HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
This precious holiday is soon upon us. Larry and I are looking forward to ministering in Elk River, MN, with Pastor Percy Kallevig. I will be sharing a message that morning that God has laid on my heart for our time together. If you are in the area, please feel free to come and join us. We would love to see you!
Sunday at 10:00 AM - Gloria speaking
Twin Lakes Christian
18912 Twin Lakes Rd NW
Elk River, MN 55330
For more information, please call the church at: 763-241-1111
In preparation for Mother's Day, I just wanted to share an article I wrote for the newsletter that I feel is so timely. It is my heart's prayer that you will be ministered unto and be filled with hope for what lies before you! He is enough, Mom! Come to the Living Well!
Gloria
"Please tell me more. I hear you talking about Jesus, and you all are so happy. You have totally made me feel happy."
We were recently sitting at Applebees sharing and exchanging spiritual nuggets when our hostess who had seated us kept coming back to "check" on us. (Actually she came back to ask Larry for another joke!) This time, she heard us talking about God, world events, etc. Out of the corner of our eye, we saw her slip silently into a chair sitting about two feet from us. She glued herself into the conversation and just intently listened.
We began to engage her in conversation. She shared she was a single mom with two children, ages 9 and 4. We commented on how being a single parent is such a challenging job. After we shared to encourage her, her eyes welled with tears and we asked if we could pray with her and for her. In almost desperation, she jumped up and pleaded, "Oh yes, please, please! Please pray for me and my children. I want them to have a good life. I'm taking them to a Community Bible Study. What else can I do with them and for them?"
After we ministered to her and directed her to a church that would be there for her as a single parent, this beautiful petite single mom thanked us for bringing hope and joy into her life. Her last words were, "You've made my day. Please come back!"
Our hearts are tender towards single parents. We, too, have a single parent daughter. She is an inspiration to us as we watch her jump through the hoops and traverse her way through the journey of single parenthood. I have learned that often life isn't fair, but God is faithful!
I am reminded of the account of Hagar in Genesis 21. A story of a young Egyptian handmaiden of Abraham and Sarah. The Bible tells us that Sarah had been barren all of her life and was desperate for a child. She was well past child-bearing age when God sent two angels to Abraham and Sarah who announced they were going to have a child. Ten years passed and still there was no child. In Sarah's desperation, she decided to help God out. She took it upon herself. (Rule #1…don't do this.) She asked Abraham to take Hagar to become his wife with the intent of building her family through her children to become the inheritance God promised to them. The account continues on and to make a long story short, Hagar gives birth to a son named Ishmael. Instead of Sarah rejoicing for what she wanted, Sarah is now upset to see the attention that Hagar is receiving. In jealousy and retaliation, she mistreats Hagar.
However, years later, as God promised, Sarah at 90 years of age and Abraham 100 years old received their promise of a little one named Isaac. Time rolls on and the two boys play together and then like siblings, they begin to spat. Sarah runs to Abraham and demands, "Get that slave and her son out of here. I don't want Hagar to think Ishmael will receive an inheritance because he was born of you, the Father of Nations."
Under the pressure of Sarah, Abraham chooses to do the unthinkable-order Hagar and her son to leave. How hard that had to be as it was his son. Regretfully, Abraham prepared a package of food and water and sent them on their way. What turmoil he must have felt! Hagar is now a single parent mother. There is no one to care after her and her son. It is just the two of them sent out in the wilderness to survive. Soon and only too soon, the food was gone, the water was gone and Hagar realizes the tragic reality that they are both going to die. Hagar places her crying son under a bush to catch any bit of shade. She removes herself a distance, lies down and cries out as she does not want to see her son die. She grasps for breath in the deadly desert heat and then Genesis 21:17 says, "And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, 'What ails you Hagar? Fear not for God has heard the lad where he is alone. Lift up the lad and hold him with your hand…' (v19) then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink."
God gave her a life-giving miracle and that desert became known as the Desert of the God Who Sees Me. I am speaking specifically to you single moms who feel like you have been sent away to seemingly die: rejected by a mate, family, society or even maybe a group of so-called friends. You feel alone. You feel that you don't fit. You feel that you have been abused and probably truly have. You worry about what the future holds for you and your children. You carry the spiritual load alone. You feel you are in a desert.
Please let me encourage you…if you cry out to God, He will hear you. If you know Him as your personal Savior, and if you totally surrender yourself to Him and His care, He will be your watering well. His Word will be your Bread of Life. Your prayer time/communion with Him will be your wellspring of joy!
God has never promised that life would be easy but He promised He would never leave us nor forsake us. I always told our daughter LaDawn, "If you love God with all of your heart, soul and mind and serve Him, He will always take care of you…I guarantee it." And…He has. Call upon God. He will open your eyes, heart and spirit to a life-giving well. Never forget…He loves you and cares for you!