Momlife Bootcamp Part 3

It's the final day of bootcamp. I have been covered in God's blessings. I have met other moms struggling in similar areas as I do, I have burst into tears as I face the changes God has allowed in my life and admitted my doubts in myself and God has covered me in His love and reminded me of who I am in Him using MomLife speakers, staff and guests.

Barbara Rainey is up to speak today. She is covering the topic "The Woman God Created Me to Be". I already know it is going to be amazing!

The first thing Barbara does is puts forth four questions: Who does God want me to become? What does God want me to become? What does God want from me? How do I become that woman? My answers: I dunno (shoulder shrug and dumbfounded expression and all).

Who does God want me to become? Well, Barbara does this ingenious thing - she opens up the Bible. (Wow, why didn't I think of that?) I need to grow and become holy - like Jesus. What does God want me to become? God wants me to become unique, like no other woman, looking to Him and not comparing myself to women around me. What does God want from me? I am to be women of courageous faith. It always requires courage to follow Jesus. How do I become the woman God wants me to be? By walking in the Spirit. The Bible is the most important book I have andI need to breathe, eat, and drink His Word. Listen to the spirit and imitate God.

Also, remember - I am no to be the Spirit to my husband or children. I need to pray that my husband and children will listen to the voice of the Spirit. I need to pray for the Spirit to help me and not harden my heart towards Him. Repentance and listening to the Spirit is a constant process.


The session has ended and women are standing up taking turns sharing how they were blessed this weekend. One mom struggles with special needs child. Another mom struggles with feeling worthy of her children. A mom shares her daughter's struggle with cutting and the impact it has had on her. Another mom shares she used to be a cutter. A mom shares her husband's letter of encouragement he gave her before she left. Between struggles and praises we all came for this weekend. Everyone who shared ended with the same thing - God was here, we were blessed and God is doing great things.


It is now Sunday evening. I left here Friday just to check off something on my to do list. I returned today reminded of who I am in Christ, who I am to my children and husband, and what I need to be as a mom. I am intent that life is not going to distract me from my greater purpose - Being the mom God created me to be.

Bible references: 1 Peter; Eph 2:10, 1:5; Phil 2:13; Heb 12:2; End of John (Peter and Jesus); Eph 5:1; Rom 12:1

MomLife Bootcamp Part 2

On each chair there is a personality quiz when we go to sit down for lunch. It is a simple enough quiz where we choose one of four words that apply to us row by row. At the end, we count up our marks in each column and total them by each color - Orange, Green, Pink and Blue. I end up with blue. 

The next session we walk into is led by Susan Merrill. She starts by telling us what the different colors mean. Pink is the perfect mom - the one whose home is always prepared for company. She's deep, thoughtful, creative, purposeful, self sacrificing. As a mom, she sets high standards,  sees the problems and finds solutions, sacrifices her own will for others and encourages scholarship and talent. An example of a pink mom in the Bible is Hannah (1 Sam 1:10,24,26) Oh how I was wishing I was a pink mom. 

The next color she talks about is orange - the popular mom. She's talkative, good sense of humor, life of the party, enthusiastic. As a mom, she is liked by her children's friends, turns disaster into humor,  is a circus master. She gives Mary (Luke 10:39, John 12) as an example of a popular mom in the Bible. Oh, why or why did I not get orange? 

Then Susan starts talking about the green mom - the powerful mom. Yep, I am already wanting to be a green mom - who wouldn't want to be powerful? The powerful mom is a born leader, strong willed, decisive, not easily discouraged, can run anything. As a mom, she establishes goals, motivates her family to action, knows the right answer, delegates work. Abigail (1 Sam 25:14) is given as an example of a powerful mom. I really, really, really want to be a green mom. 

Now here it comes. The blue mom. It gets a title that just makes me cringe. The peaceful mom. Tell you what, I was not feeling peaceful right then. The peaceful mom is relaxed, patient, all-purpose, keeps emotions hidden. As a mom, the peaceful mom is not in a hurry, takes time for the children, doesn't get upset easily, good under pressure. Then Susan blows me away. Mary, mother of Jesus, (Luke 1:27) is who she sees as a peaceful mom. Wow. I'm a blue mom...and I love it! 

The whole point of this exercise was not to be envious of the other colored moms, but to know that we are God's choice of moms for our children. He picks each mom and child combination and we need to be passionate moms. Susan uses Nehemiah as a great example of being a passionate person. Just as Nehemiah protected God's children, we need to protect our children. When there was a problem, Nehemiah perceived (1:2-3), pondered (1:4) and prayed because he had a purpose. We need to do the same. We need to take time to talk to our children - ask questions and listen to them. We need a purpose for our children. We also need to have passion AND joy as moms - the ultimate challenge. How can we win other moms to Christ if we don't find joy in being a mom? We need to find meaning, joy and purpose in being the mom we are because that is what being a mom is about. 

http://www.susanme.com/passionatemom/

MomLife Bootcamp 2014 Part 1

It's 5:45 on Friday evening and I am sitting in a parking lot listening to my van get bombarded by rain and hail. I am on my way to Momlife Bootcamp for the second year in a row looking forward to being blessed by the Lord yet not really wanting to be away from my family. Praise music is blaring in my sad attempt to prepare my mind and spirit for what is to come. The rain finally lifts enough that I can see more than 2 feet and I continue on my journey. A journey that is not going to go the way I think it will. A journey that is going to have an ending I never saw coming. A journey that is going to change my view of myself. Once again.

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Did you have dreams as a child of what you were going to be when you grew up? I was going to be a child psychologist who owned a book store above my office. That way I could help children from dysfunctional families and read all the books I could get in my hands. Needless to say, that dream has not come true.

God blessed me with a different dream. A dream with a handsome funny prince and a beautiful precious princess. A dream of two arrows to sharpen and send out into a world of chaos. Arrows in the hands of a warrior.

Our first session started off by having us think back to the children we used to be and to think upon how our past affects our present. It reminded us of how God sees children and how great is love is for us. We were given little flashlights as a reminder to shine our lights all around and not to let anything - not our past, our present, others or anything else block the light we have in us. The next session was a question panel and wise women took the time to remind us of the importance of lifting up our husbands and keeping good attitudes in all we do and say. We need to constantly choose joy in everything.

I was so excited this year that MomLife set up more breakout sessions! I chose to attend Dancing in Marriage with Barbara Rainey and Sharing Your Beautiful Mess with Tracy Eyster.

Barbara was so inspiring as she reminded us that God works in His own timing, towards His own purposes and has a greater vision for us and for our marriages than we could ever possibly dream. She reminded us that we need to focus on our parts in marriage which are loving, following and helping our husbands (Ephesians). Trusting our husbands, knowing our husbands, not comparing our husbands (or ourselves) to others and following our husbands leads make the most beautiful dance.

Tracy, who I have to admit I love and adore so much, spoke about how we started off walking with God in the garden of Eden and we had peace and tranquility. She went on to talk about how the deceiver shattered that peace by putting doubt in Eve's mind about God's plan. In this same way, the deceiver puts doubt in our minds that shatter the peace in our homes. He makes us doubt if we are the right moms for our children, the right wives for our husbands and our own value and worth. She continued on to remind us that when we do something wrong, don't listen to the deceiver and move away from God. Lean in closer to God because He has already leaned in closer to us and loves us so much.

Tracy continued to talk about how the deceiver tells us that we need to "do" more to be a better mom. NOT TRUE!!! We don't need to do more - we need to BE THE MOM. Be intentional in our roles as mom carving our arrows using the sword provided, the Word of God. Be relational with our children, spending time doing what they like to do and building relational equity with our kids. Be selfless and practice selflessness, not as a martyr but take time for our kids even in the midst of doing something else. Be ourselves for them. Do less, be more.

http://www.lifeway.com/Product/be-the-mom-P005507991