Overcoming Mom Guilt: Gospel Truth for MothersSample

Be careful!

Slow down!

Are you sure you want to do that?

If it weren’t for moms, kids would have way more bumps, bruises, and broken hearts.

We can see danger coming from miles and miles away and we love it on those days when we are able to prevent any danger or any hurt from coming into contact with our kids. In fact, we’re so good at stopping pain and problems in their tracks that we begin to believe that we can stop everything.

And when bad things happen we bite our tongues to keep “I told you so” from slipping out, because if they had just listened to us, it wouldn’t have been so bad…Mothers do know best!

But any time our child gets hurt physically or emotionally, we are wracked with mom guilt and we’re thinking of all of the ways we should have been able to stop it and all of the ways we should have been able to help the situation, right?

The truth is protecting our children from all pain and every problem is not possible. Sure, we stop them from wandering out into the street or touching a hot stove when we’re cooking, but we cannot prevent hurt from ever happening to our kids. Life just does not work that way, unfortunately.

Mothering is more about making peace with what you can and can’t control and confidently relying on God to use whatever happens for His glory and our children’s good.

Now you may be saying I don’t know, Alli, surely not everything. But the truth is: Yes. Every single thing. Even (and especially) when we can’t prevent it, when we can’t fix it, and when we can’t make it better.

Romans 8:26-28 says Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

You can see here, our job as mothers is really less about prevention and more about prayer. Prevention when they’re little, and prayer when they’re older.

No amount of work on our part can result in an easy, pain-free childhood. What we CAN’T do is protect our kids from ever feeling pain.

What we CAN do is pray for our kids through every test, every trial, and every temptation. We can trust that God is doing a work in them that we cannot see and might never understand this side of Heaven.

Why? Because as Philippians 1:6 says And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

And with that we can all the moms can say yes and amen!

Lord, thank you for being a God we can count on. I know that everything my children have experienced doesn’t go unnoticed by you. I know that I can trust you with their future. Help me relinquish my desire for control so I can fully believe in your perfect plan for my kids. Amen.