Not Deficient, By Design | Sis. Dawn McGee

Ever. Express awesome God, Hallelujah,

Amen. Stand with me today, if you

will. Some time ago, I don't know how

many years ago it's been now and I don't know if it's a fad

because it's still happening, but someone got this bright idea

on Mother's Day that the wife of the pastor of the church should

speak to the mothers. I'm like, yeah, dude, that's

good. She should do it for Father's

Day too. But with that it is kind of an

enviable task because it's Mother's Day and you're you're

working to a certain degree and such.

But I appreciate my wife, mother to our children.

I'm going to share something just real quickly.

And this kind of shows her like motherly instincts or abilities

that even go beyond this place. This year, there's a senior

that's graduating from high school was a service learner in

the office where my wife works. And she's filling out a lot of

different applications for scholarships and stuff.

And despite along the way that on one question she'd actually

written about my wife. And the question was that while

she was in high school, there'd been a significant, had someone

had a significant impact on her. And this is a young lady that's

involved in sports and things, have coaches and all those

things to only had early exposure to my wife really for

probably 2 years hand in hand. So I'm just going to read this

just for a touch of, of my wife. I already know this, but I'm

just telling you from a different perspective.

This young lady said During my time as a student worker at

MCHSI had the privilege of working in the main office where

I developed a close and impactful relationship with Don

McGee. I'm probably going to cry.

The administrative professional. Throughout the year, Don became

a steady source of encouragement, wise words as I

navigated the uncertainty of future decision.

She offered not only her time but also her insight.

I vividly remember her saying take care of yourself and and

pursue the future you want. The simple if I struck stuck

with me. She listened patiently as I

shared concerns about college, potential roommates, and the

many stressors that came with the senior year.

Her perspective of always grounded in maturity,

compassion, and positivity. Her ability to remain optimistic

and supportive leave a lasting impression on me.

In the future, I hope to have her outlook on life and be a

source of calm and encouragement for others facing their own

challenges. That's my wife.

If you know her, she's a champion when it comes to being

an encourager. And if she ever seems like

something different to you, like a challenging you, that's still

a aspect that she's trying to encourage you to be something

more because she knows you can be.

And so I want you to honor God today as my dear wife Comes

sister Don McGee today. Amen to this podium to speak to

us in the ladies of this assembly.

You can be seated this morning. Appreciate that.

Appreciate the words. Appreciate the support of my

husband today. You have to pardon me and you

all just have to deal with me. Woke up with not much of A voice

this morning. So I've done hot tea and a hot

shower and all those things. So if it grates, Anya, I

apologize. Out of all the days in the year,

the one day that I'm supposed to speak and this is my voice.

So here we are, but I am thankful, so thankful for all

the moms that are here. Happy Mother's Day to you.

So thankful for all of our guests, just everyone in the

room. Just appreciate and love each

and every one of you. Today I give you honor and I

thank you for being here today. As I came in, I was sitting by

my mother-in-law and brother Aaron Brown came by and he said,

I came today just to hear you speak.

Now, if you know the relationship that me and brother

Aaron Brown have, we'd like to give each other a hard time.

So I told him. I said, well, I take that as a

compliment, but I'm waiting for the punchline to drop.

There was not one. So I guess we'll wait and see if

he shows up for Father's Day when Pastor speaks.

Also, I do want to mention one thing you all know.

We've been praying for Sister Jessica Wagner.

She's our focus prayer for this quarter and God's been doing

awesome things in her life. She's gone to prison with us

already in this past month of March and God spoke through her

and used her And this past Sunday, she, I have permission.

I did ask, she said I could share.

And she's had some things that she has still been working to

overcome in her life. And through the prayers of this

church and the support of the people here, she has been

attempting to do those things. And last Sunday, she asked

pastor and I, she goes, I want you to come to my house.

She goes, because I'm gathering up every vape that I have

because I don't want to just be partially delivered, partially

saved. I want to be completely

delivered and completely saved. And she said, I want you to come

and pray over my apartment. And I want you to pray over me

as I walk these out to the dumpster because if I throw them

in my trash, I'm going to dig them back out.

And so Sister Jessica, from that point forward, she went to the

doctor. I told her, I said, listen, we

go about this multiple ways. It's spiritual, but it's

physical to do whatever you gotta do, go get you a patch,

whatever you need to do. And so she did.

And I'm happy to report that it's been a week since she has

had any type of vape or any type of thing that God is doing a

work for her. And I am thrilled for her.

So thrilled and so proud and I know we rejoice and you know, we

have we not seen it when we've had these family focused

prayers, God working and doing miracles and answering prayers.

So we're already seeing that come to pass and we're so

thankful for that. Sister Jessica, I give honor to

this church, to everyone here, to the Saints, to our church

family and I honest honor our pastoral staff in ministry.

We are truly blessed with amazing people.

I also want to give honors. I'm standing here today to my

mom, although she is not here with us, who helped shape me to

be the person I am today. I was raised by a mom who did

love God with all of her heart. She taught me the ways of God.

She was an example of what it meant to be holy.

She taught me how to be humble and how to be kind.

And I get my love of thrifting from her, which she got from her

mom. So right before church, my

husband went back and was taking a Goodwill sticker off one of

the pieces of decor on the table back there.

I said I know how to be frugal with God's money, so I'm sorry

the sticker was still there from the Goodwill, but you know, it's

all good. I also want to give honor today

to my mother-in-law. I've always loved her like a

second mom, even before Paul and I were married.

I know she has prayed many prayers for me and my husband.

And what some of you may not realize is when Paul and I

evangelized many years ago, she took on quite a load of

responsibility because this was before the time of online

banking and paying your bills online.

So every time we would go preach somewhere and they would give us

money, we would go to the post office, get a money order, mail

it home to our mother-in-law who would then take it to the bank

and deposit it, get out the checkbook and write checks for

all of our bills that we still owed.

And she did that faithfully for years while we traveled.

She sacrificed Christ a lot for us and I'm thankful for her.

I also give honor to my husband. I don't take it lightly when he

asked me to stand up here and speak.

I know that he puts a lot of faith and trust allowing me to

do this, but I'm thankful for him.

And last but not least, I want to say how blessed I am and

thankful for my two children because without them I wouldn't

be a mom. I've said over the years that

they're good kids, but now at ages 19 and 16, I guess I have

to say that they're fine young adults.

I'm grateful they have a heart for Jesus.

They have a love for their family, and they have always

been willing to help in ministry whenever a need has arisen

without complaint. And our goal in raising them has

always been, God help us to raise our children not to resent

something we want them to love. And I'm so thankful they have a

love for ministry and a love for Jesus.

I'm thankful for my kids. If you would stand with me

today, we're going to turn to Psalms 139, starting in verse

13. For Thou has possessed my reins,

Thou has covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are they works, and that my soul knoweth right Well,

my substance was not hid from me when I was made in secret and

curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect.

And in thy book all my members were written, which in

continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.

Today I want to speak on the subject.

Not deficient by design. Not deficient by design.

Can we pray? God, thank you so much for your

spirit that's been in this room today.

Thank you for your anointing. Thank you for your spirit, God.

Lord, I pray that you would help me today, God, to share what you

have impressed on my heart and my mind.

God touch and encourage every mom in this room today.

I pray they would leave uplifted.

God by your word, God, by the things, God that you have

shared. God, we would give you all the

praise, the glory and the honor. God, it is all about you.

We thank you and we give you all the praise in Jesus name, Amen.

You can be seated today. I want to take a moment and I

want to read the Scripture again.

In the new Living Translation of the Bible, it says you made all

the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my

mother's womb. Thank you for making me so

wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous.

How well I know it. You watched me as I was being

formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark

of the womb. You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

So as we get into this, I'm going to do like what my husband

says. Allow me to nerd out for a

minute, OK? We're going to talk a little

science, a little bit of something here.

So just bear with me. It's going to come together and

make sense here in a little bit. During the early to mid 1900s,

US childbirth practices were causing undue stress on babies.

During this time, most moms were completely knocked out during

delivery. Can you imagine coming to

hospital, have a baby just knock you completely out and you wake

up and you've got a baby and no belly?

I mean, you know, I can't imagine that, but that's what

they did. And so these moms being

completely knocked out since they couldn't push the babies

were being pulled out by forceps along with pressure on their

head. And many times this resulted in

trauma to the baby's heads, sometimes inside and out during

the same time. It was the height of infant

circumcision. Most baby boys were being

circumcised within hours of birth.

We're not talking two days later, three days later, within

hours they were circumcised. And what the doctors observed

wasn't was increased bleeding and getting the bleeding to

stop. So at that point, blood tests

started being performed and they discovered that babies were born

with 20 to 50% of the blood clotting ability of adults,

including a dependency on vitamin K for this.

Vitamin K plays a vital role in helping our blood to clot when

necessary. So the medical community, they

reviewed this data and they determined at this time that

this was a design flaw in babies, that nature was faulty

and needed to be improved or fixed.

They discovered that vitamin K does not cross the placenta

easily from mother to baby in the womb.

It is also understood that babies were born when they're

born, they're almost completely sterile in their intestines.

There's not any like good bacteria.

And in our bodies, vitamin K is produced in part by the good

bacteria in our gut, and babies are not born with bacteria in

their gut. So they decided the best course

of action was to give all babies a dose of vitamin K at birth.

The reason given was they wanted to prevent the hemorrhage

disease where you know you hemorrhage, where you're

bleeding and you can't stop. They went on to say that there

are also low levels of vitamin K and breast milk.

So if you're nursing the baby, then you should or would get a

triple dose of vitamin K. If you were formula fed baby,

then you only got a lower dose, one single dose.

Now understand as I talked this morning, I'm not presenting this

as an argument for or against vitamin K injections.

My kids probably had them. It's kind of standard practice,

but I want to focus on the philosophy and the perception of

these low vitamin K levels. Babies had been born for

generations and suddenly they discovered, oh, their levels are

lower than adults. This must be a flaw.

The doctor said all babies are born with low levels of vitamin

K, but this low level was only in comparison to vitamin K

levels in adults. So were the babies really

deficient? Did God mess up in how babies

are made? Either God messed up or the

truth is that vast majorities of babies don't need much vitamin

K. I believe the latter to be true.

Doctor Sarah Wickham in her article Vitamin KA flaw in the

blueprint stated perhaps the relative to adults lack of it

vitamin K serves them well, possibly preventing the

development of clotting problems in the first few weeks of life.

Now you can go down the rabbit hole into lots of articles,

information overload that I won't give you today because it

doesn't serve our purpose. But understand that prior to the

1900s, this supposed deficiency was not known and it did not

keep the human race from thriving and growing.

Babies were born all the time. Mamas were nursing all the time,

nursing an infant. It was the only source of

nutrition for babies, formula that was deemed safe.

It wasn't even widely available or accessible until the 1940s.

Part of this time babies were born and Mamas nursed them and

they lived. God didn't mess up or create

humans and say oops, my bad, I didn't do that right.

All. Almost all babies are born with

similar levels of vitamin K, and every woman produces similar

levels of vitamin K in her breast milk.

And if these levels are similar across culture lines, across

ethnic lines, can we truly label it a deficiency?

What humans deem a deficiency is actually by God's design.

He formed us in the womb. The Bible tells us He knew us.

The Bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

He made us with intention. He made us with purpose.

He knew exactly what He was doing, not just from our eye

color or our personality, but how much vitamin K was going to

be in our body when we were born.

He made all the delicate and inner parts of our bodies and

the bodies of our children vitamin K levels.

They begin to rise after birth. They dip just a little at day

two and three, and then they continue to rise over the first

few months of life and peek out around month 6.

Now consider the Israelites. In the Old Testament.

God instructed them that the males should be circumcised, but

he specifically told them it should be done on the 8th day

after birth. There wasn't a specific reason

given for this, but Yehuda Sherpin said among other reasons

we wait 8 days. So let the child will be strong

for the circumcision. Could it be on purpose that they

were to wait 8 days for the baby's body to begin naturally

increasing his levels of blood clotting properties of the

vitamin K? God does nothing by mistake.

He always has a purpose and a plan.

He's always intentional. Consider the man in John 9.

John 9/1 through three says And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man

which was blind from his birth, And his disciples asked him,

saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he

was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath

this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of

God should be made manifest in him.

So Jesus went on in this moment he made a clay for his eyes, and

he instructed him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

This man obeyed and received his sight.

Well the Pharisee started questioning him and his parents

about this miracle and the man who performed it, they weren't

too pleased with his answers because they said we follow the

God of Moses and who are you following?

Well they eventually cast him out of the temple.

Well the Bible says in verse 35, Jesus heard that they had cast

him out, and when they found him, he said unto him, does thou

believe on the Son of God? And he answered and said, who is

he Lord? Then I might believe on him.

Now I love this because he's talking to the man that made the

clay and put it on his eyes. And Jesus comes back to him the

second time and says, do you believe?

And he's like, well who is he? I might believe on him.

Think about the fact this is the first time that this blind man

that can now see laid eyes on Jesus with his natural eyes.

And Jesus responded in verse 37. And Jesus said unto him, thou

hast both seen him and is he that talketh with me.

Jesus basically says you're looking at him, it's me and he

didn't just say it's me. When he said you have seen him

and you're talking with him. He involved the miracle by

referencing that you're looking at me right now with your eyes,

the eyes that you can now see with that before you couldn't in

verse 38. And he said, Lord, I believe.

And he worshipped him. Through this whole scenario of

being born blind, they came to a moment where for the glory of

God, Jesus touched his body. He was healed.

It was an example to the people and the Pharisees and they all

saw what happened. But most importantly, this man

in that moment became a believer and a follower of Jesus.

This man was born with a perceived deficiency.

Humanity at that time assumed it must be a curse because of some

sin he did or his parents committed.

But Jesus said Oh no no no no, no one sinned.

This was pre planned so that the glory of God would be revealed.

So many times this is what happens in the Bible.

Someone came who needed a healing or a miracle and Jesus

would perform it and use that miracle to draw people in and

then call them to salvation for the glory of God.

Every child is unique. They are born unique at

conception. When a baby is conceived, a

brand new strain of DNA is created.

Unique characteristics and personality traits are

genetically ingrained in the cells of the unborn child.

And we all know by looking at our kids.

Some are quiet, some are loud, some walk early.

Others take their time. Some have health struggles, some

have developmental delays. These perceived deficiencies

often burden parents, specifically Mamas, with worry.

But just like the timing of the vitamin K, these are not

necessarily flaws. They are divine fingerprints

from God. The very thing we see as a delay

or a difference could very well be part of a greater plan.

From the invisible workings of a baby's body to the visible

challenges of parenting, God is intricately involved.

He sees the things that confuse us, that worry us, but He's

already got them written into His plan.

Sometimes it just takes time to see His plan come about in our

life. What the world calls broken, God

calls it beautiful. And what science sees as a

deficiency, God sees as divine timing.

And many times when we feel inadequate, God declares it was

intentional. Because God doesn't design

anything by accident. All you got to do is open your

Bible and look at the book of Genesis and it's full of the

descriptions of God's handiwork and creating the heavens and the

earth and the animals and the planets.

Just take for a moment and consider the sloth, the good old

sloth. We see it's slow movement, it's

poor eyesight. There's kids movies that portray

the sloth as slow and therefore must be unintelligent, you know,

and we like to make fun of the sloth.

But in reality, the slow movement of the sloth makes it

nearly invisible to predators in the dense canopy of the

rainforest. The perceived flaw is actually

the sloth's way of being protected.

It was done on purpose. So let's consider the camel out

in the desert. It's got the large hump.

It's got that awkward gait makes it seem so clumsy.

It's top heavy. But these are actually God

designed advantages that hump it stores fat, not water, providing

energy during long periods without food.

The feet, they're wide, they're splayed out because it helps

them walk on the sand in the desert without sinking, which is

essential for survival. Things that seem awkward, things

that you would look at and say, well, that's strange.

That must be a deficiency God designed on purpose.

And sometimes as moms, we look at our children and we despair

sometimes because of maybe something we perceive as a

deficiency. And in that moment, sometimes we

begin to come down on ourselves thinking that we failed as a

mom, as if something we did or didn't do caused it.

But look at this scripture in Matthew 627.

Which of you, by taking thought, can add 1 cubit unto his

stature? In other words, how many of you

by worrying, can make yourself taller?

All of our kids are born unique, with different challenges,

different things. We can't worry enough about it.

That's going to change it, right?

It's how they were designed. That's how God created them.

So I'm asking you today, moms, can you start looking through

the lens of God's design, but not only for your children, but

for yourself as well? Yes, all children are uniquely

designed, but so are the mothers that are chosen to raise them.

Whether you're a biological mom, a foster mom, an adoptive mom,

or a stepmom, you have been hand picked and at times you may feel

so deficient, unqualified you. I'm sure like all of us, we all

do. We compare ourselves to others

at times we struggle with guilt, with doubt and exhaustion.

But think about the fact that God looked at your child and

said this is the mother that they will need.

You're not a placeholder. It's by God's Providence that

you were chosen to be the mother for your child.

God didn't just design your child, He designed you for that

child. So even when you feel

inadequate, remember you're not deficient.

You are chosen by design, on purpose, Sister Krista.

You were chosen by God to be the mother through Natalie's health

issues, through the things that she's dealing with through these

feeding clinics. God chose you.

He knew you that you can handle it.

Sister Jen, God chose you to help Addison through all of her

health struggles for you to come alongside and be that comforter.

You were chosen to be her mom on purpose, Sister Melinda.

You were chosen by God to be the mom of those 2 girls, to get

Julie the dental care she needs. God chose you.

You're the one. Every mom in here.

I can name every single mother Jen, Adams, Samantha, I could

start just going across every mother here.

You are chosen by God intentionally on purpose.

It's not a mistake. The things that we perceive

within ourselves as deficiencies can be the very thing that God

uses for His glory. So we've got to let go of the

negative thoughts of our mind and let God's word have control

of your mind. All you Mamas say, I'm a mom,

I'm a mom, MOM. And when you think about

yourself being a mom, MOM in your mind, I want you to think

about this phrase, my God over my mind, MOM, my God over my

mind. So when those thoughts come in

and we start feeling deficient and insufficient, we say, oh,

no, God has a design, He has a plan.

This is on purpose. We can look through the Bible.

We can look through Scriptures. In Exodus 4, you remember the

story of Moses telling God, I'm slow of speech, I'm slow of

tongue. I can't do this.

He didn't think he was capable of being a leader because of

this deficiency. But God reminded Moses, I made

that mouth. I gave you that mouth and he had

already prepared Aaron to assist him, and God still chose Moses

as his deliverer for his people. Moses human limitations did not

override his divine calling. My God over my mind in Judges 6

Gideon, he was hiding out from the enemy, and he said about

himself, I am the least in my family and I am the least in my

tribe. But God turned around and called

him a mighty man of valor, and then went on to use him to

deliver Israel with just three hundred men.

God can see things in us that we always can't see in ourselves.

My God, over my mind. First Samuel 16 Samuel came to

anoint the next King. David was out tending the sheep

in the fields. He was not even invited to the

party. He was not even given

consideration. He was the youngest, the least

likely in human estimation, but God rejected all the older

brothers, even the ones that looked the part.

Other people may look at us and they may discount and not see

our value, but God never overlooks what He is designed.

So even if you feel like other people are looking at me and

other people are just condemning me or thinking I'm just a

terrible mother, listen to the fact that God designed and hand

picked you, my God, over my mind.

One more. In John 4, the Samaritan woman,

the Bible tells us that she had five former husbands and was

living with a man that was not her husband and she was rejected

by her community. Her shame was so great she would

go to the well to draw water when she knew other people would

not be there. But that was the time that Jesus

chose to meet her and was the very first one in her community

that Jesus revealed Himself as the Messiah to.

He chose her to reveal himself as the Messiah and then used her

to spread the message to her entire village, what her

community and even herself labeled a shame God saw as a

platform for redemption. My God over my mind.

Instead of looking at perceived deficiencies as flaws, failures,

mistakes, we need to begin to see them as an opportunity for

God's glory as by design according to his master plan.

Many times we need those challenges, we need those

struggles that they can shape and mold us into the person that

God wants us to be right. Second Corinthians 12/9 and 10

says, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, my

strength is made perfect in weakness.

Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities,

that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in

necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses for Christ's

sake. For when I am weak, then am I

strong. The only time that we ever

become truly deficient is when we try to do it on our own.

I could do this. I don't need no help.

I don't need God's help. We can be exactly what God calls

us to be, and He can use our deficiencies when we just come

in alignment with His plan, when we come in alignment with His

Word, when we choose to submit. He always has a plan and a

purpose for it. Philippians 413.

I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.

The Bible says strengtheneth. My husband's told us many times

that ETH on the end means he strengthens and continues to

strengthen. He will always strengthen us.

Our kids are going to go through so many different phases of life

and we think this phase is so hard.

Let me get to the next one. But each phase has its own set

of challenges, doesn't it? Every single one we think, oh, I

can't wait till they're older. I can't.

I'm going to tell you it doesn't matter.

They're a teenager. There's challenges if they're a

toddler, There's challenges if they're a baby, if they're a

preteen, dear God, that is a real challenge.

But thank God you can get through.

He has a plan through it all. We can do all things through

Christ and we can ask God. God help me.

I've prayed as many times. I'm like, God, help me to see as

you see. Help me to see with your eyes,

not just myself, but other people, my family, my children.

In the Old Testament, Jeremiah felt unqualified to fulfill his

calling due to his youth, but God told him in Jeremiah 15.

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before

thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I

ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Think about that. God hand picked Jeremiah to be a

prophet even before birth. Is that not amazing?

And so Jeremiah, he chose to come alongside and follow God's

plan, even though he felt unqualified and became a prophet

according to what God had called him to be.

God handpicked you to be the mother of your children even

before you had that baby in your arms, even before that child

came into your home, whether it's through birth, through

marriage, fostering, adoption, or even mentoring as a motherly

figure. When the children of Israel,

when they were in exile, they were in ruins, but even

suffering at that moment from their own consequences, God

promised them hope and He promised them restoration.

Jeremiah 2911 is a very famous scripture that's spoken in so

many ways. I want to read it to you in the

NIV, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,

plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a

hope and a future. It's never too late, Mom.

Even when we have made mistakes, God promises to come alongside

us and he can bring redemption and He can bring restoration

because we're in Christ. When we come into Christ, our

identity is redefined not by our past, but by our purpose.

Israel, so many times they strayed away, they went after

false gods, they ended up in exile, they ended up in ruins.

Many times God allowed their enemies to come in and, and he

was just all the while just trying to draw them back to

himself, draw them back to himself, bring them back.

And so even in that moment when they were in despair and they

were in ruins many times by their own hand, by things they

had done, God said, I plan to prosper you.

I don't plan to harm you. I want to give you hope.

I want to give you a future that can bring such encouragement

today. Because as a mom, we can look

back and it's true, we will make mistakes.

There is no guidebook for being a mom because every kid, like I

just said, is unique and different.

We are not going to have a guidebook that says if you do

123, your child will turn out perfect.

You could do one thing with your older child and the next child

comes along and none of that works at all.

So we just never know. We're just kind of just going

along trying to see what works and what don't.

So we can look in our roof, your mirror, and we can see times

that we made mistakes and we screwed up and we messed up.

But when we come back into God and say God help me, help me,

help me. He said we'll come right

alongside and do what he promised Israel that he will

come along and help us prosper. He will give us hope.

He will give us a future. It is never too late.

If you could stand with me, the music can come and if someone

could just knock on the door, have Brother Zach and the kiddos

come out. I have something I want to do

here at the end today. You may be in this room and you

may be your mind has been plagued by feelings of

deficiency. You come into Mother's Day and

you're being celebrated, but you're hanging your head feeling

like I'm just a failure. I, I've, I've just not succeeded

as a mom and, and I'm constantly making mistakes and feelings of

how you failed your child and maybe even telling yourself that

child would just be better off with someone else, with another

mom, that someone else could do a better job than what you've

done or doing. Telling yourself I'm not a good

mom, but let me be the voice of Jesus in your ear today telling

you that you are handpicked by God to be the mother for your

child, for your children. And what we perceive and feel

about our children, what we perceive and feel about

ourselves. It's not always reality.

The enemy loves to come in and just tear us up and battle our

mind and battle our thoughts and tell us it's never going to be

good enough, you're never going to do a good enough job, you're

never going to succeed. And we tear ourselves down.

Sometimes the enemy doesn't even have to attack us because we do

a good enough job on our own. But perfection's not the goal.

It was never the plan. Perfection's never been the

plan, ever. God wants to use the unique

traits in ourselves and in our children for His glory.

Many times we see weakness, but God sees strength.

We see failure, but like Israel, God sees a future.

We see brokenness, but God sees beauty.

He sees redemption. Sometimes we see insignificance,

but God says no, this was my divine design.

Sometimes we see past sin. God said, I see a new creation.

We see limitation. God sees potential and we see

deficiency, but God sees sufficiency through grace This

morning. What I would like is every mom

in this room to come to the front.

Just have the moms just gather up here.

If your child is with you today, bring them with you.

Your child's here today. Come up front with your

children. If they're not, you can pray for

your children. If your mom's here, you can join

her, but just gather in. And I want you to realize that

your child is not deficient. They are by design.

Every feature, every trait, every characteristic, even the

ones that drive you crazy, even the ones that make you roll your

eyes or your cheeks get red, like oh, we were all created in

the image of God, the Bible tells us.

Look at your children and realize that they were also made

in the image of God for His glory.

Whether your child is a baby, a toddler, or they're already

grown with children of their own, made in the image of God

for His glory, Handpicked. It's not a deficiency.

It's not inadequacy. Mom, you are not deficient.

You are enough. You are handpicked by God for

your child. I want you to be encouraged

today. God is for you.

He is for you. It sounds like such a simple

phrase, but I think sometimes we don't really feel that God is

for me. He's in my corner.

God wants me to succeed. God wants me to have good

relationships with my family and my children.

God wants me to be a good mom. He is for you.

He's not standing up there looking down, saying you should

have been doing a better job. No, no, no, no, no.

That is not the mind of God, he says.

I handpicked you, mom, and I'm going to help you.

I'm going to strengthen you. You're doing a good job.

Hang in there. I know it's hard.

Being a mom is one of the greatest things in the world,

but it is the hardest job ever, right?

It's so hard. Is this right?

Is this the right decision? What should I do?

What should I not do? Do I take him to the doctor?

Do I leave him at home? Do I go talk to the teacher or

do I just let it ride? Do I interfere in the whole

texting blow up or do I leave it alone?

Like so many decisions all the time, God is for you.

He is for us. You are intentionally handpicked

by God to be the mother of your child.

And so all these things that you may have said, this is a

deficiency, all these health problems are terrible.

My kid didn't walk when this other kid walked.

My kid has this issue. They're too wild.

They're too this, they're not enough that designed by God for

a purpose. And we want to look through that

lens today and say, God help me to see, as you see today, this

was not a deficiency. It was by design humankind came

along and said all these, every single baby is born to fishing.

No, no, no, no, no, by design because God had a plan.

If you would bow your heads. And I want you to just take a

moment to pray for yourself. And I want you to pray for your

children. And I want you to be encouraged

today and hear the voice of God that says you are enough, my

God, over my mind. Jeez, can you lift your voices

right now? God, we come to you.

Lord, I pray for every mom standing in this room today.

God, let her be encouraged. Lord, she was handpicked by you

to be the mother of her child. God, I pray that you would use

her, strengthen her, encourage her.

God, I pray, Lord that you would be God.

Lord, all that she needs. Jesus, I pray God that she would

begin to be encouraged when she realizes that you are for her.

God, you are not against her. Have your way today, Sister

Grace, as you begin to sing. Let's all continue to pray right

now.