Genesis 16:7-10, 13,

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

What Others Are Saying About Mothers

• “Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children. The Christian mother’s influence is always toward God as the sun draws the flower toward itself.”

- Billy Graham 

• “Motherhood is a sacred vocation, a participation in the creative nurturing work of God Himself.”

- Ann Voskamp

• “A mother is a living picture of God’s love – the first glimpse of grace many of us ever see.”

- Unknown

• “A mother is a person who, seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.”

- Tenneva Jordan

Where are you coming from? - Identity

Where are you going? - Destiny

What does God see? - Legacy

1. Where are you coming from?   Identity

Identity is the power of who you are, by honoring your past.

Hagar – flight

Exodus 20:12, Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

• “Honor your mother is not a suggestion; it is a commandment with a promise. To honor her is to fear the Lord; to despise her is to insult the One who gave her to you.”

- Matthew Henry

• “The best way to honor your mother is not with a simple day’s gift, but with a life lived in gratitude, obedience, and love, pointing her back to Jesus.”

- Billy Graham

Briefly describe how you can honor your mother.

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* Honoring doesn’t mean ignoring wounds; it means acknowledging that God used even broken people to bring you here.

2. Where Are You Going?   Destiny

Destiny is embracing the power of who you will become.

Ephesians 2:10, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

• “Your past may explain you, but it doesn’t define you. The only thing that defines a mother’s future is the direction of her daily choices.”

- Lysa TerKeurst

3. What Does God See?      Legacy

Legacy is the power of what God wants you to leave behind.

2 Timothy 1:3-7, I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

• “A godly mother’s legacy is not written in stone, but in the living hearts of her children – and passed down through the generations like a seared flame.”

- Unknown

3 Legacy Questions

1. When my children are 40, what is the one emotion they will associate with me?
2. What circle do I need to break to become all that God wants me to be? 
3. What habit do I need to start this week that my children and grandchildren will inherit?

Identity: Lord, I am coming from: 

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(Name the good and bad.)

Destiny: Lord, I am becoming: 

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(Name the change you will be.)

Legacy: Lord, I am leaving behind: 

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(Name what you will leave.)