Being His Before Being Theirs: putting motherhood into perspective & Better Mom Mondays Link-up!

Today I am excited to introduce you to our guest, Lisa Pulliam.  Here is a little bit about Lisa:

Lisa Pulliam has thought long and hard about this motherhood call, learning so much from trial and error, as she passionately seeks out the Lord and wisdom from Godly women. She knows first hand how tough it is, so she’s prepared a shortg uide, Motherhood 101, which digs deeper into the practical idea of being a woman of God before doing the things of motherhood. You can download this guide for free this month by subscribing to her blog, More to Be.

Lisa writes:

Somehow, some way you became a mom. After nine months of pregnancy, or prayerful hours of waiting for your forever child, you became fitted with a new title, Mom, and a new responsibility, Motherhood. You may not have a degree or beautiful diploma to make you feel qualified for the position, but you have been hand picked by God to carry out the calling of being your child’s mommy.

Becoming a mother, however, doesn’t mean you cease being a saved-by-grace child of God.

Somehow, we mommas tend to forget that the definition of me is not written by the Crayola scribbled antics of our
little diapered dynamo. We become women so intense on a mission of raising great kids, keeping a perfect home, and earning the title of best helpmate to our hubby, that we forget the other dimensions of our lives simply defined by being the Daughter of the King. While being passionate about serving our families is a good, practical pursuit, striving to do so while neglecting ourselves and our relationship with God is a recipe for disaster.

Being a great mom is really about being His before being theirs.

I know that this concept has the potential of ruffling some feathers, but let me explain. I’m not suggesting that you should pack off your kids so you attend uber spiritual retreats one weekend a month, although an occasional respite away could be quite good for you and the family! Nor am I declaring you should be committed to three ministries at church, host a small group, lead Bible study, and spread the Gospel online, because it simple feels more like being His than when you’re driving carpool, fixin’ dinner, and supervising the latest-and-greatest diorama creation of the Globe Theater. What I am saying is that who you are, as an uniquely-created-by-God-to-glorify-Him-woman, is a whole lot more important than what you accomplish as a mom, home-keeper, or wife.

You were never designed to become a task-list completer. You were made to worship God in the doing of your work, but not in the work in and of itself (Ephesians 6:7, Colossians 3:24)!

The calling of motherhood, although highly important, does not define your value. The Maker of the Universe put you together to be in a relationship with Him, growing in knowledge and understanding of the Word, first and foremost, so that you can be an overflow of His love and truth to others, especially your family.

Philippians  1:9 
I pray that your lov

e will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.

The Lord imparted this lesson on my heart through the visual of a little ceramic creamer pitcher. While it may not look like it could hold much, when it is filled to the brim, it offers a distinct blessing to coffee drinkers who like their java lightened up! An empty pitcher really isn’t very useful! It is so easy to become like that empty milk pitcher, which is why we have to ask ourselves, almost daily: Are we empty, dried up and needing time with the Lord? Do we need a refilling of His love and truth? Are we receiving what God offers us through the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ, so that we may overflow His presence to others? This is what it means to consider living life as His before being theirs.

Before you can teach your children how to become disciples of Christ, you first need to be a disciple of Christ.

Before you can teach them how to pray, you need to be active in prayer.

Before you can give them the Word applied, you need to be living the Word applied.

Before you an lead your children in acts of service, you need to be serving actively.

The overflow we want to give our children requires first living as a beautiful woman in intimate relationship with God. That is what it means to be His first! As women, created in the image of God, designed to reveal His magnificent work and be a part of His incredible design, our participation is multi-dimensional. It isn’t limited to diaper duty, penmanship, and getting our teen his driving permit. These things are a part of the bigger picture of who we are as mom, but only reveal one small aspect of how we’ve been created to co-labor with God in our lifetime.

Being a child of God, carefully positioned at the foot of the cross, is the secret of not only becoming the woman God intended, but in giving our families the very best gift possible — the overflow of God Himself because we are His before we are theirs.

Blessings,

Lisa

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