Brittany Morioka

We had a morning y’all. And when I say morning, I mean the kind of morning that lasts until 2:39pm. I totally overloaded kids 2 & 3 with errands and they responded as they should, but you know, Jesus covers everything so I freaking turned the worship music up in the car max volume and let the name of Jesus cover their crying. Then, I opened the pack of 4 carrot cakes I bought to stress eat on the way home. And THEN, I looked up to realize the one errand I had forgotten…filling the gas tank up…and already on my way home with no gas station for another 21 miles.

And as I reached for a second carrot cake, the Lord reminded me about a women I had counseled recently through a tough season. At one point, she had looked at me and said, “I’m just not you. I’m not as strong as you. I don’t have it together like you.”

Oh friend, we have it so wrong sometimes. I wish we would scrap all the “picture perfect” motherhood stuff and just be. Are you with me? Having it together all the time is exhausting! Let’s have some grace for ourselves the same way Jesus has grace for us!

I want to take a moment and be real (messy) with you for a moment. So, in no particular order I bring you 20 things I have accomplished since becoming a mother… drumroll please!

1. I have spent approximately 450 minutes combined on stage speaking.
2. I have peed my pants (this one is more than once) jumping on the kids’ trampoline.
3. I became a licensed Pastor.
4. I invented a new kind of baby wipe. To be clear, I forgot wipes and wetted down the two month old McDonald’s napkin on the floor of the car.
5. I worked my butt off to lose 40lbs.
6. I gained 40lbs.
7. I took time to research what “non-toxic” on Elmers Glue really means.
8. Turns out it means non toxic as long as you don’t use it incorrectly. So I used that sucker for lash glue when I woke up one morning realizing I was out.
9. I found my love for racing again and signed up for a half-marathon.
10. I requested a refund for a half-marathon because what mom has time to train for that? But I did freakin’ rock a 5K!
11. I committed to eating Keto for the last 5 1/2 years.
12. I birthed three kids! (Which I guess means I really only ate Keto 2 years unless all the pop tarts I ate while pregnant were low carb…)
13. I have ONE plant I have kept alive for as long as I’ve been a mother.
14. I’ve lead Bible studies, small groups, workout groups, ministries and even an entire program for the annual National Foursquare Connection.
15. I’ve never missed an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Just keepin’ it real. I’m a real OG.
16. I coached multiple State Championship teams.
17. I have worn the same pants 3 days….5 days, it was 5 days- in a row.
18. I memorized the WiFi password we’ve had for almost 6 years. Yesterday. I finished memorizing it yesterday.
19. I found real, authentic community and connection.
20. I learned how to surrender to the grace of our Father.

You see, whether you are a pastor, or a teacher, or a nurse, a stay-at-home mom, none of us have it together. So, let’s stop. Stop the unrealistic standards we set. Let’s stop trying to be the person we think our neighbor is. Let’s have grace for ourselves and our Mama Tribe.

“The silence of Saturday.” We’ve all heard the phrase before. The day after crucifixion; when hope was lost, the chaos had stopped, when everyone went home.

But I find Saturday is rarely silent. Maybe from an outward perspective it seems quiet. After we have experienced the storm of Friday, whatever that may look like- the loss of a loved one, the hurt of a broken relationship, or a casualty of sin- Saturday is rarely silent.

Because the day after, when hope seems lost, the chaos has stopped and we find ourselves alone in our homes that’s when the enemy attacks. And Saturday can be loud. So loud. That ever so small voice of the enemy begins to speak and slowly fills the room. He whispers things like, “It was your fault,” and “You’re better off alone,” and “You’re not good enough,” Your sin defines you,” and the one they heard about Jesus, “Your King is dead.”

But here’s the thing friend… 

Sunday came.

Oh, Sunday came. And Sunday shattered the lies of Saturday. Sunday rushed in with a fresh wind and yelled from the roof tops, “You are never alone.” Sunday shouted, “You bear the image of Christ,” and “Your sin has been paid for,” and the one they heard about Jesus, 

“Your King is alive.”

I think so many of us are sitting in Saturday today, and the voice of the enemy is loud. But it’s not louder than a stone being rolled from a grave. The whisper of the enemy only seems loud with no other sounds around.

So let’s get loud. 

Let’s disrupt the silence of Saturday, because we know how this story ends. The King is alive. All authority in Heaven has been given to you friend. 

So get loud. 

Let’s prophesy Sunday at the top of our lungs. Let’s prophesy Sunday over our Saturday circumstances. Let’s give Sunday reign over our lives, because Jesus is King. 

So Saturday might get loud. But it won’t be the lies of the enemy echoing against the walls. It will be the voice of family declaring the promises of God and shouting, 

“You are loved.” 

“You are treasured.”

“You are redeemed.”

“Sunday is coming.”

Nothing stops the call that God has on our life. Not the enemy, not humans, not circumstances, nothing can overpower who God has innately created us to be.

Enter Jonah. God knew Jonah, he gave him the gift of evangelism, the gift to preach good news and He equipped Jonah to do these things. So, a day comes when God calls Jonah specifically to go to the city of Nineveh and to preach. At this time, Nineveh was a place without hope. A place where people had lost their way. They were wicked towards each other and lived in chaos. Jonah carried something that they needed, but he liked the safety and comfort of doing his own thing, he liked being in control of his way. And honestly, standing up for what was right in Nineveh was just about a death sentence. People would have laughed at him, made fun of his God….there was nothing fun or comfortable about preaching the good news in Nineveh. Hope filled or not, Nineveh was so lost, they wouldn’t have noticed. 

So Jonah boarded a boat and headed the opposite direction. 

And so God allowed a storm to come; he sent a violent wind storm to intercede. It rocked the boat that the crew was on. And boats back then weren’t like they are now, so this violent storm threatened to literally tear the boat in half. And the sailors realized, this storm. It was Jonah’s storm. But, now….they were collateral damage. And the storm continued. And the seas became rougher and rougher until they knew that they wouldn’t make it. 

So, Jonah told them, “Throw me into the Sea.” But he had involved these sailors, and they now had this invested interest in his life so they didn’t. They tried to save Jonah, and they began to try to row back to land. But they couldn’t. The seas were simply too wild. So, finally they took Jonah, and they cast him over the side of their boat into the raging sea.

And it was calm.

And now here’s the part that you all know. The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah. And inside the belly of that fish, it was just Jonah and the Lord. At rock bottom, inside the belly of a whale is where Jonah realized he was at the point where he was no longer in control. He was in the belly of a FISH! He wouldn’t be pulling himself out of this situation. So whether he wanted to or not- he let go, and he surrendered. And he said, 

“In my distress I called to the Lord,

and he answered me.

From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,

and you listened to my cry.

You hurled me into the depths,

into the very heart of the seas,

and the currents swirled about me;

all your waves and breakers

swept over me.

I said, ‘I have been banished

from your sight;

yet I will look again

toward your holy temple.’

The engulfing waters threatened me,

the deep surrounded me;

seaweed was wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sank down;

the earth beneath barred me in forever.

But you, Lord my God,

brought my life up from the pit.

“When my life was ebbing away,

I remembered you, Lord,

and my prayer rose to you,

to your holy temple.

“Those who cling to worthless idols

turn away from God’s love for them.

But I, with shouts of grateful praise,

will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good.

I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ”

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Sometimes we shy away from some of these Old Testament stories. But, I think there is so much to glean here from other people’s lives. 

What are you running from today?

Do you even know? Are you running from the call God has on your life? 

Why?

There is a culture beckoning us to go our own way. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you are at in life. The world is calling. The world is calling you to believe this, and to compromise here, and do this, and do that.

It’s calling us to run from broken relationships.

It’s calling us to run from our weakness. 

It’s calling us to run from big things, the big scary things.

It’s calling us to run from the pressure that seems to be closing in.

It’s calling us to run from God.

But, here’s the thing. You can’t run from God. I laugh as I type that now because these days, feel so far from those days. The days where I thought I could outrun God. Jonah literally boarded a boat and took off in the opposite direction of Nineveh as if the all-powerful, God of the universe wouldn’t find him, or better yet maybe he thought that God would forget about him. If he just left, just abandoned his calling, then God would give up on him.

But HE didn’t. He followed and pursued him! God allows storms to come, not to punish us but to intervene, to redirect. 

The thing is, with those storms, come casualties. When we choose to run from the call on our life, it’s impossible for others not to be swept up in our storm. We are people, meant for relationship. So when we run, we pull others with us, or we have others that care so much that they chase us straight into the storm. When Jonah was in that boat, every other crew member entered into danger of losing their life. It’s so easy to think that we can sin, or we can run and no one gets hurt, but we’re tied to others. There will always be casualties, and the longer we run, the worse the storms gets.

For whatever reason, in our human-ness we often choose the storm. As if that is easier; pressing our way through a violent storm on our own two feet, instead of letting God carry us into our calling. 

And we all have a calling. Friend, don’t you think for a moment that you don’t have a specific purpose for your life. 

Before God formed you in the womb. He knew you. Before you were born, He set you apart; He appointed you for THIS time, and THIS place. He called you to stand tall, to bring hope to the hopeless,

To run after restoration for all relationships.

To run after strength.

To run after the big things, the scary things, the impossible things.

To run after the pressure filled situations. 

To run after Him.

And when you run, when you stop running from God, and run after Him….When you run after Him, when you run toward your calling, other people will be swept up in the wind. The hands that you are holding, or the people who are chasing you, they will be pulled toward hope. They will be pulled into revival. 

You see, we can’t outrun God, but we were meant to run with Him.

Mama, you’re doing it right.

As I fed my 1.5 year old a bite of chocolate cake off of my plate recently, a good friend and mentor said to me, “Just so you know, you’re doing it right.”It wasn’t organic, sugar-free or anything like that. It was gluten full, refined sugar laden and it was right.

But how often have you felt that you’re doing it wrong? Somehow along the way we painted this picture of mothering, wife-ing (I’m fully aware that’s not a word), and relationship that dare I say….isn’t even Biblical. Somehow we have reached the place where the picture of our gatherings has become more important than the connection at our gatherings.

We used to have an annual Women’s Tea. I loved that tea. I loved seeing all the pretty table decor, the perfectly cut sandwiches, I loved being apart of it and dressing up and feeling fancy! And it’s so fun to do that occasionally. But when we live our lives in a women’s tea, we don’t foster relationship. We foster pretty dresses, and beautiful plates, and all lovely things- which sounds amazing, but it’s not real. Because often enough, we aren’t pretty, our lives aren’t beautiful and our struggles are most definitely not lovely.

Sister, I want to say to you- the one who is feeding your kid the chocolate cake because it’s a freaking celebration, the one who’s house is an absolute disaster because you have spent all day playing with your kids outside, the one who was tired and so you watched the movie instead of reading the book, to the one who doesn’t have their young child on a “schedule”….I want to say to you, “Just so you know, you’re doing it right.”

I made a post on social media recently that read,

“I love our [neighbor]hood! All we need is a roundabout and some hot dogs in the air fryer!”

Allow me to explain. We live in the BEST neighborhood. I dare you to prove me wrong. It’s always been a great neighborhood, but recently God orchestrated a year to help us realize it’s the BEST neighborhood. You see, this interesting thing happened in early 2020. Many of us found ourselves with nothing to do; forced to slow down. Businesses and restaurants shut down leaving us without somewhere to go. And so we were at home. And alone. And tired. And longing for community.

I don’t know if we had ever realized how much we need each other, as human being to human being. I don’t know if we ever truly understand the way in which God fastened our hearts for community until last year.

But I realize now.

You see, we live in the BEST neighborhood. And by default, in our weariness we began to ditch the pretty dresses. Day after day, in 2020 we spent outside, sitting on the sidewalk, watching our kids play in the roundabout by our house and connect. Day after day we sat, there on the side walk, just being. Just doing life. And friend, at times life in 2020 was ugly. Like real down and dirty, drop some cuss words (and possibly punch someone in the face) ugly. But that’s what we were created for. To do battle together. To pick each other up.

But when we are wearing the pretty dress, and using words like organic and fair trade (like what does that even mean?) and keeping our kids on their very specific nap schedule it becomes easy to elevate the importance of those things above actual relationship.

So let’s strip it all away! Let’s get back to the basics and just BE. Let’s put such an importance on being together that we forget the details . Let’s make one another a priority. This past 4th of July our neighborhood came to be together. And it finally wasn’t about the red, white and blue food. I didn’t even get decorations like I normally do. In fact, it was Sunday and I was tired and so we put hot dogs in the air fryer. And it was okay. Because it’s not about the food, or the decorations. It’s about the people. And we sat outside in our roundabout until darkness fell just doing life.

Earlier this week, I was summarizing a post I had read to the same friend who had said, “Just so you know, you’re doing it right.”

At one point in the article the author says,

“As a whole, we’re really not craving over-the-top celebrations. We’re craving connection, but we’ve gotta make it easier and lower the expectations. Lower. Nope. Ever lower.”

To which my friend said,

“The secret is having no expectations [other than expecting to meet with people].”

I’ve watched other mothers just do life in this season. And they didn’t come wearing pretty dresses, or eating their organic food off of their BPA free plate. They came make-up less, they came broken, they came with crying kids, and they sat down on the sidewalk and it was beautiful because they came expecting to meet with people. I’m so honored to watch these women do life. Acacia Knutzen, Karissa Wellman Bilderback, Renee Phillips-Richardson, Danee Molan, Marin Allen, amongst so many others, you’re doing it right.

So mama, let go of all the things. Make it just about people. And if you do that, just so you know, you’re doing it right.