Have you ever heard of MOMtourage?
MOMtourage is a place of belonging and becoming for mothers to experience authentic community, safety, freedom and affirmation in their journey of motherhood so that they can be sent out to love and serve their families well.
It’s specifically for mothers who are expecting their first child in the 2016-2017 school year to those with kids from birth through preschool.
Our theme for the 2016-2017 school year is GRACE and how, through Christ, it should change the way we live in relationship with our partners, parent our children, and do life with others.
John 1:16 says, “For from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”
When I walk into a room, or am with a group of women, I have to fight the urge to measure myself up against them. Can you relate?
- How do I measure up?
- Am I as good of a wife, mother, sister, friend?
- Am I the best teacher or most successful businesswoman?
- Do I have the most well-behaved kids?
- Am as good of a Christian?
- Where do I relate?
It’s ugly. This comparison game. This constant competition. Do you know what I mean?
The thing is, however, a lot of these things are important. Some of them are eternal. They matter to me. But, the reality is, I am supposed to be a daughter, a child of the King. What I am supposed to be is someone who is staying close to the vine, walking in step with the Spirit, listening to the Father. I don’t have to do more or try harder. I want to live out of THAT place.
“Grace is countercultural and strips us of our worldly rules and goalposts, so we are pushed to be nearer to the Lord moment by moment.” (Hayley Morgan, Wild and Free)
When we turn our eyes from who’s doing all the things right or best and this game where we compare ourselves to others, grace makes it’s home in our lives.
Out of grace, I can love and serve my husband well, without resentment or restraint. I can guide and discipline my children with patience and gentleness. I can engage my neighbors and care deeply about my friends, and even strangers.
Ephesians 2:4-10 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by GRACE you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by GRACE you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (emphasis mine)
I love that. I am God’s workmanship. He created me. He doesn’t need me to produce anything. I don’t need to earn my spot at the table or do a certain amount of deeds to matter to him and His Kingdom.
What I do, right where I’m at—in my marriage, in my parenting, with my friends, with my neighbors—combined with the Spirit, produces beautiful fruit.
That’s what I want to be about. A grace-filled, free woman who opens herself up, puts down her shield and, in that, shows other women it’s safe to do the same.
Join us this year as we learn together how we can be women filled with grace. Grace for ourselves, our families, and our friends. Grace through the Holy Spirit.
Registration for MOMtourage opens August 1 and runs through September 8. We will kick off the year with our first meeting on Thursday, September 8th at 9:30 am at CVC.
To register for MOMtourage, please visit: www.cvconline.org
If you have any questions, please email Jessica Hawk at cvcmomtourage@yahoo.com.
