CELEBRATING MOTHERHOOD

'Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.' Proverbs 31:28-29

This weekend our church will be celebrating Mother's Day. It is a very special day even to those precious ladies who do not have children of their own but are spiritual mothers. The role of a mother is a very compelling and intense one. Being a mother changes your perspective on life. I know it because I am never passionate about being a mother since young. Because my own mum was a homemaker, I saw how she suffered and put aside her own interests to take care of me and my brothers. Hence I told myself I would never want to follow after her footsteps. 

I had a good education and a good job, so naturally I was ambitious about what I could achieve in my career. I wanted to do something important about my life, something that could fulfil my potential. I used to think it was such a waste to give up your career and stay at home to look after your kids. I even scorned ladies who said their dream was to get married, have kids and stay home to look after them. Well, I never really thought about having kids even after marriage, let alone to stay home for my kids! 

Yet God has an uncanny way to make me change my mind. It was after I waited so long to conceive  my first son that my maternal instincts grew in the waiting. After all, if something you wanted so badly came after a long time of waiting, then maybe this thing would become somewhat more precious, I guess. So after giving birth to Joshua, I took some time to stay home to take care of him. I was so overwhelmed by this miracle of life that I wondered if I should quit my job to stay home. It seemed impossible that such a thought even came to my mind considering the fact that I was so against staying home for your kids in the past. 

Well, no matter how much I used to resist that thought, once the desire was planted by God, He alone will bring it to pass. Which He did. So now, I am already into my fifth year of staying home. When I left my job, I knew staying home was just another season of my life and one day I would be back to the workforce. I thought it would last for three years at most but I didn't imagine it to stretch into the fifth year. But I thank God that He provided for our finances so that I am not hard pressed to go back to the workforce if I didn't want to. 

Yet staying home is not always a bed of roses. There will be days when you wonder what you have given up in the corporate world and days that you wonder if you are wasting your time at home. You look at your kids and wonder whether your staying home helped in their development or not. Sometimes I wonder if I have buried my God-given gifts by staying home, by focusing too much on my child and lose my ministry. I know I have lots of gifts and messages and a ministry to share with women of the world but I chose to focus on my family instead. 

God answered with this simple word: season. There is a season for everything. A season to focus on my ministry and a season to focus on my children. I had a season of ministry for the past three years so now God is moving me to a season of childbearing. All He asked of me is to be faithful to what He called me to do in each season. God is so good. He transitioned me from a busy field ministry into this writing ministry so that I could still write and encourage mothers all around the world. And who said mothering is not a ministry of God? It is an important ministry because you are raising champion kids, movers and shakers of God's Kingdom. You may never know how much you impacted one who will impact millions in future. 

I was reading about the Proverbs 31 woman and this verse jumps up at me. Many daughters have done virtuously, but you excel them all. Wow, how my heart swell with joy to hear The Lord tell me this. That many of His daughters have done valiantly but I have surpassed them all! Praise The Lord for having such a good opinion of me! Actually if a lady can take care of her household and her kids well, it is already a big deal. But this Proverbs 31 lady went further. She makes good investments in property and also has a business of her own, making and selling linen garments. Wow! I really aspire to be like her! What a godly model!