Happy Mother’s Day

Today’s Daily Bible Reading is Proverbs 31:10, “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:28 says, “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.” I thought these verses were appropriate for Mother’s Day since it is a day to show honor and appreciation to our mothers for who they are and all they have done for us.

One of the greatest gifts that God gave us, besides the gift of salvation through His Son, is the gift of life and love through our mothers.

Mother’s Day is supposed to be a day of celebration, but for many people, it is a day of remembrance, a day of sadness. As you celebrate Mother’s Day with your family be sensitive to those whose mothers are no longer with them.

Mother’s Day may also be a time of grief for those who have lost children or those who want to have children but haven’t been blessed in that way.

There may be those who are estranged from their children or mothers for one reason or another and so Mother’s Day is sad for them.

Celebrate your mother and enjoy your family, but understand that days like Mother’s Day are hard for some people. Be gentle with them.

My emotions run from one extreme to the other on Mother’s Day and the days surrounding Mother’s Day. Missing my Mama, mother-in-law, and grandmothers are really hard for me since they have all passed away already.

Then there are the feelings of being really blessed to be married to the man God blessed me with as my husband, who loves me unconditionally. We are blessed to have two beautiful daughters, whom we love dearly.

We wondered if we would ever have children. For many years Mother’s Day was hard for me because I wanted children so badly, but had not been blessed with them yet.

We were married eight years and had two miscarriages before we finally had our girls. We are also blessed to have six precious grandchildren who are all special in their own way.

If you were not blessed to be raised in a Christian home with a mother who loved you unconditionally, you can know this kind of love through the unconditional, sacrificial love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

All things considered, Mother’s Day is a good day to celebrate through all the laughter and tears. I am thankful for all the people God placed in my life to mold me and make me into the person I am today. I hope it’s a good day for you and your family. I wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day. I love you. May God bless you!

Things to think about:

What is your best childhood memory of your mother?
What is one word that you would use to describe your mother?
What is the most important thing that your mother taught you?
What are you most grateful for concerning your mother?

Prayer of the Day:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day to honor the mothers in our lives. Help us to show our love and gratitude for our mothers. Comfort those who have lost their mothers with sweet memories today. We also ask that you comfort those who wish to be mothers, but haven’t been blessed with children yet. Thank you for the gift of children and grandchildren. Thank you for our mothers. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Daily Bible Verse:

Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. – Proverbs 31:28

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Music Video: A Song for Mama

Featured Book:

Proverbs 31: Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman

by Deborah H. Bateman

About the book:

Proverbs 31: Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman is a Daily Bible Reading Study of Proverbs 31 by Deborah H. Bateman. Proverbs 31 is thought to be a letter from Bathsheba to King Solomon, who is called King Lemuel in this Scripture.

In Proverbs 31: Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman Bible Study we consider all the things women do and where they can find strength and wisdom for their lives. This is a six lesson Bible study that would be great for individual or for a small group Bible study.

In this Bible study, you will learn what it means to be a virtuous woman and how we can honor God through our service to our families, our community, and to God.

For those of you interested in Bible journaling, I suggest you pick your favorite Bible verse from each lesson and journal about it. This will be a great reminder of the lessons you learn as you read and study this book.

Go to: Amazon

Get your copy now!

My books are available anywhere you find Amazon, not only in the US. So, if you live somewhere other than the US look for my books on your Amazon by searching for Deborah H. Bateman.

Wishing you and your family a Happy Mother’s Day!

Have a blessed day,

Deborah

Recipe for Life

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God’s Timing is Perfect

I wanted to share with you about one of the trials of my life. I started praying for a Christian husband when I was a teenager, even though I was much too young to get married. I actually dated my husband for the first time when I was sixteen and he was twenty. I was too young and immature so we just had one date and that was it.

About two years later he called me and we started dating and six months later we got married. Things have not always been easy. With our love for each other, our faith in God and our determination to stay together we have now been married for over forty years.

We were only been married for a few months when we decided we wanted to have children, but that was not God’s plan for us at the time.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

It took us two years to get pregnant. We were so excited. We had been trying to get pregnant for two years and now we finally were expecting a baby. At three months we had a miscarriage. We were heartbroken.

I experienced so much emotion. I felt like there had been a death in the family and there was, except I felt like I was the only one mourning it. It was a very sad time for me. I would get upset when I found out other people were pregnant, especially if I thought they did not deserve to be. I acted like I was a judge. Who was I to judge who did or did not get pregnant? It was not up to me. God is the giver of life.

The doctor told us to wait a few months before trying to get pregnant again. We did, but had no idea that it would take so long. I went through all kinds of emotions over the next few years. It took us four years to get pregnant the second time. We were excited this time too, but a little apprehensive. We were scared we would miscarry again. Sure enough after three months we miscarried for the second time. We were heartbroken all over again.

We will always love and remember those two little ones. We lost both of them in the month of March, so every year we talk about how old they would be if they had lived. They will have a place in our hearts and lives forever.

This time the doctor did not tell us we had to wait. I am sure he thought that he did not have anything to worry about since it took so long before. The next month we got pregnant for the third time. We were scared the whole time. We were afraid to get excited. We had been hurt before and did not want to get hurt again. Once we passed the three-month time-table we started to relax a little.

We finally gave birth to our first daughter after eight years of being married and trying to get pregnant most of that time. God finally blessed us with a child. Four years later we had our second daughter. God completed our little family. Our two daughters are both grown now and God has blessed us with five grandchildren. God makes everything beautiful in His time.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”

I would love to tell you that life has been a basket of roses since that time, but we have had other trials to face. One thing I can tell you for sure, that no matter what trials we had to face, God has always been there to see us through them all.

We have learned so many lessons over the years. We learned that things don’t always happen when we want them to happen. We learned that God’s plans are not always the same as our plans. We have learned that God is faithful to His children.

We learned that God’s timing is perfect. #DeborahHBateman

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We learned that God works all things together for good in our lives.

Romans 8:28, KJV, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

If you have experienced infertility and miscarriage as we did, ask God to help you with all the emotions that come along with a loss of this kind. Ask God to comfort your heart. He loves you and only wants the best for you. I know it might not seem like it at the time, but He does love you. Give the situation over to God and ask Him to help you deal with it. Ask God to show you His will in your life. Ask God to help you accept His timing for your life.

My prayer for you is the same as Paul’s prayer for the Philippians in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

I pray that God will meet the need that you have in your heart to have a child. I realize that this is a desire that most women have in their lives, even though not everyone is able to have children. But, there are other options such as adoption and foster care for those who want to make a difference in a child’s life while filling their need to have a child to love in their home.

May God richly bless you!

Maybe this is not the need you have in your life. Maybe you have a need in another area. Remember the same principles apply, God love you and wants the best for you in your life. Turn your cares and concerns over to Him and let Him carry you through this time in your life.

Have a blessed day,

Deborah

God’s Timing is Perfect was originally published on Still Birthday at:http://stillbirthday.com/2011/09/04/gods-timing-is-perfect/