Being a Mom is anything but easy.

If I've said it once, I've said a thousand times, being a mom is hard work! And just in case you feel your the only mom in the world who has LITERALLY hit her head on the wall, know this: you are not alone. I'm with you. The frustrations, the sleepless nights, the fatigue and oh yes, all the millions of little moments you treasure in your heart.
It's hard work isn't it? Doing this job well? Authentically showing Jesus to your children, loving them and being God's administer of love, and discipline, all wrapped up in one cute little "mom" package. (with make up on, if it's a good day.)
How do we do all this? By no strength of our own!!!! We can not in any sense of the word do the job God gave us to do in our own strength.
It takes work. It takes self discipline, but what it does not take is self reliance. God does not want us to rely upon our own ability to raise our children. He wants us to rely on Him. When we model Christ to our children in a way that shows them that first of all we are FOR them, and their succeeding, but also that we are WITH them when they fail. We remind them that in Christ they WILL get back up again, and that at times EVERYONE messes up. This is why we have GRACE. So we instinctively MODEL grace to them.

We remind them that MOMMY is NOT perfect and that MOMMY has to ask for forgiveness when MOMMY loses her cool. We tell them that even mommies make mistakes but that mommies are thankful for God's grace as well. We are REAL in front of our kids, but we do not use our kids as our own personal punching bags. We don't take our frustrations out on our kids. We bring our frustrations to the foot of the cross and let Jesus take care of Mommy, so Mommy can effectively take care of the kids.

The other thing we do is we remind our kids that Jesus does not keep a record of wrongs, so when the kids have a bad day, they are forgiven when they ask, and their sins are GONE. I mean, GONE. Dead. No longer on any sort of record. And then, Mommy reminds HERSELF of this truth as well.

There is a lot of praying going on here too. Mommy prays for herself, and Mommy prays for her kids. Mommy prays for constant recollection of what Jesus did, so that she walk in the freedom that Jesus died to give her. Mommy does this so she can MODEL it to her children.
Did I mention we can't do this in our own strength? Just in case I forgot, let me say it again, NONE of this can be done in our own strength.

So lets see, we've successfully made in through the day. Your whole body literally hurts. YOU. ARE. TIRED. Dishes are done. Kids are tucked in. You fall into bed. What do you do Mommy? You pray. And you let Jesus wipe that loose strand of hair out of your eyes. You allow yourself to see YOU as Jesus sees you. Beautiful Daughter of Christ, walking her faith out in a very real way in front of her children. If you feel worn out Mommy, it's OK! This job is not easy, but God will walk with us in and through our all our days.
SO when your TIRED of being CONSISTENT and your tired of being CREATIVE and your tired of being NICE, take a heart check, are you doing this day in YOUR strength, or are you clothed in HIS? It's not that the hard dissipates completely when we have Jesus, but instead we realize our work is not in vain, and Jesus is with us in the good times, and when the going gets tough.

This job we have is anything but easy, but what we learn, how we grow and who God shapes us into along the "battle grounds of Mommy-hood" is priceless. Don't run away to dream world. Live in today. Right here, right now is where God has you.

Heaven is near, earth is now, God's in both, so rest Mommy. Rest. Rest in His ability to carry you through, pick you up when you fall, and equip you as you stand. Rise Mommy Rise. You are born to be apart of something holy. Raise your children with authenticity. Be JESUS to your children. Let HIS name always be on your lips. At the end of the day, hand your regrets to Jesus, and let HIM turn ashes into beauty as the sun rises with the new day awaiting.

You were born to do this.

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13