Moms Like Christ: A Merry Heart

By Sarah L. Bibler

As a mom, you are super busy. You are pulled in different directions, wondering how you’ll survive. Your kids are your life. You live and breathe for them. But have you truly invested in your children? Have you gone to the truth source to gain knowledge on what your children truly need? Have you approached God to seek his opinion of parenting?

In Moms Like Christ, author Sarah L. Bibler guides you through God’s word to discover his truths for your daily life decisions as a wife and mother. Designed to be addressed in a setting with other Christian moms, Moms Like Christ will lead your group through discussions about fourteen attributes of a Christian mom documented by scripture. You will parallel these attributes with women from the Bible whose lives can give you guidance on righteous living.

This first installment discusses the importance of your prayer life, how to manage your household, the importance of a joyful spirit, and the true virtue of sacrificial love. You will parallel these studies with a closer look at the lives of Eunice, Rebekah, Elizabeth, and Mary, Jesus’ mother. Each of these Bible characters exhibits qualities you, as a Christian mom, should reflect.

As you gather together, you will draw closer to him and to one another, and you will become more confident in fulfilling your God-given gift: motherhood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973669838

Sarah L. Bibler

Inspired to write her testimony at age 40, Sarah discovered God amongst the mess she called her life. At age 20 Sarah married the love of her life, only to discover the hardships of keeping your marriage God-centered. At age 24 she experienced her first heart wrenching miscarriage which led her towards the road of depression. As her life continued it’s up and down journey, Sarah found herself in a very dark place. All the while God was standing by ready and waiting for her to surrender her will to His. During this dark season of her life she became a mother to three children, carried a full-time middle school teaching job, and worked in various ministries. Her life was a constant busy schedule that never seemed to decline in activities. With the help of her husband and Christian friends, Sarah learned to rely on God as her strength. God surrounded her with many different Christian woman mentors; women to help her through when she was unsure of what, where, or how to make it. As she wrote her life story, God revealed to her 14 attributes of a Christian mom. With a deep love for God’s Word, she found 14 women from the Bible that paralleled these attributes. From her written testimony and Gods Word she wrote Moms Like Christ. Sarah wanted to create an environment where older women could mentor the younger women (Titus 2:3-5). Together with sisters in Christ women could study scripture, discuss the struggles of being a wife and mom, and develop relationships that would last a lifetime in the process. Sarah Bibler is a farmer’s wife of 23 years, mother of 3 amazing children, taught school for 19 years, and continues to mentor women in and out of her home.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 Sarah L. Bibler.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Kaytlin Bibler Photography

NIV: Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6982-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6983-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019910102

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/22/2019

Dedication

I am dedicating this book to my three amazing, energetic, loving, and God-fearing children. Kaytlin, you will always be my sunshine. Noah, you will always be my hunter. Caleb, you will always be my entrepreneur. Always love and trust God. He will never let you down.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 Massive Prayer Life

Chapter 2 Eunice

Chapter 3 Order to Chaos

Chapter 4 Rebekah

Chapter 5 Merry Heart

Chapter 6 Elizabeth

Chapter 7 Sacrificial Love

Chapter 8 Mary, Mother of Jesus

Appendix 1 Example of Mapping God’s Word

Appendix 2 Memorization Techniques

Appendix 3 Memory Verses

Appendix 4 Teacher Leader Guide

Appendix 5 Women of the Bible

Endnotes

About the Author

Preface

Dear Mommas,

I am so proud of you for taking some time for you. As moms we put ourselves last on the list of priorities. Our families’ needs always take precedence over what we need for ourselves. Well, today you have taken the steps to do something for you. I wrote this book series with two purposes in mind: 1. To help women (moms) draw closer to God, and 2. To create an environment where the older women can mentor the younger women. This journey will not be an easy one. Satan does not want either of my intentions to be successful. He will encourage you to quit, make you feel inadequate, remind you of all your failures, and make the journey seem impossible. Don’t let him win! Together we can make it through. Believe in yourself, even if it’s for the first time in your life. Stay at it! Start today! You’re worth it! Your family is worth it! God is worth it!

Acknowledgments

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

—Titus 2:3–5 (ESV)

First, I want to thank God for using me as His vessel in writing this book. For many years I have journaled, noted, and jotted information down, and now it has been brought to completion. All praise and glory belong directly to my Lord and Savior. He directed my path and helped me to become the woman I am today. It is God who will make this book useful to the women who pick it up and diligently study it. Thank you for always guiding and leading me, Father.

Next, I want to thank my family for their patience and help as I made this book a reality. Thanks for helping with all the housework, leaving me alone so I could focus, encouraging me to keep at it and not give up, and for loving me even when I fail. To Curt, you are the man of my dreams, and I love you forever and always. Thank you for loving me right where I am and pushing me to fulfill my dreams. Thank you for being my best friend. Thank you for being a wonderful father to our children. To Kaytlin, thanks for sharing the laptop with me. Thanks for not getting upset at me when I pry into your life. Thank you for being one of my best friends. I love you always, my sunshine. To Noah, thanks for asking me about my book and helping take care of Opal, our cute little puppy. All those trips to take Opal outside and oopsies pickups don’t go unnoticed. To Caleb, thank you for staying up late with me while I was typing or writing. You always asked me about my book and now you can say your mom is an author! Thanks for encouraging me all the way through.

Next, I need to thank a lot of people that helped develop me into the woman I am today. My parents, Mike and Donna Porter. My brothers, Andrew, Ben, Daniel, and Isaac. Sorry for all the times I beat you up and told Mom you were the guilty one. To my sister, Anna Turner, for taking the leap of faith to become an author so I would know what to do. To my best friends for life, Katrina Groce, Annette Troyer, and Amber Grant. You ladies have inspired me more than you will ever know. Your unconditional love, helping talk through frustrating times, letting me cry on your shoulder, and leading me to God’s