A Worthy Mentor

I love reading about Susanna Wesley.  She is the mother of Charles and John Wesley who started the Methodist Church and wrote many well loved hymns including Caleb's favorite O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.  She was very orderly and had the self-discipline I dream of.  She homeschooled her children and held to a very high standard in the midst of illness and being alone as her husband traveled, preached and even was in jail for a time!  I thought of her today as a prayer of hers was in the devotion part of my Bible and I dug through some other info I have on her.  You may of heard the story of a mom who would pull her apron up over her head when she needed to pray and her children knew NOT to mess with Mama when she did that... that was Susanna. This is how a scholar described the Wesley children, "a cluster of bright, vehement, argumentative boys and girls, living by a clean and high code, and on the plainest fare; drilled to soft tones, to pretty formal courtesies; with learning as an ideal, duty as an atmosphere and fear of God as law."  I love that!  She was also clear on teaching obedience and learning self-control from a very young age.  This is something we've tried to do in little steps with our children as they grow.  Today for example, Addison found a lipstick of Hannahs and opened it up, soon as I called her name she knew she was in trouble so she tried to run from Hannah and accidently came right to me.  I asked her to give me the lipstick and she threw it (she's 17 months now) and fell down crying so I stood her back up and handed her the lipstick again asking her to give it to me.  We repeated this and by the third time through she realized Mama meant buisness and put the lipstick in my hand.  I loved her up and told her good job and off she went.  It doesn't seem like a big deal and most people would have just taken it and moved on but we see how those little steps of learning make for much more enjoyable toddlers and preschoolers... and we're quite fond of our elementary and jr. high kids too :0)  It inspires me in my home and in my walk with Christ to look at and learn from women who have suceeded in raising godly children.  In Susanna's case her boys literally changed the world!  Who knows who our children will be or what they'll do in the future.  My goal is to help teach them at a young age to be obedient to God and follow His ways, women like Susanna are showing me how.

This was Susanna's prayer, "Morning and evening I commit my soul to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.  Enable me, O God to observe what He says to me: resolutely to obey His precepts and endeavor to follow His example in those things wherein He is exhibitied to us as a pattern for our imitation.  Make plain to me that no circumstance nor time of life can occur but I may find something either spoken by our Lord Himself or by His Spirit in the prophets or apostles that will direct my conduct, if I am but faithful toYou and my own soul. Amen."