There’s not a love much stronger on earth than a mother’s love for her children. This, true for me, continues to be felt 23 years after birthing a particular son named Ty. As moms when we give birth to these God given children we seem connected from the very beginning. We seem bonded in a different sort of way than with other family members including our spouses. It’s a difficult thing to explain other than it must be a God-given bond for the purpose of nurturing. Sweet. Strong. We moms will go to great lengths to love on and stay connected with these children of ours.
This love has become very apparent to me over the past 3 weeks with Ty. He is on the mission field in East Asia. It goes without saying that this presents the obvious challenges for a mom that you can assume. Three weeks ago he was in a motorcycle accident on an island in Thailand. At first, it seemed mild. He skyped with me the day after and said he was fine just some stitches in his knee and a scraped up back. We were thankful that it wasn’t worse and that God had spared him. As the days progressed though, the swelling in his knee increased as the wounds healed. He couldn’t bend his leg and the pain was intense. Communication with him was very poor. The only way for us to correspond was when he went to a local coffee shop to get wifi. The connection was very broken and delayed. The coffee shop was filled with people speaking loudly in different languages. As a mom, you know all the questions we ask…a mix of care but also fear. Do you think its getting infected? How is the pain? Do you have fever? Do the doctors speak English? Are you able to understand what they are saying about your knee?” I would get a short message from him like, “Mom, should you try to call our Orthopedist and tell him what’s going on?” Then I would reply and not hear another word from him for a day or two – leaving me hanging. Worry and fear crept in. I longed to hear from him and to be able to communicate with him so I would know how he was and how I could help. I felt as if things might be getting worse and also what permanent effects this might have on his leg. Days went by with no improvement. He began to make his way back to his home in East Asia where he could see other doctors and have tests run. The few times we could text I would ask the Mom questions. I didn’t like the answers he was giving me. I just wanted to do it the way we used to do it when he lived at home – when he was injured in a little league baseball game and I would take him to Children’s hospital and they would patch him up, put him on an antibiotic and then I would take him home, put him in his bed and listen out for him throughout the night. I prayed for him and what God was doing in his life through this, never dreaming or wondering what God was doing in my own life through these circumstances. For about a week the lines of communication were very poor, I was very worried and would long to hear from him. I would ask God to clear the way for connection between us. My undying love for my son felt stronger than it had in a long time. If you are a mom, you understand.
Upon his return to East Asia he was able to get the medical care he needed and we were able to clearly communicate like we once had. I was in a meeting and saw his number back at his apartment in East Asia pop up as an incoming call on my phone. He was home from Thailand. My heart lept…finally! That call I received from him was so very, very sweet. The sound of his voice was like a salve to my mother soul. Finally, we could talk with no delays, calls dropped, no crowds in the background, no hours between sentences. He was okay. I was okay. I was so thankful to be able to connect with him. Clear and crisp – I felt one with him once again.
Ty is still undergoing tests but he is much better. We are able to talk clearly and often about his condition. The day of that first call as I praised God, The Lord spoke to me and said, “Listen, this was not just for Ty, this was for you.” Of course, the normal response for me would be, “Yes, Lord, I know I need to trust You in this.” But today it was something different. As I sat and took the whole picture of Ty’s injury and my feelings to God there was a new message, a sweet message for me. God showed me that just as I had these longings to feel connected with Ty, He also longs to connect with me as His daughter. My mother’s love pales in comparison to my heavenly Father’s love for me. Often my connection with Him is lost, broken, dropped and much of the time there is a lot of noise in the background as we talk. Conversations with Him at times are few and far between. He says to me, “Where are you? I called and you didn’t answer. I spoke to you and you didn’t hear. We weren’t connected for days and I longed to hear from you. I desire to know how you are, hear about your pain. I don’t want you to become infected with the ways of your world down there. If you would come to me I could rescue you and help you heal.” What an amazing message from Jesus to me…so personal…so compassionate. I cried as I realized that the feelings I had been feeling about Ty for the past few weeks were the exact feelings God had for me, only stronger than I could ever imagine.
This particular event in Ty’s life was from God for both of us. I’m grateful to see God’s amazing love for me more clearly through it. As we travel through this life in between the two worlds of Eden and eternity may we see the everyday moments as ways to better see Jesus.
Matthew 26:37
“…how often I have longed to gather you, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”