If you would rather listen, I have recorded this post for you!
Too many times I have collapsed into bed, especially as of late, feeling as though I have nothing to show for my mind numbing exhaustion.
Can you relate?
Maybe it’s because we live in a culture that doesn’t put a high value on mamas who stay at home, but I can feel a need to be validated in what I do all day.
My husband walks through the door at the end of the day and I want to give him a report on everything I accomplished that is now no longer in existence.
“The living room was just clean!”
“There was fresh bread!”
“I did fold that laundry before the babies got into it”.
It feels a bit like if no one knows, then it didn’t happen.
The housework is already undone. The fresh bread has been hacked by a toddler (it’s surprising how well you can dig in with a butter knife when you really want the centre of a loaf).
The kids might not remember what we learned.
“Guys, tell Daddy about Story of the World today!”
Blank faces stare back at me.
“You know…Otto Von Bismarck…” I coax.
Still not much.
It was in this state of feeling like no one saw, no one knew, no one appreciated me that God took me to the story of Hagar.
The woman who was used by her masters, left as a single mom in the middle of no where with her son, with no provisions and no hope.
But right in the middle of her crisis, God showed up. He spoke to her. He promised her a future. He provided for her and her son.
And then this happens (Genesis 16:13 NIV):
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
You are the God who sees me.
The God who saw her there in the desert. In her hurt. In her desperation. In her discarded state.
He saw her.
He looked down from heaven and he met her.
And it changed everything for Hagar.
Can I tell you something mama? This has changed everything for me too.
He is not just the God who saw Hagar.
He is the God who still sees. Who is actively “seeing”. Who keeps on watching and noticing and acting.
He is the God who sees you.
When I have nothing to “show”, tangibly, for my day, I hear the Lord whisper: I am the God who sees you.
And I know. I know that he saw it all. He saw the moments that I was patient and calm. He saw the moments when I was frustrated. He saw when I cut up all the veggies in a pursuit of health for my family. He saw me pull the loaves from the oven (maybe he even smelled it too). He saw me get up with the baby for the fifth time.
He sees what no one else gets to see in its purest form. Not my husband. Not my readers. Not my children. Only El-roi: the God who sees.
He sees my life. And it is my worship to him. My imperfect, messy and mostly unknown-to-the-world living sacrifice. My true worship. Given in secret to the One who sees me.
Recently I spoke harshly to my husband at 4:30 in the morning after multiple children had us up for hours. And I while I knew it hurt him and I needed to repair our relationship, I was most devastated because the Lord had saw it. This had been a chance to continue serving him unseen, loving my babies where they were at. And I missed that chance.
Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.
Roman 12:1 TPT
Dear mama, this really does infuse every moment with purpose and give us courage to live fully into the moments that are difficult and the ones that are wonderful.
Because he sees it all and he holds it with high value. He loves us immensely and immeasurably and I think that he enjoys being the only one who truly understands every facet of our day, every movement of our heart and every intentional action we make.
He is the God who sees you.
May this comfort you today, in whatever season of motherhood you are in. This our genuine expression of worship.
Jesus, I feel so grateful that you see us. That we are not tucked away in an insignificant role where our lives don’t matter but that they play out before you as worship. I ask that you would infuse each mother reading this today with a sense of peace that you see her right where she is and no detail escapes your notice. Give her strength to do your will Lord. May we be your living sacrifices. In Your name. Amen.
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Thank you for sharing what we feel as mamas. Thank you for the beautiful reminder that God sees all our hard work, even if no one else does!
The hardest part of being a stay at home mom is that everything I do is “undone” so quickly, such a great reminder for today, thank you!