Raising Servants of God

“My hands are already full taking care of my toddlers.  I could never take on a ministry right now.”

“I used to be super involved in visitation and other ministries, but now I’m just a stay-at-home mom.”

“I can’t wait until my kids are older so that I can be more involved in the church.”

Have you ever heard a young mother make any of these comments?  Have you ever heard these words come out of your own mouth?  I often hear mothers of young children express feelings of being handicapped in their service to the Lord because they now have children to care for.  Yes, after caring for your husband, your children are and should be top priority.  As mothers, our primary mission is to evangelize and then disciple the little heathens God places in our charge.  However, how will we raise servants of God if they do not see us serving?  How will they learn to sacrifice for others if all we ever do is sacrifice for them all day?  There are many creative ways you can teach your children to love and serve others while still maintaining your priorities in their proper order.

When our first two were little, any excursion out of the house was a welcome treat for this young mother. We enjoyed spending time with an elderly widow lady, keeping her company on shopping trips and helping her pull weeds in her garden. It was a mutual blessing the times when our car was out of commission and she needed someone to drive for her! During the week, our little ones had a ball playing in the nursery while I cleaned the church. Teaching VBS, children’s church, or youth Sunday School with a baby in my arms was not an uncommon sight. My toddlers “helped” me make Christmas cookies for our neighbors, doctors, and the local fire fighters. My husband and I pushed the double stroller while going on weekly door-to-door visitation. All these things were just a natural part of our family life.

Nevertheless, when our third child was born, it complicated things a bit. For some reason, God did not choose to give me a third arm when He gave me a third child! With a three year-old, a just-turned-two year-old, and a newborn, I found it difficult to go anywhere without some kind of incident. So, I asked the Lord what I could do. He showed me that if I can’t go minister, then why not bring the ministry to my home? “Be not forgetful [do not neglect] to entertain strangers…” (Heb. 13:2). From then on, our front door became a revolving one. With the help and support of my husband, we had all kinds of people over at least once a week. We served them on everything from Dixie paper plates to our finest China, whether we were living in temporary housing with barely any furniture or a tiny duplex. My reward was not just an opportunity to serve, but to get to carry on a conversation with other adults!

Eight years later, I find myself in a different season of motherhood. This season does not involve scheduling my days around naptimes, feeding times, and diaper changes, but rather homeschooling, piano lessons, art class, and soccer games. With this new season, are new opportunities. We still invite people over quite often, but I can also take advantage of other moments. During soccer games, we mingle with the parents and work on building relationships. We take every opportunity to witness to the kids’ piano teacher. During art class, I go with one of the other mom’s to a nearby coffee shop and we do a Bible study together. The other day, art class was cancelled, so our kids had a “play date” while we studied the Bible at the kitchen table. Believe it or not, even with seven children from age 12 to age 2 running through the kitchen every other minute, we had a sweet time of fellowship around God’s Word.

Despite what it may look like on paper, I’m no Supermom. I’m just an ordinary person who happens to love God and love my children.

“…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Our mandate is to preach the Gospel to every creature, whether great or small, young or old. So, whatever stage of life you find yourself in right now, I encourage you to prayerfully create opportunities for service. Don’t look for excuses not to become engaged in others’ lives; look for excuses to show you care!

- Amy

January 8 update

We are overwhelmed with God’s grace and goodness…certainly so much more than we deserve!  In our last prayer letter, we expressed various financial blessings as well as certain needs.  Since then, God has continued to provide in ways that only confirm our return to Argentina in February.

· A generous offering was given to help with our support deficit.

· Another offering was given to pay for James’ return airline ticket.  (He had used his miles to pay for his flight here in order to have more flexibility.)

· More unexpected funds came in to help send the teens to summer camp. Amazing! Two kids weren’t planning on going to camp because of the financial difficulty. When they found out about the scholarships, they were all so excited their boys could go!

God has used these gifts to strengthen our faith as well. We were a bit discouraged last week as Lauren’s Emergency Room medical bills started to arrive in the mail. We are actually appealing the insurance company’s penalty for visiting an ER instead of an urgent care facility. Pray this can be resolved in our favor.

We have been in 3 churches already this month. We are thankful for the prophet’s chambers at Oakwood Baptist in Anderson, SC and Northside Baptist in North Charleston, SC that have given us a little “breathing room.”  I type this as we are traveling to a small church in South Central Pennsylvania that has indicated they would like to take us on for support, if all goes well.  The kids have enjoyed seeing some snow along the way!

Amy Greenwood

Cranberry Relish Anxiety

Every Thanksgiving in Argentina all the American missionaries get together for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Since this is a North American holiday, all the ladies have to really make an effort to prepare food that is not particularly common in South America. One makes pumpkin pies totally from scratch. (None of that canned stuff here!) Another special orders a turkey from the butcher, only to be presented with Cornish hens the day prior to Thanksgiving. One lady goes to great expense to buy pecans for her husband’s favorite pecan pie. My husband will actually pit several cups of cherries so I can make him a homemade cherry pie. The one dish that always makes me chuckle is the cranberry relish. Why? Because cranberries do not exist in this country! Most Argentines have never even heard of the fruit. However, there is always one who does her best to use substitutes to make something of a relish that tastes nothing like cranberries only because that’s the way it’s always been. You just can’t have Thanksgiving without cranberry relish!

The other day I found myself concocting my own recipe for cranberry relish. Yes, I know it’s nowhere near Thanksgiving, but it was really the same concept. As our departure date draws near for returning to Argentina, I realized that I had not taken my children for their annual birthday pictures. In fact, I was a year overdue with our oldest child. We live in the age of digital cameras – still and video, so it’s not like my child was not photographed at some point during his eighth year of life. My anxiety was due to the fact that I had always taken my kids to be photographed near their birthday…that‘s the way it’s always been. The Lord gently rebuked me by reminding me of the cranberry relish and I realized that I was actually fretting over the unimportant and I had to ask my Heavenly Father for His forgiveness. I put my focus back on all the good things that He has blessed me with. Just because it’s always been a certain way doesn’t mean that is God’s best for our lives. So, the moral of the story is, “Don’t eat fake cranberry relish when God has something much better for you.”

By the way, I did get out my digital camera and the Lord gave me a great photo (even better than the pro’s!) of our now nine year-old, Jaden.

May you also experience the abundant blessings found in God’s grace,

Amy