on becoming our moms

they say we all become our mothers. that somewhere along our adult life we become just like them. we begin to speak like them, think like them and act like them. we pick up their personality a bit a time without knowing exactly how much we’ve absorbed until it’s too late…. until the inevitable happens.

until we become our moms.

i have her mannerisms, her hands and her nose. i have her humor and her resourcefulness. my mother can throw a FEAST with a few pieces of left overs and some pantry items. you can place her in the most challenging of situations and she will shine. road trips with no bathrooms…. no problem! school project due tomorrow… she has it! no clean underwear… she’ll MacGyver one in minutes and i’m happy to have a bit of that “scrappy” resourceful personality in me.

i see it everyday.

i ask myself how would mom do it? what would mom say?

and there she is. in my head saying “hold the mixing bowl while you mix that batter or you’ll make a mess” and “do it right the first time because the lazy do double the work.”

her words of encouragement and the memories i have of her kneeling down in prayer asking God for mercy for her family are ingrained in me, they are part of me.

she’s still raising me and her words still mold me into a hardworking mom, wife, student, daughter, friend, christian…

and then i think of my little lady. will she grow up to be me? will my words be with her long after i’m no longer next to her? and if they are… how can i make sure they count? how can i make sure they’ll sustain her?

and then i remember my mom and her plead for God’s grace and i ask Him for the same.

i ask for grace.

grace to be a godly example, to impart godly wisdom, to teach her His words so that they’ll be engraved in her heart (Deuteronomy 11:18-21) like my mom did…for i am her in so many ways and i can’t thank God enough for that.

oh my dear girl… my hope is that when you look back and when i am no longer next to you, you would hear His words whispered through this momma’s voice and that in turn you would whisper them to your little ones. love, mom (and grandma)

here are a few excerpts from John MacArthur’s book titled Successful Christian Parenting that have helped me lately and i hope they help any mommas/aunts/brothers/dads out there:

“We would not be surprised if the apostle Paul took a whole chapter, or even an entire epistle, to outline the responsibilities of parents. Instead, he summarized all of parenting in a single verse, and he was able to do so because the task is so highly defined- bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” (p. 44)

“If we measure our success as parents solely by what our children become, there is no inviolable guarantee in Scripture that we will experience absolute success on those terms…The true measure of success for Christian parents is the parents’ own character. To the degree that we have followed God’s design for parenting, we have succeeded as parents before God.” (p. 17)

“To be a mother is by no means second class. Men may have the authority in the home, but the women have the influence. The mother, more than the father, is the one who molds and shapes those little lives from day one. (p. 194)

we have just started to embark in this long road of blessing and long-suffering of being a parent and we are open to suggestions/advice that you may have. any good books? teachings? groups to join…. please let us know. we need all the help we can get!