Intentional Motherhood: Habits for True Self CareSample

You know those weird beliefs we all secretly have about motherhood?

The ones you think about but never say out loud? Things like: good moms don’t get sad, stressed, or anxious. Good moms are happy and calm all the time. They handle hard situations with poise and confidence.

Let’s be real: we’d all love to be the kind of “good mom” who never lets anything phase her, but that mom doesn’t exist. There aren’t many absolutes in mothering because our experiences are all so different, but there is one thing that is true of everyone: all moms sometimes feel sad, burned out, and worried.

Those emotions are all simply a part of life. No amount of pretending they don’t exist will stifle them.

Thankfully, we are not left to figure this out on our own.

Scripture tells us exactly how to handle everything. And while there are a lot of remedies for our very true and very real feelings of sadness or anxiety or stress, one thing we can hold on to is Philippians 4:6-7 which says, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

How do we present our requests to God? Through prayer.

And what happens after prayer? Peace comes after prayer.

Prayer allows us to commune with God, bringing all we think, feel, and struggle to Him. It is an amazing experience! We can be raw, honest, and totally ourselves. We can spill our hearts and full emotions before the Lord.

We can express every worry, fear, frustration, and heartache. We can replace the lies we’ve believed with His truth.

And His truth tells us that sometimes things will be hard. Not only that, we might have trouble in this world…that we will.

Jesus says in John 16:33 that we will have trouble in this world but should take heart because He has overcome the world.

Only when we embrace the inevitability of unhappiness on this earth sometimes can we truly bask in the joy of knowing it isn’t forever.

There’s no such thing as a mom who is always happy. That’s not real. That is impossible.

Do you know what is real, though? A mom who knows where to go with her troubles and where to find peace and joy when life is hard. And aren’t those the moms our children need?

We won’t always feel happiness or joy because that’s not the world we live in, but we have Jesus, and that’s more than enough, even on our hardest days.

And to that, we can all say amen!

Lord, I often let my anxious thoughts swirl in my head instead of bringing them to you. But today, I am coming to you with all my fears and worries. I trust you to take care of them and to help me as I walk with you through them. Amen.