Such great potential lays dormant in our souls, but such a vast harvest is available if we engage in the wisdom and with submission and obedience the First Gardener. There is such capacity for life--in Him and in His ways.

Live into the potential of your call to civilize and cultivate. When women become intentional about eternal issues, the whole world will be influenced by her grace and life.

Who in your life needs some encouragement toward love and good deeds—maybe in private?

Throughout history, when women attend to the education of their own minds and souls, and that of their children, a country flourishes for having foundations of intelligence, wisdom and truth in every arena.

It is not enough to know the truth; we must learn to walk in truth. As we lead our children with the principles of God's wisdom found throughout Scripture, we are helping them to establish pathways of righteousness in their hearts.

Choosing to be a servant-mother means willingly giving up myself, my expectations, and my time to the task of mothering—and choosing to believe that doing so is the best use of my time at that moment. It means that, by faith, have already made a decision to make myself available in the routine tasks and myriad interruptions of daily life because I believe it is God's will for me to serve my family through them. Making this choice ahead of time means I will expect problems and needs to arise and be ready to deal with them in peace instead of impatience and resentment.

If we want to experience the blessing of God and have a sense of wholeness to our lives: we must seek to understand his original design as clearly as possible. We will then have a map by which to travel toward God's destination. But we need to do more than understand. We also need to commit to living as mothers with undivided hearts—dedicating ourselves fully to the task of building a home and nurturing our children.

Join me today as we reflect on God's design and purpose for family, and reflect on how even research and science undergird, with vast research, the importance of a mother's role, with the family as foundation.

I will be discussing: Postpartum depression, voices in culture, to work or not to work, and many more issues. My desire is to get to the heart of God, to see how He imagined our role as He created us with such beauty, finesse, intelligence--just what a community of people would need to flourish. I hope you enjoy this series.

Most of all, though, as we begin, we must consider that as believers, we have committed to serving God with our hearts, souls, minds, treasures, times. So as we see the eternal value He place on babies and children, we must also regard children with the same high regard as He would direct us to do.

Ask yourself: -Is there a high expectation for a situation or relationship in your life that has been robbing you of joy? How can you better find the tension between the ideals and realities of that circumstance?-How can you allow the Holy Spirit to enter into the imperfect circumstances of your life, allowing you to find supernatural joy?-In what ways can you find gratitude, seek beauty, and find joy in the celebration of life today?

All of us love to hear great stories, and your children long to see you as their hero. How might the way you want to be remembered affect the way you live this day?