What verse has helped you the most in being a mother to your children - and why?
July 2011
Dear Sisters,
What a joy and privilege it is to be a mom, and what a great responsibility is entrusted to mothers, too. I will always remember the rush I felt when, after the hospital birth of my first child, my roommate announced to me "Now you are somebody's mother!"
Thankfully, God knows we need to operate by more than feelings as we love, nourish, and train our children. It's just not possible without His "training manual," God's Word.
Five seasoned and godly mothers share their favorite Bible verses that have guided them and their husbands through raising their children. As I read their thoughts, I am freshly inspired to be faithfully in the Word and to share it with my family. Then it will not be my efforts but His grace that will change us more and more into His image!
In His grace,
Sandy Hopler
What verse has helped you the most in being a mother to your children - and why?
The greatest Mom verse of all time is:
"And I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you the more, am I to be loved the less?" 2 Corinthians 12:15
Spend and be expended - that pretty much says it all. Moms lay down their life day after day, night after night, week after week, and year after year. They do this for decades. It's hard work. Yes, there are rewards. But the work is hard, nonstop and relentless.
The verse says "gladly" spend and be expended. That always was a 'check' to my spirit. I did not always succeed, but I sure tried. I felt it was my responsibility to smile, as that's what God always wanted from me. Being a mom is not just a duty; it's a privilege. Being a mom is a work that can only be done well, if it is done with joy.
As wives and moms, we cannot fall into this world's way of complaining about the time children take or the interruptions and inconveniences they can cause. We tend to hear so much complaining! Our children are our God-given disciples and they will define most of our daily schedule and when all is said and done - our life's work!
A joyful mother should set the atmosphere in the home, even when sleep-deprived or buried under a pile of laundry and bathroom messes.
Being a mom is such a God-given privilege. Our children are a blessing and a gift - from God's own hand.
- Neva Whitney
I have to say that it took much more than "a" verse to have, to raise, to train, and to love children through the years. But HOW faithful God was/is to daily meet my needs in this area. Now there are thousands of verses, and consequently, lots of dying to self, transforming work, and joy. The following few verses have been like anchors of encouragement and strengthening to my soul. Even though this isn't the place to dwell on all the ways they've ministered to me, God will use them mightily for any who will "chew" on them.
To begin with, of course, was the realization of what God really said about children - they are a gift from the Lord, a reward from Him. Choosing His perspective was huge.
The Lord then used something Mardean Martindale told me, to give a whole new, eternal perspective on raising children: "Our children belong to the Lord; they are His. It's as if He comes to us and says, 'I have a precious person to raise, and I'd like to place him/her in your family so that you can do this for Me over the next 18 years or so. Give it your very best as you do this for Me.'"
It was exciting to realize that one of my life purposes in Col. 1:28-29 would now include my children: "We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me." How motivating!
John 12:24: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." I didn't need to try to keep "holding on to my life." What a promise when I felt like I was kind of disappearing. But THIS is what we've wanted: multiplication.
Isa. 58:10-11: (Again, what a promise when I felt 'poured out.' Notice who is benefitted, and by Whom.) "And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."
I Tim. 2:15: (This may not be the exact theological interpretation, but God definitely uses it to keep setting me straight.) "But women will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety." Through all the hours and days of childrearing, the endless tasks and emotional strains, will I CONTINUE in faith, trusting that God is involved in my moments, allowing them for my good, and a very present help as I look to Him? Would I CONTINUE in love...doing what's best for them and my husband, not holding on to my own life- learning how best to build and train them? Would I CONTINUE in holiness, not giving in to sins of anger or fear or anything else...and repent and make it right if I did? This helped me to remember that raising children was part of God's "training of me."
- Thelma Clark
"He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young." Isaiah 40:11
When Dave and I first began having children I remember my aunt reminding me that our kiddos really belonged to God and that we were just their perfectly appointed guardians. What a great thought: our family is God's flock and He is our Shepherd.
As Shepherd, He ultimately does the tending. He knows and understands my kids like no one else, and through His Spirit, wrestles with their hearts. He loves them more intensely than I even will, and pursues them with a passion.
He uses my parenting-strengths and weaknesses-to accomplish His purposes in their lives, and I love this, He gently leads me as their mom. I can be hard on myself, often putting my efforts down, yet God lovingly offers me grace, patience, and forgiveness, flawlessly balanced with a firm, guiding hand. He's their shepherd AND mine, because we all need His care under His ever-watchful eye.
- Dawn Bovenmyer
"She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27
Looking well to the "ways" of our household takes time and effort. It involves praying for our children and evaluating with our husband what God wants us to help our children grow in, and setting some goals for them. About twice a year I write down each of my children's names and ask God what he or she needs to grow in. Often, my husband and I then discuss these and I ask for his suggestions, and I purpose to watch for these "ways."
"Not eating the bread of idleness", to me, means training and disciplining my children toward these goals. It means being alert, "looking" to what standards my husband and I have discussed, and purposing to help my children. It means going to his room and checking on what he is doing and maybe redirecting him so that what he is doing is more purposeful. It means asking them about what they read in their quiet times, so that they are being held accountable. It means involving yourself in their quarrel, when they are not pursuing peace. It is easy to overlook sins in our children, especially when it is inconvenient...or could the overlooking be a symptom of idleness? We are all tempted to miss some of these things and not be consistent. I am challenged with this.
I try to look at consistency in the same way as going through childbirth. If I take advantage of each labor pain, allowing each contraction to do its work fully, it may mean one less labor pain toward birth. And with our children, the labor pains are disobediences. If I take advantage of training my child during this act of disobedience, bringing him or her to full submission, it may be one less spank (or more) when he gets older, for he has learned to obey the first time.
- Jan Gordon
Without a doubt, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is my most used verse for parenting, especially in their later years. This verse will take you through a lifetime of parenting and grandparenting.
"Pray without ceasing, pray all the time, pray perseveringly, pray continually, never stop praying" are all versions of the same verse.
Thelma Clark's words ring in my memory often: "Turn your thoughts into prayers." We rarely stop thinking of our kids, true?
So turn those thoughts into prayers. Just like we should impress the Word on our children, we should be praying for them: "...when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up" Deuteronomy 6:7.
Enjoy the time of praying for your children. It may be one of the most wonderful things you can do for them!
- Mary Knox
It was finals week of my senior year in high
school, and while my classmates were thinking about biology
and chemistry, I sat on a mountain top thinking about
death.
The turning point in my life came on a day when I
had to do something I dreaded. I had been sober for five
months and was walking through the steps of AA. I had to get
my life in order. It was a wreck.
