Regina Today I’m taking a break from our series on home, because the Lord put something else in my heart to share with you. I hope to pick back up in the series on home later this week. Sometimes it seems that parables emerge from the life of a child. Here’s what I’m learning & remembering for my H A R D days. 
Children. What a gift. What amazing treasure(s) entrusted to us for a precious portion of life, childhood. To be sure there are many moments our own sin has shocked us when pushed to the limit or maybe we are not all we hoped to be as a mom (who has arrived?), but for all the difficulty of this monumental task, for all the feelings of failure, there is no condemnation, because we have a Savior who takes away our sin. I have never gotten over it this miracle given to us. You know as well as I that no one gets out of this parenting gig with a perfect score; in fact, don’t look at the score your kids don’t need you quitting here, but if you can put the Gospel of Christ on display as you live life out before them, you can rest knowing that you’ve given the most you possibly could give, Christ, Christ Jesus. MY Savior, our Savior, our Lord, King, Friend(?!) What wild wonderful grace it is. Rest there, sweet momma, rest.
My kids today with their own little hands folded and subsequently put away around S I X loads of laundry. Yes, do pause for thanksgiving, shock & awe, jumping up & down, a little dance with me, because we all know this task can rarely be complete, yet today because three amazing young children (Our youngest darling, Anna Kate, often helps with folding little towels too) decided to work very hard after a full morning at the pool with friends, I received the benefit of their living testimony. I am amazed at their willingness to work with all they’ve got. It teaches me to do the same. Sit in the Word, rest in prayer, and A G A I N offer gentleness for that which needs correcting. Do not relent. Do not allow temptation to guide you. Take the way out. Work H A R D. Do not relent in the pursuit of holiness in the solitude of home. It matters most there.
My children testify through their generous hard work that we can be H A P P Y, yes, delighted in the H A R D tasks God has given us. It often happens that joy is hidden in hard. And glass half full girl wants you to know I have H A R D days too. Difficulty in life has not been tied to childhood only for me; there is difficulty in daily tasks because in the dominion of darkness, to which we no longer belong, our flesh still pulls hard in the wrong direction. Yet the Spirit of Christ in us is stronger than the flesh that pulls so fiercely.
In mom life we can think we are A L O N E. Perhaps, the only one who has spoken harshly, dialed it in for the day, missed teaching opportunities, but the thing to remember is you have a whole band of sisters experiencing the E X A C T same thing, and you are are not alone after all.
There are moms at work, in homes, in board meetings, in classrooms, in nurseries, in nursing covers, in hospitals, in laundry rooms all over this world doing the H A R D thing. The difference is whether or not we will
T A K E, not wait but, T A K E the J O Y that is ours to have in Christ.
It is good to wait on the Lord, but it is a mistake to wait when the Lord says take hold, press in, and keep doing the hard thing. Take the time to obey Jesus. You are not too busy for Him. Take the time, with great attention, to conform your life to His Word. Ask Him for the strength to do what you cannot. Catch your breath again. This time, the breath of His Word. Ask Him for the grace to do it and to not stop doing what He says until He comes with the clouds.
There could be no more powerful of a testimony before a child than this…
