What is your ministry?

"What is your ministry?"

The question hit me, and I'll confess, left me speechless.
Here I sat, surrounded by my children, by far an imperfect and failing sinner, but also a soul daily (let's face it, sometimes minutely) struggling to lift up my Cross and trying to follow Him.
To follow Him in the greatest calling of my life: the raising, training, and discipling of my children.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127:3-5

As I contemplated how to answer, my heart grieved what she so obviously missed to see:
The heritage and blessing that is my full time ministry: my children.
When did we, as Christians, lose sight of the amazing gift that is our children? Lose sight of the job training, the reaching of little hearts for the Lord, filling the earth with warriors for Christ, is?
The Bible says  our children are the fruit of the womb, a reward, a blessing, they are like arrows in the hand of a warrior. I don't think you can get much clearer than that: children are a wonderful and beautiful blessing from the Lord. 

A ministry is something you serve and work at, pray for, are diligent in, plan, give time and energy above and beyond, all things that define parenting at it's core. 
How can the Church grow, the words of Christ be heard throughout the world, if we do not take back the responsibility handed to us by the Lord Almighty, and raise our children to be warriors for Christ? To aim and shoot an arrow is to hit a mark, to send it out with a destination in mind, and that destination is the world. Our calling, to raise young men and women, to effectively minister outside our home, means we must hunker down and do our jobs to train and reach their young hearts.

The dictionary define's training as: 
To teach a particular skill or type of behavior through practice and instruction over a series of time.

The training of our children is not for the season before we can enroll them in school, or the church can take over ministering to them, it is a daily task directly given to us, as parents, by the Lord. 

"You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Deuteronomy 6:7

I don't write this saying I have hit my mark, that my children are aimed and ready. I type this as I struggle, to reach my children's hearts as well as train my own to let the sweet words of the gospel always be on my tongue. I struggle to have my actions showcase Him, my arms always be a steadfast stronghold for them. Daily I wake up, setting my heart to let my babies know they are my ministry, my joy, a blessed sacrifice I would willingly make again again. That I praise the Lord for them.

May I challenge you, dear mom, as we work together, to praise the Lord for the ministry He has set before us? To see the goal and train for the end, when we release our children from our homes, armed and ready for battle (for surely, this world is a strong battlefield ready to devour).
 Equip them, train them in truth and righteousness, do not grow weary of this most beautiful and precious ministry, your ministry, your children. 

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
 Proverbs 22:6

Amen.

my kids are uncomfortable...and that's okay

Romans 5:3-4
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope

My kids have the chicken pox.  They are uncomfortable. A few would say they are miserable. Most definitely they are bored. Itchy. All suffering from cabin fever.
Something I've been thinking about since going through this with my children, is:
As a society, we are removing everything that makes our kids uncomfortable.

The flu, a toy they want at that exact moment, car rides without a DVD playing or iPad in hand, having to sit and patiently wait their turn, church service, all things that are often uncomfortable for kids. Often boring. And sadly, very few kids are experiencing these things.

We are removing the very things that help teach our children perseverance, endurance, and patience. Most definitely, having our children happy makes us happy. I get that. But, by catering to every whim, and preventing all forms of discomfort, what are we teaching them?
What they are learning through those experiences of discomfort are things like: patience, endurance through pain, gaining strength in enduring a trial, using their imagination, and how to hold their bodies still. 
In trying to make them comfortable at all times, we are raising self-absorbed, narcissistic future generation who crumble at the first hint struggle or discomfort. It's true.

My fellow mommies, how does our witness carry in all of this? If we cannot teach, guide, and train our children through these small discomforts, how will we ever teach them to endure hardships for the faith? How does it show them the grace and strength you now possess because of past refining, as you hold your child one more time as their head aches, rub their back for the hundredth stroke while they throw up, or answer one more question when all you want is silence?
Not only is it refining for them, it's another stage of refining for you. To pray with them as their body aches, talk to them about why they can't have that new toy just because they want it, praise them as they work through something humbly and with endurance, and most of all, pray with them.

As I watch my children work through the chicken pox, I see them persevering through pain, learning how to endure and have patience as the virus makes its way through and out of their bodies. I've been given the opportunity to pray with them when their attitudes were anything but right, and let them watch me pray, when my attitude was anything but right.
These opportunities of discomfort, although oftentimes completely inconvenient in our mind's eye, are anything but.

Next time these inconvenient blessed opportunities happen (as Martha Peace calls them, 'providently hindered', link for the book at the bottom of the page)  take the time to teach them to praise the Lord that their bodies are capable of healing, for medicine that helps them feel better, to thank the Lord  continually for friends that drop off popcicles. The teaching opportunities, both for you and for them, or endless.


http://www.amazon.com/Faithful-Parent-Biblical-Raising-Family/dp/1596382015/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1432516078&sr=8-8&keywords=martha+peace