Digging a Little Deeper

This is an interesting blog post by John Piper on the topic of the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. As usual, he brings his unique perspective to help me see things in a new way. I've sat mesmerized the past two days watching CNN and hearing testimony of those who witnessed the collapse or were even involved in it. My heart and prayers go out to the many hurting people.

Psalm 71:20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again.

How to Fight for Joy in Motherhood

This is an amazing article on "Joyful Christian Motherhood" that I found on Bethlehem's website. These questions caught my eye as I was looking through the resources page:

Do these things cause our joy?

• Does our good or bad "performance" as mothers make or break our joy?
• Do we believe if only we could be more organized, better housekeepers, or had more help from husbands or grandmothers...then we would be joyful?
• Do we think if our kids were better behaved, more cheerful, more helpful - perhaps more like someone else's kids...then we would be joyful?
• Do we think if our house was more beautiful or bigger or had more storage or was in a better neighborhood...then we would be joyful?
• How about more willpower and self-discipline...would we then be joyful?
• Does our joy depend on our feeling good and secure in regard to money, health, job, future outlook?
• Does our joy depend on having life proceed according to our plan? Or having others approve of us?
• Will the small and large stressors of life (inevitable) prevent our joy?

True joy comes from God, our relationship with Him, and knowing the will of God and doing it...through His strength and His enabling.

Ahhh...this was balm for my weary soul. And this was only the beginning of a powerful look at motherhood. I pray that God will touch you with these thoughts as He has touched me!

BTW, you can also find part of the article here if you have trouble linking to the above.