Mentor's Moments

God Chose You to Parent your Children

God chose you to be the mother of your child, so obviously you are the best mother in the whole wide world for that child, but you can’t remain where you are now. We must keep growing, and I’ve learned that He gave me the kids I needed to grow Me. The Epistles promise us that God’s goal is to grow us up, and He won’t quit until we are “conformed to the image of Christ,” until we look like Jesus. Boy, He has a lot of faith, especially when I look at me.

So, yes, God gave your kids their mother, but He also gave them to you. I recently told someone God places us in the stream of Life, and around us are stones that we bump up against. Have you ever picked up a stone from a busy babbling brook? Having been tumbled together with other stones, they are smooth and well-rounded. God is doing that to us. He places us in families, churches, MOPS groups, sometimes with people very unlike ourselves, people we may not have chosen to hang with. And obviously I didn’t learn all my lessons that God sent my strong willed son to teach me, because He sent a grandson just like him into my life on a daily basis! KJ is so like my David that when he does something his uncle would have done, Beth says: “It’s Dave-ja’vu, all over again.” As big sister, she well remembers the challenges we faced in raising Dave.

I used to think, after three compliant children, that I was the perfect parent. Boy, I could write the book. Then God gave me David, and I knew I was an abject failure! I could never keep this child out of the penitentiary. (Fortunately, He sent me Steve, the youngest, as a joy to bind up the wounds.)

Dave is all grown up now, and as fine a young man as you’d ever want to meet. His Bible was on the coffee table in his bachelor pad one day, and he told me one of his buddies was thinking about divorce. Folks seem to wander through his life, so he shows them the roadmap. Last year he worked in a hotel. One of the maids had dropped out of school pregnant, and she never went back to finish. He not only inspired her to get her GED, he actually tutored her until she passed. That is just one example of the kind of friend he is. (I am so glad I didn’t kill him as a kid!)

Never, never give up on your kids, and remember God is using them to perfect you. Keep growing—He never stops polishing you! You’ll be a better mom next year than you are today if you allow God to grow you up. And He will be with you every step of the way.