Title: Two Truths About Mothering
Date:
Two Truths About Mothering
Over the next two months guest contributor and Rockpointe Communications Director Laura Edghill steps in to examine the importance of moms.
For this month, we’re going to look at two truths about mothering from a mom’s perspective: God always makes us ready, and God always makes us enough.
God always makes us ready.
Starting with the obvious, none of us would exist without our moms. While scientific breakthroughs may abound, currently none provides a fully clinical substitute for the perfectly created womb of God’s design. Let’s begin by thanking the Lord for that!
We know that in that womb some serious vital growth takes place. By week five, before many women even realize they are pregnant, the baby’s heart already flickers with the most miniscule pulses, pumping life-giving fluid throughout the baby’s body. The ensuing weeks bring rapid developments all hurtling towards the ultimate eviction of this tiny tenant from his snug little space.
For me, the realization that I had suddenly become a mom came around week eight. My husband and I were newly married, and instead of jumping in after work to help him with all the projects our brand new home presented, I came home every day and flopped face-first on the couch. I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open!
I finally decided I’d better see a doctor and, well, what do you know? Bam. I had unexpectedly become a mom. Confession time: I had mixed feelings. We hadn’t exactly planned to start a family right away. Just keeping it real, here.
So we did what any mature (!) Christian married couple should do. I cried, my husband went into planner fixer mode, and we petulantly grieved the loss of all the fun we thought we were going to have as young marrieds without children. The next months were a blur of preparations – physical and spiritual. Yes, we needed a crib and changing table, but we also desperately needed the spiritual growth that would ready us for parenting.
Along the way I learned something really important. I had for all my Christ-following years naively assumed that God works things out in our lives in order. He makes us ready, then drops in a challenge. Makes sense, right?
When life surprises you out of the blue with a sesame-seed sized course changer, though, it begs the question…
What happened to the getting me ready part of things?
Never one to drop His end of the bargain, God took the next months to make us ready – to make me ready. I can honestly say that by the time I met my firstborn son, the Lord had faithfully prepared me for motherhood in every necessary way and then some (Hebrews 10:23). So whether or not you find yourself prepared and then expecting, or expecting and then prepared, you can trust that God will make you ready…
* * * * *
God always makes us enough.
Over the years I’ve had countless conversations with friends in which they question their ability to rise to certain mothering challenges. This one can’t breastfeed (that was actually me), another struggles to find patience for her strong-willed toddler, that one sadly confesses that divorce left her in a precarious shared parenting situation.
Insecure. Overwhelmed. Lacking confidence. Exasperated.
These feelings and more plague a mom’s heart to distraction. It so often seems like the enemy of our souls knows exactly where to pierce us. In the end, we feel less than and can become paralyzed in the face of important decisions like choosing what type of schooling to give our children, deciding at what age to address a persistent thumb-sucking issue, or if, how and when to introduce a cell phone. These are all tough calls to make!
When I was a young mom, still reeling from a whirlwind delivery experience that was not without some medical drama, a wise friend comforted me in a moment of raging self-doubt. I don’t remember her exact words, but she said something like…
Who made you your son’s mom? God did. Does He make mistakes? No, so what are you so worried about? You are enough and He will give you everything you need. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
I still tear up thinking about that kind and tender advice.
Now I generously dish out those same words to any mom in crisis God puts in my path. Maybe you’ve been on the receiving end of this? Or maybe you’ve learned to say it to yourself – I know I have. Out loud, even.
Once you’ve done that, organize your thoughts and seek out what you need. Maybe it’s the counsel of a more experienced mom you know. Maybe it’s knowledge about a particular issue. Maybe it’s quieting yourself and seeking the Lord’s guidance through prayer.
Whatever it is, remember, you’ve got this. You are enough…
Your partner in ministry,
Rockpointe Communications Director
