Go into the world and make disciples…..My disciple, Joy!
A disciple of Christ, one wholeheartedly devoted to Him and His kingdom work
The next few weeks promise to be pretty overwhelmingly busy. Clay goes in for pre-ops on Monday and will have surgery on Tuesday, and I will have the care of him next week and beyond until all is well. I have book proposals, am teaching 2 discipleship groups in my home for young moms and have a Bible study of 60 women every month. Attending 2 conferences at the end of the month–Relevant (can’t wait) and an officer’s wives air force conference in Hawaii and then the holiday season hits as well as work on our 4 national women’s conferences, and blogs and you all know the story of a busy life. meals, cleaning the house, washing clothes, email, family responsibilities. But, I seek to keep my goals of discipling my children at the center, along with having a quiet time and prayer with God and loving and walking with Clay in our lives together.
So, I charted out my day: Call each of the kids, encourage them, pray with them, share verses, write emails to the boys who especially need encouragement right now, to keep hope and to keep faithful. I needed to fill their cups so I could have integrity when I pursued my other responsibilities. They are the book most people will read in my life, so they come first.
It is also why I knew I wanted to spend all day yesterday with Joy, because she is my priority and it was her day off from college classes. The piles of work and housecleaning will still be there, but this could very well be my last year with Joy. She is such a driven, idealistic, motivated young woman, and unless the Lord changes plans, she will be off to college next year. I do not want to miss one minute of being with her–speaking into her life, continuing to help shape her ideals, filling her cup with love and affirmation. So, she came before the piles.
But even as Jesus took three years off from the work of the universe in order to pass his ministry on to his disciples, to live with them, eat with them, love them, instruct them, so as mothers, if we want the same kind of life-changing impact on our children, it will require the sacrifice of our time, our commitments, and it will be inconvenient and life-consuming. But leaving godly disciples is the greatest work we will ever achieve. As I have said many times before, when I meet Jesus face to face, He will say, “What did you do to invest, love, teach your children the secrets of the kingdom of God so that they will love me and serve me with wholehearted devotion?”
Yesterday, I took Joy away to the mountains because I wanted to have extended time with her on her day off to focus on messages of the heart and to just tie the strings of our hearts a little faster. It took over 6 hours and I left my computer, and my cell phone in the car as we hiked. We decided that if we were eaten by a bear, everyone would think we were like Enoch who walked with God and then he was not.
How could I have known what was going into her heart? She told me through her own blog! But here is the rest of the story, written by Joy, which was a gift to my own heart. She started it herself, she wrote the article from her heart, unprompted, but fully an encouragement to me. Your heart will be deeply encouraged by Joy’s article, to know that God has created you, too, to have heart impact on your own precious ones. What a blessing to be a part of God’s work and to have a best friend in the end, as well. Below is her link:
http://joynessthebrave.wordpress.com/
Lovely, fun, interesting, spiritual, intelligent, charming, 16 year old, Joy. We drank coffee, played music too loud and sang lots of songs, amongst others, Chris Rice–Here in My Cathedral, Rich Mullins and others. She is my cherished, heart friend.
Love this! Thank you!
This is such a difficult thing for me as a young mother. The world and even the church tells me that I should be doing other things, serving God in ways outside of my home. It is difficult to not feel guilty when I say “no”, even to good things in the church, because I feel as though I need to be with my children, raising them and shepherding their hearts.
Thank you for your discipleship to me just in saying what you do in your day and how you figure out your priorities – that is a constant struggle of mine! I love how you put your children before the piles of laundry and dishes. It is so easy for us to think we have to keep our home to a certain standard when actually that’s not as important to God
Thanks for this great encouraging post!
As always, Sally, you encourage and uplift. thank you.
precious!
Sally, you are so inspiring. I do not know many woman like you who are so intentional!! I am so challenged by your life. Thanks for being real and for sharing that ‘realness’ with the rest of us! Love you!
Thank you for sharing this, Sally. Lately I have struggled with feeling like I’m “not doing anything big” for God, but I know that the reality is that I am doing something great by being home with my little ones. I want to be better about being intentional with them instead of feeling frustrated.
They are the book most people will read … Inconvenient … I love the honesty from whence you share, Sally. Thank you for being real while reaching always higher. I love and appreciate you! Kristen
SO timely, Sally! Thank you. x
I just wanted to say that I was really blessed by reading “So, I charted out my day: Call each of the kids, encourage them, pray with them, share verses, write emails to the boys who especially need encouragement right now, to keep hope and to keep faithful”….It gives the picture of the never ending nature of motherhood-discipleship. As a mother whose children haven’t left home yet it challenged me of what is ahead for me. Thank you.