Who Gets the Glory?

Supermom - we've all called ourselves that before :)  Not very often but it has happened.  Too often more than not I aspire or try too hard to do it all (don't we all?).  I'm admittedly a little bit bossy and somewhat of a 'take control' type girl, but motherhood has softened me in that department.  One thing I am super guilty of though - is taking the glory for myself. Gasp.  Matthew gets home from work, errands ran, house is clean, dinner cooked, Pax happy - yeah, who's your wife now? :)  (Okay, I don't really say that in my head but if I did that's what I would say)  The scripture below paints a different picture though and this mornings devotional helped me to re-focus my thought process and the label 'supermom'. 

The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many warriors with you.  If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength.  Therefore, tell the people.  'Whoever is timid or afraid may leave and go home.'" Twenty two thousand of them went home, leaving only ten thousand who were willing to fight.
       But the Lord told Gideon, "There are still too many!"

                                       Judges 7:2-4

 

Yikes, I was so confused when I first read that, I read it like 5 times.  Karol Ladd clears things up though...  I am going to quote her, "Gideon started out with a superarmy.  But God was not looking for an army that could 'do it all'.  He wanted a humble army that would look to him for its success and recognize that victory was found in him alone, not in self sufficiency.  God eventually whittled down Gideon's army to three hundred men.  He granted the victory, and the honor went to him." 

 

You know why its so hard to "do it all"?  Because we're not supposed to! Along with help from our husbands, God wants us to seek him, use him, rely on him and ultimately give Him the glory.  He doesn't want us to be "self-sufficient" he wants us to be "God-sufficient".  He is looking for moms who will look to him for guidance, wisdom, direction and strength.  When we try to do it all - we seek/get the glory - whether that's our intention or not.  But when we rely on God and get our strength from him then He gets the glory.  I don't want Paxton to grow up thinking that he has to derive all his own strength from himself -what a way to feel defeated.  I want him to know that he gets his strength from seeking God.  If I don't do that - how will I teach him to?  Bottom line - God doesn't expect us to be super moms.  We can bask in those days when we feel like one and give ourselves a pat on the back, we just can't forget to thank our God too.  And by all means - on the days we feel less than super - seek Him, rely on Him and praise Him for after all, motherhood is a war in and out of itself! :)

 

Choices:

• This week I will choose to see the God-possibilities instead of my own inabilities. 
• This week I will choose to be God-sufficient rather than self-sufficient.
• This week I will choose to give God the glory and not myself.

Prayer:
"All sufficient God, I praise you, for you are all power and all wisdom.  I recognize that I'm not a supermom.  I can't do it all.  I praise you that you can! Thank you for loving and caring for me and my family.  Teach me to be responsible, humble, wise and strong.  Help my children to grow up to be well-balanced adults who follow you, so that you may be glorified.  Thank you for being the protector of my family and the guardian of each of our souls.  In Jesus's name I pray, amen."

Going into this week - I am going to strive to depend on God's help and not just depend on myself or Matthew.  We are all awesome moms - there's no doubt about that- but we are awesome because God made us that way.  We do awesome things because God helps us - and we are going to raise awesome little ones only with God's help!

Have a happy Valentines week! :)