Shepherd Parenting

My friend, Christa Kirk-Webber, wrote a daily devotional called "Spirit Calling". She believed that she should record some of the things that she felt the Holy Spirit was putting on her heart. As I read it each day, I am amazed at how it ministers to me so many times. This post is from June 9th. It really touched me as an example of how people should go about parenting their children. Although I did the best that I could in raising my children, I wish that I had had a better understanding of discipleship and how influential my role as a mother and leader could be. I would have appreciated having and applying this insight when I was a young mother.

"Why do so many hurt their children and claim to be discipling them in My name? I would never take My hand or a whip to a little one. Discipline is discipleship...it is role modeling love and grace, service to others. It never berates, never condemns, and never disrespects. Your children are learning and growing, they will make many mistakes, they will fall short of your expectations. Show them grace as I have shown it to you. Surrender your parenting to Me...trust Me to lead and guide them through you in a gentle and loving way, as a shepherd leads his sheep."

One thing that touched my heart was thinking about how patient, loving, kind and full of mercy Jesus is toward me. He is my example, so following HIm, I need to behave in that way toward everyone I meet. Following Jesus means walking in and showing His love to others. His love is spelled out in 2 Corinthians 13.

To practice this kind of love is impossible without the Lord. But since all things are possible with God, as we invite Him into our lives and seek to practice His will for us to share His love, we become more able as we practice. Jesus said that He would go away and that He would send the Holy Spirit to lead us in all the truth and to give us power. In this case, the power to love.

I hope that you are encouraged by this post to love others with the love of God.

God bless you in your efforts.

Sisterhood

This past weekend, I attended a Christian women's retreat. It was hosted in a beautiful country setting that reflected God's peace. Although it was organized by a certain denomination, I was impressed that women of all Christian denominations were welcome. To me this was an example of God's love to all of us who are sisters in Christ. The weekend was a time of reflection, sharing the goodness and faithfulness of God, encouragement and fun. I was blessed.

On the way home, I remembered another time that I had experienced a kind of supernatural sisterhood. At the time, our youngest daughter was a young teen. I was friends with a woman and her daughter. The daughter decided to open her home for craft nights, (I can't remember how often, but it was on a regular basis), for whoever wanted to come. All ages were welcome.

There ended up being three generations of women doing a variety of crafts together: My generation (women in their 50s), my friend's daughter's generation (women in their 30s) and my daughter's generation (teens). The space was relatively small, but God made a way for all of us to fit together. We had so much fun making the crafts.

Being an only girl with three brothers in my family, this was my first exposure to this type of sisterhood. The feeling that really struck me was the encouragement that each woman gave to the other. It was amazing having women of different generations encouraging and lifting each other up. To hear an older woman praising the work of a teenager or a teenager impressed by the handiwork of someone older than she, was incredible.

Even though this happened over twenty years ago, the sense of how powerful loving, Christian sisterhood can be, has stayed with me. In my own life, especially during this most recent season of grieving, the prayers, encouragement and friendship extended to me by my daughters and women friends has been invaluable. Each one has thrown me a life-line of hope in each of their unique ways.

I wrote this post to bring to your awareness the power of positive women friends that we invite into our lives. Women have so many shared experiences as well as experiences in common. that it is easy to relate to one another in empathy and understanding. We can also be very influential in the life of another woman or female of any age. We can be the encourager, the listening ear, the prayer warrior, the life-line thrower for the women in our lives. I hope that we will all look for more opportunities to do so.

Even If song by Mercy Me

This song is one of my favorites. It helps me to encourage myself through the hard times. Basically, it speaks about how easy it is to trust in the Lord when things are going well and how hard it is when they are not.

But in spite of times of difficulty, I still choose to trust in the Lord because as I reflect on my life, I have experienced His faithfulness, His mercy and grace in even the most difficult circumstances. I know that He has a great plan for my life that He will bring to fruition. My part is to embrace that plan and walk in His will for my life. I know that He has my best interest at heart and just as a human parent wants the best for their children, the Lord wants to bestow His best on me and on all His children.

I am so grateful for His presence in my life.: the peace He gives me; the strength; the joy; the hope; the love; the faith to trust Him in all things, even when it's hard to see the sunlight after the storm.

My prayer is that through my sharing, you too, can embrace His plan for you and that no matter what stage of life you are in, you too, can trust in the Lord, follow His lead, and live your life to the fullest.