I am reposting this as it seems to have disappeared into Cyberspace. Not sure what happened to the original post, but here it is again….Love Deanne
As Godly women, wives and mothers, interceding for our children is THE greatest activity we can do for them.
As Christian moms, our greatest desire should be for children who surrender their life to Christ and continue to follow Him faithfully through out their lives. Achieving this comes at a great cost….of utmost importance is the recognition that this cost our Jesus His everything…even His very life and for us. And as Christian Moms, it will also cost us our all. We may not be asked to give our physical lives for our children, but often, we are called to give up other aspects of our lives for a season as we seek to raise children for the Lord. What sort of things may we be asked to give up? When I look back over my life, during different seasons, God has called me to give up a lucrative professional career, He has called me to give up financial comfort (from my career), He has even asked that I give up sleep as I have cared for young ones through the night. Ah, but His calling, His questioning of me, has provided amazing opportunities for His blessing upon my life. The blessing that is birthed from obedience to His will in my life.
We must be intentional when it comes to our children…intentional in teaching them His Word, intentional in leading them to gratitude and worship for His very Being, and intentional in praying for them.
In her precious book, “A Mother’s Heart”, Jean Fleming writes, “The best possible parenting cannot produce children who are spiritually responsive to God….” It takes so much more! Yes, we are called to be the very best Mom we can be….A Mom who will teach her children the ways and worship of the Lord, but there is so much more that is God’s plan for us as Moms!
Proverbs 31:27 instructs us to “watch over the way of (our) household”. The fascinating word here used for watch is so much more than our English language portrays. The word, “Watch” encompasses the idea of a “leaning forward; peering; observing. The root includes the idea of “a narrow watching; to keep guard and to hedge around.” Elizabeth George expands on this idea of watching, in her book, “A Woman after God’s own heart”. In it she quotes, Derek Kidner who writes, “(to) watch is used through out the Bible to describe people who were posted to report the first sign of God’s answer to prayers” (1 Kings 18:41-44)
Watching our children encompasses SO MUCH MORE than the idea of simply knowing what they are doing at any given time! It even encompasses far more than playing a game with them, reading Bible stories to them or even screening their friends and relationships!
As Christian moms, we must seek God on our children’s behalf and we must be always looking for answers to those prayer requests! We must accept the mission to watch our children…watching them according to the original Hebrew intent of the word.
Where do we begin this mission to watch over children?
We must step up our prayer life! For me, to achieve this “watchman mission” I have found that I must write out specific prayers for my children and then be on the lookout for God’s answers! When God answers, I write (journal) His responses in my journal. By doing this, I am able to look back and see specific answers to needs my children had and I am able to see a little bit of the big picture that I sense He has for them.
Jean Fleming shares, “The goal of parenting is not for us to decide what we want our children to become and then ruthlessly teach, train, squeeze, badger, and cajole them into that mold. Instead we must recognize God has already designed them.” She confirms what is spoken in Proverbs 22:6 (amplified version) Train up a child in the way he must go (according to his individual bents and gifts) and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” So often in homeschooling circles, we use this verse to solidify our homeschool decision or even to discipline our child…but the original Hebrew meaning again, lends a completely different perspective!
Our prayers should not be for God to create in our child(ren) the child (ren) that we feel they must become. Our prayers should be prayers of humility, prayers seeking God for HIS will and His purpose in their lives, through out their lives.
What does this look like?
For me, it begins with
PRAISE—I praise God for His hand on my children. I praise Him for creating them with the specific gifting, personalities, learning styles and yes, even temperaments He has given to them. (Psalm 139:13-16)
After I praise, I will
PREPARE my heart to receive my children as HE created them . I ask God to enlarge my heart with love for them. If I am struggling in anyway being a loving mother to one child, I humble myself and ask God to work a miracle in my heart, to fill my heart to overflowing for that child (I share more of my prayer struggles in Treasure’s of Psalm 119 Bible study) and to grant me a greater acceptance of a child I may be struggling with at any specific time.
PURPOSELY ask God to work HIS purposes in my child and ask Him to show me the way to guide my child into this purpose. This includes seeking God for which curriculum to use with each child, seeking God to show me how to reach a specific learning need and even which activities each child should involve themselves in (music lessons, work, swim team etc)
PEACE…As I pursue God’s will and purpose for my children, I experience HIS peace, His peace knowing I am leading, training and discipling my children according to His plan for them (Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:7)
For more thoughts on being a Watching Woman, I encourage you to read “A Mother’s Heart” by Jean Fleming. This book was given to me as a young, new homeschooling Mom and although it is not specifically written to homeschool Moms, it is a book of great encouragement and hope for all moms. Also, highly recommended is Sally Clarkson’s Educating the Whole Hearted Child and Season’s of a Mother’s Heart. Both of these books, present encouragement and hope as we raise children for the purposes of the Lord.
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Posted on June 16th, 2008 by Deanne Crawford
Filed under: Homeschooling Tips | 1 Comment »
