Whether you have been a mom for 15 minutes or 15 years, you've already begun to realize how utterly amazing having and raising children is - as well as how exhausting, frustrating, discouraging, at times and overwhelming. It is a huge responsibility and one of the greatest privileges we will ever have.
We can all use some encouragement from time to time. So allow me to encourage you as you seek to raise healthy, happy, stable, secure, confident, godly and productive human beings in today's world.
I got this in an email, so I don't know who to credit with it:
A Letter from God to Women
When I created the heavens and the earth, I spoke them into being. When I created man, I formed him and breathed life into his nostrils. But you, woman, I fashioned after I breathed the breath of life into man because your nostrils are too delicate. I allowed a deep sleep to come over him so I could patiently and perfectly fashion you. Man was put to sleep so that he could not interfere with the creativity. From one bone, I fashioned you. I chose the bone that protects man's life. I chose the rib, which protects his heart and lungs and supports him, as you are meant to do.
Around this one bone, I shaped you.... I modeled you. I created you perfectly and beautifully. Your characteristics are as the rib, strong yet delicate and fragile. You provide protection for the most delicate organ in man, his heart. His heart is the center of his being; his lungs hold the breath of life. The rib cage will allow itself to be broken before it will allow damage to the heart. Support man as the rib cage supports the body.
You were not taken from his feet, to be under him, nor were you taken from his head, to be above him. You were taken from his side, to stand beside him and be held close to his side.
You are my perfect angel.....You are my beautiful little girl. You have grown to be a splendid woman of excellence and my eyes fill when I see the virtues in your heart.
Your eyes......don't change them. Your lips - how lovely when they part in prayer. Your nose, so perfect in form. Your hands so gentle to touch. I've caressed your face in your deepest sleep. I've held your heart close to mine. Of all that lives and breathes, you are most like me.
Adam walked with me in the cool of the day, yet he was lonely. He could not see me or touch me. He could only feel me. So everything I wanted Adam to share and experience with me, I fashioned in you; my holiness, my strength, my purity, my love, my protection and support.
The Resourcefulness of a Woman!
I love how Pastor Joel Osteen always begins his sermons with a funny story. While it is funny, I believe there may just be a nugget of truth we can latch on to!
One day Joe, Bob and Dave were hiking in a wilderness area
when they came upon a large, raging, violent river. They needed
to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so. Joe
prayed to God, saying, “Please, God, give me the strength to
cross this river.”
Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was able
to swim across the river in about two hours, although he almost
drowned a couple of times. Seeing this, Dave prayed to God saying,
“Please, God, give me the strength and tools to cross this river.”
Poof! God gave him a rowboat and he was able to row across the
river in about an hour, after almost capsizing the boat a few times.
Bob had seen how this worked out for the other two, so he also
prayed to God saying, “Please, God, give me the strength, the tools,
and the intelligence to cross this river.”
Poof! God turned him into a woman. She looked at the map, hiked
upstream a couple of hundred yards and then walked across the bridge.
And finally:
WORDS OF WISDOM
All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother. Abraham Lincoln
Making the decision to have a child – it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. Elizabeth Stone
Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother. Lin Yutang
Mother is the name for God on the lips and in the hearts of little children. William Makepeace Thackeray
Mothers reflect God’s loving presence on earth. William R. Webb
Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She prepares a world she will not see. Pope Paul VI
When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. Sophia Loren
My mother was the making of me. Thomas Alva Edison
A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary. Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The phrase “working mother” is redundant. Jane Sellman
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. Rajneesh
Any mother could perform the jobs of several air traffic controllers with ease. Lisa Alther
The formative period for building character for eternity is in the nursery. The mother is queen of that realm and sways a scepter more potent than that of kings or priests. Author unknown
Dr. Joyce Brothers says about this: “An individual’s self-concept affects every aspect of human behavior. The ability to learn…the capacity to grow and change…the choice of friends, mates, and careers. It is no exaggeration to say that a strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life.”
