Encouragement For Today...

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh i do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishting every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Colossians 1:24-29

Wow! What a day! The Lord has revealed some things through these Scriptures that I really needed today. I wrote many notes in my notebook of the things He has shown me. Hopefully I can write them so they make sense to you as an encouragement to all you moms out there. Well, here it goes. :)

Paul starts out by saying rejoice in your sufferings....he must have had a great sense of humor, right? Why would he write that? He said that there was a purpose for this. When I rejoice in my sufferings, I am to do it for the sake of others. It is for my benefit, the building of my faith, as well as for those watching me. They watch how I react to my suffering and they see my faith in action. That it is a genuine faith. Seeing this encourages others in their walk too.

As a mother, I've done alot of suffering and I continue to suffer. If you are doing things the way the Lord calls you to, you will suffer, lots. I have been able to rejoice in my sufferings some of the time, but lately, I've not been so great at it. The Lord reminded me that I need to do this in order to be a living example to them.

Why?

Well, the next verse tells me that I was made a minister. A minister,eh? I know what that means to mean, but I looked it up to see how the dictionary defines a minister. Minister=server/giver..hmmmmmmm....I am a server/giver...never looked at it quite that way. God gave me the awesome priviledge of being a mother to serve and give and to teach my children how to serve and give. You see, this is for their benefit too, if I do my job correctly.

Paul goes on to say that I am to preach the Word of God. That to me is two fold. I am to seek the Lord myself and in turn give it to my children, in word and deed. It's not enough for me to seek the Lord and keep it all to myself or to share it with other adults in need. I must share these truths with my children too. I must apply it to my life so that they can see the Word of God lived out in my life. I need to show them Christ in me to be an effective teacher/ mother.

I am not only to tell them about Him, but I am to use the Word of God to admonish them. What does admonish mean? Well, according to the dictionary, it means to warn gently, but seriously. WoW! That is not easy for me, to warn them gently, especially when I see the trouble they are headed into. But the Lord has shown me that I must warn them gently. Why? He was gentle, but firm. He always admonished out of love. If I love my children, which I really do, I need to gently guide them when I see them walking the wrong way. If I am always firm with them, it sounds as if there is no love at all, only condemnation. I had to repent of this one. Some times I get so passionate in my love for them that I sound like I'm being harsh, when I'm just so broken about what I'm seeing that it comes out that way. I lived my entire life with this kind of "admonition" and I know how it made me feel. I don't want to do that to the children God has entrusted to me. My parents didn't know any better, but, Praise the LORD, He has shown me so that I can change this pattern, thus changing the pattern for the generations to come.

I am to teach (instruct) them with all wisdom (insight) so that they may be presented complete in Christ. As I stated before, I need to instruct them in the things that the Lord shows me. This must be pretty important since it was brought up more than once. You see, without proper instruction they won't know how to love, forgive, be self-sacrificing, etc. and they won't be able to share the wonderful truths with those who are, and will be, in their lives.

The Lord has already shown me that this task won't be easy.

I will have to labor. What does labor mean? It doesn't just mean work. It means to put forth physical and mental effort, especially when hard times come.

Don't give up!! It will be worth all the painful labor put forth in fulfilling the very important job of raising the children God entrusted to you in a Godly manner

. Are they going to be perfect? NO! Sorry, but if you will persevere in the God given priviledge of raising your children to love the Lord your God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind, and with all their strength( Deut 6:5; Matt.22:37;Mark 12:30;Luke 10:27), then you can rest, knowing that whatever they do, you did what you were called to do. Remember, you are to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6) He will make mistakes, you did too. But He will remember Who and what you poured into His life and He will come back. Sorry, got off on a tangent...it's really easy to do..lol...but I thought it was important.

I will have to strive (struggle and contend), isn't that the truth.

You mothers know what I'm talking about. The great thing is that I don't have to do it in my own strength. I am not alone! Neither are you by the way :) With the Holy Spirit living in me, it is possible to rejoice in my suffering. He is my Helper. In fact, I can't parent my children in a Godly way on my own. It's impossible. I need the Holy Spirit to direct and guide me every step of the way. I need Him to help me interpret and reveal what I need to do through the Word of God. Then it's up to me to be obedient to what He shows me. I need Him to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. I need Him for peace that passes all understanding and joy unexplainable during those trying times.

Important note:

(When you ask the Lord Jesus to come into your heart, to be the Lord and Savior of your life, the Holy Spirit comes in and is your Helper.John 15:26-27))

I must be committed to the spiritual well-being of my children so they will become complete in Christ, and they can further the kingdom of God throughout their lifetimes, as well as be an example to the generations to come.

You see, moms, you and I have an extremely important job. We must'nt give up! We have the power of the Living God living inside of us!!

This was such a timely lesson for me in so many ways. I have been discouraged in my parenting. It's the hardest job in the world when I'm doing it in the flesh. The Lord has shown me the error of my ways and I now have a new fire, a new zeal, a realized meaning to my existence.

I am a mother.

I pray that this has encouraged you. I'm sorry if I was all over the place. I tried to keep my thoughts straight, but I'm so excited about the things the Lord is showing me that my brain has a hard time catching up some times. :)

Love, peace, and grace to you all.

<3