Success by whose stadards?

Philippians 1:6 Being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Over the weekend my devotional was about how we view success. Do we look at how the world views success, by power, wealth, position, career, college, degree, the size of one's home? Or do we have a godly view of success which is living for Christ?

Whoa! This was just what I needed...after having Julia I really struggled with staying at home and not working. I felt like my identity and success was through being a teacher, and I felt at a complete loss being home all day and not "contributing to society,"...how wrong was my thinking!

Through many wise christian women I have begun to see the extreme value of not only being home with my children, but even being content with this season of life, and now thoroughly enjoying it. I'm not saying that every day is easy, or that I leap out of bed with joy (5 or 6 times) in the middle of the night when one of the kids wakes up, but I've realized that living a life where you are only fulfilled outside of where Christ wants you is like trying to fill a bottomless bowl, you will never be fulfilled, the world's standards will never be enough, you will always want more.

I am learning that God truly is all that I need each day to get me through the day. He has enough strength and love for me when I feel exhausted or stretched to my limit.

I want God to renew my mind and my way of thinking and this is hard when the world says that success is an impressive job title!

Lord, thank you for teaching me through friends and family and my mentors that success is defined as worshipping you with my life no matter where I am or what I am doing. I can do that at 3 am when I am nursing a sick child. I can do that at 3pm when I am pushing my daughter on the swing at the park. I can do that in church while teaching a sunday school class with passion. I can do that by encouraging my husband as he heads out the door. Thank you Lord for this season of my life, help me to be faithful!