Mother of Samson

 I love how God can surprise us with a tidbit of information that clicks and brings forth a flood of truth and awe inspiring thought and insight into something you have never considered before.

Tonight I was just "done".  I was tired from work and from being at Jewell's beckon call.  The volume of life was way too loud and I thought I might have to scream to block out the "noise" that was grinding on my last nerve.

Alas, I literally threw my hands up in the air in defeat, took Jewell to bed, whispered a prayer, kissed her, turned out the light as I told her, "I love you, goodnight."  I ran from the room as fast as I could searching for the relief of knowing my mind could rest.

Typically I will try to fill silence with episodes of Gilmore Girls on Netflix or something on the DVR.  Tonight I literally wanted silence.  I turned off the TV and got online and began watching You Tube videos.  Seems like I was adding more noise, however the You Tube videos I began watching were ALL worship.  It was relief to my soul.  As I listened I began thinking about Jesus, Mary, mothers...my blog.

I opened the Word and began reading about Biblical moms that came to my mind and I wanted to know more about...I went through Rachel, Rebekah, and then I came to somebody whose name is not mentioned.  I am not sure why it was left out of the Bible, but her impression as a mother is certainly IN the Bible and I want to highlight it here.

She was a wife to Manoah.  They were Israelites being oppressed by the Phillistines.  I can't imagine her plight.  Not only were they being oppressed but she may have been broken down by the fact that there was not yet a child to provide her and her husband with hopes and dreams for their family moving forward.  She also could have been a very optimistic person who was content in their daily task of caring for the man she dedicated her life to, until death do they part...resigned to the fact that she may never have a child.

Whoever she was, news was coming that would change her forever.

I must say that her discovery of pregnancy went down much differently than my discovery of pregnancy.  An ANGEL APPEARED to her and told her she would be having a baby (and I thought I was surprised when a blue line appeared).  Not only was she having a baby but there were MANY specifications as to how to care for this coming baby because he was ALREADY set apart for God and had dietary restrictions and of course the hair thing...

She was not allowed to cut his hair because he would be dedicated to God.

This may not seem like a big deal...but think about how hard we make things on ourselves because we are afraid that we won't fit in.  We are afraid if we don't have the right car, shoes, house, etc. then we won't fit in.  What if we don't go to the right salon and have the right hair??? What then?

What if you, as a parent, were told that your kid must have a mullet and never change that hairstyle?

How difficult would that be?  At some point I am sure Samson, being rebellious, or just plain tired of combing through his long mane of knots without any detangler, just wanted to throw in the towel and cut it all off...

What do you do as the mother?

She stuck to what God asked.  She followed through because God had honored her and blessed her with a child.  She knew the plans He had for Samson ahead of time.  Maybe not detailed plans, but she trusted that God was in control and would honor her and her child throughout Samson's life.

I want to trust God with Jewell as much as she trusted Him with Samson.

When things in this world seem tempting to me or to my daughter I want to have the wisdom and strength to say no.  Even if it isn't what fits into the status quo and even if it means we are different or weird...the One we need to accept us did accept us and love us, long before we existed.


My main resource for this was Judges 13