Today will be hard for many...

Dear Moms,

The Father laid a story on my heart late last night. That's usually how my blog works. I can't seem to produce daily posts of inspiration, biblical instruction or encouragement. Most days I am in survival mode regardless of the truth that I am surviving with peace and joy.

Then the Lord gives me an experience that reaches way down into my soul and stirs the pot of emotion. The story wells up inside me and is poured out here in hopes of bringing healing, redemption, and truth into the lives of my reader.

Today the story is for moms....ones I am close to...ones I am in the process of befriending...ones the Father is yet to cross my paths with...every mom.

Today...Mother's Day....will be hard for many of you.

You might find today hard because your mother is no longer living and you miss her presence...the daily phone calls, the visits.

Or another might find today hard because she has not heard from her mother in years although she lives less than forty minutes away. The mother can't seem to overcome her past and break the strongholds present in her life. So, as my mom friends lives life here with her husband and two children without the presence of a grandmother, the loss is big and wide and deep.

One mom who married at fifteen and began her journey as a mom, now raising her grandchildren, most likely won't hear from her daughters today. Addictions, anger, and bitterness will prevent them from honoring their mother in spite of their own tangled up childhood.

What about the mom in Wal-Mart on Friday who was noticed by one of my dearest friends as well as security. My friend shared the story of how she noticed the woman as she came in and saw security following her. The two met again in the garden center and my friend confronted her telling her that she was being watched. The woman fell apart and shared openly how DHR had taken her three kids from her.

And finally, more commonly, are my friends who will struggle today as we celebrate to honor moms because their moms are still falling short of their expectations as a mom. My friends who have deep rooted emotional needs that went unmet as a child who now continue to experience pain because their moms are just not in a place yet to be a need meeter for them.

These moms will make some effort, out of obligation and tradition, to buy a plant or card and maybe even share lunch with their mom today. But their hearts will remain hurt because their expectations remain high and their pain has not healed from past hurts.

Some both daughters, who are moms, and their moms remain in complete denial that anything is wrong at all and live life with knee-jerk responses to situations because they have yet to come to terms with their own messes.

Every mom has a story AND THEIR MOM HAS HER OWN STORY. It is my heart's desire in my life and community to know the hearts of moms the Father surrounds me with. Here's why:

The entire cannon of scripture is a love story of redemption. You ever wonder why women are drawn to love stories....we desire to be desired. The Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a complete love story of the Creator of the Universe calling His people to Himself....they continuously pull away even often rebelling against Him only to find misery....and, prayerfully, returning to their first love finding a life of abundance. It is our story today...He desires us

"I have loved you with an everlasting love" Jeremiah 31:3...He made you and He loves you!

"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you." Isaiah 54:10  No matter what happens in our lives, God's love for us cannot be shaken.

"Woe to them because they have strayed from me...rebelled against me! I long to redeem them" Hosea 7:13. He wanted to buy us back (redeem us) all through the Old Testament and HE DID....we just celebrated that on Easter Sunday...remember? Jesus, died to buy us back to Himself SO WE COULD BE FREE.

Yet,  often we reject these truths. In our stubbornness, pride, bitterness and resentment, we can stay away for generations...blaming, criticizing, even slandering one another. Today will be hard for these moms.

I want every woman I ever meet, especially moms, to know they are beautiful and powerful because they are created in the image of God...thereby having a deposit in their life bank of His goodness, love, and mercy, that each mom GETS to extend to others.

Kay Warren says it like this in her book, Dangerous Surrender:

"God is the only one who can enter into the caves of your inmost being and not be terrified or repulsed by what He sees. He was the only one who knew all along how wounded and broken I was on the inside. He was the only one who could meet me there with forgiveness, mercy, and healing. God saw all the garbage--the shameful thoughts and behavior, the secret guilt and shame-that was ripping me up. But God in his massive, almost unfathomable mercy looked deep within me and said, "I love you...I know it all...and I still love you." He says the same to you.

"I KNOW IT ALL, AND I STILL LOVE YOU."

May you walk in this truth this Mother's Day. I would love for you to share your story with me here on in person anytime.

Love, Pam