“Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” Proverbs 31:31
While I know we don’t want our kids to spend their money on us, let them! Though we’d lay down our lives for our children and never ask for a thank you, I encourage you to receive those precious words. Bring on all the handcrafted creations, personal shopping choices, dinner plans, flowers … all the tokens of gratitude and appreciation big or small! Let’s face it, mothers get one day a year. Let’s make the most of it!
For the first time in my 50+ years, I will not be able to say Happy Mother’s Day to my mom. I’ll be a little transparent here and share that a majority of the Happy Mother’s Day wishes were done in obedience. In my early years, my relationship with my mom was difficult and complicated. But we learn something new about God through every painful life experience.
I learned God is patient and kind, because it took me many years to come to a place of forgiveness. The transformation was messy and difficult, but it resulted in a hard-earned, beautiful breakthrough of freedom I didn’t know was possible. Moving from, “God, You know what she did to me,” to “Mom, I love you,” represented a level of freedom I couldn’t have achieved in my own strength.
All who are missing our moms today, do what I’ll do. I’ll look upward and imagine I can see her in the cloud of witnesses and, from my heart, wish her a genuine Happy Mother’s Day.
Women!–one human half of the only method God created to fulfill His command to multiply on the earth. God chose women and gave them the unique privilege—in the creation process—to conceive, carry, and birth history’s next generation.
When you’re in the trenches being a mom day in and day out, you don’t really think about the weight of this role. We are responsible for shaping the mind and heart of another human being. If that’s not enough pressure, we are the first example to our children of who God is. Our children will form their opinion of who God is by the way we model relationship. Is He loving, kind, and patient or is He hard, legalistic, and in fear of the world around Him?
If we’re honest moms, we’ll admit that even when we’re succeeding at one aspect of our lives, something else is suffering. We worry daily … are we doing enough, doing the right thing, and making the best decisions? We feel like we’re missing more targets than hitting the coveted bullseye. Even on good days we second guess ourselves. We become proficient at giving ourselves emotional and/or verbal beatings.
Our God is the God of all creation and defines life at conception. So, I want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to every woman who has ever conceived a child. Every baby, without exception, was intimately and lovingly formed by the Creator’s hands and heart.
The diversity of motherhood is as unique as the individual woman. There’s enough love to go around for each type of mom.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms who make it look effortless and are knocking it out of the park on a regular basis.
Happy Mother’s Day to the moms whose children rise up and call her blessed!
Happy Mother’s Day to the moms who fearlessly juggle things, keeping most of the plates in the air (but occasionally one or two crash to the ground!)
Happy Mother’s Day to the sweet moms who desperately want help but are afraid to ask for what they need, fearing they will be judged.
The God of the Holy Bible is the God of relationship so I want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to every woman who has adopted a child or who has made the choice to take a child into their hearts and love them as their own! Even if it’s not working out exactly how you had envisioned, you show up every day and give it your best. My wish for you is that you are able to grasp the beauty of your choice, because it gives a physical shape to what Christ has done for us on the cross. We are all orphans until His loving kindness wins us over.
This is a day intended for joy and celebration, but I would not be honest if I didn’t reflect the grace and mercy God has for all moms.
Not all mothers will get to hear “Happy Mother’s Day.” Still, for others, the word heartache is more appropriate than happy. We live in a broken world and sometimes that brokenness invades our family and robs us of the most precious relationships—in this case, relationship with our children. I want you to know that God sees you. He knows your voice and the cry of your heart. He has the power and authority to cover all our shortcomings and bind up any regrets should there be any.
A heartfelt Happy Mother’s Day to the mom with a disabled child, whether disable at birth, from a developing diagnosis or a tragic accident. While you’ll embrace your child no matter the challenge, this is a journey that does not seem to have an end in sight.
No matter the number of doctor appointments, daily ritual challenges, equipment, medicines, medical/staff changes, etc., you remain steadfast, only breaking down when it’s convenient and preferring that no one see you. Even as you hold up under the weight, never forget you weren’t called to carry it on your own. God has not forgotten you, sweet momma. May you find comfort in knowing your relentless compassion and advocacy is a beautiful representation of God’s sacrificial, fierce, unrelenting love … no matter what.
A gentle Mother’s Day wish to these moms:
The mom who cannot remember the last time her child spoke to her—or maybe they did speak, but it didn’t end well.
The mom who has no idea where her child is—or maybe she does know and it’s heartbreaking.
The mom whose heart is battered and weak as she helplessly watches her child struggle with an addiction, or feeling guilty that she’s happy when they’re in jail, because at least she knows where they are.
The momma who is left with the ravaging after shock and results from crimes against her child such as sexual abuse. Beating yourself up on why you didn’t see it, where was your courage, how could you have fallen for that. As my grandbabies grow, I pray I will never know what it is to go through that level of devastation.
For these precious mommas, I want to say that God sees that baby you brought home from the hospital, the one with the kind heart, innocent face and precious voice who called out to you, “Momma.” The one whose booboos you kissed and nursed through various illnesses. The one that you said night time prayers with, showing them how to bow their head and fold their hands—it was not supposed to be this way.
No one knows that better than God. He is the One who formed their inward parts and covered them in your womb. My wish beautiful momma is that you never stop praying for a miracle. When your heart is wondering when things are going to change, remind yourself that God is completely invested in your child. After all, He invested every drop of His Child’s blood on the cross. And it’s a blood that is still as rich, red and thick today as it was on Calvary. It covers over their brokenness and failures until our children are whole and restored and where God is calling them to be.
Because the God of the Holy Bible is first and foremost a Father, He knows perfectly the sacrifice that has been asked of these delicate mommas. I offer a fragile Mother’s Day wish to the woman who is living a mother’s worst nightmare. She would give anything to hear the voice of her child or look into their eyes even one more time.
Be it during pregnancy, the first three days, six months, twenty years, fifty years, ninety-nine years … it’s never enough time. It’s unnatural that our children leave this world before we do. The would-haves, should-haves, and could-haves are surely among Satan’s cruelest efforts to separate us from God’s love. My wish for you, precious momma, is that you would drape yourself across the One who did not lift His hand to stop the death of His One and only Son in order to make sure that you, too, will be reunited with your beloved baby.
I want to pause and acknowledge the women who long to fill their arms with infants of their own. Society often makes a direct connection with being able to have children and God’s blessing, but nowhere in scripture did God ever condemn a woman for infertility. Yes, the Word does say children are a blessing from the Lord, but nowhere does it say women are cursed if we don’t have children. With or without children, your life and the legacy you craft with the Lord has immense value on the Kingdom calendar. My wish for you is that, when the pain is especially raw, you would choose to trust the Father’s heart for you.
A grateful Mother’s Day wish to the moms who wanted to give their children the best possible future and entrusted them to another family through adoption. You have given this baby the opportunity to create memories even though you may be filled with nightmares. Every momma bear agrees that we would lay down our lives in an instant for our babies, but you, my sweet momma, have put action to those words. My wish for you is that you would embrace the weight of God’s love because your sacrifice has not escaped His eye nor the heart.
Lastly, I would be doing the blood of Jesus a disservice if I didn’t include these precious women (and I’m not trying to be sarcastic or cruel). I feel compelled to say this because the love of God is the most powerful weapon against the things that want to shame us and keep us feeling unqualified for His love. I include this momma because God’s love for her is as consuming as it is for all moms. I have a heartfelt Mother’s Day wish for the women who, with fear and trembling, felt abortion was the only option.
We can never surprise God with our choices. He knows the decisions we will make, and He knows the backstory on why we made those choices. That’s why He’s already put things in place to mend our broken hearts and draw us back to Him.
Guilt and shame lead to condemnation, and where do you take condemnation? There is nowhere to go with it because Satan is the father of condemnation. He’ll make sure you bear the full weight of your choice. Alone.
But God … because of His great love, if we turn our faces toward Him, He will step in and gently convict us by His presence. The beauty of His conviction is that we have somewhere to go with it. We can take our guilt and shame to Him and lay it at His feet. He absorbs it all—never to use it against us. Ever.
In exchange for our guilt and shame, He pours out His vast, immeasurable love. We’re able to do more than simply lift our heads under the weight of our choices. He embraces our past and redefines our future. Let Him love you back to wholeness. My wish for you is that you accept the unconditional sacrifice of the cross. It is at the cross where God’s Son paved the way for you to enter into eternity. When you do, you can count on the faithfulness of God even when we’re not because He’ll be waiting to lovingly introduce you to a baby you have yet to meet.
Mommas of every walk, ethnicity, culture, and social status, God sees you and, because He is a Father, He knows exactly what your challenges are. He has solutions He wants to share. He knows your struggle and hears the cry of your heart. Allow Him to saturate you with His grace, mercy, and love. Invite Him to download His wisdom, revelation, and truth, so you’ll be empowered for the days ahead.
My wish for every mother is this:
May you always be enough and yet never enough. What I mean by that is, God has called you to be a mom therefore He is ready to qualify you. Yet, may you realize your limitations, so that you’ll partner with Him to discover problem-solving skills and creative ways to parent. Draw close to His heart; learn His wisdom and immense love for you and your child(ren).
Most of all, I wish for you to pause and take stock of what Christ has done. His past will change our future.
NOW LIVE LOVED and THRIVE!
Self-Reflection
These questions are in no way a substitute for healthcare professionals or any level of professional counseling. I’m an advocate for taking care of oneself mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. These questions reflect my heart, NOT my profession.
This questionnaire is an opportunity to journal your thoughts and feelings. It can serve as a launching pad on which to evaluate your heart condition as you understand it. My hope is that you will take the truths you discover about yourself and hold them up to the Light to evaluate them against who God says you are.
If you’re a mother:
- Define Mom:
- From your perspective, what has your experience been like as a mother?
- Is it as rewarding as you thought? Explain.
- What is/was your biggest challenge?
- What type/form of thank you means the most to you?
- What do you think is the most important quality of a mother?
- How do you want your child(ren) to think of you?
- Are you able to view yourself through the lens of being God’s daughter? If not, what’s stopping you? If yes, explain the way you identify as being His daughter.
- Define regret:
- Do you have any regrets? If so, what are?
- Do any of your regrets rob you of anything? If so, in what way do they rob you?
- How can you turn your regrets into learning opportunities and put the pain of regret at the foot of Jesus’ cross?
If you’re a daughter:
- Define Mom:
- What has your relationship been like with your mother?
- Is there anything you’d change?
- In what way(s) do you want to be like her?
- Is there anything you need to extend grace to her for? If so, what?
- In what way will you extend grace?
- What do you imagine to be the biggest challenge for a mom?
- Do you think there are perfect moms? Explain.
- Do you have any regrets with regard to the way you do relationship with your mom?
- What is your greatest joy as a daughter to your unique, individual mom?
Take Action
Use God’s word to take control over the traumas in your life. Whenever you feel terrorized by your thoughts take them captive by replacing them with the truth of God’s promises in His word.
Here is a scripture for you to print, cut and carry with you and/or post in places where you will see it often. Ground yourself in God’s truths not Satan’s attacks. Encourage your heart and mind every time you are reminded of His great love for YOU!
“Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” Proverbs 31:31
When you read God’s word say to yourself: The work of a mother’s hands are a beautiful contribution to her family and the community. Speak to the people around you telling them how grateful you are that you have a mother.
