Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

EN(dur)ANCE by Robin Gudal

My mother was a strong woman, a trailblazer, an advocate for those whose voice was quiet, a foster parent, a peace activist and a person who loved us well. Blessed be her memory! At times, our relationship was challenging — why would it not be? She was a strong woman who raised a strong woman!

The thing I love about relationships is that if we choose to, we can live in harmony, respect and even grow from those who think, act and live different than what we think is the way.

“We need to decide where to glance and where to gaze. Esther kept her focus and her eyes fixed on God and not her circumstances. It’s easy to divert our attention and our eyes off Jesus and allow them to be fixated on the problems/situations at hand.” — Tana Amen, author

“Trusting God demands that we learn to fix our gaze on him and our glances on our circumstances.” — Mary Southerland, author

Mother’s Day is a day to celebrate for many; for some it is a hard day, a day of disappointment, heartache or yearning. I desire to be sensitive to both groups. This year I find myself in both camps. I am blessed to be a mom; yet, I will not get to celebrate in person with my adult children. It is my first year without my mom. I am blessed to have an amazing mother-in-love, and I will fix my gaze upon that blessing. It is what the term bittersweet was created for, I believe.

Bittersweet is the idea that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful. There is a sliver of lightness in even the darkest of nights, a shadow of hope in every heartbreak. And that rejoicing is no less rich even when it contains a splinter of sadness. (S. Niequist).

My prayer for all of us on this Mother’s day is: Isaiah 61:1-3, NIV : The year of the Lord’s favor.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Bless you!

Robin (Beckman) Gudal is intentional in life, a wife, momma, nana, friend and a flawed and imperfect follower of Jesus.