Seasons- Rooted - Mothers Day Panel

Thank you for listening to this message from Lifehouse Church.

Good morning, everyone, and Happy Mother's Day.

Anyone over the age of 50 remember that song that was just playing?

We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.

Really sad song, right?

You know, this guy's talking about Terry Jacks wrote this song in 1974.

He recorded the song and he's just talking about the seasons of his life.

He's talking about when he was a kid and his childhood friend

and then saying goodbye because the man's dying.

So he's going through these seasons of his life.

And, you know, he talks about all these things.

And then part of the song says, but the hills that we climbed

were just seasons out of time.

Now, I'm not sure if Terry Jacks was right in that, but I do believe

that we have seasons where it seems as though they're all hills

and we're climbing and we're climbing and we're climbing and we're climbing.

And they can just seem endless.

You know, the weather has four seasons.

We've got spring, summer, fall and winter.

But in life, we can have dozens and dozens of seasons.

We can have mountains and we can have valleys.

We can have successes and we can have failures.

We can have wins and we can have losses.

We can have good seasons and bad seasons.

But you know what?

In every season, we have a savior.

We have a comforter.

We have a healer.

We have a provider.

We have one who has no beginning and who has no end.

We have one who is our peace when all seems out of control.

So no matter what season we're in, if we're rooted in Christ,

he's going to see us through that season until we reach the end.

Seasons can help us grow as we learn to walk through them with Jesus.

Psalm 62, eight says, trust in him at all times, you people pour out your hearts to him.

For God is our refuge.

You know, I heard a quote once that said, all sun and no rain make a desert.

Think about that for a minute.

Think about that.

All sun and no rain make a desert.

I can promise you in life, there's going to be a season of rain because rain is going to come.

The season, hard seasons will come.

But if we're rooted in Christ, we're going to get through that season.

And when we do get through that season, we're going to know it's because Jesus walked through it with us.

You see, if we never had any rain in our walk with the Lord,

our walk with the Lord would be a desert.

We would never grow.

We would never know that we can trust in him to get us through those hard seasons.

So it builds our faith.

And, you know, I can't think but help.

I can't help.

Let me talk to this money.

I can't help but think of Job.

When I think of hard seasons, I think if any of you are familiar with Job's story,

we know that Job had some really hard seasons.

And one of the verses says, then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.

And he said, naked, I have come from my mother's womb and naked shall I return.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.

But blessed is the Lord.

I don't know about you. I've been through some hard seasons, but I have never shaved my head

in any of those hard seasons.

But I've been through hard seasons.

Today's Mother's Day, and we want to honor our moms.

But let me ask you moms out there.

I got a panel of moms here with me, but let me ask the moms out there.

How many have ever been through a hard season?

If you're not raising your hand, you're lying and you're in God's house.

So you don't you don't want to you don't want to do that.

So I don't know about you, but I've been through hard seasons and it could not.

It doesn't have to be something traumatic.

I mean, we've got a lot of new moms in the house at LifeHouse.

I don't want to talk about how many new moms we have here, but we got a lot of new moms.

OK, it's a high number.

Twenty five. I think there's twenty five new moms at LifeHouse.

Yeah, let's give those moms a hand.

Right. Yeah.

Yeah. So I don't know if you are in the newborn sleepless night season of life.

Or maybe you're in the terrible two season of life.

I don't know. Maybe you're in the know it all teenager season of life.

Or maybe it's the parenting adult children and life.

That's where I'm well, that's where we're all at.

Right. You know, so this morning I have an incredible panel of moms up here with me

and they've been through all kinds of season in their lives, too.

And that's why I've asked them to join me up here today.

But I'm just going to let them each take a moment and share their stories.

Let them each take a moment and introduce themselves.

And we'll start with Amber.

All right. Like she said, my name is Amber.

My husband, Nick, and I have been married for 18 years next week.

Happy anniversary.

Early.

Thank you.

And we have three kids.

River, our oldest, is 15.

Cadence is 13 and Tennyson is 12.

And I am a middle and high school English teacher at Carlisle Christian Academy.

So lots of teenagers.

I'm not just wild.

This is a teenage expert right here.

If anybody just needs to know.

We're going to get all our wisdom from you when these little ones get up for sure.

Well, I'm Jenna.

For those of you that I haven't met, it's so good to be here this morning.

And I have the microphone and that's my mom.

So I have to say happy Mother's Day to the best mom in the room.

No offense, but she is.

So happy Mother's Day and I love you.

But I have been married to my husband, Brad, who I think has our two children back in the

family room right now.

But he is the tall, skinny bald guy that's usually back in the sound booth.

We'll be married for six years this August.

We've got two little girls.

We have a two-year-old and a nine-month-old.

One is sweet and one is spicy.

I'll let you decide who is who.

But yeah, and I have the pleasure of being able to stay home with them and raise them.

And it's exhausting and wonderful and messy and beautiful.

All wrapped in one.

Yeah.

Amen.

Amen.

And I'm Keisha Wellington.

And my husband and I, Desmond, we are new to the state of Pennsylvania here, just about

six months.

And we've been married for 17 years now.

We have two little ones.

We have Declan, who's five.

And we have Gianna, who's two, going on 22, if you know what I'm talking about.

I know that.

And so, you know, I always joke about this.

That second child, there's something about that second child.

Can anyone else attest to that?

Mine got reversed.

Mine's my first child.

Oh my goodness.

So she's really teaching me about who I am as a mom as I'm growing.

I'm grateful for them.

They are truly blessings and gifts from the Lord.

Previously, I was a schoolteacher, elementary schoolteacher for 20 years until my husband

and I came into ministry full time.

And we're very, very excited to be a part of what God is doing here in Pennsylvania as well.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Well, I just want to say thank you to all of you for agreeing to be here and being part

of our Mother's Day message today.

We did have a fourth panel member that was supposed to be here.

There are our friend, Letha.

Witter was to be with us today.

Unfortunately, her brother passed away this weekend.

She had to be out of town for a funeral.

So we miss her today, but we know she's where she needs to be with family right now.

So but anyway, so let's get started here this morning.

I don't believe there's any of us sitting here in the room that whether you're a mom,

whether you're a dad, whether you're a grandma, an aunt, an uncle, a grandpa, a cousin, a niece,

nephew, whatever your whatever your title is, I don't think there's anybody in this room

that can say that they've not been through a difficult season.

It might not been like a number 10 difficult season, but that you've been through a difficult

season.

And the question is, as as Christ followers, as we are on this walk with Jesus, what do we do

in these difficult seasons?

And the answer is we must be rooted in Jesus.

We've got to be rooted in Jesus when we are going through these seasons.

Psalms thirty seven five says commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act.

If we are rooted in Jesus, if we trust in him, he will act on our behalf.

And then Isaiah twenty six three says, you will keep in perfect peace to those who are steadfast

because they trust in you.

Now, the worship set this morning was no accident.

We planned that worship set.

We asked Zach to sing the songs that he did this morning because we wanted you to get in your mind

that you've got to trust in God.

Your father has whatever you need and he will provide it.

He will provide it.

Now, Amber, love that song.

Oh, the last song that we did.

Love that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's just they get stuck in your head.

So let's let those get stuck in your head and not seasons in the sun.

Like, let's like reverse that.

Let's reverse that this morning.

So, Amber, I'm going to go ahead and start with you this morning.

I know that when we got together and we were preparing for Mother's Day, we were going to

do a little bit of singing.

You were singing this morning, you were doing this morning.

It was a little bit of a surprise.

You didn't think that you were going to be singing on Mother's Day.

You talked about a season of loneliness that you had gone through.

Can you briefly tell us about that season?

Yeah, absolutely.

So shortly after our oldest daughter was born, we were gearing up for a big move to

It was a huge move, about 14 hours away from everything that we knew up to that point.

All of our family, all of our friends.

So it, I mean, moving is overwhelming and no matter what, even moving across the street,

it's overwhelming.

So, but the idea of moving that far was just really overwhelming and then moving somewhere

where I had zero contacts.

I didn't know anybody and I had a two year, or no, she wasn't even two, I had a one year

old and I was 22 weeks pregnant with our middle daughter and it was just very, I just felt

very adrift without any kind of contacts.

But the Lord really blessed me because he brought me to a church that had mothers of

preschoolers or MOPs group and I just met some really great women who reached out and

one really big thing during that time was the fact that I was, you know, pregnant.

We were like, well, I don't know, I mean, I guess that river's just gonna come sit in

the room while her little sister is born, you know.

We didn't quite know what we were gonna do with that and I was telling that to this brand

new friend that I had like just made, I didn't know very well and she was like, I can't imagine

doing that.

I can't imagine being alone during that time.

She's like, day, night, I don't care.

You call me, I will come and get River.

Don't even worry about this.

It's the last thing you have to worry about.

So it was just great to see how the Lord just used his church to bring people alongside

me when I really needed it.

Yeah.

I love that.

That is so why we say don't do life alone.

Yes, literally times like that.

Like that is so amazing that God, and I think that's a cool thing about the community of

God is like you can meet somebody and within moments when you have that like common ground

of Jesus, it's just like immediate friendships.

I love that.

That's beautiful.

Yeah, exactly.

Well, I just when you were going through that season of loneliness and I know when we were

all together, you went into a lot more detail of that, but we told all the moms on the panel

to you got to brief your story because they're y'all don't want to stay here through second

gathering.

So because we could we could talk for a long time.

Was there any like certain thing that a scripture or a song or something that I mean, I know

the moms group in the church, but was there something that like was just that turning

point that the Lord showed you at that time?

Yeah.

So I actually I want to make sure that I get it right.

So I made sure to save it on my phone so that I wouldn't forget it.

But Isaiah 58 11 says, The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you

are dry and restoring your strength.

You'll be like a well watered garden, like an ever flowing spring.

So that really just going along with the theme of rooted right just that idea that even when

it's dry, even when you're feeling far away from the Lord or far away from anybody that

the Lord is still there just providing that daily water for you.

And you will be like a flourishing garden even amidst the dry season.

Yeah, yeah, I love that.

I love that.

I think there's anyone out there today, whether you're a mom or a dad, sometimes you can be

in a room full of this many people.

I don't know how many is in the room today, but you can be in a room full of this many

people and still be going through a season of loneliness where you don't feel like you're

connected.

And the cool thing that we've talked about in our theme through this when when we were

preparing for today was that being rooted in Jesus because we know that he's not going

to leave us.

We're never really alone.

So I really, I really love that.

Thanks for thanks for sharing number, Jenna, when we were together, you know, you started

to talk about and I kind of know a little bit more about your story because I brought

you into this world.

You can take me out.

No, not going to say that.

But we talked about you've had some big seasons of change in your life.

So can you just talk to us a little bit about that?

Absolutely.

So with along in the group of like 25 moms, I'm one of them.

So in the last two, two and a half years, I have become a mom.

So that has been like a massive, massive change.

For those of you that have kids, you know that pretty much like everyone tells you that

your whole world's going to change.

You do not actually get that until it happens because your whole world.

I don't think I've gone to the bathroom alone in two and a half years.

So yeah, literally everything changes.

So that was a really, really big change.

And then along with that, a million little changes, obviously every day that came with

becoming a mom.

But a big one that was a challenge, like a big challenge for me was when Brad and I through

just prayer and lots of conversation decided that the Lord was calling me to stay home

with my girls.

And I was a little delusional, I think, when I was younger.

And I just thought, so for those of you that don't know, I was on staff here at Lifehouse

for eight years, and my plan was to just pop out some kids, throw them in my backpack,

and like keep going.

So I fully intended on doing that.

And God is so gracious and He's so sovereign and He just knows.

And so through that time of pregnancy and before Maisie got here, the Lord just shifted

my heart fully to those two little girls and has just called me into a season of raising

them.

So it's a shift from full-time church ministry to full-time Maisie and Mia ministry.

And it's been wonderful and amazing.

And I'm finally adjusting and getting a little bit of a flow in that.

And so I thought my time of change was like taking a chill pill, but it didn't.

So more change just came around the corner.

And so I think a good bit of you we've been able to share this with recently, but pretty

recently our family got some news that we're going to be making a very large change here

in July.

So my husband Brad and I and the girls and our dog Emma will be moving to Atlanta, Georgia.

So the Lord has opened so many doors.

I wish I could sit here all day and just share the story with you guys because it's incredible

all of the God moments and the open doors and the divine connections that He's made.

But it's a big change.

So we're going to be making a massive change.

We both have been in this town since I was 11.

And Brad his whole life we've been in Carlisle.

So everything we know, everyone we love, everything we're connected to is here.

But God is saying go.

And so we're stepping out of faith.

Yeah.

And He's there.

He's gone before us.

And so we're stepping out of faith, but it's a big, big change.

So yeah, I would say change has been my theme for sure.

And speaking about ministry, we know that ministry is our obedience and our service

to the Lord.

And no matter where you are in life, whether it's serving full time at the church or at

home with your littles or further in ministry in the future, it's still ministry.

Ministry begins at home with the little ones that you love and tuck in bed at nighttime

all the way till you're serving in the church.

So it's just beautiful to know that even through seasons of life, ministry is still ministry.

It just looks different, but it's done differently.

That's absolutely something the Lord has been teaching me because I was in full time church

ministry for so long.

That was just my focus and that's how I saw it.

But yeah, raising these little girls and teaching them Jesus and yes, it's beautiful ministry.

Yeah.

So as a mom, as her mom, I don't love the last change that she talked about, but the

Lord's working on me in that area.

But in all seriousness though, Jen, so when you're going through those seasons of change,

was there something that you did?

I kind of know you a little bit.

So was there scripture Post-it notes all around your house?

Was there a song you had on repeat?

What did you do to get through the process of all these big changes?

Yeah, I think all of the above, everything you just said.

First year Post-it notes lists, I make lists for my list for my list.

So all kinds of lists of just truth and scriptural truths.

That last song, so good.

Basically that has been my song on repeat and I love it so much because it's powerful

and it's a beautiful reminder, but it's literally straight scripture.

So if you go in the word of God in Matthew, like that song is verbatim the word of God.

And so that has just been the Lord will provide like he's so good, seek first his kingdom

and he truly will provide.

And so that's been a ringing theme for me and for Brad just walking through all of this.

But yeah, like when it comes to the idea and the season of change all around, I realized

that like so much comes from that.

So in a season of change, fear is a thing, stress, worry, the loss of comfort.

I think even when I went from full-time church ministry to family ministry, my identity,

like the loss of my identity and me realizing what I had maybe wrapped my worth and identity

up in the wrong things, the Lord just graciously kind of stripped all of that.

But the way that I was able to walk through all of that was being rooted in the word,

like 1000% my lifeline.

And I was just thinking back before I got married, I don't know if any of you can relate

to this on different levels, but before I got married, I was single, had all the time.

If you are single, all the time, just enjoy every second of it.

It's so wonderful.

And so is everything else.

But I had all the time in the world and I would, whether I was working at a hair salon

or the running store or a restaurant, I would try to be intentional about like two hours

before my shift, I would like get a beautiful blanket, I would stop and get a latte, I would

have all of my color-coded highlighters and my Bible pens and I would get my Bible and

my journal and I would drive to like a beautiful river.

There was one like right by a creek, but beautiful river for the story.

It was a flowing river with fields around it.

And anyways, you get the picture.

I like would go to this beautiful place and I would sit down and I would just soak, like

and not all the time, I wasn't perfect, but a lot of the times I would be able to just

soak in Jesus and I would have this like beautiful uninterrupted time and it was so good.

And then I got married and that was still there, but like a lot less because husbands

take your time in a wonderful way.

So it was there, but it was a little bit less.

And then I had children and I cannot tell you the last time I went to a river with my

Bible and my pen.

I can't tell you the last time that someone wasn't trying to rip my Bible out of my hands

while I was holding it.

And so I really struggled with that specifically, like that the Word of God my whole life has

been my source of breath and peace and life.

And so when seasons of change came and shifted that, I really, really struggled.

And at first, I'm also like a slightly stubborn person, mom, don't say anything, but I, at

first when that shifted, I was like, if I can't have like that uninterrupted, just me,

like I don't want it.

Like I don't, I don't want the little singing song here, like two seconds there, pray while

you're doing your laundry thing here.

I like wanted like the good uninterrupted time and man did God just like wipe that attitude

right off of me and has just reminded me that though every single thing around me is changing,

my circumstances, my feelings, my emotions, my kids, my husband, everything might be changing

all the time, but he is the only thing that is consistent.

He is the rock.

He is the firm foundation.

And when he brought me back to that truth, I realized I don't have to be by the river.

I don't have to be in this.

It can be two seconds because if I can just have a genuine two seconds or five seconds

or while I'm unloading the dishwasher or after the kids go to bed or during a nap or while

I'm folding laundry, if I can genuinely connect to the source, if I can read a verse and let

it sink in my soul for the day, or if I can just keep coming back to it, that is what's

going to give me life and that's what's going to keep me strong.

So I would definitely say just being rooted in the word fully in whatever way you can

do that in any season is, is what is going to make you steady for sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Well, I know when we got together separately, Akeesha, when we got together, but I know

we talked about a season of waiting.

I don't know about any of you out there, even on our panel, how many of us are very patient

out there.

We live in this instant world where everything is right at our fingertips, but we really

talked about a season of waiting that you went through.

Can you share about that with us?

Absolutely.

So just to give you a little bit of background, I was born and raised on the beautiful tropical

island of Jamaica.

And yeah, I know, don't be jealous.

I know.

I'm sorry.

But I was born into a family of 12.

I was a 12th child, one mom, one dad, a whole bunch of hand-me-downs and life was good.

I mean, the only thing I knew about poverty was simply know that we had, we were able

to be met, but we were so rich in just family values and discipline and respect for each

other.

Nothing else really, really mattered.

And so that was the kind of family I grew up in.

I loved being around my siblings.

They were like my built-in play buddies all my life.

Fast forward to age five, my mom lost her battle to breast cancer.

So from the age of five to age 14, my sisters were the ones who stepped in to be a mother

figure to me.

My dad remarried when I was 14, and that's what allowed us to migrate to the Chicagoland

area.

And I can tell you this, my stepmother, God sent.

A lot of people have horror stories about, you know, step parents, but mine was truly

God sent.

She really, really, we had a very good relationship.

She invested in us as her stepchildren.

She really demonstrated what love was through caring for my dad, for the family and others.

And so when I got married, my dream and my husband's dream was to simply just have kids.

We wanted to be around kids.

Number one, I was a teacher, very, very over accomplished teacher, go-getter, advocate

for kids.

He was an overzealous children's pastor at the time, loved ministry, like didn't know

how to say no at all.

That was truly his heart.

So in our world, it was like, okay, so we have the teacher, we have the pastor, we're

the kids, you know, we're like the perfect family for kids.

And so that was kind of what we went into when we got married.

About year two, we said, okay, let's start having a family.

Because initially we wanted to wait about five years, enjoy life, you know, when you're

newly married.

But by year two, we're like, okay, let's do this.

We're very excited about it.

But by year three, year four, year five, absolutely nothing.

And so we went to the doctors to find out, you know, what's going on.

And thankfully, they said everything was fine.

But the only way they could explain it was what we call unexplained infertility.

So the question is now, what do we do with that?

Yeah.

What do I do with that, you know?

And so the pressures came from everywhere.

You had your parents, my parents asking, when are we having grandkids, you know?

And then you have your friends who are also getting married and having kids.

You have the siblings who got married after you that are having kids, you know, and you

just never know.

You never knew like, well, God, when is this going to happen?

And so one of the things I really, really appreciate in my waiting season is this.

There's a quote that says, while you're waiting, it's not so much about the outcome.

It's about who you become as you're waiting.

And through that, God really showed me a lot about myself as a woman, as a mother to be,

about how he wanted me to see the world differently.

At one point, you know, you can imagine the roller coasters of waiting, waiting for a

child, especially when it's been prophesied.

And you know, you know, God has this promise for you.

You're like, when God, how about this week?

Summertime would be perfect.

Just let me know, you know, since we're out of school.

But that's just not how God works, right?

God is very faithful to his time and his time and is always perfect.

And throughout our 12 years of waiting, 12 years of waiting, God answered our prayers.

He sent us two beautiful children, Declan Jackson, which means man of prayer in God's

favor and Gianna Joy Eliana.

Her name means God's gracious gift and God answered.

And so highs and lows of waiting, you may be in a season of waiting.

It may not be for children, but it could be for a job or a positive report from the doctor.

Don't give up.

Stay rooted in the word of God.

That's what got me through a lot of these seasons.

There are highs and there are lows.

There are good times or bad times.

But through it all, God remained faithful.

He never changed.

And let me say one more time, his timing, perfect.

Perfect.

Can I just ask you a question?

So for those that may be finding themselves in a season of waiting specifically with trying

to have a baby or maybe any other place in life, can you talk a little bit about what

that looked like on a day-to-day basis?

Because this sounds so beautiful and wonderful and amazing and strong, but I'm sure on days,

what did it practically look like when you really struggled in that waiting?

So going back to my husband being a pastor, we had the opportunity to counsel several

young ladies, unwed moms, even teenagers who were contemplating abortion.

Now you can imagine sitting on the other side of the table and you're sitting there listening

to these stories, but you have to have a very objective heart towards everybody.

You love them with the love of Christ.

You point them in the right direction.

So those were some of my lowest moments when we knew deep down in our heart what our desires

were and we were waiting on the Lord, but nothing came to be.

We've had times where we had to definitely cry it out, cry it out and depend on each

other.

We've had, I could tell you some strategies, y'all, straight old school strategies, okay?

And you all are all adults in here, but you know, you have the older folks say, hey, think

about doing things this way, you know, maybe that would bring your kids.

We're like, okay.

And then you have like the traditional Jamaican remedies.

They're like, hey, drink some of this herb and do this and do that.

We're like, okay.

And then they're like, okay, what about buying a little onesie and putting it inside your

Bible and walk around with it and pray?

I did all of those things.

Okay.

And I mean, all these things, the worst thing, and I'll just quickly share this, and it's

not the worst, but it's like the weirdest thing.

I remember going back to Desmond's Home Church and there were wonderful prayer mothers there.

And for some reason, they can understand why the bishop's wife didn't have any kids yet.

So they're like, hey, you know, come on back to the prayer room.

We want to pray over you.

And so four of these sweet little old ladies, they got the anointing oil and they said,

hey, can we lay our hands on your stomach and we're just going to pray and believe God.

And I'm like, okay.

And so they went through all of that.

But needless to say, these were our everyday endeavors, trying, trying, trying.

But everything we did was so self-centered.

It was about us.

It was never about learning what God was trying to teach us in our waiting season.

It's like, what can we do?

What can we do?

No, stop.

Trust God.

His timing is perfect.

And I'll just end by saying this.

When we decided to change our perspective and realize it wasn't about us so much and

our selfish, not selfish, but our self desires and our wishes, and we decided to turn our

love towards others, we decided to become foster parents because the world is filled,

as you know, with a lot of children who just need a loving home.

And I do believe with all my heart, when God brought us to that point to welcome our first

little foster baby in, he did something in our hearts and he did something in my womb.

Because in one year, y'all, one year, one year of having a foster baby, we had our first

child.

Wow.

That's a God thing.

Yeah.

That's so good.

I just, real quick, I just love how in that waiting time, like though you did all the

little onesie in the Bible, I love it.

I would have been doing that.

I'm making lists, all the things for sure.

But I love when God shifted your perspective and in that waiting, I love that you went

into action and you did something that his word literally calls us to do because scripture

talks about how God can direct our paths and direct our footsteps.

But in order for that to happen, we have to be moving.

And so I think that's really cool how you guys, when he shifted your perspective, you

were able to just move toward him and he did amazing things.

Yeah, God's so good.

That's so good.

Yeah, for sure.

And you know, as we're sitting here and I'm listening to the stories and I think of all

of you sitting out there today, waiting is hard.

Waiting is hard.

Waiting 12 years is really hard, you know, and change is hard.

Change is so hard for me.

If anybody in my family would be out there yelling, amen.

Change is hard for me.

Loneliness, loneliness is really hard.

Getting through any of this without being rooted in Jesus, I think is near impossible.

I don't think we can do this.

And I say this all the time when I see somebody going through a rough season and they're not

a follower of Jesus.

I think how do they do it?

How do they get through this?

Without having Jesus with them, what do they, who do they cry out to, you know, in the day?

You know, sometimes our friends get tired of hearing us cry out with our need and sometimes

our family get tired of hearing us cry out with our need.

But Jesus never does.

Jesus never gets tired of hearing us cry out.

So I always, I often think of that.

And I believe the theme here today has been rooted in Jesus is how we get through any

season that we're in.

And I heard it said that joy is not a season, but it's a way of living.

And I would like to add to that, that joy is not a season, but a way of living when

you're rooted in Jesus, because we can choose how we're going to react no matter what season

we're in.

And every single one of these moms here today talked about how they reacted.

Amber talked about getting connected with a mom's group in a local church so that she

could get through the hard season she was in.

Jenna talked about being rooted in God's word and focusing on that and reaching out there.

And Kesha as well talked about being rooted.

And I think that's the theme here today.

And each year at LifeHouse as we're getting ready to prepare for Mother's Day, we think

about that.

We think about it.

It could be a hard day for a mom to be sitting out there because either they're in that season

of waiting and they haven't become a mom yet, or maybe they are a mom and they've experienced

loss and Mother's Day reminds them of that.

Or they're in all these different seasons that they're in.

And we never want to be insensitive to that here at LifeHouse because we want to be able

to share with you and see you walk through your season with Jesus.

And that's how this message was birthed today.

When we talked about, I know this was different.

LifeHouse, you're not used to this.

You're used to one person standing up here and sharing the word.

But we wanted you to hear from different moms today.

We wanted you to hear about the seasons that they're going through because we don't want

you to feel alone.

You might think if you're going through this season that you're the only one that's going

through a rough season.

And I can promise you, again, I don't care if you're a mom, a dad, a brother, sister,

son, daughter, grandma, grandpa, you've gone through a difficult season.

And the only way we get through those is being rooted in Jesus.

And I can't thank you ladies enough for being here this morning.

But I just wonder real quick, because we are running very late on time and we want to pray

over everyone this morning.

But is there any closing thought or scripture that you wanted to share with our church family

here today?

You don't have to, but if you want to.

I have a scripture and this is the message translation is Isaiah 30 verse 18.

Isaiah 30:18

And here's what it says, especially for those of you who are in your waiting season.

It says, but God's not finished.

He's waiting around to be gracious to you.

He's gathering strength to show mercy to you.

God takes the time to do everything right.

Everything.

Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.

Isn't that powerful?

Wow, that's really good.

Good.

That's really, really good.

All right.

Well, I'm going to ask you guys, if everyone here, if you guys would just stand with us

this morning and if you're joining us online today and you're going through a rough season,

you know, we're just going to ask you to type that in the chat and our online hosts would

love to pray with you.

And up at East Shore, Pastor Eric and Abby are going to be coming up front and they're

going to be praying with you over the seasons that you're going through.

But right here in Carlisle, what we wanted to do, each one of these moms are passionate

about the season that they've gone through and how they've walked through.

And I know out there that there are those of you that have to be going through different

seasons.

I'm just going to ask you to come.

You don't have to raise your hand and say it was the loneliness or it's the change or

it's the season of waiting.

It could be a season of loss.

I don't know what that season looks like for you, but I'm going to ask if you would, if

you're going through any kind of a season or maybe you have a family member that's going

through any kind of a season, I'm going to ask if you would just come up front and these

moms are each going to take a moment and pray over you this morning.

And then if you need specific prayer this morning, our prayer team and Pastor Kip are

going to be up here on the right.

You are welcome to go over there and they will pray with you specifically.

But I'm just going to ask you this morning, if you're going through a season, any kind

of season, if you'll just come and these moms are going to want to pray over you this morning.

Thank you for tuning in to this message from Life House Church.

We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message.

If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with

us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com.