This morning I had my Quiet Time on our newly screened in deck. I journaled about my post-surgery doctor’s appointment (I’m doing GREAT!) and about the day ahead. Then my mind turned to Mother’s Day and I began to pray for several friends who are facing this Mother’s Day weekend as single moms, some for the first time.

• Val’s husband left her this fall after more than two decades (maybe three) of marriage. He picked her up from work and said he had moved his stuff out of their apartment. She has a grown son and a middle school son, and is facing the most challenging time of her life, emotionally, financially and spiritually.
• Nee and her husband separated sometime this fall as well. He was abusive and has left her and her two children (13 and 11ish) with emotional scars I can’t even imagine.
• LT and her husband divorced a couple of years ago so being a single mom isn’t new to her. But she’s still struggling. Just this week she bumped into her ex with his much younger girlfriend and was sent through a journey of emotion she hadn’t anticipated.
• My friend Lisa lost her husband slightly more than a year ago after a battle with cancer. She’s facing life as a single mom of a middle school boy, and still has good days and bad days.

This song, He Shall Feed His Flock by John Ness Beck, is for you. It’s taken from Isaiah 40:11.

Other friends who came to mind include:

• Ellen, Laurie and Tam – who view Mother’s Day from a different perspective. None of these ladies have biological children, but that hasn’t stopped them from investing in the lives of the children of friends, and kids in their churches. I’m certain the day brings a certain amount of pain for them.
• Stacy – who lost a baby this fall and is still hoping for “one day,” only to find that it’s “not this month.”
• ML – facing a difficult chapter in motherhood as she embraces tough love when everything within her is screaming out “embrace.”

I pray that God will bless you this weekend and make you aware of His Presence.

To Laura and Sharon, I will never forget your kindness to me during the Mother’s Days I spent as a single mom. You will never know how meaningful your Mother’s Day cards to me were, particularly when Hannah and Morgan were too small to remember on their own. You are the inspiration for this post. I love you both.

Who do you know that might be facing a difficult Mother’s Day? It’s not too late to pick up a flower, pick up a pen, or at the very least, pick up the phone. Someone will be blessed, and it just might be you.

And if you’ve faced a difficult Mother’s Day, how did a seemingly small action from someone else become a giant blessing for you?

Creative Commons photo on Flickr by Cheng I.