SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello.

unknown 0:01

Hi.

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Good morning, everybody. Happy Mother's Day. My name is Sarah Hubrex, and not only am I a lifelong attendee of Eastridge Community Church, but I also happen to be married to our associate pastor, Justin. You're welcome. Kidding but sort of not kidding. And although she'll be introducing herself in a moment, this is my lovely mom. Her name is Vicky. She is one of the best people that I know. Right, Paulina? I don't know where you are, but I heard that. But she is she is honestly one of the best people that I know. And she's one of my dearest friends. But caveat, 14-year-old Sarah would not have been able to say that. Just like any parent-child relationship, we have had our challenges, we've had our ups and downs. In addition to that, we realize that Mother's Day might be a little tricky for some of us. It might not be joyful. It might be a day of pain or disappointment. Maybe your mother has already passed away, and today is just really hard. Know that you are so loved and that you're seen today, too. So happy Mother's Day to you and to your mother. Up on the screen here, we're gonna have a little picture just for a bit of context. Um, this is a photo, it will be a photo, of me and my mom and our Justin and I, our two children, Jude and Lucy. Although it's an older picture, um, my children are now 10. Jude with the cheesy smile is now 10 and Lucy is seven. Um, if you were here when Justin and I preached together about six months ago, probably, you already know quite a bit about me, my faith life, my faith journey. So I'm not gonna be spending a whole bunch of time introducing myself, but I'd love to talk to you afterwards if you'd like to hang for a while. Um, but one thing that I didn't really get to talk much about when Justin and I were up here was about my mother. And I have a little bit of a beef with her, a little bit of a beef. And it would not be for a reason that you would expect, but my children are obsessed with my mother. I am quite convinced that there are times, no, many times, where they love her far more than they love me. And you know, mom, that's just unfair. That's just unfair. My daughter Lucy, in particular, if she could spend every waking moment at my mom's house, I think that she absolutely would. And isn't that the gift of having a grandparent as well? Today, we're gonna be taking a break from the book of Acts. Sorry, Justin. Um, and instead, we're gonna be sharing some of the most important lessons that God has taught the two of us through our walks in motherhood so far. Know that the characteristics we're sharing are not exclusive to mothers, they apply to everybody because I'm not just a mom. I'm a wife, a sister, a daughter, an aunt, a teacher, a coach, and a friend. These truths from scripture apply to all of us.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

So my name is Vicky. I am Sarah's mom and Justin's mother-in-law. And I have to say, I'm a little surprised he decided to hand us each a microphone and you know, just let us be up here. I understand it was the brainchild of the women on the staff, go girls. Um, so we'll try not to be, you know, Justin bashing session. Woo! Oh dear. Well, before we begin, I have an important piece of advice for parents with multiple children. Remember to take pictures of yourself with one child at a time. This is very important. Because I could not find a picture of just Sarah and I, other than when she was a ruddy, tiny, tiny, tiny newborn. And I I just I I couldn't I just couldn't find one. And granted, I'm about 30 years behind in putting pictures together, so it took me a bit, but um, I did find this. Would you like to hold it down? I'd love to. So this is a t-shirt from a dance recital several years ago where um we had a mother-daughter dance. Motherhood was one of the important occupations celebrated that day. And so we had our picture taken and put on a t-shirt. Now, if you can't find a picture, but you can find a t-shirt from many years ago, perhaps you should check your closets. Anyway, we did manage to find that. Motherhood, the most important occupation of all. As for my role here at Eastridge, I play the keys and sing on the worship team, and I'm on the leadership team for next phase, our ministry for women who are, you know, just in that next phase of life. We've been a part of Eastridge since its beginning in the early 90s. I was the worship director for the first 26 years of our ministry here. That job included anything that had to do with music at all. I led worship on Sundays, the worship team, choir, children's music, kids' musicals, we had rehearsals in our living room. We were a much smaller church family, but we were a committed one. We have a picture coming up, I think. One more. Somewhere. There we go. So this is our family. Um, we this was our celebration of our son Brian and his wife, Alyssa, what their wedding last June. Fun fact, we have three Sarahs in our family. And yes, it's it is very confusing. I will give you that. But as Jay and I get older, we're thinking that if we need something, we can just ask for a Sarah and someone will respond. I've been a wife for 43 years. I'm a mother, a proud grandmother of two, with two on the way, a piano teacher for 40 plus years, a sister, a daughter, an aunt, a foreign exchange student mom, and a dog mom. Let's see the nods for all the dog and cat. Yeah, yeah, there you go. My journey to becoming a mom was a rough one. Started with an early miscarriage, infertility issues, and a diagnosis of endometriosis. I know firsthand that Mother's Day can be difficult if you are experiencing any of those things. Please know that we hear you, we see you, and that you are not alone. My actual motherhood experience is a little different than most because we started our parenting journey with the adoption of our Korean-born daughter, who arrived at 10 months. Then we went back five months. Our son Brian was born down in Florida. Seven months later, this one came along. And then three years later, our son Daniel, and three and a half years after that, our son Kevin. A little background here. I have one brother and four sisters, one that is in heaven. I was born one month before my parents' 25th wedding anniversary. Got that? You do that, huh? Thirteen years after all of the others. Hello. I'm actually closer in age to my nieces and nephews, but my sisters were and are wonderful mothers who set really good, loving examples for me. I was raised in a Christian home, and the church was a huge part of our lives. I played the organ and the piano and taught Sunday school all through my teen years. I learned to trust God at a very young age. Our mother was a strong woman who worked as a nurse's aide for many years at a time when not many women worked outside the home. She loved the Lord and her family was her source of pride and joy. She had high expectations of me, and while I certainly didn't always live up to them, disappointing her was something I tried hard to avoid. At our house, Mother's Day was really important and well celebrated. Our mom always had a beautiful orchid crousage on her lapel, as did many of her friends at church. A special family dinner, flowers, gifts, and cards always. Sarah and I have both learned a lot from our experiences as mothers, even though I have several years on her. But today we narrowed it down to three, the things that challenge us: compassion, patience, and endurance.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

So the first quality that we're going to attempt to tackle that has grown in both of us through motherhood is compassion. Compassion is a deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the desire to remove that suffering from that person. If you have ever loved another human being, there is a good chance that you understand or have experienced compassion. Some practical examples. You want to relieve the pain of an aging parent. That's compassion. You see an overwhelmed coworker and you offer to hop in and help out on a big project. That's compassion too. You watch a classmate get bullied over and over again, and you feel God asking you to stop being a bystander and finally step in. That's compassion. You watch your own child managing emotional pain. And there's nothing you wouldn't do to take away their anguish. You want to provide comfort. Your heart is breaking for them. That's compassion too. Compassion is the desire to remove pain and comfort the suffering loved one. In our house, and maybe in many of yours, when my children need something, for some reason, no matter where I am, they find me. They find me. Mom, I need a snack. Mom, where are my shoes? Mom, Lucy's annoying me. Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom. Despite Justin's very best efforts. I mean, he will be sitting there on the couch next to them. And he will say, I'm right here. You can ask me. Nope. They will march into the bathroom where mom is taking a shower and say, Mom, mom, he tries. Bless your heart, my dear, you try. But for some reason, they come to me with their wants, with their needs, but most importantly, when they need comfort and compassion. In Isaiah 66, 13, God speaks directly to this type of comfort and compassion. The scripture says, as a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you. And you will be comforted over Jerusalem. In Isaiah's day, the gods of pagan nations were to be served by the people. There was no emotion exchanged. There was no relationship. There was no connection between the two. Yet Isaiah showed the Israelites and shows us today that God, the true creator of the universe, designed us to be in a loving, covenant relationship with him and with his son. God yearns for us to run to him for comfort and for compassion. Not run to a best friend, not to social media, not to chocolate, not even to a spouse, but to run to him. The ultimate show of his love and compassion is through Christ's death on the cross. And what better way to describe that type of love and comfort and compassion than by comparing it to the relationship between a loving mother and her precious child.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

One of the things that helped our kids learn about compassion were our trips to the nursing home. My dad lived another six years after my mom passed, the last four spent in nursing facility. We would take the kids there at least a few times a month to visit and sing the old hymns that my dad loved so much. To this day, my kids and my niece often refer to those hymns as the nursing home songs. Oh no, no, it was no, no. No, that's just how we categorized them: how great thou art, leaning on the everlasting arms, great is thy faithfulness, the list goes on. An example of compassion when they were young is I was worried when they were learning how to ride a bike. I was never very good at that sort of thing, as Jay would be chasing them down the street. But I'd be thinking, okay, I hope nobody falls, I hope nobody gets hurt, I've got the band-aids ready. But to them, I'd be shouting, keep trying, you've got this, you're okay, get back up on that bike. Compassion with encouragement. And then when they're older, compassion means to be there for them when they're experiencing heartbreak, pain, fear, loneliness, unfairness. As moms, we would do just about anything to spare them all those things. But we know that that can't always be. So we pray. And then I'm reminded that our Heavenly Father knows and loves our children more than we do. He understands their pain and ours. If you've ever questioned how much he loves you, I can promise you that he will never fail you. In those times that we don't understand, trust in him and he will meet you where you are.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

The second, and we believe the most practiced quality that God has taught us through motherhood is patience. Patience is the capacity to remain calm, self-possessed, and uncomplaining when facing frustrating situations. As I mentioned before, I am a public school teacher. I have 28 fourth graders in my class. John Dover, where are you at? That's for you, buddy. It is May, everybody. We have been together for nine long months. A bunch of 10-year-olds and Sarah. The weather is changing. There are field trips, there are concerts, there are celebrations, the schedule is out the window, and the kids are starting, for lack of a better term, to just get really sick of each other. The number of times I hear Mrs. Hurex on any given day is in the hundreds. Easily in the hundreds. God-given patience is absolutely the only way that I make it through a typical work day. And whenever any of us spends time with other humans, children in particular, we are going to need gobs of patience. In Ephesians 4, 2, the apostle Paul encourages us to be patient when he says, be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. In this scripture, Paul uses the Greek word anekmahi, and that means to take responsibility for others again and again, implying continuous, patient, and loving endurance of each other's weaknesses. God understands his people. He knows that neither we nor our children are able to make instantaneous changes to our thoughts, our moods, or our behaviors. All throughout the Old Testament, God practices an Echmahai in his relationship with the Israelites. If you're a parent, think about these different statements and see how they apply to you. God's children stray. He is patient and forgives. His children disobey. He is patient and forgives. They turn their back on him. He is patient and forgives. If God is this patient with his children, he expects us to be patient with our children and with each other.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

So let's be real. Sometimes we just need our kids to obey. No questions, just obey. Just because. Just because I said so. Frustration comes in when we don't get the immediate response that we would like. We have a couple of kids, no names, who, by nature, are just slower moving than others. And it used to drive me crazy. During the early years of East Ridge, we had four then five young kids. We were working hard and they were in it with us. Getting moving on Sunday mornings was not always easy, especially during those teen years. We needed patience. But I noticed that when they needed something, nobody was talking about patience. They needed it right now. I never could figure that out. And speaking of patience, parents, how about long car rides? Long car rides. Well, when our older kids were young, there were no devices. You had a tape deck. Anybody remember cassette tape decks? CDs that was a big deal when we finally got a CD player in our car. So we sang. We sang a lot. We sang a lot of kids' Christian music. Our kids knew Bible stories and scripture from music stories like Peter walking on the water and healing the lame man. We could probably still sing those now. Um James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4 from the Living Bible says, I will be happy when the way is rough, because it gives my patience a chance to grow. So I will let it grow and not try to squirm out of my problems. For when my patience is finally in full bloom, then I will be ready for anything, strong in character, full, and complete.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

In Galatians 6 9, Paul says, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Spiritual endurance in the Bible is the steadfast, courageous ability to withstand trials, hardships, and persecution without abandoning your faith. And it's fueled by reliance on God's strength, not on your own. Although I can think of many times that God has allowed me to endure during motherhood, here are just a few examples that some of you moms especially might relate with. Endurance during pregnancy, endurance during long, long labors, postpartum recovery, chronic sleep deprivation, navigating the developmental stages that our kids go through, carrying the mental load of schedules and logistics, helping your child navigate the challenges of being a kid in today's really crazy world. Motherhood requires endurance, and life requires endurance. But thankfully, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, is no stranger to endurance. He endured temptation, hostility, rejection, physical suffering, and the agony of the cross. He paid it all so that you can endure too.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Well, one thing when you get to be my age is you realize that parenting is for the long haul. It doesn't end at 18 or 21 or 30 or 40, etc., etc. Having and maintaining strong relationships with your grown kids is such a privilege and so very important. And then there's the blessing of being a grandmother. What a joy to see your children raising those precious grandkids. Times have changed for sure, and there are many things vying for parents' attention. With social media, busy schedules, and demands on families, parenting is more challenging than ever. My advice pray. Pray. And then pray some more. Seek out community. Here at Eastridge, we have a young family group. We have a Fearless Moms program. Both of those programs offer friendship and support for parents. And our staff would love to connect you with one of those ministries. So as we close today, here's our challenge. Show compassion to our children the way our Heavenly Father shows us compassion. Pray for patience, the same patience that God shows us when we are being disobedient. Run the parenting race with endurance. Keep your running shoes laced and ready. Be prepared for the unexpected. There will always be surprises, perhaps even disappointments, that you wouldn't expect. Don't be afraid of tough love. It's not easy, but sometimes necessary. And most of all, love on your precious kids and grandkids. And parents, remember, with God's help, you are equipped for this task at hand. Happy Mother's Day. Would you pray with me, please?

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Heavenly Father, thank you for the challenge and the gift of parenthood and motherhood. Thank you for the challenge to be compassionate, to be patient, and to live our lives with endurance. We know that none of these attributes are possible without you. You are the author and perfecter of our faith, and we are so grateful. You know exactly how we feel today and exactly what we need. Draw close to each of us this Mother's Day and help us to become more like you. Thank you for being the perfect model of love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.