Strength in the Struggle – A Mother’s Journey with God
By: Leslie Tydd
It’s 3am, and my seven-month-old baby boy is sleeping. I’m 38 years old and have a beautiful husband. I’ve travelled the world, have had life experiences good, bad, and ugly. I babysat when I was younger and was heavily involved with my niece’s upbringing.
Yet, nothing really prepared me for motherhood.
I grew up hearing that God will not give you more than you can handle. While I could recite it from memory, it didn’t really feel like I could handle it.
I wasn’t looking for cheap thrills and quick fixes—I needed some deep-down soul food. So, I found myself searching the scriptures and crying out, “God, I need your help!”
There, in those quiet moments, living off 3-4 hours of sleep, with stained clothes, messy hair, and tear-streaked cheeks, gazing at the most wonderful little face, I found myself recalling God’s promises on my life, such as Lamentations 3:22-23 – “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
I wish I could tell you that after reading those words, everything changed, and I didn’t struggle anymore, and God took away my challenges. But that’s not what happened.
What I needed in those moments was to know that God could see me, that He was aware of what I was going through. And while I felt forgotten by the world, He had not forgotten me. What I needed wasn’t rescue; I needed faithfulness. Just like my child didn’t need some special super-human display, he just needed me to be faithful in my efforts as a mother—and that is what I needed from my good Father: faithfulness to give me what I needed in each and every moment.
The Faithfulness That Carries Us
It was this hope that helped me talk back to the devil when he tried to steal my motherhood joy away. The exhaustion, the frustration, the doubts—they don’t define this season. Motherhood is hard, but it’s also sacred—a unique season where we can experience God’s steadfast love, mercy, and faithfulness in new and profound ways.
God reaches us on any and every level we are at, especially motherhood. When I felt worried and anxious, I remembered that God sees me, cares for me, and will provide what I need. I can rest from my fears and anxieties, handing them to Him. Just like so much of motherhood is rinse and repeat, when we find ourselves worrying again, we simply go back daily to God in prayer and dependence, surrendering ourselves and our situations to Him.
Motherhood: A Sacred Awakening
Motherhood has helped me wake up to myself and has also awakened my faith in God—believing more deeply in His word and seeing that in it, He has given us all that we need. And a little bit of coffee always helps too.
Happy Mother’s Day, you Warriors! Keep on keeping on and give it to God.
Article supplied with thanks to Rhema 99.7.
Feature image: Canva
