Sharon E. Jaynes - Being a Great Mom, Raising Great Kids

being a
GREAT MOM
raising
GREAT KIDS

______________________
sharon jaynes

M OODY P UBLISHERS
CHICAGO

2000 by
S HARON J AYNES

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA . Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

All Scripture quotations marked AMPLIFIED are taken from The Amplified Bible 1965 by Zondervan Publishing House; The Amplified Old Testament Part One Copyright 1964 by Zondervan Publishing House; The Amplified Old Testament Part Two Copyright 1962 by Zondervan Publishing House; The Amplified New Testament Copyright 1958 by Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The use of selected references from various versions of the Bible in this publication does not necessarily imply publisher endorsement of the versions in their entirety.

The story of the lighthouse keeper running out of oil is from Just Like Jesus, by Max Lucado. Copyright 1998, Word Publishing, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Mamas Plan by Marion Bond West. Reprinted with permission from Guideposts magazine (Sept. 1998). Copyright 1988 by Guideposts, Carmel, New York 10512.

The Man Who Thinks He Can, author and original source unknown, is from Victory over the Darkness, by Neil Anderson. Copyright 1990, Regal Books, Ventura, California 93003.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jaynes, Sharon
Being a great mom, raising great kids / Sharon Jaynes
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8024-6532-0
1. Mothers. 2. Parenting. 3. ParentingReligous aspectsChristianity.
HQ 759 J 33 2000
306.8743dc21

00-061663

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To Steven

Being your mom has been
one of Gods greatest blessings to me.
You were a great kid,
and I am so thankful
for the godly young man you have become.

Contents

Acknowledgments

T he first person to recognize and thank is my husband, Steve. If a Proverbs chapter 32 existed, it would be about him. And Proverbs 32:28-29 would read, His children rise up and bless him, and his wife also praises him saying, Many men have done nobly, but you excel them all. His love and support have spurred me on to birth this book.

Id also like to thank Lysa Terkeurst, my partner at The Proverbs 31 Ministry. She is my cheerleader, treasured friend, and dear sister in Christ.

I offer special thanks to my mother, Louise Edwards, for being a diligent mom. Our relationship has grown sweeter with each passing year. Thanks also to Glynnis Whitwer for reading over the manuscript and asking good questions.

I thank the staff of The Proverbs 31 Ministry for their love and support. What an awesome group of women the Lord has raised up to touch womens hearts and build godly homes. A special thanks goes to Greg Thornton and the staff at Moody Press for catching the vision of The Proverbs 31 Ministry and believing we had something to say.

Then theres my editor Janet Kobobel Grant. An excellent editor who can find?her worth is far above rubies. Janet is a rare and wonderful gem. With a skillful pen, she marks, slashes, moves, and draws smiley faces. I appreciate her diligent commitment to excellence.

Most of all, Im grateful to the Lord for allowing me the opportunity to encourage mothers and point them to the Savior.

CHAPTER ONE

Moms and Blessings

H ave you ever noticed what happens when a television camera pans the cluster of college football players on a fields sidelines? The young men, most of whom are experiencing their first taste of national attention, call out two words. Those words make a womans heart skip a beat, swell with pride, and melt in a puddle of love. Hi, Mom! the guys shout, following the greeting with wild waves and big smiles.

An inexplicable bond exists between a mother and her child. While a child is being knitted together in Moms womb, the mothers very blood is pumped from her heart to her childs. And even though the umbilical cord is severed in the delivery room, an invisible cord holds them together for the rest of their lives. Elizabeth Stone aptly explained that bond when she said, Making a decision to have a childits momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

And while the mothers heart is vulnerable to every pang her child experiences, that woman also realizes that God has placed anothers soul in her care and given her the privilege, for a few fleeting years, to shape that soul. What will we mothers do with those years? How will we invest the time? Who can help us to know what to do?

Ive often been interviewed in my role as a spokeswoman for The Proverbs 31 Ministry Frequently Im asked if I think the wife of noble character described in Proverbs chapter 31 is one woman or several women pooled together into a depiction of some sort of supermom. Interviewers also ask if I think the verses exemplify a typical day for Mrs. Worth More Than Rubies or a lifetime of accomplishments. I believe that she is one woman and that the listing of her achievements spans her life. Verse 28 leads me to those conclusions: Her children rise up and call her blessed (RSV).

I dont know about you, but I havent heard many preschoolers bless their mothers for devoting arduous hours to potty training, for washing a favorite Mickey Mouse T-shirt, or for staying up all night cleaning throw-up. A child is more likely to rise up and call his or her mother blessed when that child is a young adult and realizes the sacrifice, hard work, undaunted love, tender affection, and wisdom that Mom has poured into his or her life for eighteen to twenty-five years. And sometimes that realization doesnt come until a child has a child of his or her own.