Sunday ~ My Mother's Day Post

I'm just going to tell you the truth straight up:

 

I am...because of my mom.

 

We all are, really. But somehow I feel that that is extra true for me and my mom.

 

My mom is patient and kind. She's very, very wise. She's so self-sacrificing and I can never repay her for all the times she let go of something that she wanted so that I could have a chance.

 

My siblings and I aren't just her children. My mom also treats us like friends. She laughs with us, gets excited over small things with us, instigates girl-time and coffee dates, has hilarious stories to tell of her and her siblings growing up (and she's got a few wild ones, too!).

 

 { my mom is also one of the best-looking Civil War reenacting ladies out there! }

My mom is a great teacher - anything I know, I've learned from Mom. Sewing, cooking (what I do know, anyway!), even a lot of my photography know-how is because my mom either helped me or encouraged me to go find the answer. My mom has a thirst for knowledge and she knows so much about pretty much anything.

 

My mom isn't perfect. But she's quick to see when she errs and is even quicker to ask for forgiveness, from anyone she might have wronged.

 

And most of all, my mom walks with God. She has prayed for me, wept over me, listened to me be irrational and self-destructive and always known when to be silent and also just when to speak truth. My mom make a priority of spending time alone with God. It's very common to see her door shut and to know that she's on her knees by the side of her bed, giving herself (and us) over to the Lord through prayer and petition. And thanksgiving. My mom is always full of thanksgiving and gratitude.

 

My mom is so quick to pray. So many have been the times that I've worked-up over something, so confused, so unsure, so in need...and she's be quick to drop what she's doing, sit on her bed with me and we pray hard. Oh, the many, many times we've prayed together.

 

{ she's the best mom and grandma ever }

 

My mom's faith isn't an only-on-Sunday faith. It's an every day, living, breathing, ever-growing, ever changing, so very personal faith. She knows God so very, very well.

 

 And I know God...because I've known my mom.

 

In those four years ago when my entire life exploded in my face, it was my mom who always held me back from doing something crazy. It was her love and I know, her prayers that kept me going just one more day. She gave me strength and pointed me to God's even greater strength, to keep clutching on to belief that God was really there and that one day, life would shine again.

 

She was right. But I wouldn't have been around to see that sunshine if it hadn't been my mom, encouraging me, loving me and sometimes even pushing me forward.

 

My mom shines an example of love, wifely submission, hard-work, and self-sacrifice.

 

And so, on this Mother's Day, I want to say:

 

"Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all."

 

I love you, Mom!

I'm me...because of you.

 

For mom:

Mom, this song is one that I heard a few months ago, and even though I've listened to it 'til I can sing every word of it, it still makes me cry every single time.

 

So...when you have a minute after everyone's gone to bed and you can listen to it by yourself, this song is for you: sign into rdio and click here, it's the song that's highlighted (track #5).

 

Happy Mother's Day.

 

For anyone else who wants to hear this amazing song, click here.