The Ministry of Motherhood

The last 12 months have been some of the toughest I've had to face, possibly ever.  I knew last August when we left the full time ministry position my husband was serving, that change was inevitable.  To the depth, I had no idea.  Through much prayer and time in God's Holy Word, Hebrews 11:6 continued to come up.

And it is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

We left knowing that God would provide for our family of five.  How, was a different story (for another time possibly).  Here I sit, nearly a year later.  My husband is serving as the lead pastor of a local fellowship. Change has been evident in our lives.  We have and are continuing to learn to live once again in a rural community.  We're learning still what it means to sincerely seek Christ in the areas of marriage, family and ministry.

Yesterday, as I was reading in Luke 19, I came across the passage in scripture where it talks about Jesus entering Jerusalem.  Reading it, I paused to see that before Jesus came into Jerusalem, while he was still approaching the city, he began to weep.

⁴² “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. ⁴⁴ They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation.”

To visualize my Lord weeping over a people.  Tears still come to my eyes as I think about it.  He was so moved with compassion for these people.  People who had already rejected him.  Oh how he longed for them to have accepted the way to salvation, the way to peace.

When we left Birmingham, our oldest son was almost 4 years old.  He didn't understand why we had to leave.  Instead of trying to make a 4 year old comprehend what even as an adult can be difficult, we just simply told him that God had another people for us to love.  And that in time, God would show us those people.  Change.  Change of scenery, change of people, change of heart.  As I read this passage again and again, I asked,

"Has Christ's love so filled me for a people, that I've sincerely wept for their salvation?"

As I thought about this question all day yesterday, I kept asking myself what people has He sent me to love?  Mind you, not only did my husband surrender to the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I did also.  So for me to not be as involved in the ministry as he is, is often frustrating.  So, I kept asking, what people, Lord? The answer, your children, Naomi.



I must confess.  I haven't spent near the time playing with my kids as I have telling them to go play.  I haven't rocked my babies to sleep at night as often as I fuss for them to go to bed.  Today, yet another change has occurred in the Stephens' household.  The change from general church ministry to the ministry of motherhood.  I have a ministry right under my roof.  A people I'm to be so filled with the love of Christ for that I weep over their salvation, that I disciple them daily and I teach them all that Christ has taught me through His Word.  Though I have the same responsibility to others, my boys come first.

What people have you been so filled with the love of Christ for that you weep over their salvation?  How has the ministry of motherhood changed your relationship with Christ and with your children?