Becoming Mom: The Day Everything Changed (And So Did I)

I read all the books.
I bookmarked articles.
I packed and repacked my hospital bag.
We attended birth classes, folded impossibly tiny onesies, and stood in the nursery just soaking in the fact that we were about to meet our baby.

I remember feeling so excited I could barely sleep. I’d scroll through Pinterest boards of baby gear, obsess over diaper bag reviews, and wonder what kind of mother I’d be. Everything felt surreal and magical—like we were on the edge of something huge. Because we were.

But nothing—nothing—could have prepared me for that moment.

The moment they placed my baby in my arms.

Time stood still.

All the questions I had, all the planning, all the worrying… suddenly faded into the background. I looked down and saw a face that was part of me and yet entirely her own. She was so beautiful, and my first thought was: I wish she could stay like this forever—just my little baby, right here in my arms.

Something in me cracked open in that moment. A softness I had never known. A strength I didn’t know I had. It felt like I was born, too.

A New Mission

From that very first moment, I knew I have a mission now.

Not just to feed or rock, or change diapers. But to raise her. To guide her. To lay down my life daily in a million small, unseen ways, because God had placed her in my arms and called me Mom.

And somehow… it felt intuitive. Natural. Like it had been waiting inside me all along.

Her first latch to nurse something I’d been so nervous about—just happened. Gently, simply. And my heart melted. I had never felt more on purpose in my life. This was what I was made for. And not in a Pinterest-perfect, curated-mom-life kind of way. But in a deeply spiritual, God-designed kind of way.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?”

—Isaiah 49:15

He created this bond. He formed this connection. He entrusted mothers with a beautiful and sacred role, and I felt it come alive in me that day.

A Mom Is Born, Too

I remember talking with my husband later, and he told me something that stayed with me: “It’s harder for me to connect at this stage. I love her, but I don’t know what she needs yet. I feel like I’ll understand her better when she’s older.”

And I realized God really did give moms a unique beginning.

Not better. Not more important. But different. Designed.

This newborn stage is our assignment in a special way. God created us with the ability to understand cries that don’t use words. To notice every little change. To know when something’s not right, or when everything is exactly as it should be. We carry the baby, yes, but we also carry this sacred intuition that only comes from the Lord.

The Identity Shift

I matured the moment I held her. Not because I suddenly knew what I was doing (spoiler: I didn’t!), but because I now knew who I was.

A mother.

This wasn’t a role I was trying on. It was a full identity shift—and one I loved, even though some days it’s really hard.

Motherhood stripped away parts of me I thought I needed. It replaced them with something stronger. Softer. Holier.

And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.”
—Psalm 127:3

This is the gift of motherhood. This is the mission.
And this was the moment everything changed—
for her, for me, forever.