To the Mom Who is Tired: Post-Election Chronicles
To the moms out there who are struggling.
Who are just getting by.
Who are hanging on by their very last thread.
I see you. God sees you. & we will get through this season.
I expected our state to have different news today. I was looking forward to our children having normal lives again. Being able to return to school and outdoor activities. I was looking forward to mandates slowly lifting. But right now, that is just not the case.
I can picture moms just wanting to scream at the tv right now and wonder what went wrong. You had to leave your job to teach your children at home. Your finances are wrecked and your bills are piling up. It seems like every day just gets harder and harder. I see you.
You are a foster parent. The state shutdown has completely altered the life of your child/children. A child who has experienced trauma yet was doing so well with routine. Now, they (still) cannot have in-person visits with their family. They are triggered by past experiences every day as you try to navigate the best you can. They get easily agitated by staring at a computer screen for 6 hours vs. being in school with their friends. I see you.
You take your kids to a drive-in trunk or treat for Halloween and they don't understand why they cannot get out. Their favorite carnivals, fairs, and Thanksgiving events are all canceled and they just want to understand why. You are at a loss for words because you don't know what to tell them. I see you.
You are the parent of a teenager. You held your daughter while she cried because her homecoming dance, sports season, and prom were canceled. She doesn't understand why she cannot take driver's ed so that she can get her driver's license. She will have to wait until it is safe to be a normal teenager again. Momma, I see you.
After working so hard for years and earning scholarships, you moved your freshman college student into her home-away-from-home with pride... only to have to move her back home weeks later. I see you.
You are tired. You are drained. You don't have much left. You wonder if you are doing a disservice to your children because you don't know how to teach them common core or geometry or calculus. You wonder if they will be ready for next year with the education they are receiving today. I see you.
You had a glimmer of hope that this would "all be over soon" and now that hope has faded. I see you.
You are grieving the childhood your baby/babies SHOULD be having. I see you.
As a mother and peds nurse, I am mourning for our children. I see, every day, how the state shutdowns and pandemic are affecting our children. It is not what you would think, either. To my knowledge & since the very beginning (March), we have had 0 children hospitalized for COVID where I work. What I am seeing is behavioral concerns, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and eating disorders. I am on the other end of the phone when a mother is nearly in tears because she hasn't slept in a week. Her child is not the same. Her child, once thriving, is now on ADHD medication. Her young child now has anger issues. Her child now will not eat. Her young child is now showing signs of depression and needs counseling (hope you like virtual). These are not hypothetical situations. They are real.
Thankfully, my children are in daycare so their lives have not been terribly disrupted. But the situations of our local families weigh heavily on me. I am in a uniquely hard season right now with many different things hitting me all at once.
Like you, I feel exhausted.
I feel at loss.
I feel confused and tired.
I wonder how long this season will last.
& if I am strong enough to carry my children through some of it.
I know the beautifully blanketed advice would be "Don't rush the season. Learn from it." But like many, this is a hard, hard season. It's hard to change our perspective when we are in the middle of the storm. It is hard to see the end in sight when we are hit with wave after wave.
We may be living in an uncertain time but as Christians, we have hope. Not the "I hope so" or "hopefully" kind of hope. But we, as children of God, have assurance and confidence that God is who He says He is. If He is the giver of life, the Alpha & Omega, the beginning and end... He knows the future. He knows exactly who our country and states have voted for.
The outcomes will be of NO surprise to Him. I have heard some say that "God's Will" will be done, always. That the elected officials will be God's chosen leaders. But I am not confident. I know that even though God is supreme and sovereign, He is also a gentleman. He will not override our free will. He will not make decisions for us.
BUT, if we make a wrong decision or get lost going down the wrong path, He is ALWAYS there to get us out of it. Always. Our detour didn't surprise Him. Our stubbornness didn't surprise Him. The division of this country didn't surprise Him. Nonetheless, we should pray for our leaders and that God will be lifted up through them.
The pandemic caught us off guard. The elected governor caught ME off guard. But not God. So with that said, I can assure you that even though we don't know the answers.... our Father does. & He will not let us suffer for long. He loves us. He loves our children. They were His first. As we work out twists of our "new normal", we can pray for heavenly wisdom and knowledge. We can work on spreading love and not hate. We can work on steering people towards our Father and not away from Him. There are SO many good things we can do in this hard season. I kind of want to pinch myself while typing this because I should really take my own advice.
Just know, that you may be down in the trenches now but God is with you. All of us mothers and parents are with you. We are all in a trench, just a different one. Each trench is unique and dug a little different than the one beside it. As we stand in the trenches, I encourage you to follow the example of many in the Bible.
[[I am talking to myself when typing this too...]] When you are standing in a trench, stretch your arms out to God. There is something about the stretching of the hands. It symbolizes surrender and trust in our Lord. It is a way of saying "God, I have done all I can do. I need you to do the rest now."
I actually wrote a blog about this but didn't post it. It seemed unfinished. But check out the book of Exodus. Before almost every plague, God commanded Moses or Aaron to "Stretch out your hand over Egypt." God uses words like "stretch out" or "toss" or "confront" in Exodus while battling hardships. He asked Moses to stretch out his hands over the sea and the waters departed.
In Mark 3, Jesus healed a man with a shriveled hand. He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so & his hand was restored.
I am sure if you looked into this pattern in the Bible, you would find many more instances where someone was rescued, healed, or restored after the lifting of their hands. After surrender.
I don't know all of the answers. & I know it is hard. It is hard to praise God when you don't see improvement. You don't see your prayers getting answered. You may even wonder if God is really listening. I have even caught myself asking that.
But I know that when we are at our lowest point of the trench, we are the closest to our promise. I know that God's promises are yes & amen. I know that He is here. He doesn't leave us. His presence is not dependant on our feelings. Just as this top picture suggests (a quote by Pastor Jeff in our 11-1-20 service), our seasons will change. Our God will not change.
If I can leave you with anything, I want to leave you with hope.
Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.
We are to hope confidently and trust God in every circumstance. We are to hope with EXPECTATION! Expect God to move in your situation because He will.
No... this election will not catch God off guard. He has already made provisions and has worked everything out for our good. We just have to "stand still" & "listen". (Yes, I know.. that's a hard one!) If we have faith that God will make everything right, we will no longer have to bear the weight ourselves.
Keep fighting the good fight, momma.
I see you.
God sees you.
You. are. not. alone.
May His favor be upon you
& a thousand generations
Your family and your children
and their children
and their children
His art collection expresses Christian messages beautifully.
Comments
Post a Comment