Mother’s Day 2022

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. He is for you. And some of you are in the trenches right now. Some of you are experiencing some lows at this moment. And the real test of our faith is being able to see and feel the presence of God in the trenches. It’s when we’re in the thick of things that we can see the hand of God that brings peace. There’s easy on the other side because hindsight’s always, what, 2020? And today, we have three of our very own from EastSide. Three of our staff members are all at different stages of motherhood. Who’s going to come and share with you and give you a gift? Each one of them is going to provide a gift to all the moms. But as we were preparing and rehearsing, going through all this, I quickly realized that the gifts that they were offering were not just for moms or the ladies in the house today but it was for all of us. And if you are a dad, an uncle, a grandpa, a brother, or just a college student or high school student, these gifts apply to all of us. And so this morning, you give a warm welcome to Licia, Brooke, and Carla. Yeah, Come on. Yeah. So I want to say a quick prayer for them. And then, when I handed it over to them. Father, thank you for showing up to the. We’ve already felt your presence. Lord, speak through these ladies. Give us ears to hear the heart of understanding. Give them clarity. Give them clearness of speech. And it’s all for your glory. And everyone agreed and said together. Amen.

 Amen. Amen. Well, good morning, East Side family. If you don’t know me, my name is Alicia Grant. And me and my husband Brandon have been on staff here for about six years. I love my eastside fam, So I want to introduce you to my family on this screen. Here is my sweet family. We’ve got two boys, the middle one that is Judah, and he is two and a half. And then our baby Beau just turned one last month, and so we were a part of the two under-two club. Anyone else? So it’s been an adventure for sure. Well, I’m so honored that I got the opportunity to speak to you all this morning. And so blessed to be right beside two amazing moms, leaders, and coworkers. I have learned so much from them, and I cannot wait for them to share the gift that they have with you today. Well, ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to be a mom. Everything else in my future seemed a little bit fuzzy. I remember taking those career tests and everything, and I’ll just tell my mom, I just want to be a mom. And is that, like, can I just do that? And so everything else seemed a little fuzzy. But that part, it was always crystal clear and so much so that I knew it was more than just something I aspire to do. I knew that it was a call that God had placed on my life to be a mom, and a phrase my mom often said to me growing up was, Being a mom is the hardest job I’ve ever loved. And I didn’t. I didn’t really get it, then. But I’m starting to understand what she means now. So a few days into becoming a mom, this phrase really started to set in, especially the hard part. I brought Judah home, and it was in the first probably couple of weeks that this moment happened. And these first few weeks, days, months, everything just meshes together. They were hard, and I remember a specific time holding Judah. I was standing in my living room. I could not get him to calm down. He was crying, and I checked all the boxes. His diaper was changed. He was fed, he wasn’t sleepy, and I didn’t know what else to do. And I remember feeling so unqualified at that moment, that calling that I just talked about, that I was so sure of. Now I was questioning. I was like, God, what do you do? Is this really what you have for me? Because obviously, I’m not doing something right. I can’t even figure out I can’t even calm down my own child. And in that moment, all I could get out of my mouth. I wanted to pray, but all I could say was, Jesus, that’s the only thing that could come out. And it was a blubbering mess. He was crying. I was crying. We were all crying, and we were just one big puddle together. And at that moment, after I basically screamed the name of Jesus, I felt the Lord wrap his arms around me and just hold me the way that I was holding Judah. And I also felt this overwhelming sense of peace, assurance, love, comfort, all of that from the father. And in that moment and so many moments after that, God started to teach me a very important lesson. And this is what I want you to take away from today.

Embrace the BOTH/AND. 

So say that with me this morning, embrace the both/And so what I mean by that, and it’s funny, we were just singing a song that says in my weeping and rejoicing, and I had to chuckle because I was like, yes, in our weeping and rejoicing, we are his. And so let me give you some more examples of both. And what I mean by this is you don’t have to pick between the two. We can be both exhausted and overjoyed, both so frustrated and in love, both unqualified like I felt in that moment and embracing our calling, both needing a break. I experienced this one a lot, both needing a break and not wanting to miss out. Both wanted freedom before they had children and knowing you couldn’t live without them. Both counting down the minutes till bedtime and holding on to every second of their childhood because we all hear that it goes by so fast. Both the hardest job and the job you love most. We don’t have to pick. They exist together, and there’s beauty, and there’s grace in that. So this whole idea was already swirling around in my heart when we got asked to speak. It was crazy. We got the topic. We were each told, All of you are going to share a gift. And we didn’t even have to think about it. We’re like, Yep, we know we just knew one, two, three. We knew what our gifts were because it’s what God has been stirring up in our hearts. And it was like, Yeah, it was a really short meeting because we already knew, and it was confirmed in Life Group a couple of weeks ago. So I was already thinking about this message, what I was going to share with you today. And as we were going around in the circle, Brennan had us share one word. So we’re sitting around in life group, and we all talked about one word that describes the season that we’re currently in. So some people shared very positive words like content or happy, things like that, and then other people shared words like exhausted or frustrated or confused. And what I found very interesting was we went around another time, and almost every single person shared an additional word. And I didn’t tell them to do this, but everyone is dealing with this tension of both. And so one of my friends, she’s actually sitting in the service. Sarah, I’ll see you. I’m going to talk about you now. So she shared this word, and she said, I feel content. And they had just welcomed their second child into their family. And she’s like, I feel so content. My family feels complete. It’s like I just feel so happy. And we were all celebrating. We went around again, and she said, I’m feeling worried now that I feel content, but I also feel worried because life is so good. So now, what if something bad happens? And so now she’s living in this tension of I want to be content. I want to feel joyful. But also, what if something bad happens because everything’s so good? And so this was a perfect example of what God has been teaching me. I read a quote the other day that I want to share with you. It says, Mothering is all a great push and pull. It’s a sense of it’s a series of both ends of give and take, of holding close and letting go.

“Mothering is all a great push and pull. It’s a series of both/ ands, of give and take, of holding close and letting go.”

 Honestly, if you can’t tell by now, this is a really hard concept for me to grasp, and I’m still working on it today. You see, some people see the glass half empty while others see the glass half full. And then there are people like me and Bob Goff, whose glass is always overflowing. Everything is good. There’s a silver lining. There’s an adventure awaiting. And that’s me, for sure. And so when I became a mother, I was having to deal with this these very raw emotions that I typically just can easily push off. But now, as a mom, I have to deal with them. And God taught me, no, I created you to deal with both and to deal with this tension. It’s it’s a way that he draws us closer to his heart. So an example of this is Mary in the Bible. She had to deal with the tension of both in a very extreme way. So if you think about it, she gave birth to the Son of God, and she watched him die as her savior. She followed Jesus to the cross, both as a mother and as a disciple. And she had moments of confusion in questioning her, calling just like I did. Paired with moments of overwhelming joy and purpose, she was given to raise this son of God. And I find this funny. Not only did she deal with this huge tension, but she also raised Jesus without passes or sleep sacks or mama runs or jumpers or cribs, or anything you can think of that’s on the market. She did not have, and she did a great job. So let’s go back and put ourselves in Mary’s shoes when she found out that she was pregnant with God’s son. We find Mary as a teenage girl. She just got engaged to the love of her life, Joseph. And out of nowhere, with no warning, this is the best pregnancy announcement of all time. It caught everyone off guard. So let’s read. And Luke one 2831. It says.

Luke 1:28-31.

Gabriel appeared to her and said, Greetings favored woman. The Lord is with you. Confused and disturbed. Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. Don’t be afraid, Mary. The angel told her. For you have found favor with God, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.

So what I. What I love about this is before Gabriel even tells her what’s going on. Like, he just shows up, and he says, Don’t be afraid. The Lord is with you. And this morning, I want you to know. Don’t be afraid. The Lord is with you whatever season you’re in. And I also have an observation that she says that the passage says she’s confused and disturbed. And I love this because I relate to that. I’m confused and disturbed a lot as a mom. And I added the last service that I got confused and disturbed about why Judah won’t stop eating his burgers. So there’s a laugh. You guys are awake. So what I learned from Mary, though, in these passages is that in times of uncertainty, in times where she’s confused and disturbed, she could choose to run away. But she doesn’t. She chooses to use this moment to cling to Jesus, to draw near to his heart. And in verse 38, this is when Mary and Gabriel are kind of finished talking. He gives her the low-down Lord of Lords, King of Kings. She’s going to be the mama. And she responds in this way. In verse 38.

Luke 1:38.

Mary responded I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you’ve said about me come true. And the angel left her. 

So we see there that she just got this crazy news that she’s going to be the mom of the son of the highest. She’s confused and disturbed. And a few verses later, she says, I am the Lord’s servant, and I hope that that is my position as well when God asked me to do something. So I truly believe that God uses parenthood to draw us closer to his heart, to have us rely on Him and not our own strength to realize it’s not our plan; it’s his. So you have heard me say it multiple times this morning. And the gift I want to give to you today is to embrace the both/and give yourself permission to do that. It’s the reality that God wants us to live in. And in the moments when you feel defeated, exhausted, and frustrated, cling to Jesus just like Mary did rely on him. And these are our moments to draw deeper into our relationship with Christ and in the moments when you feel overwhelmed. Joy and purpose. Thank him and praise him because these blessings come from him. Well, thank you, guys. I’m going to pass it on to Brooke as she shares her gift. With us today.

Well, good morning. My name is Brooke Tobey, and I am so excited to be here this morning to just share alongside these ladies, my friends, on our favorite topic today, which is kids and family. And so I want to show you a picture of my family. This is my sweet bunch. This is my husband, Scott, and our three children. And I will have to tell you, this year has been full of big milestones for our kids. It has just been crazy. So Bryson is there in the back. I got his birthday wrong. The first service. So you all are the lucky ones. I do know his birthday. He turned 18 in March, and he will graduate from Addison Central in just two short weeks. And as thrilling as that seems, it’s very emotional for mama’s heart. As I was getting his blue cap and gown out this past week and getting it ready for senior pictures, I literally had a flashback moment of his tiny little blue cap and gown from kindergarten, and I began to just cry in my office there where I was getting everything ready. I didn’t really want to go to his room and even get it. I didn’t even want to look at it because it just hurts a mama’s heart. Just these major things that happen in your kid’s life, these milestones. And then we have Jayden. She is getting her intermediate license in two short weeks. We got a lot going on in the month of May around our household. It’s highly stressful and very emotional. So that’s equally exciting and terrifying because now I will have two teenage drivers in our house, and you should see our driveway trying to work the puzzle piece of all the cars and vehicles and all the things. So just a lot going on with them. And then, Tracy, in turn, let me see if I can get this right. He turned ten in February this year. So big double digits for him. So as I was reflecting on our last year, it’s just a lot going on for every single person in our family. So I kind of find myself in this in-between phase of motherhood, these two children who are much more like young adults; we can have conversations, we can talk about life, we can talk about, you know, pretty much anything. And then we have Tracyn, who kind of needs me for everything. You know, he needs my constant attention still. And, of course, he’s the baby, so I’m going to give him that. Right. And so, you know, like Alicia said, my calling from a very young age was to be a wife and a mom. And, you know, I have put all of my energy into that in all of giving them as much attention as I can and being present for as many possible things as I can and just giving them all of me, right or wrong. I’m not sure we’ll hear about that in a minute. Right. And so, but the main thing, the biggest thing that kind of always weighed on my heart, was just the responsibility to teach them about Jesus from the time that they were born. Basically, I needed to read the right little Bibles to them, and I needed to play the music, and I needed to do all the things because I need you to follow Jesus, right? I don’t know if you feel that pressure or not, but I felt that as their mom, you know, and it’s my responsibility to start sewing those seeds into their hearts because of their spiritual walk. It begins with the seeds that we plant into their little hearts. And so the scripture that came to my mind when I started thinking about those seeds of faith that are sewn into a person’s heart comes from first Corinthians three, and it says this.

1 Corinthians 3:5-9.

The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

And so, as you can see there in that scripture, we do have a part to play in sowing the seeds of Jesus, but we have to continue sowing those seeds. It doesn’t just happen once, right? We don’t just sow the seeds one time. We have to continuously be sowing those seeds into their lives as they grow and as they develop. So how do we, as moms and parents, so those seeds? I spoke of it early. You in the child dedication, just talking about, you know, reading scripture, reading devotion, making time to do that. Does anybody have a hard time doing that with their kids? Is it just me? Okay, a few of you do. Okay, great. The rest of you, I need to talk to you because you got it. You got it going on. I struggle with that. And from time to time over the years, these ladies know I’ve sat in a staff meeting, and I’ve cried and said, I haven’t read devotions with Tracy in the way that I should, you know? And I just felt that pressure on my heart to be doing everything right for them. But I would encourage you, as I said before, to pray with your kids at dinner and make it a priority to bring them to church. We talked about how hard it is to get here. You know that it’s hard, but that means it’s worth it. That means there’s some good result going to come out of it if it’s a difficult challenge to get them here. So. So, as I said, I don’t want you to think just because I’m telling you these things that I’m perfect at it because obviously, I am not. It’s a work in progress. But I will say this. I have found a really great opportune time to talk with your children. If you have those elementary-aged kids, middle school-aged kids, they’re quiet, right? You got middle schoolers that don’t say anything when you pick them up in the afternoon, and you’re like, what’s going on in your mind? I have no idea. That’s the time to speak Jesus into them. So those seeds of faith listen to Christian music in your car because they’re a captive audience. You can’t get them out, you know; they’re not going anywhere. You have them. You have them right there. So this morning, there are two things that I think that we, as moms and parents, can do to sow the seeds of faith. And I’ve alluded to the first one, and it is our words; I don’t know if you know this or not, but your words are powerful. The words that you speak, the Bible says, has the power of life and death. That’s a pretty strong word right there. I mean, we have the power in our tongue, in what we say and how we say it. The power of life and death. Now, you know we have to speak words of correction, right? When our kids need discipling. We need to speak words of encouragement. If your child walks up to that, up to that door, and they’re looking for their name to see if they made the team, does anybody experience this? And they turn around, and they shake their head? No. They’re going to need your words right then of encouragement, helping them to know that they are enough and that they’re okay. They’re going to need your words of peace being spoken over to them when their hearts are breaking or when they’re going through a breakup or relationship trouble. They’re looking to us as parents for some guidance and for some words, and we have to do that for them. And the most important thing that I think we need to do is to speak the name of Jesus. Pray over your children. Speak the name over them. It is the most powerful thing that you can do for your kids. In psalms 1914, it says. This.

Psalm 19:14.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight. Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 

Notice there it says the words of my mouth, the words of my heart. It doesn’t say in scripture that the words of my kid’s mouth in my kid’s heart because they may not always be pleasing. Right? We can’t control that. But what it does say is, may the words of my mouth be pleasing in your sight. And that leads me to the second thing that we can do for our kids is to model what’s coming out of our hearts. Are you spending time with Jesus? Are you modeling that walk with Him? Do your children see you reading scripture? I was very convicted several, several, several years ago because I would always talk about having a quiet time and doing a devotional. And I thought, nobody ever sees me do this. They don’t know if I’m doing this or not. And I’m not saying to do it for a show. But what I am saying is open your Bible on the kitchen table with your coffee. Let your kids see their names in your journal that you’re praying for them. Let them see you weeping. And trying to figure out scripture and trying to figure out life. Talk to him about those things. It’s so important for them to see you. You know, but what if your children don’t follow Jesus? What if they don’t have a friend? And she came to me, and she said, But, Brooke, I’ve said all the right things. I’ve done all the devotionals. And they do. I mean, they’re good. They sit and watch messages as a family and, like, do all these things, and I’m inspired by them. But her son has decided to walk away for a season. She said, But what do I do? What did I do wrong? I said, You didn’t do anything wrong because, you see, a child has to choose Christ for themselves. All you have responsibility for is sowing the seeds of Jesus into their hearts. So the gift I want to give you today, I want you to hear me say this, is that you can do all the right things. You can say all the right things. You can give them all the devotionals. I’ve done it. I’ve bought them. Every Christmas, they get a new devotion book. But all the things. But ultimately, your children have to choose Christ for themselves. And so, you know, as I was thinking about this, I thought about my words, and I thought about modeling, but I also thought how important it is for other people that speak into our children’s lives, like the Apollo slayer. You know, Paul planted Apollo’s water. We need an Apollo. Who’s the Apollos that’s speaking into the lives of your children. And I know we’ve said multiple times this morning that it takes a village to raise kids. And I have found that to be true. Like I said before, I tried to do it all on my own, and I don’t need any help. And I’ve got it all together, and nope, I got it. But I quickly realized, no, I don’t have it. I need help. And, you know, I want to tell you this story about my oldest son, Bryson. We’ve gone to church here now for 14, 15 years. I’ve lost count. I’ve been on staff a long time. I feel like I know a lot of faces. I just assume my kids know a lot of faces. They feel as comfortable as I do. But something happened when Bryson transitioned from middle school ministry to high school ministry. It’s a weird time. If you’re there, do you understand what I’m saying? And he. He started not wanting to come on Sunday nights when they very first started. And he was like, I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to go. I couldn’t figure out why. And I had to beg him and plead with him. Finally, he went. I was so excited. I picked him up. I said, How did it go? He said It was terrible. Nobody knew who I was. I was standing against the wall when somebody walked by and asked me what my name was. I was heartbroken at that moment because I thought. I know there were people there that knew you like what’s going on. And so fast forward. What I didn’t know was happening behind the scenes. Brandon Bunch, our high school pastor, we were sitting in a staff meeting one day, and he casually looked to me, and he said, Hey, I’ve been sending Bryson text messages for like six months now. Does he have a phone? And I said, Yeah. And he said. He’s not responding. He’s never said anything back. And I said, Oh, just wait. I’ll make sure he responds back to you. We’re going to have a long conversation about that. And we sure did. When I got home, I said. I said. Has Brandon Bunch been sending you messages? And he said yes. So did you respond? He said, No. I said, Oh, my goodness. And we had a long conversation. I spoke some words into him and, you know, helped him to understand. You respond to an adult when they message you, you know. And so what I didn’t know is Brandon Bunch didn’t give up on Bryson. His resilience pressed into him. He’s the Apollos that’s trying his best to pour into my kid, you know. And once he started responding and he did his part, a lot of things changed. And now Bryson is one of the leaders in our high school ministry. And I am so thankful. Yeah, I’m so thankful that bunch didn’t give up on him. He could have easily. And so I say that, and I tell you that story because I want you to know that it’s so important for you to find your Apollos. Find your people. Get into a life group. Get connected. Get your kids connected. As hard as it is, bring them to church, and walk in with them. I’ve sat in here many a time on a Sunday night just to give my kids support, to know I’m here. There is somebody here that knows you, and I got you. Come with them. Do whatever it is you have to do to get those seeds of Jesus into the hearts of your children. So, mamas, today, I want to leave you with this. I want you to hear me say that you and your voice in the lives of your kids matter in your heart. Your prayers, your tears. Your relationship with Jesus. They’re watching, and it matters. And you are enough. You are enough. You are the mama that God chose for your child. You are the one that He wanted to be speaking to and sowing the seeds of Jesus into their life. And I want you to hear me tell you this morning that you are priceless. And I think that’s worth celebrating this morning. Can we celebrate the moms this morning?

Speaker 4: Well, I love what you said, Brooke and Alicia. It’s a blessing for me to have watched you guys. And Alicia, I know it’s not been long, but to watch you go through the journey of motherhood. And so, let’s just quickly recap what each of them shared. So Alicia said that we need to embrace the both/and that it is possible to experience joy and frustration all in the same moment. And then Brooke shared with us to sow the seeds of Jesus while encouraging your children to experience their own walk in relationship with him. Well, good morning, and happy Mother’s Day. My name is Carla Perry, and my husband Brad and I have three kids, and they’re going to pop up on the screen. So this was taken yesterday. Alex graduated college. Whew. Yep. One down, two to go. Right. Okay, So then there is Abby, our sweet little blond, my mini-me, and she is getting ready to be a junior in college. And then there is our Sweet Sam, and he is 12, and he’s in the sixth grade. So notice I said sweetly because I’m going to tell you a story here in just a minute, but you need to remember that he is the youngest by far, and he’s the only boy. So he’s a mama’s boy, and he doesn’t do anything wrong. Wrong, right. Yeah. If his Nana’s here, she’ll say yes to that. And so we have Sam. And I’m going to just share this really quick story with you. We had a day that was so chaotic, and I mean, it was we call it the Perry experience in our household when it’s a chaotic day like this. Alex was having knee surgery. And that night before, Abby and Brad ended up with a stomach bug. And so off I go to take Alex to her knee surgery and bring her back home and get her knee elevated and iced and then get make sure that Brad and Abby have saltines and ginger ale on file. And I get Sam ready, and we head off to his Christmas preschool program. And I need you to remember that he has two teenage sisters at this time who have all kinds of teenage friends that thought it was really cute to teach Sam that when he danced, shake his booty and stick it out. Right. So it would be completely appropriate to at his preschool program at EKU with 200 people as his audience to do. Right. So check out this clip. So he did that like 20 times. And his preschool teacher is actually in the room right now. So thank you, Jamie, for getting up and eventually stopping that. But as I’m watching this, I’m going, oh, my gosh, like, this isn’t my kid. What is he doing? My kid knows that you don’t act like that in public. My kid knows that you don’t do these things. And I’m filming it, and I’m trying to pretend like he is not mine. But then he finds me out of the 200 people and points me out to say, Hi, Mommy. So I couldn’t hide anymore. But I remember driving home and remembering it was a chaotic day, and often times in the chaos, we miss the whisper of God. And that day, I almost missed the whisper of God in my voice or in my mind. I heard God say. Carla, you have let your identity be fully encompassed with being a mother instead of my daughter. Now, just for perspective, you need to understand how my journey began as a mom.

My journey was not like Alicia and Brooks’s. I was young. I was 21 years old. And I was living my best college life. I mean, I was living it up and having all kinds of fun. And you know what? Bam! I found out I was going to be a mom. It was nowhere on my radar. I had no intention of being a mom. And here I am, trying to figure it all out. And so I did the only thing that I knew to do for myself. And it was to completely walk away from who I was. I did the only thing that I knew to do, and I put my complete identity into being a mom. I decided that I would overcome being a young mother by my sheer willpower as if I had something to prove. And before I knew it, the pressure that I put up on myself, it trickled down to my kids, not just me. I mean, if their hair was not perfect, if their clothes were not just right, if they weren’t the best friends to their peers, if they were not the best at their extracurricular activities, it all reflected back on me as a mom, didn’t it? Any of you out there relate to that. Well, as I began to pour my entire being into making sure that they were taken care of, I subconsciously forgot who I was. First, in the middle of it, I put myself at the bottom of the priority list. I forgot that I needed self-care for me. I struggled with placing my relationship with Jesus above the calling of being a parent, and I let go of the things that made me come alive before I had kids. I put on hold what I knew God had put inside of me all along because I thought that’s where it needed to stay until they were grown. What I didn’t realize early on, don’t miss this, Moms is that I am the best mom and the best mom to those three kids. When I am giving to them out of the overflow of Jesus inside of me, I let my dignity get washed away in a stack of diapers because I was in a two-and-under club fun times. I let my dignity get washed away. And the idea that I had to have this perfectly clean home and all their extracurricular activities, and dare I even say that I got consumed at one point in travel, Bohol. I needed to remind myself every day whose I was first and that God’s grace covered me. I was chasing a fake identity of motherhood that left me looking at a stranger in the mirror.

I would just stand there and wonder, Who are you? Who? And my. And then one day, Jesus said, I love you, Carla. And I took into account all the mistakes that you would make. I took into account all the mistakes that your kids would make. You know, we are called many, many things throughout this life. We are called wives, moms, sisters, neighbors, and colleagues. But the one thing that is the most important, important name that you must not forget, it’s your first name. And it is the daughter of the one true king. You are daughters of Jesus. And when God looked at you with complete wonder and complete perfection, He smiled on you because he created you. It is the most important name that you and I can ever receive. And it is the daughter of the one true king. So how can you all know this to be true? How did I know this to be true? Well, if you look in Colossians. And two nine and ten, it says.

Colossians 2:9-10.

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ. 

Notice that he didn’t say that you’re completely in being a mom. You’re complete and being a wife. You’re complete and doing great in your career. It didn’t even say that you have to be complete to be a mom, to be complete. Jesus says you are complete in him. He says that you are his child first and foremost before anything else. And as I was writing this message, I was trying to look back at the early 21 years ago when I became a mom for the first time, and I was thinking, what are ways that God continued to remind me that I was his? He intentionally placed other women around me. He put other women around me who would encourage me, who would tell me that I am enough, who would remind me every single moment that they could, that no matter what my kids did, no matter what I do. My identity is in Jesus. First and foremost. And what I want you to hear is this. 21 years ago, when I was that broken, young mom who didn’t have a clue Eastside was for me. It was for me then. And I’m telling you, the East side is for you today. We are for you, moms. And if you are here today and you were in a life group, and there are women in your group, don’t walk into that group each meeting and put on your mask like everything’s okay. Be honest. Share with one another your burdens. And maybe you’re not in a life group. Well, you just set up here and heard each one of us talk about the importance of life groups in our own lives. Come see one of us. We will help you get into a life group. We have volunteers who will help you. We want you to know that it’s okay to not be okay. So today, I want to give you the gift of identity. You need to remind yourself every day that you are who Jesus says you are. You will be. His for all of eternity. And we must be women who remember that our identity is in Christ first because we are our best moms. When we give from the overflow of Jesus in us. And I love what Brooke said at the beginning of her message. The days are long, and the years are short. Well, I promise you that I’m experiencing that myself right now as I have two adult children. We only have them for a short 18 years, and then they leave our nest. Guess what your identity was in before those 18 years? It was in Jesus. And guess what it will be in the next 18 years when they work when they’re gone. It will continue to be. Jesus, you were. He is. You are. He is. And you will always be. He is for all of eternity. So today. We stand here before you, only offering just a small snippet of what God is currently doing in our lives and the journey that He’s taken you on. And there are other gifts and other thoughts that we could give you and share with you today, as I’m sure many of you can. But I just want to go back real quick and remind you of those three. One is.

Embrace the both/and. 

Feeling exhaustion and joy all in the same moment. Then Brooks shared the importance for us too.

Sow the seeds of Jesus while encouraging your child’s responsibility in their own personal relationship.

And then the third is.

Always place your identity in Jesus first. 

Because it comes from the overflow of what you can give to everyone else around you. Let us pray. Father, I thank you so much that you call us your own. I thank you that these three gifts are all from you and father. I pray these three gifts over everyone here today, not just the moms. I pray that you would want that we would remember to embrace the both/and that we would never give up sowing the seeds of your love in every relationship you grant us. I pray that we never forget that our identity is always in you and Jesus. I pray that you would help us to cling to and claim these gifts. We love you, and we thank you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.