Mom, You Can Thrive! (Part III)
By Karen Schott
Editor’s note: During Gary’s recovery from his 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 final part of her three-part 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.
Daily times of being in the Word and in prayer are essential to thriving. I would like to propose another aspect of achieving that place where we can say that we are thriving.
Spouses Helping Each Other Thrive
Ever since our children were very small – I remember our oldest two children being two years old and a few months old – when my husband decided that he would take the children with him on Saturday mornings for about two hours. With infants for many years, two hours was about the limit. As we no longer had infants, that time span has increased to all of Saturday morning. My gracious husband took and still takes full responsibility for the children during that time. Chores, projects, errands, play, working and being together has taken place during this time over the years. This time has accomplished many things in our family. My husband could speak to this. But I want to speak to what those hours on Saturday mornings have done for me.
When we started this years ago, I had the thought that, “Oh, I can get the house cleaned.” It was very soon that the Lord prompted me to use the time to “get away” with Him. We all need time with our Father, just as Jesus did. These times, Saturday after Saturday have been the sweetest times of my life. Tears come to my eyes as I write this. What the Lord has done in me during these Saturday morning hours, I will never trade for anything. Don’t worry, I still cleaned the house but after spending that extended time with the Lord, I cleaned with a different heart, a heart of worship.
The Gift of Time with Jesus
The house is quiet. I begin to pour out my heart to Him. Whatever it is – my sin, my failings, my lack of faith. The Lord picks me up and says, “You are my daughter.” I begin to worship Him, the tears flow from the joy of being in His presence. His presence is so very real. I commune with Him.
He speaks to my heart. In the stillness, in the quietness I can hear Him. I can know what He is asking of me. He teaches me how to pray, and what to pray.
Many times, I feel like Mary in Luke 2:19 when the shepherds came to see the Christ child, and she kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. We can have that same communion with God as Mary did. I come away from these times refreshed, my heart is full. I have a peace and joy that only Jesus can give. My thinking is clear. I can see life and situations from the correct perspective. I do not want to leave His presence. But I know God is with me and I can call upon Him all the time.
Prioritize Going to the Secret Place
I encourage you to make that time of uninterrupted time with God a weekly priority. There is nothing more beautiful than a time set apart to worship, to sing, to bow, to weep, to seek forgiveness, to pray, to hear, to pour out your heart before our living God. He is worthy! There is nothing more that He desires for each of us than for us to come before Him. He will meet us there every time.
These times with God are so precious to me. There is safety, joy, and restoration as we abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He covers us with His feathers and under His wings, we can trust Him to be our shield and buckler (Psalm 91). Sisters, I pray that each of us run to that place, where we can feast. I pray that we allow our mind, our soul, to dwell in that secret place.
Does this mean that life circumstances will be easy or suitable to our fleshly liking? No, not at all. But when we have dwelt in that secret place of the Most High, we know it is God directing our lives and we welcome what He brings our way. We trust Him, we go to the cross, lay down our lives, lay down our burdens, and we leave them there. We must not pick our burdens back up again. Why? Because we trust the One who orders our steps. We make our plans and we should make wise plans – plans for organizing our home, plans for teaching and training our children, plans for the future, plans with our husbands – but it is the Lord who orders our steps (Proverbs 16:9). When we fully trust God with our lives, when we have drunk from the never-ending source of Living Water, rivers of living water will flow out from us. We just have to keep going back to the source. May each of us make that our highest priority.
Pray for Each Other
Time is a limited resource. May the Lord give us each wisdom of how to set apart time to be in His presence getting filled and refilled. My husband has blessed me so much in the way of making sure I have time with God. That brings tears to my eyes too. I know that each of us have different circumstances and your situation may not look like mine. I pray, and I will pray, that each of you can get away with God on a daily basis and a weekly set apart time.
May the Lord continue to teach us, grow us, make us more like Him as we lay our lives down for His glory. His desire is that we have rivers of living water flowing from our bellies, despite any circumstances we find ourselves in. Thriving is having rivers of living water flowing out of us. The source of living water is Jesus Christ. All glory and praise to Him! May we, as moms, thrive to the glory of God!