Mothers

I recently shared a quote from Staci Eldredge’s book, “You Are Captivating – Celebrating a Mother’s Heart.” Here is some more encouragement from this same book:

Whether we work full-time outside of the home, full-time within the home, or some creative gymnastic combination of both, so much of our lives as women is lived in secret; hidden from the eyes of the world and the accolades of others. So much of it feels mundane. You don’t get an award for doing your 100,000th load of laundry. My family expects to eat dinner—every night! So much of what we do feels thankless, unappreciated, unseen. But God sees. And He esteems most what is done away from the eyes of others. He loves hidden, secret, small places. He does His best work there—in the home, in the womb, and in the heart.

Every choice you make to love, to serve, to offer, to sacrifice, God sees and is so very pleased. You are joining with Him in the amazing work of bringing forth life every time you say yes because it is the loving thing to do. When you say yes, even when you want to say no; when it would be so much easier to say no. Every single time we choose to put our children first, before our needs and our wants, before our dreams and our desires, before our rights and what we deserve, a little bit of our selfishness dies and a little more holiness takes root in our hearts. When you cry out to God in the midst of weariness and loneliness and sorrow for the strength to love, for the wisdom to discipline well, for the grace to respond with patience, for the help to soothe the ache in your heart, He deepens His presence in your soul and changes you ever more into the woman you desire to be, the woman you are becoming—the woman you were created to be.

Part of who you are, who you are becoming is found in the secret places of being a mother. Being a mother, as I expressed recently, brings both joy and sorrow. Our life as a mother brings new meaning to every aspect of our lives. May it be a celebration, no matter how wonderful or how painful your current journey as a mother may be.