A message for mothers.....Be of good courage

Sorry to all who may have been waiting for a while to see a post make it's way here  - Life just happens and time flies!

So...Happy Mothers Day to all you home educating mums out there.
 I wonder how you are feeling today?
Perhaps you feel on top of everything and are delighting in being  Queen of your kingdom, all your little princes and princesses are today showing you - we love you, you're great, thanks for everything, you do a grand job!
 Or,  maybe today you are feeling less than perfect....just keeping your head above water maybe.....your little ones are also saying thank you, we love you, you're a great mum, ....but maybe you do not believe it? Maybe you are feeling a down right failure in some areas.
As Mums in general, especially home educating ones, we have important decisions to make all the time  - and our choices affect our children and their future.....It's a big job, with awesome responsibility... Maybe some of you are in a place right now of -'I'm just not enough' , this is too big a job, what hope do I have of doing a good job with my kids and their learning....there are all sorts of reasons why we get to this place every now and then. Like the children of Israel we look at the promised land and cry out , 'the land is good but it's inhabited by giants!'

Please mums - be encouraged. We have all been there, stayed there for a bit, moved on and sometimes gone back there again for a regular visit!

My mother in law - a godly Titus 2 woman - unknowingly encouraged me with this week by sharing a particular passage from the bible. I have been in this  'overwhelmed with the job and responsibility, and fear of failing my boys'  place this week as I am looking to try to make decisions in curriculum , habit training, character development etc for the coming school year. I am fully aware of the last 2 years - the wrong choices, failed attempts and wasted time on different curriculum etc. And then there is the future....gulp. What if I make the wrong choice, what if  when they are 17 they don't know about x, y and z and everyone else does, what if..... what if..... what if....  STOP!

What if.....You are not alone in this job?
What if .....You have a co-worker?
What if .....Your co-worker is wise, loving, strong, ready to give wisdom, love and strength when ever you ask for it....?
What if......Your co-worker has foreseen the future of your child, has a tailor made plan for your child and made provision for it....? (Jeremiah 29 v 11) (2 cor 9 v 8)
What if.......Your co-worker then goes one step further and says, "I am your co-worker you just plant the seed...I'll take care of the growth ?....

So then  - all God asks of me (aside from training and disciplining the children) is to prayerfully plant the seeds He tells me to,  in their  lives - He will take care of the rest....  He knows the plans He has for them in the future, and He knows what each child will need to walk in those plans. He has already put talents and gifts in each child ready for use in His service later -we just plant seeds, water seeds, and He will cause the growth.

The passage, I mentioned earlier, that my mother in law read was this:

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.....For we are labourers together with God....
1Cor 3: 6-9

I hope this gives some of you encouragement for the enormous task we have as mothers.... and let us not forget - His grace is sufficient for us.

Mothers!
You have a fellow labourer in your work, a co-worker.
Just think for a moment on who He is, what He has done.
 He is Almighty God, Jehovah Jireh - the God whose provision will be seen, He is the creator of the earth, the heavens , the entire, vast and awesome universe, He created you , formed you , loves you, sent His son to die for you - will He not now give you anything you need? Having done so much for you - will He now abandon you? NO!  You may feel like a grasshopper compared to what ever giants are in your life, but you are not taking on that giant alone -  those giants are like dust to Him  who says to you, 'Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be dismayed: for the LORD your God is with you..' and,  'I will not fail you, nor forsake you..' Joshua ch 1 v 5, 9

There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in His excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, 'Destroy them'. Deuteronomy 33 v 27

 May we be of a different spirit like Joshua and Caleb, and say 'The LORD is with us, fear them not!' Numbers 14 v 9



Grace and Peace xx