My name is Lacey Marez. I am 31 years old. My Husband and I have been married for almost 5 years and I am Mommy to Ella Marez, who will be 3 years old this Summer. Motherhood has been the greatest honor and blessing in my life. When the nurses handed Ella to me I felt as if God had given me one of his angels to look after and guide. The scripture Jeremiah 1:5 came to me, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" and I knew in my heart that she was his, his a relationship with him first, first before she was ever mine. It has been a privilege to be her Mom. The moment I found out I was going to be a Mother I was excited and overwhelmed with sheer joy. My Mom always told me "you'll never know my love for you until you become a Mother. Only then will you really grasp how much I love you." She was so right. I didn't know my heart could love someone so fiercely or so completely until I met my daughter. As amazing as it has been, my greatest challenge in raising Ella has been to trust that God is with her when I can't be. I have had to put my faith in God knowing that he is ultimately her provider and protector. I can rest in his peace knowing that where I lack, he is the strongest and even when I don't feel adequate enough, I know he trusted me when he hand picked me to be her Mom already knowing where I am weak. My faith in God and his truth has shattered any fears and doubts that I have of my worth as a woman, wife and Mother. Motherhood offers us many opportunities to learn to rest in God's mercy, forgive ourselves, forgive others, and even learn along the way. Psalm 37:24 says "Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." No matter how bad I might mess up, I know God is there with me lovingly holding me and guiding me. My advice to other Moms would be to just to only see yourself the way that God sees you and rest in that. Don't seek approval from the world or compare yourself to other Mom's journeys. Enjoy the season your in and embrace the blessing of having that precious little soul to pour into and nurturing that seed of faith in their hearts. Motherhood is not easy by any means; however, it is worth far more than anything this world can offer. In my heart it is the closest thing to knowing the love of Jesus as we naturally want to lay our lives down for them and sacrifice our wants for their best interest. I am so thankful that I have had such incredible role models in my life who have helped shape the mold of what a Godly Mother should be. My Mom has always been there for me carefully correcting me and nudging me to make the right choices and showering me with love and encouragement. She has always been my biggest cheer leader and helper anytime I have needed it no matter how big or small. She has helped me being a working Mom reminding me of the need for balance in my life where I am also using my education and talents that I earned before becoming a Mom. In this season I am able to work a wonderful schedule where I am off early in the day and off for 3-4 day weekends, where I can still feel completely involved and in tune with every need my daughter has. Working as a Mom has forced me to rely more on my Husband as a care taker in raising our daughter. I love how we as her parents go all in 100% together raising her as a team. When I am with my daughter I choose to have as many quality moments as possible where we embrace our time together and make special memories together as my Mom did with me. I trust that when she isn't with me that she still knows I love her more than life itself and that she is growing and learning with close friends and family and I know that as much as I love her, God loves her that much more. It's always reassuring to know that his love for her is more than enough for her and his love for me is more than enough for me, but together my daughter and I are making each other more like how God wants us to be and he helps mold us as Mothers just as much as we are molding them. I want all Moms to know how important it is to rest in your identity in Jesus as his child and know the fullness of that unconditional love so that we can offer it to our families and our children as Mothers and daughters in Christ.
