It might feel like God cares most about us meeting our children's spiritual needs, but His Word repeatedly elevates our role in providing for the physical needs of others. This means that every meal, snack, and load of laundry is seen by Him, Mama! Listen in and be encouraged that all your mundane 'agains' matter to the Lord!

Scriptures Mentioned:

Romans 8:28-29

1 Peter 1:13-21

Matthew 25:34-40

Proverbs 31:10-31

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

We also briefly connect to Lesson 6 of Entrusted with a Child's Heart: A Mother's Touch and quote Elisabeth Elliot regarding holiness.

They're the joyful agains our children shout on the swings, the exhausting

agains of cooking and laundry, and the difficult agains of discipline.

So much of what we do as mothers is on repeat.

So what if we woke up with clarity, knowing which agains we were called

to, and went to bed believing we are faithful in what matters most?

We believe God's Word is the key to untangle from the

confusion and overwhelm we feel.

Let's look up together to embrace a motherhood full of freedom and joy.

Thank you for joining us for another episode of again, I'm

your host, Stephanie Hickox.

And this is brought to you by Entrusted Ministries.

Today I'm joined by the amazing Emily deal.

She's a devoted mother of two and a loving wife.

She's been a faithful mentor moms for years and has such a desire to

point mothers towards the Lord and to encourage them to utilize this precious

time to point their children to Christ.

We're so grateful.

She's here.

Today's episode is due my against matter part two.

We know it can be tempting to think that the things that really matter

to the Lord are the spiritual things we're doing, like reading scripture

with our kids and praying with them.

But we see repeated over and over in God's word that he cares when we meet

the physical needs of others and that he cares about meeting our physical needs.

So we want you to know that all of those things that you're doing

to feed and call their children.

It counts.

God is glorified.

When you continue to press on.

Even when you're tired.

Even my day today, I felt like it was a lot of sacrifice, a lot of service.

Without seeing a lot of fruit.

And so we understand.

But we also see that God is not only concerned with what we do.

He's concerned with who we are.

We're going to encourage you to walk in holiness in your home.

Because this message.

That is so.

Rooted in scripture is very absent from our culture.

And so we will continue to point you towards pursuing the likeness of Christ.

Because when we serve with the right attitude, that's when we

are pointing to the Lord the most.

So be blessed.

His word is full of the truth, that all of those things that you're

doing each day matter to him.

If we go back to that key scripture of Deuteronomy 6, 6 and

7, and it tells us to speak to our children about God's faithfulness

when we sit, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, when we rise up.

When I think of that, what are we doing when we sit?

It's mealtime, right?

What are we doing when we walk by the way?

That's our car time now.

The lying down is a bedtime routine.

The rising up is how we begin our day, our morning routines.

Rather than isolating these moments of, this is the time where I talk

about the Lord, this is our devotional time, or now we're going to church,

god is encouraging us to speak of his faithfulness in all aspects of life.

We don't isolate these discussions.

We take every opportunity to speak about the Lord, his goodness, his

faithfulness, his provision to us, his sovereignty, doing that,

incorporating it in all of life builds deeper roots in our children's faith.

Yes.

I, I think often we rush to fill the mundane moments of our lives.

I heard it said this week, which was a fantastic reminder

to me of one of our lessons.

But I heard it said this week that by the age 13 in our children's lives,

they will have fully developed their worldview, whether it be biblical or

otherwise by the age 13, their worldview is pretty much set how it's going to be.

So not to add any pressure on moms, but, but we have 13 years

to pour into our children.

And rather than working to fill the mundane moments with activities or,

or just constantly running, how are we Incorporating, bringing Christ into our

everyday moments rather than, Stephanie, you were saying keeping everything

pretty and isolated, like, okay, we go to church, now it's time to worship.

We go to Awana, now it's time to memorize your scripture.

Rather than doing that, taking the opportunity to just disciple

our kids in the every day.

And I think we're talking in that regard, we're also talking about

moms working towards holiness.

I read a quote this week by Elizabeth Elliot that says holiness has never

been the driving force of the majority.

And I had to sit with that one for a little while.

Because working towards holiness and filling the mundane moments of our

life with Christ is going to take work and it's not going to be what the

majority is doing or telling you to do.

It's going to take work to get there.

Absolutely.

It's so counter cultural to be like Christ.

And even in our own flesh, we fight it, right?

Yes.

Every day.

We quote, Romans 8 28 all the time.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose.

But we tend to leave off first 29 don't we, when it says that.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed

to the image of his son.

And so we are supposed to be pursuing opportunities to become more like

christ and motherhood provides a lot of opportunities for that doesn't it

it does.

Holiness in definition means to be set apart.

And I think, of course, Christ constructs everything so beautifully, and we've said

so many times with great purpose, and motherhood is no different than that.

He has set motherhood apart by nature of what it is, because we're

constantly giving to our families, we're giving to our children, and we

are set apart to do this for them.

We're not set apart to be everything for them.

Our, our purpose is to turn them to Christ always.

But we get the opportunity to pour into them so that their eyes.

Will be fixed on him and will be turned to him instead of us in time.

Right.

I think when we're talking about this, I think of first Peter one, 13 through

21, really that portion calls us to.

a place of holiness.

And verse 14 clearly talks about this and it's really a call out to

us moms when it tells us not to be conformed to the former passions of

ignorance, but to be holy in conduct.

What a sanctifying thing for us moms to surrender our own

will and to be holy in conduct.

Because when we're working in our own will, it's definitely not holy.

Peter is writing this and we know that he was often

pulled by his passions, right?

Which is part of what made him so powerful for the Lord, but also that's something

that had to be sanctified in him.

I just love that this more mature Peter is speaking this saying, don't

be controlled by those passions.

Be set apart for the Lord, pursue holiness.

That makes it so powerful for me to think about the author of it.

Yes.

Absolutely.

I can remember.

Years ago praying to the Lord and saying, Lord, will you just give me

a job description for motherhood?

If, if I just knew what you were asking me to do, then I think it would be so much

easier to know that the sacrifice counts.

But I feel that there are just constant demands upon us.

And it's very unclear, even.

If you go from person to person, I think the way that they would

define mother would be so different.

Each child has particular needs.

Each child has particular personalities and we're trying to, be faithful

in all these different ways.

And I just found that I needed some direction.

And he pointed me to a couple of scriptures that really encouraged

me and were freeing to me.

And I do feel like in the years since, he's shown me that

it's more about a to be list.

Then a to do list that it's, it's not checking boxes.

It's about who am I as I represent Christ to my kids and who am I pointing

them towards not what did I accomplish each day, but it's obviously very

true of motherhood that you need to accomplish a lot of things every day

to keep people alive, to keep them fed.

And so Matthew 25 was really encouraging to me and verses 34 through 40.

It says.

Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you

who are blessed by my father.

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry, and you gave me food.

I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.

I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.

I was naked, and you clothed me.

I was sick, and you visited me.

I was in prison, and you came to me.

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we

see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?

And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least

of these, my brothers, you did it to me.

So I want to be really careful to not take it out of context because I think

I would never want to say that this passage is only applying to motherhood,

but I, I do think we can see here that.

When we provide for physical needs of others that the Lord is truly honored and

he's saying you're doing it on to me So, you know clearly do we have opportunities

every day to feed and if we think wow The Lord is honored by this if we do

it in the right attitude We're doing it on to the Lord when our children

are thirsty and we fill up those sippy cups yet again and again God's honored

by that When our children are naked and we clothe them, the Lord is honored

when they're sick and we care for them.

He sees that and I, I do hope that the prison one doesn't

ever apply to our motherhood.

But that passage was so encouraging for me as a mom to not think

, lord did i accomplish anything

Yes.

I fed my children three meals and multiple snacks.

I nursed them today and I filled up their water bottles and I did

the laundry , all of these things, the Lord is glorified by that.

And when we realize it, I think it takes away a lot of

the burden of that repetition.

Yes.

I think that is so beautiful when you think of it in terms of

motherhood because it is speaking all to the physical needs at first.

And if, even if we look at Christ's ministry, when he came here to

earth in the very beginning, he was meeting people's physical

needs every day, all day.

And that was the first half of his ministry.

And I think he displayed it so beautifully, and now we

translate that into motherhood.

And for the first half of our children's life, we're caring

for their every physical need.

We are there at their every waking hour for everything.

And I think often we get weary.

In that service because it is constant giving and I'm not condoning any

mama because I've been there myself.

We just get weary and well doing because we are constantly giving.

But, but the Lord will turn it around for good if we are faithful to it.

I think motherhood is the first half of physical needs.

And then the second half you begin to see all that you've put in.

You start seeing fruit from it, but it's not immediate gratification just like You

know, when Christ came to earth and he was healing all these people, it wasn't

immediate transformation in their lives.

They didn't just turn to him automatically and start following him on every instance.

And so the same with our children.

We're pouring in, we're pouring in, and we're praying and

we're giving it to the Lord.

And and we're trusting, we're trusting him that he will sanctify it.

Yes.

Redeeming all of those times.

I have several friends that really love Sally Clarkson I first heard this number

from her, but you will feed a child about 19, 000 times, 19, 000 meals doesn't

that put it in perspective, like, no wonder I'm exhausted from meal planning.

Like, really?

You need to eat again?

So another passage of scripture that the Lord pointed me to was Proverbs 31,

and I know sometimes it can be overused as kind of this like Mary Poppins

practically perfect in every way standard, and it feels unattainable, but when

I reread it with kind of these eyes.

Of how she's caring for her family's physical needs.

It was really interesting to see how many times she's

feeding and clothing her family.

So I'm going to read it now.

Starting in verse 10, an excellent wife who can find she is far more

precious than jewels The heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have

no lack of gain She does him good and not harm all the days of her life.

She seeks a wool and flax and works with willing hands Okay, so there we see that

would be the process of clothing, right?

She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food from afar.

So there we see the feeding.

She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household.

Again, feeding.

And portions for her maidens.

She considers a field and buys it.

With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.

Again, feeding.

She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.

She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.

Her lamp does not go out at night.

She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

Another reference to clothing or family, she opens her hand to the poor and

reaches out her hands to the needy.

And I think that's a great connection to Matthew 25.

So even as you're caring for your family, you're looking for needs to serve others.

And what an impact that has on our children when we meet

others needs in that season.

And so it continues.

She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all of her

household are clothed in scarlet.

She makes bed coverings for herself.

Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Her husband is known at the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.

She makes linen garments and sells them.

She delivers sashes to the merchant.

Strength and dignity are her clothing and she laughs at the time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

She looks well to the ways of her household and does not

eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her.

Many women have done excellently, but you surpassed them all.

Charm is deceitful and beauty in vain, but a woman who fears

the Lord is to be praised.

Give her the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates.

So I love that it's talking about her faithfulness.

She's just being faithful in every avenue in her life, but it does speak to you.

You know, she opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching

of kindness is on her tongue.

and she fears the Lord.

So as she's doing all of these, you know, mundane, repetitive things

and working hard, she is being kind.

She's pointing them towards the Lord.

She is opening her mouth with wisdom.

So, as her children are needing counsel and guidance, she's guiding

them as she's doing all these things.

And it's such a beautiful picture.

Of what we're called to, especially, when it says charm is deceitful and

beauty is vain, when we are surrounded by pictures of pretty people all day long.

And it's really hard to be reminded that a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

That's what glorifies him.

These unseen moments in our home.

Where we are being faithful to our family and not escaping, through

social media or things like that.

That's what matters.

It doesn't matter how many followers you have.

It matters how many followers and disciples you are creating

in your home for the Lord.

So I find I need to go back to God's word and find my definition,

my job description for motherhood.

I can't be looking to.

The world, even, even though there might be really Godly people that I'm following,

I need to have my own personal time with the Lord to redeem these moments that

feel so repetitive and often exhausting.

Like I don't have it in me, Lord.

I don't want to make another meal.

I just want to sit down for one dinner and the faithfulness that's

developed in my heart and My character, I've been so sanctified

by doing things day in and day out.

And when I do them for the Lord, the burden is so much lighter.

That is so beautiful, Stephanie.

That whole chapter of Proverbs 31 is just such a beautiful document.

representation to have a mom giving her son counsel for

the wife that he is to seek.

So not only do you have this beautiful instruction of what a, of what a

mother is, but then it's a mother.

Instructing her son to what to look for in a future spouse.

So it's just surrounded in motherhood from the content to

the sharing it with her son.

It's just a full picture of, of motherhood all around.

Great point.

The purpose of it as well as the content.

Yes.

It's so much about discipling our children, right?

Training them up in that.

I think about even Ecclesiastes, which a lot of people don't see it as the

most encouraging book of the Bible, but in chapter three, And it says

this several times in the book, but it says, I perceived that there is

nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live.

Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil.

This is God's gift to man, so it's eat, drink, and take

pleasure in the work, right?

So this is exactly what the Lord intended for us to be doing with our

children, feed them, but do it joyfully.

Right.

And we're not saying that that's easy or that you're not allowed to

have the full range of emotions.

We know it's biblical to.

To mourn, to grieve and actually right before that verse, it says,

there is a time for all things, but then Ecclesiastes ends with

fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret

thing, whether good or evil.

So all those hidden things as a mother that you're doing, fear

God and keep his commandments.

Be faithful in it.

Be faithful to feed your children.

Be faithful to talk about God when you're eating.

Be faithful to redeem the car routine, you know?

You don't have to just let kids get on their devices or their

screens when you hop in the car.

You have an opportunity to pray with them, to listen to them, to...

Turn to worship music to tell them what's on your heart.

What is God teaching you right now?

We have so many opportunities to redeem this time.

And if we believe that God will bless us for our faithfulness, the every secret

thing, whether good or evil, we are to fear God and keep his commandments.

That's the whole duty of man, it says,

Yes, I love this idea that each time is redeemable.

I have found, especially when my children are a little older now, the

best time to probably have the most difficult conversations, whatever,

they may be going through, is often while we're driving in the car.

Because they're busy, I'm busy, it's, I guess a little less confrontational,

and it's just more comfortable.

And so, every time is redeemable.

And sometimes, those times are the easiest to unplug, and just zone out.

But, Moms, we just have this sweet window of time that God has given

us to minister to our children.

And lately the Lord has just been reminding me that life comes in seasons

and we all know this, but but really it's what we're filling our time with

in, in this time of motherhood, it can be redeemed for good and so we

are just resting in that promise.

We don't want to look back with regrets.

I'm not saying that none of us will ever look back with no regrets, but

in the department of pointing them to Christ, we don't want to look back

with regrets because we filled our time and days with work or girls nights

or or gaining followers on social media, or even just the dead scroll.

We want to make sure our time is redeemed for good.

And we're all going to fail at this every now and then, because of who

we are and we can't do it on our own and that's the beauty of it.

We have to rely on him to redeem that time.

right, right.

It takes such a reliance upon him to be faithful.

Mm hmm.

And when we're trying to be faithful and trying to honor him,

but we fail, sometimes it's an opportunity to point to the Lord

that only He, is perfect every day.

Only He is faithful every moment.

And, and so even though we're trying.

In our weakness, we still give the Lord glory, right?

I have a dear friend that says, even on my best days, I want my kids to know

Jesus is so much better than me, and so we aren't trying to be perfect mothers.

We're trying to be mothers who point our children to a perfect savior.

And so when we help them experience the security of knowing, yep.

Yeah.

Mom knew that you were hungry and I already thought of it.

I'm already making dinner mom knew that you'd be thirsty on this walk.

I brought the water bottle mom knew that you were excited about

that little outfit for the first day or, or mom, went to the garage

sale and found this for you to wear.

However we do it, helping our children feel seen and known sets such a framework

for helping them believe in a God who sees them and knows them and provides

not just for needs, but for wants.

And so I think that's what we're doing.

We're developing.

The security of, I see you, I know you, I thought of that, and this is

what I did for you, And obviously we want to be careful to not make our

children think that it's all about them.

I still think it's great to take a walk without the water bottle.

And to provide opportunities where our children don't have

everything that they want.

For sure.

But just providing for those needs, I think that's why God calls us

to be faithful in a family first.

Because if every family was faithful in their home, then so

many of the societal needs go away.

Because of those needs and that security, that sense of, belonging and, and being

known and loved, of these physical needs set a groundwork for laying

emotional security in our children.

I think you're speaking to a mother's touch also in

all of this that you're saying.

And our kids feel it all around, even when we don't realize that they feel it.

I was turning all the lamps on the other night at, at dusk.

And one of my kids came and said, Mom, I love when you turn all the lamps on.

It's just in all of those little things that we don't even think about.

It's just part of our routine.

It's part of what we do.

But to our kids, it's stability and it's meaningful and it's home and, and that

is, that is okay to give that to them.

Yes.

Entrust and encourage me so much that all those little things, I do matter.

And...

Who the Lord made me to be those, those little touches

mean something to my children.

Yes.

And when Betsy says, no other mom is going to do, personally, I've

struggled with comparison a lot and pointing and looking at other women and

being like, wow, I've never done that for my children, or that's not how I do it.

Feeling like I'm failing in some way or missing the mark, but there are so many

things, the way that God made each of us.

That it means a lot to our children and , it's so natural to us to do some

things and it becomes Just something that they rely upon and treasure about us.

So it is so sweet how the Lord uses those things about us to bless our children and

to provide them with joy and security.

All right.

We know you're probably about to do many seemingly unseen things today.

But we hope you can move forward.

Knowing that they are never really unseen.