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  Q & A REGARDING BEING A MOTHER
  by Annie Poonen
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Summary: This sermon is a heartfelt conversation between a mother and
her son, reflecting on the joys and challenges of motherhood, the
importance of family time, relaxation, dealing with fears, disciplining
children, staying connected with a spouse, and facing difficult
situations with faith and forgiveness. The mother shares wisdom on
handling food issues with children, staying connected with God, and
finding strength in challenging times. She encourages women to
prioritize God's opinion above all, overcome self-pity, resist worldly
influences, and strive for transparency in their lives.

Topics: "Motherhood", "Faith in Family"
Scripture References: Proverbs 31:28, 1 Timothy 2:15, Matthew 6:25, Philippians 4:6, 1 Peter 3:3

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon is a heartfelt conversation between a mother and her son,
reflecting on the joys and challenges of motherhood, the importance of
family time, relaxation, dealing with fears, disciplining children,
staying connected with a spouse, and facing difficult situations with
faith and forgiveness. The mother shares wisdom on handling food issues
with children, staying connected with God, and finding strength in
challenging times. She encourages women to prioritize God's opinion
above all, overcome self-pity, resist worldly influences, and strive for
transparency in their lives.

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CONTENT
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Yeah, okay. Mom, first of all, this is a tremendous privilege for me to
get to talk to you. And you mean the world to me, and this is a special
privilege for me to do this on Mother's Day.

So I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for the privilege that I can
sit next to my son, and so that it takes away my nervousness, and he's
there to support me.

I'm right here. Okay, so we'll have a couple of fun questions and a
couple of serious questions, too. So which one is easier, dealing with
boisterous children or dealing with boisterous grandchildren? That's a
good question.

Dealing with boisterous children, first of all, I didn't think you all
were that boisterous. You are normal boys, and you are growing up. You
have so much of energy, and I only found that you are getting stronger,
and I was getting weaker.

But a good thing I had, that I had my husband with me to do most of the
disciplining part. My disciplining was like sorting of life, but I had
my own ways of disciplining. And so I enjoyed all the fun that I had
with you all, but now dealing with the grandchildren, I think I have a
good chance of making up what all I could not do with my children, I can
do with my grandchildren.

For instance, I can show them so much of love without the fear of
spoiling them. Even if they are spoiled, their fathers, we all can deal
with them. I don't have to correct them.

All that I can say is, I don't think your dad and mom would like you
doing this, or wait, I'll have to talk to your mom about it, or you
check with your mom and dad before you do that. That's all. I don't have
to do much of the disciplining.

I can show as much love as I want. I can spoil them. So I think dealing
with boisterous grandchildren is a lot more fun.

And even when I'm in India, I dream. I dream of coming here and seeing
my grandchildren and hugging them and holding them. I plan all kinds of
games I can play with them, all the games that they like.

And I remember the things that they like to do. I keep it all reserved
when I come here. So dealing with grandchildren is a lot more fun.

All right. Besides family time, what is your favorite non-surgical thing
to do, just in terms of fun, relaxation? I like sewing. So I look
forward to picking up my needle and thread or knitting or whatever I'm
doing.

That's very relaxing for me. And now that my children have all left
home, I look forward to reading the medical books, which I didn't get a
chance to refresh my medical knowledge that much. So I like to look
forward.

And now with the Internet and all the facilities we have, that's
something I like to do. Because I know that it will be useful for me to
help others. And also it will keep my mind fresh and active.

So that's the second relaxing non-family thing. And the third is
gardening. I like seeing the plants grow.

I like to water the plants. Even when you go on a trip, the first thing
I do when I get back is to see how the plants are doing. And I pour some
water for the plants.

And I feel as if I have taken care of my plant. That's my third relaxing
thing. So what was your biggest fear? As you were a mother of small
children growing up.

And how did you deal with those fears? I think looking back, and we
started having a house church at home. And watching your children
growing up. My biggest fear was that with all the strict ways and the
teachings in the church, and our high standards, and my husband's way of
putting things across, which is very strong, and he being a military
man, the way he put it across, I thought how would the children, even if
they are boys, how would they perceive it? Will they be like a pastor's
children who don't want to have anything to do with God or they become
atheists or lukewarm or they become Pharisees, hypocrites, acting like
as if they're okay and not really wanting to follow the Lord.

All those fears were there. They were real fears because I thought if
I'm too hard on them, they might rebel and go away. Or if I'm too
lenient, they might become worldly and I don't want that to happen.

That was a real fear. And I found the four different, all four of you
were growing and you had different temperaments. One was willing to
obey.

The other one said another one would have questions. And, you know, the
ones who didn't have questions, later on they would have questions. So
my fear was would I do something wrong so that their personality either
will be crushed or they'd be damaged for life or most of all if they
knew the Lord and forsake the Lord.

That was my fear. So how did I deal with that? Thank God the children
came one at a time so I could deal with them as they were growing up. Of
course I prayed.

I prayed and asked the Lord for wisdom and I only wanted to be committed
and united with my husband. I knew that if I'm not united with him and
if I'm arguing with him and questioning with him, that would be the most
disastrous thing for our family. Our family would be split and my
children would not listen and obey me because I didn't want to submit
myself to my husband.

So first of all I felt that my walk with the Lord should be okay. I
should commit everything to the Lord. I should live in submission to my
husband and be united with him so that our prayers would be heard.

There's a verse which says that if we are not united, then our prayer
won't be answered. So we would pray together and our goals were the
same. So our goal was that all four of you boys should go to be the
Lord's disciples and serve him.

That was our goal. So we had the same goals and we prayed together and
then the rest the Lord did. I think I would summarize it like that.

You talked about the fear of doing something that would damage the kids
and all that. In that relation, I think as some mothers who may feel
that some ways in which they did feel, can you speak about where things
that you may have said, you know, I think I wish I could have done
things differently, lessons to the next generation. And then how did you
deal also with that thing, the sense of doing the wrong thing? Yeah.

I think when the children are small, sometimes I would think, like, am I
giving them too much of, you know, when they start, the first child
especially, I think that, oh, they are not getting enough nourishment
and I would overfeed them. And that was, I think, as the second and
third month came, I realized that I should not force them to eat. They
eat whatever was needed, how much was needed for them.

So that's one lesson I learned. And then also being a doctor, I thought
whether I should give them medicine or leave them to help them to
overcome the disease, I mean whatever small, not disease, illness,
whether they would have the resistance. You know, those are some kind of
fears.

But I'm glad that I didn't give them the wrong medicine and the wrong
food. If anything like that had happened, I used to think, suppose I had
given them the wrong medicine and they are suffering for life, how would
I have dealt with it? I think I would have asked the Lord, Lord, please
make up for my error and heal my child in spite of my mistake and pray
more for them. But thank God that that didn't happen.

But one thing I remember, when the children were growing up and we were
having meetings in our home four days a week, three evening meetings and
a whole Sunday meeting which would go on and on. And some people would
stay back for lunch, would come from distant places and adapt to prepare
lunch. And, you know, preparing an Indian meal is not the same.

You can't just go and get a packet from there and microwave. We had to
start from scratch and cook. So then sometimes when my husband was away,
some sisters would feel like spending the day with me.

And they'd find out somehow that my husband gone for a weekend. On
Saturday morning, they would finish all their work, but without any
warning to me, they'd land up at home. And I wouldn't have had any
breakfast, lunch, nothing ready for them.

And because they are there, I'd have to cook something for them also.
And I used to feel very bad. I'm neglecting my children.

There's nothing naughty. I hadn't even given them their breakfast. And
sometimes I wouldn't have even changed the diaper and this person has
landed up.

So first of all, I had to work on my own salvation. No grumbling, no
murmuring, no self-pity, no bitter thoughts about others. Thank God for
the teaching of the church.

I said, Lord, I want to sanctify myself. But inside, it was still not
yet overcome inside. But then I said, whenever my husband goes, I should
be prepared.

I should finish all my work in case such things happen. I'd get up
early, do the cooking, keep everything ready. So if my children had
enough food to eat, then they would come.

But then sometimes it would be a medical problem. So I'd have to find
the medicine which they needed or the bandage or something like that.
And they were poor people.

So sometimes once one sister brought her child who had fractured her
forearm and she didn't have enough money to go to the hospital and we
have to pay for all the treatment. So I had to make a splint and put a
blasto-paras bandage and all that. And there with the children, I had to
do all that.

But then I felt like I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do. And the
Lord will give me grace. Then I thought, if I'm neglecting my children,
what will happen to them? But now I see them.

They all turned out okay, and they are serving the Lord. Now when I see
my daughter-in-law doing the same thing that I am doing, I said, oh, no,
they're going through the same thing. But they're happily doing that.

So I'm so happy that in the end everything's worked out well. Wonderful.
Why haven't you moved to the U.S.? You have special grandchildren.

That's a hard question to answer. I love my grandchildren so much and my
children, but I think I love my grandchildren more. And I have 17 of
them.

So half of me wished that I could move here, but I have my family, my
church family, and so many poor children there. I don't have the heart
to leave them yet. I want to be there for them and to support them,
console them, give them good advice, love them.

And whenever I come here, I try to take back something for them to make
them happy. So right now I'm happy to be in India and come and visit you
all. You've got plenty of children in the U.S., too.

Much more than 17. How did you stay connected with Dad when you had
smaller children? You're busy probably from before they get up to after
they go to bed, and it's an all-day exercise for mothers who have to
take care of their children from morning to night. Is there anything you
did to stay connected to Dad in that time, husband-wife? First of all, I
can say I didn't want to be disconnected with him.

I didn't want anything to come between me and my husband, anything that
would bring a distance between us. So, you know, we hear in the church
how to deal with all these things, to live in a harmonious way and not
do things to irritate the other. So, first of all, I tried my best not
to be disconnected with God's help.

Then at night and before your children got up, we got some time to talk
together, mostly about the children and the church matters. And
sometimes dealing with relatives also. Some pressures would come, but
all those pressures brought us together, didn't make us disconnected.

They made us connect because I felt like I knew that my husband was
serving the Lord and I wanted to support him in that. I didn't want to
be a hindrance to him. Like, for instance, if he was getting ready for a
Sunday meeting and he has to speak, I didn't want him to think that, oh,
he has to help me with breakfast and getting the kids ready.

I felt like he should be free because he's serving the Lord. I want to
do my part so that everything is easy for him, so the kids, the
children's things are taken care of, the meals are taken care of, as
much as possible I could plan and do and keep it ready so that he'd go
relaxed and he should not feel like, oh, my wife is struggling, I should
be at home to help her. He shouldn't have that heaviness about the home.

If at all there was a burden, it should be the burden concerning God's
work or the church or something. That part he has to deal with, with the
Lord's strength. But anything concerning the home, I felt that I should
take care of.

And that way I would do my part in building the church and being
connected with him. He always should feel that he has a helper near him
or behind him or supporting him from behind. So as you raise children,
one of the big areas where parents struggle with it, as I know, my wife
struggles with it, is in terms of food, forcing control or getting
children to eat, all of those things as you raise children.

And then also as, you know, in this culture there's a lot of, I'm sure
it's going all over the world, the unhealthy relationship with food
affects the way children think. So maybe you can share with me your
experiences as a mother but also as a doctor in terms of how to deal
with children and food. You can take it any way you want.

I already said that with my first few children I was tending to overfeed
them and, like, sometimes they threw up because I was forcing them to
eat. But later on I understood how to deal with that. But I learned, I
mean, over the years I decided that I should make mealtimes a fun time,
not, oh, all this, I have to eat all this spinach and all this and all
that.

I tried to make it a little more interesting so that it would be easier
for them to eat. So I would say, okay, you finish the greens first, then
you're done with it. Then you can eat the other things.

So they would gulp it down with some water and then they would eat the
other things which were needed. My suggestion now would be all moms now
have some access to material health, I mean, regarding food, nutritional
food, either internet or books or something. Go through that and see
which are the healthy foods for the kids now, like too much fatty food
and, you know, all that we should avoid.

And try to make as much as possible home-cooked food rather than eating
out. When you eat out, you find that they compromise on healthy food and
then, you know, everything concerning health. So try to make healthy
home foods and make it like different varieties.

Even though you have to make meat and vegetables and things like that,
give a variety so that they may eat the same vegetables, but it will be
in a different form, either as a cutlet or as boiled or whatever you
know which way your children like it. What else did you say? Yeah, I
think if it's a teenager or adolescent girl, if I had, and she was
having problem eating, I'd have to like spend time with her and tell
her, no, you have to eat a certain amount of protein and meat and
vegetables and all. And make sure that you don't overeat the things
which are harmful for you.

Like when you go to choose the food, don't go straight to the ice cream
section. Just take the things which are good for you, small portions of
that. Don't take, fill up your plate with a lot of food.

Then you won't be able to finish it. Just take small helpings of what
you can eat. Then you can go back and take, but minimum, I mean small
helpings of the meat, small helpings of the vegetables and the other
things.

And then finally you go to the ice cream and then you think like, okay,
I had ice cream yesterday, so today I'll take a little less. Like you
reward yourself. I haven't had ice cream for one week, so maybe I'll
take a little more today.

Like you teach your child, instead of making rules for your child, teach
your child to make the decision. Yeah, now I'm going to reward myself
with a little bit more of ice cream. I had ice cream the past three
days, so today I can do it now.

So make the child take that decision that I'm going to be healthy.
Because we are not going to be around for our children forever. One day
they leave us or one day the Lord will take us away and our children
have to take care of themselves.

So I feel that if you give them good guidelines and you tell them, these
are the things you must have and these things you must not, and also
tell them about not just sit and eat the wrong type of food, but do some
exercise and encourage them, go for walks together with them, I think
that's it. Personally, I didn't have a problem with overweight, but some
people have that. Because in the place where I grew up, we had to walk a
lot, I had a lot of work to do at home, being the oldest of nine
children.

So my problem was that I needed to eat more food. But nowadays the
children don't have that much of exercise. So encourage the children to
play games, play games with them, and go for walks with them, go for
hikes with them, and if you have some time, do things, sports and things
with them.

So as we talk about teenage children, 14-year-olds growing up, who are
growing stronger and stronger, as you were growing older, how did you,
and we were also learning to say no and be rebellious, and all those
rebellious behaviors that all of us go through, what advice do you have
for any lessons you learn, what advice do you have for other parents who
have children of that similar age? I realize that as my children were
getting smarter, smarter than me, and they could do things like, those
days there were no cell phones and things, thank God. So you all have to
face that. I don't know how you deal with that.

But I knew that my children loved to play cricket. So that was the point
in which I could poke them. So when my husband was around, he would do
the disciplining, I was very thankful.

But sometimes he had to go out of town, and I couldn't wait for him to
come. When the children are smaller, when you are smaller, you remember
I used to ask you to write a hundred times, I will not do this again.
And that will be like improving your handwriting.

But then I found out much later, there were pages and pages of paper, I
will not, I will not. So you just have to fill in the missing part, and
that will be very good. So I knew that you always, you are smarter than
me.

So I had to find newer ways of... Then I found that all of you like to
play cricket in the evenings, and that was the biggest event, I mean
happiest moment of your life was when you come home from school, and you
can take the cricket bat and play cricket. So then I said okay, because
you did this today, you can't play cricket. Your brothers can play, and
you have to stay, come home and help me, or stay in bed or something.

So then some of you would plead, and say mom, please give us a spanking,
and take a spanking, and won't play cricket. So then my heart was too
soft, I said okay, if you do it again, we'll have to take you seriously.
So then each time I had to find different ways of disciplining.

So one day I decided I'm going to hide the cricket bat, so they're not
going to find it, and I didn't tell anybody where the cricket bat was.
So they came home, and then they must have looked for the cricket bat,
and they didn't find it. So I said okay, now let's see what they're
going to do.

And they put on their playing shoes and went out, and there was a
cricket bat and ball, and they were playing with that. So then I thought
okay, maybe some friend has brought it, I must find out who's that
friend who brings the cricket bat. I had to always think of ways of
outsmarting.

Then I found out they had a good cricket bat and a ball, in grandma's
house. My mother-in-law used to stay at a distance away. Because one day
she came home, and she said, why didn't the children come today for the
cricket bat? Then I realized, okay, they're smarter than me.

They found a place where they can hide a good cricket bat. So each time
I was learning, but on the whole, it did well. A few days, but you know
what I hated most was when daddy used to discipline.

I tried my best to do the discipline myself, because daddy's discipline
was a lot more harder. And if he said no playing cricket, there was no
way. Maybe he'd say no playing cricket for a whole week.

So I thought, okay, make it easier for them. But on the whole, you took
the disciplines well, and you turned out good. Thank you.

I don't know if I'd say I took the disciplines well. It's never easy.
How do you relax? How did you relax when you were a mother with a small
child? How do you find times to relax? Being with small children was
relaxing enough.

I felt we could play board games together. They would all want me on
their team. And they want us to win.

Because when I was on their team, they'd make some allowances. Okay, for
mommy, we do this. And then we play games.

That was my relaxation, being with the children. And then we'd go places
together. Yeah, I remember one of the special moments because I had eye
problems from a young age.

I remember going to Kunora once. When we were in my mom's place, we
walked and took the bus. And I remember experiencing a little bit of
what my mom had to do almost every day.

I remember that. Going to the doctor's office. I had to walk three
miles.

It's a hilly area. So we had to walk three miles to school and three
miles back. And on the way back, mom would have a list of groceries for
us to pick up.

And sometimes it'd be raining on our way to school. And we couldn't
afford to get our shoes wet. So we'd take off our shoes and socks and
put them in our backpack or bag.

And we'd walk barefooted. And it was so cold. Our toes would be blue by
the time we reached school.

But all that was good for us. It made us tough and healthy. Any advice
for expecting mothers? There's a lot of fears of the health of the
child, the mother, anxiety.

What is any advice you have? See the doctor regularly and take the
doctor's advice. But all moms who are going to have babies, we have our
fear for what will be the delivery like. Will everything be okay for the
baby? And nowadays with the scanning and all that, you can find out a
little bit.

But when I was having my children, it was a life of faith. But you know,
I held on to a promise which the Lord, a couple of promises which the
Lord gave. There's one promise, especially for those who are bearing
children.

And I remember when I was expecting children, I laid hold on that
promise. And that's in 1 Timothy 2 verse 15. It says, women shall be
preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and
love and sanctity with self-restraint.

So I held on to that promise. Lord, I do my part. I have faith in you.

I love my husband and children and all those whom you bring across my
path. I want to sanctify myself. I want to have self-control and not
give way to anger and things like that.

I'll try and do my part with your strength, but I claim that promise
that you'll preserve me for childbirth. So I want to share that promise
with all of who are going to get babies. Claim that promise, 1 Timothy 2
verse 15.

And also Jesus said in so many Jesus said many times in the Gospels,
don't be afraid, don't be anxious. And that's like a word of the Lord.
The Lord says, don't be afraid.

I'll be with you. Don't be afraid of the future. Don't be afraid of
childbirth.

A lot of things may happen to other women. Don't look at them. You look
at me.

So I held on to that and Lord gave me strength. And the Lord will give
you sanctity. You know, I think you've said at other times that the
hardest time in your life giving back was when Sunil left the college.

My youngest brother. So how does it feel? When my oldest son left, I
mean he wanted to go and although he had got admission in colleges in
India he got a good scholarship and he even paid his airfare to go to
study. So I said, okay that's good for him.

And when the second one, I tried to persuade him why don't you stay back
in India, but he also wanted. And then something followed very soon.
Then I thought I'm not going to let Sunil leave.

But he got a good scholarship too and he was leaving. And I felt like I
go out of my mind. He also leaves.

Because I was living for my children. They were my life. And of course
my husband lived there.

But we have each other. But if these children leave, I thought my heart
would break. But the Lord gave and when Sunil left for college, my
husband also had left to put him in college.

So I was alone at home. And then that was good I was alone because I
could spend time with the Lord and I could ask Him and depend on His
strength and ask Him what should I do now. I came much closer to the
Lord.

I got time to read the word of God, meditate and got comfort from Him.
Fresh experiences in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And the Lord showed
me that you have other children here.

I mean there are other God's children here whom I can care and I can do
all that I wanted to do. I wanted to take care of sick people and I had
very little opportunity when my children were at home. People in the
church were sick, I would care for them.

But then I had a dear friend who had his own hospital and he was my
classmate and he used to often ask me to come and help him in his
hospital. So I decided okay after my husband returns we are going to
pray about it and I go back to that hospital and I go to that hospital
and work in every department and brush up my medical knowledge. So that
gave me a kind of new ambition in life something to live for and I had
done my part and I said Lord I did my part for the children and I have
given them over to you.

Now you take care of them and help me and I ventured in this new going
back to the medical into the hospital and working in every department
and it was a different language also but the Lord helped me to pick up
the Lord and I got the confidence which I needed to take care of sick
people in our village churches. So that way I had something to and then
I was so happy that me and my husband had more time with each other and
we became companions and we needed each other as we were growing old
together and we depended on each other. We had to remind each other what
we had to do and you know we do everything together.

So if I cook something there is nobody else like I didn't have to save
anything for the children. So I take the first portion to him to taste,
is it salty or is it good enough and then we cook and we eat together
and somebody comes I share with them. So it was a different type of life
and though I look forward to the children coming home, I enjoy life
living with my husband and companionship with him.

So that's how the Lord helped me. I mean I know a lot of people know a
lot of the blessings you have but I think what struck me about you
saying that Sunni leaving home was the most difficult thing that you've
gone through is because I think many of you know that your siblings and
your family members took you and that to court and sued you guys and
criminal court case all that stuff. So I was curious if you have any
thoughts and reasons why you said that is not as, wasn't as difficult
for a Sunni or any kind of person like that.

Yeah we were a close family, my siblings and my parents and I and I
being the eldest we were very close but throughout the after my marriage
I realized that my position is with my husband and I want to be united
with him and join him in what he's doing in building the body of Christ
so I knew where my position was and although my, and I realized that my
siblings didn't see eye to eye with what we were doing so I felt sad
that it was coming from them and not from other people then I said if it
was other people maybe I would have hated them or not forgiving them,
not forgiving them but because they were my own siblings I felt it was
so easy to forgive, I can't say I shouldn't say the word easy but God
made it easy because I realized they are my flesh and blood, they are my
people, I must forgive them, so till now I always have a heart of love
for them and hope that they will change and some of them have changed
but God taught me not to have any bad attitude towards them even now
when I dream I dream of them coming home and I'm serving them and making
them happy, so I know in my heart of hearts, deep down I don't have any
bitterness or hatred and I ask the Lord, Lord help me to love them, but
I always look at ways in which I can thank God even when something bad
happens I say I want to thank God that it wasn't worse than this or it
wasn't something else that happened and I look for ways in which I can
thank God that it's not as bad as I should take it so that has helped
me, so when my siblings were troubling me in the areas which Sandeep
spoke about, I said I must find a way of thanking the Lord for doing
this, I didn't want to think oh why did they do this I've given myself
pity or anything, I said Lord thank God they left my children alone
thank God it's not my children who are opposing me, if one of them was
opposing me or rebellious or gone away or didn't have anything to do
with me or cut himself off from me and my husband, that would have been
the hardest thing so I thank God, okay they are my siblings, but I have
my children and they are with me and they are supporting me and one of
them they used to write comforting things to us, sharing God's word with
us and comforting one of them said dad don't let this court case hinder
you, 10 years from now and actually in 10 years time that court case was
solved, but 10 years from now you shouldn't look back and say that this
court case hindered you from serving the Lord, you do what God has asked
you to do and do God's work and He will take care of the court case, we
got such good comfort and strength from our children and it was like
brothers comforting, they were my children became my brothers so that
was a help and then the Lord I can say the Lord comforted us a lot He
gave us many verses, words of comfort and strength that we tread on
God's word and all these trials seemed nothing because we thought
whatever we have lost or whoever we lost we have the Lord if we had
taken somebody to court I think that would have been the most miserable
time of our lives thank God God didn't allow that to happen even people
harmed us we didn't have to take anybody to court they took us to court
let God deal with them and even now I pray Lord be merciful to them,
help them to realize what they are doing so that they won't suffer in
your hands let them do it that's awesome thank you so much maybe we will
just wrap up with any last comments or feelings you want to encourage so
many different women going through different things I think as a woman
and as a mother a lot of things affect us and influence us one is the
opinions of people opinions of our relatives opinions of what our
friends say and we have to deal with that and say Lord what matters most
is your opinion of me because once we allow opinions of people to affect
us relatives or friends or college mates or anything once we allow that
we will become a slave to them unconsciously we will be thinking oh I'm
wearing this what will people in the church say or I'm done my hair like
this what will my friends say or I didn't color my hair and all my other
friends have colored what will they think once we start allowing the
opinions of people to enter our mind then we become a slave but the only
person who matters most is the Lord. I always tell the Lord whenever I
can and I get the opportunity I say Lord Jesus you are the most
important person for me more than my children more than my money or
clothes or anything I can buy or any possession any valuable thing you
are the most valuable person to me. I keep telling that to the Lord and
I keep on repeating it even if I say it with my mouth I say Lord I
wanted to say it from my heart Lord you are the most important person
for me so lot of people face problems opinions of people and I found
that opinion of the Lord what the Lord thinks of me the Lord is happy
with me that's the most important as we heard yesterday if the Lord can
say this is my beloved daughter I am very pleased with you that would be
the best thing and also lot of us face self pity we feel sorry for
ourselves why am I like this why am I not like this why I can't do this
which others can do that self pity is a big giant we have to slay that
and with the Lord's strength we can slay that and the love for worldly
things that you know fashions and all that's more for ladies we think we
want to look nice we want to look and that also can become we can become
a slave of that we see the fashions have changed and the marketing we
see more and more things which please our eyes then say Lord I want to
please you and thankfully I didn't dress it doesn't change the fashion
doesn't change much and the saree is the same only the colors may change
so thank God I am in India where the fashion is the same if one gets old
I can get another one but it may be a different design so those are the
things that we as women we have to be aware of and face and overcome and
also a double standard you know we are living one way and we want to
give a false impression to others that's also very easy for women to
appear nice before others and behind we are different so we have to ask
the Lord Lord what I am outside let me be the same inside let me be
transparent before you you see me through and through what you see
inside of me let it be the same what I give impression which I give to
others those are few things that we as women have to do okay thank you
all so much God bless you all thank you thank you so much

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/1OG49LrloGg.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/annie-poonen/q-a-regarding-being-a-mother/
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