Why Grace Faith Dirt?

"Start children off on the way they should go,
   and even when they are old they will not turn from it".  Proverbs 22:6

My other posts have been very information based up to this point, but I want to make sure and not leave out the faith aspect of my life and how vitally important it is in raising my children. God has been tugging on my heart to start this blog to help others for a while. I put it off for a long time, until I was talking with my midwife last Friday. I was telling her about all the stuff I had read and all the resources I had found (with help from other moms) and my idea of a mommy resource blog/website just happened to fall out of my mouth. All she simply said was, "Wow! That's a great idea!" and it clicked for me. No more waiting, no more putting off what God wanted me to do. 

I was struggling with what to call my blog. I wanted something unique, faith-based, but also applicable to the "mommy crowd". So I thought to myself, "what does it take to be a great mommy" and grace, faith and dirt were the things that came to mind. (yeah, that makes you wonder what goes through my mind sometimes!) As I have said before, being a Godly parent requires lots of all three.

"Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given."   John 1:16

This is most easily defined as a gift that we do no deserve. God shows us grace through the gift of salvation. We do no deserve to spend eternity with God and there is NOTHING we can do to earn the gift of salvation no matter how many "good deeds" we do through out our life. All we have to simply do is accept this gift by accepting Jesus into our hearts! It takes lots of grace to be a Godly mom! We must show, by example, the grace of God to us by showing grace to our children. Showing and sharing how much God loves us and how much we love our children when we get a "gift" of any kind undeserved is a great way to show grace. Today was a perfect example of showing my son grace. All afternoon he was fussy, throwing fits and not listening. It took all that I had not to loose my composure and just give in. I just wanted to put him in his crib and let him cry until Daddy got home. Through the grace of God we made it through. We worked on walking around the room, watched an episode of Blues Clues, and went outside for a short walk. Small acts like these are perfect ways to show grace to our children.

"I have chosen to be faithful;
      I have determined to live by your regulations". Psalm 119:30

As Christians we have faith in God. We believe, we have faith, that God is the creator of the universe and that he sent his only son to die on a cross and then rise from the dead so we can have the opportunity to get to heaven. As Christian parents, we need to also have faith in ourselves, our spouses and our children. God has given you this most wonderful gift, a child, to nurture and raise up to be Godly adults with strong faith in Him. That means that God knows you can do it! God has FAITH in your ability as a parent! That is some powerful encouragement (at least for me it is!) Have faith in yourself, in your gut instincts. As the saying goes, "Mommy knows best" and it is so true. The same thing goes for your spouse. I hear so many stories of moms being so worried about leaving their newborns with their husbands. I understand the fear and anxiety (trust me, I do!) but at the same time, God has just as much faith in your spouse as a parent as he does you! God has entrusted you AND your spouse to this wonderful gift and God has faith that you both will raise your children the way He wants you to. Lastly you have to have faith that everything is going to work out! This is the HARDEST part for me! When things go wrong and you have no control, you must put your faith in God. When something happens, you have to have faith in the doctors and nurses that are helping your little one. Having faith is one of the most important, yet one of the hardest things about being a parent.
 

"Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person." Genesis 2:7

This may be the least serious of the three, but yet I think it is important. These are just the facts of life: Your baby is going to get dirty. Your baby is going to get hurt, scratched, pushed down, etc. The important thing to remember is IT IS OK! Dirt don't hurt! (If God made man from the "dust of the ground", how bad can it be?)It is such a wonderful thing that God made babies washable! I think we need to remember to let our babies explore, even if it means he will get sand in his diaper, or mashed potatoes in his hair! Though there is a difference in letting your baby explore but being cautious and being just plain stupid. I used to not let my son get into things or explore certain places because I was scared of the dirt. My mom and my husband would laugh and ignore my "freak outs". I finally realized that my son was missing out on learning new thing and exploring new places because I was scared of a little dirt that would come off in the tub! I know it is hard, but when you finally feel comfortable and your baby is past the 8 weeks mark (more on that later, if you are wondering) let your baby down in the dirt, let him pet the dog that sheds like crazy, let him be barefoot! You might even find that getting dirty is fun!

As a fellow parent and Christian, I pray that your life is filled with lots of grace, faith and dirt all throughout your child rearing years! I pray that God's grace is show to you in a very real way. I pray that your faith in God, your spouse and your children grow stronger every day. Lastly I pray that you get down and dirty and have lots of fun raising your children! As always! God bless you and your family!

Until the Whole World Hears,
Katie <><
grace.faith.dirt@gmail.com