We women are extraordinary creatures. We can be completely short and unmerciful with those we love then, 3 minutes later, break into tears at commercials.....what's that about? Do you identify with this? Seriously, I can be prayed up, had my quiet time, content and loving life, then........my family comes home. Being a wife and mom is hard!! Why didn't someone tell me about this! Hey mom, where was the warning? Are you laughing at me from heaven! Stop that!
That being said, I have had my share of train wrecks as a parent. I sat at ballgames acting like my kid was the next Chipper Jones, constantly evaluating what the coach was doing as if I was Bobby Cox himself. I've enabled bad behavior with teachers because I did not want to see that my kid was out of control. I've been prideful and determined to "win" the power struggle with my kids that, actually, no one ever wins. I've failed to be encouraging when needed but excelled at pointing out and dwelling on the negative. I've been lousy at communicating and at being transparent because I was too prideful to let them know that I made mistakes too.
Looking back, many of our train wrecks could have been avoided altogether or, at the very least, been less painful, had I stopped to ask God for help, for wisdom, for blessing. If I had only realized that seeking God before the disaster instead of after just might have derailed that freight train that was coming straight at my family!! Then again, sometimes I drove the freight train!! My missing ingredient was the priority I placed on things in my life. I had it all out of order. I was in control! Well, that worked out well.
So why am I telling you this? It is not because I enjoy the humility of it all. I write all this because I'm being obedient to God, finally! Being a mom and wife is hard and I've only realized that we are commanded to come alongside each other and as "iron sharpens iron" teach the younger women to love their husbands and children, to place their priorities on their families and God first, to embrace the special role God has given women.
Women, we are remarkable human beings with God-given special nurturing abilities and just amazing power to change the lives of those around us, for good...or bad. Our children hang on our words and love us like no other person they will ever know. When we love our husbands unconditionally instead of nagging, they are transformed by our love.
God has uniquely gifted you and called you to the most important job in the world- being a wife and mother. It is my prayer that you realize how blessed you are to be a woman and that you seek Him daily in impacting your family for His kingdom. I pray you learn from my mistakes! Your mission field is right there at your house! Embrace this calling!
Titus 2:3-5: Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
Proverbs 27:15-17: A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day; 16 restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
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