A Song (okay, Blog) for Mama

Yall, my mom doesn't get enough credit publicly from me, but I try on occasion to load all of her amazing quailities into one post!

First, she gave birth to me. That's a pretty big deal

But it's what she's done since that moment in time that makes her so dynamic.

Since its our 22nd (technically 23rd) Mother's Day together, I thought it would be fun to highlight 22 impactful ways that my mom has transformed my life. Here we go!!

1. She lived for and worshipped God in front of my eyes, and even as a 2-year-old I not only noticed, but I also wanted with God what she had. Because of her, I started my love story with Jesus at 3 years old

2. She was never just a Sunday Christian-she made praise in worship fun wherever we were. In the car, at the house, anywhere. We danced to Fred Hammond and Mary Mary as we cleaned the house, and those little seeds of worship have grown into oak trees in my life-now my core is composed of worship, and it comes natrually to me.

3. She didn't just read me Bible stories to grow my faith at a young age, but she read me real-life stories about people who had great faith and saw God move in their life. Because I was exposed to these stories as a child, I can rest in God's faithfulness and goodness in my life as an adult!

4. She prayed a very specific prayer over me and my brother each morning before sending us off to school as elementary children-" Favor with God, and Favor with People." That prayer has manifested in unbelievable ways, even to this day!

5. She was never afraid to be firm with me( sometimes it felt too firm, but now I see she knew more than I did, always).

6. She engaged with me with the bible as I got into my middle school years-she challenged me with questions that she was studying herself, and not giving me the answer right away always drove me straight from her presence and into the scriputres! When I found the answer or a story that she was referring to, I'd go back to her so we could talk about it. Waaay better than lecture, I'd say.

7. She taught me that a delayed blessing isn't a denied blessing

8. She made sure that I knew I was beautiful, intelligent, and special

9. She was always an advocate for my faith, even when I wanted to do seemingly crazy things (like travel to the bottom of the planet for a few months). She always just got me- I never had to do a lot of explaining to her when it came ot my desires

10. She taught me how to be discerning when choosing friends

11. She was vulnerable with me, and taught me that vulnerability is okay as a leader

12. She owns an awesome book collection, most that just so happened to end up in the bookshelf in my room. Now I'm hooked, and so is my husband. Well played mom, well played.

13. She encouraged me to continue developing my faith so that I wouldn't always have to rely on hers-especially lately

14. She's always been affectionate toward my dad in front of me and my brother, and uknowingly setting an example for how to be affectionate towards my own husband(wow, I have a husband. That's still SO new to me!)

15. She's held me to a higher standard socially, whether it be at church or in relationships with other adults- because of that I am able to interact with my peers as well as adults older than me in a better way.

16. She speaks good about me to everyone she gets a chance to-even when I'm not around. Because of her, people who I have never met/don't know seem to have a respect for me. Wow.

17. She's continually sacrificing time, energy, and money to make sure that I'm set up for success in each new situation that I go into

18. She's been supportive during my teenage break-ups and after my last one told me exactly what my future husband would be like (and she was SPOT on!)

19. She remains positive during the not-so-good events in my life. She has a way of turnin these around and showing me new perspectives.

20. She makes me feel like what I have to say is important and valuable. She's shifted from not only giving advice, but is also willing to receive advice from me

21. She gives me freedom to do things that I feel I need to do, even if she doesn't understand or agree 100 percent. That's HUGE

22. Last but not least, she's taught me to remain teachable and respectable. She's raised me to live a life of integrity and character. And that's priceless!!

To many more Mother's Days, I love you mom to the moon and back!