Stretched into Strength--Finding Grace in the Monotony of Stay-At-Home-Mothering

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And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

~ Galatians 6:9 NKJV

4pm. 

The most difficult time of the day for me. 

I'm a stay-at-home mom--

To an eight-month-old and a two-year-old. 

4 pm -- the time when my creativity is waning, when we've read the same book over and over again, when the blocks are not enticing anymore.

The time when the baby is especially fussy and when my two-year-old is getting edgy. 

4pm in the heart of winter--

When we can't go outside because of the cold, when my eyes keep drifting to the clock on my desk and pleading silently for the minute hands to move 

just a little faster. 

Stay-at-home-mothering has drawn me to the Lord in ways that I never experienced--

Challenged me in ways I've never been challenged--

The Lord is building tensile strength--

I remember Elisabeth Elliot writing about it -- tensile strength -- capable of being drawn out or stretched--

Little did I realize then, what it would take, how painful the stretching -- centimeter by agonizing centimeter--

And how  often my heart would cry -- Enough!

This is too much for me, Lord -- too painful, 

And I don't think that I can bear it anymore. 

But then the Lord reaching down and speaking, Trust Me. 

Trust Me, 

Trust Me. 

And the stretching would continue.

We pray to the Lord, we pour out our devotion -- we ascend to the mountaintop and we are inspired--

To raise godly children--

To walk continually in the presence of the Lord,

To pray without ceasing.

The mountaintop is a beautiful place.

But then the Lord brings us down into the valley--

The valley where we cannot see the mountaintop so well -- it looks so far away--

And He stretches us--

Through monotony, through the mundane activities of daily life, through the trials and testings that He brings into our lives in order to draw us closer to himself.

He brings us into the valley.

Oswald Chambers puts it this way--

We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.

We just can't  stay on the mountain of inspiration and resolve and soaring high--

The valley beckons -- the painful valley where hard lessons had to be learned--

Lessons that the Lord will use to build tensile strength in our souls--

Strength that can withstand pressure, strength to press on. 

The Lord is our strength . . . 

Even at 4 pm.

At 4 pm, I can't escape. I can't take a "coffee break," I can't go shopping alone to relieve some of my stress. 

I can't spend uninterrupted time with the Lord to stabilize my weary heart, body, and mind with His Word. 

I have to cry out to the Lord in the moment, recall a verse to mind that I have committed to memory, take each minute at a time, and trust in Him for strength and grace through my weakness. 

I have to cling to Him as I go and do the next thing that I am able.

I have to pour myself out and minister to these little souls when I feel like I am the one who needs ministering to--

Me, me, me--

I'm tired; I'm hungry, 

I just want a break.

But I can't have it--

And this is where tensile strength is built. 

I could crumble -- sometimes I do -- sometimes I dissolve in tears--

But then I cry out to the Lord and He picks me up as I hold on to His strength--

He can do it through me--

Not I, but Christ--

Stay-at home mothering has built in me tensile strength that nothing else has been able to do. 

Nights that I am awake in the wee hours, comforting, feeding, loving--

Mornings when I just want a few minutes to myself, but a child needs me -- feed them breakfast, change a diaper, pray with them, get them dressed... 

An event where I just want to talk to other adults, but a little one claims my hand and my lap and my heart--

Days that go by when I'm not able to wash my hair or take a shower or read a book--

They are so little -- and their needs are so great. 

In a moment, they will be grown--

Do I want to waste these precious days worrying about my own needs, or will I pour myself out?

Will I allow the Lord to pull me through, to build tensile strength -- strength in Him, or will I melt under the pressure, the pressure of monotony and minutes ticking, ticking, ticking--

Or will I take each moment as a gift, pray through my moments, surrender them to Jesus, 

Trust Him to help me when the baby is fussy, fussy, fussy, and the two-year-old is clamoring for love and attention?

It is worth it -- it is worth it -- it is worth it -- pouring ourselves out for these little ones who are eternal souls, bringing them to Jesus, nurturing, loving, caring for--

We are doing it for Him...

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. (Matthew 10:42)

Never forget, we are doing it for Him...

And He is building tensile strength -- when we take His grace for each moment -- when we reach to Him in our need in our weakness, when we surrender.

He is there.

And we can trust Him.

Even when we feel weak, even when we think that we just can't bear the stretching any more--

He is building tensile strength.

Especially at 4pm.

  

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