A Mother’s Love

Life has changed suddenly for all of the mothers I know. They went from kids in school or going on playdates to being with them, in their house, 24/7. These amazing women are trying to work from home and care for their babies. They are making meals, doing laundry, keeping kids entertained, and still leading their teams at work and managing the household.

Mothering is Hard

At six months old, our son Graham was stricken with spinal meningitis. I had rushed him to the hospital at the urging of my mother, who refused to believe he only had the ear infection his pediatrician had diagnosed. When I arrived, I took him out of the car, car seat and all, and rushed into the emergency room. The nurse took one look at Graham and yelled, “Code Blue” my heart stopped. I was a mother, and my baby was fighting for his life.

I stood watching as they fought to save his life. They cut off his yellow furry pajamas, sliced open his wrists and ankles to insert intravenous lines, and began CPR with chest compressions on Graham’s tiny chest.

Those first hours of waiting there to see if our son would live or die were some of the most difficult of my life, and they are moments no mother ever wants to live through.

Rich and I slept at the hospital, while our two bigger boys were home with my parents.  ICU, surgery, more hospitalization, but finally we brought him home.  He was a sickly baby with a very negative future. That was my beginning as a mother of a very special little boy.

I would love to tell you Graham was miraculously healed, but that is not our story. God had a different journey for Graham and our entire family. He struggled and struggled. He was very delayed in his development in every way. Therapy, medication, doctors, became a way of life for us.  We all did the best we could to cope. Our marriage was extremely tested. My faith in God went through the wringer.

This single event in Graham’s life became the defining turning point of my role as a woman and as a mother. Denial, begging, and rage became my constant conversation with God.

Why me?

Why did I have to be a mom to a ‘special need” child?

What had I done to deserve this prison of broken dreams?

How would I ever rise above my circumstances to fulfill the mission God had placed in my heart?

A Call From God

And then I understood. Motherhood is a call from God. Caring for this child and loving him with all of my heart as God loved both of us was what I needed to do at that moment.

The importance of a mother’s love cannot be underestimated! Motherhood was designed by God. He created the relationship between a mother and child to help shape that child to carry His love to the world.

Mothers, both those who give birth and those who choose to love children who need a mother, share their faith and love with their “children” and through them, they help shape the world. This is a lesson we see over and over in Scripture. The most obvious biblical example of a mother’s love and sacrifice is seen in Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Many of us have women who come into our lives and “mother” us. Paul speaks of Rufus’ mother, a woman who “has been a mother to me as well” (Romans 16:13). She made the choice to “mother,” to love another. Her influence helped shape his life.

We Aren’t Called to be Perfect

None of these women were perfect, just as none of us are perfect, but they all shared their faith and love with those they considered their children. The important thing is to, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

My mother modeled this kind of love for me. She has always been a living example of what a mother truly does. She has been by my side for all of those special moments in a woman’s life, those moments when fear and happiness are fighting for the upper hand. My first date, my wedding day, the birth of each of my children.

She was the one who urged me to take Graham to the emergency room, even though I had just returned from the doctor’s office. Without her counsel, he might not be here today! She spent hours praying for him and encouraging our family.

She has shared her faith with me, giving me the strength to do God’s work, even when I didn’t want to! Being a mom is hard work, and it is a job that never stops!

True happiness comes in caring for others more than ourselves.

Today our Graham is a walking miracle. He walks, talks, graduated from school, and he works for the Lord against all odds! My role as his mother, and as a mother to all of our sons, has been so incredibly fulfilling.

We would like to wish all the mothers reading this article a Happy Mother’s Day!