Dear sister,
There will always be something you’re waiting for. It could be something as inconsequential as being in line at the supermarket, or it could be bigger, like waiting for a check to post, or monumental like graduation, marriage, and motherhood. Whatever it is, that waiting time is there for a reason. But remember: it’s also just a season! (Yes, the rhyming helps me J) As I wait for the season of motherhood, I’m learning several lessons. Lessons that will carry me through other trying times in life. Can you relate?
Using truth to deal with emotions
You can ask my husband his opinion, but I’m thankful God has helped me grow in this area (even just a little?) I still have so far to go. Emotions always try to take the driver’s seat in my life. It takes an act of God some days to get my thoughts going in the right direction. Those sometimes helpful, but often pesky, emotions flood me with opportunities for temptation if I do not use them as indicators to my deeper heart issues. Stopping and evaluating what I’m feeling in the moment, asking for feedback (sometimes scary) and also taking it to the Lord, is so helpful to me. Then I must submit the feeling to the truth revealed in Scripture. Are anger, sorrow, loneliness, fear, etc. always ‘wrong’? Well, if indulged over trust in the Lord, yes, however, on many occasions God acknowledges and accepts our feeble emotions and then shows us how to deal with them. (Eph. 4:26, Psalm 34:4, John 14:1, 1 Peter 5:7) It is exciting to see God changing me as I surrender my thought life to Him! How often I have heard my girlfriends admit their feelings of being overwhelmed by the ups and downs of motherhood, and so I thank God that He is divinely helping me to learn how to better handle my emotions now.
Honoring and cherishing my husband
Two years ago, I made a promise to my husband before God and many witnesses that I would love, cherish, honor… that dear man with which I share four walls, many meals, memories, joys, sorrows… life. Let me tell you, it was much easier to speak the promise, than it’s been to daily keep the promise! We’re sinners. Should I be surprised? Taking the extra effort every day to make my hubby feel like a king in his home is hard, but it’s also my joy. I’ve learned his habits, his preferences, his weaknesses and strengths, and in many ways I can cater to what helps and brings him joy. Doing this with creativity is an extra challenge, but also quite fun! I can only imagine how caring for little ones saps the energy to be creative, rested, willing… to serve my man. So I’m taking the time now to make those things a habit. Dear sister, after your Jesus, your husband must always come before the kiddos!
Putting my ultimate hope in Christ for satisfaction
None of this will matter…. at all…. if you’re not finding your hope and joy in Christ first and foremost. I’ve had to learn this through trying times, when nothing else made sense. It is comforting, in a strange way, to know that everything could fall apart in my life (again) and I’d still be able to stand firm on the Solid Rock, knowing that my inheritance in Christ, in heaven, has not been shaken (1 Peter 1:4). Without this bedrock to our daily comings and goings, whether married, single, mothering or not, we are walking on shifting sand and ultimately all our good deeds will be burned up (1 Cor. 3: 11-15). Many days this goal to keep my eyes fixed on eternity seems like impossibility, but confessing my weakness, and crying out to God, I always find that He will fix my heart and soul on Him. What a gift my mother gave to me, as I watched her live life this way. Today and in the future, I hope to give that gift to as many little ones God brings my way, whether in my church, my home, or my classroom.
Remember—there’s a reason—but it’s only a season!
Ruth