You are an amazing mom!

Last night I told my husband that I was struggling with anxious feelings. Feeling like I was not doing enough, not doing the right stuff, failing my kids.

He looked at me with exasperation and then said some things he had to repent for later. After we reconciled and got back to the issue at hand, he spoke softly. He told me it frustrated him to hear me cut myself down with my words. And he told me they were not true. I was not a bad mom. I was not failing our children. I am a good mom. I am doing a great job.

Try telling yourself, "You are an amazing mom!"  It feels weird for me to tell myself. It feels awkward to say that I've got this mom thing, when clearly, without the grace of God, I don't. But that's what it all comes down to, I guess. I'm not without the grace of God. I've got his grace, and he's got me.

That being said, I'm a pretty freaking awesome mom. I get up early, and at all hours of the night, in fact, to care for the needs of my family. I go to great lengths to keep them healthy, to help them learn, to provide experiences that nurture their souls.  I spend hours thinking how I can enrich my children's lives. I dream for them, I pray for them, I speak words of truth over them. I look for the best in them. I believe in them. I lay down my life for them, every stinkin day.  And if I had to guess, I would bet that you do too.

Why is it so hard for us to accept the truth, that we are doing a good job?

A speaker I recently heard talked about how God challenged her ideas on the verses from Philipians, 4:8: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

She said that God asked her if those verses applied to her. Rather obviously, she replied, yes of course. Then God asked her, why didn't she believe that they applied to her thoughts about herself.

It isn't always in our nature to think the true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable about ourselves. We repeat our failures in our minds like a toy train going around a track, circling back continually to the time we blew it. It's easy to dwell on our mistakes, the things we've done wrong throughout the day.

But the Bible tells us to think of the excellent or praiseworthy. We want our kids to do that don't we? Then why don't we do it ourselves? We are God's kids. When I lay down at night, thoughts flood my mind about my short answer to my kiddos, the way I ignored them when I was busy, the fact that I am still two sizes away from my pre-pregnancy jeans. I think about missed opportunities, broken promises, and shortcomings. But not any more.

I'm mindfully choosing to think about what a great mom I am. I'm going to celebrate the things I did deserving of praise. When my child misplaced their shoes for the 10th time in one day, I didn't shout. I patiently encouraged them and helped them to find their shoes, which were mysteriously, right where they were supposed to be, in the shoe cupboard (who would ever think to look there?). I'm going to dwell on the way it was great that I had worship time to start the morning, even though all the kids left the room and I was singing alone, arms raised, with praise reverberating through the barren dining room. I'm going to celebrate the fact that I took time to read my children a book, even though there was a large-scale fight (including yelling and weeping) because not everyone approved of the seating arrangement during story time. I'm going to rejoice in the fact that God has given me the resources to provide my children with healthy meals; I will think about the pure and vegetable filled lunch I made them today, even though they had cookies for breakfast.

Will you join me? Will you join me in choosing to believe the best, not just about our families, but about ourselves? Will you join me in asking God to shine his light on who He is in us, who we are becoming in him and what he is doing in our lives? There is not enough time in this precious journey we call motherhood to waste any of it thinking thoughts that God does not think toward us.  Let the currency of our thought life be the riches of his grace.  

  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

⁶ To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

⁷ In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Eph 1:5-7