“My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with Me; the one whose walk is blameless will minister to Me.”
Psalm 101:6
There is nothing more sweetly humbling nor more meaningful than when the Lord speaks to us through our children. I have found in motherhood that often the children teach me more than I teach them. They are used to sanctify me and keep me accountable. Indeed, motherhood is frequently an unexpected role reversal with the children, usually unknowingly, being used as a precious tool in the Potter’s hands as He shapes the parent’s heart.
On a rare occasion recently as I was traveling for a few days away from the family, one of my heart’s prayers was that they would grow in the Lord in ways that can only happen with me away. I remember Beth Moore saying once when she was commenting on being away from home some weekends to teach at women’s Bible conferences, “The Holy Spirit has more room to work in my family and home when I am out of the way.” That was my prayer. I asked the Holy Spirit to sweetly work in their hearts so the children grow in confidence, trust and maturity in the Lord. I asked the Lord to do beautiful things in their hearts that made it so worth this wife and mommy going away. I also asked the Lord to bless Jim in very personal ways and to minister to his heart.
When I was away for those few days, Jim took over the daily school-day routines with the cherubs for two days. He chauffeured them to and from school and kept the sweet drive-time traditions the children and I have created together. He prayed with them first and then sang worship songs together the rest of the way in to school.
I was SO amazed by God’s goodness when Jim shared with me how Joshua ministered to him one of those mornings. Here is a snippet of an e-mail Jim subsequently sent to his Wednesday Morning Guys Prayer/Bible Study group to share with them what God had done.
“As I prayed with the kids on the car-ride into school on Friday morning, I told the Lord that I was feeling anxious about all I had to do that day. My son, Joshua, picked up on this and said to me afterwards: ‘Dad, I have a really good verse for you. It’s Philippians 4:6-7. God doesn’t want you to be anxious about anything, Dad. Maybe you should look it up in your Bible. Here, I’ll find it for you…’ And then he proceeded to look it up in my King James and recite it to me. ‘Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.’ Wow! I don’t know if I was more blessed by the verse, or by the fact that my 10-year-old son was ministering to me. I was so pleased that my son knew this verse and was in tune enough with my prayer that I stopped thinking about all I had to get done that day. Praise you, Father, for blessing me through my son… and through your Son…”
God answered my prayers in the most beautiful and serendipitous way. God ministered to Jim’s heart in a very personal way…through his son. Amazing. Truly there is no greater joy. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 1:4 Just as God ministers His grace to us through His Son, He also uses our children to minister to us. Simply beautiful.
“Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”
Psalm 127:3
Unknown says
That is so beautiful. What a blessing to harvest the fruit of the way your are raising your kids. YAY!
Fields of gold says
Beautiful memories right there! Thank you, Jim and your kiddos for sharing it. What deep stores of treasure the cherubs have!
Love y'all!
p.s. will you drive me to work please? 🙂