Encouragement For Parents

Happy belated Mother's day to all you moms and soon to be moms.

I was very blessed to not only spend my day with my children and my husband, but also with my mom, my mother in law and my mom's mother-in-law. We all went out to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant and it was perfect. Jordan bought me two new plants and I love them!

Today during my quiet time with Jesus I was reading 2 Corinthians 1. This chapter blessed me so much, I wanted to share it with you. There are several parts that really stuck out to me.

The first thing that stuck out was in verse 3-4 when Paul says, "God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." Not only does God comfort us when we need it, but He does it so that we can be a comfort to others when they are going through the same thing.

The second thing is in verses 8-11 Paul is telling the Corinthians how they were being persecuted in Asia, "In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us." I like this because they went beyond just praying a prayer of faith, they put their confidence in God that He WOULD rescue them. It wasn't a prayer of, "God if you wouldn't mind helping us out here.. maybe if you have the time.. DON'T YOU SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING TO US!!! HELLO!!!!!!!" They were fully confident that HE WOULD help them. And we can have that same confidence.

Now the third and final thing is what really blessed me as a mom. I think it was God's Mother's day gift to me. :)

Verses 17-20 "Do you think I am like people of the world who say “Yes” when they really mean “No”? ¹⁸As surely as God is faithful, my word to you does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹ For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas,^[f] Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. ²⁰ For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory."

As a parent I've always thought it was important that my "no" is no and my "yes" is yes. But I never realized that when I do this, I'm actually showing my kids the CHARACTER of God. This is such a big responsibility we as parents carry. It's one thing to talk to your kids about the character of God and it's another thing to live it out. It's much easier just to tell them... I want to keep this in my mind every time I want to give in and let me kids have their way or to not follow through with discipline.

I hope this blessed you in some way!