This last week, we had a lesson with the Sister Missionaries. It was about mothers. The Sisters asked each of us to share what our mother meant to us. As I heard each of my kids’ comments, I chuckled to myself remembering a really not so fun conversation that had happened earlier that day with me telling them I was frustrated with them not performing their expected chores and homework each day.

Then it was my turn to share. Mom, this is what you mean to me:

When I was a teenager, my mom had a major back surgery. Her and my dad drove hours away to have this surgery and my Grandparents came to stay with us to hold down the fort while they were away. My parents were gone for a long time. When Mom came home, she was in a cast and a wheel chair. When my dad had used up all of his leave and had to go back to work, I got to be my mother’s little nurse. I needed to see her in such a vulnerable state and yet, she was not embarrassed one bit. A physical therapist came to the house and did therapy with her and it was what seemed to me a quick recovery. I’m sure it did not feel that way to my mother.

It wasn’t until later that my father told me that to do the surgery, they had to collapse one of her lungs. It was a very long and complex procedure. Mom never cried in front of me.  I remember one night we were eating tacos for dinner and my mom calmly got up from the table and went to her room. I felt that I should check on her.  I came into her bathroom to find her with a red face and wet eyes spitting into her bathroom sink. She had choked on her taco shell and in an effort not to panic us, she left the table and fished it out of her throat herself.

I remember one day I was helping her get dressed for church or something and she said, “I want the sisters in the ward to see me at church and know, no matter how hard it is to get ready, Karyn was at church, because that is what was important to her.”

My mom was the Relief Society president at the time. She served sisters in our ward that had really big hardships. My mother knew that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what gives us the strength to endure through those hardships and to come out stronger for it. She knew the He is the anchor. She wanted to show these sisters that she loved through her example that the Gospel would get her through even the most difficult circumstances. And she did. I have people reach out to me all the time asking about my parents and telling me how their example impacted their testimonies.

My mom has always been in pain with her back her whole life. She had to carry on anyways. She had six children and while she had a loving supportive husband, he was usually gone with school, working multiple jobs, then his career, and church callings. We moved around every 3-4 years and it was hard. It was lonely. She struggled with the hardships of raising six kids in difficult circumstances.

This is who my mom is to me. Through her example, I discovered that I can do hard things. If I keep Christ as my focus, He will magnify my efforts and be with me as I become an example to others around me.

I know that not everyone enjoys Mother’s Day. I have a love-hate relationship with it. So, this is my secret to enjoying Mother’s Day. I don’t celebrate myself; I celebrate those beautiful women around me. Whether they are mother’s or not, they are women that I love and admire. They are beautiful and they are showing up the best that they can.

Dear Sister, you are enough. You are beautiful. You are seen. God loves you.

And Mom, thank you for teaching me through your example what a disciple of Christ looks like.