I’m sitting at the airport waiting. My flight was supposed to leave Rochester, NY tomorrow. But, I changed it to today. I really felt strongly I needed to get home to my family. See, my girl, the one struggling so much is starting a new treatment this week. I wanted to get home a little quicker than originally planned. So, I made the flight change. Home is where I wanted to be.

But then my new flight was delayed. And delayed again. I will be sitting here for at least 6 extra hours waiting to get home. I know that is small compared to all the hard really big stuff going on in the world. Still, I’m close to tears. Like crying ugly and messy in an airport with a family that has a cat in a carrier and kids dying to get to Disney World for a magical vacation.

It is probably because I’m tired and completely poured out after a blessed weekend with the sweetest moms. I really love being with moms. I know I was supposed to speak a small word of encouragement to them, but in the end they were the ones that blessed me.

I spoke twice on “The Marathon of Motherhood.”

[callout]”Mothering is a marathon. We don’t need it to get easier, though our flesh cries out for that to be true. I don’t want to give you false hope, I want to give you timeless truth to take you the extra mile.” [/callout]

We talked about how we as moms can persevere on the tough days. Like when you are sitting in airports trying to get home to our family kind of days. Like when you don’t have answer to the plan God has for your life or the lives of your kids. And for the days you would just rather stay in bed an pull the covers over your head.

God has a plan.

God sets the pace.

God is our provision.

[callout]”But unless a mother finds bread for herself, she will not have anything to give others.”[/callout]

We cried. I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you. We laughed and we worshipped.

That girl right there is Ellie Holcomb. She sang her heart out on Thursday night. You know some artists sound better on their recordings? Not so with Ellie. She is twice as good live. Also, she is funny and loves Jesus and His Word. Clearly she loves His Word. When I was writing Hope for the Weary Mom, I listened to her songs over and over again. They spoke to me and I wrote. So hearing her this weekend was such a blessing.

“Roll away this stone
Roll away this sorrow
And take away this pain
That I’ve been holding on to, yeah
‘Cause I want to be
Like the birds all singing in the trees
Oh, Lord, I want to be free

Read more: Ellie Holcomb – I Want To Be Free Lyrics | MetroLyrics

As if all of this wasn’t enough, I had a chance to be with some of my favorite people. Moms I knew and others I just met.

With the adorable Crystal Stine

With the founder of RGT – Mother of 10 and grandma of 1, September McCarthy

I hit the roommate jackpot people. I roomed with Clare Smith. She is delightful and brought me morning coffee.

And these moms said some really great things that fed my heart:

“Mom. What you do is Holy ground. Satan will show up to mess with you” @lisajobaker

“Remember, my kid’s feelings are not the boss of me.” @lisajobaker

“Pinterest is fine but the Bible is better.” @ellieholcomb

“God is always pruning for greater faithfulness. ” @claresmith__

“Walk toward truth.” @Sarah

“The enemy wants us to believe we are barren. That is a direct attack on who you are called to be. You are not barren. You are blessed.”@HolleyGerth

“Sometimes His deepest mercy is wrapped up in His hardest test.” @katebattistelli

“Not getting what you desperately wanted can open doors to more than you ever imagined.” @katebattistelli

I realized something while I was at the conference this weekend. We need Jesus, moms. We were created to need him. That is not defeat. But also, we need each other. We need other moms, too. We need women who speak God’s Word over us. We need to be hugged when we are waiting to use the bathroom. We need to be seen. We need to share sips of coffee over ice cream sundaes. We need to tell each other we need Jesus. We need to say when we see God shining through another mom. We need to tell each other, “I see you. You are doing a good job.”  I know I need that.

Last year when I got home from Raising Generations, my dad passed away. It was sudden and grief got a foothold on me quickly. I didn’t have much of a chance to sit with the truths I gleaned from the conference. So maybe, just maybe that is why God has given me 6 hours in this crazy airport to write and think and process.

This is what I’m thinking about and probably will be for the next two hours as I wait to fly home to my people:

[callout]”The marathon of motherhood takes mental toughness to keep running. I’m going to be honest with you. This is not easy. I’m finding the more God works in my life, the more I press into him and places that “rub” off what doesn’t look like him, the more it hurts. I have not arrived. But, I’m catching glimpses of who God wants me to be. And I really do want to be that girl.”[/callout]

I will also probably be sitting here crying. Because of course.

Looking forward,

Stacey

P.S. Sign up for 3 free devotionals from the NEW “Hope for the Weary Mom Devotional” here.