Last week began the reading of this fantastic book, How To Have A H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids by Rachel Carmen. I took so many notes just on the intro alone I nearly had to start another page! So much is so good, and I’m only at the intro! There are a number of moms joining together to read and study this book, check out some of the other fantastic posts that are going on at the discussion link-up!
Let me be frank – even though Rachel is a homeschooling mom, this book is NOT just for homeschooling moms. It absolutely speaks to the heart of every mother that I know, because I know we all have this deep desire to love our kids. So if you think you won’t read it, please reconsider! You will be tremendously blessed by the open, honest, candid conversational style with which Rachel communicates just HOW we can have a HEART for our kids.
We are homeschooling, and I am home with our 3 kids all the time, and not a day goes by that I don’t feel blessed to be able to do this. At the same time, barely a day goes by that I don’t hang my head in frustration and discouragement over something that has happened, be it with the kids’ attitudes, my own, or general disappointments and weariness. I have never doubted my position as a mother, but I have seriously doubted my ability to do a good job of it – but that’s me focusing on myself and my expectations, and not trusting God.
As Rachel talks about in the intro to this book, she wanted so badly to get her kids to school so she could “get her life back”, that when their school situations were not working out, and her husband suggested homeschooling, she laughed in his face and said never! Yet God began the work in her heart at that very moment to start turning things around – getting to focus off her, and onto HIM, then onto loving her kids.
Whether we are home with our children, homeschooling or a SAHM or WAHM, or a mom who works outside the home, we NEED to learn how to LOVE our kids. I know that sometimes, when I think I am doing something for them, or I deserve to behave a certain way or have something for myself, that it is a completely selfish desire.
You may, like me, have recently come to realize and really see this for what it is, but haven’t really known what to do next. Do not be discouraged or dismayed! As Rachel says, you can recover your heart. Or rather, GOD can recover your heart! What is lost, can be found! What is wounded, can be healed! What is broken, can be mended! And this doesn’t just apply to our relationships with our children – but to every aspect of our lives. God does not catapult us into parenthood, or any situation, to leave us there with a “See how you do on THIS one!”. No, but rather he gives us access to everything that we may need to not just survive, but THRIVE where he has placed us.
1 John 4 has some awesome truths about those who are in the Lord. Verse 4 says:
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
YOU ARE FROM GOD! How awesome and powerful a revelation that is, to know that God has sent you, is with you, is in you, every step of the way on this journey. Not only that, but OUR GOD IS GREATER.
Friend, as much as I want for myself to find this HEART for my kids, I want it for you. As much as God has placed us in this life journey together, he has provided everything that we need to do it well. Trust him with your heart – he has the peace that passes all understanding.
We sang this song yesterday at the end of our church service – it is one of my favourite worship songs; it speaks to my heart, reminding me of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to me, though I keep falling. The women in our small group like to talk about “failing forward” – yes, there will always be failures, but will we learn from them and instead of fall back, “fail forward”, pressing on toward righteousness.
I pray you are encouraged as you read this book if you are following along in the series. I already can’t wait to hear what Rachel has to encourage and challenge with next!
