Single motherhood is an awesome privilege! We are the ones who get the front row seat of investing the best of us into the best of our children. Yet, some days it’s really challenging! Amen?
If you’re like me when I was a single mom, there were days when I hurt with no end in sight. There were moments when I wondered if my life would ever be normal again. And there were even days when I felt like no one noticed the sacrifices I was making in keeping the household afloat. I’m not talking about self-pity here. I’m talking about GENUINE probing’s like, “Is the Father REALLY going to work everything together for a higher profit someday, somehow?”
Friend, God is not only strengthening you day by day, but He IS weaving at this very moment every joy, every unfair judgment, every resolution to endure, and every act of of obedience on your part for good – Yes, for your good and the Father’s good. He notices our perseverance when we grow faint. He stores our feeble acts of surrender in His warehouse. He interlaces every one that in time others might know Him more clearly having witnessed how we handled our struggles (at least for the most part).
I was speechless in 2015 with the award of being nominated by the Governor and chosen by American Mothers, Inc., as Oklahoma Mother of Achievement. Are you kidding? Me? The single mom who struggled and on certain days wondered if God was noticing? Me? The woman who wanted to quit time after time? Me? The imperfect mother who kept trusting God even though at times she didn’t feel like it?
As I look back, I must testify that God never wastes a sorrow! Not one boo boo or ouch goes unnoticed without a more advanced purpose in mind. Each one makes us needy for Him with a lesson tucked inside the inner lining. It was NEVER in my thoughts as a single mother that I would EVER receive such an award, but God was knitting together this honor for such a time as this. And for what reason? That others might be in awe of God’s greatness, find hope in His son Christ, and come to know the working of His Holy Spirit.
Friend, God is at work NOW in your circumstances when you think not. So take heart, trust, and believe.
“All glory belongs to God, whose power is mightily at work in us at all times. By this power he can do infinitely more that we could ever ask, think or imagine.”
Ephesians 3:20 –God’s Word Translation
About Pam Kanaly
Aloha! I’m Pam Kanaly, President and co-founder of Arise Ministries. But actually, I think Arise found me wanting to bless single moms years ago. Ministry was never on my mind as a kid. All I wanted to be was a hula dancer. So Mother enrolled me in the tiny tots’ class. Guess God knew I’d have two grandbabies born in Hawaii. I love the great outdoors. You might even find me spending time with my husband grizzly bear watching or camping. In fact, it was on a turkey hunt that God gave me the name Arise Ministries in 2002. I suppose it’s a good thing that I majored in Grammar in college since I love to write words of encouragement to single moms.