1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: Life audio. 2 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 2: You're listening to everyday prayers with Million Praying Moms, helping 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 2: you pray God's word for your family in the areas 4 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 2: you need at most. I'm your host, Nicolette Bell. Here 5 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 2: we believe prayer isn't a last resort. It's our first 6 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 2: and best response in parenting, and every day we come 7 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 2: together to partner with God for the hearts of our children. 8 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:36,279 Speaker 3: Today's devotion is written and. 9 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 2: Read by Shelleene Roberts, author of When Mothering Is Hard 10 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 2: and No One Sees. 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 3: Our summer book Club pick. 12 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 2: Each Monday, Selleene will be sharing a devotional excerpt and 13 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 2: prayer from her book, and I will be hosting several 14 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 2: Friday interviews with her throughout the summer. You can grab 15 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,480 Speaker 2: your copy of the book and find a reading guide 16 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 2: to read along on our website, Millionprayingmoms dot Com. 17 00:00:57,800 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 3: Use code book Club. 18 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,639 Speaker 2: Twenty for two twenty percent off your order from our 19 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 2: Mom's shop. We will email out application questions and a 20 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 2: short teaching video from Chillin each week to go along 21 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 2: with our reading. I pray that reading this book together 22 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 2: will help you to feel seen by God in your 23 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 2: motherhood this summer. After a quick word from our sponsors. 24 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 2: We'll pray together for our children. 25 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 4: A prayer for Kingdom eyes Genesis twenty eight sixteen. When 26 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 4: Jacob awoke from a sleep, he thought, surely the Lord 27 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 4: is in this place, and I was not aware of it. 28 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 4: I didn't expect it to happen at the kitchen sake. 29 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 4: I didn't expect the sacred to intersect my ordinary there. 30 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 4: I'd been a mom long enough to know the rhythm 31 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 4: of the days, the feeding, the cleaning, the folding, the driving, 32 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 4: the bedtime tecands, the early morning wakeups, and the endless, 33 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 4: beautiful cycle of it all. I knew this motherhood work 34 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 4: was good. I even knew in some abstract theological sense 35 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 4: that it was sacred. But somewhere between the laundry and 36 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 4: the lunch prep and the growing list of to dos, 37 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 4: I felt like I was missing it. I didn't see 38 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 4: any glory, the grit, or anything miraculous in the mundane. 39 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 4: Until God, in his gracious compassion, interrupted me in an 40 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,799 Speaker 4: ordinary task on an ordinary day and revealed so much 41 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 4: beauty about motherhood that I've never been the same since. 42 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 4: Maybe you understand these feelings of routine normalcy. Maybe you've 43 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 4: been running so hard and for so long that you 44 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 4: feel like you're missing something, a layer of meaning just 45 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 4: beneath the surface of your days that you can't quite reach. 46 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 4: That was me several years ago, on an ordinary afternoon, 47 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 4: and it was right in the middle of it all 48 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 4: that God met me where I was. I don't want 49 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 4: to share too much here, because the whole story is 50 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 4: there in chapter five and I want you to read 51 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 4: it in all its fullness. But on a normal day, 52 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 4: in my normal home, as I performed a normal task, 53 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 4: the Kingdom of God crashed into my reality, and the 54 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,360 Speaker 4: Lord revealed to me a sacred truth that has radically 55 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 4: changed the way I understand our purpose and our work 56 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 4: as Mother's because it was in that moment that I 57 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 4: sent to the Spirit, say, see this work you're doing 58 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 4: right now, this washing and cleansing and tending and giving. 59 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:04,079 Speaker 4: This is high and Holy Jesus. Washed feet, you are 60 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 4: washing hands. Everything is sacred when I am in it. 61 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 4: Everything is sacred when I am in it, because when 62 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,079 Speaker 4: you and I receive the unmerited, undeserved gift of grace, 63 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:18,680 Speaker 4: we become filled with the Holy Spirit, and we are 64 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,920 Speaker 4: not only saved from the consequences of sin, but we 65 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 4: are also saved to the Kingdom of God. As co 66 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 4: errs with Christ, we are saved to a life of 67 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 4: fullness in Christ right now, a life of fullness with 68 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 4: Him in the kitchen and the carpool line at the 69 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 4: soccer fields, are at ballet practice, at the officer in 70 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 4: the classroom. 71 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: You and I are not. 72 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 4: Only saved from hell, but we are saved to be 73 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 4: redeemed filled to fullness life. In this very moment, Christ 74 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 4: dwells us, His kingdom surrounds us, his spirit sustains us, 75 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 4: and this reality transforms our everyday ordinary into something else entirely. 76 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 4: In Genesis twenty eight, Jacob wakes from a stairway to 77 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 4: heaven dream and utters a line that should convict us all. 78 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 4: Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was 79 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 4: not aware of it. When I recently went back and 80 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 4: reread this passage. Jacob's cut me to the quick. How 81 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 4: many times could I utter those same words? Because of 82 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 4: the pressing demands, the incessant busyness, and the unceasing noise 83 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 4: of our modern culture, many of us live our lives 84 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,040 Speaker 4: in an exhausted state of hurry. We rush from activity 85 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 4: to activity, commitment to commitment. We fill our schedule and 86 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 4: check the boxes, and in our busyness we failed to 87 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 4: realize the miraculous, divine, life giving truth that God is 88 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 4: in this place, filling, providing, sustaining, comforting. And yet so 89 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 4: often we are unaware. How different might our days be 90 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 4: if we were conscious of this, dear friend, The Kingdom 91 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 4: of God is among us all. Do you see it? 92 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 4: His kingdom, which is full of authority and beauty and 93 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 4: goodness and powers, surrounds, fills and sustains us. This eternal 94 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 4: Kingdom inters influences our lives even today. If you can't 95 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 4: see it, I challenge you to pray and ask God 96 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 4: to open your eyes. Lord, make us aware. And one 97 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 4: Peter two nine we learn that you and I are 98 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 4: chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. 99 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:20,839 Speaker 4: Those words don't refer to a title or position reserved 100 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 4: just for Sunday mornings. They testify to who we are 101 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 4: at the kitchen sink, in the school pickup line, and 102 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 4: on the hard days when no one sees. You and 103 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 4: I are co heirs with Christ and our motherhood is 104 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 4: a kingdom assignment. The meals we serve, the prayers we whisper, 105 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 4: the patient words we choose. None of it is wasted. 106 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 4: The Kingdom is among us, and the words of Elizabeth 107 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 4: Barrett Brownie, earth is crammed with heaven. Friend, your home's 108 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 4: crammed with heaven. Your motherhood is crammed with heaven. You 109 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 4: are crammed with heaven. Today, ask God to open your 110 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 4: eyes so you can see it, because when we realize 111 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 4: His kingdom is right here, it changes everything. Let's pray, Lord, 112 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 4: we confess that we rush past so much. Your Kingdom 113 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:10,640 Speaker 4: is among us, and yet so often we don't see it. 114 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 4: Open our eyes today, let us sense your presence in 115 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 4: the ordinary moments. Remind us that we are not merely mothers. 116 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 4: We are colors with Christ, called to his sacred and 117 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 4: eternal work. Let that truth change the way we see 118 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 4: our children, our home, and our calling. And when the 119 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 4: enemy whispers and none of this matters, let us remember 120 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 4: we are standing on holy ground. 121 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 3: In Jesus' name. 122 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 2: Ama I hope you're planning to join us for our 123 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 2: summer book club beginning on June fifteenth. Head to the 124 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 2: homepage to our website to find out more. Until next time, friends, may. 125 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 3: The Lord bless you and keep you. 126 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 2: Make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. 127 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 2: May the Lord look with favor on you and give 128 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 2: you peace.