Encouragement for moms

It has been more than a year since I started this blog. Thirteen months to be exact. If I’ve learned anything in that time through this experience, it is that I am not alone. I am a mom who second-guesses her abilities, her faith and her calling. I am a mom who is tired, frustrated, sleep-deprived, boundlessly in love with her children and desperately in need of encouragement. I am all of these and surrounded by other mothers who are exactly the same, be they moms, grandmoms or want-to-be moms. And, yes, the occasional dad thrown in there, too.

Today I want to share some encouragement for all of us from Mary E. DeMuth. I am currently reading two of her books. (Check out the Bookshelf to see what I’m reading.) Below is an excerpt from her devotional, Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God.

God sees in secret. “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:3-4). “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). So much of what we experience as Christianity is outward. Television preachers have big, visible ministries. In our churches we openly pass the offering plate and offer prayer for everyone to hear. Although there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it’s important to understand that the spiritual condition of our heart is unseen. God sees what we think, feel and do in secret; therefore, we should pay close attention to our secret life. Since he sees in secret, what does he see? Our jealousies? Our inner rage? Our quiet peace? Our pessimism? We ought to cry the psalmist’s prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). The God who sees in secret delights to answer that prayer.

God rewards secret things. As a mother who’s stayed at home over a decade now, I would have despaired unless I knew that God sees me in my silent, secret acts of motherhood. He sees me when I pray for my children. He sees me when I watch them sleep, brushing hair from their sweaty brows. He sees every kindness and chronicles them for future reward. So much of motherhood is unseen, secret. Take heart. He sees you.

This is so encouraging to me! I have always read those verses with fear. “He sees me? Oh no! What have I done now?!” But, yes — Praise God He sees us! You don’t have to be a mom to be under-appreciated. God sees what we do with our kids, what we do when the boss isn’t looking, what we say about our neighbors when the blinds are closed. He sees us and He will reward us accordingly.