Gloria Furman - Missional Motherhood: The Everyday Ministry of Motherhood in the Grand Plan of God

Jesus invites women to missional motherhood:

to follow his pattern, to trust his promises, and to nurture others by the power he provides.

Abraham and Sarah,

Adam,

Adam and Eve,

Bible,

Boaz,

children, timing of ordained by God,

church, in Dubai,

covenant,

Cretans,

creation,

cross, shadow of in Old Testament,

David,

Devil. See .

discipleship of women,

Dubai,

evangelism as moms work,

Eve,

gender, differences of,

good works,

gospel, the,

Great Commission,

Hezekiah,

Holy Spirit, facilitates prayer,

home, managing of,

hope,

human beings, as creatures,

image bearers (of God)/imagers,

immortality,

Isaac,

Israel, warning to,

Jesus, author of life,

just a mom,

Lamb of God,

lies, lying,

love (a mothers),

martyrs, missional mothers as,

Melchizedek,

mission of God,

missional mothers credo,

moms work,

Moses, rescued by midwives,

motherhood, and meaning of life,

mothering,

Mothers Day,

nations, mothers sharing gospel with,

need, eternal,

Noah,

nurture, nurturing,

Passover,

patience,

prayers, praying,

prosperity gospel,

reading,

reconciliation, ministry of,

Redeemer Church of Dubai,

ruah . See

Ruth,

sacrifice(s)/sacrificing,

salvation,

Saul,

seasonal disorders,

self-centeredness,

self, death to,

Shalom,

sin, our biggest problem,

soul(s),

story,

Titus, Titus 2,

truth,

verbiage. See

widows,

woman/women, hands of,

womanhood, Gods design for,

From Creation to Father Abraham

After I submitted a book proposal for Missional Motherhood , the thought occurred to me that what Im attempting to do in is a fools errand. How can you possibly summarize something like, oh, you know, Gods epic plan for redemptive history and how motherhood fits in , in just a few short chapters?

Though Im confident that this is the right way forward for this book, I still feel intimidated when I try to summarize a story so grand and mind - boggling . I am encouraged, however, that this genre of summary is worthwhile for the busy women who will read this bookbecause the practice of summary (and the intimidation that goes along with it) is something we do all the time. We all know that intimidated feeling we get when a child asks a profound question. Weve all been bewildered when someone we know gets blindsided by tragedy. We all feel frustrated when we realize that precious time is flying by too quickly. Weve all sat speechless after reading certain news headlines. The big picture helps us to keep going. To use theater terms, because we are all characters living out a story, were all ad - libbing according to the script weve subconsciously summarized in our hearts.

What are we actually doing in our motherhood? And to what end is this mission headed? We need to know the big story that starts with the old, old story.

The Story - Writing Word

I said earlier that we were going to watch the shadow of the cross loom large over the Old Testament. The Bible that Jesus read has something to say to us moms today. That idea was new to me when I became a Christian, and I felt as though my brain would either melt in confusion or burst in joy when I heard that the promised seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15 was Jesus. As a new believer, I remember thinking how it was good, good news, because all growing up I was under the impression that the god of the Old Testament was somehow different from the god of the New Testament. I thought that the first god was angry with all the sinners, and its a good thing that that god changed into Jesus and started loving the sinners instead. Boy, was I relieved to discover that I was wrong. Who could possibly trust or love a god who shape - shifts or changes? Praise our triune GodFather, Son, and Holy Spirithe never changes. He has given us his word, which is one unified message of his plan to glorify himself in saving his lost children.

Reading the Old Testament in the shadow of the cross makes my heart burn within me, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The resurrected Christ appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and what he said blew their minds and thrilled their hearts:

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)

When Jesus talks about this unity, he shows that the entire Bible is about him.

Of course, there are nuances to interpreting Scripture through this lens; we do not want to find things that are not really there! To put it plainly, your biblical theology is on the right track when you see how all of Scripture points you to the gospel. The Bible is about Jesus Christ and what he did for us in order to restore us to a right relationship with God. Jesus is the central character in Gods word. John, a beloved disciple of Jesus, cuts to the chase in the first line in the eyewitness account he wrote:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

Jesus is the Word. The Bible is his story. He is the Word through whom all things were created.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authoritiesall things were created through him and for him. (Col. 1:16)

We need to know how Jesushis existence, incarnation, teaching, attesting miracles, deeds, death, resurrection, ascension, enthronement, and returnis the governing reality of everything we can see and cant see.

As I said before, it was a relief to find out that the shape - shifting modalism of God is a heresy. It is also a relief to realize and remember that all of life is all about Christ and not about me. If Im the center of the universe, then I have to fight to keep God, my children, my husband, my friends, my work, and the distracted drivers in the pick - up line at school all orbiting around me . Issuing that kind of gravitational pull is exceptionally hard work, and it makes me frustrated (at the very least). All of those planets keep trying to fly off into outer space. When I read that Jesus Christ is the center of everything, I breathe a sigh of relief, repent of my arrogance, and look happily to him in adoring worship. I also have to pick my jaw back up off the floor when I realize that the Word has chosen to create, writing his creation into his story.

God Made Everything You Can See (and Cant See)

It has been said that women are great at multitasking. This may be true, but in my own experience I am not great at keeping in mind the multitude of truths I want to remember. Thats why I appreciate basic reminders such as, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). Its like a nice, tall glass of perspective when I feel as though the weight of the world is on my shoulders. Before we dismiss this fact of Gods creation with a quick Yes, yes, I know that already, lets pause and consider what it says. Also, before we dismiss this section with a quick Yes, yes, we covered that in the quick Old Testament overview already, lets pause and remember that we are zooming in now on specific applications of the Old Testament story and how it all applies to our lives.

First, we are creatures. How do we explain all the breathtaking beauty and heartbreaking brokenness we see among us? Human beingscreaturesare both incredible and reprehensible. We are finite, made of dust, given immortal souls that will never die, are painfully addicted to Candy Crush, adorned with innie or outie belly buttons, and are preoccupied with whether the toilet paper is supposed to roll from the top or the bottom. We are Haka - dancing , shawarma - stuffing , love - making , marathon - running , moon - walking , abortion clinicfunding, marriage covenantvowing, infant - nursing , nuclear bombbuilding, orphaned baby birdrescuing, slave - keeping , slave - freeing , symphony - composing , dolphin - training , motherboard - designing , compassion - giving , refugee - housing , dream - chasing creatures.