Love, Chels

Dear friends, 

From the bottom of my heart, Happy Mother's Day to each of you!

This morning, at church, we dedicated 4 babies to Jesus. When we say "dedicate", we mean that we introduce them to the church family, welcome them as new members, pray that they will grow in godly wisdom and strength, pray for their parents and family members and, as a church, agree to stay in prayer for the children as well as help the parents as they embark on the exciting and treacherous adventure of parenthood. 

You and I know the excitement and the treachery of parenting well, don't we? 

As we prayed for the children and the families, God spoke clearly to me and I know He wanted me to share it with you. 

Conceiving our children was an incredible act of co-labor with Jesus. Yes, each of us chose in that moment to share intimacy with our husbands, thereby planting the seed of life within our bodies. But it was God, in His infinite creativity and wisdom, who made our bodies to do the amazing work of receiving the seed, becoming one with it, and enveloping that tiny fertilized egg into the perfectly prepared warmth and protection of our wombs. Each of us, in partnership with our husbands and our God, created their tiny lives within us. It was a miraculous act of co-labor with our Creator. 

When we gave birth to these tiny creatures, we also co-labored with God. Our incredible bodies, designed with absolute perfection and intricacy, did the work of pushing, crying, bleeding and, ultimately, giving birth. If you gave birth via c-section, you, my sister, did all of that PLUS the work of yielding to the knife. You trusted God in the midst of a situation that perhaps you didn't expect or desire. All of us, no matter the circumstances, gave to our children the GIFT of birth. By designing our bodies so perfectly, God co-labored with us in that valiant act.

And, if your dear one is adopted, then you know even MORE intimately about co-creation. The One who created you to be a mother moved on the heart of a brave and beautiful woman who courageously chose to place her baby in an adoptive home. The One who created you to be a mother knew from the beginning of time how you would labor in prayer and how He would move on your behalf, bringing you the baby He created for you. 

IF He was so gracious to co-labor with us in creating these tiny people, so gracious in bringing them forth to take their first breaths and in entrusting them to our eager arms, will He not also co-labor with us as we parent them? As we seek to train them, teach them, guide them, shepherd them? He will. He does. 

Here's what I felt so strongly led to tell you. God is with you, my friends. God is WITH YOU. In the depths of the night, as you feed your baby or you check on those toddlers or you sleep, dreaming of the futures they will have; as you wrestle with the seemingly endless decisions of parenting, as you "discuss" with your husbands the various ways to deal with those sweet children's fallenness (read: disobedience and rebellion), as you apologize, forgive, cry, kiss, snuggle...

GOD 

IS 

WITH 

YOU. 

He will not leave you alone in this journey. In fact, He is deeply invested in the process with you. He has put His very life into your children and He will make all things beautiful in His time. He will bring to completion the good purposes He has designed for them and for you. You are not alone. 

Also, and finally, I felt led to share Galatians 6:9 with you. "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart." NKJV

Some versions say "if we do not give up" but, for our purposes, I love the NKJV because, lets be honest, we can't give up. In this act of motherhood, we don't have the choice of giving up. Our children are good little mammals. If we don't feed them, they will scream for nourishment. If we don't change their diapers, they will stink to high heaven. If we don't snuggle them, our own bodies will groan in protest. Giving up is not an option. I fear that for many of us, "losing heart" is by far the greater danger. Losing passion, losing compassion, losing our sense of purpose, losing sight of our mission... Dear ones, let's not lose heart. Let's lean into His help and lean on to each other. Just as the lionesses are created to hunt in packs, we are meant to mother in community. If you feel you are close to losing heart or if you are weary, reach out. 

God has given us to each other as a precious gift. 

I am here for you. 

And the promise is that we shall reap! We SHALL reap! We are sowing tenderness and we will reap tender-hearted children. We are sowing faith and we will reap children who overcome fear. We are sowing joy. We will reap children who will be able to face the trials of life with hope. We are sowing love for God and love for people and your work will not be in vain! I believe that wholeheartedly. However long it takes, we will reap. 

I love each of you and am so thankful God called us to be together. As we've said from Day 1 in this playgroup "We're in this together!" 

Happy Mother's Day! 

Love,

Chels