It’s been two months since I made the big transition from being of mom of 2, to a mom of 3!

Phew!

With that transition, I’ve spent a lot of time at home. Including my first week home from the hospital when a blizzard hit and I didn’t step out the front door for a week. A week! Never in my life has that happened and I kind of hope it never does again.

Times of transition and change always seem to provide a good opportunity to reflect and reevaluate things in my life. When it comes to mothering, I look back on what the season has been like, the challenges I’ve faced, and the areas I most want to grow.

With adding a third baby to the mix (and currently not getting out as often as I was), I’ve come to appreciate being at home even more. The Lord has been faithful to remind me that my home is where I am most needed and along with service to my church, is the most important place I spend my time.

Here are just three things I’ve been pondering the past couple weeks:

My children need me to be home

Even as a stay-at-home mom (which I like to call work-at-home mom ;-)), it can still be very easy to always be on the go. There is often so much to do and a plethora of options to fill up my time: groceries, errands, library, park, play dates, post office, ballet, swim, gym, and of course, Target!

I love being active and getting things done during the week. But I am also realizing that when I am constantly on the go, I’m more prone to miss things with my kids. I’m buckling carseats and making sure hands are held and the baby isn’t crying and lists aren’t flying and no one is wetting their pants for goodness sake! It’s much easier for me to get impatient, stressed, and misjudge situations with my children.

These days at home have taught me the importance of streamlining my week as much as I am able (because all of the things above are good things) so that I have more undistracted time with my children at home.

I need to slow down and really listen to their stories and made-up songs.

I need to say “yes” more than “not right now” when they say, “Mommy can you color with me?”And maybe even learn to draw a strange creature called a “minion” (even if I have to watch a youtube art lesson).

I need to show them how to clean their room (and not just expect them to know).

I need to pray for them and with them when they tell me that they want to believe in Jesus but they don’t understand why they can’t see Him right now and that they really wish He would just come sit on their bed.

I need to take the time to lay down with them and tell them story after story of “when you were a little girl” because one day they won’t be either.

A relationship cannot grow unless it is cultivated. And their little hearts are the softest kind of soil.

I need to be home

I think there can be a lot of pressure from others and even from ourselves, to always be on the go. 5 little words have been a great comfort to me lately, “It’s okay to stay home.”

And it is not only okay, it is good.

Titus 2 teaches us as young wives and moms that our home is not only where we should be busy, but that we actually need older women to remind us to spend our time there because we often forget.

What a load of pressure was recently lifted off of me when I shared with an older woman that I couldn’t seem to get out the door the same way as before and she gently reminded me I didn’t need to.

It’s okay to not get all those errands accomplished. It’s okay to not make every play date or library hour. It’s okay to spend an hour coloring and then two hours trying to clean it all up. It’s okay. 

I recently found a sweet print online that says, “Let’s Stay Home.” I printed it out and put it on my fridge because it reminds me of a little four year old who says to me often, “I just want to be home today.” 

And I want to say on more days than one, “Yes, that is exactly the plan.”

My husband needs me to be home

It’s often said, “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” It’s true though isn’t it? I’ve found that when I try to do too much outside my home, I’m not the happy and kind wife my husband loves to love.

When I make more time to be in the Word and focus my energies where they truly need to be, I am less frazzled and more content when my man walks through the door.

And even my Texan who thinks big and doesn’t analyze details will express in his way how much he appreciates how I’ve made our place a home.

He wants to come home not just because I’m there, but because he knows I want to be there. And that makes all the difference.

Because when I’m happy to be home, all those moments of cleaning up spilled milk, folding yet another pile of laundry, organizing a junk drawer, or wiping down a dirty toilet lid, show how much I love this life we’ve made together.

It says this home matters to me because you do.

I’m not just a “cleaning lady” who cleans to clean, I clean because I love.

I wash dishes because I love.

I wake up in the middle of the night to feed a baby because I love.

I clean a dirty oven because I love.

I make my husband his favorite dessert because I love.

I read stories in my pajamas without make-up on because I love.

I make paper chains and paper snowmen not because I’m “crafty” but because I love.

I do things that may seem meaningless to others or a waste of my mental energies because I love.

I love my husband. I love my children. And on top of all that, God is happy that I do (Titus 2:4).

So I think I will enjoy this season for a very long time.

And as much as I can, say, “Let’s stay home.”

It was Valentine’s Day. I held my husband’s hand with nervous excitement as we entered the ultrasound room. I had already heard our baby’s heartbeat five weeks earlier, but now, at 13 weeks, we would both get to see our precious child. It took only a few seconds of the ultrasound technician’s silence to confirm my deepest fears. Tears started streaming down my face before she even said anything. And then she said those two dreaded words, “I’m sorry.” I looked at Grant and together we stared at our child, frozen in time. It seemed we had come so far, but this was as far as we would go. As I looked longingly at the sweet frame of our little one whom we would never get to meet on this earth, I found myself praying silently, “Jesus, this is why you came to die. This death. This hurt. This pain. This is why.”

Continue reading at the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

It has been two years since Grant and I sold our yellow house and moved into an apartment while he is attending seminary. Two years, and I’m pretty sure our living room area alone has been rearranged at least 15 different ways. Grant will often walk in the door from work only hours later to say, “Is something different in here?” Because our space is small, it has made me even more conscious of being intentional about every piece of furniture in our home and trying to figure out creative ways to make it look homey. I often find satisfaction after making something old look new, but there have been many times when I have felt discouraged. Things often do not look the way I want them to and I run out of storage space for everyday items. And it’s not just the running and organizing of our home that can tempt me to be discouraged, there are tasks that I do not accomplish as timely or as often as I would like in any given day. I was feeling this particular discouragement one evening as I was cleaning the kitchen when Grant noticed my quietness, “GraceAnna, what’s the matter?” Before I could even think, overly dramatic words spilled out, “Sometimes, I feel like I’m failing.” As I spoke, my unaccomplished tasks loomed large before me. “GraceAnna,” Grant replied as he stopped my working hands, “When you are feeling this way you need to remember to ask yourself, ‘Am I doing what God has called me to do?’” I knew the answer all too well to that question and it immediately brought my little pity party into the light of truth. As Grant helped me finish cleaning, I was reminded how easy it is to get my priorities mixed up or desire to do more than God called me to do.

Remind Me of the Truth

We live in a world as women where we are constantly being bombarded with images and ideas of more things we can accomplish: Run a small business, further your education, start an Etsy shop, repaint the living room, write a blogpost, be more artistic, creative, thrifty, adventurous, and for goodness sake, be beautiful while you are at it in case you need to snap a selfie! Aspirations are a good thing and there’s nothing honorable or biblical about being unproductive or lazy. But what I’ve discovered is that while there are many voices sharing ideas of more things I can do, there are far fewer voices reminding me of the truth of who God wants me to be.

Love your husband.

Love your children.

Be self-controlled.

Be pure.

Be a worker at home.

Be kind.

Submit to your husband.

Allow God’s Word to be honored through your obedience.

These seemingly forgotten words do not burden me with more I should add on to what I am already doing. No, His Words strip away my false ideas of accomplishment and remind me that His ways are so much higher than my ways (Is 55:9). His Truth untangles the priorities on my to-do list and encourages me to be the kind of woman He wants me to be. His Word shows me what is truly valuable in this life. The Proverbs 31 woman is a beautiful picture of a busy and productive woman. She did so much and she was such a blessing to everyone. But it can be tempting to get caught up in the specific actions she was completing instead of seeing what I think the Lord wants us to see about this woman. It was not all the things she did that was the point, it was who she was. She was a woman of character. She loved her God and her family and everything she did flowed out of that heart.

I love Jeremiah 6:16 which says:

Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. 

Rest. Not a to-do list. Not self-deprecation or a frenzied desire to do more. His ways bring the heart rest.

Am I Doing What God Has Called Me To Do?

I’m so thankful that at the end of a long day I don’t have to evaluate my performance based on all the things I did or did not accomplish. Instead, I can pray, “Lord am I being faithful to what You have called me to do?” His commands for me are not burdensome. They look a lot like washing my husband’s dirty laundry, making his lunch, and letting him know how much I love him. It looks like teaching my three year old how to do a chore and training my littlest not to whine. It means enjoying time at the park with them knowing that they are the work God has called me to. God’s ways are good ways, they are beautiful, but they are also simple. His Word keeps me focused on His calling for me that doesn’t start or end with the colors meshing in my living room. Does not wisdom call and understanding lift up her voice? In a world that is shouting loudly about how I should invest my time, I want to ponder the ancient paths and listen to His voice above all others. His Word reminds me that faithfulness cannot be measured by a to-do list or captured in a photograph. They are the old paths, but they are the good ones.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. ~Robert Frost

One of my greatest desires, besides being a godly wife to Grant and mother to my girls, is to be a woman who knows and loves the Word of God. Without nourishment from God’s Word, my soul dries up and I cannot be the woman, much less the wife and mom or friend that God intended me to be. His Word is life. 

In Psalm 119:97, David says, “Oh how I love your law, it is my meditation all the day!”

As my daily schedule has gotten busier with a three year old and a one year old, I’ve had to figure out how to make my time with the Lord a priority while also remembering that God knows my heart and He is the One who called me to this task of motherhood.

What I’ve realized is that there is usually always time in my day to spend in His Word. It’s not always the time I would choose or as long as I would like,but God is faithful to provide the time I need even though it often means doing the next pile of laundry tomorrow or refusing to waste time doing something else.

And time with the Lord never disappoints. It’s life-giving, soul-stirring, humbling, convicting, encouraging…and with the Psalmist I find myself saying, Oh, how I love Your law!

I wanted to share here a post I wrote for True Woman on what the Lord is teaching me about making time to spend in His Word. This post is geared for moms of very little ones. Children who aren’t quite old enough be trained to quietly stay in their rooms or wait on breakfast and who still need a diaper change. I hope it encourages you!

I have also found this Bible from John MacArthur to be very helpful for keeping on track with daily Bible reading during busy times (along with my study Bible).

Lastly, I wanted to encourage you to join me for Women of the Word Month!

During the month of July, Crossway.org will be hosting Women of the Word Month—a 31-day online campaign designed to encourage women to get in the Word and stay in the Word during the busy days of summer.

Timed with the publication of two important new resources from Crossway—Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin and the ESV Women’s Devotional Bible—the campaign will feature a daily email devotional, as well as practical blog posts and weekly video interviews with gifted Bible teachers. Contributors include Jen Wilkin, Kathy Keller, Elyse Fitzpatrick, Gloria Furman, Paul David Tripp, Kristyn Getty, and more.

(via CBMWKaris)

 

If you are looking for some helpful ways to get in the Word and stay in the Word this summer, sign up and read more about it here. 

My mom is teaching a conference today: Refreshing the Heart (for mothers).

When it comes to mothering, my heart always welcomes refreshment!

And the only true refreshment comes from God’s Word, which I know my mom will be faithfully teaching today.

I wish I could be there but I am thankful that technology allows me to watch it from right where I am.

Here is the schedule:

1st session (9am EST): Refreshing Our Perspective

2nd session: Captivating Their Hearts

(Coffee break – screen will be blank during this time)

3rd session: Receiving His Blessing (and dealing with our mistakes)

4th session: Walking with Him, Faith in the Everyday Moments

(Sessions will end at lunch).

Watch LIVE http://www.cbcofbeaufort.org

Our weekly radio program, Mothering from the Heart, is on break for the summer. You can “like” the Mothering from the Heart Facebook page for frequent updates and information regarding when we will be back live again.