To download a printable version of this transcript, click here.
 
 
iQuestions Faculty, Joe White 
 
 
Question: 
 
I'm a single mom. I'm overwhelmed, what do I do? 
 
Answer:  
 
Single moms, I just want you to know that I’m your biggest fan. My 
mom is my hero, and she was raised by her mom, all alone. My wife is 
also my hero, and she was also raised by a single mom.  
 
I feel like—and I don’t want to over-flatter—but honestly, I feel like 
you’re the heroes of our society. I think “single mom” is the toughest 
job in this country. I just want to affirm you that you’re caring so 
much, or you wouldn’t even be on this website asking for answers like 
this. 
 
But, I want to tell you something really neat. I was at our camp 
speaking to our younger kids one Sunday morning, and this darling 
eight- or nine-year-old girl raised her hand. I was talking about the 
fatherhood of God. And this precious little girl, who I later found out 
was an orphan, raised her hand and said, “What does a little girl do 
who doesn’t have a Daddy’s lap to crawl into?”  
 
And, my heart broke. And I scooped her up off the gym floor and I put 
her in my arms and I turned her around to our staff, our summer 
staff—we run sports camps, our summer staff are athletes, and there’s 
this gym full of these great big wonderful college athletes, these young 
men—and I said, “How many of you guys would adopt this little girl if 
you could?” And every one of them raised their hand. And she felt so 
good about herself. 
 
 
 
And then I looked outside and my mom was walking by. My mom is 
eighty-eight, and she is terrific. She still beats me at Scrabble. Every 
night when I go up and play Scrabble with her. Beat me last night, as 
a matter of fact. She never had a Dad. Her brother was killed when 
she was a youngster, and her mom raised her in the Depression. But 
that mom had God’s promise, and God’s promise is that God would be 
the Father to the fatherless. I can’t imagine how difficult it was in that 
little home. Poor, broke. 
 
Then there’s my wife, my other hero. Her daddy was killed when she 
was four years old. I feel so far out of my league when I’m around my 
wife, it’s just awful! How can I have married somebody like her? But it 
was just a mom, and then later on a step dad, who were giving 
everything they could. And again, God’s promise became God’s 
provision, that He would be the Father to the fatherless.  
 
Single moms? One of my favorite quotes about being a parent is that 
“the days are long, but the years are short.” You need to know, as you 
cheer for your kids, and I know you’re their cheerleader, as you affirm 
with the discipline—and even though there’s not a man around the 
house to do the discipline and to draw the lines—you keep the lines 
straight.  
 
My son’s favorite comment about his mom is that she is firm, and she 
is firm—I traveled a lot, and so she had to do the single mom thing a 
lot in my home—but she had no problem laying the law down in my 
home. My kids respected me, but they stood in fear of their mom. She 
was tough, man. You can’t get anything by Debbie Jo. 
 
So, as you cheer for them like crazy, and as you stay firm on the rules 
of the house, and most importantly, as you take time before the kids 
go to bed, and take a minute—no matter how worn out you are—to 
tuck them in bed, get out that Bible and give them just a little bit of 
God’s Word. The most important thing you can do. 
White -2- 
 
 
 
Because again, as you hide God’s Word in your kids’ heart, as you read 
the Bible—or in our case we did a little Bible memory at night, just a 
little Bible verse at night—you are giving them the heart of the Father. 
Really, the only eternal Father that any kid will ever have—you’re 
giving them the heart of the eternal Father, and writing His law in their 
heart, so that when they do have a tough decision to make, they have 
an eternal Father to tell them the right thing to do. 
 
And then, before you leave, just before you go to bed yourself, be sure 
to turn around and say, “Hey, I want you to know I love you, and I’m 
proud to be your mom.” You’ll be amazed at how wonderful those kids 
will turn out to be in the long run, and you’ll be the hero in their life. 
White -3- 
To download a printable version of this transcript, click here.