When I became a mother...

"When I became a mother..." is a strange phrase for me to say because I did not really feel that I instantaneously 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 a mother when my first was born.  Of course that is exactly what happened - and I argue that pregnant women have become mothers also.  And yet, there is something more to the work and transformation that happens as a person 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 a mother.  Many of us relate to the panic of realizing you are taking your newborn home from the hospital without any further oversight.

When first you trust the LORD, you immediately become a new Christian, but you also 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 more like Jesus over time through ups and downs as you get to know Him better.  Motherhood is similar - and the 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 of becoming a mother is much more of a labor than I understood at first.  It is part of the magic of the grueling newborn season: not only because through the 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 of a mother you become more motherly but also because just by 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 the role you are able to rise to it.  God gives you a new identity complete with new capacity.  The impossible role becomes possible.

The name "Surefooted Family" comes from several scriptures with the same lines.  "The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights (Hab 3:19, 2 Sam 22:34, Psalm 18:33)."

I LOVE the layers of this concept in various translations: Able to tread upon the heights.  Able to navigate rugged terrain.  Safe on the mountains. 

Another scripture comes to mind: