Well now, there is! Laurie Cole of Priority Ministries has a wonderful 7-week Bible study that is perfect for mothers and daughters to experience together! Moms use the Beauty by the Book workbook and free online videos while daughters use the Beauty by the Book for Teens workbook and free online videos. Each study mirrors the other with each week providing endless opportunities for meaningful conversations and deeper connections to form between you and your daughter.

By exploring several beauty do’s and don’ts in Proverbs, you’ll discuss topics such as:

• The attributes of true beauty
• God’s dress code
• How to avoid being an irritating woman, and
• How to thrive in your current (or future) role as a wife, mother, and/or career woman.

Each study can be purchased individually, but for a limited time you can get both for 25% off the cover price! That’s one Beauty by the Book workbook for you and one Beauty by the Book for Teens workbook for your daughter for just $17.99! Plus, Laurie’s 30-45 minute teaching videos that complement each week’s lesson are available for FREE on our website.

With today’s culture bombarding us with ungodly images and unrealistic expectations for physical beauty, it’s more important than ever for both you and your daughter to understand and embrace God’s standard for beauty.

So don’t let this summer be filled with strife and misery. Use this summer to draw closer to God, closer to your daughter, and closer to biblical beauty with Beauty by the Book and Beauty by the Book for Teens! Click here to buy yours now.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, however we only promote items on CSAHM that we feel helps to encourage and support the Christian Stay at Home Mom!

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When I was growing up I had this image of what a mother should be and I was going to be that mom. When I got pregnant with my oldest daughter I changed a lot about my life at the time (I was a teen mom) and I was determined to be the mother I had always dreamed of.

I gave my daughter everything. Most of my days were spent dreaming about how I could give her more, and more. I wanted for her to have everything I didn’t have and more. My ideas of a mother were mostly on being able to give her material possessions, spending lots of time with her, and making sure the house was shiny and spotless.

I can’t even tell you how many hours I worried about her education when she was only 2 years old. Would I homeschool, send her to private school? I knew I did not want to send her to public school. I looked at every preschool there was, and I dreamed of a Montessori education for her but I was unable to afford the tuition.

When my Lil Man as born I was bound and determined to not make the same mistakes I had made with my oldest daughter. In my eyes it was my second chance to be that mother I had always dreamed of being. Now that I had my daughter and my son I just knew my days were going to be filled with baking cookies, doing homework, taking care of a sweet little baby, and soccer practices. In my eyes I had accomplished a lot, but everyday I was burdened with all the “mistakes” I had made. In other words I had yet to live up to my expectations of what a mother looked like.

Then I found out I was pregnant with my third. Life changed for me really fast. It was in that moment that everything I had dreamed about being a mother had died. Now my oldest would have to share a room with her new baby sister. My son was only 9 months old when I found out I was pregnant, I felt like I had let him down. My heart was a mess because I didn’t know how to fit this new life into the expectations I had placed on myself as a mother. How could I be the perfect mom? I was so afraid that I would fail, especially now that I was going to me a mom to three.

Over the years what a mother looks like has certainly changed, thanks to my relationship with God, and my youngest daughter, my miracle. I had to let go of a lot of my own selfish desires. It was even harder to let go of my expectations.

Motherhood looks differently for me now. My desires for my three beautiful children reflect my heart for them to grow up living out a life that reflects their heart for Jesus. I have to say that guiding them to that life is not easy.

The expectations I have of myself are different, and yet they seem to have a far bigger and eternal value, than all the latest Disney store gadgets I use to buy for my oldest daughter. It weighs heavily on my heart.

I need for the Lord to teach me how to be a mother, because in my heart being a good mother is based on my performance. Failure is always lurking around the corner, and God knows how much I hate failure, in fact I fear it.

I need for God to teach me how to be a gracious mother, not only to my children, but mostly to myself.

Motherhood now is less about controlling every outcome of their life in order to make sure they have a perfect life. Now it is more about being a forever LOVING presence in their life that is there for them when they face the trials that WILL come. But my heart always wants to go back to the controlling mother, I want to protect them, and I want to be their savior…but Jesus can only be their savior.

I can teach them about Jesus, and I can LIVE my life delighting in Him. Then all I can do is PRAY that one day they will also grow up loving Jesus and delighting in Him.

Free will is not an easy thing to grasp when you love someone as much as a mother loves her child. I LOVE them so much! But even in the midst of their choices, which aren’t always good because they came from my human, fleshly womb, I have hope.

I have hope because somehow in the midst of this world God found ME, and He now has my heart, and I know He can find their heart too.

I just pray for Jesus to teach me everyday how to be a mother to my three precious gifts…

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Lately our family has been talking about baptism a lot because our church has an upcoming baptism day. Our church doesn’t have regular days for baptism, although the opportunity is always open for someone to get baptized at their local house church, the actual baptisms that take place in church happen every few months.

During one of our family Bible study time discussions my husband talked about baptism. It was a very interesting little illustration of what baptism means using Lego people, some flour, a bowl of water, and an imaginary birthday party that only the “clean” Lego people could attend. At the end of the discussion my youngest daughter said she wanted to be baptized, and has occasionally asked when she could be baptized since our discussion. Now that baptism is coming up at church we have decided it would be a good time to talk it over with our kiddos…

I do have to say there is a bit of fear in me that my children will choose to be baptized for the wrong reasons. My husband was baptized at 13 years old, but even then he said he just did it so that people would stop bugging him. Eventually he was baptized again (we got baptized a the same time) about 6 years ago.

I want my kiddos to have an authentic heart for Jesus. They believe in Jesus, but are they ready to LIVE for Him, I’m not sure. But I do know that when they are ready to make the decision then they will be ready to live it out.

Baptism is a big step in any believer’s life and it takes time filled with building our relationship with Jesus to get baptized and mean it. I definitely dream of one day seeing my children getting baptized, it is the desire of my heart for them to desire to live for Christ…and as long as they will listen I will work to help guide them in the direction of delighting in Him. But in the end they will ultimately need to make that choice, I can’t make it for them.

Baptism is really just a step in our walk that is a reflection of what our heart desires. Jesus always believed in God, and knew He was there because God is His father. But Jesus didn’t get baptized until He was ready to start His ministry. Baptism is our way of showing Jesus that not only do we believe in Him, we want to LIVE for Him too. God desires us to be delighted in Him, baptism is an act of submission to God and it is how we surrender to His will.

I don’t want my kiddos to take the act of getting baptized lightly. Please pray for my husband and I as we mold these little hearts for Jesus…

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I want to be the mom who is really creative and can come up with a craft out of a piece of string, a doily, and paint.

I want to be the mom who plants a garden and eats homemade all organic food all the time.

I want to be the mom who enjoys playing Barbies with her little girl.

I want to be the mom who is patient with her kiddos and always has a wise way of dealing with those moments of frustration.

I want to be that mom who is always motivated and ready to take on the day.

But the thing is I am NOT that mom, and for so long I have worked hard to become THAT mom. For years I begged my husband to build me a garden but being the kind man he is, he said we didn’t have time for a garden instead of saying you will KILL the garden! The fact is I can’t even take care of indoor house plants, what would I do with a garden?

It took me awhile to realize I’m just not that mom, and that’s OK.

I think the key to the moms who can do all those amazing things is that they are just being themselves and they are doing the things that THEY love.

I don’t love crafts, or gardening, or playing with Barbies. But I do love writing and playing board games with my kiddos. I LOVE Family Bible Study Time where my husband leads the way and we are all learning about Jesus and the truth that lives in the Bible.

I may not have a gentle voice, or a calm and cool personality or parenting style. But I do care and love my children deeply and they will always know that when they come to me they will hear the truth. They know I love Jesus and through my flaws they will experience His grace. I love to give out hugs and cuddle with my babies, they know this is how I express my love for them.

Hopefully in this process of me embracing my personality they too will learn to be who God created them to be instead of wanting to be like someone else….

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Do you ever feel like you’re pushed to the edge of a cliff?  Just one more step and you’re sure to fall.  Are you one proverbial straw short of the one that broke the camel’s back?

I’ve often had days where I’m afraid that if just one more thing happens, I’m sure to fall apart.

As moms, we often give and give and then give some more.  Because I am a stay at home mom, my job never ends.  I don’t get a break or two during the day as I did when I worked outside the home.  However, when I do get a few hours away by myself, I return refreshed.  I always think to myself, “I need to do this more often.  This is just what I needed.”

It’s true, moms need to schedule regular time to ourselves.  Restorative time.  Time to regroup and step away from whatever chaos is churning in our lives and see it from a fresh perspective.   We need time to pause, reflect and feed our starving heart and soul.

When a mom spends all day and night giving and feeding the minds, hearts and bodies of their family, it leaves her empty and fatigued.  We give from the depths of our being and forget how important it is to refuel our dried up and empty stores of energy and strength.  Just as a car will stop running once it’s out of fuel, we too will fail to function as mothers if we are not refueled and refreshed.

Jesus, the Servant of servants, took time away from his work and ministry.  He rested and spent time with his Father.  He left the crowds when he needed to and was known to enjoy being alone in the olive groves.  He also spent time away from ministering to the needs of the crowds and enjoyed sweet fellowship with his closest friends.  It was these times that gave him strength to continue down the road that led to greatest moment of selfless love.

To be effective in our role as mothers, we need to be mentally rested and recharged.  We need to rest our bodies and get restorative sleep.  Our emotional and physical health is important to attend to as well.  And most importantly, we need to be spiritually nourished from the Bread of Life.

Some important steps to refueling:

1. Communicate your needs to your spouse and other supportive people in your life.  Tell them how you are doing emotionally, physically and spiritually way before you are close to the edge of the cliff.

2.  Consider waking up 15 minutes earlier each day.  Use that time to feed your soul on the Word to give you fuel for the day.

3.  Commit to taking time to yourself each week.  Perhaps its a run to grocery store by yourself.  Maybe your spouse takes care of the evening routine while you rest and relax in the bedroom.  Take a bath.  Read a book.  Call a friend.

4.  Once a month, set time to get together with friends.  Have a girls night out or meet for brunch on a Saturday.  Or go somewhere by yourself that will give you the break you need.  Take a walk, get a haircut, or go to a park and read a book.

Mom’s are givers by nature.  A mom who gives until there is nothing left to give cannot be effective in her role as a mom.  The best thing a mom can do for her family is be well fed spiritually, physically energized and emotionally healthy.  On an airplane, a parent is to put their own face mask on first, before placing it on their child.  In the same way, mom’s need to be intentional in meeting their own needs so they can effectively meet the needs of their family.

When was the last time you had restorative time alone?

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I had asked several times with no response. Finally, I raise my voice. He jumps, begins to cry and runs to his room, closing the door behind him–closing his heart in protection from me.

Some days it seems like we all roll out of the “wrong side of the bed.” We go through the day irritable, taking it out on each other. Sarcasm rears its ugly head in my sinful heart and pours out in my words and deeds. At the end of the day, I am guilt ridden.

How easy it is to hurt the ones we love most. They seem to experience the worst of the sin in our heart. Each day the guilt builds until I feel like I am unworthy to be the mother they need me to be.

Then I remember: Jesus knew that about me. He knew I would not be a perfect mother. When I hurt the precious feelings of my little one, Jesus had already died for that sin. He took all of my sins upon Himself, willingly, because there was no other way. No matter how hard I try to be the perfect mother, I am not capable. His perfect life was also given to me. Each time he was kind, each time he was gentle, each time he was patient are all credited to me.

It’s all grace. My salvation is by grace and when God looks at me and sees Jesus’ perfect life, it’s also because of grace.

How does a sinner like me live a grace-filled life? Paul, who himself confessed to being the worst of sinners, always pointed his readers to the gospel of grace in Jesus.

“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13,14)

His death for me freed me from the guilt and bondage I had to my sin. I am now free to serve in love. My sinful nature no longer defines me. It’s the grace of Christ that has remade me as an heir–a child of God. It’s the grace of Christ that enables me to love.

Though my sinful nature still lingers, it is not a weight hanging over my shoulders. Each time I stumble in my calling as a mother, I need to run to the cross. I need to remind myself of all that has been done for me. I need to remind myself that I have been set free. I cannot think about Christ’s love for me on the cross and not be so grateful that it propels me to love as I have been loved. I need to love my children will the same grace-filled love I have received.

This remembrance of who I am in Christ and what’s been accomplished for me humbles me. Humbled, I go to my little one and ask his forgiveness. I live out for him a life of grace. I show him what it means to be loved and forgiven through Christ. The more that I soak up this grace, the more I can extend it to my children. The more I dwell and focus on the grace that has been given me, the more I am able to parent in grace. The more I remember the love that held Him on the cross, the more I can love others.

Because it’s all about grace.

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19

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“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:5-9

This passage has had a profound impact on my life as a parent. I often wonder, what did it mean to the Israelites? Did it simply mean that they recounted the stories of Abraham, Moses and Joshua to their children at bedtime? Did they use those stories as moralistic lessons of what character qualities to emulate and which ones to avoid?

When the Israelites taught their children about scripture, they were teaching them about God’s faithfulness. That was the purpose behind the celebrations and feasts–to remember all that God had done for them. The stories they told their children weren’t merely stories with a good moral, they were reminders of God’s active role in their lives. The stories recalled God’s salvation, providence and goodness.

This passage weigh’s heavy on my own heart. I want my children to know Him as I know Him. I want them to be in awe of His holiness and blown away by His grace. Yet my first instinct comes from the depths of my Pharisaical heart. I automatically lean toward moralism–do this, don’t do that and remember the courage of David? If that’s the God I teach them, they will never know the God of grace and faithfulness.

When I teach Jesus to my children, I need to point them to God and His goodness. I need to teach them the story of a God who created people to love and glorify Him. But the first man sinned, bringing sin into the world. From that point on, God began implementing his rescue plan, a plan to restore His beloved people to Himself. Showing them how God used their favorite characters in scripture to carry out His rescue plan is good and necessary but it doesn’t end there. I need to point them to the cross and God’s plan to rescue us through His Son Jesus. I need to point them to the grace of God. And as the verse says, I need to do it all the time, everywhere and in every situation.

I need to saturate them in scripture through reading, memorization, and creative activities that help them understand and retain what they have learned. As a parent, I need to be grace filled in my interactions with them, extending the same grace to them as God has given me. It’s also important that I am always in tune to teaching moments that arise. Whether it be during play, during discipline or in casual conversation, when an opportunity arises to teach them about Jesus, I need to be ready. When they stumble in sin, I must point them to the cross and to His forgiveness. They need me to pray with them, asking God to help them conquer sin. And when I stumble myself, I need to humbly ask them for their forgiveness.

Teaching Jesus to our children is more than reading bible stories, though certainly that is part of it. It stems from a life lived in the gospel of grace and it pours out the love and grace of Jesus into every activity and situation. We teach our children Jesus by showing them God’s faithfulness, goodness, salvation and grace in every situation, in all circumstances, all the time and everywhere.

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“Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

What does it mean to pray without ceasing? I like to think of it as always keeping my heart in tune with God; keeping the channels of communication open. I like to pray for something the moment it comes to mind. I pray for friends and family as soon as they ask for prayer. When I pass an accident, I pray for those involved and the emergency personnel assisting them.

But do I pray without ceasing for my own children?

Much of my prayers center around selfish things–please help them to sleep all night tonight, please keep them from getting sick while we travel, please help them to behave while visiting relatives–you get the idea. How about their heart? I do pray for their spiritual growth but not as often as I should. I also pray for their characer, but not everyday. I need to be in continuous prayer about God’s work in their hearts. It’s important that I pray about matters such as their faith, future, their calling and their future family.

Prayer is powerful, though there is some sense of mystery in how it works. I tell my children that while God is in control of all things, He has chosen to use our prayers in carrying out His plan. Prayer makes things happen. One of the passages on prayer that stands out to me is in Acts 12. Peter had been arrested and both he and the church believed he would be put to death. The church gathered and prayed for him. Their prayer was so powerfully answered that an angel came to release Peter from prison. Peter left prison and went to the house where they were all gathered. They were still praying and didn’t even believe it when the servant girl said Peter had come to the door. They were certain he had dies. Despite some doubt in their prayers, God answered anyway and saved Peter from certain death.

I want to be more intentional in my prayers for my children. Rather than just praying for their behavior today, I want to pray for their character, faith and growth in holiness when they are older. Some families use a prayer calendar to pray for their children. I’ve made my own, you can find it here. Feel free to use it. It is a list of thirty-one topics to come before God with on behalf of our children. The idea is to pray the cooresponding prayer for the particular day of the month you are praying.

We have a powerful responsibility as parents to raise our children in the Lord. Part of that responsibility is to entrust them in prayer to God. This happens not just every once in a while, but everyday and all the time–unceasing prayer.

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I have never felt the most inadequate as I have since becoming a parent. So often I am in a parenting situation where I just don’t know what to do. I have a son with obsessive compulsive behaviors and high emotional intensities. I am often faced with issues with him where I feel powerless to know how to respond. When I feel inadequate, I often ask “Why God? Why me?” I can’t fact this giant before me. It’s too big, too much, too overwhelming.

I have to remember that our God is bigger than any Goliath in my life. Nothing that comes into my life is accidental. He has called me to be a parent to my children. The prophet Jeremiah felt inadequate because of his youth. God reminded Him of His sovereignty and His power to carry out His plan. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 1:5-8) I too say, “Oh but God, I am very impatient. I lack the strength and wisdom to be the kind of parent they need.”

Yet, God promises to be with us. He may give us challenges that stretch us beyond our comfort zones. He may put us in situations that are beyond our own abilities and strength to handle. We are never left alone. Paul says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” I think that may be the point of why God gives allows us to face challenges. When we come to the end of ourselves and rest in His power alone, we see God for who He really is. Our faith and love in Him grows when we experience His strength working in and through us. God prefers to use the weak and inadequate to fulfill his purposes for it brings Him greater glory.

When faced with parenting challenges that make me feel inadequate, I desire to respond like Mary. She was a poor, young and humble girl. Chosen to be the mother of Jesus, Mary showed deep faith and trust in God to use her despite her weakness. Upon learning that she was to carry the Christ-child, she responds, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38) In the Mary’s Song we read, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” (Luke 1:47-48)

May we all rejoice and bring glory to Him when He calls us to a difficult task. May we believe and trust in Him alone for strength to carry out His will.

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We talked about time and how he had used it that day.  I pointed out how he had chosen to spend it on tv and the computer rather than playing with his toys.  “Think of time like money” I said, “there’s only so much of it and then it’s gone.” We talked awhile about the best ways to use his time.

It was later while by myself that I realized how poorly I use my own time.

Could it be that my children have learned from me to use their time unwisely?

How often do they find me at the computer? How often am I working on a chore or some activity that doesn’t include them?  How often do they find me irritated when I am interrupted from said activity?

Since they’ve gotten older and don’t require my constant attention, I’ve found myself busy with other things while they play together. I mainly intervene when they are having a disagreement. It is great to have more uninterrupted time to work on chores or projects but it also means I have less interaction and involvement in what they are doing. In the process of my boys getting older, I’ve become less of a coach and more of a referee.

As I’ve thought more about the discussion I had with my son, I can feel God pushing me to be more intentional with what I do with the hours he gives me each day.  Jonathan Edwards, a famous Puritan preacher and theologian, made a personal resolution that he did not want to be using his time in any way which would displease the Lord, should he return that very moment.

I want Jesus to find me using my time for His glory.

Paul said in Ephesians 5:16,17

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

How can I be wise in my use of time, not using it foolishly but use it according to God’s will?

First, I can learn from Jesus by how he spent his time while on earth.  His priority were people and more specifically, relationships with people.  He knew his time was limited and he had a message to deliver, a message of salvation. He invested much of his time in his relationships with the disciples, teaching and training them.  But our Lord also knew when it was time to rest.  There were times when speaking to the crowds became tiring and he left to be alone.  He was known to often go to the olive groves to be alone with his Father.  He never neglected his relationship with his Father, no matter what else he was doing.  It was this relationship that gave him the strength to continue fulfilling the Father’s will.

Secondly, I need to remember that we are all given a calling to fulfill while we are here.  We all have a short time on this earth, some shorter than others.  Each calling is different and it’s important that we seek in wisdom to understand His will regarding our calling. Whatever that calling may be, we need to make that a priority.  Right now in my life, my family and my church are big priorities.  It’s the stage of life I am in right now. First and foremost, my relationship with God is top priority. Time spent in the word and in prayer is the most important thing I do each day. I also have a big responsibility to raise my children in the Lord; I know that’s his will because scripture tells me it is so.  I also know I am to be connected in fellowship with a body of believers, encouraging and serving others in that body and to those in the community to whom our church reaches out.  I also know that’s his will because scripture tells me it is so.

Being intentional with my time is what’s important.  When my children see the investment I am making in my relationship with God, they will learn how essential that is to spiritual growth.  When my children see how intentional I am in loving and serving our family, they will benefit from the nurture and teaching they receive.  When they see me active in the body of Christ, they will know how important it is to build the kingdom of God and serve others. While I do need down time and I do have chores and other responsibilities, my use of time should reflect my priorities.

When I had that talk with my son, I spoke of time in terms of money because I knew he would understand.  I now look at time as an investment.  When I use my time for a specific activity I think of how will it benefit the investment.  What will the outcome be for that investment of time?  Is it worth using my time on a specific activity?

And aren’t my children one of the best investments I can spend my time on?

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the landowner entrusted his servants with different amounts of money to take care of while the master went away.  Two of the three invested the talents and was able to give their master a good return on his money upon his return.  I don’t want to be like the third servant and just bury my time somewhere where there is no return.  When the master comes back, I want to show him that he received a good return on the time he gave me.

What about you? How has God specifically called you to use your time?

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