Mom believed God planned each person on purpose, and no one is a surprise to Him, even if they were unexpected, conceived outside of marriage, or through a horrific event.
Growing up, my mom told me stories about my birth and introduction into the world that caused me to feel loved and wanted by her. She would tell me over and over again how happy she and my dad were when I was born and they discovered God had given them a new baby girl.
Like Psalm 127:3 explains, children are a gift from God, a reward from Him, and she made sure to tell me how grateful they were to Him for the gift of me.
She taught me that life is from God and that He is the Giver of all life. In Acts 17:25, Jesus’ disciple, Luke, also a physician, backs up her words, explaining how God Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
My heart is deeply grateful to God for the lovely things my mom taught me concerning motherhood, including her joy of being a mother and the great God-given privilege women have to carry, birth, and nurture babies.
Below are ten things my sweet Mom taught me about motherhood:
1. Babies Are Worth the Cost
Mom would tell me over and over again how happy she and my dad were to have a baby girl. Even though they struggled financially when I was born, she didn’t ever imply that I was the cause or had anything to do with their struggle.
Rather, she told me how my dad worked extra jobs to provide for our growing family. She shared stories of ways we found to enjoy life despite shortages.
2. Babies Are Always on Time
I was raised to believe that God’s timing of babies is always the right time, even if people feel differently. My mom often mentioned how sad she felt that one of my aunts and uncles told their one daughter she was a mistake.
Mom wanted me to know it wasn’t true, that my cousin wasn’t a mistake. It was important to her that I knew even if her parents hadn’t planned for her, God had her in His plan, and she was born at just the right time.
3. Babies Don’t Hold Women Back
My mom was a stay-at-home mother for some of my growing up, but mostly I remember her working outside the home. She had a variety of colorful, interesting jobs and opportunities that often benefited her and us.
Although she missed being with us while at work, she didn’t ever give the impression that motherhood held her back in any way from experiencing opportunities and growth in her life.
4. Babies Are Worth a Mother’s Time and Efforts
My mom expressed how important a mother’s influence is in the life of her children. She told me stories and passed on books of how mothers had impacted their children’s lives in an amazing way, such as the story of Dr. Ben Carson, whose mother’s influence and efforts led him to do great things in his life and the lives of others.
Proverbs 22:6 encourages mothers who teach their children that their time is well spent, even if their kids might stray at times in life: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”
Mom often expressed the value of motherhood, and how God entrusts parents to teach their children about Him, which she did. She made God real to me in ways too many to mention. Mom taught me about Him through her words and her lifestyle.
As Proverbs 31:28 describes, a mother’s time and efforts are worth the cost, as “Her children arise and call her blessed: her husband also, and he praises her!”
5. Babies Enrich Our Lives
Mom had a way of making me feel I added to her life, not drained or robbed her youth or strength from her. She caused me to believe her life was made stronger and richer because God gave her me.
Childbearing is a blessing and a privilege given to women. As 1 Timothy 2:15 explains, “But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.”
6. Babies Are Handmade by God
Although my mom and dad married, and through them, I was born, she taught me that I wasn’t man-made but handmade by God, who created me in her womb. Even though science tries to convince us to take our eyes off God as our Creator, Psalm 119:73 explains how His hands made us.
As well, Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
7. Babies Are Made in the Image of God
My mom told me a baby is created in the image of God as soon as conceived. Like Genesis 1:27 describes, from the very beginning of our lives, each of us is created in God’s image as either a male or female. We’re not ever a shapeless blob of nothing.
Like Ecclesiastes 11:5 explains, “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”
8. Babies Are Separate, Living Souls within the Mother
My mom let me know I was a complete, whole person living within her before I was ever born. She taught me that God created me as a unique individual within her body, with my own beating heart and eternal soul.
Although some push a different thinking regarding the sacredness of life, like the popular line from Horton Hears a Who proclaims, “A person is a person, no matter how small.”
9. Babies' Lives Matter to God
Mom told me God loves and deeply values each tiny, remarkable human life created and designed by Him. Each baby is handcrafted by a loving, Heavenly Father and matters to God.
“This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, the Make of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by Myself” (Isaiah 44:24).
10. Babies Are Always Wanted by God
Mom believed God planned each person on purpose, and no one is a surprise to Him, even if they were unexpected, conceived outside of marriage, or through a horrific event.
In Job's distress, even he understood where he came from: “You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews; You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in Your providence watched over my spirit” (Job 10:11-12).
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/fizkes
Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.
