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My first ministry

This morning I clicked on day 2 of a 31-day devotional I'm doing from Pastor Brian Houston of Hillsong Church. Thinking it would be like every other Sunday morning where I'd wake up to find Scott already at church, crawl out of bed to get the kids and myself ready for church, throw some sort of convenience breakfast food at them on the way out to the car (yes, guilty there) and threaten them more times than should be needed to get in their seats so that we could go. Sounds like a sitcom, but I can promise it's never that enjoyable on this end!

As I read through the scriptures I found myself nodding along with all the words I was reading. Two of the verses were from Psalm 112:2 and Proverbs 13:22. Both urged me to recognize the importance of my influence to those around me, specifically my children.  The Word says that if I follow The Lord's commandments that I would be blessed, my children would be blessed, and their children would be blessed.  I was reminded by the verses in Deuteronomy 28 that "in due season" God would water my crop. In due season.  Those three little words can be frustrating. Why? Because they remind us to be patient. They remind us that our timing is not God's timing. In due season, we will reap a harvest. All the work of being a mom will be rewarded, "at the proper time", as the NLT version says. Though most days as a parent, and specifically a mom who has the ability to stay at home with my children while they are small, can be seen as a blessing, there are those days when I'm drowning in messes, pulling my children apart from each other, and correcting the same offense for the hundredth time that it can be hard to see my job as a blessing.  Or for some it may be hard to not see yourself as "just a mom". This is a very real struggle for stay-at-home moms that I plan on writing more on later.

That is when the words of the Psalmist challenge me the most. The goal is for my children to be blessed. If they are blessed, there's no way I am not. They are blessed by me, if I am raising them in the way God commands. What parent isn't blessed when watching our children become blessed? I want my legacy to reach far past my generation, into my children's children.  Again, I am reminded that my first ministry is that of my children.  I often struggle to accept and embrace that calling. Yes, I love my children fiercely and passionately. But as a woman who has discovered the calling on my life, and that being one outside the home, it is oftentimes very easy to overlook my first, and most important ministry-my family.  What good will it be if I lead hundreds of young women into growing relationships with Christ if I haven't done the very same for my own children? What a sad, and irresponsible thought.

So, this morning after finishing my devotional time, my kids screaming in the background, I drag myself out of the bed only to discover that Judah's cold had gotten worse, and Olivia's was still lingering after several days of medication.  In that moment, I had a choice. I wanted desperately to be in the house of the Lord on the first Sunday of a new and exciting year. I could have dressed my children and dragged them out of the house to endure another long, tiring Sunday. Instead, I took responsibility of my first calling, my first ministry-to my family. My family is no good to anyone else if we're not healthy.  Today will be another day spent inside resting, recovering from this busy holiday season, and nurturing my first ministry.  Today is not just another day. It is an opportunity to pour into my family and work at building my legacy so that my children's children would be blessed by me!

Happy Sunday!

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