Mom, You Can Thrive! (Part II)
By Karen Schott
Editor’s note: During Gary’s recovery from his upcoming knee surgery, WCFS mom and missionary Karen Schott, has been speaking live from Cambodia at our monthly workshops. We will also be sharing the substance of her talks in the Family Heritage Developer. Below is the second part of her series on “Thriving.” Karen is the wife of Brad, the mother of six children, and the grandmother of one. Their oldest three children are WCFS graduates and they continue to homeschool their youngest three sons while the family ministers in the local villages of Cambodia.
Going to the source, drinking freely of Jesus Christ takes time. As busy moms, where does this time come from? This time is essential to our well-being, our health, our ability to love as Jesus loves, our deep down joy, our peace, and a heart that beats with the heart of Christ for His Kingdom. Time with Him is essential for rivers to flow from our belly. Where does this time come from?
Mornings with Jesus
Our mornings should start with Jesus. Our first thoughts should be of Him, not ourselves, not our day, not our worries. Just “Good morning, Lord! I worship You. I want to hear from you and I am excited what you have for me today!” No matter what season of life we are in, we need to make time with Jesus the important part of our day. Time when we can open the Word of God, read from the posture of, “Lord, what do you want to teach me today? I want to know. I want to understand.” He answers this prayer every time.
We read the Word of God, whether it is ten verses, one chapter, or five
chapters. We read until we have drunk of the Living Water. Don’t close the Bible until we have received from God what He wants us to receive for that day. He will speak through His Word when we still our mind and soul, and we wait and listen. We can’t live on yesterday’s bread.
God’s Word is Essential
As we read God’s Word, He whispers to our soul. He speaks life. We understand what He is trying to teach us. Sometimes He reassures us of His love for us. Sometimes He nudges us to deal with something unlovely in our own hearts. Sometimes the Scripture can be read as a prayer, our soul crying out to God. Sometimes He shows us His power. Each day as we read Scripture, we can read with confidence, knowing we read the Living Word of God so we can know the Living God and out of our bellies can come rivers of Living Water.
The Opportunity for Prayer
Next, I think of spending time in prayer. Prayer is a topic that has been well-written about. I don’t want to add to or subtract from others’ thoughts or theories. Prayer is such a privilege. We must come to God with an attitude of praise, of honor, of reverence. Because of Jesus Christ, we can come boldly to throne of grace! Hallelujah! The very
thought of coming before a holy God should put a fire of excitement in our soul. God Almighty is holy and we can come before
Him, worshipping Him and praising Him. We must take the time to deal with sin in our own lives as we come before Him. I don’t want anything to come between me and God. The Lord desires to free us from anything that is separating us from Him. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, KJV) We then lay our lives, our thoughts, our problems, our requests, our desires aside. And we worship Him. Our lives are not about us. They are all about putting God in His proper place. We seek Him and no other. Nothing for ourselves. We walk this life not for ourselves. We walk this life so that God may be glorified. “O Lord, I must decrease and You must increase.”
A Living Sacrifice
We must lay down our lives every morning and throughout the day. We must die to ourselves. When we are dead to ourselves, we can be filled with rivers of living water. I think sometimes we start going down the wrong path when our prayers are requests to God for our expectations to be met. Having expectations cause us our disappointments in life. And then we run to God to fix our situation or make it better. But when we do not have our own expectations of situations or how the day is supposed to go, we allow ourselves to be free. God is trying to teach us that His ways are so much higher than our own. We can rest in whatever God has for us and our family for that day or for that situation. A dead person (we’re supposed to be dead to our flesh right?) cannot have expectations. Our crucified self can trust fully in God’s sovereign plan and His ability to work in our life and the lives around us. What joy there is when we are empty of our expectations, empty of ourselves, and we honestly say, “God, today I live for You. Whatever You put in my path today, I know it is good. I know that You are making me more like You.”
Releasing Expectations
When we do not have expectations, we don’t get disappointed. Instead, we can look at everything God brings in our path with anticipation. “Yes God, this child has some really not good behaviors today.” We look at this situation and say, “God, what do You want to teach me in this? How do You want me to guide this child to You today?” When we have laid down our lives each day we begin to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us in each situation, showing us how to respond or what in our lives needs to be dealt with. We can look at each situation with anticipation. “God, I’m excited to see what You are doing in this.” Our lives are laid down for Him to do according to His will and purposes (Philippians 2:13). We can then give 100% to what He has put in front of us each day, knowing we have submitted to His will each day. We know He will give us strength to do whatever He asks us to do. His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). We do nothing from our own strength. He is our only source of strength.
When we go to Him each morning in prayer, we lay ourselves down once again and He fills us to overflowing. When we pray His will, when we seek His kingdom, we can know our lives are in His hands and He will take care of us. We need not worry about ourselves. We pray His will. Lord, show us Your will. Teach us how to pray. What joy there is in coming before our heavenly Father in prayer. He never fails to fill us up.
To be continued next month, when Karen will share how spouses can help each other thrive.