Motherhood Is My Mission Field

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"Releasing Arrows into the World"

"The Season of Motherhood, Part 1"

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Dannah Gresh: Your children are not missionaries. They are the mission field. 

So many parents proudly tell me their kids are missionaries—on the sports team, in school, in their neighborhood. Some moms and dads even make important decisions based on that philosophy. Mind if I encourage you to approach that mindfully today? I mean, we want our kids to understand the importance of spreading the love of Jesus, but first of all, they simply need to understand the love of Jesus.

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I’m Dannah Gresh.

In Matthew 5:13 and 14, Jesus told us we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. But here’s the thing: Jesus was speaking to His disciples—adult men. The same can be said in the fishers of men passage. Jesus was calling adults to go out and share the gospel. 

In addition, let’s take a look at when Jesus started his ministry He was an adult. He was not a child. As a child, He spent time with His parents, and in the temple learning, being trained. Think about that: the God of the universe spent his childhood years learning about the God of the universe!

And then there’s this from Matthew 19:14:

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

For adults, the word was "go" into the world. But for the children, the word was "come." Come to Me!

And who helps them come to Him? We do—moms, grandmas, spiritual mothers. We are missionaries, and these children God has entrusted to us are the mission field. Perhaps the most important mission field upon which we will ever serve!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth spoke with Ann Dunagan about her experience on that mission field. How in the midst of reaching multitudes of women, God reminded her of the importance of not overlooking her own children and family. 

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Ann, we’ve talked about the importance of being eternity-minded if you want to have a mission-minded family. But one of the other emphases that I appreciate in your ministry is that being mission-minded and kingdom-minded is really about submitting our lives to God in every area—the big things and the little things. It’s not always this big, grandiose way that we can serve the Lord, but sometimes it’s just in the immediate tasks that God gives us as a wife, as a mom, as a woman. Being faithful in that can sometimes be the most mission-minded thing we can do.

Ann Dunagan: Absolutely. There was a time when we were kind of new in ministry. We were young, newlyweds. I had a little toddler, and I was pregnant. We were smuggling Bibles into China, and it was exciting. I mean, I was on a mission adventure.

Even though we were disobeying a law of the land, which, it was illegal to be able to bring the Word of God into China, we knew that it was what God had called us to do, to bring the Word of God to people in Communist China who desperately needed God’s Word.

Anyway, about a week later we were going to do it again through another entry point, through Macau. On this particular morning we woke up, and my husband felt like, “I just feel today like—I don’t know why, but I just feel like you’re not supposed to go.”

And I was like, “What do you mean I’m not supposed to go? I’ve traveled all the way here across the world. I’m supposed to go!”

And he’s like, “I just think you’re just supposed to stay here.”

And I was like, “Well, the Bible says we’re supposed to go into all the world and preach the gospel. I’m not going to come all the way across the world and just stay in this little room!”

I thought that I was justified in defying my husband because I had the higher Word of God. I mean, I had the Bible that says, “Go into all the world.” I thought, Yes, I’m pregnant, but I’m not too tired. I’m not too tired. I can do it!

Well, we packed up our bags, and my husband’s like, “Oh well.” We went with two other pastors. We went up to the entry point, and the two pastors and their Bibles, they went through. Then my husband and our son, they went through the security checkpoint with no problem whatsoever.

Then I just—I was all confident. I stuck my bag up there on the conveyor belt, and somebody opened up my bag, started talking in Chinese, and started yelling, started calling guards over. They went and got my husband and our little son, and they took us into this stark room—it was just brick walls, and it was dark. They brought in an interpreter, and they just started yelling at us.

And I knew that I had disobeyed God, that I had disobeyed my husband, and I had wanted my big way, to do some big thing for God instead of staying at the room where we were staying and praying, just staying there and holding back and not going so that they could go and get through.

I’ll never forget the moment when we got into China without our Bibles because they had all been confiscated. It was like, "Okay, now what do we do?" We were supposed to meet some people. We were supposed to go to this secret meeting place and deliver our Bibles, and now we had to distance ourselves from those other pastors and try to look like just normal tourists.

So we walked for a couple blocks, my husband and I, without talking to each other. He didn’t have to say, “I told you so.” The Lord was dealing hard on my heart. The Lord just began to show me that I needed to submit to him, that I needed to submit to God, Himself, and that I needed to have a heart of submission. God was concerned about not just the outward things we do; He is concerned with the inward motivations of our heart.

We’re trying to do something for God, but our motives are wrong or our family’s out of whack. I want for us to live our lives in a way where it’s for eternal crowns, and that is just loving God and being in obedience to Him in whatever He says either to do or not to do.

Nancy: Sometimes that obedience is in matters that seem to be insignificant and trivial, just the care of children, the keeping of a home, can be the most godly, mission-minded thingwe can do if that’s the thing we’re supposed to be doing at that moment.

Ann: Absolutely, I mean, God works even through a pile of laundry that just is like Mount "Neverest." We have seven kids, so laundry is a big part of my life! But it helps teach things of character and diligence, and it’s important. It is an important part of God’s call on our life that I keep up with the laundry pile. It’s part of God’s mission for my life.

There was this other time that I was over in Uganda. I was doing a women’s conference over there, and I got up early in the morning. It was actually a pretty large conference with about 5,000 women, and we had these tents set up.

I went over to this one place, and there were mamas up early in the morning. They were just praying, praying, praying, praying,praying really hard, and I thought, Wow, this is awesome! These women just love God.

Then as I looked over in this one section, there were these mamas that were just praying their hearts out, and right on the ground were their babies. These babies were just sitting on the ground in little puddles because they don’t wear diapers over there. So they were just sitting on the ground in these little muddy, wet puddles, crying, and the mamas were just oblivious to their babies.

I remember I just walked over by those mamas, and I picked up the babies and gave them a little hug and handed them to the mamas. The Lord began just stirring in my heart. It’s like, "What do you think God thinks about the prayers that are being prayed when He sees the screaming babies in the puddles?" It’s like, "Is God really hearing those prayers, or is He saying, 'Come on, mama, pick up your baby! Your baby’s crying!'”?

As I took a little walk, I thought, Okay, I’m going to talk to the mamas about this, about the importance of taking time to love and to care for your children, but then the Lord dug at me. The Lord began to just deal with times in my life when maybe I’m busy in the middle of a writing project or just one more chapter I’m typing on the computer and trying to finish up something.

Nancy: One more email

Ann: One more email—and then maybe just let the kids watch another video. And the Lord just dug at my heart and said, “There are times that you’re just like those praying mamas with the screaming babies.”

I said, “Oh Lord, oh Lord, forgive me. Forgive me. Help me to keep things in balance and see things from Your perspective.”

Nancy: And to realize that the most godly, mission-minded, holy thing you can do is whatever God has given you to do at that moment and that that is what is sowing seeds that will reap the kind of fruit you want to reap in the next generation.

Dannah: Wow! The image of those babies lying on the floor, crying, that gets me. I cannot say that I’ve ever let one of my babies cry on the floor while I pray, but I do need to admit that I’ve often overlooked the heart of one of my children for just another email or phone call for a ministry project. Ouch! God forgive me. My children were and are my mission field. Thank you Ann Dunagan and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth for that truth bomb!

This mission field of motherhood, by the way, can be exhausting! No matter if you are in the season of endless diapers and teething, driving the mom taxi to soccer practice and piano lessons, or helping your child navigate college applications; every mom knows motherhood can be overwhelming, and sometimes feel like you’re doing very little for the Lord. Just this morning I stopped in with some Pedialyte and prayers for my daughter-in-law. It’s one of those days where motherhood just wrings you out. You know the kind.

Well it’s on those days we need to be fully aware that the purpose of mothering is not a Pinterest-perfect house or award-winning kids. Though I get the bonus points for a clean house and a child that pulls in a science fair project of the year. Those things aren’t bad. But, well, this work of mothering is bigger than all of that.

Erin Davis and Melissa Kruger had a conversation about the meaning and priority of motherhood, and they talked about how your ultimate purpose in life is to know God.

Melissa Kruger: The Lord of all the Universe has asked me to love this child, that infuses it with meaning. God has entrusted me with this soul to know Him, to share about Him with. It's a huge calling, and it changes everything about how I view it. It's not mundane anymore. I'm being the hands of Jesus to love this child in the Way. That is where He's asking me to pour out kindness and patience and mercy and to reflect His love to me to this little life. That changes everything.

And then the second thing, just think . . . I love Psalm 19. It says, "The Law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul; the statutes of the Lord are trustworthy making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right giving joy to the heart." Well, do I want joy? Do I want revival? Do I want wisdom? Yes, as a mom. He says that's in His Word.

The things I want the most I tend to chase. And maybe if I could just have a spa day, or I could just get some time alone. But His promise is actually in His Word. So if I want to feel joyful about that Whack-a-Mole game, if I want to feel revived for my daily tasks, the best place to go is actually God's Word to find that.

Erin Davis: I don't think a mom ever gets that elusive full night of sleep and then thinks, I don't need another full night of sleep again. Or you go on vacation and then you need a week to recover from your vacation. You know those things that we think will restore us—not that they're bad or we shouldn't rest—but I think you're right. What really brings restoration is the Lord. Without Him you're going to be running on fumes very, very quickly as a mom.

Melissa: That's right.

Erin: You say, "More than anything in my life, motherhood has exposed my need for grace." Which I agree with. I say, "It's the hottest refiner's fire I've ever been in."

Melissa: Yes.

Erin: And yet, what I'm hearing from moms is, "I know I should be praying. I know I should be reading my Bible." But they're feeling more condemnation and failure than hopefulness. I'm wondering how moms can flip that switch to see their personal time with the Lord as a pipeline to needed grace instead of seeing it as another thing on their to-do list or something that the Lord is going to be angry with them if they don't do. What's the heart change that we can help mommas make?

Melissa: I love the verse, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." I think some tastes are acquired. So I really think that time with the Lord is an acquired taste. You might have a bite of something and say, "Yes, that was okay." But sometimes we grow in our love for something. I think the more time we spend in the Word, the more hunger we get for it. It's not a quick fix. Time with the Lord is something that's savored, and it has effect over time. It's really an act of trusting the Lord to say, "I'm going to spend this time even though I If society starts saying that success is found in sports, making money, being a perfect violin player, or whatever, all these things; we start chasing all those things as mothers because we're just trying to be happy. We're just trying to now make our children happy, and we're trying to make them comfortable. So we get in on these pursuits.

I think the first question we have to rewind and back up and say, "Is that really my purpose?" I think the Bible lays out a completely different purpose—a purpose to know God, to share Him with others. That's a totally different place to start our life. If my ultimate purpose in life is to know God, that's my greatest hope for my children. That changes everything.

When I think about how I'm going to spend my time and the activities I'm going to put my children in, I have to back up and say, "Is this going to detract from my original purpose? Is this going to keep them out of church on Sunday? Is this going to keep our family from getting to have a prayer time together? Is this going to take us away from family meals so much so that we don't see each other?" It starts to change how we view everything. So I think starting with our purpose changes everything about our mothering and where we lead our children.

Dannah: Good thoughts about your purpose and motherhood from Erin Davis and Melissa Kruger.

Nothing revives a mom’s heart to stay in the thick of the mission field of mothering the way the presence of Jesus can! Oh, we think we are most in need of a bubble bath or a massage or a girl’s day away, but those things don’t sustain and revive the way Jesus can. My grown son, Robby, is such a beautiful example of the fruit of all those hard, exhausting days of mothering. He walks with Jesus, shepherds his family well, serves the Lord every day of His life. Recently, He said this to me, “Mom, I have discovered that I can zone out and escape the hard work with an hour or two of Netflix, but at the end of that time I’m just as exhausted as when I started, and I don’t have the strength for fathering and serving. Or, I can spend thirty minutes soaking in the presence of Christ and the Word, and at the end of that, I stand up filled up and energized to serve!”

Amen, my boy! Amen. Hmm, I think I’ll just soak in that a sec, because that, my friend, is the reward no school or sports program can ever hand out. It’s the fruit of Jesus Christ in my life—being fruitful in the life of my grown child.

Our kids do eventually grow up to join us in the Great Commission work of the kingdom. They become missionaries along with us. 

Let’s go back to our conversation with Ann and Nancy. I want you to hear Nancy’s heart about how her own parents planted a desire in her to become mission minded.

Nancy: As I’m listening to you, Ann, I’m thinking about so many things that God moved my parents to do without, I think, even realizing what they were doing as I was a child. I think of the conversations with my dad where he would convey to us that he didn’t care if we were rich or famous. He was a business man. He really didn’t want any of us to get into the business. He wanted us to serve Christ in whatever way that meant, whatever that looked like, whatever that required, any place in the world that would mean living.

He somehow conveyed to us this sense that our lives were not our own, that we belonged to Christ, that we were on loan to our parents but that our lives belonged to Christ, and we were to spend our lives doing whatever would bring God the greatest glory. To cultivate that heart, they had missionaries and pastors and godly people into our home, keeping the television out of the home. I know that’s a lot harder task today with the myriad of entertainment forms available. But they got us reading good books, having conversations that were centered around the Lord and His Word.

I will say, as you’ve said about your family, ours was a very normal family in many respects—a lot of outspoken, opinionated kids, a lot of debate and not quiet family meals, by any stretch. But there was this underlying sense of focus and orientation around the kingdom of God. I’m thinking about the map of the world that hung on the wall of our family dining room and pictures of missionaries around the border of that map with yarn strings tied to tacks at different countries where those missionaries were serving.

I’m thinking about Sunday lunches where my dad would bring to the table letters from the missionaries and would read those to us about what these Wycliffe missionaries and others were doing in different parts of the world. Day by day, little by little, he was planting in our hearts a love for the kingdom of God.

Then I think about all these young people growing up today who love music and entertainment and games and sports and jobs and money and themselves more than they love and have a passion for Christ and His kingdom. I think we have to ask, "What are we doing to stimulate, to cultivate that passion for Christ and His kingdom?"

When my dad died on the weekend of my twenty-first birthday, he left behind a forty-year-old widow with seven children ages eight to twenty-one. He had done all that he could do. Now I fast-forward more than thirty years, and say, “Thank You, Lord, for the seeds of kingdom devotion that, not just my dad but my mom with my dad, planted together, the sacrifices they made, the resources they were willing to invest."

I think of my dad taking us, different ones of us, on mission trips when we were little. I can remember flying into Mexico City at night and seeing all the lights of that huge city. I’m like a seven, eight, nine-year-old little girl, and my heart is inflamed with a passion for the millions in that city who have no knowledge of Christ or the gospel.

I then remember being with my dad in a little village outside of Mexico City, or in some remote part of Mexico, where he is giving his testimony with an interpreter. We've got nursing moms and animals in the aisles and just a very rough, open, little church area. I can see my dad proclaiming the gospel and then see him walking down the aisles after the service button-holing different people and saying the only phrase he knew in Spanish, “?Esta el Jesu Cristo en su corazon?” “Is Jesus Christ in your heart?”

To experience family vacations that were ministry vacations, sitting on little wooden benches in a small, black church in Haiti, being involved in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, ministering to the needs of people . . . I just want to say to moms, and dads who may be listening, the choices that you’re making now, the values you’re living out with your children, these are seeds that you are planting that are going to take root. They are going to produce fruit for better or worse for generations to come.

My prayer for you as a mom, as a dad who may be listening, is that the seeds that are planted are ones of righteousness, ones of faith, ones of purity, and ones of kingdom-mindedness, mission-mindedness; that God will raise up a next generation who will have a passion and a heart for the kingdom of God.

Dannah: When the parents of Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth were taking her to Haiti and Mexico City, reading letters from missionaries, and placing a map of the world in their dining room showing where the gospel was spreading, they didn’t know exactly how those seeds would take root. They had no idea there would be a ministry called Revive Our Hearts, proclaiming God’s Word all over the globe. But Mr. and Mrs. DeMoss were faithful in teaching their children to be mission-minded while they made the mission field of their own home a priority.

Good stuff today. I bought my daughter-in-law a t-shirt. It reads, “Motherhood is my mission field.” You might just put that on a Post-it note where you can see it from time to time to be reminded!

Thanks for joining me today. And hey, as always, you can find links to the full programs of what you heard today at ROH.com/weekend, and select today’s episode. 

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As you know, next weekend is extra special as we celebrate Mother’s Day here in the United States. We’re going to see the gift that moms are as we hear stories and talk about the impact they have on our lives. 

Please join me for that! I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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