table when my life is over and I'm facing eternity. My heart knows this but this world makes it SO hard to run after Jesus with everything we have. So, I'm slowly learning what it means to give up my life for the sake of His and praying my children will choose to do the same. And I know there are a lot of mommas out there who are longing for the same things. I also know there are a lot of mommas who are trying to do this on their own and are drowning in the heaviness of this calling. Its self-sacrificing hard work. There is little thanks for the daily mundane tasks we are doing and you may dread the thought of waking up to do it all over again the following day. What if there is a deeper purpose for everything we're doing? Well.......I truly believe that there is and my hope is to help point us to that purpose.
My hope is that through writing, not only will I be sharing the truth of Jesus with others, but that I would understand it more and let it shape the way I live. We weren't meant to do motherhood (or life, in general) on our own. We were meant to live it with the One who created it. And trust me when I say, when you surrender your all to Him, it's going to impact your motherhood (marriage, friendships, LIFE) in ways you could only imagine. I pray that meeting Him or falling more in love with Him will show you that this Earth is not our home and we're living for more than just these days. There's an entire eternity ahead being in the presence of the One who gave us this life in the first place. Let's live like it in all areas of our lives! Our roles as mothers, is a great place to start!
I'm hoping to share scriptural truth, practical advice, and encouragement. As I've said before, I don't have it all figured out and I'm just like any other mom. Doing the best I can with what I know. So I'm asking for grace. I don't want the heart of the messages to be skewed. I'm never out to prove anyone's mothering "wrong," but I do want to offer Biblical encouragement and truth and sometimes it's not going to line up with what the world preaches. I need to hear it as much as every single other person on this planet. So, I come from a heart of wanting to share Truth as I've uncovered (still uncovering) it in my own life and the encouragement it brings me and not from a heart of a self-righteous Christian who thinks I have it all figured out and live a blameless life in the eyes of God, because I don't. I'm not the perfect mom and my lifestyle is unique to my family, just like yours is. I know not everything I write will be relatable with every single person because we all have unique lifestyles, but I'm hoping to find common ground in the fact that we long to serve our families well and give our lives as a living sacrafice to God. I know not everyone is at the same stage in our walks with God, and I am FAR from knowing all there is to know about what it means to live this life in light of eternity. My hope is that at the end of each year, I can look back and see that my dependence on God has grown and is at a deeper level than it was the year before and my life and the decisions that I make reflect that. Are you longing to say the same thing? Can we grow together in this coming year?
This calling of motherhood is SO huge and is of such importance that I feel there is urgency in sharing the message that we are not simply trying to "create happy and successful human beings who contribute to society." But we are shaping souls for the Kingdom and eternity. It's a big job, but one that's been assigned by God so we know we are more than qualified to do His work!
Some days are full of challenges and I struggle to keep it all together but the more I learn about and lean on Jesus, the easier it is to make it through whatever the day brings and view it more with joy than anger and resentment. He's using the sanctifying work of motherhood to draw me closer to himself and I want to be open to His calling and His work in my life. How about you?
Here's to new beginnings and new adventures and giving up my life for the sake of His.
If you know me at all, you know I'm madly passionate about my family and if you don't, well.......there it is. I love being a wife and mom. For the past few years, I've been on a journey of deepening my faith in Jesus and discovering what it means to live for Him and how that affects my role as a wife and mom. It hasn't always been something I've deeply pursued, even in my early years of being a mom. I was missing the big picture of my calling and mostly just saw it as "I'm raising kids." I'm not quite sure when it really started to sink in that I wasn't JUST raising children, but that my purpose was to be used by God to shape the hearts of my children for His kingdom. I wasn't just there to meet basic needs and "shape them into decent and successful human beings who contribute to society." My main goal, as a mother, is to lead them to Jesus. Once I finally got that thought through my head, it drastically changed the way I mother and just live life in general. There is something so freeing about realizing that it's not something I have to do in my own strength or power. It takes so much pressure off of my "performance," and things that the world says make me a good mother. Because, I've found grace.
This is a message I'm passionate about sharing with other moms who are in the trenches of raising children. Moms who know Jesus but struggle to let him be in control, moms who are consumed with the words of the world, moms who are looking for something more than their own strength to get through the hard days, and moms that don't yet know Jesus and the life giving promises He offers. Finally coming to the realization that what I'm doing has eternal implications in the lives of my children, has completely overhauled my mindset about motherhood and led me to the foot of the cross.
And here's where I get challenged. I feel like there's a message on my heart that I want to share but I also feel like I'm unqualified to share it. I'm afraid as coming off as a know-it-all or a hypocrite. Neither is what I want to be. I know some of what I may share may be controversial in the eyes of the world, because Jesus is controversial this day and age and I don't want to be in the middle of a social media war all the time. I know there will be those who don't agree with what I write and sit behind their computer screens rolling their eyes. Heck, some of what I may write, might come out of my own sinful heart and not a scriptural basis and I'm afraid to be called out on it. Sure, there's a lot of fear, but I've recently heard that fear is the opposite of faith, and if there's something that I long for, it's to be faithful.
My hope is that through writing, not only will I be sharing the truth of Jesus with others, but that I would understand it more and let it shape the way I live. We weren't meant to do motherhood (or life, in general) on our own. We were meant to live it with the One who created it. And trust me when I say, when you surrender your all to Him, it's going to impact your motherhood (marriage, friendships, LIFE) in ways you could only imagine. I pray that meeting Him or falling more in love with Him will show you that this Earth is not our home and we're living for more than just these days. There's an entire eternity ahead being in the presence of the One who gave us this life in the first place. Let's live like it in all areas of our lives! Our roles as mothers, is a great place to start!
I'm hoping to share scriptural truth, practical advice, and encouragement. As I've said before, I don't have it all figured out and I'm just like any other mom. Doing the best I can with what I know. So I'm asking for grace. I don't want the heart of the messages to be skewed. I'm never out to prove anyone's mothering "wrong," but I do want to offer Biblical encouragement and truth and sometimes it's not going to line up with what the world preaches. I need to hear it as much as every single other person on this planet. So, I come from a heart of wanting to share Truth as I've uncovered (still uncovering) it in my own life and the encouragement it brings me and not from a heart of a self-righteous Christian who thinks I have it all figured out and live a blameless life in the eyes of God, because I don't. I'm not the perfect mom and my lifestyle is unique to my family, just like yours is. I know not everything I write will be relatable with every single person because we all have unique lifestyles, but I'm hoping to find common ground in the fact that we long to serve our families well and give our lives as a living sacrafice to God. I know not everyone is at the same stage in our walks with God, and I am FAR from knowing all there is to know about what it means to live this life in light of eternity. My hope is that at the end of each year, I can look back and see that my dependence on God has grown and is at a deeper level than it was the year before and my life and the decisions that I make reflect that. Are you longing to say the same thing? Can we grow together in this coming year?
This calling of motherhood is SO huge and is of such importance that I feel there is urgency in sharing the message that we are not simply trying to "create happy and successful human beings who contribute to society." But we are shaping souls for the Kingdom and eternity. It's a big job, but one that's been assigned by God so we know we are more than qualified to do His work!
Some days are full of challenges and I struggle to keep it all together but the more I learn about and lean on Jesus, the easier it is to make it through whatever the day brings and view it more with joy than anger and resentment. He's using the sanctifying work of motherhood to draw me closer to himself and I want to be open to His calling and His work in my life. How about you?
Here's to new beginnings and new adventures and giving up my life for the sake of His.
Comments
Post a Comment