Mother's Day is a complicated and beautiful day.
Beautiful if you only hold perfect, unbroken memories and stories.
Complicated because all of us are touched by motherhood in different ways.
Even if we had the most wonderful, loving relationship with our mothers, all of us cannot bypass the soulful journey of motherhood.
Because we all were created as Eve, givers of life, we must each take the journey to find our voice as a mother. Because each of us is still a little girl inside, we must each find our way. There are many stories I want to tell you.
But first, let me offer something sweet. Something soothing for your soul. To refresh you in the coming days leading up to Mother's Day.
I hope you enjoy and share them with friends who need a shot of rest.
I'm serving up 7 Soul Espressos: Restful Promises For Every Woman on Mother's Day.
1. For the mom who needs to know she isn't on her own:
"He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." Isaiah 40:11
You are always God's Beloved. Especially on days you feel empty and poured out.
2. For the woman who longs for the comfort of a mom:
"As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you." Isaiah 66:13
Fold yourself into Him. God will hold you and stay with you. Confide in Him.
3. For the woman who has left home or family to follow God's story in her:
"I tell you the truth,"Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields-- and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." Mark 10:29-30
Sometimes we have to let go of our idea of family in order to become a part of a God's kind of family.
4. For the woman whose heart longs for a voice to call her mommy:
"He makes the barren in the house as a joyful mother of children."Psalm 113:9
God made you to be life-giving. He honors your pain. He will make something beautiful birth in you and bring life to others through you.
5. For the single mom, who is carrying the fears and emotional weight of parenting alone:
When Hagar was abandoned by Abraham and sent away to fend for herself all alone in the wilderness with Ishmael, she cried out to God. God "opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave [her son] drink" Genesis 21:19
God feels the fear in your heart when you feel overwhelmed by the need to emotionally and financially take care of you and your child and will come to your aid. He sees you. He will not abandon you. He will take care of you both.
6. For the mom whose child has passed away or whose mother has passed away.
"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4
God will carry us and will hold us as a father comforts and carries his daughter and son.
7. For moms of all ages, who are letting go day by day -- to launch their children into the world -- whether they are five going to kindergarten, eighteen off to college in high school, twenty-eight to be married, thirty-forty-something starting their own families or fulfilling their lives in singleness.
"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord... Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the [woman] whose quiver is full of them. They will not be ashamed." Psalm 127:3-5
Our children don't belong to us. They are a gift. That we open and offer back to the world by launching them, as arrows meant to fly and sing through the air, to go where God directs them to go.
May these seven promises prompt some stories to rise within you. And may you share them with God in soulful conversation, with friends to confide in and keep you company during the day or night.
I hope to meet with you between the pages of the stories I share in each chapter. There are journaling prompts for you to uncover your stories -- to create space in your life to rest and feed your soul. You will also find discussion questions to share your stories together with one or two kindreds. Or a small group.
Together, let's uncover the stories deep in our souls, to create space in our hearts and in our schedules.
So we can connect deeper to our hearts. To God. And each other.
Have you had a chance to see my story in this short video? (click here). Sitting at Starbuck's yesterday, before picking up Josh and Caleb from school, I struck a conversation with another mom. I showed her this short video. She began to share her story and a total stranger became a fellow sojourner. I asked if she had a faith, but she said she wasn't religious. I smiled because I knew God was meeting with her through me, as I listened to her story.
If you're feeling a desire to rest and refresh in your relationship with God and your heart, order a copy of my memoir-driven guidebook Finding Spiritual Whitespace: Awakening Your Soul To Rest .
This book is for anyone longing to create space in life to draw closer to God, to rest and discover who they can be when rest becomes their heart's home.
Take your own journey — make room for you. For God. For rest.
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What are the soulful promises of rest for you?
Pull up a chair. Comment below.
Share scriptures that encourage you about motherhood.
Editor's note: This article orginially appeared on Bonnie's blog- check out more there!
