"Spiritual Mothering" by Susan Hunt

I recently finished this book and was very impressed. Sometimes it's difficult for me to stick with one book at a time. I usually start one, and then another one, and then another one and so on...but this time I was able to focus on just one. Yes, it was that good.

Whenever I read a book, I usually pick out one statement in it that really strikes me. In this case, it was a quote from the author on page 43 - "An exalted view of God will shape a Biblical world view that permeates all of life for the woman of faith." You're probably reading this and thinking, "Hmmmm...okay...I'm not sure what makes this so profound." Well, let me explain.

In almost every book I read by a Christian author whether it be related to marriage, relationships, depression, sin issues and just life in general each author comes back to one central point - glory. Not just glory, but God's glory. Everything we say, do and think reflects on our Savior. And what is the chief end of man (man's primary purpose)? To glorify our Savior and enjoy Him forever.

"Spiritual Mothering" is exactly what it's title conveys. Susan Hunt defines spiritual mothering as this: "When a woman possessing faith and spiritual maturity enters into a nurturing relationship with a younger woman in order to encourage and equip her to live for God's glory." I like this definition because it is two-fold. For the woman who is being mothered, she is learning how to live for God's glory and in essence is glorifying God even just in the LEARNING process. For the woman who is mothering, she is glorifying God by teaching another woman HOW to glorify God. Isn't that a beautiful picture? And how important are both of these roles! The woman who is mothering is passing something on that is absolutely necessary for ALL women of faith to learn, that Lord willing will continue to be passed on to many future generations.

Women have a major role in society on so many levels. We have the ability to build a man up, to raise our children to know Jesus on the most intimate level and to share insights and a perspective that men do not have. We can complement men in a way that will make them most effective in their labors for God. I have to mention one important fact here - a woman need not be in just a marriage relationship to have this effect. There are many ways this can be lived out, but I won't get into them in this post.

I feel like maybe I'm sounding scattered here, but with time constraints I will have to expound more on this subject another time. The point is that if our hearts and eyes are set solely on the work of our heavenly Father, this will spill over into ALL areas of our life. We have opportunities too numerous to mention - at work, the grocery store, in our relationships with other women (young and old), spouses and children (ours and others), at church, in our homes and every time we step out our front door. We need to take them so that the Holy Spirit continues to do a work in us preparing us to meet Him, and in turn will do a work in others so that they might know Him and have the joy that we are so blessed to possess.

May all women of faith heed the call to take their role in this life seriously, learning and doing the work that God has set apart just for us, and may He be glorified in such a way that the Holy Spirit exudes from our entire being and permeates the globe.