I read Surprised By Motherhood: Everything I Never Expected About Being a Mom, a memoir by Lisa-Jo Baker, while on the way home from a family getaway at the beach…cut short because of a stomach flu.
We spent more time packing for a family of six, and driving 2 1/2 hours each way to and from the hotel on the beach in St. Augustine, FL, than we did at the actual beach.
The only night we stayed became the second night I’d been awake with another child, who caught the bug. This time, there were six of us crowded in one room, with the sick one curled-up on an air mattress beside my bed. I went through the wash, rinse, repeat cycle with the hotel ice-bucket as our catch-bowl.
Though I was exhausted from a second night with little sleep, my little Ava, who wasn’t the sick one, was excited about the beach. I knew we’d be leaving soon, so I took her down for a little while…just after sunrise.
I savored the little bit of morning I got to spend there — listening to worship on my phone speaker, seeing her play…surprised by motherhood.
Surprised by how weak and weary I feel at times.
Surprised by how the strength in me rises up.
Surprised by how how hard it can be.
Surprised by how much love and joy can be found.
Surprised by how it reveals the very worst in me.
Surprised by how it reveals the very best in me.
Surprised by how God has used it to change me.
I finished the book, Surprised by Motherhood on the ride back home, which included a stop to urgent care for a painful, infected spider bite my husband needed antibiotics for. There were all sorts reasons I could have been miserable on the ride home. But there were all sorts of deep and good workings of my heart happening after reading Lisa-Jo’s story.
God has used, and will continue to use, Lisa-Jo’s words and her story to help me see mine differently — the dark, lonely places a little brighter knowing He’s really been there in all of it, and He has a purpose for it all.
This book has felt like God’s tender love, words given as a balm to a wounded, weary soul, a light to a path I’d been paralyzed with fear to continue down, strength as joy to keep going…
Because, I see a little clearer how He works, and how He weaves.
Joy in motherhood has come slowly for me. Selfishness still twists me up in a knotted mess at the up-teenth interruption in a span of 5 minutes…at the scattered remains of confetti-cuts of paper made by tiny hands practicing using scissors that I swept up twice already…at the “what did this child eat, because she won’t go to sleep?… and I-just-need-time-to-breathe nights.
But, what is worse than my selfishness is the guilt I carried for feeling this way. And what Lisa-Jo has reminded is that it’s okay. I am human, but I still love my children, fiercely, tirelessly, passionately. I still show up everyday fighting for my children’s hearts and their souls and their future and their present.
I still stop to look into their eyes listening to the chatter about Instagram images, about teachers that make no sense, about what dreams may look like today, about what outfit to wear tomorrow, about princesses and rainbows and Minecraft and dirt-bikes, when I know the minutes I have are few and the next thing I had to do, let alone want to do, will have wait again.
“There is no part of our everyday, wash-and-repeat routine of kids and laundry and life and fights and worries and play dates and aching budgets and preschool orientations and work and marriage and love and new life and bedtime marathons that Jesus doesn’t look deep into and say, ‘That is Mine.‘” — Lisa-Jo Baker, Surprised by Motherhood
A few days after I turned the last page of her book, I got to tell Lisa-Jo, in person, what it meant to me. How it felt like a warm blanket around my soul. How it felt like I could come just as I am, and rest a while as long as I needed.
And, I thanked her. It was then she graciously, lovingly signed a book for me, and one for you. I have one to give away.
UPDATED:
The giveaway has ended and the winner is announced on the bottom of this post. Thank you to all who participated.
But before you do, here’s to the mothers…“YOU ARE BRAVER THAN YOU KNOW. “ Listen to Lisa-Jo’s beautiful voice telling you herself. (Email subscribers, click here, for video.)
BUY THE BOOK
Surprised by Motherhood: Everything I Never Expected about Being a Mom
For the exhausted, amazing, resilient, remarkable, run-down mama who needs a reminder — motherhood isn’t about meeting impossible parenting expectations, but about the wonder and joy that can be found in raising children, and how we are changed through it.
“…it’s about what motherhood prepares us for while we are busy preparing for it — how a new identity brings new meaning for our future and a new appreciation of our past…”
It’s so beautifully obvious to me that Lisa-Jo’s book, her words, her influence, the platform God has given her, is for His great purpose, because of how she’s giving back.
“There’s a whole community of kids who would tell you that there is nothing ordinary about being a mom. Especially when you don’t have one.”
“What if 1 blog community could build 1 South African community a safe place for sustainable food, child care, economic empowerment, job skills trainings, a gathering place for church, classrooms for HIV/Aids education, and a playground for their kids?”
Click HERE to learn more and to give.
Email subscribers, CLICK HERE, to enter giveaway.
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