Scripture exhorts the older generation to impart godly wisdom to the next. In a sense, it’s the passing of the baton of faith that each generation might know the wondrous deeds of our mighty God (Psalm 78:4) and grow stronger in their faith.

As a Mother’s Day gift to you, we are passing that baton in the form of a letter. This letter is a compilation of words of wisdom from 18 women who have walked before you in the season of mothering young children. They are now in their 50’s and 60’s with most of their 80 children grown and now giving them a growing number of grandchildren. We pray this will be a great blessing to you…

Dearest Mom,

We represent the faithful “Band of Mothers” — those who have fought the good fight of mothering young children for the glory of God. Just like any faithful warrior, we’ve experienced conquests and victories coupled with setbacks, heartbreaks, and defeats. We’ve absorbed our share of terrible wounds, that while painful when inflicted, we now proudly bear their scars, marks of service to our great Commander in Chief.

We’ve trodden the same battlefield you’re in right now. You may be feeling weary, defeated, confused, or worse, you may even be considering retreating from the war altogether.

Would you allow us the great privilege of coming alongside you — helping you wage this most important war that you might experience great victory on the other side? Consider our words as cool water from our canteen, refreshing and strengthening you to stand your ground and continuing to fight the good fight.

Mom, you may be feeling isolated and alone, but we’ve been observing you on this battlefield. We are acutely aware of the challenges your generation of warriors uniquely face. The stakes are high and we want you to be victorious. We have learned that one of the first lessons of warfare is knowing who your enemies are and becoming well aware of their strategies.

From our vantage point we see your two fiercest enemies as technology and the cultural messages you are being fed. You need to understand that these two foes are working in cooperation to help bring you down.

These enemies are subtle and deceptive. They won’t defeat you with an atomic blast, but rather with small, strategic wounds inflicting you daily until one day you find yourself desperately compromised and too weak to continue fighting — or worse, waving the white flag of surrender.

Your unhealthy relationship with technology and its worldly messages are keeping you mercilessly distracted, busy, lonely, discontented, stressed, and fearful. These enemies drain, weaken, and demotivate you as they tempt you to compare yourself with an image of perfection that doesn’t exist. You must understand that they are relentlessly distorting your worldview.

Daily they feed you lies about your role as wife and mother, subtly telling you that simply and faithfully living out these roles have little to no value — you must have more and do more in order to gain significance and demonstrate real purpose.

Please know these enemies are withholding from you something that is priceless — your ministry in your home. They are keeping you from investing deeply in your family. They are robbing you from the joys of building beautiful lifelong family relationships. They are preventing you from effectively molding the hearts and minds of the next generation, your children. Take heed, resist these adversaries.

May we freely offer you some tried and true strategies to help you win this war with great victory and overcome these mighty foes?

This is what we have lived and learned from being on the field over many years. Some of this might seem counter-intuitive as a battle strategy, but trust us, we’ve been there, we know.

• We urge you to get your eyes off your screens. Engage! Be present! Re-focus your vision on the One who will help you be victorious. Know Him. Spend time with Him. Read and meditate on His Words. Rest in His promises. Make loving Him and obeying Him your highest priority. Reject the unreal, virtual audience and instead seek to please an audience of one, Jesus. Fight for this!

• Pray that He would enable you to do what you can’t do without His help - this is the power of the Gospel for mothering.

• Pray faithfully for the souls entrusted to your care. Consider the warriors of old who stayed on their knees in intercession for their children — some for many years. This is not, nor ever was, in vain.

• If you are trying to wage this war while still bleeding from the wounds of your past, it will be difficult if not nearly impossible for you. Seek God’s help through His Word and from His wise warriors who have gone before you. Make it a priority to get healthy so you can re-engage with strength. We’ve noticed that a parent’s limp from unhealed wounds can be contagious to their children, some call this childhood baggage.

• Let your children witness a godly marriage, so rarely seen today. Let them see you and your husband display the beauty of the gospel as you sacrificially love one another and show affection daily. If you are a single warrior, elevate in the hearts of your children a godly marriage and seek examples for them to emulate.

• Guard and disciple the hearts and minds of your children. Train and nurture them diligently. Take every opportunity to point them to the Lord daily. Build in them a firm foundation of faith. Know that as you are faithfully molding the hearts of your children, the Lord is molding yours. Protect your children from your enemies, technology and worldly lies, until they are prepared to face them on their own. Don’t cloister them away, but carefully curate their life exposure to the world to protect their childhood, innocence, and purity while explaining the world to them, biblically.

• Enjoy your children! Love them. Hug them. Build deep nurturing relationships with them. Rules without relationship leads to bitterness and rebellion. That makes for a bloody civil-war we don’t want you to fight.

• Laugh — and do it often. Let your children witness you being thankful, grateful, and joy-filled for each day on this field. Embrace this calling! Savor it! It is a gift. It is fleeting! Live each day in a quiet confidence that your Commander in Chief will give you the grace and strength to carry out what He has called you to do — again, that’s power of the gospel.

• Be intentional! Live in your moments! Laundry? Dishes? Diapers? Up in the middle of the night feedings? These are divine appointments and your sacred marching orders. Do them with excellence and joy!

• Lastly, strive to be the faithful warrior you want your children to become. You are one of their greatest and most influential role-models.

Thank you for allowing us the great privilege of coming alongside you and strengthening you for this worthy battle!

Our greatest prayer is that one day, as your battle draws to a close you will be able to echo the profound words of the apostle Paul,


We love you! We are praying for you!
Your sisters and “Band of Mothers”

Epilog

In a day perhaps more than ever before, the worth of biblical womanhood is constantly being defaced and slandered. We hope this post served to encourage Christian women in their important role as mother.

Women have been granted a powerful position of influence in the home not to be underestimated. As we thought about the worth and significance of motherhood we were reminded of this 19th century poem, though no theological masterpiece, it nonetheless draws a lovely frame for the importance of motherhood and its potential impact on future lives and societies.

God is sovereign over the world, He reigns and rules over the affairs of men, yet, He may use you, dear mother, to shape a future world leader.