As we kick off the new year, we'll spend the next few weeks thinking God's goodness in bringing physical new life, sweet babes and ways we can come around and encourage parents' in these days of joy and also exhaustion.
I asked Carolyn Leslie, Mom of 3, Grandma of 2 to share about how she was able to abide in Christ and remain in His Word while raising little ones. Carolyn and I have been in small group the past two and half years and her wisdom and love for the Lord has been so encouraging to me, I pray her words will encourage you as well:
"As a young mom with 3 kids under 6 years old I remember a constant struggle to spend deep intentional time in God's word and prayer. I longed daily to be disciplined to dig in and know scripture better, memorize it, and as the church I grew up in would say, "feed on Christ in my heart by faith with thanksgiving". My struggle was squeezing in alone time to soak up God's word, pray and praise Him each day. A huge breakthrough came for me when I heard an older lady at our church say, "Jesus freed us to worship in spirit and in truth". In Jesus, we are given grace upon grace to worship and enter God's presence anywhere and anytime all through our days' activities and tasks. She encouraged us to turn spots in our daily routine into sanctuaries of His grace and offer worship to Him as we live life.
My new sanctuary became my kitchen sink. Typically, my children left me alone for 10-15 minutes as I washed dishes several times a day. I began to put scripture verses on the windowsill above my sink to meditate on and memorize. Standing there washing the dishes I invited Jesus to wash away my stains of sin. I praised and thanked Him for His provisions of food and other blessings He gave our family. This new sanctuary in my kitchen spoke to me of God's love, grace and freedom from the self-condemnation of not being disciplined enough to rise super early or stay up super late to commune with Him. It was a spiritual life-changer for me. God knew the work He had given me as a mother and wife and He was delighted to meet me at "the sink" and refresh and renew me with His Spirit. It became one of my favorite spots to worship and listen to my Lord.
Right now with my kids grown and gone Colossians 1:15-16 is sitting on my windowsill as a reminder in this pandemic season that He has authority over all of creation and powers. I still need to be anchored in His truth, to praise Him as Lord of all, and stay near to Him!"
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