One more flight. My body is aching to hold my kids and to have them crawl all over me. I’ve been gone all week. Traveling. Speaking. Working. It’s work. But it’s also a calling. I never sought to have this job. When I left Planned Parenthood after witnessing an ultrasound-guided abortion of a 13-week-old fetus, I had already lined up another job at a pro-life OB/GYN’s office. It’s not that I didn’t want to speak about my life inside the clinic and tell people the truth about abortion and Planned Parenthood. I did want to tell people but never in my wildest dreams would I have dreamed of traveling the globe to tell that story. And never would I have dreamed of having eight kids to come home to – and leave when I have to travel for work.
The constant struggle
Sometimes I question it because I hate being gone from my kids. Any working mother will tell you that this is a constant battle. It’s a struggle between wanting to be there for every moment with your kids versus fulfilling your calling, your vocation and work. My work is more than work – I see it in the faces of the people who are listening to my talks. I see their hearts changing in those moments when they realize exactly what abortion does to mothers and their unborn babies. I see that fire in their eyes when they choose to do something about it, to volunteer in some capacity, to help with whatever means they can, to engage in campaigns or run for their school board.
Moms, your work is important no matter the reason
Yet, my heart hurts for what I’m missing at home. I hear the same things from moms almost every day. Their heart hurts when they leave their kids for work. Maybe their work is also a calling on their life – or maybe it’s just a job, a job that they hate, but they do because it puts food in the mouths of their babies. The heartache is real. It’s deep and penetrating and some days, completely unbearable.
I hear moms questioning themselves as mothers because they are doing what they need to do for their families. Don’t. God has called you to be a mother and that will look differently in each family.
Maybe you will work. Maybe you will stay at home. Maybe you will have a husband that stays at home. Maybe you will be a single mom. You are equipped to do this job, Mama. Do it with your head held high.
