But God
Matthew 11:28 says “Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”
But God….two simple words that I’ve repeated countless times in my head and sometimes out loud since becoming a Mom over twenty-three years ago. I was new to my faith and relationship with Jesus when Joe and I became parents. And if there is a life changing event that can push you to your knees, it’s parenting. If I’m honest though, my dive into knowing and fully relying on Jesus came at first out of selfishness. I’ll just say it, I was invited to a bible study and they had me at ‘free childcare’.
But God…knew I needed Him. He knew that my family needed a mother strong in her faith. He also knew that the weight of parenting is easier when it is placed on His shoulders. I honestly believe that my only prayer requests that first year were related to temper tantrums and potty training and when will this child ever sleep. God answered each time through the wisdom in His Word and through mentors who had been through that life stage and actually survived to talk about it. Jesus was meeting me exactly where I was. When we hit the school age years, there were learning disabilities and speech delays and new reasons to worry.
But God…loves my children more. This one took me awhile to truly grasp, because like all mothers I LOVE my children. I fight for them and help them in any way I can. I finally came to understand that they are their own people with their own journeys. No matter how much I want things to be easy, God just wants them to love Him and to know Him. It is a wonderfully hard prayer to pray that I will be okay with whatever God allows them to go through just so they know Him more. It means as a mother, not being able to fix everything.
But God….is the perfector and author of our faith. He was with our children when they were formed in the womb. He knows every hair on their head. He will care and provide all they will ever need. And as mothers, He knows us too. Jesus is with us in our joys and our struggles. I remember reading Matthew 11:28 as a young mother. Jesus says “Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” When I read it for the first time, I thought that Jesus must have forgotten me because I felt far from rested.
But God….gave me strength that I didn’t know I had. I realized that in that verse, Jesus doesn’t promise an easy life full of rest. He promises that when we are weary, we just need to come to Him. We need to seek Him first and He will give us all we need. Through the endless sleepless nights of baby feedings and of teens out too late, He was always waiting with a sweet, encouraging word. Just for me. Jesus makes our load feel lighter because the truth is that the role of a mother is a life long one.
But God…will be with us each step of the way if we let Him. When I start to feel overwhelmed with worry or laundry or cooking(why are they always hungry?), I remember that my God is bigger than my circumstances and that He sees me. And it all matters. All of it. When your kids are grown and moved out, they won’t remember all of the little things you did for them but they will remember the most important. They were loved and that love is so much sweeter and easier when we love Jesus first.
