It had been a really terrible, awful, hard day. So hard that I sat and cried. And yet, it brought me to the end of myself. And that was a good thing.
When I finished crying, I sat down to do some work and happened upon a story about Andrew Carnegie that completely changed my perspective as a mom and as a child of God.
Andrew Carnegie was the wealthiest man in America in the early 1900s, so wealthy that he employed over 42 millionaires. When asked how he developed these men to become so valuable that he would pay them that much money, Carnegie explained that “men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold, but one doesn’t go into the mine looking for dirt — one goes in looking for gold.”
I’d been buried in the dirt that day. I was lost in the monotony of motherhood and felt like my days had no meaning. My discouragement and feelings of failure as a mom left me so disappointed in myself. And I was convinced God felt the same way about me.
I started wishing I had a gold-miner in my life who could see beyond my mistakes and find the gold in me. That’s when God whispered to my heart, “Renee, I am that gold-miner. You are the one who is so critical of yourself. You are the one who focuses on your faults. But I see the gold of My image in your heart, and I want to bring it to the surface so your kids can see Me in you.”
As I sat there trying to process what God was whispering to my heart, stories from the Bible started flooding my thoughts helping me believe that God really does see beyond who I am to who I can become.
That day God used His thoughts to give me a new perspective – of Himself and of myself. Then He challenged me to look for ways to transfer that perspective to my children.
It’s easy to get buried in the dirt of discontentment, disobedience and discouragement. You may even be thinking, Where’s the gold in it all? I wondered, too. But after reading Carnegie’s story and hearing God speak to my heart, I wanted to become a gold-mining mom.
As I thought about the gold I wanted to see in my children, character traits of Christ such as patience, kindness and contentment came to mind. I decided to make a list of golden attitudes and actions and look up Bible verses we could learn together. Then I made gold nuggets by balling up foil and spray-painting them gold.
In the following weeks, each time my kids showed a golden attitude or action, I’d reward them. When they saved up enough nuggets, they’d get a special treat. We also found new character traits and Bible verses, wrote down ideas to live them out and started making them part of our family devotions.
It took time for me to embrace a grace-based parenting perspective and let God’s new truths sink in. But I was so excited about having a spiritual focus as a mom. I started getting creative and about finding time in the midst of my busy days to get into His Word and get His word into me. And as I did, He used His thoughts to re-shape mine.
God’s Word became a part of our everyday lives as He taught me to take my eyes off of my children’s habits and focus on their hearts. Not only did it change my kids’ attitudes and actions, it changed me, too. For the first time in months, I was excited about my role as a parent. God had given me a new perspective, and a whole new sense of purpose as a mom!
Lord, thank You for not focusing on the dirt in my life but seeing beyond who I am to who I can become. Help me believe that, receive that and give it away to my kids, my husband and my friends. Help me look at their hearts and encourage the glimpses of You that I see in them. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Portions of this post are in my book, A Confident Heart.
Copyright 2011. Baker Publishing. All rights reserved.
Purpose-Driven Mom Gift Pack:
Enter to win my Purpose-Driven mom message on CD and my “Mining for Gold in the Heart of Your Child Character Chart and The Mom I Want to Be by Suzie Eller. To enter, click “share your thoughts” below and share why you’d like win.
The Go Bible Voyager looks fantastic! I would love to share the second one with my mom. She has adopted young kids in recent years, so we are both going through this together.
Thanks so much!
Becky [email protected]
Great devotional today. I would pick the NIV version of the Voyager GoBible. Who wouldn't love the extra features. I would give the second one to a single mom in my bible study. She's a student and full time mom of three.
This is great! I would love the voyager Go Bible. I would definitely give the second one to my mom. She and I are both raising young kids and I know we would both benefit from this!
Thanks so much!
Thank you so much, Renee! I needed to hear that today. I have a son, 9 and a daughter, 5. This is the hardest job I've ever had but the most fulfilling and rewarding, all at the same time. God is so gracious and even when I mess up He gives me the strength to say I'm sorry – which is very difficult to admit to a 9 year old who has always thought he knew everything anyway. 🙂
I would love to win the Voyager GoBible. I had never heard of them before. I'd give the other one to my sister, Tracy. I've seen Christ work in her life over the past few years and I really think she would love one.
Thanks again, Renee, for all you and Proverbs 31 Ministries do!
Kristi
Thanks Renee. I am a mother of twin toddlers and there are days I want to quit. 🙂 I'm glad to know there are other Christians with the same "Mommy" struggles. Your devotional is just what I needed this morning after dealing with a tantrum first thing. To be honest, I probably would not use any of the GoBibles as I am not too much into technology, and prefer to read the Bible as I am more of a visual learner and need to see it to absorb it. However, I would pass on one to a friend who has been struggling of late and listens a lot to the Christian station and the other to my sister who has been growing spiritually. Thanks for listening to God and sharing what you have learned. Rachel. ([email protected])
An awesome tool! I'd love the GoBible Voyager. I struggle daily with feeling inadequate as a mom – I'm an older mom and patience wears thin quickly then I feel so bad for not showing the characteriscs I want her to have. As far as a gift – I would give to my friend Jennifer – she has two young daughters and her husband's job keeps him away quite often.
Thank you so much for your insights and guidance.
Thank you for the words of encouragement. My little toddler is now a teenager and the feelings of quitting have changed but still rear their ugly head! There are moments in the day that I think my 3 blessings would give me a pink slip but thankful that I KNOW the one that is really in charge!!!!
I would give the goBible Voyager to my neighbor who will be having her 4th child any day now. I think she would need it more then I would. I would keep the other second pack. Your words are very encouraging to me as a mother of 4 and a home school mom. There are many days that I wanted to quit but the Lord has been there for me everytime. – Kimberly
Ever since I found EFT several months back, the daily devotions have helped give me the courage and inspiration I have needed daily. My husband and I are recently adoptive parents to a beautiful daughter and son. And most recently have taken my father in due to major illness. My days are filled with appointments for everyone else but myself. But when I log on most every morning I go to EFT first. Today's really hit me, helping to encourage me that God does have another plan for me, being a new parent, especially to 2 special needs children which require more daily maintenance than I had ever imagined. Thanks so much for the encouragement.
A new mom in Ohio. (P.S. I have a dear sister-in-law that I would give the second gift pack to) ([email protected])
Ireally enjoy your Proverbs 31 Ministery,it has helped me in soo many ways.Not only do I enjoy it I share with my family and friends! If you were to choose me for the GoBible Voyager I know it would inhance my Spritual growth. I can take it everywhere I go, I have a friend she is really going through tuff times right now, depression is trying to set in and I do all I can to keep her ecouraged in GOD'S word!I know that the GoBible Voyager would really help her especially when the enemy comes to her thoughts she can just pick it up and it help her stay focused and realize whatever we are going through we can find it in the WORD of GOD. I know as well as myself this would be a great ministering tool for us both|! Thank you again for the Ministery you have and may GOD continue to bless you in it!
Renee, I am just sitting here crying I am one huge puddle…. It is like your words are what is in my heart, only for some reason I can't feel God saying I am His gold. I press on each day knowing I am going to have this break through. I've got a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old, and I am amazed at how quickly things go south, seems more and more each day. I love my kids, and I wanted to be the mom God created me to be, it just hurts so bad to be in this spot, even as I write this I am asking God,"when do I get that moment of feeling you?" If blessed with his gift I'd like the Voyager, and I'd bless my sweet friend Dena who is a single mom, in the middle of the teenage years storm.
What an incredibly timely devotional – for moms with kids of any age. After drinking in the Truths of the devo today, I was immediately reminded of a dear friend of mine, her daughter and grandson dealing with a possible prison sentence. Let's talk about that feeling of failure and smallness….
I love the idea of the GoBible – and would give the other to this broken Mom trying desperately not to quit and to keep above the turbulent waters.
Your wisdom and generosity were much needed today – thank you.
This devotional was so good for me today! I would enjoy the Bible Voyager. I would love to listen to this while I go for my walk and it looks like you can download some favorite praise & worship songs too! I would give the second one to my sister as she is always listening to encouragement books on her ipod while exercising. This would be a great tool! Thanks.
I would love to win the Voyager GoBible! I was an empty-nester and "inherited" a tween 10 months ago. I have been in tears–actually SOBS– daily! Thank you for hearing God's words and faithfully sharing it with others who have been trying to do it on their own.
I would share the second pak with my daughter who just celebrated her 1st anniversary!
My kids are past toddlerhood into the tweens. I've struggled, but thank you for a wonderful lesson! It's not too late for me to adopt this strategy, and I plan to use it! My children need me now more than ever, and I need God's peace and strength to do my best! I would love to win you gift pack, and the GoBible I would most like to have would be the NIV version. But if that's not available, I am open to becoming familiar with another version! Peace and love to you, in all that you do to spread God's love and message. Bonnie M.
This was a great devotion, and I could completely identify with it! Phillipeans 4:13 comes to mind imediately, reminding me that I can do ALL things (even mother/homeschool these 4 blessings) through Christ who strengthens me! Thank you for sharing your gifts with us, and for helping keep our eyes fixed on him! I love that Go Bible Voyager, and if I were to win, I would give the other one to my dear friend here, who encourages me constantly, even hen she is running on empty. Thank you again, bless you!
Amen, amen and amen! We are absolutely weak without God. Thank you for this devotion and at the right time! I'm sick with bad allergies, my youngest daughter has double ear infections, my oldest daughter has a sore throat and my husband has a bad high ankle sprain!!! 🙂 But I am making it through with the Lord's help. I'd love any of your products and I would share the other with my best friend. Thank you. Cathy ([email protected])
When I have felt like that, I have felt so alone which only added to the feeling of failure. Thank you so much for having the courage to share your true feelings and God's mercy along with it! Lorraine I would choose the GoBible original. My e-mail is [email protected]
Thanks for blessing women everywhere with these encouraging truths. I have four beautiful children, 2,4,6 and 8, and in spite of appearing to have it all together, I sometimes want to lock myself in my room. I know though that in His strength, I can do just what He's called me to do in parenting our children. Thanks for the reminder that when I fall down as a mom, I need to fall on Him. If I win i'll share with my niece, who is also my best friend. I would love the original or voyager. Blessings, Theresa
Your devotion could not have better timing- I sent it out to all my Bible study gals because it spoke so strongly to what we were discussing last night. (How to stay plugged in to God as your power source when somedays you just feel like you are going non-stop). I would give the second pack to a friend from Bible study who is amazing- she is a young mom with 2 boys (age 2 & 6 mos)who is going to school to become a nurse and her husband works rotating shifts. She also just found out her cousin (another young mom) was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and is trying to find a way to get down to Texas to help her out. She truly is a giving, caring person- being Jesus' hands and feet. I want this more for her than myself.
I really, really needed your devotion this week! I have 10.5 year old twin girls (that I call opposite twins!) and a 9.5 year old son who is going on 45! It's only Wednesday, but it's been a long week. Thanks so much for your uplifting words!
I was just mentioning those GOBibles to my boyfriend the other day. I would be thrilled with any of them if I won 🙂
Renee-the email address is [email protected]
I would love the Voyager. I have never seen these before! I would give the second gift pack to my mom.
I just love getting your 'Encouragement for Today' e-mails. More often than not, when I open one up, it speaks to me about an issue I'm currently dealing with! Thank you so much for your encouraging words. 🙂 I would love to win the GoBible Voyager…it looks like a wonderful tool to have. And I would give the second pack to my friend Amy, who is a great mom, and who I've also shared your encouraging words with many times! Thank you again, Wendy [email protected]
Raising 3 sons never gives me a dull moment! It is a challenge to get them to release the energy they have in a possitive way. I would love to have the Voyager Go-Bible. I would give the 2nd one to my friend who has just lost her younger sister to cancer and really struggling with this.
You have blessed my life and many others, Thank you. Be Blessed, b
[email protected]
Renee
Thank you so much for sharing this today…
As a mom with 3 children ages 7, 6 and 4.. one being a special needs child… the day to day can be very difficult at our house….
Sometimes just not feeling like I can keep going… and God gives me the strength….. I love my kids so much and want to be all I can for them….
Please pray for me…..that I can be the mom that God wants me to be for my kids…
I love the Voyager or Original Go Bible……
Chrissy
Renee, thanks so much for these encouraging words. The title alone was just what I needed. God bless you for your continued obedience to Him. It's amazing how parenting makes you feel the triumphs of life and the failures all at the same time but you are right, our God "shields us, sustains us, and stoops down to make us great" in His own power. Thanks again. Aimy S.
Thank you so much for blessing the lives of so many women. Thank you for reminding me that He is everything I need to parent our 4 beautiful children 2,4, 6 and 8. Blessings to you and the ministry. Thanks for being so authentic. If I win, I would like the original and would give one to my niece who is also my best friend Theresa
Renee, AMEN! Some days and many times in those days I just take a deep breath in and exhale as I close my eyes and cry out to the Lord for His help and strength. My husband and I are raising 5 boys and now 1 little girl and I can’t count on one hand how over the years I have gone to my husband with tears in my eyes or choked up because I thought there was something wrong with me and my mothering skills. I can’t count on one hand how many times I have said to him, “I quit. I am not doing this anymore.” And yet in those times it was God’s quiet and gentle voice that would get me through that very moment. Or my husband’s thoughtful, encouraging word that would give me strength to carry on until he got home from work.
Thank you so very much for this thought provoking yet encouraging devotional today. I will draw strength from it… especially this part, “I pray that You would extend Your right hand to sustain me; Your grace to strengthen me; and Your wisdom to lead me.” AMEN!!! AMEN!!!!
If I am selected, I would select the GoBible Voyager and give one to my sweet sister-in-christ, Holly. She's a wife and mom of 3 young boys who most often won't come to church. Her hubby doesn't come to church at all. It's a spiritual battle every week for her. What an encouragment this would be for her. Blessings to you!
This sounds like exactly how I felt last week and feel like a lot. Thanks for the encouragement.
I would like the original GoBible and would probably give the extra one to my husband or son.
[email protected]
Thanks for the reminder to bring something so simple and basic as the day to day raising of our kids before the Lord. As we contemplate God's leading in deciding whether to move our family of 7 clear across the country, our lives are heavy laden with big issues and it has been so easy to forget about something so basic in my prayer life.
The pressures of trying to sell our current home, homeschooling my 5 kids, working part-time,and running a household with a husband who works more than 60 hours a week on average has left me feeling like turning in my pink slip lately as my kids also seem so out of control with so many things taking us out of the norm.
These resources would be a great encouragement for me, but also for a dear friend who is also in the thick of raising three kids in the midst of way too many life challenges.
The original option would be what I would choose. [email protected]
Thanks Renee, for this encouragement. I need to focus more on the gold in myself and my children. What a great idea you had for doing that, with the nuggets! I would really like the GoBible Voyager (NIV). I would give the pack to my niece who is a newly single mom. She and her son could really benefit from finding the gold in the dirt they are digging through right now.
Thank you for your devotional – coming at a time when I needed to hear it! I would enjoy the original GoBible, and I have a friend who would enjoy the other….she is struggling with motherhood as well right now.
Thank you
Diana [email protected]
Thank you for the encouraging words this morning. I love your idea of the 'golden nuggets.' I would love the Voyager Go Bible, and I would share it with my long distance girlfriend, Jen. She has just started going to church regularly for the first time in her life, and is a working mom with two little boys, just like me!
[email protected]
Great devotion – I can totally relate. I'd love the Voyager one… I'd give the other one to my best friend. Thanks. [email protected]
Thank you for the encouragement. I am always encouraged by P31 devotionals and love receiving them in my e-mail each weekday!
If chosen, I'd love the GoBible Voyager b/c it has extra space for other downloads and I do not have an MP3 for music – it'd be great to have my fave. worship music and the bible in the same place.
I'd give the 2nd packet to my sister-in-law, Heather who just adopted a 2 yr old that she had been fostering. She is also a newly-wed and her hubbie will most likely be heading to Afganistan in the next month.
Blessings! Angie
e-mail: [email protected]
I love God!!! His timing is so perfect! We had one of those mornings with our 11 yo son that left me running to God and He answered by sending your encouraging message! We have 6 children at home from 2 1/2 to 11 years old. One biological, 2 adopted and 3 foster children that we believe God has brought to us to adopt. My husband and I just looked at each other and said we need help reaching their hearts…oh, God is so faithful!!! I'd love the go Bible Voyager! I have 3 dear friends that are also foster/adoptive parents that would LOVE this resource so if i was chosen, I would give it to one of these families. Thank you for your servant heart! Love, Kim [email protected]
I loved & needed your devotion this morning. The oldest of 5 is leaving for college & as we lovingly call him our "guinea pig," there are so many things I wish I could go back & change.
I would love this Voyager. These are new to me, but it looked very fun & interesting.
I would give the 2nd one to my friend Stella. She has 2 girls and both are disabled. One mentally & the other severely physically disabled. She does it every day with such grace & love that I stand at awe watching Jesus act & love through her hands & words. She truly is amazing, but could use some encouragement in her daily grind. 🙂 Thanks for the chance!
Cindy F.
How many times I've felt like a failure and wanted to give up! Thank God that He is able to fill in the blanks that I've left in raising my children! I would like any of the Go Bibles, but I think the Voyager is the one I would choose. I'd give the second pack to my oldest daughter who is about to become a mom for the first time.
Good morning! This mornings devotional encouraged me incredibly. Being looked at as the mom who has it all together is not easy because I am far from having it all together. What you see on the outside is not always what is on the inside. Being blessed with 1 child or 7, as I am, requires God to be in control. I have forgotten that and needed the reminder. Thank you. If I won, I would give the 2nd pack to my sister. The Voyager looks amazing in that you can even look up topics! Thank you for the encouragement!
This is exactly what I have needed to hear and I can't tell you how much I appreciate how much you have made me see that this is not about how I can help my boys but that with God all things are possible and with His help I will make it through these years. Thank you so much for this.
Deanna
This is exactly what I have needed to hear and I can't tell you how much I appreciate how much you have made me see that this is not about how I can help my boys but that with God all things are possible and with His help I will make it through these years. Thank you so much for this.
Deanna
What a great devotion and post. We compare ourselves and expect so much of ourselves, it's easy to lose focus based solely on what we assume is the reality of other families.
I love the Andrew Carnegie quote. You do have to go in looking for gold, and to know that God already sees the gold? That's powerful.
The GoBible Voyager looks amazing (NIV). I would offer the second to my best friend, she is continually giving up her free time – when she gets some from her 3 +1 on the way kiddos – to take care of her Mom (battled cancer and now a strange fainting disease they can't figure out) her step-Dad (alzheimers) and her Dad (lung cancer). Did I mention she NEVER turns anyone down that needs help or needs someplace for their kids to go? Or needs someone to pick up their kids? Or take them to practice? Talk about a lifesong as a witness, she has it. A tool/resource to get some quick encouragement throughout the day would be perfect for her.
Thank you!! I am a mom of six- ages 18-18mos. And head to the doctor for a double check of if I am or not. "Pink Slip" tends to weigh on my mind. I would share with Diana- mother of 3 boys and 1 girl and homeschools them. I am sure she could use the extra encouragement. As for which GoBible- I enjoy surprises!! Thanks again for such a great devotion!! Rachel A. Nicholson
Thank you for this post. I needed it. Been having trouble with my 9 yr old daughter. 🙁
I would love to have the Voyager for me as well as my sister. My sister has lost her way with God & the church.
I have sent you a friend request on FB as well. See you soon on there. 🙂
What a perfect devotion for moms. This was me yesterday, Monday, Sunday, …. What a wonderful reminder that we are nothing without GOD. Thank you for helping me remember to give my worries, frustrations, mommy moments over to GOD. There are so many people I would love to give this gift pack to. I am in a MOPS group and there are so many of us who have the tough days. I will give this to a friend who shortly after finding out she was pregnant, was told her husband was being deployed. Since then, they have been reunited they are stuggling to reconnect and parent at the same time. I think the books would be a tremendous help to keep her going.
Thank you!
MC
I would love the Go Bible Voyager. My nineteen year old brother is visually impaired. I did not know such a wonderful product existed. Being nineteen, he is into "techie" gadgets, and loves the Lord. I would love to get one of these into his hands.
[email protected]
Loved the devotion, both here and at Proverbs 31.
I would choose the GoBible Orignal if I won!
The second one I'd give to my best friend…
However, after reading that first comment, I'd love for Amy to win, just for the sake of the widow with 3 toddlers!!
Thank you for your ministry.
[email protected]
Thanks for the encouragement. I could so use a plan to be more purposeful raising my boys.
I'd love the voyager go Bible. I'd give teh second pack to my dear friend Robyn who I don't get so see often enough.
Margaret
Thanks so much, Renee for the wonderful devotion today. Last night wasn't too peaceful in Mommy-toddlerhood land and I really needed to hear this! If chosen, I would enjoy the GoBible Voyager because even though she dislikes "technical" things I could share mine with my Mom since it is larger type. The second one would go to a dear lady at our church that is a single mom – widowed – with three toddlers under the age of 4. She has been such a blessing in my life by making me be more thankful that I still have my husband around to help out even on night like last night. Thanks again! Amy M.
God is so amazing! This is my story. I have felt so worn that I wanted to quit too. I have an 8 yr old son and my daughter just turned 5. I feel like such a failure; that I am obviously doing something wrong. I feel like I have no control over my children. I prayed just last night that God would give me peace to go on, because I know that I can not do it by myself. Now I have just read your devotion. Thank you for sharing your story.