THE BLESSING OF A GODLY MOTHER
Saturday, July 26th, 2025 my mom turned 90! In 1956, just a few weeks after her 21st birthday, she gave birth to me, her firstborn child. I can’t begin to express what a tremendous blessing having this godly woman as my mother has been to my life all these years.
My mom was not into fancy clothes or the material things of this world. She didn’t learn to drive, or get her license until I was almost 10 years old. My mom never went past the 8th grade in school. She grew up through the Great Depression and World War II. Her own mother died when she was about 3 years old, and for a brief time, she was in an orphanage before being reunited with her father. She shared a bed with her two sisters, and used an outhouse for most of her childhood years. My mom got a full-time job supporting herself when she was approximately 15-16 years of age. My mom committed her life completely to the Lord shortly before I was born.
My mother was wholeheartedly devoted to her home, her husband, and her children. She never bought into the women’s lib movement; she saw it for the great evil it really was. She never worked outside the home during all my years living at home. She walked me to the school bus in California in my earliest years, and was always there waiting for me to get off the bus when I got home. She always encouraged me, loved me, cared for me, and was extremely affectionate and kind. She served us six kids sacrificially, making almost every delicious, homemade meal from scratch. She found every way to stretch a dollar and feed our large family, with wisdom and frugality. She always had a smile, a wonderful sense of humor, and a kind, encouraging word.
No doubt I tried her patience. As a little boy I would climb up on our garage roof, using the tree next to it to ascend, and my mom would have to call my dad home from work to get me down, as I just could not figure out how to get down on my own. Again and again I did this, much to her dismay, but she kept right on loving me. My mom always affirmed my masculinity and let me be the adventuresome, aggressive boy God made me to be. She never ridiculed me or put me down.
My mom loves the Lord with all her heart. She reads her Bible every day, and seeks to obey the Lord in all her mothering ways, to the best of her understanding. She helped me memorize Psalm 23 by the time I was 3 years old. She taught me scripture. She prayed with me every night at bedtime, and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with me, leading me to the Lord at a very young age. She read me countless Bible stories, and taught me many little Bible songs. Growing up, no matter how many times we moved, my mom was my home. She was always there, day in and day out, when I left for school and when I got home. She would put on her apron, bake her delicious homemade bread or her awesome chocolate chip cookies, and us five boys would often have them eaten before they barely had time to cool off!
She washed our clothes, washed the dishes, cleaned the house, ironed our clothes, dried our tears, gave us hugs and kisses. She changed thousands of diapers on six kids–cloth diapers, as disposable didn’t exist. She dealt with the smell, rinsed them, washed them, and reused them over and over again. You modern moms, can you even imagine not using throw away diapers?! She hung our clothes out to dry on the clothesline until I was almost in junior high, when we eventually got a dryer. She worked at home morning till night, and had an incredible work ethic.
She corrected me when I needed it—and believe me, I needed it. She refereed arguing kids, and provided an immense amount of comfort and security.
My mom loved the Gospel and sharing it with others. She especially loved children and seeing them come to know Jesus. For years she taught little boys in Sunday school class and vacation Bible school. As a young school boy, my mom had a Good News club in our old house’s living room. That house was built in 1880, in Muscatine, Iowa. She would bake her famous cookies for all the kids, tell us all a Bible story using flannel graph characters on a storyboard, and lead us singing songs. I would bring as many kids from my school class as I could. Sometimes there might be twenty or more kids in that old living room. I usually walked home for lunch from that school, as it was a block away from our house, and she would have a delicious lunch waiting for me, and let me watch The Cisco Kid Western.
My mom was a woman devoted to good deeds. She was so kind to our elderly next-door neighbor whose wife had passed away. They had no children. My mom would often bake him one of her famous, homemade cherry pies, and bring it over for Thanksgiving or Christmas, or just to make his day a little brighter. She would often check in on him to see if he was okay. She had the privilege of sitting beside him, holding his hand as he passed away years later, and praying with him as he entered into eternity. That’s the kind of mom I have.
When I was an older teen, for a time my heart grew very cold and rebellious toward God and spiritual things, but my mom kept loving me. She continued to believe God had plans for my life and she never gave up praying for me. At 19, her prayers were answered and I gave my life completely to the Lord. I dedicated my life to serving Jesus Christ. She rejoiced with me and supported me fully in God’s calling on my life.
All these years, my mother has prayed for me every single day. She has always stood by me, believed in me, and supported me—never wavering.
My mother’s impact on my life will echo through eternity. Her devout faith in God, trusting him through the most difficult, excruciating trials of her life, has been a marvel and a tremendous inspiration in my own life. Her tenacity and godly determination not to quit, give up, or fall into utter despair at the hardships and injustices that came her way are astounding to me. Her faithfulness to God and her perseverance through all these years has been food and fuel to my own walk with God.
To all you moms out there—never, ever underestimate your phenomenal impact on your children’s lives, and how significant your godly mothering is to your child’s life. You are one of the greatest gifts your children will ever receive in this life. What a blessing to have a Godly Mother.
Mom, you are amazing. How I wish the Christian Church today was full of women just like you!
Helping you become a Strong Disciple,
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Mark Darling
