Grace Filled Seasons

hello, friends!

we just celebrated Mothers Day and I was asked by the women’s ministry leader at our church to speak for it about two months ago, which was something I really did not want to do at first so close to our miscarriage, but I followed the call I felt God place on my heart – and I’m glad I did!

so, here is a copy to share with every woman, every where …….. because Godly motherhood encompasses every woman.

_________________________________________________________________

Hello, ladies – Happy Mothers Day! I’m glad that so many of us have gathered to celebrate and cherish motherhood in the many ways that this looks like for us all! 

When I was asked to speak for the brunch this year, to be completely honest with you my first thought was “yes”, and my second thought was “oh …..no”. 

I felt it was something God was urging me to do, but I also felt unsure how a mommy to someone in Heaven could speak about motherhood on earth. 

But as I wrestled with God over this, I realized that motherhood and what is stands for is not something I’m unfamiliar with at all.

Ultimately, I chose to speak today because sometimes what we’re called to do is hard, but I’ve learned myself and seen that it’s best to follow what God wants us to do regardless of how we feel. 

This holiday has always been difficult for me, and I know it has also been hard for others in this room as well. When I was growing up it was because while I knew who gave birth to me, I rarely experienced real mothering from her. 

Then it was because I waited and ached so many years to become a mother myself. 

And now it’s because this is my first Mothers Day of being a mama myself  … but my baby isn’t earthside with me. 

As I pushed back on speaking today in my mind, the biggest thing that kept popping up was “if not me, then who?”, because motherhood is very often put into this clean-cut box society has constructed, but in reality, it isn’t for many. 

As I look around today, I see motherhood in many forms – biological mothers, adoptive mothers, foster mothers. Mothers of adult children, grandmothers, grandmothers who are entrusted with the care of their grandchildren, mothers to stillborns, mothers of infant loss, mothers to babies who they never held in their arms or saw with their eyes but carried them in their wombs, mothers to older children who were called home to Heaven before them, and women who have mothered without ever having children of their own. Perhaps there are women in this room who are a mother to a baby they chose to abort in a past life, who still think about that child and what they could have become, who now grieve who they could have been, years later. 

If one of these doesn’t fit you yourself, it certainly does for many people you know in your life whether they have shared their story of motherhood with you or not. 

I feel I was called to speak today to say something that can resonate with all these types of mothers, because motherhood is all-encompassing and not just a picture-perfect Hallmark movie for everyone. 

The real world outside these doors is anything but that – it’s messy, pain filled, and definitely not a linear line. 

But, at the beginning of it all, God accounted for this! 

Here’s the thing about Biblical motherhood; it’s a universal, intrinsic gift given by God that is for all women everywhere. In fact, it’s even further than a gift – it’s an innate calling. 

God’s design for women was and is twofold; to partake in the Great Commission and to embrace the calling of mothering. 

What’s so special about this is that it’s for every woman of God, everywhere.

God knew all of our futures before we were even born and accounted for a sin-filled world where not every woman’s life would look the same as everyone else’s. He created womanhood to embrace motherhood no matter what their life looks like. 

No matter our circumstances, every woman on the planet was born with a maternal instinct for a reason – to glorify God and pursue Kingdom work with it by showing His love and teaching children and those younger than them to walk in His footsteps for the generations to come. 

How beautiful is that? 

Not every woman will be a biological mother or even get married, but every woman is commanded to follow the Great Commission and every woman can be a spiritual mother throughout their life. 

In Titus 1:9, God instructed “the older women to instruct the younger women” but no where does this have a definitive age in the Bible! It’s about every woman helping mother and guide those younger than herself. 

Spiritual motherhood is a call to every woman of God regardless if they are single, married, widowed, have ever had biological children, adopted children or are childless and barren. 

It is a universal call because it is the distinct way that women fulfill the Great Commission as commanded in Matthew 28:20.

Only women can pursue a life based on the Great Commission in a maternal manner – and I think if we all stopped to look around us while out and about, our hearts would see just how needed Godly motherhood and spiritual motherhood is in this world. 

What God created to be beautiful, though, of course sin has tarnished. 

As a young child and even a grown adult, I have experienced the love and guidance of a mother from a few key women in my life through the years more so than I ever did from my biological mother – the cycles of abuse from her own childhood bled into mine, so the gentle mothering I experienced came from women who did not give birth to me, nurse me, or see me everyday but were as much of a mother to me as if they did. 

It is their mothering, love and influence that I will carry on for my future children. 

I think this can resonate with many women and also points to a bittersweet truth; just because a woman gives birth does not make her a mother to the life she brought into this world. 

Giving birth is a biological act we can experience in this human form as women, but motherhood is something much deeper than this; it is the act of nurture, love, selflessness, care, and Discipleship. 

A mother is defined not by biology, but by responsibility and love. 

This broken world of sin has tarnished even the most intimate, beautiful things that God created but in His goodness, God uses women who will mold their lives after Him to be His hands and feet to the broken children of the world.

A beautiful example of this in my mind would be the missionary Amy Carmichael – a woman of God who never married or experienced biological motherhood, yet she was a mother to hundreds of orphaned children in India and adopted several herself. 

She is now known as “The Mother To The Motherless”. While she served mission work faithfully for around 55 years; she touched countless children’s lives and made an eternal impact. 

Other female missionaries who served as spiritual mothers throughout history include; Gladys Aylward, Lottie Moon, Mary Slessor, Lilias Trotter, and more. 

These women never married or gave birth themselves, but all were spiritual mothers to hundreds and most of them adopted several children during their lifetime. 

So a word to those in this room who never had children, got married or were called to singleness – do not let anyone tell you you can’t do the work of Christ in a maternal manner because of these things. 

Mother’s Day is just as much for you as anyone else in this room you see around you. 

Some of the greatest missionaries and Disciples in history, both male and female, never knew married life and never had biological children – but they served parental roles to whole generations. 

For those in this room that have given birth to life – you have a double weight on your shoulders; for you have been called to be a biological mother and to Spiritually mother throughout your life. 

We see in Psalms 127:3-5 that all children in this world are a gift. 

And we know what we are to do with gifts from God – we are to bring our best to the feet of Jesus and lay these things at His feet in surrender – this includes your children and was perhaps exemplified best by Hannah in 1st Samuel 1:11. 

Hannah vowed to give her child over to the Lord – and because of this act on behalf of the mother, the child (Samuel) became one of the most influential and pivotal leaders in the Old Testament! We have to ask ourselves how that story might have ended in the Bible differently (and the massive impact it could have had to the Faith) if Hannah had been selfish, acted on any fears she had, or simply chosen to not listen to God. 

A hard truth is this; our children are not ours – they are first and foremost Gods. 

And a mother walking in complete, abandoned obedience to Christ is the best thing you could ever do for your little ones and the children around you. 

It’s better than a household teeming with with wealth, the best education, or all the “physical” things we could buy in the world for them – because all those things are carnal, earthly things when we know God asks all those who Believe to simply let go of what is earthly and focus on that which is Holy and will last forever.

To all women here I’d also like to say and point you to consider the fact that even for those who do have children in their home already, are widowed or have been called to singleness to be in prayer for the around 400,000 children without a home today just in the USA alone.

Children who can see on their calendars that soon we will celebrate Mothers Day – but they don’t have one. 

Consider how, if you have the opportunity and will open your heart and home, you can help give the unwanted and broken children a place to call home. A home that will also point them to the Saviour of the world, a Saviour who can show them healing in their life like they never knew possible. 

I once read somewhere that adoption and fostering is perhaps the best physical representation on earth of what Jesus did for all of us, and I think it’s a beautiful mental picture.

We are called to be His hands and feet and have people in this church who could help you start that journey. There are women here in this room who have opened their homes to children besides their biological children and became a picture of this beautiful representation of Jesus. 

Please see myself or Mrs. Gail after the brunch if you’d like to get connected with them and we’ll be happy to help! 

This mothers day I also wanted to speak to the women in this room that have carried life but never got to meet them this side of Heaven. 

For those who may be visiting or not know much about my own journey to motherhood so far, I’m a mother to an angel in Heaven. 

We tried for 9 very long, difficult years, and our miracle baby came to be last September – but they never got to meet us this side of Heaven. 

My child’s first sight when they opened their little eyes was God on His throne, they breathed the air of Heaven, and it is all they will ever know. 

To other mamas who have experienced miscarriage in this room, I know there are several, I want to remind you that even in the immense pain, brokenness, and the after affects to yourself and your spouse – your baby (and mine) will never know the pain and suffering and sin of this world – and in a bittersweet way, I’ve come to be thankful for that. 

How beautiful to know they will only ever experience the peace of God’s presence eternally. 

My previous years of not being a mother opened my eyes to another world of women; I saw many types of motherhood and vividly saw the many different forms of mothering. 

Now that I’m older, I also understand that the world of motherhood can be messy on several ends – some mothers and children aren’t on speaking terms or have complicated relationships with their children that they wish were different. 

Some women would love nothing more than to have a closer relationship with their children, but have been shut out of their adult children’s lives. Or vice versa. 

For some, this can even affect the access to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

Motherhood can be messy and complicated, but I want to remind all the women in here today  that God sees the pain in your heart, and He cares. 

In whatever way pain has afflicted your own heart within motherhood, never forget you are the puzzle piece that can stop hurting the children in your life like you were hurt yourself. 

At the heart of Biblical motherhood, at least to me, it boils down to this one thing – the selfless act of bringing up the next generation of Disciples for Jesus Christ. 

Whether this be your biological children, adopted or fostered children, your grandchildren, or a younger person you are Spiritually mothering and mentoring – let it all be for His glory. 

Let it be with the aim of preparing the coming generations to fulfill the Great Commission. 

Let it be soft, gentle, and loving – because the world is hard and cold.  

Let it be filled with grace and layered with instruction, so that the world will see that young person is different. 

Treat it as sacred Kingdom work, because it is. 

Only us women of God can mother the next  generations who are to be the hands and feet of Jesus! And If we are not that ourselves, how can we expect them to be? 

Don’t let the world pull you away from this calling  – because the Enemy will do the best he can to distract you from this role in your life. 

Don’t sacrifice your children on the altar of your career. 

Don’t sacrifice them for the pursuit of money. 

Don’t sacrifice them trying to “give them better than you had”. 

The next generation needs our time, love, and Godly stewardship –  not given things that will eventually burn or they won’t even remember next year. 

I think if we look around we’ll see that this version of motherhood simply doesn’t work. 

If we look at the last few generations of women who sacrificed their children and the children around them on the altars of these things, we’ll see the brokenness and society it has played out to be. We see it all around us everyday.  

But here’s a truth that can be the turning point in all of this – we don’t have to continue that pattern!

We can create a better, Christ-centered  one. 

Every woman in this room, regardless of the details, can mother and point these souls to Christ. 

We can all help bring up the next generation of Disciples. 

We can all show them the maternal love that this world so desperately needs and is aching for. 

A woman of Christ who makes her life’s work preparing the next generation of Disciples so that they can share the Good News to their generation is the most important work we can do. 

It is not a life lived in vain. 

Each of us can fulfill that for someone – because mothering, in all the different forms, makes all the difference. 

Happy Mothers Day!

_________________________________________________________________

there is is, ya’ll – I hope this has helped someone out there, and I encourage you to share with any other women who you know might be helped by those words!

~ A