The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.
Psalm 18:33
When I became a mother...
"When I became a mother..." is a strange phrase for me to say because I did not really feel that I instantaneously ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ a mother when my first was born. Of course that is exactly what happened - and I argue that pregnant women have become mothers also. And yet, there is something more to the work and transformation that happens as a person ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด a mother. Many of us relate to the panic of realizing you are taking your newborn home from the hospital without any further oversight.
To me becoming a mother has been a lot like ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ a believer. When first you trust the LORD, you immediately become a new Christian, but you also ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ more like Jesus over time through ups and downs as you get to know Him better. Motherhood is similar - and the ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด of becoming a mother is much more of a labor than I understood at first. It is part of the magic of the grueling newborn season: not only because through the ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ of a mother you become more motherly, but also because just by ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ the role you are able to rise to it. God gives you a new identity complete with new capacity. The impossible role becomes possible.
This is where I'm hanging my hat. The name "Surefooted Family" comes from several scriptures with the same lines. "The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights (Hab 3:19, 2 Sam 22:34, Psalm 18:33)."
I LOVE the layers of this concept in various translations: Able to tread upon the heights. Able to navigate rugged terrain. Safe on the mountains.
Another scripture comes to mind:
"The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, the LORD upholds him with his hand." Psalm 37:23-24
let us help you find your footing
I'm a pediatrician mama of three kids, and, just like you, I'm often overwhelmed by that feeling of uncertainty with so many decisions and so much responsibility as a parent.
Here's what I know: God paired you with your child, and you have what it takes for motherhood!
Biblical Faith + Science when it comes to parenting
It seems like most people think of doctors as scientists - or as โscience peopleโ - and people in my everyday life categorize me this way. I have done some medical research, and I have a clinical profession in the sciences. Webster's definition of a scientist is someone who systematically gathers and uses research and evidence to ask questions and test those questions - in order to gain and share understanding and knowledge.
Yes, doctors do that with regard to health, caring for the sick, and helping people navigate their health - whether itโs staying healthy or getting better - or in this case, navigating labor, delivery, and newborn care.
Today I want to charge you to also do that as a parent. Because science is about a deliberate and logical way of thinking. Itโs about asking questions, and itโs also about observation. These are all things that are very much in line with our faith, with God and the world he created, and with who he made us to be as humans and as moms who care for and make decisions for our children. We should all think like scientists - not the category of professionals, not the political groups of some physician association or governmental agency - but scientists in the sense of someone who thinks logically, observes, looks for real facts, and gets expert input from trusted mentors.
Medical school is first about learning how to think like a scientist. Itโs not about spitting out - โBlah Blah Blah is the right answer on the multiple choice test.โ In our introductory lecture on our first day, the professor told us that MOST of what we would learn over the next few years would become obsolete at some point in our careers. That the actual details of which antibiotic to use, or which tests to order, or even what we think causes a certain disease, would all be changing rapidly. Therefore, we would have to always be learning, asking, seeking, questioning. We could never say โI was taught Xโ or โI always thought Y.โ Or even โI saw this particular thing happen in this one patient.โ We are memorizing facts and gaining knowledge, but that knowledge actually comes from a body of evidence from centuries of scientific thinking.
As moms we need to avoid feeling like we must reinvent the wheel. There have been centuries of mothers before us, there is guidance in the Bible, we have mentors, we have cautionary tales, we have a body of evidence that we can use as moms to help us avoid mistakes and make good decisions. The same is true in medicine - medical school is about gaining knowledge, and standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, armed with real information - as well as developing a critical eye and a thinking brain.
Doctoring is always asking questions, testing what we think we know to find out the truth, sometimes finding out what you thought was wrong, or that itโs trickier to find out the answer and not as straightforward as you thought. And then still somehow being confident enough to help make a call with the information that you have. To say that based on what we know right now, this is the best course of action. And that is the absolute ticket to peace in medical decision making and in parent decision making - we have to step out in faith and make a decision with the information that we have. We mamas should never say simply โI was taught Xโ or โI always thought Yโ or โI saw this particular thing happen to this one person.โ We have to try to find out the truth and still somehow be confident enough to make decisions based on what we know. And this is the value of developing a decision-making strategy that involves thinking like a scientist, seeking expert input, and prayerful care.
I would define this as discernment, and discernment comes from the LORD - not from a book, not from a degree, not from the internet.
let us help you find your footing
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