Humble Mothering

This is a post from a blog I like to follow A Firefighter's Wife, put on here with permission from Stacie (Thanks Stacie!):

Humble Mothering

Dear Mothers,

I read a wonderful article by Maranatha Chapman called, “A Mother’s Rights”. I am going to try to condense it down for you so that this will stay a “minute devotion”. I know many of you are busy and it is all you can do to sit down and read this! Please know these are not my words, but the words of a mother who is called to minister encouragement to other moms.

When we compare ourselves with others, we think, “They don’t have to deal with what I have to,” or, “She’s the perfect mom, why can’t I be?” It is good to learn from others, but we are foolish and “without understanding” when we compare ourselves with others (2 Corinthians 10:12). All of us have to deal with these same types of things, but God has made “a way of escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13). So if motherhood is a struggle for you or if it is a fight of faith every single day and you have to call out to the LORD all day everyday day, then that probably means that you are doing something right! Remember God’s promise: Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary (Galatians 6:9)! What will we reap as we persevere in “doing good” as mother? An abundance of His grace and life flowing through us to our families.

But if you have something in you that says, “Hey, I’m doing pretty good” or “I’ve got everything under control,” I encourage you to really look at the source of these attitudes because “God is opposed to the proud” and only “gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). If we see ourselves accurately-from God’s perspective-then we know beyond doubt that the only thing that makes us anything is because we are walking miracles of His grace and redemption. And for the sake of our children, we cannot afford the attitudes of “It really does not matter how we do this” or “Everything will turn out just fine” as we haphazardly proceed on through our child-rearing years, seeking the path of least resistance and minimal expenditure of our life. We need to be sober and keep in our face the reality that what we do now will affect our children later. If we humble ourselves and cry out to God, He really will help us and give us the grace we need, just as He promised. He really will make a way for us in this hugely important responsibility, but to walk in His way requires us, on our part, to live every day by waking up, looking to Him in faith, and saying “LORD, I can’t, but You can through me. This day is too big for me, and I don’t know what all my family needs today, but You do, LORD, and I trust You to show me” God gave you the home you have and the children you have, and He will give you what you need to run your home and mother your children (Philippians 4:13).

Wow! I don’t know about you, but that challenges me! I want to stop comparing myself to other mothers and just be what God wants me to be. I also need to quit comparing my children with other children. Every child is unique. I need to mother each one of my children humbly and according to God’s Will.

May God bless you abundantly as you humbly lean on God instead of your own human understanding.

From One Mom to Another,

Stacie Brown
Wife to Steve Brown
Mother to Joshua, Marcus, Jessica, Andrew, Jacob and one more blessing on the way

Fearless

First, we all got the creepy crud. Now that we have beaten it, I am back to blogging.

Have you seen the building 429 video Fearless? We were watching Spirit last night and saw it for the first time. Mr. Brown yells out, "Hey that's Will and Tim from Travel The Road" Sure enough, there's footage from them on the video.

If you have never seen the show Travel the Road, you must watch it. It is awesome. Will and Tim go all over the world as missionaries and they film it. We've been watching it for a couple years. Here's the video from godtube:



It made me think about something this past weekend. I dropped everyone but Piglet and Peach off at church on Sunday morning. We went to Dunkin Donuts to pick up some donuts for our Sunday School class. We just finished an Answers in Genesis study with the kids. As we were waiting for our order, Peach and I saw some girls reading some tracks. They were really reading them too, not just skimming through. I was in such a hurry, and Piglet wanted to have a donut, yadda yadda, I never said anything and we left.

When we were going down the road Peach asked if I saw the girls reading the tracks. I was so humiliated. Great, what if no one ever follows up with them. Why didn't I start talking to them? Why was I so concerned about what I was doing instead of seeing that opportunity. I have asked God to forgive me and I know he will, but what does that say about me? Going about my business, not seeing what is going on around me. You know that Brandon Heath song "Give me your Eyes" How fitting for this moment. Lord, please let me see those around me!