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Have you ever considered what it looks like to be faithful as a mom? None of us are moms by accident. Being a mom is always a God-given assignment. Whether you became a mom by giving birth, adoption, or marriage, your kids are an assignment from the Lord, and an opportunity for you to serve Him faithfully right where you are.
So few people today see motherhood as the high calling it’s designed to be. Even if we love our children with all our hearts, we often see raising them as one of the many responsibilities we have to juggle. But I believe motherhood was designed to be an exciting and rewarding calling where we are building and strengthening God’s Kingdom one little heart at a time.
Seeing the big picture and knowing that the exhausting work of motherhood is not just a life choice but an assignment from our Father helps us find the vision and purpose we need for the hard work of loving, correcting, training, and protecting our children, while all the time pointing them to Jesus.
Examples help me so much and when it comes to motherhood I love the example of Mary, Jesus’ mom. Have you ever thought about what made her a good mom, the kind of mom God Himself would handpick for His own Son?
Mary was minding her own business, planning her future, loving and serving God in her small, tight-knit community when one day an angel appears.
Mary was frightened and wasn’t sure what all this meant.
But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33)
Of course, she had questions. How can this be? I’ve never been with a man. And the angel let her know this would be a miracle, the work of the Holy Spirit who makes the impossible possible.
That was all the explaining she needed. What she said next shows us the kind of faith Mary had, and gives us insight into the kind of person God trusts with such an important assignment.
“Be it unto me according to your word,” she said.
She humbly submitted to the will of God and His plan for her life.
Let’s have a heart like Mary, a heart that gives itself completely to the plan of God, even when his plan contradicts all the plans we’ve made, even when we don’t know all the answers.
Motherhood is hard. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had or could ever imagine having. It draws from us and drains us emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. It’s very taxing. But it’s also very rewarding.
By accepting God’s assignment, Mary was accepting a very difficult life. She didn’t choose the easy path, but the road of obedience.
Imagine the scrutiny and shame Mary had to endure. No one would believe this child had come from God. No one would believe she had been faithful. Even Joseph didn’t believe her. God sent an angel to Joseph to assure him this was God’s plan. But no one else, family, friends, the community, heard from an angel assuring them Mary had been faithful to Joseph and God. She had to trust God with her.
While almost at full term she traveled a great distance on the back of a donkey only to deliver her precious one in a dirty, smelly stable. I know we celebrate the nativity at Christmas, but it was far from glorious. It was hard, painful, and messy. If your life feels hard, painful, or messy right now, be encouraged. God hasn’t left you. He’s right there with you in the middle of your mess.
When he was just a few days old, they took Jesus to the temple where a prophet named Simeon recognized Him as the Lord’s Messiah. He saw Jesus and joyfully declared him to be the one sent by God, but he also warned Mary, “a sword will pierce your own soul.” Little did she know how much would be asked of her.
Mary and Joseph were chased by powerful men bent on destroying their son. They fled to Egypt in the middle of the night, no time to plan. They lived as foreigners in a foreign land, no support system.
Jesus did and said things that were a mystery to his mom, like when they found him in the temple after days of searching for him. No apology, only “Didn’t you know I was about my Father’s business?” She pondered these things in her heart.
No one understood Mary’s calling, the assignment God had entrusted her with. I’m sure she had some very lonely times, times when her heart was breaking.
Did she think she had failed when she saw Him on that cross? Did she wonder if somewhere, somehow she had missed it? Did she still believe, still trust God, or did her faith waiver? I wish I could ask her.
She did her best. She relied on God. She obeyed as well as she knew how. That’s all God is asking of you and me. He takes care of the rest. He is just looking for someone who will believe, someone who will be faithful. When we do our part, the part of showing up and being faithful, He does His part, he does the miracles.
Mary is a great example for us. We too have an assignment from God to raise our children for Him. Yes, there is a vast difference between our children and her child. Our children, like us, are not perfect. But, just the same, they are gifts from Heaven entrusted into our care. He’s asking us to raise them for Him: to love them, teach them, and protect them. Being a mom is hard work. It tests our faith, our patience, our character. It can be lonely. Sometimes it feels like He left somewhere along the way. When things don’t turn out the way we thought they should, we wonder if we failed. Is there still hope when everything feels like a big mess? Is this still part of the plan or did I miss God somewhere?
I’ve had moms ask me if they messed up somewhere along the way because their children aren’t serving the Lord. They’ve asked me some tough questions. And I don’t know all the answers.
What I do know is we live in a world that’s hostile toward the things of God. And we have a very real enemy who wants to destroy our children. We also have a Heavenly Father who loves our children more than we do. He said the fervent prayers of a righteous man and woman are powerful and effective (James 5:16). And he tells us to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). No one can pray for your child the way you can. Bring your child to the throne of grace in prayer. God hears your prayers. Press into Him. Pour out your heart before Him. There is always hope in Jesus.
And when you feel defeated, when you think you’ve completely failed as a mom, when you think you must be doing something wrong because this is just too hard, remember Mary. Remember her humble submission, the difficult road she had to walk, the unanswered questions, the judgment of others, and the sword that pierced her heart.
Mary was faithful in her assignment and we can be too.
© Audrey McCracken, 2023
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