"It is easy to think you have a heart for orphans on the other side of the world, but if you spend your time at home resenting the imposition your children are on you, you do not. You cannot have a heart for the gospel and a fussiness about your life at the same time. You will never make any difference there if you cannot be at peace here. You cannot have a heart for missions, but not for the people around you. A true love of the gospel overflows and overpowers. It will be in everything you do, however drab, however simple, however repetitive."(taken from this article.)
and this, from this article:
Live the gospel in the things that no one sees. Sacrifice for your children in places that only they will know about. Put their value ahead of yours. Grow them up in the clean air of gospel living. Your testimony to the gospel in the little details of your life is more valuable to them than you can imagine. If you tell them the gospel, but live to yourself, they will never believe it. Give your life for theirs every day, joyfully. Lay down pettiness. Lay down fussiness. Lay down resentment about the dishes, about the laundry, about how no one knows how hard you work.
Stop clinging to yourself and cling to the cross. There is more joy and more life and more laughter on the other side of death than you can possibly carry alone.
As the author said in the second article, my hands are full... full of good things! It is a privilege to be mama to these babies... one I far too often take all too lightly. The same author had a third post written about motherhood being application of the gospel. She concluded it saying this:
Of course, this side of heaven we will not do perfectly. Harsh words will be spoken, patience will wear thin. Frazzled mothers will act frazzled. And when this happens, our own sinfulness does not detract from the power of the gospel, it illustrates why we need it. Do not use your own mistakes as an excuse to wallow about what a bad mother you are. Repent, seek forgiveness, get it right, and move on. Believe. Be forgiven. Extend that forgiveness, that belief, that joy, to your children.As you go about your daily transformations, set your heart on the truth. Mimic the gospel in what you do. Bring peace, bring order, bring joy, bring laughter. Bring it because it was brought to you. Give, because it was given to you. The gospel is not too big to fit into little situations. It is too big not to.
My heart is this, that, those, these quotes. More than anything, I want to demonstrate the love that has been demonstrated towards me. I want to recognize what I've been forgiven and extend the same. To exude joy because of the hope I have. To have peace and patience and gentleness be so evident in my life.
I want to love these babies well... and well will only be done through the application of the gospel.
wow God. Kristen, you have no idea how much I needed exactly these words at this very moment in my life. I'm so thankful for that "irritation" I was feeling today (waiting for 4 teenage girls to get ready to go to the mall) that lead me to browse my blog bookmarks. Thank you for being His vessel!!
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