I waved down a taxi and quickly settled into the front seat. I used a map, motions and my very limited language skills with the taxi driver. He smiled and nodded and we started off. I stealthily pulled a piece of literature out of my backpack and slipped it into the pocket of the door, praying that God would use it to point the driver to Himself. I was in a restricted country and was not free to openly speak of Jesus to anyone.
Several months later I was home again, hiking several miles back into the woods. A backpack full of emergency medical supplies was on my back as I carefully walked across a log that acted as a bridge for a small stream. My co-workers and I hurried as fast as we could, stopping only to switch the medical gear or hold a branch out of the way for those behind us. We finally reach our patient and hurried to stabilize her the best we could. The Search and Rescue crew quickly cut down some of the towering pine trees that surrounded us so that the helicopter could land. My EMS friends and I went home that night feeling good. We had made a difference in someone's life! While I didn't think about it much at the time, my life was full of adventure and purpose during that season. I was young and single, with a heart full of dreams and the passion to pursue them. Greater Adventure Fast forward a few years and I had started my parenting journey. And I found myself in the most overwhelming and far-reaching position I'd ever been in. I wasn't actually sure how to navigate it.
How does one go about shaping tiny souls for eternity? It didn't take me long to realize how strong human nature was or that I wasn't the only one concerned about their eternity. These tiny people were born in the middle of a war zone between God and Satan and God ordained my husband and I to protect and train them during the most crucial years of their lives.
None of my medical training answered my questions. Sneaking tracts into their cribs when they weren't looking didn't help at all. (Surprising, right?) I didn't know exactly how to start pointing them to Jesus. It took several years of trying things on my own. It took getting broken and learning things in God's boot camp. Slowly it dawned on me...the most important thing I can do for my kid's future is have a radical relationship with Jesus myself. Walking it Out I can preach to them until I sounded like a walking sermon, but unless I can demonstrate what loving and serving Jesus looks like in the daily grind of life, I am not going to influence them very much. And I discovered my greatest adventure lay in the everyday mundane. As I made this discovery I realized that God created me to be more than just a mom - He designed me to be a warrior mom with fire in my heart and passion in my soul.
It isn't always easy for me to remember this though. While I know that my greatest adventure is in the everyday moments of life, it's also those moments that threaten to overwhelm and distract me. But there is good in this because it makes me realize my own helplessness and forces me to rely on God and His strength, not my own.
The very nature of my mission sends me running to Jesus, my tower of refuge, over and over again. And as I have journeyed several years deeper into parenting, God has showed me that this parenting thing isn't a haphazard mission. He has my purpose as a mom carefully planned, from the boot camp and the gift of His own armor, to giving me a new identity and teaching me the reason behind the battle. Motherhood is an exhilarating and purposeful journey, full of adventures that are often enacted behind the walls of our own homes. While our mission may be hidden from anyone but our immediate family, our fulfillment of it has the potential to impact the far corners of the world. Will you join me in unleashing your warrior heart as a mom? I want to journey with you through:
I was hungry for answers and I know other moms are too. So I hope you'll join me in this mission God has called each of us moms to fulfill.
The souls of our children are at stake at we cannot afford to sit back and do nothing when God has clearly called us to battle. Join me in the trenches!
2 Comments
Norma Newswanger
7/24/2018 12:27:45 pm
Would love to get these
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Hi, Stefani. Having kids is really a big responsibility, specially on our desire to pass our Spiritual burden to them. But all things will work together for our good. We just need to keep walking straight and always looking unto the Author and Finisher of our faith.
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I am on a journey to know Jesus better, and be the wife, mommy and friend that God created me to be, all within the walls of my own little home. <3
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