The Holy Call of Being a Mother

I remember so well the joys of raising my four little children. The echoes in my mind still whisper sweetly, “Mommy, I sure do love you. You’re the best mommy in all of the world.” A love so strong had captured my heart for even the little ones who danced in my womb. Even in the love that flooded my soul, there were times through the years that I grew weary and felt troubled by so many demands of needy babies, toddlers, grammar, middle, high school, and college children; and even the bearing their hearts when troubles came to them in their new families. …But now, on this end of life, truly being mother has been and is my greatest ministry opportunity of all.

To believe that God would allow an eternal being to be sown into my body – one cell becoming two, then two becoming four, until a spirit being had formed in me with eyes, ears, mouth, a little heart that beat with life, and a will sometimes demanding its own. Oh, what a mighty Creator we serve.

I remember the days that the dirty laundry never saw an end; dirty dishes seemingly always found their way into an empty sink; one meal was eaten and it was time to prepare another; and I often felt that I was never all that I needed to be as God’s daughter, wife, mother, and minister of the gospel. A sister in the Lord shared with me as a young mother, Ephesians 1:6, “…(God) made us accepted in the beloved (Jesus).” I saw that God accepted me just the way I was because of what Jesus had done for me. Even in all of my weaknesses and struggles, He loved and accepted me as His own. The Lord showed me 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” God had called me to be so many things, but number one, He called me to be mother. I was to give my best, and the Lord worked with me and through me. What I could not do, His mercy and grace took care of. I read, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling…” (2 Tim. 1:9). My calling as mother was a holy call of God upon my life. How could I ever view the call to be mother as mundane or “I’m just a mother.”

The Lord has surely allowed me to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in many nations, on TV, and radio, and I am so grateful for that. My conviction has always been that if I did not fulfill my call as mother, who was I to minister to others. I Timothy 5:8 says, “But if any provide not for his own, and esp. for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Colossians 3:22&23 says, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ.” My children have been my reward from the Lord; but oh, it is written in I Corinthians 2:9, “…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” I am so honored to be called “Mother.”