Ministry of Motherhood Book Club ~ Week 4

This past week we focused on reading chapter 3 and 4 of Ministry of Motherhood and answering the questions at the end of chapter 4.

I don’t know about you all, but I really NEED these chapters, but they are s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g me. In a good way. :)

In all honesty, the hardest thing for me is finding a way to balance the need for discipline and still extend grace. I’ll admit that there is a lot of fear in my heart relating to the balance. There is obviously a need for discipline in everyday life to maintain order and sanity…or my kids would be going nuts at mealtimes and any sense of decorum would be out the window.

Much of that though also has to do with HOW the discipline is administered. There’s a nice way and then there is the way that is frequently present when Mommy has reached her absolute limit of patience and completely loses it over something really, really insignificant.

It’s in this area that I am consistently failing, berating myself over how horrible of a mother and trying to figure out what I can do to change things.

And in all honesty…I cannot change things.

Hear me out.

The only way things are going to change is if I relinquish the ever-precious control that I’m clinging too and allow God to work through me in all the little things. Because He cares about the tiniest of details in my life. Especially if that means pouring more grace into my tired and weary heart so that it can overflow to my children and minister to them.

All I have to do is ask.

With the words that flow from my mouth I can either bring life or proverbial death to my children. They remember the things that are spoken over them and I do NOT want their spirits to be broken because I refused to let go of my pride, my control and turn to God for help.

This past week I’ve been praying for balance in all that I do with the kids. That my words would be tempered with patience and be ones that do not injure but bring life to their hearts. Instead of nagging, I’m trying to encourage.

Have I been perfect. Ummm….no. But in the process I have had one of our children open up to me in a way that she hasn’t in the past ~ which was a big encouragement to me. :)

Only by the grace of God…

Here’s my question for you ~ how do YOU all balance the grace and discipline in your house?

A few links…

~ Book Discussion for Week 4 @ Blog Frog

~ Daily S.O.A.P. discussions @ Blog Frog

~ Good Morning Girls Ministry of Motherhood posts

~ If you haven’t already, please be sure to fill out this quick survey and answer a few questions for me. I’m trying to create an email list to keep better in touch with all of you ladies, and this will help me out a bunch!

With all that said ~ start linking up and sharing what God showed you this week!