The Qualities Of A Godly Mother

Qualities of a Godly Mother

Proverbs 31:28

Mother’s Day 1999

May 9, 1999

INTRODUCTION

Psychologist Cartoon

"Let’s see, you spend 50 percent of your energy on your work, you spend 50 percent of your energy on your husband and 50 percent of your energy on your children. I think I see your problem"

A child without a mother is like a door without a knob - Jewish Proverb

Biblical Examples of Godly mothers

Eve - literally means the mother of all

Sarah - The elderly mother who laughed at the notion of having children. She gave birth to Isaac

Naomi - Faithful mother-in-law to Ruth. her faithfulness to her family would produce the line of David

Hannah - Mother who prayed for god to give her a child. She gave birth to Samuel.

Mary - The mother of Jesus

What would we do without our mothers or wives?

It is safe to say that we would be lost without them, we would not exist without them, mothers play such an important role in the fabric of life, literally the mothers of our nation shape the future, the role of a mother is critical to proper development of healthy children,

The origin of Mother’s Day

A. One woman’s dream: Just after the Civil war one woman had a dream to reunite the nation, it would be a day to remember mothers who lost their sons in the war, Anna Reeves Jarvis wanted to create a memorial day for mothers, one of Jarvis’ youngest children saw her mothers efforts to reunite a war torn nation

B. The dream passed on: When her mother died Anna was determined to see her mother’s dream come true, Anna established the first Mothers day in honor of her mother, that was 1907 in Grafton WV, by 1910 the day was celebrated in forty five states, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico, May 8 1914 - Woodrow Wilson designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day

C. The dream still alive:

A good mother is like Christ in many ways. She is more concerned about the well being of her children than her own. What are the qualities of a godly Mother?

Body

I. Self Sacrifice

A. The story of David Llyod George

1. Mothers love: Young mother was traveling across South Wales, carrying a tiny baby when she was suddenly overtaken by a fierce snow storm, the woman never reached her destination, when the storm subsided a large search party went out looking for her and the child, they discovered the woman dead from exposure, to the search parties surprise the child was still alive

2. The sacrifice: The child’s mother had taken off her outer clothing and bundled the child inside it, the mother had mounded her body over the child, she gave her life to save the baby, years later the child, David Llyod George, grew to become Prime Minister of Great Britain, one of England’s greatest statesmen - all because of one mothers self sacrifice

B. The sacrifice a mother makes

Mothers make a variety of sacrifices on behalf of their family, sometimes even sacrificing their own life, it is clear that we often overlook the sacrifices that mothers make

* Physical: Mothers make physical sacrifices from the beginning of motherhood, pain of labor, daily routines that drain, the sacrifice of physical needs and wants

Value of Mothers _ Larry Burkett

Roles - Mothers and Wives fill a lot of different roles and functions, Nurse to social secretary, dietitian to gardener, chauffeur to housekeeper, many thankless jobs and receive little to no credit

Salary they would earn for this work - average over $513 dollars per week with an average of about 100 hours per week, the women in our lives do a lot for us

* Emotional: No one has more of an emotional investment in children, times when children break a mothers heart, times when the emotional investment returns void, times when they hurt because their children hurt, time when the loss seems greater than the gain,

* Spiritual: Training up of children in the spiritual aspects of life, times of prayer for children,

II. Boundless Grace

A. Mother’s Day Card Prayer

1. Mother’s Day Card - Big card with child’s printing for lettering, front had a little boy with untied shoes, a red wagon, toys strung everywhere and smudged and dirty face

2. The Prayer: The caption states: Mom, I remember the little prayer you used to say for me everyday. Inside - God help me if you ever do that again

B. The Grace of a godly mother

1. The quality: A mothers grace is the closest human equivalent to God’s grace, the grace of a mother truly seems to have little to no bounds, mothers may lose their patience, lose their temper, may even feel like they are losing their minds but they never lose their grace, godly mothers have a sense of forgiveness and a general graciousness that will never go away