Mother Trust

Trusting God is a basic part of being a Christian. We talk about it all the time and encourage each other in it all the time as well. We might even ask ourselves if we are trusting God in a situation. I have found that the most difficult, but one of the most important, ways that I can trust God every day is with my children. Raising kids is hard, but rewarding. It is a calling from a place deep within and difficult to explain. A mother’s love is described as deep and fierce- even bear-like! 

I love the examples of motherhood we have in the Bible. One of my favorite motherhood stories is that of Jochebed. In Exodus 2 we read of this Levite woman.

“Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child , she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.”

The story continues with Pharaoh's daughter going to bathe and finding the baby and deciding to keep him. In the previous chapter, we read that Pharaoh was afraid that the Hebrew people would outnumber the Egyptians and issued an order that all male Hebrew babies born must be thrown into the Nile to be killed. This explains to us why Jochebed was trying to hide Moses and why she placed him in the basket in the river. 

Can you imagine placing your 3 month old into a basket and walking away knowing that most likely he would die? She obviously felt as if she had no other choice in the matter. But, she also shows us what an amazing trust she has in her God. In reading this story I imagine that she would have been a prayerful woman and probably prayed daily since she found out that she was pregnant. Maybe she prayed that it wouldn’t be a boy because of this law. Once she had him, I imagine she would have been praying no one would find out that she was hiding the fact that Moses was a boy. Then, when she made the decision to hide him in the basket, I imagine that she would have prayed as she made the basket. I also assume she prayed as she put him in it and walked away with tears in her eyes. 

What about you? When was the last time you really prayed for your kids? Have you ever “given” your kids to God? After all, we know that they are his anyway. Like Jochebed, we need to place our children prayerfully in God’s hands. I am not suggesting that you place your kids in a basket in the river, even though sometimes it might be tempting, but rather to allow God to do his handiwork in their lives. To pray that God will speak to them and that they will hear his voice. To pray that they will serve him and his kingdom their whole lives. Pray that they will love him and do his will. Then there are 1,000 other little things to pray for from health to their future spouse and everything in between. 

Letting our kiddos go into God’s hands is a beautiful sacrifice like the one in Exodus 2 and if you continue to read the story of Moses, you find that Pharaoh's daughter finds him and decides to raise him as her own child. Instead of a life of slavery, this trust that Jochebed had turned Moses into a prince. She was able, with her sacrifice, to give him a life she could never have provided for him. When we trust God with our children we are opening up doors for them into His kingdom that we can’t do on our own. We are offering them the chance to understand their worth in the kingdom of God. So what is your “Mom prayer” for your kids? How are you giving them to God daily?

As many of you know, I have three daughters. One of them is an adult and lives far away from home. She has drifted far away from God and so truly I have had to let her drift into the waters of the river and trust that God has a perfect plan for her life that involves her return to Him. My other two still live at home and honestly, it is harder to “let them go” into God’s hands. My prayer for my middle child is that she will continue to have the sweet, loving, servant heart that she has now. That no one will dampen her spirit and her love for God. For my youngest, I pray that her fierce spirit will be used to fight for God’s kingdom and those that are oppressed. I pray that she will love others enough to stand up for what is right. 

My prayer for you, sweet sister, is that you are able to give your children to God daily in prayer. That you are able to trust the one that knit them together in your womb with their lives now. I pray that you are able to see God’s work in their lives even as young children. And that God will protect your heart from doubt and fear as you hand them over to him. 

Dear heavenly Father, we trust you so much. We trust you with our lives, our finances, our children. Help us to daily lift our children up to you and truly give them to you so your will can be done in their lives. Let us be examples of trusting you to them. Let us have peace in our hearts as they grow and change. Give us the words to pray and the words to say to these precious gifts you have given us. Amen.