Mom's Day

By Bethany Lashbrook

Today's verse: Deuteronomy 5:16, “Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you." (NLT)

This past week I attended a mother-daughter banquet. Growing up in a small country church, this banquet has been on the calendar for years, decades, generations. It's so nice to know that once a year we can celebrate our mom or be spoiled ourselves - even if only for a day!

I think about the way I feel for my girls. The way I felt the moment I found out they were in my belly (the excitement, nervousness of what was to come, and even fearful of how I would be as a mommy). The way I felt about them the minute they were born (uncontrollable love, desire to become a better person in a single moment, and the willingness to die for a person I hadn't met the day before). The way I feel about them now (crying when they cry from heartache, desire to teach them about the Lord, second-guessing myself when I make a decision I never knew would come my way). They way I feel about them in the future (trusting the Lord will keep them safe, biting fingernails about car expenses, college expenses, and designer shoes!).

And then I think that this is the way my mom must feel about me. And it warms my heart.

Whether you are a mom and are celebrating your children's life, whether you are celebrating your mom - here on earth on in heaven, whether you are celebrating another mom who made your life special - Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Lord, thank you for mother's and their unconditional love. We love you. Amen.

Application: You know what's coming: spoil your mom! She deserves it!

Power Verses:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (NLT)

Genesis 3:20, "Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live". (NLT)

Matthew 12:50, "For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." (KJV)

Mother's Day

by Bethany Lashbrook

This Week’s Verse: Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (NIV)

Devotion:
There is a magnet I gave my mom on Mother’s Day several years ago. It reads: "Mothers and daughters are closest, when daughters become mothers"(author unknown). On March 31, 2002, I became a mom. It was then that I first understood my mother. What I had perceived as overbearing, overprotective, bossy and old-fashioned was really just intelligence, love, and nurture. What a change of attitude!

Moms just place extraordinary value to another’s heart. It’s a mom who can kiss a boo-boo and make it all better. It’s a mom who secretly cries as her little one runs off to kindergarten. It’s a mom who is your biggest fan even when you sit the bench! Now, don’t get me wrong--dads are great too. But a mom is undeniably special.

Genesis 2:20-22 states, “So the man (Adam) gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”

If God made man in his image, and then woman came from man, that means women (me, you, your mom, your sister, your daughter) are in the image of God! And notice how woman wasn't taken from his foot (to be stepped on), or his head (to do his thinking for him), but from his side to work in tandem with him raising God's next crop of kids. How incredibly splendid is that!

Mother’s Day is one particular day a year to honor moms! This year, celebrate Mother’s Day knowing we are created in God's image. Our daughters and sons are created in His image! To me, knowing and understanding that is priceless! God made moms because booboos always need kissed, and bedtime stories always need told. But, He also made moms to complete the family. And, I couldn’t think of a better thing to celebrate!

Lord, thank you for moms. Enough said. Amen!

Application:
Enjoy these quotes regarding Mothers. Let them resonate as you celebrate that precious maternal relationship:
--Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same. ~Pearl S. Buck
--The older I get, the more I see the power of that young woman, my mother. ~Sharon Olds
--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
--A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

Power Verses:
Psalm 139:13, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." (NIV)
Matthew 12:50, "Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!"(NLT)
Ephesians 5:31, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."(NKJV)