Mom, have you recently felt useless or struggled to find your purpose in motherhood? Sharing a personal story of encouragement today!
Hey friends! I wanted to share a story with you that happened recently with my sister…
I can remember feeling this same way so many times in motherhood, and sometimes I still do, so hopefully you can relate and feel encouraged from this story today!
I’m part of a church plant with my family, and we regularly go door-to-door to invite people in the neighborhood to special events or to just see how we can pray for them. It has been a good challenge to push me out of my comfort zone and sometimes get to share the Gospel and my personal testimony with others.Since my boys are 8 & 5 years old now, my husband and I like to take them along with us. It’s easier to do things like this than it was a few years back, since they no longer need strollers or naps, etc.
My sister, however, is in a very different stage of parenting. She has a 2 year old and a 9 month old. Toddler fits, naps, schedules and diapers are still very much a reality in her world…You may still be there too or if not you can remember it well I’m sure!
So recently, when a big team from our church was going out in groups, my sister decided she was absolutely determined to come! Her husband had to work, so she decided to just bring the babies along…
I told her I would partner up with her, so I could help out however I could. We made it about 6 houses, which wasn’t even half way done, and I was given the opportunity to share the gospel with someone…At the very same moment, my 2 yr. old nephew, decided it was time for lunch and started to cry…
So, I gave my sister the eyes…you know the ones…”like, go on…I’ll be right there!” And after I had finished sharing, I walked over to my sister and she just shrugged her shoulders up and down and said, “I guess I am going to go home…we are just being a distraction, and I just feel useless.”
I felt like I was having a deja vu moment when I said to her:
You aren’t useless…you are here making an effort, but your ministry is right where God has you in this season of motherhood…
Sometimes that means you will have to leave early or can’t help with something you want…because it’s nap time or because you have littles that can’t walk miles on their own yet…
Flashbacks of when my boys were in the baby and toddler ages were coming back to me. My husband was a college pastor, and it was all I could do to make it to a service after feeding them dinner, just to hang out a few minutes and maybe hear one song, before we had to head home for bedtime.
I would sit their on the couch alone after they were in bed and just beat myself up at how I should have stayed longer, or I should be pouring into more college girls and the list would go on and on…
So what’s your list? What ways to you want to help out more for Jesus, but in this stage of motherhood, you feel guilty or like it’s holding you back…
Let me encourage you today with both my sister’s story and with mine…
You have purpose. You are NOT useless. The greatest kingdom work you will ever do right at HOME!
Carrying babies, rocking them late at night, staying home with them when they are sick, feeling like you could wash bottles or pack lunches in your sleep…
IT ALL MATTERS!
You are a mom….and what you are doing now, is loving them right where they are. Fulfilling their physical needs, but knowing that their greatest needs aren’t physical…they’re spiritual. And with every song you sing of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands or Jesus Loves Me” and Bible story you read, you are planting seeds in them…
Teaching them through the toddler and school years to know and love Jesus, so that as they grow older, yes you will have more time for “other ministry opportunities” and other things, but your greatest ministry is and will always be at home!
You are here “for such a time as this,” to love on them, provide stability and share Jesus with them, and you may have to miss out on some things for that to happen.
That phrase “for such a time as this,” is from the story of Esther, when her uncle Mordecai is affirming her in the time of life where she was to help save the Jewish people, and she wasn’t sure that what she was doing to become queen would make a difference. He said to her:
“Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
Esther 4:14
God chose Esther for “such a time as this,” just like He has chosen you to be a mom right now in 2022 to the kids He has given to you “for such a time as this!”
So be encouraged! Because mom, you have a BIG purpose in the kingdom of God, and you can find it right at home!
Do you have a story like this where you recently felt useless or struggled to find your purpose in motherhood? Please share it with me, because I would love a chance to encourage you! Leave a comment below or email me directly at mallen@lwf.org or on Instagram @faithful31moms.