I remember lying next to Miss 1.5 one afternoon trying to get her to sleep, growling lie still, holding her, counting the minutes because people were going to be arriving soon for my sister’s 21st birthday and I needed to be helping her prepare.
Little Miss & I were both just getting frustrated. I’m praying for her to go to sleep & all of sudden I hear this phrase ‘show her how to sleep’. I stopped struggling, growling, relaxed, breathed deeply, & closed my eyes & so quickly she fell asleep. I love it when I’m hearing from God in motherhood.
God cares about all aspects of our lives, & funny as it sounds, I often use this story to anchor myself if I’m getting overwhelmed. If He cared about getting my toddler to sleep, He cares about what I’m walking through right now.
My friend @_reneeferguson , mother of 4 children under 9 has a similar sleeping example with her youngest child, aged 3.
“I was laying with Johnathan. Frustrated he wasn’t going to sleep. Then next minute I heard his breathing change and I knew he was asleep. Then the Lord reminded me of the scripture about how He has inscribed us on the palms of His hand. How intimately He knows us & everything to do with us, just like we know all the intimate details of our children.”
The Hebrew word for a mother’s womb is raham.
The mercy we have towards a baby in our womb, that is the mercy God has towards us.
We see this word used in Psalm 103:4
Who crowneth thee with loving kindness . . .
H5849 (aw-tar) to encircle for attack or protection) especially to crown
And tender mercies
H7356 (racham) compassion; by extension the womb, (as cherishing the foetus;)
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles
This verse was especially helpful to me during my last pregnancy when I got so sick with a chest infection that I couldn’t get out of bed for a week and the midwife was quite worried about the baby.
God has tender mercies for us . . . sometimes we need to hear that truth over and over to start living in it. . . faith comes by hearing & hearing again & hearing again. Keep hearing. . . even when your heart is tired and it feels like you’re heard it all before, the hearing will refresh your ❤️
He loves our children more than us, sometimes it’s hard to wrap our heads around that . . .but His Name is Good Father.
As mother’s we want to help our children flourish and thrive, we want to see them succeed and have happy homes both while they are young and as they grow. We love it when God speaks straight to our situation, but He also has made us part of a body and in
Proverbs 15:22 it says
Without counsel, plans go awry,
But in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
Godly mother’s groups are a wonderful resource, but so are books of those who have gone before us.
M is for Mama by Abbie Halberstadt, @m.is.for.mama a Bible believing mother of 10, brings a real Bible and Scripture revival back to the heart of mother hood, both for the child and the mother. She uses the Bible as the standard for our attitudes, and while accepting that there are seasons where we might be feeling stretched and flustered, that with tweaking of routines and preaching the Word of God to ourselves we can not only survive but thrive. A phrase that has been thrown at her is, ‘you can’t just use a Bible verse to fix the situation’.
She argues that the Word of God is living and active and it can change our hearts, and then in turn our children’s.
She says, “Jesus took great pains to prioritize the true self care of soul care with the Father. However. He never adopted an attitude of bitterness or resentment when his plans were ‘foiled’ by the neediness of, well, everybody.
Just like He did with the loaves and fishes, Jesus is faithful to multiply our efforts so that time spent with Him is never wasted and often amplifies any efforts that follow.” – Abbie Halberstadt (M is for Mama)
She also provides practical wisdom on how to deal with everything from toilet training and bed times, to bad attitudes and messy kitchens.
She brings a fun sense of humor to every chapter, and deals with topics like mum guilt v conviction, self care versus soul care, with great practical advice on the topic of the birds and the bees to boot. She models how to hang out with teens, listen to them and enjoy each others company and challenges us to not just be mediocre in motherhood, but to remember that we are raising the next generation.
Love Centered Parenting by Crystal Paine @themoneysavingmom delves right into our hearts and learning to deal with the wounds in our own hearts and lived fully loved by God the Father so that we aren’t parenting from a place of being triggered by our emotions and can truly listen to our children and learn to help them and us express their feelings in a healthy way. Crystal and her husband spent time with their teens going to family therapy to relearn communication skills after a season of hitting rock bottom, and I’ve found her suggestions to be helpful advice even for adults.
