This mama can sometimes wonder if her life is amounting to much of anything. What difference can I be making as I wash, hang, and fold 11 loads of laundry this week? Or fight my way through 400 strawberries to make jam for the year? Or tend a garden? Or cook 3 meals a day every day? Or school my children? Or love my husband? And doesn't life sometimes feel like the old(ish) movie Groundhog's Day?
And then He whispers it to me as I stand alone outside, pinning clothes to the line and listening to the wind rustle the green leaves in our huge maple trees: It is all for nothing if I'm not doing it with Him. My significance doesn't lie in what I do. My worth is NOT found in what I do. I am worthy because He loves me. My work is worthy because He makes it so. Sometimes I feel like I get it, and those are wonderful days of contentment and peace in my soul. My mind is at rest on those days. How am I so quick to forget these deep lessons learned? It is indeed true that the enemy prowls around like a lion waiting to devour any unsuspecting and, dare I say, sleeping son or daughter of the King. He waits for the morning when I haven't armed myself with the truth of scripture to whisper words that make me doubt and I am so quick to believe those words. Why am I so quick to believe those words?
The Lord has taught me something over this past year through my precious husband, and it has made all the difference in me as I learn to think rightly. It is this: Always combat the lies of the evil one with the truth of scripture. So I open His love letter to me and read in Ephesians 1 that our God and Daddy has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
That He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.
That He adopted us as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ because it pleased Him to do so!
That He lavishes His grace on us.
That He wants me to know in the marrow of my bones the hope to which He has called me: the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and His incomparably great power for us who believe.
That He Himself is my peace.
And then He leads me to Colossians 3:15-17:
And then He whispers it to me as I stand alone outside, pinning clothes to the line and listening to the wind rustle the green leaves in our huge maple trees: It is all for nothing if I'm not doing it with Him. My significance doesn't lie in what I do. My worth is NOT found in what I do. I am worthy because He loves me. My work is worthy because He makes it so. Sometimes I feel like I get it, and those are wonderful days of contentment and peace in my soul. My mind is at rest on those days. How am I so quick to forget these deep lessons learned? It is indeed true that the enemy prowls around like a lion waiting to devour any unsuspecting and, dare I say, sleeping son or daughter of the King. He waits for the morning when I haven't armed myself with the truth of scripture to whisper words that make me doubt and I am so quick to believe those words. Why am I so quick to believe those words?
The Lord has taught me something over this past year through my precious husband, and it has made all the difference in me as I learn to think rightly. It is this: Always combat the lies of the evil one with the truth of scripture. So I open His love letter to me and read in Ephesians 1 that our God and Daddy has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
That He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.
That He adopted us as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ because it pleased Him to do so!
That He lavishes His grace on us.
That He wants me to know in the marrow of my bones the hope to which He has called me: the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and His incomparably great power for us who believe.
That He Himself is my peace.
And then He leads me to Colossians 3:15-17:
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. AND BE THANKFUL. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
So I will wash, hang, and fold laundry with the Lord, and give thanks to Him that we have clothes to wear. I will make jam, thanking Him for the bountiful harvest and share what He's blessed us with. I will tend our garden and be thankful for seeds to plant and good soil to plant them in. I will make meals and be thankful for food to prepare and put in front of my family at meal times. I will school my children and be thankful for the opportunity to live out Deuteronomy 6 as we "impress {these commands} on {our} children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." I will love my husband in front of my children and try to model for them what life can be like when the Lord weaves 2 lives so closely together that they become one flesh, loving one another with the love that the Lord lavishes on us. And I will remember: my Daddy King loves me and promises to empower me daily to walk life with Him. I will not forget again.
