My calling as a mother is the same as any other Christian’s:  to fulfill God’s will for our lives and to glorify Him.  This means I am to follow the Lord’s design for my marriage—cleaving to my husband, supporting him, honoring him, loving him as my own flesh.  I am to be a careful steward of the world in which I live.  I am to seek opportunities to bring God’s message of redemption to other’s, to make full use of the gifts and talents He has placed in my life to bring Him glory and further His kingdom.  And I am to delight in Him and worship Him and praise Him in whatever circumstance I find myself.

But that’s just the point.  Because God has blessed me with a husband and children, a part of His call to me is to follow His plan for families.  And that means I am to shepherd the hearts of the children whom He has providentially placed in my care.  I am to care for them tenderly and to partner with God and my husband in leading my children to know and love His Word and to follow His will.

This design doesn’t mean I have to lose myself in my children’s lives.  On the contrary, following God’s design for living is the true key to finding myself — to becoming the person He had in mind for me all along.  And saying yes to the mission of motherhood has certainly not meant giving up my ministry.  To a great extent, it is my ministry.

                                     - Sally Clarkson

Amen.

Read more in The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson.