Hey there, Momma. I know you’re tired. School’s back in session full swing now, and your mind is already beginning to preoccupy with plans for the upcoming holidays. You’re running back and forth to football practice, dance class, and whatever else consumes your littles’ time. You’re making supper, helping with homework, and watching that pile of dirty clothes grow. Let’s face it. The life of a mother is tough.
No other occupation encompasses so many roles. Teacher. Chef. Taxi driver. Coach. Counselor. Warden. Confidant. Advisor. Nurse. Advocate. Housekeeper. And that’s just the jobs with titles.
What about a shoulder to cry on, or a listening ear that knows when advice is needed, and when it’s best to just hear them out?
A mind reader that never quite reads things just right. The only person in the house who knows where everything’s at.
In the midst of running a household, nurturing young bodies and minds, and all the while looking incredibly attractive (wink, wink) and put together at the same time, you’re constantly accosted by visions of who you are not.
Sure you’re doing ok, but look at that lady over there. The perfect mom with the perfect hair and perfect outfit. All you know is you have two inches of dark roots showing, a stain or your shirt, and a scowl that remains from just screaming at your kid in the car.
You see the way that other mom has the cutest matching outfits for her kids. The amazing professional photos on Facebook prove it to be true.
That same woman brings homemade cupcakes to every single function while you’re over here feeling guilty for making Hamburger Helper for dinner again.
Other women seem to have it all together. They never fight with their spouse, and they always have a kind word to say about everyone. They’re the perfect picture of grace under fire, speaking scripture verses in the face of adversity when you are certain you would have collapsed in tears.
You look around at so much perfection, and you’re left deflated. You’re exhausted, the sink is full of dishes, and you just snapped at your spouse for no good reason at all.
Your pants are tight and it’s not even November yet. The scale keeps going up instead of down, and everyone you know is on a cleanse, 21 day fix, or some sort of lunge challenge.
You’ve got friends making door hangers out of their living room, chalkboard painting every piece of furniture and cabinet in their home, and you’re over here just wondering how to keep toys off the living room rug.
It seems like everyone is selling something, wrapping something, or challenging someone, and making a sizeable secondary income doing so. They’re getting free cars, funding trips to Hawaii, and you’re just trying to find the motivation to maybe not fall asleep before 7 p.m.
You can’t find a routine, you can’t find certainty in life, and the only thing you do feel pretty sure about is that you’re lacking in some way. You feel like your kids deserve a more dedicated mom and your husband could use a more understanding wife.
You know you could read your Bible more and complain less. You know you should spend quality time with the kids more often and less time eating donuts in the middle of the night. In fact there’s so much you could be doing, should be doing, but aren’t managing to even get close to that you feel like a big fat loser at life. Well, maybe not a big loser, but you just wish you could be more.
Yet in all the time you spend comparing yourself with others you tend to forget one very important thing. The most important thing. The only thing you really need to know.
And it is this. Before you were born God knew you. Before He formed your own children in your womb or brought them into your life via other means, He knew you would be their mother. The day your husband cried his first infant cry, the Lord knew that baby would one day grow up to be your spouse. Nothing is by chance. He knew, He formed, He brought it to be. And with that in mind you have purpose.
God made you with purpose to be the mother your children need. You can try harder and do better if you wish, but there’s no need to try and achieve some insurmountable place of perfection for the task. You already are the mom your kids need, and that’s why God placed them with you.
You’re the wife God had in mind for your husband, and although we can all strive to better our marriages, God has placed you in a perfect union of His choosing. Don’t feel like you are less. You’re enough. You’re perfect, in fact, because God put it all perfectly in place.
You can’t, I repeat, cannot be like the other women you see. You’re better than that; you’re the woman God made you to be.
We all have certain strengths and weaknesses that make us who we are, and since God doesn’t make mistakes, it’s best to remember He didn’t make one when He created you.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
To walk in them means to be present and to go about your way joyfully, content in the design that God created. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or to fall in the comparison game, but when it comes down to it God made you for this. He made you for this exact task, at this exact moment, exactly how you are, not how someone else is.
You can’t be like other moms, and you shouldn’t want to be. The great designer made you special, with a special purpose in mind. And that’s really all you need to know.
Emily Jones says
I absolutely find your blogs inspirational. I love reading these. Keep them coming!
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thank you!
Candace says
Thank you! That made me cry, but I really needed to hear this! Thank you for you wonderful words!!!
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thank you. God bless you.
Niki says
Thank you Brie!!!! I really needed this today! Have a blessed day! ?
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thanks so much!