God’s Solution For Worrying Mothers

Motherhood is one of the toughest challenges women face, whether we're raising a gentle soul or a tantrum-throwing type A personality. Part of the challenge of motherhood is worry.

Jesus cautioned His followers not to worry about tomorrow because today has worry enough, but mothers spend many sleepless nights worrying about their children, whether they’re safe, and what their future will be. Add to this the many stages a child goes through, and you find yourself wondering why God thought you were up to the task of motherhood.

Speak God’s Truth

In 1 Samuel 1:10-18, we see Hannah pouring out her heart to God. Her biggest desire was to have a child. We see no emotion in Abraham in Genesis 22 when he takes Isaac up onto the mountain to sacrifice him as God commanded. However, in Genesis 22:5 we get a glimpse into Abraham’s thinking when he tells his servants they will be back. So whatever emotion he felt, he countered it with the truth God had spoken to him in Genesis 17 when He promised to make Abraham a father of many nations, establishing a covenant with Abraham and his descendants.

Maybe that’s where the answer to the challenges of motherhood lies. Instead of worrying, the best thing we can do for our children and ourselves is speak God’s truth over them and to them.

How do we do this? It starts with being saturated in God’s Word and staying on our knees in prayer. The best guidance we’ll get is while being in tune with God’s directives.

His Promise

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 is one of the best templates for teaching our children about God. If God is truly everything to us, then it’s not difficult to incorporate that love into our daily lives when sitting, walking by the way, lying down, or when we get up.

If we don’t impress anything else upon our children, God's love is most important. It will undergird them in all of life’s challenges and decisions. Is this a guarantee that their life will turn out perfect—that no harm will ever come to them?

No. God doesn’t promise that.

He only promises to walk with us through life’s trials. And absolutely nothing is averted or solved by worrying. Even when the worst happens, if we keep our eyes fixed on eternity and the promise that one day there will be no more suffering, no more pain, no more tears (Revelation 21), then no matter what comes our way on this earth, God will provide a way to get through it.

Cover your children in prayer. Psalm 139:13-16 tells us that God knew them before they were even knit together in your womb. As much as we love our children, He loves them even more. What a comforting thought to deflate worry when it attacks!

His Love Sustains 

This year, as I mark my second Mother’s Day after my daughter’s passing, God’s love sustains me. The Biblical promises I have stored in my heart and soul for decades, some of which my mother instilled in me early in life, will help carry me through Mother's Day and again later in the week on Lindsay's birthday. His love will sustain you on tough days, also.

What difficulty are you facing with your children? Do you have a Bible verse or passage that gives you comfort and strength as you walk through this trial? Join the conversation below and be an encouragement to other mothers.

If you have a prayer request, please leave a comment or email me confidential requests. I've love to pray for you!

Have a blessed Mother's Day.

In Christ,

Laura

©Laura Hodges Poole

Photos courtesy of Pixabay.com

Jesus' Destiny, The Empty Tomb, and Our Free Will

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30

I love Easter, even more than Christmas. Perhaps it has something to do with the purity in celebrating the resurrection versus the almost total commercialism Christmas has become. Maybe it’s because I feel the renewing of my spirit as I celebrate Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection, much like nature when it's reborn each spring.

Easter is a time for Christians to explore whether their lives conform to the image of Christ. How do we do that? By embracing the fact that it’s our destiny.

If you've chosen to be a Christian, then God has predestined you to fellowship with Him and do His Kingdom work. But how is this possible, when sin and our own self-focus often interfere? There’s only one way—through the cross.

Jesus’ earthly life and ministry culminated on the cross for our salvation. This was the central focus of everything He did. He loves us that much! (John 15:13). One could say His destiny was the cross. Yet, in order for His death to mean anything, He had to choose it.

God created us with free will to choose our own path. Once we encountered the cross and became Christians, we were no longer our own. Because of this, every decision we make reflects Christ to the world.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 

Christianity means living much deeper and broader than ourselves. We must never forget what an awesome and enormous responsibility it is to carry the name of Jesus.

The cross was costly. When Jesus was resurrected, an enormous price had been exacted on Him. He bore the wages for our sin. This Sunday, when we celebrate His resurrection, take a moment to consider that cost. It’s easy to become complacent in the politically correct society we live in, when faced with moral and social issues, and forget the price of our redemption. We have been “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

Are we willing to take up the cross of Christ and the cost it encompasses? Consider these thoughts from Jim Elliot, a martyred missionary:

“We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the twentieth century does not reckon with. But we are "harmless," and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the Cross. We are "sideliners"—coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh, that God would make us dangerous!”

Amen!

When you analyze your life, does it resemble the world or the cross? For Jesus, it was all about the cross. As we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior on Easter morning, can we say the same?

If you have a prayer request, leave a comment or e-mail me confidential requests. I’d love to pray for you.

Have a beautiful Resurrection Sunday!

Shalom,

Laura ✞

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

©Laura Hodges Poole

“Golgota” image courtesy of bela_kiefer/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

“Sunrise and Misty at Mountain” courtesy of Photokanok/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

God Speaks Even In Silence

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen… Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19:37-40

Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem before the Passover brought cheers from the crowd. Their response infuriated the Pharisees. Given all the evidence of Jesus being the Messiah, it’s hard to fathom that religious leaders would rebuke him. Yet, there it was. And the Pharisees carried their hatred all the way to Golgotha. 

Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees sends chills up my spine. Imagine stones crying out about our Savior. This shows the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. He can’t not speak about Christ! And if He can’t do it through a person, He’ll find another way. 

I became even more aware of that within the last month as we celebrated the life of one of the most impactful pastors that our country, and possibly the world, has ever seen. Reverend Billy Graham passed away in February at the age of 99. I respected and loved Billy Graham. I grew up watching his crusades in the 1970s, and they had a huge impact on me. 

As many other folks did after Graham’s death, I watched videos of his life, including one about his crusades to London, England. In 1954, at his first big international crusade, over 2 million people attended with 40,000 professions of faith. He returned in 1955 and again in 1966.

As stadiums packed out for the crusades, the British media began writing scathing reviews of his ministry. They claimed Billy Graham whipped his audiences into an emotional frenzy with the playing of Just As I Am for the altar call. They credited that with the mass number of conversions—not a genuine call of Christ.

So in 1966, when Billy Graham returned to England and held services at Earl Gray’s Court and Wembly Stadium, he ended the services differently. Cliff Barrows, Graham’s music director, recounted the story here:

That first night at Earl’s Court, Billy preached his heart out. There was a real sense of the presence of God. When he finished he said, “We are not going to have any music tonight. There’ll be no singing. But if the Spirit of God is speaking to your heart, then right where you are, just stand in your place, and make your way out to the aisle. Come down to the center through the side aisles and stand here in front of the platform.” He stood back and said, “Now, you come.”

For about fifteen seconds nobody moved. And that’s a long time. Then all of a sudden a seat squeaked, and then another, and another. Then hundreds of people began to stand. They walked to the aisle, shuffled down the long wooden floor that had been put down to cover the turf, and stood at the front.

We went thirty nights without a single note of the hymn, “Just as I Am,” which has been the signature tune of our Crusades through the years. We had never done that before.

When the reporters began to write about the invitation at Earl’s Court, they said that all they heard was a shuffling of feet on the floor. “Bring back ‘Just as I Am!’ The silence is killing us!” they wrote.

I’m pretty sure the reporters didn’t realize what an amazing testimony they were giving—not for Graham but for Christ. 

“The silence is killing us”—or as Jesus put it, “Even the stones will cry out.” Even in the silence, the Holy Spirit was speaking. The Pharisees couldn’t silence the Holy Spirit, and the reporters couldn’t either.

Hearing this story of Graham’s crusade confirmed for me that—even in what we perceive as our weak, human attempts to share the gospel—the Holy Spirit shines through our words, and often in our silence.  

St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”

I’ll take it even one step further. Our testimony is more than what we tell people about our salvation experience. It’s also lived out in our actions. That’s when God’s spirit is most evident.

And then when we do speak, people will listen.

Have you ever felt inadequate when telling people about Christ? Perhaps you have a Bible verse that’s encouraged you when you felt weak. I’d love for you to share in the comments below.

If you need prayer today, please feel free to leave a comment or email me confidential requests. I’d love to pray for you!

God Bless,
Laura

©Laura Hodges Poole

Photos courtesy of Pixabay.com.