I just read Sarah Mae's post today {I Reject That I Can Do It All.} and it made me smile! I've been struggling with what I feel God is 'calling' me to. Reading lots of christian mom blogs I've come across the theme that, as a mom, your ministry IS your family and if you are doing 'ministry' or anything outside your home/family then you've missed your 'calling' as a mom.
I've struggled with this since I feel I'm gifted in administration and have always (before children) helped my husband with the organizational side of youth ministry. I've been feeling guilty as though I were neglecting my children for trying to continue in this ministry by getting a sitter to help my husband out with youth events. Many people would tell me that "your season of life is different now" and "this will pass and you can go back to doing some of that someday."
I'm just not sure if ministering only to Your family is really biblical.
I don't want to wish aways this season of life. I don't want to hoard or wait to use my gifting until I'm in a different season of life. If I never work on anything or with anyone outside our home/family won't that lead to ego-centric children who don't know what it looks like to serve others (outside their family)?
I also feel I'm gifted in working with children but hadn't been helping with a church plant/community children's ministry because I might be out past my children's bath/bed time and because it was in a rough part of town I might be putting my family in some kind of danger. BUT about a month ago I decided I wanted to attempt it anyways.
We (as a family) went to the park were the children (infants-teens and some parents) were being fed both physical food but more importantly the Word of God. We ALL fell in love with this ministry.
We are building relationships with people we would have never met. My husband it getting to use his gifts. I am getting to love on more children. My children are learning tons! They are learning a different culture and how to love people who are different from them. They are learning what it looks like to worship corporately.
They are learning to follow directions from another adult. They are mingle with lots of different ages.
They are learning to share their parents. They are learning 1st hand how to, what we call "Love on people".
I encourage all of you stay-at-home, homeschooling mammas to create teachable moments! Find your gifting. Find your family's gifting! USE THEM!
Don't just be hearers of the word, be doers. "
Jesus replied,'But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.'" Luke 11:28 NLTDon't just tell your children what Gods Word says, SHOW them.
God allowed me to see that my vision of having an "as you are going, make disciples" kind of family, is well on its way with our learning inside AND outside the home approach. Last night at our churches Trunk or Treat ministry for Halloween my entire family served our community by handing out candy. I know, may not sound like much but let me break this down so you can see why this is my conformation:
We arrived at the church at 5 to set up our van.
We unhooked their car seats, setting them in the floor board of the van. We let them eat hotdogs while watching a movie (HUGE treat). Jamin got to sit in his stroller and enjoy the weather outside while Matt and I decorated the back hatch and loaded it with candy.
By 6pm all of our vehicles were organized into a giant 'safe circle' in our back parking lot, decorated, and loaded with candy to beginTrunk or Treat! From 6 until ~8 my 2 girls, Magdalene (3) and Isabella (2 in January), took turns giving candy to other children.
They were soooo excited to have their 'turn' to place giant handfuls of candy into trick-or-treaters bags. I loved watching their giant smiles. Izzie nearly chased children down in an attempt to give Everyone some candy. They did so good. They never complained that they didn't make the circle to collect candy for themselves. They weren't concerned with how much candy they gave away.
I love ministering not only to my family but with them!
How better to learn to love, worship, and serve than in your mother's lap?
~~~
What myths have you been taught about being a mom? What creative ways to you serve Jesus as a family?
*To see more pictures of the children's ministry I talked about, trunk or treat, or other ministries we do as a family Friend me on Facebook!!!
!["This customizable modern script wall name is popular for the mudroom, nursery, bedroom walls, and front door wreaths. The wooden wall name is precision cut with a laser for smooth edges and sanded clean before shipping. Ready to paint bedroom wall names have a dark edge that can be finished in the color of your choice. *MATERIAL: Baltic Birch Plywood *FONT: Fourth Bold *THICKNESS: 1/4\" inch *WIDTH: You choose from 12\" to 55\" inches long *Unfinished wood comes ready to paint or stain *Custom](http://i.pinimg.com/236x/ae/77/7b/ae777b6c6cd03a7f4948effe86749f77.jpg "\"This customizable modern script wall name is popular for the mudroom, nursery, bedroom walls, and front door wreaths. The wooden wall name is precision cut with a laser for smooth edges and sanded clean before shipping. Ready to paint bedroom wall names have a dark edge that can be finished in the color of your choice. *MATERIAL: Baltic Birch Plywood *FONT: Fourth Bold *THICKNESS: 1/4\\" inch *WIDTH: You choose from 12\\" to 55\\" inches long *Unfinished wood comes ready to paint or stain *Custom")
Julie,
Many of your words ring so true. I too believe that my family is my ministry, but I also want to reach out and show them by example what it means to minister to others. You’re giving yours an excellent example!
Susan, thank you so much for the kind words and encouragement! I have unofficially names you and several other mom-bloggers as my mentors in motherhood! {hope you don’t mind a stalker}
I in no way EVER want to neglect my family because no matter how much ‘good’ I think I’m doing in the community if my family life is a wreck then it’s all worthless!
Great post, Julie! I think everyone struggles with this work-life balance, whether they are a FT stay-at-home-mom or a FT working mom out of the home. If I could share from what we’ve learned with both my husband and I working FT, we just made church and our activities at church a high priority for those evening and weekend hours that we had. And when the kids were young, we just brought them with us to Youth Group (they’d play in an adjoining room or sometimes with us). Our Youth Group kids became close to them and our kids grew up with the Youth Group kids (one of our favorite pictures is of our son doing this clapping game while he was a toddler and all of these big youth kids clapping along!). Sure, there were balances and times when we put on a TV show in the other room so our kids wouldn’t disturb us when we were trying to talk about something serious at Youth Group, but I think by taking the kids to things we did at church and also finding friends and babysitters who could watch them while we went to church to go to various meetings or do various projects, it has taught our kids that service to others and loving God and putting a priority on our faith is second-nature to them. It was part of their upbringing. Now that our kids are older (8 and 11, so the 11 year old is one year out of Youth Group), last year, we decided to leave them home from Youth Group so they could be a little “grown up” (watching TV while we were gone, so not doing tons that could get them in trouble) and it is giving our daughter a little breather before she enters youth Group (gulp) so she can be excited about coming and kind of make that transition. It’s been kind of funny, though – she keeps trying to convince us to take our son to Youth Group because she says its not fair that he hasn’t gotten to hang out with the kids as much. You’ll find your balance. Whether its bringing thd kids to some of the things — like the Trunk or Treat or the community project where they are learning lessons at the same time– or finding someone to watch them at home so you can have some time for yourself to use your gifts with Matt, you’ll be a better mom and they’ll be fine and will ultimately benefit from it, too. A happy Mom and Dad mean a lot to kids! Hope that helps!
Thanks you sooooo much Betty for sharing from the FT working mom’s perspective. LOVE it! Being a Christ-follower looks a little different in each unique ‘part of the body’!!!