Tag: Black Motherhood

On God’s Delight in Us.

God delights in YOU. Yes, You.

The YouVersion verse of the day is Zephaniah 3:17. While the quick message they featured focused on the celebration/singing part of the verse… I was encouraged to focus on God’s delight in us.

The idea that God takes joy in us brought me joy. In their featured devotional, the author compares God comforting us with song to a parent comforting their child in the same manor.

It was no coincidence that merely 30 minutes prior I was using that same method to comfort my son. Singing him a song that brings him joy whenever it escapes my lips.

This led me to think even more on the idea of God as our Father:

As I’ve grown closer to God I have utilized the phrase Abba Father (Galatians 4:6) quite often in my prayers because He has been that to me. It was one of our first steps in true worship. So to now be a parent and once again be prompted in scripture of who God is to us, but from a completely different perspective, it just made everything hit different.

And this made me think of how we, as parents, emulate some of the ways in which God cares/parents us:

How when we delight in our children, it’s despite them doing much. In fact, it’s in large part because we see ourselves in them.

We delight in how they look, and talk, and can be stubborn at times like us.

We find joy in their learning and progress and curiosity. We feel at peace knowing that they are comforted by us when they seek it and that they seek guidance and comfort from us at all.

We live in an overhyped society. Hyper-sexualized, hyper-politicized, hypersensitive, and in many ways, hyper-Christian.

It’s all so overly abundant that we miss the mark completely.

But yet and still, God delights in us.

He, who did not sin, who loved us so greatly that He sent His OWN son to save us… Looks at us and feels joy.

Despite our sinful nature. Despite our errors and ignorance. Despite forgetting to seek Him…

He delights in us.

God Delights in YOU. Be well fam.

Always,

Be 💛

On My ‘First’ Mother’s Day.

Today is such a special day for me. In it lies such a mixture of emotions that I imagine may always be present.

Today I am not only mindful of the joy that has been brought upon my life through motherhood, but I am also mindful of the grief. I’m mindful of my first born and the greatest loss of my life thus far.

It was just last year that I experienced my first Mother’s Day. Where I was recognized and honored by friends and family. Where I felt a small glimpse into that joy.

However short lived and conflicting my emotions may have been that day…

However worthy yet empty I may have felt…

While being celebrated I also grieved and I was seen in that grief. I was comforted in that grief. And I was honored.

While this is not my first Mother’s Day, it IS the first that I am able to celebrate. It’s the first that I am able to hold my child and love on them and fully embrace the joy of motherhood.

Although I still grieve, the pain is not nearly as strong and the peace exceeds expectations here.

I’m grateful for the ups and downs this journey has taken me on. A road so unexpected. A turn that has truly changed who I am as a person. I’m still learning who this new person is, but grateful to be able to experience her.

I thank God that when I needed comfort and stability and truth and love… He did not withhold it from me… even when I withheld it from Him. He is Truly so unlike us Humans.

I thank God for the people in my life who saw me and who see me. For those who loved on me and respected my space. For those who grieved and continue to grieve with me.

At a time when you can really feel so alone, God made SO certain that I knew that I was not. That I AM not. That I was seen and am forever seen. That as a family unit, this affected us in so many ways. God the Father and Most Holy Sovereign One did what He does. And I will never unsee or un-feel THAT.

There is a space for those of us who have experienced infant loss. It’s a space we can go to within ourselves as we heal. And it’s one that also allows us to see and honor the others of us who have this shared experience.

I feel blessed that I get to mother after loss. I feel blessed that I get to see so many others mother after loss. But I also feel for those who have not yet or will not ever. My heart truly goes out to you.

To all of us, I give the greatest of hugs.

And to every Mother in every form… To You beautiful, complicated, worthy, strong, souls… I honor You and acknowledge You and say…

Happy Mother’s Day.

Always,

Be 💛

Philippians 4