Doesn’t motherhood give a woman the God-given right to worry? Once you hold that baby in your arms for the first time and realize the weight of your new responsibility, worry seems to bubble up as a natural by-product.

My mom was a worrier “par excellence.” Although she prayed regularly, the mantle of worry about our family never lifted. Even as a child, I realized how often the things my mom worried about never happened. But she experienced a lot of anxiety anticipating the “what-ifs.” I think that’s part of the reason I was so afraid of becoming a mother. I was almost convinced that I, too, would join the ranks of extreme worriers if I became a mother.

Thankfully, as I grew in my relationship with Christ, I realized that worrying no longer needed to be part of my job description. Even as a mom.

Easier said than done some days, I know. 

Here are a few of the lessons I have learned over the last 20 years about how to live as a worry-free mom (most of the time!):

• A child is a gift, entrusted to us from God. We’re responsible to provide care and nurture for a season and love for a lifetime. The best thing I can do with this precious gift is to hold it loosely while appreciating the wonderful value of the gift and the gift-giver.
• Being a good mother is really just one more form of stewardship. Our children aren’t our possessions. We’re called to give them “roots and wings.” They are with us for a season, but ultimately, they belong to God, not to us.
• God created my child and He loves her even more than I do. If I believe that, shouldn’t I also trust Him with the day to day issues of her life? Pray, yes. Worry, no.
• The Apostle Peter was able to get out of the boat and walk on the water as long as he kept his eyes focused on Jesus. When he started looking around at the wind and the waves, he began to sink. That was true for Peter, and it’s true for me, too. 
• When I placed my daughter in her crib for the first time, I paraphrased Hannah’s prayer from 1 Samuel 1:27-28: “I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give her to the Lord. For her whole life she will be given over to the Lord.” I’ve repeated that prayer many times over the last 20 years. 

Last year, I felt as though I had entered a graduate-level program in learning to trust God. My daughter, then a college freshman, felt a very strong calling to take a semester off from school and volunteer at an orphanage in Uganda. Did I have moments of worry? Yup. Did many people think I had lost my mind to let her go? Yup. Was it the right decision? Absolutely! One of the best lessons I learned from that adventure is that there is no safer place to be than the center of God’s will. 

Happy Mother's Day!

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” 

Philippians 4:6-7 The Message