Warriors Arise: May 8, 2023
1 Samuel 1:1-5 (NKJV) Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. 4 And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb.
Mother's day is coming. I want to encourage you in the role of a parent. God has given us and our husbands' a tremendous opportunity to prepare our children to become everything He desires, to fulfill their destiny and to walk in their calling. It is a blessing to be given this opportunity from the Lord.
Becoming a mother is a life changing experience. Being a parent is also the hardest "job" I have ever had. I shouldn't say it is a job, because we do not get paid to be a mother, we do not get vacation time or health benefits. We do not get to call in sick. We do not get to change companies if we do not like it anymore etc. I only mention that it is the hardest job, because many people treat parenting like it is a job or worse yet. They think parenting is less valuable than a job. However, parenting holds greater value than any job you or I could have.
Working a job you have a time clock and can leave when the time is up. You do not have to finished a task but with parenting, you can't leave. They are depending on you to walk them through whatever they are going through when they are going through it. It isn't going to wait until the next time you have to "clock in". Being a parent, we do not have that luxury. As much as you may want to leave home because the responsibility as a parent becomes extremely intense, there is a life or lives that are depending upon you and I. They need us to love them through their pain, through their bad attitudes, through their disappointments. They need us to love them enough to invest in them, to teach them the ways of the Lord, to listen to their hurt as well as their dreams, to set healthy boundaries, to give age appropriate responsibilities, to train and discipline. They need us to love them through the hard, the times we have to discipline them and rejoice with them over their achievements. They need you and I to bless them. They need to know we believe in them. They need us to tell them we are proud of them and to be specific. To just say, "I'm proud of you," may be enough for the moment but they need you to tell them specifically what you are proud of. They need to know what they have done that you think is worthy of honor. They need us to love strong, through the pain and show them we will not abandon them when life snatches their dreams and tries to crush them. Becoming a mother changes your life.
Hannah had desired to bear a child. Many women get "baby fever". But Hannah couldn't conceive. This was more than baby fever. The Lord had closed her womb. The pain of wanting a child, but not conceiving, is tremendous pressure. We can wonder why we aren't good enough, what could be so wrong about us that God would close our womb. So many are tormented with the lie that something is wrong with them; therefore, God is withholding who they were created to be, a mother and what they were created to do; nurture, train, and love their own. The pain can be overwhelming. The lies that harass a woman's value can be paralyzing. For a woman who wants to mother, to have her own children, this can be devastating and derail her from the plans the Lord has for her.
There is so much to glean from Hannah's desire to become a mother. Her husband loved her immensely. It wasn't because she didn't have the opportunity to conceive, she knew the answer was with God. She sought the Lord. She needed His answer. Her husband gave her more than she needed in life, but he could not give her the life she wanted. She wanted a baby. Hannah went to God. She sought Him for the answer.
After three years of marriage, I decided I "might" want a child. I began to pray. It was more than wanting a child. I didn't question whether I would conceive; however, I needed to make sure my heart was ready. I had to be ready to lay down my life to become the mother my child would need. I had to lay down my personal dreams. God was be first in my life, followed by nurturing and developing my relationship with my husband and supporting him, then the child would replace what was third in my life. Third, in my life, used to be may personal dreams and desires, the things I wanted to do and accomplish. These would have to be set aside to become the mother my child would need. My child would not be a job, but a lifetime commitment of love. My child would be on loan from God. In may care, God would want a say-so in how the child is reared. I would be held accountable for how I mothered. My child would be a gift from God. He would be the one to knit them together in my womb. Everything I would do as their mother would be to honor God, to prepare them to know God and walk in His ways. Everything I would do as their mother would be to train them to honor God, listen to His voice, mature in responsibility, and contribute to the advancement of His kingdom as they pursued the purpose He placed inside of them. I would be in their life to train them to lay hold of what God placed inside of them. I would be there to listen to His plans for their life and listen for when they engaged with His plans. A mother's nurture is more than cuddling them as a baby. A mother's nurturing ability is to love them enough that they are prepared to be launched into the plans God has for them.
Maybe you are praying for a child or have several children already. I want to encourage you to seek the Lord and listen as He will guide you. Parenting, if done to please the Lord, is the hardest "job" we will ever have. It can be intensely painful, yet so rewarding. It is not for the faint of heart. You will love deeper than you every thought possible and hurt deeper than you thought pain could go. Through it all, God will be with you. He will guide you and direct your parenting. He will not leave you to flounder through parenting. He will answer you.
Father, I set my heart and desires before You. You have given me the opportunity to be a parent, a mother. It is the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. The pain can be so great at times, I feel like it will swallow me up. The intensity of feeling the pain my children go through can provoke me to take matters into my own hands. But I must trust You to intervene, to make things right or to walk with them through the pain. No matter how hard parenting gets, I know You are with me and will revive me to rise and lay hold of what You want in me as their parent, and for what will bless them. I am thankful You are in my life. I am thankful You hear my prayers for myself and how to cousnel them. I am thankful Your love is greater for them than my own. I am full of gratitude that You want them to achieve what You have placed within their heart. You are will be with them. They will not be alone. You will guide them to plans You have for them. You will bring those along side of them that they can help and will help them to achieve the destiny You have placed within them. I lift my children up to You in prayer and You answer. Just as You love me through the hard of parenting, You love them through the hard of life. You will be with them and they will know Your love for them in Jesus' name amen.
A Warrior in the Lord’s Army,
Veridee Joy Hand
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