A mother bears all this weight. Of love that was born with the swell of her changing body. Of responsibility that flooded over the moment she accepted this fragile bundle into her arms for the first time and felt the tug of helpless need and the certainty that another life would be shaped by her own. Of fierce protection that rises from nowhere to transform even the meek into warriors. Of fear and worry and care crashing down with the realization  that the world is not a safe place– so many things a woman cannot control– and it’s one thing to swim for your own life, but another to send a babe afloat into the unknown. It’s humbling to bend under this weight of motherhood. It could be crushing, if you had to carry it alone.

Bowing down under all this weight is where I learned how big is the One who carries me. Because if I cannot trust Him fully to carry me, and bring me safely Home, how can I trust Him to carry my precious little ones, and do all things well for them? Despite the weight, there is peace in knowing that “underneath are the Everlasting Arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27)

Bowing down under all this weight teaches you to shape worries into prayers, and moments into growth opportunities for both of you. Under this weight you learn to feel God’s love and forgiveness and grace. Under this weight you learn just where your limitations and weaknesses lie, and learn to depend on the One who has none. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary…” (Isaiah 40:31), at least enough to get through another day. And when the burden gets so heavy it is breaking your heart, that’s where a depth of worship can grow, when you learn to say “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Sometimes it is miracle enough to “walk and not faint.”

So we keep on, because how could we ever stop?– these children are woven from our own flesh and bone, and fill up our whole hearts. Mothers are meant to carry this weight, and to be carried by the Everlasting Arms, and He says the burden “is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” if we fasten our eyes on the things that are unseen and do not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)