God had to continue changing our hearts because we were both
selfish and it took truly dying to self to answer the call to stay at home and
homeschool our children.
There were days I wanted to throw in the towel and I
often felt like what I did didn’t have much value and that I wasn’t REALLY
serving God when my life was full of mundane matters.
Making 3 meals a day,
changing diapers, settling sibling squabbles, teaching a child now how to write
their name, comforting a crying child, nursing a sick child, doing the dishes
and laundry, just to do it again and again and again day after day.
But now I’m
an older mom and have more wisdom.
Wish I had the same amount of wisdom when I
was young.
Maybe that’s why God tells the OLDER women to teach and instruct the
younger women to love their husbands, children, and be keepers at home in Titus
2.
Us older moms still don’t have it all figured out, but we have traveled
further down the road and have learned from our many struggles and even
failures.
Some advice I’d give to you young moms is to accept God’s calling on
your life. “In acceptance lieth peace.” (Amy Carmichael) Have an eternal vision
for raising your little ones.
“Without a vision people will perish”.
It’s what
keeps you going on the hard days and helps you not give up.
Things will not
always be the way they are now.
If things are easy, things will get hard. Sorry,
it’s the truth. Life is full of ups and downs. If things are just plain hard
now, things will be completely different soon. The colic will end, the sweet
little baby snuggles will be over, the sleepless nights will become a thing of
the past.
Love is spelled T-I-M-E. Spend quality time with your children, and if
possible, consider homeschooling them.
Care about what they care about. If
something is important to your child, it’s important. Care about the baby doll
who has a hurt toe, the little boy whose toy truck got stuck in the mud. Play
along with those children. You can’t expect them to tell you the big things when
they’re older if you wouldn’t listen to the “little” things when they were
young.
Nothing beats a poor attitude and bad mood than putting on a big smile,
choosing joy! Don’t live by your feelings! We can choose to live by God’s Spirit
every day and not according to how we feel. Cause sleepless nights make us FEEL
lousy. Turn on the praise music, speak life giving words to your family. Don’t
let how you feel ruin your family’s day.
Be careful what media outlets you have
in your home. What music are your kids listening to, what movies are they
watching? What friends are they hanging around?
We can’t expect a steady diet of
trash to produce anything good. Be militant. This is completely counter
cultural, but as an older mom who learned the hard way, I’d highly recommend
waiting until your child is 17 or even an adult before having a phone with
internet access. GABB phones offer cell phones without internet.
And if your
young child does have one, please don’t allow them to be on it at night after
bed! Too much temptation for a child to handle.
Don’t neglect prayer or God’s
Word. This should be #1!! God’s Word says unless the Lord builds the house, we
labor in vain who build it. Meaning everything we do is worthless without God.
Yield to God every day and let Him love and live through you! Lastly, enjoy the
ride.
It doesn’t last long.
The days are long, but the years are short.
You’ll
be a Grandparent before you know it and begin the next stage of sharing God’s
amazing truth with the next generation of warriors!
