Mother's Day At Last

This is the first mother's day that there is a baby in my arms. It has been a long-awaited, as two empty-armed Mother's Days passed since beginning our adoption process in March 2010.

Let me tell you, I have so much joy having Israel home. It is wonderful to finally be a mom.

But today I want to acknowledge those of you who are waiting- for a referral, for a positive test, for the timing to be right for you to begin the journey to parenting... The ache of waiting is fresh on my heart, and I don't want to lose compassion for those waiting, because I was just there and I feel like God allowed me to participate in waiting so I could have compassion for others. Afterall, I wrote this post and many others describing the ache of empty arms. I'm glad I documented that time, so that I don't take for granted the little cutie that is in my house now!

To those of you who are not yet moms on Mother's Day, I want to say that I know that Mother's Day is hard. It's hard to log on Facebook and see other people celebrate. It is hard at church when they ask all the moms to stand up, and you wish so badly that you could stand too. It's hard to be bombarded with commercials and all kinds of marketing of how special motherhood is, when in your heart you KNOW that it will be special, but there's nothing you can do to make it come faster.

But I also want to say- trust the Lord. He is faithful. He has all of your days ordained ahead of time, and He will give you the grace needed to make it through today and all the other days that are ahead. He has created you for a specific purpose- and although our hearts and bodies scream "for motherhood!" -honestly, the purpose for our existence is HIS GLORY. He may choose motherhood as that avenue, but it may be through this wait, or through the process of changing your heart.

Also, remember that being a mom shouldn't be your idol. I know there were many days that I had to fight the idolotry of having a child in my home. I wanted Israel so badly. But when we desire anything more than we desire Christ and His glory, then whatever we want will be tainted and it will never satisfy.

There's so many of you that I'm thinking of by name today- Ashley, Stephanie, Laura, Katie, Courtney and more.... you're on my heart and I want to say "Happy Mother's Day" to you... because as we all know, you already have a mother's heart, you just need the babe to prove it :).