Mighty Is Her Call had the great privilege of hosting a retreat in Kansas this past weekend. Our husbands and children had to brave most of the weekend without us, as we left behind our combined twenty-five children and headed out on the open road. 

As always, the Lord is never outdone in generosity. He took our meager offering, our tired minds and bodies, and he made it a beautiful instrument of his grace and love. He filled us with strength we did not have and allowed the Holy Spirit to speak the message he had for each of us.  

I don’t know why I am ever surprised by his faithfulness, because he is always faithful, but what I left the weekend most aware of was the great joy he takes in us, his children. As I wearily opened my eyes on Sunday, only hours after our return, and my children eagerly offered their homemade cards, and coffee, and gifts in celebration of Mother’s Day, I delighted in every precious gift, every misspelling, every enthusiastic show of affection. How much more does the Lord delight in his children? All day Saturday, as I spoke to these warrior mothers living in the trenches, those who, like you, are pouring out their lives for the Kingdom of Heaven, I had a profound sense of the great joy each one of them brings to their Father. We can often feel that our sacrifice and constant pouring-out goes unseen or unappreciated. After all, Mother’s Day is only one day a year. But our Father in heaven sees us and delights in the work of our hands! The God who counts every hair on our heads, who catches our tears in a jar, this is the God we love and serve. 

May is a time of year so full of the chaos of life. We are often overwhelmed with obligations, final projects, final games and banquets, not to mention the looming question of what we will do with our children all summer. Many of us are watching childhood end and adulthood begin for our children, or facing a last summer with a college-aged child on the cusp of “real life,” or perhaps our baby is suddenly a rising kindergartner. Spring and summer often bring with them endings and new beginnings and through all of it, as with all seasons of motherhood, we are letting go. But as you do that, as you loosen your grip and continue to say “yes” to the Lord, remember that the love and joy you feel when you look at your children is just a glimpse of what the Father feels for you. The Lord delights in you and treasures all that you have given him! Rest and be at peace in the bosom of your loving God.