Hello, my name is Erika

Hi…my name is Erika and I’m a runner and a pretty good friend, I mean….I don’t always write or call…but I think of my friends on a regular basis. Ugh….I’ll try again.Hi my name is Erika and I’m a mother and instructor of two boys ages 6 & 7.  Nope, take three.

Hi, my name is Erika and I am the wife of an air force man for the last eleven and a half years.  Bleh….well….Who are you?

This year in my Bible study we had the privilege of reading Revelation.  One of the women said, “I wish this was the very first book I read in the Bible!”  I felt the same way.  There is a recurring theme of perseverance through incredible difficulty.  Our leader liked to say, “Watch the Lamb, and walk in victory.”

As mothers we can relate desperately to a need for perseverance.  We have diapers to change, meals to cook (healthy, balanced, or even specialized), clothes to wash (Do you even separate them or do you throw everything in together like me…trust me I know better, Momma taught me…but that’s too much work most days.), doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping, other jobs, friendships to maintain, husbands to be cared for, throw in deployments or business trips =  single parenting, and we haven’t even touched our Bibles yet.

Motherhood is “a marathon of endurance.” (Hope for the Weary Mom, 56)

“We are moms.  We are called to love well and be faithful.  And there is nothing easy about doing these two things for what adds up to a lifetime.” (HFTWM, 57)

I was looking through a stash of encouraging quotes that I’ve written down for this journey of motherhood and this is one of my favorites:

“Perseverance is not the result of our determination; it is the result of God’s faithfulness.  We survive not because we have extraordinary stamina but because God is righteous, because God sticks with us.” (author unknown)

This is the big picture.  This isn’t a feat to be accomplished under our own strength.  1 Peter 4:11 says, “…whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.  To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen.”

He has called us to motherhood and he will provide the strength and as he does this our lives will bring glory to our Savior.

I love how Peter continues this thought in the next two verses to say don’t be surprised by fiery trials but rejoice to share in Christ’s sufferings.  I don’t know about you but I’m frequently surprised by hardship and I find it hard to rejoice in suffering.  These moments provide a crucial opportunity to meet intimately with our Savior.

Look to Jesus, cry out to Him, Watch the Lamb and walk in victory.

C.S. Lewis says, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” These hardships cause us to lean into our source of strength and find our hope in Christ alone.

At the end of all of the trials and tribulations that Job went through he says this of the Lord in Job 42:5, “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”  When we walk through hardship with God we get to experience him in a very intimate way, in a way we never could have in the easy of life.

I loved the quote on page 62 of Hope for the Weary Mom that said, “I think He allowed them to feel real hunger so he could feed them and be their provision.  He wanted to be their source.  Daily they gathered bread and meat and were fed by their God.”

He is our only source of satisfaction that will last.  If we build everything in our lives on Him as our true, strong, thick foundation, then and only then can we satisfy the deep aching in our souls.

As mothers we need to ask God to help us desire and seek him.  Psalm 63:1, “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you.  My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”

Ask him for this level of desire for his presence.

We need to stay committed to seeking God.  Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Jeremiah 29:13, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”

Hi, my name is Erika, and I am a daughter of the Most High God, called to live my life through the strength and power that only God can provide.  I will watch the Lamb and walk in victory.  He is enough and I am enough in Him.  I am running with endurance the race that has been set before me.  He equips me to live in a way that is pleasing to him, and convicts me when I fall.  He is a good, good Father and I am loved by Him!

Who are you?  How will you run the marathon of motherhood that is set before you?