A Mom After God's Own Heart

My friend Danielle recently inspired me with her post about being a "Student of Motherhood (you should check it out)." I loved the points she made about how we study and prepare for every job in life, and how we should give the same attention (not just going by our instincts) for the most important job we have - being a Mom. I really want to be intentional about how I raise my children and Danielle's post sent me back thinking through a book I just read. The book really made me examine how I interact with my kids and whether I am daily pointing them towards God or not. (I think this ties into being a Student of Motherhood because the more I take the time to read books like this, the more I learn and gain perspective about how to raise children who love God. I really need to spend time continuing to develop my knowledge to be a great parent for my kids.)

The book is called "A Mom After God's Own Heart." It was a great book and I thought I would share some things I learned. The title jumped right out at me because of course that is what I want to be. The key emphasis of the book was that in order to raise children who love God, we need to love Him ourselves and demonstrate this for our children every day. "Do you want your children to love God? Then simply talk about Him. Why talk about God? Because we talk about what's important to us. And when we don't talk about God we send a loud message to our children that God really isn't that important to us."

The author continually emphasized that this needs to start with our own hearts and that we should be intentional with our kids right from birth. "A Mom can never begin too early to teach God's Word diligently to her children." "Imagine the heart, faith and emotion of the Mom who holds her baby and prays Psalm 121 over her newborn. The Lord is your keeper...your shade at your right hand..."

At the end of each chapter she helps to give practical tips that we can do to take action on what we've learned. She calls it "Little Choices That Reap Big Blessings." Here are a few that really stood out to me:

1. Read from the Bible first - "As a busy Mom of a family that runs on a variety of schedules, there's only so much time that can be found for reading together. So when that precious time comes around, be sure you treat the Bible as the most important book."
2. Examine your daily routine for opportunities - "Do you have little ones at home during the day? How can God be the center of their at-home time? You could have verses for them to memorize and illustrate with crayons and markers...have a CD of children's hymns that play in the background all day...Do you play DVD's in your home? If so have a storehouse of Christian videos to fill their minds with teaching about God."
3. Budget for books - "It's staggering how much a family can pay for cable TV service, videos and CD's. So don't hesitate to have a budget for Jesus books."
4. Pray as a lifestyle, Create a Family Prayer List - "As you and your family deal with the everyday cares of life, make it a point to pray...Let them see that prayer is a natural first response to everything."
5. Lavish them with love - "Write '3 ways I can love my children today' on a 3x5 card and list three choices you can make today that say, 'I love you, I cherish' you to the little and big people that make up your family."

What great responsibility God has given me to raise the most precious people - Raider, Haylie and James... How could I do anything else but take it very seriously, as a great honor and gift, definitely something where I shouldn't be "winging it!"