Proverbs 31:28 says this, "Her children arise and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her. Many women do mobile things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. This morning on behalf of all the children in the room, can we just say a big thank you to all the mamas, right? Can we just lift them up today and say thank you? Man. So, so good. I love, love, love the fact that we get to celebrate this every single year. You know, one of the rhythms in Jesus' ministry is that no matter what was happening in culture or no matter where his feet took him, he would pause in a moment. He would speak to the situation and he would bring an eternal truth to something that was happening in front of people.
If he was walking by a field, he would talk about the harvest. If he was walking by a sick person, he would talk about God the healer, the Father. And this morning we're gona do just that. This morning we're gonna do that by speaking to everyone, but we're also going to honor moms while we're doing it. Why? Well, because one thing that keeps all of us in common is not our age, it's not our demographic, it's not where we grew up. It's the fact that every single one of us either have or have had a mom in our lives that was significant or a mother figure that was in our lives that was significant. Many of you are moms. Many of you plan to be a mom one day. Many of you plan to marry a girl that can be a mom one day. So really, Mother's Day actually can unite all of us and today I want us to look into what it looks like to stand and surrender and stand in joy as a mother as well as just a follower of Jesus.
Now, please hear me in saying this. I know that as soon as I mention Mother's Day, to some of you, it's heavy. Some of you lost your mothers this year. Some of you, you've desperately wanted to be a mom and it's not your season yet. Some of you didn't have a great relationship with your mom. Some of you are dudes in the room and you're like, "What am I going to get out of this? " But let me tell you this. God today can meet you right where you are, can show you what it looks like to surrender to him and can bring joy in your life that is ever lasting. Before I bring up some friends that are going to help us this morning, some moms of burn hickory, would you pray with me? Lord, I thank you today for being king and Lord and Savior.
And God, I thank you today as we open up scripture today and see your heart for us, that God, you would keep our hearts open and that God you would speak into our souls and that God, you would show us what it looks like to walk in you and follow you all the days of our life. God, thank you for being faithful and it's in your name we pray. Amen. And amen. Over 30 years of ministry have taught me that sometimes I probably just need to be quiet and invite the pros in to speak into a situation. And today is one of those situations. I've invited some moms of Bern Hickory. Not perfect moms. I can say that out loud because they have. I wouldn't have otherwise. But moms that love Jesus and moms that God has done some things in their lives that's notable.
So let me quickly introduce them and we're going to get into the text today and we're actually going to teach this together today by how God has met them in the middle of some of these situations. On the far side over here is none other than Miss Katie Merriweather. Um, yeah. Katie is a longtime Vern Hickory person and she loves Jesus. She works actually in my office and it keeps me very straight. Um, in a lot of ways she has two adoptive kids that come out of just some tough seasons, um, that she'll share in just a couple of minutes and loves Jesus. Next to her is Miss Jenny Canen. Um, yeah. Jenny serves in our high school ministry here. Mom of two older kids, a high schooler and one that is in college about to launch. Can I get an amen, Jenny? Um, on that super driven corporate mom that loves Jesus next to her is Ms. Connie Christensen.
Uh, yep. Connie is a full of joy, mama. You're gonna see that in just a minute. She represents the grandma crowd on our stage today and to know Connie is to love her and she got a lot of kids and grandkids. I'll let her tell you that later, all right? Next up beside her is Ms. Jessica Matheson. Jessica has a first grader as well as a preschooler and an adoptive adult child. Um, Jessica actually claimed to fame, crosses every mamahood box. She's a bio mom, a foster mom, and an adoptive mom. All of them together, she writes, speaks, loves Jesus as well. And then right next to me is Bern Hickory's very on Ms. Paige Daniels. Yeah. Paige is single. Paige has come through some tough seasons. She's divorced and Paige has four elementary and middle school kids. This morning, I just want to give you a glimpse into their world.
But more importantly, I want to give you a glimpse into an event in scripture at a First Samuel chapter one. First Samuel chapter one, if you got your Bibles today, I want you to go ahead and turn with me there because it actually highlights what God has done in these ladies' lives and in their family's life and shows us what it looks like to live in full surrender and full joy and what it looks like as a follower of Jesus. Okay, men? Not just ladies, as a follower of Jesus to give our lives wholeheartedly to him. First name of chapter one is about a, a lady named Hannah. It's about a lady named Hannah. She is deeply loved by her husband. She is in a family that has more than one wife's, which I don't recommend, um, all right, from the stage. But her husband loves Jesus, loves the, loves the body of Christ, is deeply dedicated to having his family at the temple to worship every single year.
But Hannah has one thing that actually makes her stand out from all the other people in the story and that is, is that Hannah cannot have a child. And so we actually meet her at the temple worshiping, but she's distraught. So I wanna read through a couple verses out of Hannah's faith here and Hannah's story. And I wanna show us a couple of takeaways or walkaways from Hannah's faith that we as believers can walk in today. You'll see what I mean in just a minute, but let me show you what it says right here. First Samuel chapter one, verse five. "The whole family is at the temple. "You can imagine the dynamics there. There's lots of things. The sister wife thing is going on, right? But the whole family's there and the husband is providing for them and they are there to worship. And look at verse five, it says this.
"But to Hannah, he, that's her husband, gave her a double portion. That's a food. He's feeding his family because he loved her. And the Lord had closed her womb because the Lord had closed Hannah's womb. Her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. And this went on year after year whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, because that's what they did every year, right? You had to go and you worshiped once a year at this time at the house of the Lord. Watch what happened. Her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Long story short, Hannah's heart is broken. She's living in distress. She's at the temple worshiping, but there's this comparison game going on. God has closed her womb. She loves God, but her heart is hurting. Katie, in some ways, um, not exactly the sister wife part, but some of the others, right? <laugh>
This kind of mirrors part of your early mom story. Katie, give us a picture of maybe what's going on in Hannah's mind here and what has God kind of poured into you that has encouraged you walking through some similar times like this of, of being childless?

Well, you talk about, you know, Mother's Day being difficult for a lot of people. I can really relate to that. Um, I spent several years, um, leading up to having our daughter, um, dreading coming to church on Mother's Day, crying through the service, like, uh, just not wanting to be here because I desired to be a mom and I wasn't. And I, I didn't always desire to be a mom. So I felt like God had finally put that desire in me and he wasn't allowing me to be pregnant. So I really struggled through that. Um, to give you a picture of what's going on in Hannah's mind, um, it's right there in the scripture. It's using words like, um, deep anguish, weeping bitterly, and it even says she was irritated. She wasn't just crying. She was also frustrated, um, at her situation and at the people around her.
And I connect with Hannah in so many ways, um, just so many ways, but, you know, I even was at the time I'm in ministry and I'm wondering like, God, uh, I'm wondering about his goodness even. That's a tough place to be. I was in some really, a really dark place in that season, just praying some very intense and honest prayers before God, which I do believe he welcomes. But more times than I can count, the Holy Spirit would bring to mind Psalm 56: eight, which says," You keep track of all my sorrows. You've collected all my tears in your bottle. "And that verse gave me so much peace and comfort knowing that God sees me and he sees my situation and he's with me through that. Um, even in Isaiah, it describes Jesus as the man of sorrows acquainted with our grief. I believe that no matter what type of anguish or type of grief you're going through in this room, that the man of sorrows sees that very particular sorrow that you're walking through and he is with you.
So for us in our story, um, God used a season of some health struggles for me to just allow us to begin to ask some questions. Um, we kind of entered our research phase and prayer phase of, " Okay, God, you're the creator. What is a creative way that you are gonna grow our family? "Um, we felt called to be parents and we didn't know how that was gonna happen. So at the same time, God put a lot of people in our lives who adopted or were in the adoption or foster world and so kind of concurrently God is opening our eyes to this world and made it very, very, very clear, um, that he was calling us to adopt. And so I do wanna be sensitive, um, to the fact that not every girl who relates to Hannah's story ends up with a baby and that's the reality a lot of times, but at the same time, I can share our story, which is that God gave us two beautiful children.
Maya is two and a half and John is 10 months old and they are just incredible. Um, we are having so much fun <laugh> with them. And what's cool about, um, our story in particular is another way I can relate to Hannah is that, um, she went to the temple for comfort, for prayer, for worship and we did the same thing. We leaned on this church in ways that I, I can't even describe how beautiful it was in our lives for the church to come around us in a really hard season, both pre-kids and then while we were adopting and then also now as parents to the point where we really believe we would not have brought our children home without this church and our families, which is so cool. Um, so part of my early motherhood journey has a lot to do with growing in my confidence and really surrendering a lot of my worries as a new mom just every single day.
But my story and our story as a family is just absolutely under the banner of God's faithfulness, no question in my mind. He is faithful, he is good, and we really wouldn't have it any other way.

Speaking of God's faithfulness, I want you to write something down. I put in your notes from this text actually, um, and from Hannah's faith and, and was Katie's story is shared that not only is God faithful, but we need to step into a posture that we trust that God has a specific plan for your life, a specific plan. And here's the deal, church, it's not always the plan that somebody else beside us has and it doesn't always look like other people's plans and there's not a comparison game about it. It might look different, but here's the deal with God. It's a perfect plan from the creator of the universe that has placed it on your life from the beginning of time and our role is to do what Hannah's doing here is just step into that plan. Once you keep reading in the text though, it says this in verse eight, it says, and her husband, Elkina, now remember, she's in distress.
She's hurting, would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping and why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than 10 sons?" Now men, let me speak to you just for a minute right here. <laugh>
This husband meant well, all right? <laugh> But sometimes men, you got three phrases is all you need to have in your pocket. "I love you, I'm sorry and I'm with you, all right? And that'll cover it, okay? That'll cover it. This brother should have just kept his mouth shut, all right? Keep going then. Verse nine, it says this, " Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, that's where the temple was, Hannah, she stood up and now Eli, the priest, was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord's house in her deep anguish, notice the words, Hannah prayed to the Lord weeping bitterly. "Now look, you're seeing it, right? There's hurt, there's fear, there's disappointment, all of this stuff, it's crashing in on her. And what does Hannah do? Take notice, whether you're lady or man, what does she do? She wholeheartedly cries out to the Lord, to the Lord, she prays.
Jessica, this really has to do with, with your faith story. Jessica, tell us how this hits home with your life and what God has done in your heart as a mom.

So I always wanted to be a mom just from when I was younger, I always wanted to be a mom. I love kids and I ended up being an elementary school teacher, but before I became a mom when I was younger in school myself, we had a timeline project we had to do and project into the future and I said that I want to be a mom, a teacher, and an actress at night. <laugh> So, um, I think I got all three because when you're a mom and a teacher, you're just entertaining kids and tricking them into learning. So I, I like to say I got all three. But in high school, my favorite verse was delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. And that's Psalm 37: four. And I just kind of thought, you know, if I love Jesus and I do all the right things and I'm a good girl, then he's going to make all my dreams come true.
And that's not what that verse means at all. Um, like Hannah, like Katie, my husband and I had an infertility chapter of our story as well and it was really difficult and we were living in Athens at the time and some friends of ours who were also kind of on the same journey invited and recommended to us a conference that our church was hosting about foster care and adoption and we went just wanting to learn more asking God like, "What are your next steps?" You know, we had a house with empty rooms and we didn't know what we were supposed to do with them. Um, and we believed, okay, we have always wanted to adopt. We actually talked about it on our first date, but what did that look like in our lives today? And so we learned about the foster care crisis in our nation of the thousands of kids who don't have a safe place to call home and we felt like God was calling us to enter into that.
And so I brought this Bible with me here today because this is the Bible that I used during that journey of infertility of foster parenting and the tears that I cried in the midst of that journey of just things not looking the way that I thought that they were going to look or soaked into this Bible and I had a lot of emotions. I was very, I was angry, I was confused, I was heartbroken, I wanted to be obedient and I wanted to surrender, but I still just didn't really understand what God's plan was and I, I wanted to understand. And I also knew that I just didn't really have anywhere else to go. I mean, I knew God was faithful and I wanted to hang on even when things just didn't look the way that I wanted them to. And so we welcomed our first placement of three elementary aged children into our home about a year after we had decided to pursue foster parenting and then, um, after they left, the Lord miraculously did open my womb and I was able to have our son and when I was six months pregnant with him is when our daughter came to live with us.
She was 15 at the time. She's 23 now and then in that time we also had a tween girl live with us for about a year and when she was with us, I conceived our, our second daughter. And so it's been totally different than I ever expected it would be, but, um, going back to that girl in high school thinking, "If I just deal with all, all the right things, you know, God's gonna make my dreams come true." He has been showing me and sanctifying me out of perfectionism and having to do the right thing all the time. And he's shown me that motherhood and life itself is just so much more than trying to do the right thing. It's getting out of the way, having open hands, surrendering to him because, you know, I think a lot of us want to say, as moms, am I a good mom?
Am I a good mom? Am I a good mom? And God has shown me that it's not about being a good mom. It's about being a holy mom. It's about being surrendered to him. It's about being spirit led because if I have all these ideas and all these thoughts about what I think is best for my kids, a lot of the times he wants to s- well, m- every time he wants to speak into that and I need to listen to that and it's gonna be a lot of the times different than what I think. And so my challenge to everyone here is just to get to know Jesus in the secret place, um, because if you're feeling lost whatever, whatever your journey is today, his, his presence is where the joy is in Psalm 16:11 says that. It says, "In your presence, there's fullness of joy." And so when we look at verse eight, where, or excuse me, verse nine where it says that Hannah Rose, she got up, she was on her knees, she was praying, you know, she was very distressed, but she didn't stay there and just have a pity party and think, "Well, this is my life now and I just, you know, everything's awful." She got up.
And so when we find that joy in the secret place with him, we are able to stand up and we can face those challenges and the callings that he places on our lives.

Amen. Amen. What I want you to write down from that point there, just so you can kind of mull over it this week is not only does God have a specific plan for your life, which actually both of you guys have talked about, but then also write this down number two, that our first cry, so what you just mentioned should be to God with this soul level prayer, this soul level prayer. That's what we're seeing her do when she cried out in deep anguish is what verse 10 just told us. Notice what she didn't do. She didn't run to her friends, she didn't run to her family, she didn't run to whoever else. The first response in the broken heart moment was her to offer herself up before the king of kings and Lord of Lords, the one that could do something about it. Man, there's so much there.
But I want you to keep reading in verse 11, watch what she did. It says this, it says, "And she made a vow saying, Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me. " Man, there's so many of us that have been there, right? "And not forget your servant, but if you will give her a son, watch what she says, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. "Notice what she didn't say. Didn't say," I'm gonna take him. I'm gonna hold onto him. I'm gona squeeze him so tight. He's mine. Never give him to anybody else. "She said," I will give them to the Lord for all the days of my life. "And then she said this, a little bit confusing to us, but it's not to them, and no razor will ever be used on his head.
Now that's not just a haircut issue, all right? She's basically saying," I will submit him to you, Lord, in this vow, this Nazarite vowel that says he will be separate and he will stand in you like John the Baptist was a Nazarite vow. There's so much there, but I want you to write this down because it goes with a crying out with God in prayer. Write this down from Hannah's faith, number three, not only did she cry out to God with this soul level prayer, but number three, she walked in full surrender even in the unknown. Now here's the problem with scripture. Now stay with me because you're gonna be like, "Problem with scripture. What kind of pastor are you? " Stay with me. Here it is, okay? The problem with scripture is we read it when we already know the end, right? In Hannah's moment right here, she didn't know the end.
She didn't know the end, but now she comes to this moment of full surrender before God going, "God, I am yours." Even in the unknown. Listen, church, it is easy to submit to God in the known, but what about the unknown? See, Hannah's question was not, God, what is my will for my life or what is my will for my kids' life? Her question is, God, what is your will for my life? What is your will even more so in many of our lives for my kids' life? Paige, I want you to give us a glimpse into this in situations where even when it's hard, because your situation's been tough, there's no doubt about it. Show us just a litle bit into your story of how God has shown up in the hard situation when you f- said, "Hey, God, here's all of me and all of

Us." Yeah, so I, um, I became a single mom back in 2017 after 12 years of marriage and a lot of those years were a struggle. Um, I had four kids and at the time they were ages seven all the way down to my youngest being a newborn. Um, and it was one of those moments where I had lost control over everything I thought I had hold- held together. Um, but there was an, a moment early on in my divorce that I vividly remember being on my bathroom floor sobbing and crying out to God, why, why me? Why do I have to go through this? And I remember just, um, a very real raw moment of him taking control and ha- me having to give a full surrender to who he was in my life, um, for my kids, for myself, for our future, for what that looked like, um, because I didn't know, I couldn't do it on my own.
I didn't know how I was gonna do it. Um, but in the moment that I no longer had control, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders because it was no longer about me. I didn't have to rely on myself anymore. It was gonna be of God. Um, he had taken me to the end of myself to show me that the full surrender for my kids was his story for them and not my own. Uh, later came across the verse, um, John 3:30, which says, "God must become greater. I must become less." And it's a reminder to me that, um, I have to get out of the way <laugh> and let God take over and in those moments, um, because he loves my kids more than I ever could and, um, I see that in the evidence that he has shown me because as the years have gone on, he's shown up in real ways as Jehovah Jira, the, the God who provides, um, he's provided mentors for my kids for things that I could never speak into their lives in leading them to salvation, all of them have been saved and baptized, um, financial moments when I just didn't know where the money was gonna come from.
Um, he led me through homeschooling, which in and of itself is a miracle that I'm still doing that. Um, and I got a job at Burnt Hickory a few years ago, which was a kind of a turning point in, in my testimony because I was able to, um, see the hand of God leading. And I know that sometimes in our seasons we have to take a moment and look back to see where God was, um, but in those moments I saw him in that moment. Um, he changed the provision of the world around me to himself and allowed me to see him in such a real way as providing for my family and I will never forget that moment, um, because my jewel, my full surrender journey is just the next step in obedience. It's, it's what can I do next, Lord, um, in obeying who you are because it's a daily choice.
It's not something that I can one, one and done is not, um, full surrender. It's a daily thing for my kids' lives, for my life, um, and turning that over to him, um, because if I do it on my own, it gets really messy. Um, but he's graciously shown me over and over again that he is my portion.

You know, I love th- Hannah's story here, Paige, because she's literally having her on the floor bathroom moment right here, uh, before the Lord. And, and she's crying out before the Lord. And, and listen, just because you're not a mom doesn't mean you haven't had one of these moments before. Could be vocation, could be family, could be a kid that's off the rails, could be, uh, could, could be whatever it, it is in our life. And, and I love what she does here because she's really just offering herself up all to the Lord going, "God, let the cards fall where they may as long as I know I'm in you then I'm okay and I'm yours and my kids are okay in this context as well." And it's easy to say that out loud, but, but she actually took that next step and made the commitment for her kids' life.
I love, as you follow the story, you're gonna have to read it this week. We don't have time for all the story, but, but actually she keeps praying. It's not a one and done prayer lady right here, right? She keeps praying. I mean, she's earnest in her praying. She prays so hard that Eli, the, the priest at the temple actually accuses her of being drunk. I mean, I don't know if you've ever been accused of drunk, being a drunk prayer, but, but she gets accused of being this, this drunk wine culture mama right here praying for a son and she's like, "No, I'm, I'm pouring my mind and my heart and my life out to the Lord here and then something happens into her." I want you to see what God does in her life right here. Watch this. It says this in verse 18, it says, "Then she went her way and ate, she went on her way and she ate something." Verse 18, "And her face was no longer downcast." So in the course of time, Hannah, she became pregnant and she gave birth to a son and she named him Samuel saying, "Because I asked the Lord for him." Now notice what happened in her.
She's already saying thank you, Lord. Before she even knows what's happening, she submitted her life to God before he ever answers the prayer and now she lives her life in the joy of knowing who God is and where God's going to go. But she has the son named Samuel. She takes him home and, and she, she spends the first couple of years of his life until he's weaned. And then look at verse 26, she brings him back to the temple to fulfill her commitment. She says this, "Pardon me, my Lord. She's speaking to Eli, the priest. As surely as you live, I'm the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child and the Lord was granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life, he will be given over to the Lord and he worshiped the Lord there." Man, I want you to hear this.
Hannah's not perfect. None of us are, but she walks out the commitment that she's made. This is not some empty God. If you'll save me this time, I'll, I'll become a missionary in Africa or whatever talk that we've all said before, right? She actually walks out her commitment before the Lord. She takes Samuel, she gives him over to the service of the Lord. She puts him in the life of the people of the Lord. She wants him to be an impact for the Lord and she surrounds him at the temple with people that could be a positive impact in Samuel's life. Now, Jenny, this kind of describes where you and Jeremy are right now with some of your older kids. Tell us kind of from your perspective of being a kind of a work in corporate mother, what it, what it looks like to set your kids up to be successful in the Lord.

Yeah, thanks, Matt. So my picture of motherhood, it always felt like it rel- it really looked different and I wasn't a typical mom. Um, and it wasn't because I was a cool mom, it was because I was a working mom. <laugh> And I always wanted to be a mom too, but I had a desire to build a career and I felt like both of those things were from God. So since my kids were born, I've worked full-time in a pretty demanding industry, uh, traveled for work, um, and all that could really make me question whether I was ever getting it right as a mom, um, if I was missing too much if, uh, if I wa- was enough. Um, and I've had a lot of mom guilt Because of that, I think, um, I can relate to Hannah about how hard it is to fully surrender your kids and trust, um, that he's got them.
Uh, she probably was the first one to have mom guilt in the Bible when she had to leave her son at the temple. Um, but fortunately over 20 years, um, of being a mom, uh, a working mom, a wife, and most importantly, a follower of Jesus, he's taught me some important lessons that I wanted to talk about today and share with you. The first one is that I am the right mom for my kids because he chose me and he chose you. And that's it. You don't need to question it. You don't need to second guess it. Don't compare. You're the plan and the plan is really good. Um, the second thing is that I, I don't ever have to be enough because Jesus is enough. And what he does is he uses people. He uses community and the church to fill in gaps when you feel like they're there.
And so what that looks like in my life is first, um, my husband, Jeremy. We have, we met in our high school youth group and we've been married for 24 years, only half of what Connie has. But, um, in parenting it's not a fifty fifty partnership, it's 100%. And he fills in when I can't be there. He helps carry the load for me and he's an amazing dad to our two kids. And he's also a church dad to a whole lot of kids here at Bern Hickory and that's really mattered a lot. Uh, in my life it also looks like family, both the assigned family and the chosen one. <laugh> And so my kids have amazing grandparents that have prayed for them, um, that have dedicated so much time and energy to them and it's been so important. It also looks like friends. Um, we've been able to find friends at the same stage of life as us who are able to share food and babysitting and complaining and all of the things that we needed along the way.
Um, and they show up in like big and small ways for our kids. Um, and it also looks like the church. So, um, in our family, our thing is we just show up. Not perfectly <laugh> sometimes still mad at each other, but we come. And Jeremy and I have taught in 10th grade, um, for almost a decade. It's been so special to have both of our kids come through our class. Um, Olivia a couple years ago and Griffin is in our class this year. Uh, that's been really important to be able to do as a family. So the lesson that I've learned is that being a mom, it wasn't ever meant to be done alone. God created it specifically to be lived out with other people. Uh, we figured out we're even doing that today on this panel. When we met this week, we talked about that Sydney Paige's daughter is in my class and sits at my table this year and, um, Olivia, my daughter that is a KSU, she watches Katie's Sweet Babies two days a week and, uh, so God is faithfully working, um, in all the ways sometimes that you don't even expect.
And Hannah set up her son, uh, to have godly influence and that's what he, that's all he asked us to do. So if there was two things that I would want you to remember today, the first one is to build your kids circle as big as possible with the right godly people. That's what he asked for. And the second thing is to be committed to the church and show up. Um, our job, all of our job, uh, is just to water the seed. It says in one Corinthians three: seven, what's important is that God makes the sav- seed grow. And that's what he's gonna do. I've seen it and he's gonna keep doing it.

Mm. I, I love this text because it's just showing us what it looks like to, to walk into the presence of God with this hurt. He shows us that he has this plan for our life. He puts Hannah on her, on her face to pray and ask God to move. God begins to stir in her heart and move and put the right people at the right place like he does all the time. And then I wanna land the plane by just showing you what happens when we walk in the faithfulness of God, because that's what Hannah's doing right here, because you would think that she like brought Samuel to the temple and just walked away in despair and walked away crying and went into her back room and never came out, but that's not it at all. Why? Because she knows the faithfulness of God and she got to experience the joy of God that only comes when we offer ourselves and surrender to God.
In fact, write this last one down right here is that Hannah would show us that lasting joy is only offered through following the Lord. It's only offered when we actually take those steps to follow God. Let me read these last three verses over us. First Samuel one, verse 28 or chapter, uh, verse 28 through chapter two, verse two. It says this, "Now, I give them to the Lord for his whole life and he will be given over to the Lord and he will worship the Lord there." Then Hannah prayed ... Oh, watch what she says. So, so beautiful. It says, "My heart rejoices in the Lord. In the Lord, my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies for I delight in your deliverance. There is no on holy like the Lord. There is no one besides you. There is no rock like our God." Are, are you seeing what's happened here?
She's gone from distress to now making the sacrifice, but in the sacrifice and surrender, God looks at her and gives her the joy that we all seek in our lives. Now, Connie, one of the things that has impressed me over the probably 20 plus years I've known you is that you have an infectious joy about you as a grandmother today even. And you had it as a mom. I remember those days. Now, there were a couple days that I don't remember, but most of the days. Connie, tell us where does that joy come from in your life and how, how can we have it?

Well, first let me say that we're up here as mothers and I'm way past motherhood, but now I'm looking back. Um, my husband and I have been able to take a deep breath and just breathe and say we made it. And we have three children in their 40s now and we are so proud. They're all educated. They're good people. They have good jobs. They all have their own children now and seeing them as parents is the best thing ever. And then they're all saved and baptized and I'm grateful for that. Um, looking back, all I ever wanted to be was a mother just like Jessica and number two, a teacher. We have a lot in common and, but I knew that I had to wait for God's timing so we prayed real hard about that because I, we got married in college so we needed to finish college.
I wanted to get my masters started and I wanted to get some teaching experience behind me because I wanted to be a stay at home mom. So, um, we had to wait and ended up we waited five and a half years and then God gave us our baby right away, our first baby. And the thing about my children is I prayed real hard about them before they were born and then I prayed for them the whole time I was pregnant after they were born and then throughout their lives and whether they know it or not, they have been prayed for every single day of their lives. I would never not pray for them and I pray for my grandchildren now, which God has blessed me with eight amazing grandbabies and if you're a grandparent, you know that that's the best thing ever. So now I get to pour into them.
Um, I've made lots of mistakes. I know that, but God never meant for me to be perfect. But when I was a young mom, Proverbs 22: six, "Train up a child in the way he should go. And when he was old, when he is old, he will not depart from it. " And I claimed that I prayed that I quoted it often because I believed that, that if I depended on God, he would take care of everything I knew I wasn't alone and that's where my joy came from, knowing that I was not alone and that he was gonna be with me and God me every step of the day. Um, my joy comes from knowing that I can trust him regardless and I don't have to worry about the outcome. The outcome is in his hands and that is my joy and he never failed me and he kept his promise of Proverbs 22: six.
One of the things I'd like to say to these moms up here and all moms out there that I learned is just to relax and don't be afraid to make a mistake. Um, I always believed my children were gifts from God. I knew they were given to me, but that came with great responsibility to me because I felt like I had to make sure I did it right and I didn't wanna make a mistake. And add to that me being a perfectionist, um, I was hard on myself. I, I had set real high standards for what I thought I should do because I needed to be the best mom I could be, as you said, so that my children would turn out great. I was so afraid of making a mistake, but he, he calmed me down and he taught me. Um, I knew that he was working in them regardless of my prayers.
He was all working in them, always working in them and he had a plan for them and his will would be done in spite of me. Um, so I praised him that his mercies were new every morning, that he would bring beauty from ashes and yes, I made mistakes, my kids made mistakes, but God kept his promise and I have exceptional adult kids I'm very proud of and they turned out that way in spite of me. <laugh> And so I used to say to myself, um, "I'm gona make mistakes, but one thing I'm gona make sure of is that my kids know they're loved and that they know that God loves them." And I think they all know that. I think they know that we love them dearly, my husband and I and that God loves them and my best advice and I wish I had followed it sooner was don't take it so seriously.
Um, give it all to God, just breathe, trust and seek him in every decision you make and in all you do. When I was in my 20s working in youth group, um, because I did that for a long time, one night our youth pastor read Matthew 6:33 and it was like this light bulb went off in my head and at this time I didn't have children yet, but it was seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. And if you know me well, you know that that's my life verse. I see heads nodding, um, because I, that's what I figured out is all I gotta do is seek him and he's gonna take care of everything else. Put him first and all the rest will fall into place. So I claimed this verse when I was raising my children, that was my first priority seeking him and knowing him and remembering that mistakes are learning opportunities.
Um, I always feel like no mistake is wasted because God, God uses that to transform us and as you share that with your children to transform them. So here's my advice. Relax, enjoy your kids, relax, breathe. And he tells me all the time still to this day because I'm very hyper, he says, "Be still, rest, relax and breathe." So that's my best advice to you and take it from a mom who's been there and done that.

Amen. Would you guys give them a hand this morning? So good so good. I love this text because yeah, it leans into Mother's Day today and it leans into so many just life issues, but at the end of the day, it's, it leans into all of us that are dealing with issues in our life that we're just not willing to surrender and we're not willing to bring before the Lord and say, "God, what is your plan for my life? And God, how am I gonna walk this out in my life? And God, as I do, God pour your joy into my soul." Man, what if all of us just took a little page out of Hannah's playbook today for whatever that thing is, maybe it's something at work, maybe it's something in the family, maybe it's a kid that has gone off the rails, maybe it's a friendship that's tough, maybe for you it is like Hannah and it's a, a infertility moment or a mama moment and a dad moment.
What would it be like if all of us today just simply just came before the king and said, "Lord, I'm yours. Move in me. Use me. Here I am offering my life to you and Lord Jesus, move in my family's life." We're gona close a litle bit differently today in just a second. I'm gonna ask all these ladies to kind of just stand along the front of the stage just for a minute or two during our invitation moment because I have a feeling some of you connect with their stories and you could use some encouragement today somebody to pray over you today. I'm gona be over by the next step banner. I've got some other counselors over there, but maybe today you need to surrender your life to Jesus for the first time, for him to forgive you of your sins and come into your life as savior and Lord.
Maybe today you're at a moment that Hannah is today and you just need somebody to pray over you and lift you up. I don't want us to walk out of here today without the opportunity of just being able to say, "Here I am, Lord, use me.