Four Stages Of Motherhood

The Four Stages of Motherhood

Tonight, in recognition of Mothers Day this Sunday, we want to celebrate the women who fill the high calling of Motherhood.

Did that video reflect your thoughts about your own mother? Maybe some of you are thinking you only wish you had a mother like that. But you know what? You might not be able to change what kind of mother you had, but you are 100% in control of what kind of mother you are, or will be to your children and grandchildren.

There are four different phases of motherhood represented here tonight;

Contemplating Mothers,

Coming Soon Mothers,

Current Mothers

Completed Mothers.

I thought it would be fun tonight to look into the Bible and find examples of mothers from each of these four stages and see what we can learn from them.

After all, everything God put in His word, He put there for us to learn by.

Let’s start off with the Contemplating Mothers; those women who are not yet mothers, but are seriously considering it.

Contemplating Mothers are women who are either contemplating whether or not they WANT to have children, or are contemplating if she and her husband are physically able to have children.

Now science can play a big role in the ability or inability to have children today. In Bible times, instead of using science, they usually just grabbed another mate to see if that would fix the problem. I have to caution you however, things did not always go well when people took this important matter into their own hands.

Did you know the whole nation of ______________ only exists because Sarah took this matter into her own hands? God had promised her a child, but she was growing impatient, so she gave her husband Abraham to her maidservant, so she would have a child through her.

Something to think about. Now I wont’ stand here and draw the line for what the Bible says is Biblically acceptable and what is not concerning how far to go scientifically to have a child when it seems you are unable.

But the Bible does give us examples like the one I just shared with you, that didn’t turn out very well when man took this kind of thing into their own hands.

The Bible also gives us many examples of adoption; such as Moses, Esther and even Jesus.

I think that is a matter that you and your spouse must commit to serious prayer. Only God can lead you and guide you in such a personal and life-altering matter.

Our Biblical example of a woman who didn’t have a child, but wanted one so desperately:

Hannah, Mother of Samuel

Let’s look at her story given to us in I Samuel. Before we go any farther, realize we are reading the account of this woman in God’s Holy Word, from the book that bears her son’s name! That should give you a hint of how things turned out for her!

Hannah was barren, which means she couldn’t have children. Her heart literally ached inside of her, as many women even today feel, from the pain of not being able to have a child.

I have never experienced the pain of wanting children so badly, but not being able to have them. But I have known couples who have, and it seems to be one of the most heart breaking desires there ever were.

Hannah was feeling this deep kind of pain. I am going to read her account now by pulling out only the key verses from several chapters to give you the condensed version of her story.

I Samuel 1:10-11

10 “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. 11 And she made a vow, saying, "O Lord Almighty if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."

I Samuel 1:20, 24-28

20 “So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the Lord for him."

24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.

25 When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 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.”