Wednesday's Manna

i attended a moms group wednesday morning at our church. it was very fruitful, and i think i gathered manna that was both nourishing and challenging. the topic for the morning was how to be busy at home. the scripture reference was from Titus 2.3-5

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

several questions were posed to us as moms of young children (birth-6ish). i thought they were worth pursuing on a deeper level. i think it would do my heart good to see what God has in store for me as i answer them for myself. i want to be honest with Him, first and foremost. and i may even share the answers with my husband. if i answer them and do nothing, i lose out on the blessing of character change *wince* that God has in store for me. below are the questions.

1. What does being busy in your home look like?
2. Who or what has inspired you to be content working at home?
3. What has God shown you to focus on in the home?
4. What things tempt you away from you priorities in the home and what do you do to fend off the temptations?

the last one is going to be the one that challenges me the most, i think. i let a lot of things get in the way of my daily duties in the home. identifying the things that get in the way should be easy. changing them is a whole other ball game.

manna for the day

sunday i was able to gather a little manna...a little of God's goodness and mercy. i know that these are always mine for the taking, but sunday i recognized them as such and grabbed enough for the day. we have been blessed beyond our belief with the health of our children, in particular our middle child. God is good. we still have a bit of a long road ahead of us in our quest to determine exactly what is going on with him, but the scarier stuff has been ruled out. so on sunday we were singing about how God is good and i decided to just soak it in and gather some goodness for the day. it was simpler than i thought it would be. i highly suggest it.

gathering manna

i struggle with being a bad mother. i mean, really who walks around thinking they are really a great mom? i want to meet you if you do!! i lost it the other day on my 3 yr old because he had yet another potty accident. these have become a daily occurrence since his hospital stay in december. (i have called the doctor about it, and they said it was probably just trauma related to the hospital stay). i know i should not have gotten upset, but it is driving me nuts! esp since i keep sending him to the bathroom every hour and he announces "no yellow" every time. ugh...i have so little patience with my kids lately. is this a result of my own shortcomings? absolutely. i have been hit from all sides lately with the need for daily devotional time with the Lord. my cbs study last week had a great way of putting it (and i am going to paraphrase it because it is not right next to me): God's grace, mercy and leading are like manna, they have to be gathered fresh every morning. wow. like manna. manna was the only thing the israelites ate (that and the big shower of quail). they were only to gather what they needed for the day, anything more would spoil. on the 6th day they gathered enough for days 6 and 7 so that they could observe the sabbath. (i have to go back and research this, but i think the only 'holiday' they observed during the 40 years in the desert was the sabbath..not passover, any of the feasts. just the sabbath).

i need to gather manna. i need to depend on the Word as if it were (because it is) the only source of sustenance for my life. i don't need to know everything in the Bible today...just what God has given me for today. what a freeing concept. i don't have to know everything in it to live by it. the Holy Spirit will guide me if i ask Him to. the manna is there for me to gather it in. i don't have to go anywhere to look for it. He has provided it to me, just as He promised. Praise God.

as for me and being a bad mother? nothing else in this world has been able to show me my need for a Savior. i make mistakes with my kids all the time, and i hope i have been able to use the opportunity to show them the gospel. because honestly, that is what they need from me. they need the basics of food, shelter and a lot of love...but they need to know Jesus loves them more than i ever could. and that this house on earth is not their home. they are strangers here and will be at odds with many they come across in this world. i am still a bad mother. i don't consider myself good enough to be a mommy...but God has seen fit to write my name is His Book...and i need to stop taking advantage of it.