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Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. — Deuteronomy 8:2–3
The word holy sounds intimidating, but it simply means to be set apart. When God commanded us to be holy, He means we are to be set apart from sin and set apart for Him. He loves us, pursues us, and saves us, and He desires to continue the work of setting us apart from sin. To say it another way, God wants each of us to grow up and become more mature — more like Christ.
One of the ways He does this work in us is through the hard places of life — and that includes parenting. In fact, God is using parenting to make us holy.
God will often lead us to hard places to make us more like Him.
We’d all probably like to fast-forward through trials. Sometimes in the hard places it feels as if God is taking things away from us when He’s actually giving us a good gift: He’s teaching us to depend on Him. To trust Him. To rely on Him. He causes us to hunger and thirst for Him, but then He feeds us with what we need most. God gives us the gift of Himself.
The hardest places can often be the holiest places — the spaces where God does some of His greatest work.
Will you let Him do the heart work even when it is in a hard place? Will you keep trusting Him, obeying Him, and seeking Him even when it is difficult?
Father, my greatest need is knowing and treasuring You. I want to surrender to You, not resist You. Fill me with Your Spirit and help me grow, becoming more holy, even when life is hard. In Jesus’ name, amen.
- Why are hard places necessary for your growth and maturity?
- As you are raising your kids, how is God using motherhood to make you more like Christ?
Excerpted with permission from The Better Mom Devotional by Ruth Schwenk, copyright Ruth Schwenk.
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Your Turn
Parenting is hard, hard, hard, right? As wonderful as having a family is, no one told us how difficult it would be to raise tiny babies into upstanding adults! How has God used the hard times of parenting to make you more like Christ? Come share with us on our blog!
