Mother’s Day Episode

This one is for all the moms and moms waiting to be ❤️

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Are you a faith-driven woman ready to transform your health and fitness, level up your habits, and steward everything that God has blessed you with? If so, welcome to the Refinery Movement Podcast, the place for Christian women in fitness or women ready to step into it who want to build strong, faith-based habits that honor God and inspire their families and communities. I'm your host, AJ Amrine, lifelong athlete, former WWE superstar and founder of the Refinery Movement. My passion is to help women integrate faith and fitness and to make the church healthy again. Here we'll dive into powerful strategies, biblical principles, and practical tips to help you crush your goals. We'll also talk about balancing training, nutrition, and family life because you can steward the temple and still enjoy freedom, fun, and connection. So grab your protein shake, get comfy, and let's step into today's episode with boldness, clarity, and intention. Let's get refined.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I know that Mother's Day always brings up a lot of emotions, sometimes really, really good ones. Sometimes for people it is joyful, and then for others, it can be painful. And some are celebrating mothers, some are grieving them, some are longing to become one, and some are learning how to heal from wounds connected to motherhood. Today, though, on this podcast, I really want to talk about Mary, not just as the mother of Jesus, but as an example of sacrificial love. Because when we think about motherhood, we often think about nurturing, softness, comfort, tenderness. And yeah, motherhood absolutely is all of those things, but motherhood is also sacrifice. And nobody modeled sacrificial love more beautifully. Jesus, obviously, but also Mary. Mary said yes to God before she understood the full cost of that yes. Think about that. Like an angel appears to this young girl and tells her that she's going to carry the Son of God. And while we often like romanticize that moment and it was holy and beautiful, it was also completely like it changed her life forever. Her yes came with misunderstanding. She didn't know what was going to happen exactly. It came with uncertainty and suffering and surrender. And yet she still said, Let it be done unto me according to your word. Like that right there, that is sacrificial love. Real love says yes to God, even when it costs something. Mary carried Jesus physically in her womb, but she also carried the weight of watching him suffer. I think sometimes we forget that. She watched people mock him, reject him, accuse him, beat him, and eventually crucify him. She never left his side. Can you imagine the heartbreak of a mother standing at the foot of the cross watching her son suffer? And yet Mary stayed. That part always gets me. She stayed. She didn't run when things became painful. Like she remained faithful in that suffering. And that is really, really hard to do. And I think that is such a powerful picture of motherhood and honestly of Christian love in general. Because real love is not only emotional, it's enduring and sacrificial. It's steady, it is faithful. And the world often defines love as a feeling. But scripture shows us that love is often an offering. Love looks like staying when it's hard and serving when you're tired, praying when nobody sees it, and choosing patience again and again, forgiving again, showing up again. That's what mothers do for us every single day. So many mothers quietly die to themselves daily for the people that they love. They lose sleep, they carry burdens, nobody sees, they put others first constantly. They sacrifice comfort, convenience, and time, energy, sometimes even their own dreams for a season. And whether you are a biological mother, a spiritual mother, a mentor, a caretaker, an older sister, an aunt, or simply someone who pours into others with nurturing love, that sacrificial love reflects the heart of God. And it is a very important job because Christianity itself is rooted in sacrificial love. Jesus dying on the cross. Jesus laid down his life for us. And Mary, in her own way, shared in that suffering through her surrender and faithfulness. There's also something so beautiful about how humble Mary was. She didn't need attention or recognition. She simply just wanted to serve God faithfully. And I think in today's culture where everything is loud and performative and centered around like being seen, there's something deeply powerful about hidden obedience. Mary reminds us that holiness often looks quiet. It looks like changing diapers, making meals, praying over your family, driving your kids to practice, checking in on people, doing small things with great love. The kingdom of God is built in hidden places far more often than we realize. It can sometimes seem like the routine if you are a mother that it's like, oh, mundane, and you're kind of doing the same things over and over again. But that is obedience, and that is very, very powerful, and it makes a difference. And if you're listening to this today as a mother who feels exhausted or unseen, overwhelmed, taken advantage of, or like what you do doesn't matter. I just want to encourage you that God sees every sacrifice, every unseen act of love, every prayer whispered late at night, every moment that you choose patience instead of anger, every tear, every act of service, every quiet surrender, like none of that is wasted ever. And if today is hard for you, maybe because you've lost your mom, or your relationship is broken, or you're grieving the child that you hoped for, or motherhood has been painful instead of beautiful. I want you to know that God is close to you too. Mary herself understood grief deeply. She understood surrender deeply. And she understood trusting God even when she couldn't fully understand what he was doing. So today on Mother's Day, let's honor sacrificial love. Not like the flashy kind or the perfect Instagram kind, but the real kind. And not just today on Mother's Day, but like for this whole week, for our whole life. Like, let's remind ourselves of this. Let's honor sacrificial love, the kind that stays faithful, the kind that serves quietly, the kind that keeps loving anyway, because that kind of love changes generations. Am I right? And ultimately, that kind of love points us back to Christ. It points people to Christ. Happy Mother's Day, guys. Such an important day. And to every woman carrying burdens, loving sacrificially, nurturing others, or celebrating and continuing to say yes to God, even when it's hard, thank you. You are reflecting the heart of Jesus more than you know. Until next time, stay refined.