Who Am I?

In the back of my December 2011 issue of Above Rubies, I saw an advertisement for a Nancy Campbell teaching DVD titled "Who Am I?" The answer to the proposed question fascinated me as I thought of the many responsibilities and blessings that encompass my title of "Stay at Home Mom."

"I am a....

Nurturer

Life-giver

Leader

Generation Builder

Manager of my Home

Feeder

Educator

Teacher

Child Trainer

Discipler

Guardian

Flourishing Vine"

...and may I add...

Help Meet

I love this list! It makes me take a step back and realize how important my role truly is. It also makes me question: Am I doing all that I can to fulfill each of these aspects of motherhood?

Over the next several weeks I will try to post about each of these biblical traits.

Becoming Levi's Mom: My Altered Identity

"Forget being called 'Jessica'; From now on you'll just be Levi's Mom."

"When you have a child you lose your identity."

These are comments women have made to me, and sadly, this attitude about children seems to be the popular one. Somewhere along the road of raising children, mothers no longer see them as a gift, a heritage from the Lord. In light of this, let me address the previous comments, respectively.

"Forget being called 'Jessica'; From now on you'll just be Levi's Mom."

Jessica. I like my name, I do. But these seven letters do not define me. They don't reveal anything about my life or my heart or what I love. I don't swell up with pride when someone calls my name. I do, however, remember my heart filling with joy the first time that someone introduced me as "Joey's wife," and I still feel special when I'm referred to in this way. I'm sure I will feel similarly when someone recognizes me as Levi's Mom. Both of these titles define a part of who I am, my life, my heart, and what I love.

Even God is referred to by His attributes: Almighty, Anointed One, Teacher, Comforter, Bridegroom, Lamb of God, Son of God, Son of Man, Emmanuel, Father. These names add to our understanding of Him, they don't take away a part of who He is.

Maybe a better comment to make would be this: "Forget being called 'Jessica'; Now you get to be known as Levi's Mom."

"When you have a child, you lose your identity."

I disagree. First of all, my identity is found in Christ Jesus. He is the One who chiefly defines who I am. Secondly, by having a child I don't lose my identity at all, it just changes. I am going to be defined by something: my job, where I live, places I spend my time, the people with whom I surround myself, what I do, what I don't do, etc... I personally would rather be defined by my calling to be a wife and mother and everything that comes with it. This is the "job" that God has given me to fulfill. Through it the Lord has blessed me with a home, many things to occupy my time and people to spend time with. It affects what I do and what I don't do. This identity is beautiful because it is the one God has given me.

A better comment to make would be this: "When you have a child, God expands your identity."

Mothers, let's enjoy our children and view them as the gift that they truly are!

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward." Psalm 127:3

The Heart Revealed

"...for out the the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." -Matthew 12:34

“It’s not so much what you say

As the manner in which you say it;

It’s not so much the language you use

As the tone in which you convey it;

"Come here!" I sharply said,

And the child cowered and wept.

“Come here”, I said –

He looked and smiled

And straight to my lap he crept.

Words may be mild and fair

And the tone may pierce like a dart;

Words may be soft as the summer air

But the tone may break my heart;

For words come from the mind

Grow by study and art –

But tone leaps from the inner self

Revealing the state of the heart.

Whether you know it or not,

Whether you mean or care,

Gentleness, kindness, love and hate,

Envy, anger, are there.

Then, would you quarrels avoid

And peace and love rejoice?

Keep anger not only out of your words –

Keep it out of your voice.”

~Author Unknown

Blackberry Summer

"And God said, 'See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.'"

~Genesis 1:29

How sweet to truly "taste and see that the Lord is good!" And furthermore, to have the opportunity in your own backyard! Each year our property brings forth an abundance of berries, and not just any berry-- blackberries. The richness they supply in both color and flavor is a testament to the supreme artistry of the Creator.

The delightful berries!

My mom, sister, and I travelled about the property seeking out our delicious little morsels. And boy did we find them! With the help of our blackberry-loving dog, Josie (who trotted ahead of us to the next patch of ripe blackberries), we were able to end victorious with a full bucket.

Me, Brittney, just beginning to pick.

Now, picking blackberries is a careful kind of business. One must be ever so gentle in the retrieval. If grabbed too tightly, the ripened berries may turn to mush. If grabbed too hastily, one is almost sure to be stuck by a thorn.

Mom, picking a delicious, ripe blackberry.

The summer sun was warm on our backs and the sweet symphony of nature was like a warm plate of cobbler: sweet to the senses and soothing to the soul. The vast blue sky was like glassy waters. It was as if one could be immersed in its refreshing clarity. For a short moment it was as if time stood still; as if the world had been stilled in its motion and it was just...us. Just this moment in the flourish of God's creation. O, how deep the Father's love for us!

Jessica, holding our bucket-full at the end of the picking spree.

We continued our trek along the winding path, seeking shade at every opportunity. After much seeking, finding, and picking we returned to the house to begin the tastier part of our journey :)



Bringing the berries, sugar, and fruit pectin to a boil.


Jessica and I cooked down the berries on the stove until they reached a more tender, juicy state. (On more than one occasion we had to stop ourselves from premature taste-tests.) Then we transferred the berries to a big pot and invited sugar and fruit pectin to the party. After the delicious concoction arrived at a boil...

Filling up our jam jars.

We poured them into the previously boiled jars. It looked so good!!! This part resulted in a slightly sticky mess.

Sealing the lids.

After screwing on the lids, we boiled the jars with the jam in them to help the lids seal. Again, we needed a big pot.

Scrumptious blackberry jam!

And...voila! Blackberry jam! (Which was quite delectable if I do say so myself)

On this day, many memories were made that cannot be captured in a picture or paragraph. The three of us-my sister, my mother, and I- have our very own snapshots and recollections of that special day.

Psalm 23:6 says, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

The day of the blackberries was one of absolute goodness and mercy. There was goodness in the sweet time we were able to spend together. There was goodness in the love that was shared that day. There was goodness in the bond that was strengthened among the three of us. But most of all, there was mercy. Mercy in all that God allowed that day: a time of fellowship, a time of laughter, but above all, a time to simply feel the immeasurable wave of blessings that the good Lord showers upon us every day. Oh, that every day would feel like a blackberry summer.

~Brittney

My Content Heart was Born in the Kitchen

"...for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content." -Philippians 4:11

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have."
-Hebrews 13:5

"A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked." -Psalm 37:16

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain." -1 Timothy 6:6

About six months before my husband and I began our life together as man and wife, he began preparing for our future by tearing apart the house he purchased. I mean literally, tearing apart, plaster, lathe, ceilings, floors, everything, down to the studs. All that was left of our future home was a skeleton and, of course, endless possibilities (at least as many as our budget would allow). My wonderful, creative, engineer, husband, reworked the whole layout of our quaint, 1904 farmhouse and opened up the floor plan beautifully! The master bedroom became the living room; the large living room became a bathroom and a second bedroom; the second bedroom became the kitchen, the kitchen became the master bedroom; and the laundry room became the master bathroom/closet. The only room in our whole house that remained in its original location was the dining room, and even it was modified.

Now that the background of our undertaking has been revealed, it may come as no surprise that "Mission Home" is not presently complete. Our house is quite livable, however and is even filled with many amenities that have only been seen as "necessary" in my own naive generation. But there was one aspect of the house, that before the wedding, I thought would not be near completion, and I would terribly long for- a kitchen. You see, I love to cook and I love to be in the kitchen, so knowing that I may not have an oven or a sink or a refrigerator or kitchen cabinets or a microwave for at least a year was somewhat disappointing, actually quite disappointing. No home cooked meals to eat with my hubby? No baking bread? No experimenting with new recipes? No kitchen? But still, I made the decision to be content with what I was given.

Our current kitchen setup


Well, we serve a God who cares for every aspect of our lives, and do you know what He did? He provided. Maybe not in any ways we may have anticipated, but the Lord provided all the same. A month before we were married, my husband attended a cabinet auction and brought home two cabinets (for five dollars a piece) that we were able to set up in the corner of our kitchen. Not long after that, a pastor friend and his wife told us that they were preparing to sell a large refrigerator, two pantry cabinets, and a counter top at a very affordable price. So in went the refrigerator, the pantry, and the counter top. A few weeks after the wedding, we bought (an extremely discounted) brand new, gas stove. It came out of a home my father-in-law had sold to an elderly lady who preferred to cook with an electric stove. This may have been the most exciting addition to our kitchen! Now we had everything except a kitchen sink, so we washed our dishes in the laundry tub that was serving as our bathroom sink until we could afford a "real" bathroom sink. When we did save up to by the "real" sink, we were able to move the laundry tub to the kitchen. Not only did we acquire all of this, but for Christmas, my husband's sisters gave us a microwave. Our kitchen had actually become a kitchen! Everything seemed so complete and I was so satisfied! So imagine my excitement a week ago when a friend of the family gave my husband and I cabinets and counter tops and when my husband's co-worker gave us a real kitchen sink! We were able to use two of the cabinets and the counter top (which had the perfect sized rectangular cutout) to set up our sink!


The new sink and cabinets


Do we have the perfect, Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens kitchen? No. But we do have a stove which allows me to prepare my husband's favorite foods, a refrigerator to store the ingredients and leftovers, counter tops on which to work (and experiment), a wonderful sink where I can clean up my messes, and plenty of space to store all of our dishes! It is perfect for us because it is what God provided! I will be fully satisfied with it because what the Lord has given us has magnified His name and demonstrated His love and power. In His awesome provision, God even made sure to provide the newest extra cabinets, leaving unused space for me to store the baby bottles that I just found out I will be needing in about nine months! Yes, we serve a very knowing, powerful, present, loving God!

~Jessica

Gentleness

Gentleness – calm, kind, loving, patient, amiable. This is the wife and mother I strive to be. Not lacking spirit, only lacking anger, bitterness, and exasperation. The Word clearly tells us:

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”1 Peter 3:3-4

My husband and children are precious gifts from the Lord. What a wonderful opportunity to serve my Savior. It is my desire to use my relationships with them as a crucible. I pray that the Lord would refine my heart; polish it to reflect His love.

Kristina