Following God

Rediscovering Joy in Motherhood

May 22, 2013 By Brandy Ferguson

By Contributing Writer, Brandy Ferguson

If you read the title of this post and secretly sighed to yourself wishing that you could see the joy again in motherhood, then you’re supposed to be here today.

If you feel you’ve lost the joy you once knew as a young, vibrant mother whose days were filled with new, exciting exploration getting to know your little ones, you’re not alone.

At some point, maybe you’ve felt like you’ve entered a season of just trying to endure, just trying to cover the basics, let alone find joy in the chaos. Is that you? Have you heard yourself whisper to God lately to help you see the beauty? To restore joy unto you?

If you’re like me, many days you feel swept away by the current of your busy family with many little ones at home, and maybe teenagers who need shuttling to this and that. Maybe you feel like you’re so busy moving robotically from one activity to another, managing your task list, that there’s little time for emotion beyond your own emptiness.

Mothers pour themselves out for their families. And we’re supposed to. It’s the way God wired us. We want to nurture our babies and husbands and teach our children and keep our homes. We’re nesters, and it’s in our design.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t get overwhelmed when there’s just too much on the to-do list, day after day. It doesn’t mean we don’t grow weary when we haven’t slept through the night for four years straight.

We don’t always focus on the joy in motherhood, because frankly, so often we’re too busy and too overwhelmed to even remember that this is a blessing.

Sound familiar? If so, your question is the same as mine: How do we rediscover joy in motherhood?

Of course there’s no magic solution, but I’ve learned that it’s a conscious decision involving a few key things.

We must slow down.

Choose to live today. This day. One day at a time.

We must say no to a long list of unnecessary commitments, social and otherwise.

And realize the beauty of teaching our children and keeping our home. Oh, there’s so much more value in our noble work than we can even comprehend.

We must pray and ask God to restore joy to our hearts.

He wants to. He wants to help us embrace the fruits of the Spirit and choose for those to thrive in us. Joy is a choice. We must desire it and decide on it.

We must remember that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

We must stop thinking that we can only have joy if our situation is good or if our circumstances change for the better. Joy is knowing that no matter what, our salvation, and our existence in Eternity is with Him.

We must trust that joy does come in the morning.

Whatever we’re going through, we must remember that He has a plan. He has it all figured out, and did, long before we were born. So often, if we’ll just hold on, circumstances do change, and relief comes with a new day. And we can trust that ultimately, even if we can’t understand the why’s and how’s of our temporary positions here on this earth, true joy will be realized when we see our Creator face to face in Eternity.

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8 Comments | Filed Under: Discipling Children, Following God, Parenting, Uncategorized

Green Thumbs, Dead-Heading & Following God

May 21, 2013 By Karen Ehman

I do not have a green thumb. Whatever color is directly opposite of green on the color wheel is the hue of thumb I possess. I can murder a house plant faster than you can say “terra cotta pot.”

My mother-in-love is famous for her ability to grow the most beautiful things— tender and fragrant herbs that flavor her roasted potatoes or her lavender shortbread cookies; bright blooming annuals that display their splendor from May to September; flowering perennials that return year after year poking their heads through the blackened earth revealing vibrant blossoms. She even staggers her plantings according to when they bloom in our Michigan climate to ensure that there will always be an array of color from the first hint of spring until fall.

I, too, although admittedly not possessing her knack for nature, like to grow flowers and have tried my hand at an outdoor herb garden. However, it doesn’t come natural to me. I’ve had to read and study.

And I have to schedule the required steps in my life just like an appointment: “Water herbs and flowers Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Feed plants with Miracle Grow on the first and fifteenth.”

But the most important task of growing these plants was the first lesson she taught me. It’s called dead-heading. Here is how it is done:

As soon as any of those beautiful blooms begin to wither, fade, and turn brown, they need to be ruthlessly removed. I search out every one and carefully pluck it off of its stem. It is a tedious, never-ending task. Just when I think I have removed every dried up blossom, the next day a dozen more appear. It is important, however, to keep consistent.

When dead blooms are left clinging to the flowering plants, they sap the nutrition and strength from the core of the plant. They literally rob the flower of the energy they could be using to grow new and colorful blooms. The faded petals are, in a sense, dead weight that keeps the plant from being its best. If properly plucked, however, the plant will bloom forth gorgeous petals throughout the entire life of the plant.

While plucking dead flower heads this morning on my own patio, I couldn’t help but relate this chore to my life with God. I know full well that there are places of my heart, thoughts of my mind, and actions of my will that are nothing but dead weight to my spiritual life. And they do not at all help to make me a better mom. In fact, they threaten to damage my relationships.

In the Bible, James 1:21 beckons us to this:

“So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.”

What does this mean?

Root out the ugly that threatens to choke and drain and instead, plant God’s word deep in our hearts. It can save us from wrong choices, unhealthy relationships and self-inflicted heartbreak. It can help us better love our loved ones; the ones who share our address but whom we often unload on in an awful manner.

How about you? Could your heart use a good dead-heading session? Are there faded blooms you have been carrying around that are sapping your spiritual energy and strength, causing heartache and tears?

Get rid of the bad.

Plant God’s good Word in that spot instead.

Then stand back – patiently now – and watch beautiful blooms begin to appear.

Happy dead-heading!

Blessings,

Karen Ehman, KarenEhman.com

9 Comments | Filed Under: Following God, Uncategorized

Bible Moms {Life Lessons From Mothers In The Bible}

May 21, 2013 By Angela Richter

Bible Moms is a book with twelve Bible studies probing the heart of God on what it means to be the kind of mother He calls us to be. It’s about examining our hearts, confronting our sin, finding the truth of scripture and applying it.

I love to read the Word and I love to apply the stories and the words to my own life. As a mom I need so much direction, everywhere I turn there are books, blogs, well meaning relatives and tv telling me how to be the best mom I can be. Sometimes it can be SO overwhelming and so many times I feel like there is too much noise out there and I’m listening to too many voices. Lately God has been putting it on my heart to close them all out and just listen to HIM!

HIS Words, His Voice, All Him!

The book Bible Moms: Life Lessons From Mothers in the Bible came at just the right time. It is a book that helps you go to The Word for the answers in your parenting. Each lessons starts with a name of a mother in the Bible. The chapter then goes on to give scripture passages for you to read and the topics it will cover.

Topics such as:

Waiting on the Lord

Perseverance

When Children Fall Away

The Christian Lifestyle

and many more!

The chapter then goes on to give a devotional about the scriptures and how it applies to your life today as a mom. There is a topic for further study that helps you dive more into the scriptures and answer questions for your own personal life. This could even stand as a personal journal. This was my favorite part because the questions really made me reflect on my parenting and being a wife. Sometimes my own answers were hard to hear and other times I felt strong in areas.

Each lesson ends with a prayer!

Bible Moms offers mothers the chance to see and apply the principles for motherhood that God has given in His Word. It provides material for discussions on practical ways to apply these truths to our own lives.

You can buy the book on Amazon for 13.95. This would be the perfect baby shower gift for a new mom, and ANY mom in your life.

I have been parenting 14 years now and this book really blessed me!

Giveaway: We have three copies of Bible Moms to Giveaway. To enter join the rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blessings,

Angela

45 Comments | Filed Under: Following God, Uncategorized

When Emotions Become Sinful & Better Mom Monday’s Link-up!

May 19, 2013 By guest

For five years his story has haunted me, a story tucked quietly away in a big book about ancient kings and wars and disasters. His is a story of legacy.

For hundreds of years his actions were followed by an entire nation. And his legacy? Idolatry.

Yet buried in the annuls of I Kings we read the astonishing account of how Jeroboam’s idolatry was birthed in fear. God had promised him the kingdom, yet his fear of losing it drove him to take matters into his own hands. Fear led to control and control lead to idolatry.

It became his legacy.

Jeroboam’s story has haunted me because in it, I see how one out-of-control emotion led an entire nation into idolatry for hundreds of years. Jeroboam’s fear corrupted his leadership and crippled his calling. By giving in to fear, Jeroboam set an evil precedent for succeeding kings, even long after he was gone.

We can only imagine what would have happened if, instead of following fear, Jeroboam had clung to God’s promise. What if he had lived by faith, not feeling?

Jeroboam’s legacy of out-of-control emotions is timely for us. In this day of despair and fear and rage and depression and insecurity, we need to know that our emotions can be brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the truth of His Word.

God created us in His image and that includes our capacity for emotions. Emotions are not bad or sinful in and of themselves; but like everything else, they are affected by the fall. II Peter 1:4 tells us that by Christ’s blood, we are partakers of His divine nature. This means that we can partake of His emotional nature as well and can experience godly emotions. Take a look at Galatians 5:22-23 to see what some of those look like. As a side note, according to Brian Borgman, the most frequent emotion mentioned in the Bible is joy ( i.e.”rejoice”).

Scripture teaches that we are not to be controlled by our emotions but rather our emotions are to be controlled by the Spirit of God.

This became very real to me when God graciously showed me how many of my daily decisions were being driven by how I felt, especially by the feeling of being overwhelmed. He gently but painfully showed me that by placing too high a priority on my feelings of exhaustion, I was not being diligent in serving my family with excellence, I was not reflecting God’s strength and character to those around me, I was failing to attempt the good works God had called me to do, and I was laying a faulty emotional foundation in my children’s lives.

Pretty serious stuff.

It was a liberating moment when I realized this, however. Knowing that I did not have to be in bondage to the feeling of fatigue set me free. I confessed it as sin to God and to my family and I began learning from Christ. I’m still learning and practicing what He reveals to me in this area of godly emotions.

Here are some key truths that help me get a grip:

1. Emotions are strong but they need not be sovereign.

This one little nugget of truth is what saves me from the slippery slope of out of control emotions. Only God is sovereign and I can choose to place my emotions under His authority.

2. Emotions need truth to direct them.

Physiologically, emotions are a result of our thoughts. Emotions are best controlled by renewing the mind with truth.

3. Knowing my proclivity to certain emotions means I can be pro-active in controlling them.

For example, I know that I am easily overwhelmed. I also know that God promises sufficient grace at all times for every good deed. So I have identified several truths, like the promise of God’s sufficiency, that I constantly renew my mind with. Bringing truth to the forefront of my mind keeps my emotions grounded and where they need to be.

If you would like more in-depth practical help, join me at my blog for an upcoming series on cultivating godly emotions. This series is intended to help develop discipline in our emotions by looking at biblical truth. I will be drawing from scripture as well as looking at what others like Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Elizabeth Elliott, and Brian Borgman have to say about the role of emotions in the believers life.

We really can leave a legacy of godly emotions!

Read Jeroboam’s story here: I Kings 11:28-40 and I Kings 12:25-31.

Blessings,

Arabah Joy

Arabah Joy and her family have served as missionaries to East Asia for the past eleven years. She is married to Jackson and they have four children, both adopted and biological. She has authored a guide on how to increase energy as well as a newly released eBook on living Complete in Christ. Mostly though, she is a broken woman redeemed. She writes about God’s sufficiency to transform at Arabah Joy.

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