Beautifully Devastating

Angie Smith is amazing.  When she spoke last year at a conference I attended, I was moved beyond words.   Giving expression to the depths of despair and the heights of hope, she reminds us to trust God with the hurts and sorrows and longings of our hearts.

This past weekend at the dotMom conference she described motherhood as “beautifully devastating.”   Oh my word!  Isn’t that exactly right?   Devastate means “to lay waste” … oh y’all, isn’t that just what motherhood does to us?   It lays waste to all the selfishness and pride within us.   All our inadequacies and insecurities ripped wide open … and it’s scary and painful.   And yet, it is beautiful … and what remains in us is beautiful.

There were some things Angie said that bear repeating.   Encouraging, challenging words that I need to hear over and over … and I’m guessing might meet that same need in your life as well.

“All of the safe places we create are for our own sake, not for His glory.”

“Do I tell my kids what I want them to do for God or do I show them?”

“Your obedience teaches your children what no Sunday school class could ever teach them.”

“Am I gravitating to those things that are simple and safe?  Avoiding the deep?   Am I encouraging my children to swim in the deep?”

And this …

“Motherhood is NOT our highest calling – glorifying Jesus is!  Motherhood is just one of the best ways to do it!”

And, the one that touched my heart the deepest …

“Where your calling as a daughter of the King and your calling as a mother collide is where the most beautiful ministry happens.”

Today, as the week begins and the frenzy of school and work and dinner and homework and chores and life pick up their pace, will you slow your heart, your mind, for just a moment and relish the way motherhood has been beautifully devastating in your life?

Father God, thank You.   For affording me the honor of being Your child … and the blessing of parenting my own.   Will you devastate me?  Lay waste to those things in me that need wasting … and in removing the junk, will You leave me beautiful and whole?   Today, this day, this moment, it’s Your glory I seek, Your Name I praise, and Your presence I need.  Amen

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Come back tomorrow for my recap of Priscilla Shirer’s session!  She spoke from Luke 5:1-11.

Read the Psalms this summer with Scripture Dig!

Comments

  1. Thank you for passing on these words, just what I need to hear and over and over again. So beautiful, so accurate…all to God’s glory.
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