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Friday, April 29, 2016

Motherhood: An Honest Look in the Mirror

So, we brought a new baby into the world! My third child, a boy, was born March 7th. He is absolutely wonderful! Such a little sweetie!

But little did I know, his birth would bring about some unexpected changes. My daughter, the now middle child, turned into a disaster! A mouthy, sassy, disaster at that!

Within the first weeks with the new baby, she had performed many attention-seeking acts. From screaming at me for the simplest requests to using the cat to scratch up the door of our brand new vehicle: she did it all.

She was sweet as pie to the new baby though. I am thankful for that, at least!

At our most recent MOPS meeting, we had a marriage and family therapist speak to us on parenting. She was awesome! She was so nice about telling you the truth without directly laying blame. For example, one hot topic was back talking. (I was all ears for this!) She delicately said, "Ok. So your younger child learned the back talking from their older sibling. Well, where did they learn it from?"

Yikes. Needless to say, I left the meeting feeling convicted, but encouraged. She gave us all many tips to try to stop the back talking.

And, I have really been trying to employ them. That very day I successfully dealt with a slew of sass! But then, that terrible, witching hour struck: bath time. My progress quickly vanished, and I slid back into my old ways of raising my voice to try and deal with my daughter.  When she went to bed, I just asked myself, "What happened? How did I fail so suddenly and so badly?"

I know why. I'm flawed. We all are. And we all are a work in progress. Thank God!

God knows we're flawed too. That is why He longs for us to turn to Him for help. He wants to make us new. He wants to change us into the people He has planned for us to be. Best news: He doesn't give up on us when we fail. He keeps working as long as we keep working.

God gave us a lot of encouragement on this topic. I'm so thankful for these verses that speak to my imperfect heart. 

  • "Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength" (1 Corinthians 15:43).  
    • In Heaven, we will finally be without sin. We will be without weakness. We will be perfect!
  • "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns" (Philippians 1:6).
    • One of my favorite verses! God doesn't give up on us; of that we can be certain!
  • "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness"  (2 Corinthians 12:9).
    • Even the apostle Paul, writer of over half of the New Testament, had weaknesses. He learned, as we moms need to do, that God works best in those that admit their weakness and turn to Him for help. He offers us grace!
  • "Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning" (Lamentations 3:23).
    • When we mess up, we get a fresh start. God forgives us of our mistakes and lets us try again. Whew! What a relief!
Some days, we feel we make so many mistakes as moms. Being a mom reveals your flaws every day as you see your children act out your worst habits. (I'm not saying my daughter got her sassy talking from me, but...ok, maybe.) Yep, being a mom forces you to take an honest look in the mirror. My reflection shows me so many things I need to work on. But that's okay. God's helping me. And He is powerful enough and patient enough to get the job done.