Still a Mother

Friend, I want you to know something vital and never forget it:

You are still a mother.

You are a mother if:

• You have living children.

• You have a child in Heaven.

• You carried a child for four weeks or four months.

• You have children to tend to at home.

• You have a child you dream about at night.

  
  

No one can take away your motherhood, no matter what it looks like.

You do not have to let loss, infertility, miscarriage, or stillbirth become a stain on your motherhood. God calls you a mother, and so you are.

It may look different than you intended. My motherhood certainly does.

But one thing remains: you are a mother.

When I allowed myself to stop thinking of my motherhood as "different" or "less than" and started looking at it for the unique beauty that it is, I felt freer.

Freer to love my son in new ways. Freer to identify with other mothers, even though my baby isn't here.

I carried my child, just as you carried yours. I dreamed of him—what he would be like, what he would sound like, whose personality he would have. I dream of him still. I wonder about his days spent in Heaven, who he gets to see that I can't, and how he knows how deeply he is loved.

God chose me to be a mother.

At times, it is hard to accept His current plan for my motherhood. It can be even harder to be grateful for the title of "mother" when I don't always feel like one.

Yet I am grateful.

I am grateful that when I enter the gates of Heaven, my life will not be ending—it will be beginning anew. My son will run into my arms, and for the first time, I will hear his voice. I will hear him call my name.

Though I will miss him for all my days here, I take comfort in knowing that this separation is only a moment in the timeline of eternity.

Your child—or children—will never be forgotten.

Your motherhood is sacred, holy, and God-given, no matter what it looks like.

You have eternity to be your child's mother.

So I encourage you to remind yourself daily:

You are a mom.

Your baby is loved.

Your baby is cared for.

Your baby is protected.

And your baby is waiting.

Waiting for the beautiful reunion you will one day share—not marked by sadness or longing, but by joy and peace. A reunion with a child who knows they have a mother whose love stretches from earth to Heaven.

Every day.

Every hour.

Every minute.

You are a mother.

You are worthy of the title of mother.

You are beautifully and wonderfully made.

And your baby knows your heart.

You are a mother. And nothing — not even death, can change that.