Moms-YOU matter!

Moms.

What can you say about the single most important person on planet Earth?

Moms are given the awesome responsibility to conceive life, nurture it, and bring it into the world — painfully, sacrificially, and often misunderstood. Once a life is placed into your care, you become the nesting place, the bonding glue, the security, safety, and attachment for another human soul. Your love, service, and life are poured out for the lives entrusted to you.

Being a mom is often lonely. Sometimes it feels like no one truly understands but you. When the kids are little, it can feel hard to let others into the cocoon of motherhood. Dads may be working, distracted, trying clumsily to help, or sometimes not there at all. Your body changes. Your hormones, emotions, dreams, and routines all get rearranged by the sacred work of birth, nurture, love, and growth called motherhood.

It has been said that moms are only doing as well as their most difficult child, and there is a lot of truth in that.

I’ve seen mothers of addicted children fight me when I encouraged them to stop enabling. I’ve looked into the eyes of a mother whose husband was indifferent to her and her children. The pain of betrayal is immeasurable. I’ve watched mothers completely unravel when their children leave the nest. I’ve held the hand of a mother who lost a child to tragedy — the emptiness is Grand Canyon deep.

I’ve also seen the painful effects when moms put themselves before their children.

But what I’ve seen most are mothers who deny themselves so everyone else can eat. Mothers who go without new shoes so their kids can have theirs. Mothers who no longer make themselves feel beautiful because somewhere deep inside they stopped believing they are.

I’ve seen moms filled with quiet strength — carrying the weight of households, finances, meals, schedules, responsibilities, and emotional burdens without ever complaining. And I’ve seen others crushed beneath the weight of it all.

What breaks my heart the most is the mom who is beautiful yet compares herself to others… strong yet feels weak… passionate yet feels crazy.

To you I say: chin up, daughter of God — you are loved.

I salute you and call out the beloved daughter within you. You are not alone. You are not a mistake. You are a beloved daughter of the God of the universe, worthy of His love and filled with purpose.

God is the God who sees.

He sees you.
And I see you.

Lift your head, mother of little ones and older ones alike. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who endured the cross for the joy set before Him. Grab His hand and let Him twirl you across the dance floor — even if that floor is covered with toys, laundry, and diapers.

Never give up.
Never doubt.
Always believe that you are loved and seen.

Moms — YOU matter.
And you are deeply loved.