All else from Him, All else for Him

We will tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.
Psalm 78:4

From Raising Children Who Are Confident in God, a sermon by John Piper:
"All Christian parenting and Christian education begins with God. There is One ultimate, unchanging Reality, namely, God. All else in parenting and education comes from him. All else is for him. He is the first and the last and the center of parenting and education. He is the main thing in how you rear children and teach children and discipline children. It all begins with God and it all is built on God and it all is to be shaped by God. If there is one memory that our children should have of our families and our church it is this; they should remember God. God was first. God was central. There was a passion for the supremacy of God in all things."

I know that truth, and I believe that truth, and I'm doing my darndest to live that truth, and even so, the responsibility of it sucks the breath out of me when I really consider it. All else from Him, all else for Him- first and last and in between. I consider often- I cannot mold my children's heart- that is for Him alone- but please, Lord, allow me to show "a passion for the supremacy of God in all things."

Our foundation

Faith toward God is the foundation of effective mothering. Success as a mother doesn’t begin with hard work or sound principles or consistent discipline (as necessary as these are). It begins with God: His character, His faithfulness, His promises, His sovereignty. And as our understanding of these truths increases, so will our faith for mothering.

Carolyn Mahaney, girltalk, November 19, 2008

This morning I was reading in Romans, and this passage goes right along,

But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we eagerly wait for it. (Romans 8:25)

On the road of parenting, yes, there are markers along the way. But our satisfaction cannot be found in, as Matthew Henry says, "the things of time and sense." It is patience, faith in waiting, that smooths the path and brings purpose to the twists and turns in the journey. It is confidence in Him, that "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil. 1:6)

Lord, make me to know more of You; more of Your character, more of Your faithfulness, more of Your promises, more of Your sovereignty. Lord, increase my faith.

(art credit: Claude Monet, Poppies, Near Argenteuil, 1873)

New every morning

In coming to the Lord in prayer, in adoration, I often praise Him for His character, for His names. Those names, so many, so all-encompassing, and yet, I come back again and again to El Shaddai, God Almighty, the all sufficient.

Today I read the following, written by Pastor Phil Johnson, and oh, I nodded in agreement. Yes, I believe wholeheartedly in the promise of Ephesians 3:20, "in Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we can ask or think." But, I also know that my mind is small. His sufficiency is abundance in itself. Do I dare pray that I would be an even larger vessel for His grace?

I know of several struggling, struggling with relationships or with circumstance or with change or with physical ailments and disabilities, and I confess, I sometimes think, "now Lord? Is this yet enough?" Yet we can always be sure that HE is enough. His grace is sufficient for me. For them. For you. I hope this is a reminder and an encouragement.

When Elijah arrived, that woman and her little boy were on the verge of starvation. She was gathering a few sticks for fuel for what she was convinced would be the last meal she and her son would have before they died. But God graciously provided for the needs of that widow, her son, and Elijah for many weeks after that—not by giving them an overflow of abundance, but by miraculously providing a new handful of flour and a small portion of oil each day, so that their supplies, while never in surplus, were always sufficient for their daily needs.

That is a perfect picture of how God normally dispenses His grace. He gives us sufficient grace without giving us a surplus of grace. "His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is [His] faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). "He giveth more grace" (James 4:6)—but He dispenses His grace in accord with our present needs—often in handfuls and small measures, and rarely in superabundant portions. But the grace He gives is always sufficient.

Furthermore, sometimes, when God does want to lavish grace upon us in superabundant measure, the prelude to that is a dark and difficult turn of providence. Suffering is the pathway to glory. Hardship is the container into which God pours His grace. The larger the vessel, the greater the measure of grace.

Thank you to the ladies at Girl Talk for this gem:

"It is faith that enlivens our work with perpetual cheerfulness. It commits every part of it to God, in the hope, that even mistakes shall be overruled for his glory; and thus relieves us from an oppressive anxiety, often attendant upon a deep sense of our responsibility. The shortest way to peace will be found in casting ourselves upon God for daily pardon of deficiencies and supplies of grace, without looking too eagerly for present fruit."

The Christian Ministry, by Charles Bridges

Oh doesn't this speak truth?! In 2 Corinthians 5:7 Paul reminds us that we "walk by faith, not by sight." And that is indeed, so very often, the path of parenting- we don't always see the "present fruit," and yet the call is to persevere, through to that promise of "when they are old..." Daily I have to be back at "casting (myself) upon God," for pardon, for forgiveness, for grace, and yet, this reminds us that "even mistakes shall be overruled for His glory."

I thought that Daylight Forest was a good accompaniment- in the midst of the density of the forest, we see the glimmer of light ahead...

(art credit to Willo Huard, Silverdale, Washington)

Leben

Leben means "life" in German. It is also the title of a great resource about great people and events associated with the Reformation. In this journal are stories of great heroes of the faith who have gone before us. These stories tell of the great cost men and women of God paid to see His Kingdom established. They are the ones who have faithfully passed the baton to the generations which followed them.

My hope is that as we examine the qualities of those who laid such an incredible foundation of faith for our generation, we will be challenged and motivated to think generationally-- and eternally --about what kind of inheritance we want to leave.

This task can seem daunting, at the same time, it is exciting to be counted among His people, to march for His name, to raise up children for His name's sake. What a PRIVILEGE!

Do check out these journals available online for free... and be inspired. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us AND remember, He who has called us in faithful and also will do it!

Press on!