Jami

Since I started attending Grace Church about a year ago, I have observed and been extremely encouraged by the the family life of this church. This is probably the first thing I noticed that in a good way was different from what I have seen before. I have never experienced such Gospel- centered families like the ones at our church.

Since I am a young woman, just entering the marriage age, and whole heartedly desiring to be a good wife and mother, I have turned to the women of this church as examples to me in this area. Without mentioning this to any of you, I have closely watched the wives and mothers of this church: how they run their households, love their children, and respond to their husbnads. I hoped to find good examples, but beyond my expectations I found many more great examples than I ever thought was possible.

I remember tlking with my friends after my third or fourth visit. We were amazed at how well the kids at this church behaved. We were saying that at times we had forgotten that there were even children in the service because they never (or almost never!!) moved or made any noise, whereas in our previous church there were constant fits among the children which distracted us. We soon began praising the parents for training their children so well.

As I got more involved and got to know a couple of the families in the church better, I was shocked to see how much respect the mothers specifically got from their husbands as well as their children. For example, I can remember a few nights after our college homegroup when some of us girls wanted to go get dessert. Without a second thought all the girls wanted to call their parents to make sure it was ok with them. A few times their parents would say no, and they never questioned them, but went straight home with no complaints. I was in shock, knowing I stopped asking my parents for permission or advice when I was still in high school. I immediately realized the enormous respect the children of this church held for their parents. This seemed to be a direct result of parental leadership, especially mom's devotion to caring for their kids in Christ. This challenged me to show more respect even to my own mom.

Another area that really stood out to me was the amount of time even the college students want to spend with their families. There have been times when I have called some of the girls to hang out, and they would turn me down because they wanted to go with their families on walks or go to the movies with their mothers. At first I just laughed because this was so foreign to me, since I could never see myself wanting to hang out with my parents over my friends. But it didn't take long for me to envy these relationships and want to follow your example in my family. The love that you have shown towards your children has already been rewarded by the relationship they desire to have with you. I know that if I were to ask each child in this church to rank their mother on a one to ten scale, everyone of them would joyfully give you a ten.

I can say that you have taught me more about how to be a good wife and mother in one year of knowing you than I have ever learned before. Specifically I have learned how to preach the gospel to my future children daily and keep Christ at the center of my family life. I have also seen how to love my husband as Christ loves the Church, and how to discipline my children correctly when necessary. I have been encouraged by the amount of patience you show towards your children. I feel you truly see your children as a gift fromf God and want to glorify Him in the way that you raise them.

I personally want to encourage all the Moms of this church, and thank each of you for being such a great example to me when you didn't even know I was watching. You are training the next generation to be devoted to a biblical calling as wives and mothers -- and you are doing it by example. I feel that I have already grown tremendously in my learning process and look forward to learning a lot more from all of you. Again thank you for your love for Jesus and your desire to be the wives and the mothers Christ has called you to be. I know that I will be closer to the biblical model of a wife and mother because of your example to me. Thank you.