Today Pastor Dave devoted the service to honoring God by also honoring motherhood. He began as usual, with a few jokes and things mother's say to their kids that make no sense....especially when you're a kid!
I laughed so hard, I was truly afraid I was going to get those hysterical giggles that I can get when things funny happen under serious circumstances....like a room filled with a couple thousand people.....in church.....when I'm NOT the center of attention and don't want to be!
There was a couple of instances in particular that I could have lost my other-wise collected and calm 'cool' self to ROFL kind of thing, you know.
Then we got into the real business of learning some really great stuff.....Pastor Dave always has a bunch of great stuff to teach us. Encouragement. Reinforcement. Re- validation. Re......well, I've run out of re's.....anyway, he began in Matthew with the three mother's mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.....not the ones who were near perfect mothers, but the ones who were liars, deceivers( Tamar) prostitutes, harlots (Rehab) foreigners, (Ruth from Moab),etc.
Interestingly I titled my own personal notes, "Mess to Miracles OR Mistakes to Miracles" and just as I was finished writing it down he said almost the same thing.....great minds DO run together!
It was an amazing service, a special song by Amanda (who sings like an angel!!), the choir was magnificent, and Steve, dressed in a light colored suit for the second warm day so far this year, all made a very special tribute to mother's of all sorts.
The most important point out of the entire service is that you can be the mother God designed you to be no matter what your past. Raise your children in a Christ-centered relationship. Be there for them spiritually, emotionally, physically, and relationally. Be the one (along with dad, of course) who is loyal to them, always. Being loyal can include if/when they are wrong teach them and correct them, but always give them the benefit of the doubt before you quickly jump to the conclusion that they are automatically wrong.
Just like you.....when God changed your life....would you want everyone thinking you're just being 'the same old person' never giving you a chance to show what God has done in your life? Never trusting you?
Well, as young people grow in Christ, they need to be able to be trusted.....like one of our pastors once said,
" trust them BUT check up on them, too!"
Well, being a mother is not an easy job, but if we can give them back to God, after He entrusted them to us for teaching, caring, stewardship, loving, praying for and training up for Him, then it will be a job worth all the investment in time, pain, tears, joy, heartache, fears, worries.......and money (???) Ha. Just had to add that little insignificant point!
Just think! God has trusted the woman.......you think we don't have an important job as a stay-at-home mom??? God has entrusted the Woman, I say again, to be the one who raises up children for HIM.....is that not the absolute most awesome job on earth? Dad's have their important roles, too, of course, but you've no doubt heard the old expression, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world?" God chose you to be the mother of your children for a purpose! He wants YOU to BE a MOTHER in every sense of the word! Mother your children! (Tend, love, nurture, protect, raise them up the WAY they should go!)
You get to teach, chauffeur, cook, wash dishes, laundry, clean house, pay bills, do accounting, home schooling, homework, brush teeth, wipe noses, change diapers, take temperatures, walk the floor at night, wake up at all hours of the night, pray, cry, worry, laugh at jokes that you may not even 'get', be their advisor, help them put on their clothes and shoes, walk them to school, teach bike-riding, skateboarding, run along behind them to keep them from falling, kiss their boo-boos, hurt when they hurt, laugh when they laugh, run them and all the neighborhood kids to the movies or skating, so in doing all this you learn skills that you'd otherwise never learn. All this on-the-job-training you get for free and no paycheck......great deal, huh? It really is. LOOK at them....no, really just LOOK! Aren't they just the cutest little (or big) buggers you ever saw!? Look at the way they behave when they don't know you're watching.....it's better than TV!
You have had many rough bumps along the way, and maybe some even bumpier up ahead, but God has given YOU the tools to tread this path of mother-hood. He gave you a strong will, determination, the fortitude of an Army Five-Star general, a soft heart, a warm touch, a gentle word, and skillful disciplinarian tactics that would make a drill sargent proud! He endowed you with an instinct that can smell a 'fib' a mile away.
You have been blessed with energy that could run General Electric around the world for a month.....just a few minutes of downtime and you're ready to get back in the ring.
He gave you the wisdom to know that your children need you and love you even when they are angry and may say they hate you....you can look them in the eye and say, "Well, I love you anyway!"
As a mom you listen to secrets and never tell a soul. You take all your children's problems to God alone.
You pray over them when they don't see or know about it.
You drop them off at first grade for the first time, and secretly wipe away tears of abandonment....your little one has left you for a whole day!
The journey that you began as a mother only ends when you arrive in heaven......your child has been the delight that God gave you because you were born to be HIS special care-giver for HIS most precious design. How He must love you to trust you with HIS Children!
Prayer:
Father, thank you that you trusted me with your most valuable creation! I pray that I will always BE the kind of mother YOU want me to be....and that includes Grandmother.....it's the SAME thing, just GRAND!
What an honor.
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