Relinquishing the Super Mom Cape

As I sit down at my kitchen table and look around the room, I am surrounded by card stock pictures, “We Love Daddy” posters and hand print crafts… and honestly, I like it like that. I know it is not the most fashionable of décor and definitely nothing that will make it into the next issue of Southern Living, but it is representative of where we are in life. In so many ways, being a mother and wife defines me; so the scattered toys and sippy cups just come with the territory. Being a mother certainly comes with its challenges, but I feel like most of us would say it brings us the highest level of joy and purpose knowing we are pouring our lives into the little ones God has entrusted to us.

Over the past several years, God has taken us from a family of two to now five with the fifth joining us in January. During this same time, God has been slowly working in Jeff and my hearts to draw us to move somewhere in Latin America for the purpose of sharing Christ. It has been a slow process for me. I am already one who is reluctant toward change, but throw three little wide eyed treasures into the mix and it becomes especially sobering to think of uprooting everything you know and love to move to a new and unfamiliar land. As with any aspect of my Christian walk, God has taken me through baby steps along the way. He has been so good to place hints of what is to come and stirrings in my heart so that I won’t be completely blindsided by new turns in the road. It has been a process of surrender.

Initially it was the surrender of my life to Him back in 1995, but as I have grown He has opened my eyes to new areas that must be handed over. When God started pricking at our hearts toward mission work, it was the aspects of losing my possessions that was especially poignant. I have never considered myself to be overly materialistic and have been beyond content in our meager town home and “coupon clipping” budget, but it was the nostalgic connections that pained me at the thought of leaving behind the items that had helped to shape our home. It seems silly, but our crib is where I laid my babies to sleep and our couch has absorbed the laughter of countless friends. Our bookshelves, though cluttered with toys, hold books that have helped to shape our thoughts and ideas; and our kitchen items have served in helping me prepare and carry food to many hungry mouths. Am I willing to leave these all behind for the sake of Christ? The only answer is “yes.”

With this point of surrender tackled, I walked forward in freedom only to be faced with a new and even more challenging surrender: the surrender of being “Super Mom: Defender of Lilly, Eliana & Josiah” (insert cape and action hero song here). There is something about the "Momma Bear" responsibility of protecting my babies that leaves my knuckles white with tension. The American mom seems especially consumed with this in some ways. We must have the safest car seats, crib bumpers and organic foods; and if we don’t go out to get the latest state-of-the-art inventions we are deemed careless, irresponsible or uneducated. I must confess I have bought into more of this than I probably should, so it is especially difficult when I think about going to a place where car seats are irrelevant as babies ride on their mother’s hip as she weaves thru traffic on a moped or toddlers teeth fall out from poor nutrition and constant candy. Where is the proper balance with merging into this kind of culture? What is truly relevant for my children’s safety and what is merely American and unnecessary? My greater concern though is what kind of sickness will they be exposed to; what kind of violence will my children see and hear; and what kind of spiritual warfare will they encounter? When we returned from a recent mission trip and our oldest started having nightmares and growing anxious each time she laid down to go to sleep, I recognized the beginning of some of the ways spiritual warfare can affect my little ones. As “Super Mom” it would be easy for me to want to shield and protect them from all this, but the truth is I submit to a higher calling than that of “Super Mom.” I am a child of God, and if He calls me to go to a place where I feel powerless to protect my children in many areas, I must take off my cape and mask and hand it over. Don’t get me wrong, I know I am responsible to do everything I can to protect and nurture my children and pray for their safety and development; but I can’t let my inability to fully shelter them keep me from obedience.

Recently, Jeff and I have been slowly memorizing the book of 1 John; and the past three weeks just happened to fall on the verses 1 John 2:15 – 17. 

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

I had always thought of these verses in relation to material possessions, but God has been showing me how they apply to anything we love in this world above Him. If I allow my calling as a mother to be more important to me than my calling as a daughter of God, then I am loving the world and not my Father. I know in my heart that He is a far better protector over my children than I could ever be and loves them far more than I could ever imagine, I just have to put that knowledge into action. So, forgive me if you see me out without my cape and mask; but I am working at turning in my Super Mom attire. This next step of surrender is especially difficult for me, but I am asking God to help me return to what my true role is, simply a servant entrusted with three valuable treasures that He is responsible for keeping.