May 14, 2023
Happy Mother’s Day!! What a wonderful day to celebrate! I’ve been thinking a lot about Moms, Mothers, Mommys this past week. I’m so thankful we have a special day to celebrate the women in our lives. The first woman came out of man but every man came out of a woman, a mother, (and of course, other woman did too). I feel so blessed to be a woman and mom. There are the challenges that come with life no matter what gender we are but in Him we are overcomers, victorious and more than conquerors. Today I want to share some promises and wisdom from God’s Word to encourage all women, even if you are not a physical mom, but we all had a mom that gave us birth and life. For that we should all be thankful.
Being a woman or mom is difficult especially in the culture of today. Without Biblical guidance and wisdom there are no real definitions that describe a woman. We’ve seen people not even know how to define a woman. That sounds silly but if you don’t know the truth of God’s Word how would you really know anymore. When I was growing up a woman or mom was the keeper of the home. She was the nurturer, the comforter, the one who could kiss away the boo-boo. She did laundry, even knew what an iron was for😊, packed our lunches and cooked meals. She prayed for you at bedtime, prayed before you went to school, had a Bible beside her chair and you knew she was praying many more times a day. Now with time a woman or mom has changed to some point. I think most women have nurturing tendencies in one area or another. Women now have careers and work hard outside the home as well as in keeping a home. If we looked deep inside, we usually know the truth about who God created us to be, but then the world, men and others try to tell us different. Motherhood is the same. Deep down a mommy usually has a God-given instinct that helps her know what is best for her child, because she hears it from Him, but then again, the world and others get involved and make the role of a woman and mom look so insignificant and ever changing. The woman God created that came out of man is not ever changing and invaluable. Times change but our identity as a woman built and put together by God does not change. He knew what He was doing and created a beautiful creation.
Some like myself, grew up with a wonderful, God loving Mom. Some didn’t and just like those who didn’t have a great father influence we must learn to move past that and only see our identity in our Creator. We can not base who we are today by our past. There are situations, hurts and abuses that we could blame our identity on or judge that parent who wasn’t all we needed or what God had meant for us to have. However, our faithful Father has already taken care of our every need and given us every thing we need for a glorious life in Him. We all have something we could blame on someone from our past but we have no right to hold on to that because Jesus went to the cross and died for it already. He knew there would be hurts and abuses so He took it upon Himself to rid those situations once and for all. If we know Him then He lives in us and we are in Him. There is no room for hurts, offenses and judgements. Now, we can find a way to work the hurts into our hearts and push His ways aside. We all find ourselves doing that once in a while. It’s not that we push Him aside with our attitudes but it is when we believe the lies and keep Him away that destroys our lives. We will have the thoughts but we must always take that thought captive and just focus on Him. Not sure why I wrote all that, but I believe it was for someone.
Our children usually come into our lives as tiny, helpless babies. We give our all to take care of them until they can do a little on their own. As toddlers they are still pretty dependent on us but as they grow, they become more independent. For myself, one the greatest challenges of motherhood was knowing when to let go. One day I realized that these little ones were just like every other person that has ever lived, they were created by Him and were His. God created each of us in our mother’s wombs. We were not accidents according to His plan. “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” Psalm 139:13-14
His workmanship is marvelous! Now comes the hard part, each child is created by Him. We must give our children back to Him and let Him guide us as we train and love them. The only Book that gives you the complete instructions on motherhood from conception throughout their whole lives is God’s Word. Other books have some information, some from God’s plan and so much from man’s ideas apart from God. We think we know life better than the Maker. Look at our world. Man has taken into his own hands the process of raising up a child that was made in the image of God and made, built by God. How do we think we can take someone else’s creation and have success with doing with it what we want? That never works.
At the same time that this child is being knit together inside a woman, He is creating a mother. Those little ones that live next to a mother’s heart will always be on a mother’s heart no matter their age. I don’t see my 5 children as others see them, I see them created by God inside me and always a part of me. A mother’s heart knows when her children are hurting without hearing a word. She knows when they are struggling when she hasn’t seen them maybe for years. Like God, He created us and always knows our hearts even when we don’t acknowledge Him. The desire of a mother longs to protect, nurture, guide, sometimes control their child. These are all great things in the natural but we soon find out that we can’t do it in ourselves. It doesn’t work with our own agendas and desires. The only way to influence and guide a child is through the instruction manual given by the Creator. It is not easy. It hurts our hearts to see what our children are doing and what they are thinking. Young moms with toddlers do not believe me when I say that this is one of the easiest times of motherhood. This is the time you are still training them up and have more say so in their lives. As they grow, we pray that what we have instilled in them they will heed. Then someday they are adults and on their own. A mom’s heart is still just as close as ever and it is so hard to watch them make mistakes, hopefully learn from their mistakes, and always with a heart of prayer you are believing they will give and trust their lives to Jesus.
If we are not staying close to our Savior, we will let fear get in our hearts and fear leads to nothing good or God. That fear we have for our child will cause us to do things that push them away. The cure for fear is faith. Motherhood is a walk of faith like nothing else we do. The greatest way to know your child and what your child needs is for you, as a mother, to know – in an intimate way – the love and ways of our Lord. We can never know His will when our will is most important to us. That happens a lot when it comes to raising and influencing our children. As our children grow, we must have a hands-off approach. We must be willing for things to be out of our control and in His hands. As long as we are holding on too tight, our children cannot not hold on to Him. We must submit our will, our plans, our attitudes, and need for things to be as we want them to Him and then trust Him. We must be able to let go and say, “Take over, Lord, I can do nothing without You!” “Everyone who knows Your wonderful name keeps putting their trust in You. They can count on You for help no matter what. O Lord, You will never, no never, neglect those who come to You.” Psalm 9:10
What have I learned from the last 49 years of mothering? I have learned that I cannot love anyone without Him, Who is love. I cannot not take credit for the love I have for my children, it’s His love that He has given me and I steward that love with tender care and great thankfulness. I have given myself to a lifetime of knowing Him. ”For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection which it exerts over believers.” Philippians 3:10 The greatest thing any woman can do is take time for the Lord, to give her all to Him and not her family. When He has your all, He is your all and it will work out for all. “For all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
No matter where you are today in your walk of motherhood know He cares for you more than anything you can imagine. Many will have a difficult Mother’s Day. He knows your hurts, your losses, your griefs, your sorrows. Trust Him with all your heart. Don’t lean on your own understanding. It’s His love in you that will bring comfort. He knows your heart because He created you and cares. They can count on You for help no matter what. All women need to pray for one another. I say blessings and love to all you women on this special day. What a joy to be a woman! “For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your[ own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” Acts 17:28
Happy Mother’s Day!! What a wonderful day to celebrate! I’ve been thinking a lot about Moms, Mothers, Mommys this past week. I’m so thankful we have a special day to celebrate the women in our lives. The first woman came out of man but every man came out of a woman, a mother, (and of course, other woman did too). I feel so blessed to be a woman and mom. There are the challenges that come with life no matter what gender we are but in Him we are overcomers, victorious and more than conquerors. Today I want to share some promises and wisdom from God’s Word to encourage all women, even if you are not a physical mom, but we all had a mom that gave us birth and life. For that we should all be thankful.
Being a woman or mom is difficult especially in the culture of today. Without Biblical guidance and wisdom there are no real definitions that describe a woman. We’ve seen people not even know how to define a woman. That sounds silly but if you don’t know the truth of God’s Word how would you really know anymore. When I was growing up a woman or mom was the keeper of the home. She was the nurturer, the comforter, the one who could kiss away the boo-boo. She did laundry, even knew what an iron was for😊, packed our lunches and cooked meals. She prayed for you at bedtime, prayed before you went to school, had a Bible beside her chair and you knew she was praying many more times a day. Now with time a woman or mom has changed to some point. I think most women have nurturing tendencies in one area or another. Women now have careers and work hard outside the home as well as in keeping a home. If we looked deep inside, we usually know the truth about who God created us to be, but then the world, men and others try to tell us different. Motherhood is the same. Deep down a mommy usually has a God-given instinct that helps her know what is best for her child, because she hears it from Him, but then again, the world and others get involved and make the role of a woman and mom look so insignificant and ever changing. The woman God created that came out of man is not ever changing and invaluable. Times change but our identity as a woman built and put together by God does not change. He knew what He was doing and created a beautiful creation.
Some like myself, grew up with a wonderful, God loving Mom. Some didn’t and just like those who didn’t have a great father influence we must learn to move past that and only see our identity in our Creator. We can not base who we are today by our past. There are situations, hurts and abuses that we could blame our identity on or judge that parent who wasn’t all we needed or what God had meant for us to have. However, our faithful Father has already taken care of our every need and given us every thing we need for a glorious life in Him. We all have something we could blame on someone from our past but we have no right to hold on to that because Jesus went to the cross and died for it already. He knew there would be hurts and abuses so He took it upon Himself to rid those situations once and for all. If we know Him then He lives in us and we are in Him. There is no room for hurts, offenses and judgements. Now, we can find a way to work the hurts into our hearts and push His ways aside. We all find ourselves doing that once in a while. It’s not that we push Him aside with our attitudes but it is when we believe the lies and keep Him away that destroys our lives. We will have the thoughts but we must always take that thought captive and just focus on Him. Not sure why I wrote all that, but I believe it was for someone.
Our children usually come into our lives as tiny, helpless babies. We give our all to take care of them until they can do a little on their own. As toddlers they are still pretty dependent on us but as they grow, they become more independent. For myself, one the greatest challenges of motherhood was knowing when to let go. One day I realized that these little ones were just like every other person that has ever lived, they were created by Him and were His. God created each of us in our mother’s wombs. We were not accidents according to His plan. “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” Psalm 139:13-14
His workmanship is marvelous! Now comes the hard part, each child is created by Him. We must give our children back to Him and let Him guide us as we train and love them. The only Book that gives you the complete instructions on motherhood from conception throughout their whole lives is God’s Word. Other books have some information, some from God’s plan and so much from man’s ideas apart from God. We think we know life better than the Maker. Look at our world. Man has taken into his own hands the process of raising up a child that was made in the image of God and made, built by God. How do we think we can take someone else’s creation and have success with doing with it what we want? That never works.
At the same time that this child is being knit together inside a woman, He is creating a mother. Those little ones that live next to a mother’s heart will always be on a mother’s heart no matter their age. I don’t see my 5 children as others see them, I see them created by God inside me and always a part of me. A mother’s heart knows when her children are hurting without hearing a word. She knows when they are struggling when she hasn’t seen them maybe for years. Like God, He created us and always knows our hearts even when we don’t acknowledge Him. The desire of a mother longs to protect, nurture, guide, sometimes control their child. These are all great things in the natural but we soon find out that we can’t do it in ourselves. It doesn’t work with our own agendas and desires. The only way to influence and guide a child is through the instruction manual given by the Creator. It is not easy. It hurts our hearts to see what our children are doing and what they are thinking. Young moms with toddlers do not believe me when I say that this is one of the easiest times of motherhood. This is the time you are still training them up and have more say so in their lives. As they grow, we pray that what we have instilled in them they will heed. Then someday they are adults and on their own. A mom’s heart is still just as close as ever and it is so hard to watch them make mistakes, hopefully learn from their mistakes, and always with a heart of prayer you are believing they will give and trust their lives to Jesus.
If we are not staying close to our Savior, we will let fear get in our hearts and fear leads to nothing good or God. That fear we have for our child will cause us to do things that push them away. The cure for fear is faith. Motherhood is a walk of faith like nothing else we do. The greatest way to know your child and what your child needs is for you, as a mother, to know – in an intimate way – the love and ways of our Lord. We can never know His will when our will is most important to us. That happens a lot when it comes to raising and influencing our children. As our children grow, we must have a hands-off approach. We must be willing for things to be out of our control and in His hands. As long as we are holding on too tight, our children cannot not hold on to Him. We must submit our will, our plans, our attitudes, and need for things to be as we want them to Him and then trust Him. We must be able to let go and say, “Take over, Lord, I can do nothing without You!” “Everyone who knows Your wonderful name keeps putting their trust in You. They can count on You for help no matter what. O Lord, You will never, no never, neglect those who come to You.” Psalm 9:10
What have I learned from the last 49 years of mothering? I have learned that I cannot love anyone without Him, Who is love. I cannot not take credit for the love I have for my children, it’s His love that He has given me and I steward that love with tender care and great thankfulness. I have given myself to a lifetime of knowing Him. ”For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection which it exerts over believers.” Philippians 3:10 The greatest thing any woman can do is take time for the Lord, to give her all to Him and not her family. When He has your all, He is your all and it will work out for all. “For all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
No matter where you are today in your walk of motherhood know He cares for you more than anything you can imagine. Many will have a difficult Mother’s Day. He knows your hurts, your losses, your griefs, your sorrows. Trust Him with all your heart. Don’t lean on your own understanding. It’s His love in you that will bring comfort. He knows your heart because He created you and cares. They can count on You for help no matter what. All women need to pray for one another. I say blessings and love to all you women on this special day. What a joy to be a woman! “For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your[ own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” Acts 17:28
