Manna For Moms

Devotions for Moms Like You!

September 2015

What Moms Can Learn from Moses

Megan Breedlove No Comments

220px-Rembrandt_-_Moses_with_the_Ten_Commandments_-_Google_Art_ProjectYou would think that of all the people depicted in the Bible, the moms would be the ones who could best understand our frustrations as mothers. That’s probably why there are so many books titled something like, “Moms of the Bible.” We’re supposed to read about moms and learn from them. Be inspired by them, even.

All of that is well and good. But lately, I’ve come to think that the Biblical personage who could best understand a mom’s frustration is Moses.

Moses was a father, but not a mother. He wasn’t even a woman. How could he be the one who best understands moms?

Consider his words to God for yourself, and see whether you agree that he understands:

“Why have you made this so hard? What have I done wrong for you to burden me with these people? They keep complaining. I can’t deal with them all by myself. It’s too hard! If this is how you’re going to treat me, then if you love me at all, kill me now, so I don’t have to deal with this anymore!”

I kid you not! That’s what Moses said. (You can look up the full passage in Numbers 11:11-15.)

Yet we also know that Moses is the only human being ever to have seen God’s face (see Exodus 33:11 below).

That means there is hope for you and me, moms. We don’t have to be some kind of super-spiritual Christian in order to have a close relationship with God. Intimacy with Him is possible for anyone who desires it—even for us!

I’m not saying that our emotions are always righteous (far from it!). What I’m saying is that if we do what Moses did, we can still have precious intimacy with God, even though we’re not perfect.

What did Moses do? He talked to God about what he thought and how he felt. He didn’t just stuff his feelings down, or try to deal with them in his own strength. He admitted he needed God, and he begged God for help.

But Moses didn’t just come to God when he needed something. He came to God often. He loved God with his whole heart, and he maintained that relationship all the time, not just when he wanted to ask God to do the genie thing and pop out of a bottle and rescue him.

Moms, did you realize you can bring your thoughts, emotions, and frustrations to God? Moses did, and God didn’t zap him to death. Instead, He helped him. God’s not going to zap you either when you come before Him honestly and pour out your heart. He will help you—not condemn you.

So take a cue from Moses. Seek a relationship with Him always, even when things are going well. And when something comes up, admit what you think and how you feel and pour your heart out to God.

Doing so won’t prevent you from experiencing intimacy with Him. In fact, it’s necessary for intimacy to happen. You have to share your heart.

Exodus 33:11—The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. (NIV)

Who You Really Are

Megan Breedlove No Comments

268/365 - Default StateYou can learn a lot from not knowing anything about science.

Let me explain.

The other day, Kenny asked me whether a “space storm” was the same thing as a black hole. Not knowing what a space storm was, I asked him, “What is a space storm?”

“Well,” Kenny said, “it does such-and-such.”

“No, not what does it do, but what is it?” I asked.

Again, Kenny tried to answer by telling me the things that happened within a space storm.

“Kenny,” I said, “What is it composed of? What is its essence?”

“Hmm,” Kenny said. “Well…I don’t know.”

I don’t blame him. It’s much harder to define a thing’s essence than it is to discuss what the thing does.

Could you do it in regards to your own essence? Could you describe yourself, apart from anyone you know, anything you own, or anything you do?

There are many reasons why we sometimes get confused as to who we really are. Past sins can seem to define us, because we can’t forget them. I’m the person who….

Present occupations or roles in life seem like they are perfectly adequate for classifying us. I’m a student. I’m a lawyer. I’m a mom.

Or maybe it’s what we own that imparts to us an identity. I’m rich. Or our talents. I’m a singer. Or our physical attributes. I’m pretty.

All of these things may be true. We all have sins in our past. We all have roles in the present. And we all have adjectives that describe us.

But none of those things is who we are.

What, then, is our identity?

My friend, if you are “in Christ”—in other words, if you have a personal relationship with Jesus—here is your identity:

You are clean (John 15:3). “Liar” or “adulteress” or “drug user” is not your identity.

You are healed (Isaiah 53:5). “Wounded” is not your identity.

You are chosen (Colossians 3:12). “Unwanted” is not your identity.

You are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). You are no longer who you used to be.

You are capable (Philippians 4:13). “Not good enough” is not your identity.

You are powerful where once you were weak (2 Corinthians 12:10). “Helpless” or “ineffective” is not your identity.

You are victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57). “Loser” is not your identity.

May I offer you a few more?

You are Christ’s friend (John 15:15). You are complete (Colossians 2:10). You are a daughter of light (1 Thessalonians 5:5), anointed by God (1 John 2:27), and a joint heir with Christ to all God’s riches (Romans 8:17). You have the right to come boldly before the throne of God to find mercy and grace in your time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Let no earthly thing define you—not what you’ve done, not what others say you are, not whom you know or what talents you possess.

You are far more than any of these things.

You are who God says you are.

Like Hamsters in a Wheel

Megan Breedlove No Comments

Okay, so, science.

I’m not very good at it and never have been, really. I do all right with simple scientific principles such as “don’t combine baking soda with vinegar unless you want a volcano” and “plant a seed in the right kind of dirt, give it the right amount of water and sun, and it will grow”. I even find basic science (as in the really basic kind) pretty interesting sometimes.

It can also be pretty funny now and then, as in the video above. One hamster is running in a wheel that’s lying down. The challenge for poor little Puffy (or whatever his name is) is that the ground is spinning beneath his feet. Puffy is running in place as fast as he can, in order to keep from being spun off into oblivion.

Then, Muffy comes walking along, and she sees Puffy running for his life. She thinks, “Hey, that looks like fun”, so she climbs in and starts running, too. The two of them run together for a little while, until, WHOAH, Muffy can’t keep up and gets plastered to the outer wall of the wheel as she goes helplessly spinning around and around.

Eventually, she gets back to her feet, and she joins Puffy, who is still running. Now they’re both running in place, until, YIKES, Muffy loses it again, and then spins into Puffy, causing him to lose it too.

Okay, so here’s the point: I hate to ruin a fun, cute little video (it has hamsters, for pete’s sake), but there are tons of spiritual implications in this for us, as well.

You and I have all had times when we felt like Puffy and Muffy, being spun around against our will and out of our control. Somehow, we get our feet back under us, and then, BAM!, it happens again. We’re spinning.

Sometimes, it’s because we don’t stay as close to the center as we should.

There are times in every mom’s spiritual life when she feels like she’s this close to losing it. Like she’s running as fast as she can and can barely keep up. And sometimes, no matter how fast she runs, she will get swept off her feet and spun out of control.

But it’s a lot less likely to happen if she’s staying close to the center.

It has to do with force—the scientific kind of force. Whether you’re a hamster on a wheel or a kid on a merry-go-round at the park, the most stable place to be is right at the center. As you leave the center and get closer to the edge, the forces are greater. You’re much more likely to get ripped off the edge of a crazily spinning merry-go-round than you are off the center.

Spiritually speaking, you’re a lot less likely to get swept away when you’re staying close to Jesus. When you’re clinging to Him, it’s a lot harder for Satan or circumstances to fling you into out-of-control-ness.

So what are you doing to make sure you’re running in the center of the bowl? You don’t want to fall, and you don’t want to take anyone down with you, as poor Muffy did, just because you failed to do what you knew you were supposed to do—to stay center.

Stay center, moms. It’s more than science. It’s good spiritual practice.

Psalm 63:8—My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. (ESV)

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