Heart Health

Well, Bryson went to daycare yesterday for the second time. And for the second time everything went great! He took two morning naps in his crib (I was worried about this being a problem since they cannot let him sleep on his stomach- I ended up taking the positioner and they propped him on his side- worked perfectly!), and was ready for an afternoon nap by the time we got home. I know that it will be hard to adjust to going back to work, but am actually kind of looking forward to getting on a more established schedule. Jason and I are both pretty social, so I think Bryson might really enjoy being with other kids for a few days during the week. Thank you Lord, for the peace I am feeling about this whole situation. Keep it coming! :)


This week my Mom to Mom study was focused on inside out living- more specifically parenting by heart. God is very interested in our "heart health."

"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1Samuel 16:7b

This mom business is hard work. Moms make so many sacrifices every day, many times without any thanks or recognition. The thing we have to remember when we are tired or frustrated is that there is someone who sees everything we do. We should be passionate about our jobs as mothers and be fueled by the faith that the eyes of God see it all. We are doing God's work in raising these kids so that they will know Him and live for Him. What a big job!

God wants us to love Him with all our hearts, obey Him with all our hearts, and teach His Word from our hearts to our children's hearts. The Bible says:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

Bind them on my forehead! God is clearly saying that these commandments he gives us are to be blatently obvious in our every day lives, so that our children will learn to love and obey Him as well.

The following verse REALLY stood out to me:

"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34b

I need to work on conditioning my heart so that love flows out of my mouth. I don't want negativity, cynisism, resentment, and/or my attitude issues pouring out onto my child(ren). The author of this study says that our heart condition makes all the difference in our parenting. And, more importantly, our children know us well enough to know our hearts. There is no hiding our truths from our kids- they are much smarter than we realize and catch onto more than we think.

The other thing I got out of this is the importance of keeping the MIT (most important thing) the MIT. I want my time with Bryson to be intentional. I want him to know that I am spending time with him because I love and value him. He is still very young, but I am now trying to limit my internet time to Bryson's nap time. I only have a few weeks left of maternity leave- and I want to use this time to focus on him. My heart needs to be with him- not elsewhere.

Linda Anderson closed with these verses:

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways." Psalms 139:1-3

God cares about our heart health. If we are seeking Him, we will never cease to be amazed at the work God has done and is doing in our hearts!