How Moms Make a Difference*

Motherhood is one of the most beautiful and challenging roles God designed. In this heartfelt episode, Pastor Chris Teien explores how mothers—and women of influence—play a crucial role in shaping lives for Christ. Whether you’re a mom, grandmother, or someone who invests in children, you'll find encouragement, biblical wisdom, and real-life inspiration to keep making a difference.

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/16335652

Key Points:

1. Honor parents and value their influence – Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:1–3.
2. Understand the real struggles of motherhood and offer grace – Proverbs 31 principles.
3. Be a mother (or person) of influence for the next generation – 2 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 3:14–17.
4. Practical ways to encourage faith development in children through presence, prayer, teaching, and example.

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:
 Pastor Chris shares personal reflections about his unique upbringing, including his experience with multiple maternal figures, and how a step-grandmother helped introduce him to Christ. He also tells relatable stories about the struggles parents face, offering authenticity and encouragement to those feeling overwhelmed.

Notable Quotes:

• “Be a mother—or a person—of influence wherever God places you.”
• “It’s not about doing everything perfectly; it’s about putting God first and loving consistently.”
• “You don’t have to be a biological parent to make an eternal difference in a child’s life.”

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Heart-level reflection: Ask God to show you where you can invest in the next generation.
2. Daily-life application: Find one child or young person you can encourage this week.
3. Spiritual step or challenge: Pray daily for the kids in your family, neighborhood, or church.
4. Practical next step: Share your faith story with a young person to inspire their walk with Christ.

Scripture References:

• Exodus 20:12 – Honor your father and mother
• Ephesians 6:1–3 – Obey and honor parents
• Proverbs 31:10–31 – Characteristics of a virtuous woman
• 2 Timothy 1:5 – Timothy’s faith from his grandmother and mother
• 2 Timothy 3:14–17 – Scripture shapes us for salvation and service

Keywords:
 Motherhood, Christian parenting, honoring parents, biblical womanhood, Proverbs 31, influence, spiritual legacy, children’s ministry, family faith, grandparenting

Closing Statement:
 God calls each of us to honor those who came before us and to invest in those who come after us. No matter your role, you have the opportunity to make a lasting difference by loving, teaching, and pointing others toward Christ.

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The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:00

Kids go to Kids Church. Thank you so much, Kids Church workers. We really appreciate you. And we are going to talk a bit about Mother's Day, which is kind of a tough thing to talk about sometimes for the reasons we've already mentioned, but Mother's Day, moms really do make a difference. And we need to honor our parents, mothers and fathers. One of the Ten Commandments is that we're supposed to honor our parents. So Exodus 20, 12 says, honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. So we are to honor and we are to esteem, and we are supposed to affirm, even if our parents weren't perfect, we should still honor them. Ephesians 6, 1 through 3 says, Children, so that's adult children too, young children, adult children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with the promise. If you honor your father and mother, things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on all the earth. So the Greek word for honor means to revere, prize, and value. Honor is giving respect not only for merit, but also for rank. So we need to honor our parents. I don't know of any perfect parent. I know for sure that I wasn't, I'm not a perfect parent, nor am a perfect grandparent. But we should seek to honor our parents while they're, especially while they're living. And Mother's Day is a great time to do that, to remember our parents, to honor them. Now, if for some reason you have a parent, if you're a child or a kid and you're you have a parent that's doing ungodly things, you don't have to do that. You need to obey God first. But when you can, which is most of the time, you need to honor your parents. But parenting is really tough. Parenting is really hard. You have to remember that Mother's Day is not always fun for everybody. Dan mentioned during the worship time that there are people that are mothers and it's really hard, and the motherhood thing isn't working out like they thought, and they don't think that they measure up. They don't think they're good mothers, so they don't really like Mother's Day because they don't think that they're good enough. There's people that are mothers that have lost children, or maybe their only child, and Mother's Day is hard for them. There are people that wanted to have children and haven't been able to. They are um they come to Mother's Day and they always wanted to be a mother, and that hasn't worked out. So there's lots of difficulties at Mother's Day. Um, so lost a child, don't feel like a good mother, uh, didn't get to be a mother, a mother has died or abandoned them. That's another reason. Don't know who their mother is. So uh interestingly enough for me, um, I was born to a biological mother, and then about around two or so, she kind of exited the picture, and then my grandmother took over for a bit, but then she died of breast cancer, and then I had a stepmother step in, and then another stepmother step in, and then I lived three years with a house mother at a boy's home, and then I went back to stepmother number two, and so when I look back on this young woman who married my dad who became a stepmother, uh, I can look back now and see that she didn't really have a clue about parenting, about children. So she wasn't the kind of girl that played with dolls and was excited to be a mom. She was the one that was in a rock band who liked to race cars at the fairground and do sorts of all sorts of other stuff. When I look back, I guess she did the best that she could with the skills that she had. So I'm kind of a shared motherhood experiment, I guess. My grandma. Actually, my stepgrandma was a great model for uh being a mother, being a parent. But Mother's Day is tough, and people don't always feel like they measure up. Tech writer Molly McHugh recently summarized why many mothers feel increasing anxiety about parenting. This whole concept of it takes a village to raise a child has been slowly dying. More than ever, people are accomplishing the intensely demanding tasks of child rearing on their own. She quotes a pediatrician named Dr. Harvey Carp who says, it's on the screen here, but today people think that when they have their child, they know what they are doing. And it's normal to raise them on their own. And if they have a hard time with that, they are wusses. But the truth is parents today have the hardest job because no one ever did this on their own, and it's very hard to do. There was this idea that it was macho to sleep less. And there's this macho idea with moms, like get up with the baby every time she cries, and it's not like you're a great mom when you've only gotten four hours of sleep. Parenting is tough, and the idea of uh having an extended family to come along and help doesn't always happen. A lot of times, you know, you'd think that your your mom would be able to help you with the kids, grandma would be able to help with the kids, but she might have a job too. There's all this busyness, and it's hard to make a perfect family and do all the parenting things when you are alone. We come to Mother's Day and talk about women's things, and a lot of women cringe when they think about the Proverbs 31 ideals. Have you ever thought of that before? Uh you hear, oh, the perfect wife, Proverbs 31, and she does all these things. We're even going to look at it. But what if, what if that was just the perfect ideal for uh women overall, not one woman does all these things. Another thing to remember is this is a description of what a king's wife should be like. So she's got lots of resources, she can make things happen, and with her character, she can get it done. But let's look at Proverbs chapter 31. Verse 10. Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She's far more precious than Ruby's. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. And she brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. So she is good and she's valuable and she's precious, and it's a good thing. So it is a good thing to find a godly, virtuous wife. And then it has this list of the things that she does, which is absolutely amazing. So she finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She's like a merchant ship bringing her food from afar. Actually, some of you do that now too, as you go out to all the different stores afar and bring food home. So she gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plans a day's work for her servant girls. She goes to inspect a field and buys it with her earnings. She plants a vineyard. You ever seen what it takes to plant a vineyard? You buy a field, you gotta pick the rocks, you gotta build a tower, you gotta do all these things for a vineyard. I'm guessing she's delegating some of this. It says she has servant girls, which would be like employees or household staff or whatever. So my guess is she likes these projects, she makes these things happen, she delegates some of it. My guess is she doesn't stay up all the time and like spinning plates. You know, she's got her family, she's got her vineyard, she's got her real estate thing, she's got her upholstery business, she's got her uh clothing business and all of these things going on at the same time. But the main thing is she is energetic and strong, a hard worker. That's a good thing to be a mom, that is a hard worker, a good thing to be a wife that is a hard worker, even to be a husband who is a hard worker, even to be a student or a child and be energetic, strong, and a hard worker. She makes sure her dealings are profitable, her lamp burns late into the night, her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. This is a woman that gets things done. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arm to the needy. There's something that we should all do. All women. So, a matter of fact, um, while I'm talking, um, did we pass out those books? We did pass out those books for women. Bible promises for women. So they're not for mothers, they're for women. So if you're a woman, you should have gotten one of those books to encourage you and to help you. She has no fear of winter for her household, for everyone has warm clothes. She makes her own bedspread, she dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. Her husband is well known at the city gates where he sits with the other civic leaders. She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants. And she is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. So here she's not fearful of the winter because she's done her due diligence. She's got it covered, she's got her household taken care of, she's doing all of these things. And I wonder if because she's doing all these things and she's got it taken care of, that her husband is able to sit at the city gates. Her husband is well known at the city gates where he sits with the other civic leaders. What if because she takes care of all this stuff, it enables her husband to go sit up there as a community leader and get other things done? Because she's taken care of it all. Could be. But when we look at these principles and we think about the things that she does, really a good mother would do these things too. She would make sure that her household is taken care of and she would do her part to take care of everything that she can. But my guess is she does it with priorities, that she does it in a way that finds balance. So she still has time for the Lord, so she still has time for the kids. My guess is that you would look at this list and do as much as you could, but you probably wouldn't be able to do it all. So this woman writes, about ten years ago, I found my mother at the kitchen table reading and chuckling in frustration, and I asked her what she was looking at. She told me she'd been studying Proverbs 31 for her devotions, and she was trying to live this list of the things in there that she was working on the list one at a time, trying to get them done. So she was frustrated, the mom was frustrated, because she wasn't able to fulfill the whole list. She says, I'll work on the first item in the list, and when I've got that one mastered, I'll move to the next one, and hopefully I'll be a virtuous woman before I die. And the daughter says, I recently checked with her to see how she was progressing, and she laughed and told me she was only seven or eight items into the list, but was currently stuck on her children, call her blessed. She said, I might have to wait for all of them to grow out of their teens before I can accomplish that one, she said. And this daughter writes, last year, my sisters and I got together and made a certificate of completion in Proverbs 31 training. We took every verse from the passage and we came up with an example of when she had fulfilled that requirement. It ended up looking like a real diploma, and it had her many accomplishments listed one after the other. We all signed it, including my dad. I read it aloud to her, and when we got to the last verse, her children called her blessed one by one. We all said, Mom, you are blessed. And she cried and she cried. She never thought she'd be able to fulfill the list. And if you were to look at the things on the list as a mom, as a woman, I think that you could find areas in your life that maybe you've done something like that. I mean, we don't really have the ability, many of us, to buy a field and plant a vineyard and to spin our own fiber and to make wool into beautiful cloth and all of these things. But we do have opportunities to be generous, we have opportunities to be hard workers, we have opportunities to care for the needs of others and to make sure we're planning into the future. And Proverbs 31 ends with Charm is deceptive and beauty does not last, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. And I really think that you put God first before you do all that stuff. Whether you're a man or a woman or a student, you put God first, and then he gives you ideas and abilities and energy to accomplish things that really matter. So maybe some of the things that really matter are providing for others, but maybe not having a perfectly clean house. Maybe it's helping your kids or helping other kids, but you're not able to do everything else. When we think about kids and we think about the lack of children, I think that Bethmore, that's in this booklet here, she talks about children. So you can have children or you don't have children. But then eventually your children grow old, and then uh you might have grandchildren, you might not, but there's children everywhere. And Beth Moore writes, My mother believed to her dying day it was a sad woman indeed who didn't have a young child somewhere in her life. She also felt there was no excuse for not having one. If you didn't have one handy, you could get one in Sunday school, in a church nursery, a pint-sized human who lives down the street, all while relieving a young mom and adding something worth more than a hill of beans to your life. She'd tell you that you could find a child almost anywhere, you'd find a lot of life, but find one indeed, because to her, you would be a miserable soul if you lost touch with children. I am deeply indebted to my mother for teaching me that one way to be rich was to be rich in children, and thank goodness they don't all have to be your own. So investing in children is huge. Investing in children is a great thing to do. So reward her for all she has done, let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

SPEAKER_06 13:14

Everything looks the same.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Guys, can somebody hit me with some juice? And listen, Paul, no Paul, doesn't make a difference to me. You're the ones dealing with the diaper.

SPEAKER_06 13:33

Have fun clamping.

SPEAKER_05 13:35

What is that? Have no idea. We got this. Yep. I mean, think about this. The kids are older. Now they practically take care of themselves. Nobody understands me. We're doomed.

SPEAKER_06 13:56

What did we do the last time they left us alone with the kids?

SPEAKER_05 14:03

Mom goggles! Those things were so great. I mean, they helped us see things like mom see things.

SPEAKER_06 14:09

Whatever happened, though. I definitely put them in a place I knew I would never forget.

SPEAKER_05 14:13

Great, where are they?

SPEAKER_06 14:15

I forgot.

SPEAKER_05 14:19

Computer phone. Order two pairs of mom goggles.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Ordering two pairs of mom joggers.

SPEAKER_05 14:25

Nope. Uh no. Goggles. Mom goggles. How are you gonna organize your life? You can organize your stock door first. Then I'm finished homework. Then take that school next.

SPEAKER_06 17:11

Alright, one more time. Plus the bowls up top, face down, forks up, knives down, plates in the center, pots and pants and wash by hand. Now repeat it back to me. No! I don't think the joggers make you look fat. I've got my dad's thighs.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Don't you need the goggles?

SPEAKER_03 17:38

Oh. I've seen your mom do this so many times. You have a great mom, you know that.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

That's great. Can you hand me the bar bucket? Okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_06 17:59

I got your cat out of the dryer. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

I don't own a cat.

SPEAKER_03 18:05

How do they do it? Cats? Moms. How do they do all of this without the goggles?

SPEAKER_04 18:13

They don't need them. Moms have this God-given ability. Moms are a little glimpse of heaven.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

It wasn't me.

Chris T 18:40

Again, it's tough on Mother's Day for some people, but mothering itself is tough. And somebody brought you into this world and somebody cared for you, and you should honor them. Be a mother of influence. If you fill the role of mother, even if you're not the biological mother, be a mother of influence. 2 Timothy 1. Paul is del he's writing to Timothy. He's delighted with Timothy. He likes Timothy. He even calls him a son, even though not a biological son. He's a son in the faith. Paul has invested his life into Timothy, and we see that Timothy was a result of his grandmother and mother. So this letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. Paul writes, I've been sent out to tell others about the life he has promised through faith in Christ Jesus. And I am writing to Timothy, my dear son, may God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace. Timothy, I thank God for you. That God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted, and I will be filled with joy when we are together again. So Paul is really invested into Timothy. And Timothy was already a believer before Paul found him because verse 5 I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. So to be a mother of influence, to be a grandmother of influence, grandmothers can make such a big deal in life. Grandmothers can do so much to influence people. I was influenced by my grandma. So my my stepgrandma actually, my step-grandparents, when I first showed up at their house, they were telling me about Jesus and how I was a sinner. And I thought to myself, you don't even know me very well, and you're already calling me a sinner. But then I started to understand what they were saying, and they had given me a quarter, which you could actually do something with a quarter back then, for each Bible verse I memorized. And they bought me a Bible and they took me to church and they helped me to go to Christian camp and all these things. Grandparents were influential, and then parents can be influential. So with those books we've given you, there are resources for the mothers, for the women, uh resources, uh topical verses. And then on RightNow Media, I think that if you put in moms or mothers for videos for resources and helps like that, I think there's like 30 of them or video series that you can get resources and training for, but to be a mother of influence, to do all you can to uh pursue godliness in your home, to be a model of living for Christ, to talk about Christ in your life and in your home, to share with your kids your faith experience and what Christ has done in your life, to bring your kids to church with you, to uh help monitor the uh media in your house. You know, it's great. Christian music is great. Uh, there's lots of great Christian things that you can watch together, to be encouraged together, to open up the door, to talk about faith, and to be a mother of influence. We too can be uh you know, fathers of influence, men of influence, women of influence, but to do all that we can to make it. Difference in people's lives. Again, I'm doing this on purpose. I'm trying to repeat myself over and over again, like those commercials on TV, because after you've seen the commercial, like the 50th time, you're like it's starting you start to think it's your own idea. So in this book, uh, this New Testament, How to Find God in the New Testament, on the back of your bulletin, I copied the page from page 152 that talks about how to make sure your children hear the gospel message. And it says, one, set aside time for family devotions, two, invite other believers to your home, three, bring your children to church with you, and four, pray for your children daily. So that's something that you find in this New Testament. We want you to take and to give away to help other people find Christ and to help other people grow in their Christian life. So to be a mother of influence, be a mother that instructs. My child, listen when your father corrects you and don't neglect your mother's instruction. To give clear instruction, to teach your children, even when they're young, to read the Bible to them, to help them. I'm delighted one of my granddaughters is in Bible quizzing right now. And Bible quizzing is huge. Bible quizzing is important. So there is on RightNow Media a video of this woman who wanted to go to camp. And she memorized 300 verses to go to camp. I'm not sure if I told you the story or not. I told my pastor friends about it, and I told one of the youth pastors that was going to the Christian Missionary Alliance youth pastor gathering to tell them about this woman who she memorized these 300 verses. She was a young child. She went to camp for a week, got homesick, didn't even get the full two-week camp experience. And then later in life, when she went through all these difficulties, this crisis in her life, it was the 300 verses that she had memorized that guided her and helped carry her through. And it is so important to guide and direct and to teach and to train and to listen. Do all that you can to be a mother that instructs. So if you were to go in 2 Timothy 2 chapters over to chapter 3, verse 14, Paul writes to Timothy, You must remain faithful to the things you've been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. Who taught you? Grandma Lois and Mother Eunice. And it was tough too because Timothy lived in a split home. So it appears his mother was a believer, but his dad, says he was a Greek, probably wasn't a believer. So uh was one of these mixed households where the mom's trying to proclaim faith and the dad's not very supportive of it. Yet he turned into this amazing man of God, Timothy did. You have been taught the holy scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true, to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong, and it teaches us to do what is right. Be a mother that instructs. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you've given us this time to worship you. Lord, I pray that you would encourage mothers. I pray that you would encourage us to be encouraging to mothers. I pray that we would see children as a great investment, as an opportunity to help mold young girls and boys into young men and women of God that will make a difference in the world. The future of our church, God, we pray that you would help us to value children and value parents and help parents and to be awesome grandparents. And if we are in those roles of either caring for kids that are in ours or uh a mother or a father or a grandparent, that we would actually learn how to do that better, that we would increase our skills, that we would make more of an effort to train our children up in the Lord. So, Lord, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.