A Precious Mom

Me and Shelly

So when I was home a few weeks ago for the weekend, I got to spend some sweet time with the precious Hunter family, well the Phillip and Shelly Hunter family :) I WISH that the rest of the Hunter family was still around here! What a blessing it is to be able to spend time with such a beautiful family!

I have always considered Phillip and Shelly my "spiritual parents," so getting to spend time with them and the kiddos is always such a sweet time for me. Every single time that I go over there just to hang out with Shelly and the kids, I walk away having learned SOMETHING new. This just speaks so much to what an incredible mom Shelly is. I LOVEEEE getting to learn from her because she is such an incredible godly wife to Phillip and mom to Atley, Avery, Cannon, and Champ. Her vision as a mom, is to point her kids to Jesus in every aspect of thier lives...from what she teaches them in the classroom to the toys that they play with to the books that they read...the list could go on forever. I think that more often then not, especially in the culture in which we live today, moms tend to delegate that role to others...the church, youth group, television, peers, books, school, and so on. I love that Shelly (and Phillip) refuses to leave the role of teaching her kids about the gospel to anyone else, and sees that as thier mom, if she teaches them nothing else, that is the ONE thing that really matters. I love that she wants them to memorize scripture. To teach them bible stories. To not let them play with all the "worldly" toys like Princesses and the latest movie action figures. To limit the movies/tv they get to watch.

More then anything, I love that Shelly never stops growing in wisdom and allowing the Lord to give her new visions and ideas to promote Christ in thier day-to-lives. I have also learned so much about how to discipline the kids, out of love of course, from Shelly. I can honestly say that every time I come home, the Lord has shown her something new to try out or convicted her about this or given her a new way of teaching them about that and so on. She is never afraid to confess to me her weaknesses as a mom either...she just puts it all out there and I cannot even begin to explain how much this encourages me and how much I learn from her...through the weaknesses and the strengths!

Shelly with her twin girls, Atley and Avery

The biggest thing I see from Shelly is that motherhood is a process...how just like in our walk with the Lord, you are constantly growing in wisdom, seeing things you had never seen before, being convicted about things that previously didn't bother you, learning how to do things better and more effectively, rejoicing in the little victories, being continually refined by the trials and struggles. Shelly has been valnurable enough to allow me to see all of it...even the not "perfect" and "beautiful" aspects of raising a family. It's not always easy for sure.

I think that I relate to Shelly so much because she has always wanted to be a mom...it is who she is...what she was born to do...and she does it ALL to the glory of God, which is so evident after you're around her for a minute! I have always felt like I was just "born to be a mom," and that has always been the biggest part of my "dream" so to speak. Shelly has taught me to appreciate motherhood in a whole new way, to really understand what it means to be a mom; that it is a day in and day out, full time job! Yes--its incredible! And yet, it doesn't always feel like that "dream" you know? Motherhood is such a beautiful thing, yet it is never perfect either. For so long, I "perfected" it in my head. Shelly has taught me about the real thing; how to be a godly mom in real life, so to speak. Mostly because she is real. And this is

Me with the newest addition to the Hunter Family
Baby Champ...soooo precious!

not something I could ever learn in a textbook or in the classroom...I learn the real deal through spending time with Shelly, and year from now when I am starting my own family, it is all of these little, yet instrumental things that I learn just from Shelly allowing me to do life with her. And I praise God that He put such a precious, real woman who is just in love with Jesus in my life to teach me these things. Slowly, of course...little by little...like being a mom, learning about how to be a good mom is a PROCESS!!!

Man oh man, the Lord is faithful. My mind keeps going back to that verse that talks about how God puts the lonely in families...don't get me wrong, I have good realtionships with my parents now and siblings who are in love with Jesus who love me and from whom I learn SO much, but there is just something that I cannot explain really, that is just completely the Lord and how He really did just surround me with this spiritual family when I was in a pretty difficult and lonely season of life...and now four years later just to see how their role has changed, and yet has become more precious to me then ever before.

Shelly with sweet Cannon

I think it is beautiful to think about how God never fails to show us in real life, in tangible ways, His unfathomable love for us, that in the sacrafice of HIS OWN SON, He reached down to cleanse us, to heal us, to redeem a people who had deliberately rebelled, a people for whom His LOVE tore open the grave, a people for whom HE gave it all, a people for whom He ADOPTED to be called His children...chosen, redeemed, transformed, healed, paid for, accepted, loved! For me, Phillip and Shelly have shown me this kind of love...they reached out and grabbed a hold of me, even when I deliberately rebelled, and loved me. Then they loved me some more. And more. And more. And years later, here they are still loving me, encouraging me, teaching me how to be a godly wife and momma...do you see how FAITHFUL our God is?!? I had no idea when I randomly came into thier lives years back that this would be the couple, the family who would help prepare me for my own family...and I'm sure they weren't planning on it either! But the Lord knew.

Phillip, Shelly and me

Here I am, four years ago, this girl who comes from a pretty messed up home, having no clue who God is or what it even means to be a mom. So God says, okay Courtney, let me just set you in a family and one day, one day when you stop living for yourself and submit your life to me, one day I will use this family, the one who will love you through it all, to teach you exactly what it means to be a godly mom and wife. Yes, I do see you. I know what you grew up with...and what you grew up without. I know the hurts, the heartaches, the emptiness. I know you have no idea how to do it right. It's okay. I am the One who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above anything you could ever ask or imagine. I set the lonely in families. I break the cycle of generational sin. I make things new. I made you new. It is over with you; everything is NEW! So here, let me just put you in this "new" family to help you learn these "new" concepts and wisdom about how to be a mom, a NEW mom....a mom in love with Me. Ashes for Beauty. I make all things NEW.

Love you!!!

Wow. Beautiful, faithful, sovereign Jesus, oh how I love Thee.

And what a blessing it has been, is, and will continue to be to do life with my spiritual family...Shelly, thank you for loving me, for pouring into me, and for allowing me to do life with you guys. I am so increibly thankful for you and the time I get to spend with you. You will never know how your love for the Lord, your love for Phillip and the kiddos, the way you have loved me...you'll never know how that being a part of all that, of seeing it, of feeling it...how that has changed my life. I Love you!!!

And the funny thing is that I started writing this blog to write a "short quick one" about a recipe that shelly taught me a few weeks ago that I have soooo enjoyed...I even named the Blog "A Little Pick me Up" yet an hour later here I am, writing a totally different blog, but for some reason the Lord must have needed me to say all of this, sooooo I will save the recipe for later :)