I approach God's throne so He can give me all the grace I need to give my children all the life they need. - Sally Clarkson

Welcome to Week #5 of our Say Yes Series!!! Week #1 we talked about having The Right Picture as a mom, and we created a family mission statement. Week #2 we talked about having The Right Priorities and having family as our primary ministry. Week #3 we also talked about having The Right Priorities by doing fewer things and doing them better. Week #4 we talked about having The Right Perspective, recognizing the importance of intentionally teaching our children the Bible. This last week, #5, we will end our series by talking about having The Right Perspective through our Imitation.

Recently I was in church singing, when I realized my 2 year old had her little arm raised and was singing her heart out too! Yes it was adorable! But it struck a chord with me. Our children are watching us. The goal is to leave a positive spiritual impression on their hearts. As moms we must be growing disciples of Jesus. We want to be able to say, as Paul did to the church in Corinth, "Follow me as I follow Christ." As moms, we cannot afford to miss this. We MUST lead a life of abandon to God. There is a fantastic book that dives into this subject of imitation and how to minister to our children through our lives. It is called The Ministry of Motherhood, by Sally Clarkson. This book should be in the hands of every mom in the world. (not kidding!) It is fantastic! In the beginning of the book Sally touches on the Gifts that we must give to our children. Today I want to share those with you. These are five practical areas that we must examine in our own life, as we seek to pass along these gifts to our children.

The following GIFTS are taken from Sally's book, The Ministry of Motherhood, Following Christ's Example in Reaching the Hearts of Our Children:

G- The gift of grace - We model grace by extending it to our children. We pray our children will then pass grace along to others.

I- The gift of inspiration - We model inspiration by having the desire and ability to view all of life in the light of God's sovereignty and purpose. When we accept God's call and purpose for our lives we are teaching our children to seek God's purpose for their own personal life.

F- The gift of faith - We give this gift both by teaching the faith (sound doctrine, biblical literacy, practical application) and by modeling what it means to live in faith, trusting God for our needs. Our children then have a solid foundation of biblical truth as well as faith and trust in God's plan unfolding in their lives.

T - The gift of training - We model this by our desire and ability to grow in Christian maturity and Godly character in the power of the Holy Spirit. We then pass this along by our own growth, and by repeating lessons, with patience and perseverance to gradually move our child's character and habits in a Godly direction.

S- The gift of service - We model this by our desire and ability to minister God's grace and truth to others. Giving our children a heart for ministry teaches them how to serve God tangibly.

These gifts of grace, inspiration, faith, training, and service all involve us first living them out as moms, and imitating them for our children. As we live these gifts out, the prayer is that God will move in them to see our children receive them and live them out as well. These gifts will never stop giving. They will be gifts that last a lifetime, and are passed on to the generations to come. If you are anything like me, there are many days when we feel like we just don't have another ounce to give. Although I will fall short and I am imperfect, my prayer is that with every. single. breath. I point my children to Jesus.

I challenge you to take some time this week to write down these gifts and take a personal inventory of the areas you need to work on. Is there a specific area that you are strong in or a specific area you are missing completely? What are some examples of how each of the gifts are being lived out in your home? What areas are you going to work on and what are you going to do specifically to work on them?

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UPDATE: We have a SPECIAL new addition to our Better Mom Mondays Link Up!! Starting next week we will feature the Top 3 posts that were linked up from the previous week!! Yayyy!

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