I’ve noticed that the hardest suffering for many women has to do with mothering, in multiple ways. Mothering starts with the anguish of labor, yet it’s mingled with joy (John 16:21). In the sacrificial love required, exhaustion of child-care, and continual seeking of God’s wisdom, we sometimes suffer in mothering our growing children. And how prone we are to worry about them! As older mothers, we also endure loss and grief as we release them into their own adult lives… which inevitably will include their losses, trials, and hardships. Our suffering as mothers may also come from an empty womb, a child’s death in the womb, or illness and death of a child. Mothering spans the depths of pain, mingled with the heights of joy.
Sisters in Christ, so many of you have shared with me about your particular suffering: a burden for your wayward children. We ache and fear for our children when their soul-journey seems to be rebellion against rather than love for Christ. This is painful and pervasive suffering for so many of you. So, where do we go?
Perhaps into remembering our omnipresent God.
It is into all of this suffering, that I’m resting in God’s omnipresence when I think of this generation. Sisters, He’s with us in the mothering, and He is with all of these dear children. We don’t want our children to suffer; we also yearn for their salvation and growth as those “in Christ.” Let’s remember together that all of our children (and grandchildren and others we love) are in God’s presence, right now and into the future.
My omnipresent God
God is omnipresent. He’s everywhere, always there, outside of what we consider as time or place. He is “the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13), infinite in all ways. When we consider His all-knowing, always wise, sovereign goodness and love, it’s so comforting to know that the Lord is also always present. When we pray for our children, we’re praying to the everlasting and Almighty God who is omnipresent.
This week, I’m not only singing this to God who is with me, but I’m replacing the word “me” in this hymn, with the names of my children and grandchildren. Will you join me?
Our children are in the hands of the omnipresent God
We can’t be with the kids all the time and everywhere…but God is! As their Creator, He knows their every move and every thought and is surrounding them with His presence (Ps. 139). Even in scary and dark places. Put a child’s name here! “Where shall (name) go from your Spirit? Or where shall (name) flee from your presence?” (Ps. 139:7).
Since sin entered this world in Genesis 3, we know evil and suffering are part of this earthly life. Our inborn sin makes us want to hide from God’s presence (Gen. 3:8). Our sin makes us doubt the One whose “eyes…are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Prov. 15:3), who looks from His heavenly throne on each of us, always (Ps. 33:13-14).
God knows every secret sin in every single heart (Psalm 90:8). Beloved, a child you love may be running from Him right now, but He is right there!
God is right there!
We know that this omnipresent One is the same God of grace who runs after His one lost sheep (Luke 15:4). He is the Father who runs to lavishly embrace His prodigal son and always loves His proud and self-righteous son, both always belonging to Him, yet walking in sin (Luke 15:11-32). We also can take great comfort in knowing that “the Father has given Jesus authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom [the Father] has given Him” (John 17:2). We can trust in the One who opens eyes and turns hearts to Him when He gives eternal life to His sheep (Prov. 21:1; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18).
When we yearn and pray for our children, we can rest in our God’s loving actions, timing, and purposes in their lives, even if they aren’t aware of His presence right now. Let’s keep praying for those we love with the hymn, using their names.
I need thy presence every passing hour;
what but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.
Seeking Your presence, finding peace in Your guiding presence
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
change and decay in all around I see;
O thou who changest not, abide with me.
God guided the Israelites with His presence. As they wandered through dangers and dust to the promised land, He “went before them by day in a pillar of cloud” and “by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night” (Ex. 13:21). His presence never left them, even in the worst of their suffering. Even in His children’s wandering and continual sin, He never left them.
We need God’s guidance in mothering, knowing He’s guiding our children’s journey, even in their sinful wanderings.
Even in our sinful wanderings.
When the tears and fears in mothering overwhelm, let’s ask the Lord to help us abide in His loving presence (Jn. 15:9), resting there continually, remembering He’s always present with us and the children in our lives.
Seek his presence continually! (1 Chron. 16:11; Ps. 105:4).
Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes:
shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies:
heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee:
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
Praising our omnipresent God
Could praising God be a path toward abiding in and trusting God, precisely because we remember He’s present in all places and events of past, present, and future? Even in today’s suffering in this frightening world, could we find peace as we praise Him into our sad and anxious prayers for our kids and mothering roles?
Solomon praised God’s presence, in wonder:
The Lord exhorts us too!
Come into his presence with singing! (Ps. 110:2 ESV)
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving (Ps. 95:2 ESV)!
Today, let’s praise our always-present God and ask Him to settle our fears there, because He is always present, everywhere…and especially with our children.
You make us full of gladness with your presence (Ps. 16:11 ESV).
I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless:
ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.
Material adapted from Near to God: A Devotional Bible Study of God’s Character in Our Suffering, Lauri A. Hogle. Copyright © 2022, Singing Christ’s Hope.
A playlist to sing to my omnipresent God
This week, I’ve created a gospel-centered playlist to praise our God who is with us and with the kids. We’re praising our Lord for His presence, remembering His presence, and resting in His presence. We’re facing our fears for our children, casting our cares and hardships of mothering on the Lord, and we’re asking Him for grace to walk through it all, in His abiding presence. We’re remembering what Christ has done for us and we’re holding the cross before us, praising Him because our Lord is victorious over sin and death.
If this would bless you, sign up here and I’ll send it to your email as we sing-pray together. This week, I’ve also created printable pictures of this hymn’s lyrics, so we can use the verses to pray for children (or anyone we love!) by inserting their names. I’ve put them in the resource library for email subscribers, praying the Lord will bless each of you through these gifts.
Happy Mother’s Day, sister in Christ.
