Have you ever sung in choir? If you have, you may understand what it feels like to accidently “sing a solo” after everyone else has stopped singing. Oops, you think, as your face flames bright pink. Or red, if you’re in front of an audience. Everyone turns and looks at you. Some may mock you or laugh. Worst of all, if you’re a soprano, some smarty-pants bass tries to mimic you in falsetto.

The thing is, I hate singing solos. I don’t really have a solo voice. I’d rather sing a duet. But God in His inscrutable way chose me to be a “soloist” and asked me parent my offspring alone until I launched them out the door as capable, self-supporting adults.

Just like in choir, sometimes in life we end up going solo when we didn’t intend to. Maybe our spouse died, or left. Or, like me, we made him leave.

I know how it feels. And so does God. Hosea 14:3 says, “For in You the fatherless finds mercy.” God has a great big compassionate heart for the widow and the orphan. I see no reason not to believe He includes the divorced or single mother as well. God’s everlasting arms are vast enough to hold you and your children with tender mercy. An old hymn says it best: “Leaning, Leaning, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

I encourage you to lean on them. When your kids are angels, and when they are devils. When they mind, and when they don’t. When they sass you, and when they hug you.

I found God to be an unfailing source of wisdom during my years as a solo mama. All I had to do was ask. “If any or you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach.” James 1:5 (NKJV)