What Happens at Home when Mom Reads the Bible
School starts next week. I have intentions of packing amazingly nutritious lunches every day, and welcoming them home each day to a picture perfect tray of freshly baked cookies. But really, those things won’t happen. And even if they did it wouldn’t change my home. Perfectly portioned bento box lunches aren’t the key! When Mom reads the Bible that will change everything.
Come to the Table
The Bible Reading Plan I love and follow kicks off on Labor Day and gets through the entire Bible by the end of the school year! (Here is a printable plan you can print at home.) In an effort to encourage you to be in the Word, here are just a few ways that regular Bible reading will benefit your home. If you already have a plan for reading your Bible that is great! If not, please take this as your invitation to dig in during this school year. It is for everyone. It is for you! You’ll be amazed at what happens when mom reads the Bible
I once had a friend tell me that she wasn’t presentable to anyone in her family until after she had spent time with the Lord. That is true of me as well. My husband can tell if I haven’t been with the Lord. On those days, as I loose my temper with my kids over breakfast, he will gently tell me to go spend a little time in the Word so the rest of the day isn’t a complete train wreck. If you struggle to carve out time for this daily habit I would encourage you to read this article.
8 Things That Bible Reading Will Accomplish:
Bible Reading Makes Mom Stable
Mothers set the emotional tone of their family. If you are emotionally unstable everyone will feel insecure. Crabbiness sucks the joy out of a house real quick. Emotional distancing will make everyone else feel a bit chilly. Emotional stability that comes from being grounded in God’s Word is one way that you are a help to your husband. Your children are taking their cues from you. God’s word stabilizes us when we are all over the map. God gives us secure hope. The Bible guides us to find joy in our trials. The Lord corrects our feelings and aligns them with His and it is hard to have a fussy and whiny attitude in his holy presence. If you want to be stable for your family it starts with mom reading the Bible.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 ESV
God’s Word Provides Clear Vision and Direction
Are you pulling purpose and meaning for motherhood out of thin air? God’s word will give you a clear purpose and a direction for your life. Why does motherhood matter? How can we shape these tiny people if we don’t even know what they were made for? The answers become clear as we read God’s word and see how our role fits into the Great Story of the Ancient of Days. When we take our cues from God’s word, changing diapers and feeding all the hungry people (again) becomes dignified and glorious because we realize that we are shaping the lives of immortal souls capable of being used by the Lord in ways beyond what we can imagine!
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.
Psalm 127:3-4 ESV
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10 ESV
You’ll Pray Bigger Prayers and See Bigger Answers
Meditating on God’s world will transform your prayers from pathetic and piddly requests into asking your Heavenly Father to do great works that he will perform because he promised you in his word! Try to read through Psalm 119 and turn each section into a prayer for your family. Wowzers!
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV
Grace and Repentance Become the Rhythm
The Bible is humbling to read. The Bible highlights our sinfulness, God’s holiness, and thus, our need for a Savior. The more your heart understands this the more it will overflow out from you toward your family members. I am much quicker to extend forgiveness when I realize how much I have been forgiven. Experiencing the overflowing fountain of God’s grace will sink in and you’ll stop thinking about the “end of your rope” with your kids as you realize that the source of love and grace and patience is actually bottomless. Grace is catching. Repentance and forgiveness are contagious.
“Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
Luke 7:47 ESV
You’ll Talk About the Bible More
We tend to talk about the shows we watch, the podcasts we listen to, and the books we read. Well, if you read the Bible it follows that you’ll talk about it! I tell my kids not only what I read but impact them with the idea that, “mom reads her Bible – hmm, must be important.” You’ll also be more likely to talk about God’s word with your husband! This happens even more if you are reading from the same Bible Reading Plan! (There is a “men’s” version of the Bible Reading Challenge, but if He already has a reading plan then by all means join him!) If your husband doesn’t read the Bible I would highly encourage you to find at least one friend who would read with you. Even if you are flying solo, a lot will happen for your children when you read the Bible.
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV
You Won’t Be Needy
If you are spiritually nourished by God’s Word then you won’t be hankering for “junk food” everywhere else! You won’t be needy. Being satisfied equips us to turn and bless those around us rather than try to have them meet our needs.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
John 6:35 ESV
You’ll Be Able to Discipline
You need to teach, reprove, correct, and train your children, right? Sometimes we wonder how to equip our children for an unknown future – well, scripture tells us how! Check out the verse below!
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness
2 Timothy 3:16 ESV
You will Be Dignified, Strong, and Fearless
Who doesn’t want to be that kind of woman! The strength and dignity clothing the Proverbs 31 woman comes from knowing who her God is and she “laughs at the day to come”. It is one thing that happens when mom reads the Bible
Do not be afraid of sudden terror
Proverbs 3:25 ESV
or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,
for the LORD will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being caught.
I love hearing from you! Share in the comments ways that reading the Bible has impacted you and your home. Encourage other women to get in the Word by sharing this on social media and subscribe so that you don’t miss a post!
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