Mom Monday

This weekend I went to and was involved in the "Tricked out Parenting" conference at the River, here in Kalamazoo. It was a fantastic conference for many, many reasons. Parenting is hard. It can often feel incredibly overwhelming.  There are soooo many distractions in life that can pull us away from investing fully in it.  It requires sooo much wisdom and knowledge and energy much of which feels in short supply. It was sooo great gathering with others who really desire to parent well and to be re-engergized, re-focused, helped with some tangible ideas, to be "spurred on toward love and good deeds." (Hebrews 10: 24) and filled with God's truth about parenting.  Doreen Beltz, our family pastor, did an excellent job of inspiring us to keep moving as parents and to not become complacent, to be a hero to our "own people" (our family)  through our parenting. She reminded us that we have 167 hours in a week to invest in our family and teach them about God. We were taught through Paul Davis and Rob Link that passing on our faith begins with us and that we need to love God with all of our own heart first and have his words deeply impressed upon our own hearts before we can pass that on to our children.  We were taught and reminded of the power of a praying mom.  Oh, how good it is to gather with God's people to be spurred on, strengthened, encouraged, instructed and inspired. May we NEVER take the freedom to gather with God's people for granted.   Rob and I led a break out session about the "rites of passage." In that session I shared a quote I had just read from John McArthrur (a pretty famous preacher):   " Let me give you something you NEED TO KNOW. The first half of your life, women, you  make an INVESTMENT, the dividends of which you will reap the second half. It flips over. This woman (The Prov. 31 woman) would raise her children and when her children were old enough to be on their own, they would spend the rest of their life blessing the woman who gave HER LIFE TO THEM. That's God's design. The compensation then for old age is the EXHILARATING BLESSED JOY OF THE RETURN INVESTMENT OF YOUTH IN CHILDREN. ...The sad thing is (if you don't put the time in NOW , you won't reap the rewards)....God has designed our life in PASSAGES and when we INVEST our life in those children God gives us, we will find the backside of our life will be the greatest, sweetest time of blessing as they repay to us the blessing given. That's God's design."     Oh Moms,..........may we invest NOW that we might reap a great harvest later in life. May we not become distracted by all the world throws our way. Remember that there is one out there who seeks to "steal, kill, and destroy." He is the "Father of Lies." May we cling to our God and His awesome words that we may experience the "exhilarating blessed joy of the return investment," years down the road. May we care more about what God says about motherhood than the world. In God's eys, motherhood is the most sacred and important job as we teach and show our children who God is and how great his teachings are.  Happy Mom Monday. Blessings from Bombadil. Kristy LInk   "I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me." Phillipians 1:25 & 26