This story comes from a woman whose journey into motherhood began far earlier than most. She came to the United States as a young girl to reunite with her mother. Motherhood wasn’t something she thought about—at least not consciously. There was no memory, she said, of dreaming about becoming a mother. And then, life shifted.

“I got pregnant very young; I had my first child and second child very early in life. I didn’t even know what pregnancy was when it happened. But I knew a baby was in my belly, and that baby would be my child. I knew I had to love him or her. That was it.”

Her motherhood journey, shaped by both adversity and resilience, was lived out largely in isolation. She faced deep judgment in the church she belonged to—a Pentecostal community that held tightly to appearances.

“People would look at you, criticize you, throw words at you like stones, indirect, but sharp. I was labeled. I was seen as the wrong kind of woman. One person even told me I wasn’t a virtuous woman.”

But her story isn’t just one of pain, it’s one of healing. When she came to know God for herself, something shifted.

Hosea 2:14 (AMP)
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly to her [to reconcile her to Me].”

“La maternidad sobre mí misma me ha enseñado a ser fuerte… When I came to the Lord, I had to learn how to mother myself. I had to care for the little girl inside of me who had never been cared for. The girl who was silenced by the weight of responsibility. The girl who never had a childhood because she had to become a mother.”

Isaiah 43:1 (AMP)
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you [from captivity]; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”

With time, she began the process of nurturing not only her children, but the hidden parts of herself that had been waiting, quietly, for healing.

“Because with God, your whole reality comes to light so He can heal it. And when that little girl would rise, the adult woman in me would try to push her down, thinking it was a sin to give her a voice. But I learned—I needed to listen.”

2 Corinthians 4:6 (AMP)
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give us the Light of the knowledge of the glory and majesty of God [clearly revealed] in the face of Christ.”

She once dreamed of being a pilot. She admired the strength and dignity of those in uniform and carried a quiet reverence for order, discipline, and flight. That dream never left. Now, with adult children and more space to dream again, she finds herself reaching back toward it—through travel, through baking, and through nurturing her community with her hands.

Baking became a gift, a ministry of sorts. It’s how she gives love, how she nourishes others and herself.

“People don’t know it,” she says, “but when I give them something I baked, it’s not just food. My heart is in it. And when they receive it, they’re also giving something back to me. It fills me.”

Her story is a reminder that motherhood doesn’t end at raising children. It can become a way of living, of healing, and of giving. Even when the world sees your story as stained or disqualified, God continues to call it sacred.

Proverbs 31:25 (AMP)
“Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future.”

All stories are shared with permission. Please do not copy, repost, or reuse any part of this writing without the authors’ express consent. These voices are sacred—handle with care.

🌿 Mothering the Child Within

🌾 To Be a Mother One Day… Maybe

🌷 Interrupted, Then Held