Mom to the Rescue

Laura Booz: In my mind, there was no other option, but to heave my pregnant belly through the window and shimmy across the roof to rescue my two-year-old son. 

You’re listening to Expect Something Beautiful with Laura Booz. I hope today’s episode invigorates you to remember that women are called to be life-givers in the kingdom of God. 

So, let me back up a little. Our farmhouse bedroom doors were fitted with these vintage black metal locks. They looked really charming, but they were a nuisance, because each custom-fit key was long gone. So, you could lock and unlock the door from inside of each room, but the only way to unlock the door from the outside was to put your hip into it. I mean really put your hip into it. I don’t have those types of hips. 

Knowing this we did the responsible thing and taped over the lock in our toddler’s room, so he wouldn’t be able to toy with the mechanism. 

Until, of course, the day he woke up early from his morning nap and decided to remove the tape. 

I went upstairs to get him and discovered the locked door. I could hear him playing happily with his cars, which gave me a minute to begin scheming about how I could get through this barricade. I tried the hip trick, it didn’t work. But the sound of me putting my hip into it, alerted my son, because he came to the other side of the door and said, “Mommy.”

Now that he was at the door, I couldn’t try the hip trick again out of fear of succeeding and hitting him in the face with the door. And besides, I didn’t’ have any confidence that I had what it took to burst through the door on my own chutzpah.

My son on the other side of the door was quickly putting the pieces together and he realized that something was wrong, and he started crying. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to calm him down and talk him through the process of opening the metal lock, but we didn’t get very far. I mean, he was only two-years-old, after all. 

I thought, maybe he needs a visual aid. So, I took my phone to another room and recorded a video of myself unlocking a door, then I slid it under his doorway and tapped play, hoping he watched the video. I said, “See what mommy is doing in the movie? Can you do that too?” But he only cried harder . . . and then he took my phone. 

So, there I was talking through the crack at the bottom of the door, “Hey sweetie, can you slide my phone back under the door?” I waited . . . nothing. My next tactic would have to be bribery. I grabbed a flat lollipop from the pantry and leaned in close, “Hey buddy, if you slide my phone back to me, I’ll give you a lollipop.” I flashed a hint of the lollipop under the door. 

My phone came sliding back. I unwrapped the lollipop and pushed it through to my crying kiddo and he finally calmed, but he couldn’t stay locked in his room for the rest of the day until my husband came home. 

I had one other option. The roof of the porch ran along the front of the house, right under the bedroom windows. I figured I could climb out of the window in my daughter’s room, shimmy across the roof and climb into my son’s bedroom through the window . . . if the window was unlocked and opened.

I knew I could do it safely, but it was a crazy idea—especially because I was seven months pregnant at the time. But I had to rescue my little boy. Oh, you should have seen me trying to get out of the window, turning my belly sideways, and barely squeaking through. And then I was shimming across ever so carefully, clinging to the side of the house—very much like James Bond. 

I finally reached his bedroom window. I pried out the screen and tested the window, and miraculously, it was unlocked. I slid the window all the way up and climbed in. One foot and then another, then my big belly, and landed smoothly on the ground—very much like James Bond. 

My son stood there wide-eyed. I don’t think he knew what to make of it. Tears were still streaming down his face, lollipop still in his mouth, and I just said, “Well, hello there.” As if I were in the habit of popping through windows in my condition. I picked him up, gave him a kiss, wiped his tears away, unlocked the door, and took him downstairs for lunch. 

Believe it or not, this is the story that came to my mind recently when I was reading about Deborah in the book of Judges. On a much grander scale, Deborah did what she had to do to help the people of God when they had locked themselves in disobedience. She was a prophetess and a judge for God’s people at a time when they worshipped other gods and did whatever they wanted to do. 

God allowed them to experience the consequences for their disobedience and handed them over to King Jabin, who cruelly oppressed them for twenty years. And they had no chance of fighting back. 

The Israelites cried out for help, and the Lord had mercy on them, and sent Deborah to deliver them. Deborah confronts Barak, the commander of God’s army for not following through with God’s orders to gather 10,000 men in an epic battle to overcome the enemy. But with Deborah at his side, Barak rallies 10,000 foot soldiers to pursue Jabin’s army with their 900 chariots. 

Although the Israelites were no match for Jabin’s fierce army, God was. God sent a torrent, orchestrated an unexpected victory, rescued His people from oppression, and gave them forty years of rest. 

In Judges 5, Deborah reflects on the events and says “I, Deborah arose as a mother in Israel.” I don’t know about you, but for me, this opens a floodgate of meaning for motherhood. As we consider Deborah’s words and behaviors from the time she summoned Barak, to the time she oversaw the battle, they’re all distinctly maternal. 

When I look back at Judges 4 and 5 for how Deborah arose as a mother, I see a definition of motherhood that inspires me to arise a mother too. From Deborah’s story, we see that mothers are women who may or may not have biological or adopted children. But they are women who arise to protect and defend God’s people. Mothers are women who trust God when circumstances look grim. They obey God when know else does, and they show up faithfully to serve the Lord.

Deborah’s story reveals that mothers are women that remind other people about what God has said, and they notice and care when a person or a people group are in distress. Mothers are women who seek the Lord, day after day on behalf of people who may be disobedient or under God’s discipline, or who are in deep need of deliverance. Mothers are women who believe that the victory is the Lord’s. They do whatever it takes to stir up another person, including men, including leaders, to do the good work God has planned for them to do. And mothers are women who do whatever it takes to arise and rescue a person who needs help. 

In Deborah’s eyes, and I believe in God’s eyes too, mothers are fierce, devoted, hopeful women, who arise to see God unlock doors of captivity and set prisoners free. 

The day my son was locked in a room he couldn’t unlock; I did what I could to get him out. I heaved my belly through the window and shimmied across the roof. It was a tangible experience of what it might look like for me to hear a person’s cry in spiritual captivity. And to seek God’s direction on their behalf. And then to arise and bring His Word to that beloved person, wherever they may be and whatever it may take.

What comes to mind when you consider Deborah’s courage to arise as a mother? Image yourself repeating her words, “I arose as a mother.” For whom will you arise? What opposition may you face? What promises from God’s Word will you cling to as you do whatever it takes to speak life, come alongside, and see a victory so grand that when it happens, you’ll know God did it. 

Oh, my dear listener, how I want to encourage you in your walk as a mom, and that’s why I wrote a book with the same title as this podcast. It’s called Expect Something Beautiful: Finding God’s Good Gifts in Motherhood. 

Did you know that as you arise as a mother for your child, God will be there to greet you with His good heart, His kindness, and His might? 

Also, be sure to check out the resources for moms at ReviveOurHearts.com. There is so much solid biblical truth right there in the archives. You can mine so much biblical truth through the archives on Revive Our Hearts. And new content is produced daily to cheer you on and encourage you in Christ. 

Expect Something Beautiful is a production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.