The Nursery of a Mother's Heart
The countdown is on … and my heart is beating rapidly!
I think that when you have completely given your heart to a profession, a project or to an endeavor … it is then that insecurity often sets in.
What will people say?
Am I enough?
Am I good enough?
Am I setting myself up for criticism?
Every time a new book is about to be released … I just want to hide underneath my bed!
Isn’t THAT ridiculous?!
It might be ridiculous but it is my sad truth.
I can assure you that being an author has improved my prayer life tremendously! I want to speak His words … convey His truth … communicate His hope!
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” – Psalm 19:14
I want it to be none of me and ALL of Him!
I don’t want to get in the Lord’s way … and yet the calling is mine.
It’s always been a wonderful surprise to me that the Lord actually took me up on my offer when I said to Him years ago, “Lord, I am Yours. Everything I am is Yours. Everything I am not is Yours. Everything I have is Yours. Take me and use me for Your Kingdom purposes.”
And so … it is with fear yet confidence … with hope yet humility that I offer to you, my readers and my friends, a snippet of my newest book that is coming out on April 20.
As you read this excerpt, will you pray for me? And will you pray for all those whose lives it will touch.
And, perhaps you would take an extra minute or two to offer your gifts, your talents and your time to the Lord. It might surprise you what He has planned for you!
For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully formed in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my formless substance; and in Your book were written all the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 139:13–16)
Shhh… Would you like to tiptoe into the nursery with me? Would you like to take a deep breath, gaze at the wonder of new life, listen to a lullaby or two, and then spend some time holding the baby? Would you?
The nursery is the room that is set aside for the dreaming of dreams and pausing to ponder the possibilities of all that might lie ahead. There are no to-do lists in the nursery, only the sweet realization of how temporary the purpose of a nursery actually is. You won’t need a nursery forever but you will never forget the blessing of having one down a hallway in your heart. You will forever remember the smell of your baby’s breath, the squeak of the rocking chair, the beatific gaze of those gentle eyes, and the songs that now are only distant melodies in your heart.
Don’t be fooled by the peace that reigns in this nearly sacred room because behind the scenes, the hand of God is at work, shaping and forming a life for profound greatness. While the newborn baby is sleeping, God is commissioning His angels to be sent forth, setting up divine appointments, and designing a life of abundance and honor.
I hope that you have prepared a nursery in your heart, dear mother. I hope that you have a cherished place that is set aside not for doing but just for being. Don’t neglect the nursery of your heart because in this quiet sanctuary, you just might spend the sweetest hours of your life.
The Dreaming of Dreams
When a woman steps across the threshold of motherhood, she doesn’t stop dreaming dreams of life-changing destiny. She doesn’t give up a call to greatness nor does she push away all the plans that she had imagined as a young girl. Oh, to be sure, this young mother’s dreams might be altered just a bit and they even may be strengthened by waiting, but she will be a stronger, more creative mom if she spends time in the nursery of her heart, dreaming with the Father.
I have wanted to be an author ever since my teacher handed me a copy of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods on my third day of second grade. I instantly fell in love with Laura, Mary, Carrie, and their good old bulldog Jack. Although I was only seven years old, I believed with my whole heart that I would write books someday. God placed that dream inside of me and it never waned or weakened.
When I became a mother, however, my focus was no longer on myself but on my precious children. I knew that as I developed their character and taught them about the call to greatness that each of them possessed, the Father would not forget my own call to live a life of impact. This was a lesson and a realization that I learned in the nursery of my heart.
As I pondered which dreams would be laid aside for a season and which dreams would become part of my life as a mom, the Lord tenderly began to speak to me about the seasons of a mother’s life. “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). We must identify exactly what season we are currently in so we can respond appropriately.
If you are in the springtime of life, you should be planting flowers, not shoveling snow. If you are in an autumn season, you should be harvesting, not weeding.
So it is with motherhood; you must know what season of motherhood you are currently in and respond in the appropriate way. When you are up all night with a fussy baby, it is not the season to take a job that requires travel and ten- or twelve-hour days. When your children are teenagers and are finding identity in sports, piano recitals, and extracurricular activities, this will be the season to open your home to young moms for Bible study and encouragement.
Dreams don’t come with an expiration date, dear mom. There will come a day and a time when the dreams of your youth will move to prominent priority. But know that for now, your dreams will be fulfilled as you nurture and care for the young lives that you have been given.
Many women now ask me what I did during those years of hands-on mothering to prepare for the life that I am living today. I am quick to reply that during those years of non-stop mothering, I read books, studied the Bible, and spent time in prayerful preparation for all that was to come. My dreams might have been set upon the shelf of my heart for a season but I didn’t allow them to gather dust. I continued to write in my journals and listen for the voice of God.
Dream your dreams, dear mother! You don’t stop living the day that you start nursing a baby. Your life will become richer and stronger when you give of yourself wholeheartedly to this beautiful yet short season. The day will come when your dreams are realized in a more exciting manner than you could have ever imagined. Believe me, I know!”
Being a mother is not about what you gave up to have a child, but what you’ve gained from having one. —Sunny Gupta
Thanks for listening to my heart this week. As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me. And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!