Overcoming Mom Guilt: Gospel Truth for MothersSample

As a mom, some days I can’t tamp down those flames of resentment that sometimes rise to the surface. Maybe you’ve been there?

I have spent my most stressed days daydreaming about renting a bungalow on a remote island. I have felt like the people I gave life to with my actual body are draining the life out of me.

And you know what? My hunch is I’m not alone. Right?

I think motherhood stretches us (not just physically) in ways we didn’t expect. Motherhood asks of us more than we ever thought we could give, and sometimes we just don’t have it in us to keep giving.

But we never talk about it. We don’t talk about the bitterness that sometimes bubbles up when things don’t look like we anticipated. I used to personally pretend like I had it all together.

That I was Snow White gleefully happening upon this nasty cottage and getting my animal friends to help me tidy it all up with a smile on my face. That I loved mothering more than life itself. Sure. Most of the time I do. And I love being a mother so much!

Motherhood is a couple of things: mothering is the very best thing I have ever done. But it also is the very hardest thing I have ever done. I bet you can relate to those feelings too.

And sometimes, especially after a long day, it is quite literally the last thing I want to keep on doing.

I think what we need to do is take off the mom mask. You know the one I’m talking about. It’s the one that makes it seem like it is our life’s joy to organize the toy bin again that has just been tipped over and spilled out for the thousandth time today.

It’s the one that doesn’t bat an eyelash when the boys have somehow gotten ketchup on 12-foot ceilings (don’t ask me how I have that exact example). We aren’t serving anyone, especially ourselves, by pretending everything is fine all the time. Let’s acknowledge that sometimes it isn’t.

Because you know what? Not every day has to be our best day. And while I used to feel a lot of shame and guilt around that, I don’t anymore.

I’ll tell you the secret to this: I am resting in the grace offered to me by my good, good Father. That’s how I get through it.

In Lamentations 3:22-23, we see this: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Friend, breathe a sigh of relief with me because these verses tell us that God is with us in these times we feel a little resentful and we’re exhausted. We don't have to feel mom guilt for simply having normal feelings.

God loves us just as faithfully on our bad days as He does on our good days. He tells us that it is okay to have one of those days where mothering isn’t going well for us. It’s okay. We’re human. It happens.

His mercy is new every morning. Every single morning, we can start fresh. We can try again. Thanks be to God.

And because of that, we can say amen and amen!

Lord, thank you for this family that sometimes drives me crazy. Thank you for being with me, so faithfully, even when I am having a terrible day. Thank you for your steadfast love. Thank you for your new mercies every morning. Help me to remember that your power is made perfect in my weakness. Amen.