245. Motherhood Series, Part 1

We explore motherhood as God's tangible love on earth, diving into biblical examples from Eve to Sarah to understand the divine purpose behind being a life-giver. Through personal stories and spiritual insights, we unpack how motherhood reflects God's character while acknowledging there's no perfect way to mother.

• Motherhood defines women's unique ability to partner with God in creating life
• The name Eve means "life-giver," showing God's intentional design for women
• Sarah's story demonstrates God's faithfulness even in seemingly impossible situations
• Motherhood extends beyond biological connections to include various forms of nurturing
• Prayer becomes the foundation of motherhood, whether by choice or necessity
• God remains faithful to mothers despite their imperfections and doubts

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Motherhood Discussion
• 5:21 Defining Motherhood Beyond Dictionary Terms
• 11:15 Eve: The First Life-Giver
• 14:26 Sarah's Story: Faith Through Impossible Seasons
• 22:36 Imperfection and God's Faithfulness in Motherhood
• 26:03 The Humble Journey of Motherhood

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:08

Welcome to the Call by God podcast. I am the co-host, adni Godin, and today we are having an amazing discussion on motherhood. It will be myself, lakeisha Logan, which y'all know her as Lakeisha Hicks, because the last time she was on here and we recorded she was Lakeisha Hicks. And then we have Sister Kimberly Hernandez, who is no stranger to the Called by God podcast. Good afternoon, my sisters. How are y'all doing?

Speaker 2: 1:39

Oh we are, I'm excited, I'm excited, I'm wonderful.

Speaker 3: 1:43

Yes, same here, definitely blessed and kept. It's a pleasure being here.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Amen, amen, amen. All right, so we're about to have a discussion on motherhood. I went online, right, I'm going to give you all the Webster's Dictionary version, but I want each of you to share what your definition of motherhood is after I'm done with reading it. So Webster says motherhood is the state of being a mother. A person enters into motherhood when they become a mother. This most commonly happens when their child is born, but it can also happen through adoption, or by marrying or becoming a partner to someone with children. Motherhood is a gender specific version of the term parenthood. Who wants to go first of the term parenthood?

Speaker 2: 2:34

Who wants to go first? When I just heard the part about the gender-specific, I'm like, oh, we about to open up a can of worms. Oh, father gosh, I'll go first If you don't mind sis, if you don't mind sis, if you don't mind sis, if you don't mind sis, if you don't mind what motherhood means to me, and I'll share that because you know, walking through the walk of being at 17 and having an abortion, I understand now biblically why God gave woman life gift life, as our sister Elizabeth Stewart has always taught us, is understanding that we bring birth to something that is amazing for God to repeatedly continue for his glory. So understanding how to cherish this part of being a woman and to watch your child grow, even to beyond adulthood, is amazing. The walk is amazing and the gift is amazing. So I understand it. And then just even studying from biblical times of understanding why women cherish of being honored to be a mother, so I can't wait to dive into this conversation and go further.

Speaker 3: 3:46

That was awesome, sis, to me to define motherhood, and I just said this not long ago to someone that of course, we know that we come in contact with the love of God through every single breath we breathe, every move we make. We cannot do anything without God. God, I feel like motherhood encompasses the love, the person, spiritual, the being of God on earth, and that's why I told someone I said the closest thing that we have tangible love from God comes through a mother, because there is nobody, I don't care how much someone loves you or cherishes you, nobody is going to love you like your mother. Now, there are some deviations to that. Okay, so we're going to keep it real. There are some, you know. It's almost kind of like it says and I'm not saying that this is the context many are called, but few are chosen, just like Lakeisha.

Speaker 3: 4:51

You know you spoke about abortion and sometimes some women give up that right. I don't want to go too far in because I know we're just defining motherhood. Um, god has predestined women and I'm glad you said gender specific, because there are some that has crossed over. And just because you call yourself, that does not mean that's what you are. I can say I'm a duck, but I am not a duck. Okay, I'm a woman, I'm a human being, so I'll digress, but that's what motherhood is to me. Motherhood is that display of God's tangible spirit and love on earth and simple.

Speaker 1: 5:30

I love that you said that, sis, because sometimes we look for love in every single place, right? And your mama is looking at you like baby. If you would just listen to me, if you would just hear what I'm saying to you, right, it's your mother's voice that you hear, but it's God ministering through her to you. Sometimes our ears are so clogged with the world that we can't even hear him speak to us. Because you said, mothers are the most tangible, closest thing to God that we have here on earth. That's powerful Motherhood to me.

Speaker 1: 6:10

Many know my story Three abortions. My first child was born at the age of 14. I didn't want to be nobody's mama at no dang age of 14, let's be honest. But once I saw her, I knew that there was a shift that needed to take place. Did I understand that shift? Absolutely not, because I will always say this and many people don't believe it our brains don't develop until we turn 25. So a 14-year-old little girl having a whole baby does not make her a grown woman, right? So when I think about motherhood, it's the fight that we have for our children, the way we try and support them in the best way that we can and I agree with both women.

Speaker 1: 7:00

Right, motherhood is of God, like you said. Elizabeth said it best Woman comes from life to give life. Eve came from Adam living being and God used her to carry Cain and Abel. Since I said that, let's go ahead and define Eve. Right, it says Eve, and this is from the Strong's definition. It says life or living, the first woman, wife of Adam, shava or chava, and in the hebrew, positively from hebrews, two, two, three, three, one life giver, the first woman. She's our mother.

Speaker 3: 8:04

These are mother Adam, eve, cain, abel, seth, right, and then the line continues. And here we have us human beings. And it's not to compare because, yes, we know, you know there's, there's, like we say, protocol, right, and they are in the facet of business, in the business arena. And so, yes, we know that we have God and then we have, you know, the husband or man, and then the woman. But it just struck me because when you look at Eve and I know we make jokes and say, oh God, that woman, okay, because she was the one that caused the fall, right, but what just blew my mind listening to you was that God is in Christ, is the Alpha and the Omega.

Speaker 3: 8:46

Eve is the representation that God chose woman to participate in the Alpha, even though she was the cause of the fall of man. I think that God's relationship with Eve is amazing because she is representative of the Alpha. God has allowed her to be the alpha where she gives life. And, just like you said, yes, she came from man and she came from a life, but he can't give life. And so I think that that is amazing, even as women and even as we look at Mother Eve, to wrap our minds around the fact and, like I said, it makes me see God in his love for a woman, on his forgiveness for a woman, even though she created the fall, but then his use for a woman and, like I said, eve is to me representative of a part of God, in a sense that she's alpha, because she's where life begins, as a mother that's delicious, right.

Speaker 1: 9:49

Many people will be like, oh, that's blasphemy. But think about it. Think about it. Life began with her. Without her womb, no babies would have been born, right? So I'm going to say something so controversial before we continue. A couple of years ago, there were women who were being kidnapped and killed and their wombs were being taken to be implanted in men. Those men couldn't sustain that womb. Their bodies could not, because you have a certain chromosome. A woman has a certain chromosome. You can't cross-contaminate that, right. So when you try and cross-contaminate, it ain't going to work. So they stopped.

Speaker 1: 10:34

I'm going to say this I love men. I do. Please don't take me as a man basher. I know this is a series on motherhood, but this is in my spirit to say God was so strategic in creating man. God was so strategic in creating man, who you are, the power, the dominion that he has given you. The fact that you have given that up is a testament to the fact that you don't even understand the love of God, to the point where you want to become like me, who bleeds every month as cramps, like it ain't nobody's business, okay. And then, when I hit a certain age, I'm going through perimenopause and figuring out why my body changing. Why would you want to do that? Well, here's the clue you can't even go through that. You can't even experience the full transition of what a woman goes through. The change of life for us is absolutely different than yours, so why? Why would you want to release the identity that God has given you to try and take on mine? I digress, but, keisha, what did you have to say on Mother Eve?

Speaker 2: 11:52

OK, you have said a whole lot, a whole lot with a whole lot. But to go back, I want to say that I commend you because what you said was profound, just acknowledging the fact of who we stand for in our work as a woman and how we are to be more Christ-like, christ-driven, because he made us specifically for this purpose. And even in the downfall with Eve the sin that was the first sin he still gave her a beautiful and I'm just going to say this, it's a beautiful punishment, because it could have been worse. So I'm grateful for that, because he still gave us the pain of child labor, but he gave us the joy of the child, and that temporary, that temporary pain is nothing compared to seeing that life come forth and holding that child and looking at this. And you have to modify, you change your whole world, because you have now birthed something that is really your arms versus what was in your womb, and you're having thoughts, you're trying to figure out what this child will look like, the creativity You're thinking about, you even start planning the future and everything like that. But when that child comes into your hands or in place in your arms or into your bosom, all of those things go out the door. Everything you worried about, everything you were scared of, what you were nervous, even the joy that you're planning down the road, because you change the trajectory when you actually find out what the child is, what's going on, how beautiful this new life is.

Speaker 2: 13:33

So I I definitely want to piggyback on what's going to be said, because that's what made me think about. Is that that that permanent, the permanent pain only lasts for so long because it's going to be permanent, because it's the fact that we're going to, we sustain it, we remember it every time that birthday come around. You're remembering that wound like oh, you carried me nine months. Well, my body changed because of this. So I say permanent in the mindset, but it was temporary pain for nine months for Leslie and for some. And to be able to hold that bundle of joy that is now you know that creation. And how close do we get to Jesus? As women? Do we give life Because he made life, god made life we come to. The next best thing is being able to create life too now. So I think that's just marvelous.

Speaker 1: 14:22

Amen, amen, hallelujah. So now we're going to talk about Mother Sarah, right? So now we're going to talk about Mother Sarah, right? Her name means noble woman. She was the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. When her name was changed, it says princess, noble woman, noble lady.

Speaker 1: 14:39

Why did I choose Sarah? Because after Sarah, after Eve, comes Sarah, right. Why did Sarah have to come next? Because God had a plan. God had a perfect, amazing plan. Here it is. This is a woman who's how old was Sarah? Abraham was 75. He's 10 years older than her. So she was what, right? But God said I have a plan and in that plan you're going to have a unique child because you're going to be. No, I'm sorry, he wasn't 10 years older than her because she was 99 and he was a hundred. So yeah, he was. She was 74. Forgive me y'all, she was 74 when God made the promise to Abraham. And then, at 99, god opens her womb and gives her a son. Now we all know, once the body goes through the changes, ain't nothing coming out. Ain't nothing, I don't care who trying to. Ain't nothing coming about, right, she already went through the changes. Ain't no eggs available. There's nothing right but God. God, in his perfect, omniscient, omnipresent plan, brought a baby forth between Abraham and Sarah.

Speaker 2: 16:51

When I hear about Sarah's story, I'll just tell you this First of all, I'll be like Lord, please, not me. That'll be the first thing I think about. I'm sorry I do. I'll be like Lord, please, please, because I know he's still working on this. I'm just like Father, god, lord, please, not me. But I never know what his plans are.

Speaker 2: 17:12

But I think it's amazing because I look at the fact of what she had, what she put on the line and watching all those around her during that time frame, because motherhood was cherished. Motherhood meant that you, you walked a certain way as a woman. It's a certain classification and so if you think about being at that age, being birthed, you know, first of all you take it as a joke. I believe she did chuckle, so she was like and not in a way of disgrace, it was just like, hey, I can't, you know, I can't even fathom that thought, because that would be me. I can't even fathom that thought of thinking I'm going to chuckle like guy got jokes. I know he got jokes, but to still think of her, even at that age, is amazing.

Speaker 2: 18:01

To still give her glory at that age is amazing, because the simple fact of the matter is that she, she was, um, like I said, a frowned upon because of that classification. Those are the things I take away from that. He still gave her her crown as the princess, like you said, as the value of knowing that she's woman and that she can still have the remaining years of her life to still watch grow, to still be a part, being known that she is whole, because back then, I mean, I have been a mother, you were not considered whole, but that's what I get out of that.

Speaker 3: 18:37

Since that was so powerful, and I'm happy that you mentioned and you tie it back into her name.

Speaker 3: 18:44

I'm happy that you mentioned and you tied back into her name.

Speaker 3: 18:47

And one thing that we know in the biblical times God help us now. But in the biblical times children were named by maybe location, place, circumstance, so for her to carry the name as a noble woman, but then what's happening in her life and what her life mirrors does not equate to nobility and so, but then, just like you said, when I think about Sarah, I think about the faithfulness of God, because so often, as a single mother, as a divorcee which is speaking of myself and others, and I skipped over it in the beginning, but I'm going to touch on it now because when we speak about motherhood, I know Anthony said, you know you may have been married in, but then there are some women that are mothers that have not birthed children. It's not by adoption, but they are motherly, and so whatever that call is that God has placed on you to be a mother, then that's who you are when I think of Sarah and, like you all said, her nobility, her name and knowing how God basically brought honor to her.

Speaker 1: 20:05

Because in her time, you know, you see your brother-in-law, his wife, producing all these kids and you right here just looking pretty because they say she was fine. Like when you read the Bible, they say Sarah was fine, it was gorgeous, right? Why you ain't got no kids. I like to bring it to modern day. When people look at you like what's wrong with you, girl, why you ain't married, why you ain't got no kids, I like to bring it to modern day. When people look at you like what's wrong with you, girl, why you ain't married, why you ain't got no kids. Maybe it's not God's plan yet for me.

Speaker 1: 20:33

I mean, sarah had to wait how many years before she had a son, right? So when I think of her and I sometimes think of her graciousness, that's what I see it's like. Did she get impatient? Yes, think of her graciousness. That's what I see it's like. Did she get impatient? Yes, but she was still gracious. She was still gracious in the sense of it may not have happened for me now, but I'm still going to operate and I'm still going to follow my husband. When Abraham told her baby we leaving, she ain't questioning him, she packed up and she left. To me that is so honorable to know that. Oh, I have to follow this man and in following this man, I think God really saw her heart and understood that she knows, she understands and I'm going to bless her. That's just Adney's version.

Speaker 3: 21:27

Also and I know that you mentioned initially the transitioning from Eve to Sarah, and I always I think that God just makes sure that we, as his children, we always see his grace and, like you said, she was gracious and Keisha said, you know, as mothers, you know the way we walk, the way we carry ourselves. Motherhood is a noble, very noble and humbling set of shoes and steps to take, to take. Sometimes I think that we really don't encompass yes, you know, thank you for Mother's Day, but what a woman gives of herself to walk in those steps and, like you said, etni, to desire that and not have it and have to relinquish to say I'm just going to wait on God. And I have a shirt. I have a shirt that I just wore the other day and it says, um, have faith, trust, pray. And then on the sleeves it says pray, and, and the biggest theme of it is is prayer.

Speaker 3: 22:38

And I don't think any woman, mother, motherly, um, god, mother, grandmother, whatever, if you know anything else, you know to pray. And so when I think of Sarah, I think of, just like you said, being in those seasons of life and wanting something from God and knowing that you've lived a life conducive of God's blessings, but the blessings it has not come. And so when I look at Sarah, I look at, I see us sometimes even as mothers, and we want our children and I'm going a little bit ahead, but we want things of God and motherhood and God don't always show up the way we want him to, and especially not when we want him to. But I think that we learn from Sarah, and even transitioning from Eve to Sarah, that we're going to fall.

Speaker 3: 23:34

There's no perfection in motherhood and I think that sometimes, you know, we may be expected to be perfect, to do everything right, but there is no perfection in motherhood. But yet, and still, even through our imperfections in Eve, imperfections in doubt in Sarah, here comes God's faithfulness, and it was not even predicated on her, but she was a benefactor of that blessing. Yes, he included her in the blessing within time, but God had already set forth and spoke a word that through Abraham there would be many nations, and so I think that it's a beautiful thing. Do we like one? You know, my Bible study teacher said do we just slide into heaven on greasy grace? No, but it's a beautiful thing to know that we can be imperfect women of God and mothers of God and still trust God's love and his faithfulness to still come through and to make good on his promises.

Speaker 2: 24:32

But what Kimmy said was the part of the empathy about being perfect, because there are certain standards in the world that they hold us at what is considered fit and unfit, but God is the only judge, but God is the only judge. God is the only judge. And that's the beautiful part the expectations of what the world sees versus what we are to become, because it is a process. It never came with any type of instruction. We never got instruction of being a parent, of being a mother, and the beautiful part is, like you said, being a mother.

Speaker 2: 25:08

You're going to always be on your knees one way or another, whether you choose to, or whether he humbles you, you're going to always be on your knees, praying for the situation, praying for the child, praying for the protection and making sure that you're staying in alignment with him. And even for those in the world that don't know God, they know to call out to someone to help them in that time of need, even if they just say oh Lord, but they're not realizing. You're calling and he hears you. He hears you. So I thank you, kimmy, for saying that, because that's the thing about it that we don't even realize, even when we say, oh Lord, my back.