...loving our children...[the conclusion]

This is the conclusion of a 9-part series on loving our children.  If you'd like to see where we've been, please go back to part 1/intro...

[Keeping a quiet heart]  I love the simple statement of faith in Psalm 16:5:

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;

you hold my lot.

Do you remember the story we're told in the New Testament about the time Jesus slept through a crazy storm while his disciples quaked?  Elizabeth Elliot wrote that he could, ''...because His Father was in control.  His was a quiet heart.  We see him move serenely through all the events of His life---when He was reviled, He did not revile in return.  When He knew that He would suffer many things and be killed in Jerusalem, He never deviated from his course.  He had set his face like flint.  He sat at supper with one who would deny Him and another who would betray Him, yet He was able to eat with them, willing even to wash their feet.  Jesus, in the unbroken intimacy of His Father's love, kept a quiet heart." 

Isn't that what we desire?  A heart that is at rest in what our Father gives?  A heart that is confident in Him, even amidst disappointments, chaos, and trials? 

So what about us when the kids whine and tear apart their rooms?  What about when they throw a tantrum in the store and embarrass us?  What about when we're feeling forgotten and lonely in the season of parenting little ones?  Remember this, dear one.  Everything we face in life is assigned by God.  Everything.  So often I think it's different circumstances that would make me happy or more fulfilled or more content.  But how wrong I am.  God is using those very circumstances I want to shy away from to make me look more like Him.  How will I respond in the midst of it?  Do I really believe He's assigned my portion and my cup?  That He is enough?

As mamas, we have a big, often overwhelming, mission before us.  But God's grace is greater still. 

Jesus said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.  2 Corinthians 12:9

So when we blow it, when we lose our tempers, when we feel like utter failures, look to the cross.  There He purchased our forgiveness and the power to grow in godliness.  We're not equal to the task, but He is!  He lavishly gives the grace, wisdom, and strength we need to embrace the season of motherhood with joy.  And through Him, we can love our children as He designed.