Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Do I See Their Hearts?



The Lord recently spoke to my about how He sees my heart. I tended to live under condemnation a lot. I wanted to be so different than “I” felt I was acting, especially in the area of being a mama. Brian or my mom would always say ‘you are such a good mom’ and it would make me cringe, because I was so far from what was really in my heart. They were probably looking at my heart while I was looking at my actions.

He is now using that same concept to deliver me from years of frustration towards my children. We have always struggled with how to train and expect certain behavior yet not get frustrated when they don’t do it correctly. It’s like we are supposed to expect, yet not expect??

He showed me that our children are no different than us!


What?! I thought, but we are grown and mature and always obey and do everything right…uh, not so much.

You see, they really do desire to please us, just like we desire to please God.


Does our behavior always show how much we desire to please God? No. It is the same for them. It might not look like it all the time, but their heart is to please! (Thank God!)

They are just immature and need training, again, just like us!

We might be more mature than them, (most of the time) but we are still very immature. We still need a great deal of training and discipline by the Lord.

I came across this list of “What ifs” about our children that blew me away. Please check it out. It has changed how I look at my children. I still fall down, I have years of bad habits to overcome, but His grace is sufficient!

For years I have cried out to God asking Him to make me more compassionate, turn my heart towards them, help me to see them through His eyes…I believe this is part of the answer to those cries.


What if you could see their hearts and not just their behavior?

I am not saying that the behavior does not need to be addressed, that’s another post. I’m just wondering if my focus has been wrong all these years.

8 comments:

Mary said...

Yes, it's chilling to realize that your children are just like you! Sometimes when I think about that, I almost feel like that there is no hope, because I feel like I'm hopeless, and if they are like me....well, you do the math. Without God, we're "out there!"

Gombojav Tribe said...

That was an excellent list. I do find (like number 7 on the list) that my children are the teachers and I am the student. God has been reminding me lately to stay teachable.

Thanks for sharing that!

Deb said...

Thank you so much for this post Michelle!! If you've visited me this week, you know that there is a bit of struggle going on in our home. Thank you for reminding me that I MUST look at the heart..
Blessings,
Deb

Michele said...

Great post! I think this is something we all struggle with, especially mommies! Also love the "what if's"....made my heart "think" a bit. Thanks for sharing!

Julie said...

TOTALLY off topic here but...I like your new look since I just changed my blog to the very same background a day or so ago! ;-) I do miss your pretty plaid background as it seemed so homey, but we all need change sometimes, right?

Anonymous said...

That is a WONDERFUL link - thank you for sharing. This is something that God has been showing me, as well. Love keeps no record of wrongs... and love looks at the heart, seeing people for who they are GOING to be, rather than who they are right now. Such a wonderful reminder.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for the link, Michelle. You are doing beautiful work here.

Connie said...

It is so easy to just look at their actions and forget what they are really trying to do.

Great thoughts.