When God Brings You Full Circle

Jennifer Thomas observes how God had a hand in the timing of important milestones in her mother-daughter relationship.

I recently experienced a bittersweet milestone in my life: the 10-year anniversary of my mom's passing. Throughout the day, I stayed fairly well occupied, as I was facilitating two training sessions at work. I often think about the mother-daughter relationship my mom and I had and the mother-daughter relationship I always hoped I would have. Later that evening, God gently reminded me of how easily He can bring things full circle when we least expect it.

When I first learned my mom was sick with a terminal illness, my husband and I had been trying to conceive for nearly five years. After my mom's diagnosis, everything else seemed to be put on pause. While I was still working full-time, my bosses were sensitive to my situation with my mom and generous enough to allow me to have every weekend off so I could make the three-hour (one way) drive down to see my mom every weekend for the duration of her illness.

I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could, especially since I had always longed for a closer relationship with her. We didn't necessarily have a bad or tumultuous relationship, per se; but we also didn't have that “ideal” or "picture-perfect, made for a movie" mother-daughter relationship either.

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On our last family vacation, I shared with my mom that I had finally come to terms with the fact that I would not be able to tell her I was pregnant. That I would not be able to experience those mother-daughter bonding moments of sharing details about a pregnancy, giving birth, and motherhood in general. I told her that I had made peace with this fact. That I was still sad about it, but I was OK with it. I can now look back and see how God used that very moment to bring me full circle in terms of a mother-daughter relationship.

Two months after that conversation, much to my husband's and my surprise, we learned I was pregnant. I got to tell my mom in person, a month before she passed, that I was pregnant. I like to think that my mom had some part in this miracle and that she wanted that mother-daughter bond just as much as I did; we just didn't know how to do it and God showed us. He allowed us to have that special moment I had dreamed of long before we knew she was sick. God granted me the miracle of that bond within that moment.

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God used that very moment to bring me full circle in terms of a mother-daughter relationship. #CatholicMom

Ten years later, on the anniversary of her passing, God reminded me of the strength of that mother-daughter bond and that I did indeed have it with my mother and am creating it with my own daughter. An article I wrote about my relationship with my own daughter was published right here on Catholic Mom. I didn't know this was the date it would be published but, of course, God did. He must have known how much I needed it on that day.

I am now able to look back to this article, to these words that I wrote about my own relationship with my daughter, about this bond I am creating and know that I did have that bond with my own mother. And God has brought peace to me with it as He has brought it full circle in a simple yet profound way. God is good.

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