Mother's Day Thoughts and Seeing a Change in the Tide

Today's blog includes a reminder and a note of encouragement from the group that regularly fasts and prays against the "singlehood phenomenon" on Mondays at lunchtime:

This is your reminder that we are fasting and praying during what would be Monday lunch for 1) marriages for those who long to be married and 2) courage, for men and for women, to change in whatever ways marriage would demand. And as we fast and pray, you might consider....

Today is Mother's Day (in the US....I know not everyone who subscribes is in the US). It's a day where, especially at many churches, the lives of our moms and/or those who have mothered us is celebrated. For me, growing up, we always celebrated our mother by making her a somewhat questionable breakfast of egg with shell and blackened toast. Honestly, as sketchy as it was, I think she loved it!

For many women who long to be married or married women without children, however, Mother's Day can't help but carry with it a longing, a questioning--Where is my husband? Where are my children? And then inevitably, at least inside my own soul, that can give way to the age old questions: Has God forgotten me? Am I bearing any fruit that matters?

Today in an e-mail exchange, a wise guy friend who amazingly gets this dynamic and who has been aware of this prayer and fasting movement for a while wrote:

"As I was sitting in [my church] service this morning, which rightly offered thanks, encouragement and practical help to Moms, Grandmothers and Great Grandmothers ... I couldn't help but consider the wonderful single women present, and wonder where their hearts might be in such celebrations. ... it really hurts me too, to know such bright, lovely, vibrant, loving young women, longing like Hannah for something thus far, un-granted.

I'll be praying today for you ... knowing for sure, that you are no less deeply loved and cherished by Him. This is a deep, hard mystery....

Moreover, could God be at work ... in response to passionate prayer and fasting?

It may not be massive in scale, yet(?), but Christian men have begun grappling in fresh, new ways with a proposition [i.e. marriage] which had, for 1,000s of reasons, fallen on hard times among them."

He then went on to tell stories of men taking relational initiative, guys he knows getting married, etc. He even credits the prayer/fasting group for drawing his and some other guys' attention to the whole topic!

So be encouraged--Hannah did cry out, and God heard her (check out 1 Sam. 1). We, too, can and should keep crying out for the longings of our hearts. Know, God does hear us. And he responds (honestly, I think the empathetic and encouraging response of this above mentioned guy was one of God's gifts to me, today). Our heavenly Father sees, cares, and actively loves--all of his daughters (and sons, for that matter). This Mother's Day, we can give thanks for our mothers and any women who have mothered us. We can rejoice for the chances we've had to be aunts, God-mothers, babysitters, big sisters, mentors, biological mothers, and a whole host of other "mothering" roles (for me, being an aunt and a God-mother and a spiritual big sister have been some of my favorite mothering roles thus far). And while we do this, we can trust that our heavenly Father is decidedly paying loving attention, he is at work in and through his beloved daughters' lives and prayers, and we can be bearing fruit, now. This is true.

Great Blessings on your Week,

Connally

To join this group of prayer warriors and receive weekly reminders, CLICK HERE.

~ Linda
Cache' Connections