Give Thanks, Always.

Hello everyone! I am BACK! It has been such a crazy past few months and I will definitely be updating you all on all that I have learned during that time. As some of you know, I took on a leadership role for the new MOPs at the Lakewood Campus and God has been doing some amazing things with that ministry I tell ya! In the past almost three months of serving other mamas, God has been doing some WERK in my life. It’s almost like he has completely decided to restructure something that I thought was a well-built machine. Apparently, there was more to me and his plan for me (there is always more) and He wanted to show me a new version of Himself. A new side to Him that I had no idea that I needed. I decided to reflect for a blog I did for our MOPs group and wanted to share it with you all because it really means a lot to me. As I begin to dig in and process my walk lately, I will be posting some takeaways that I left each experience with.

Can you believe it? One more holiday left in 2018. Another year come to pass just as quickly as the rest. As we creep up on a new year, I like to reflect of the things the current year has taught me. In the midst of the chaos of motherhood, what are our takeaways? Did we take enough time out of each day, hour, minute, moment to look around ourselves and just thank God? If you’re like me, probably not. At least not without setting time aside to thank Jesus for the amazing things He has done for me when things are going incredibly well. However, in the moments of utter chaos, stress, sadness, loss, or even loneliness, we forget to set aside time and give thanks.

One thing that most (if not all) of us can agree on is this parenting thing is tough. We try our best to put a beautiful bow on our well-polished “Pinterest” lives, but deep below the surface we feel the inadequacy that this imaginary contest called life, brings upon us. The thing that we can’t see in the moments like these is that these seasons are incredibly short. What feels like long, thankless, and mundane moments that we encounter as mothers are actually jam-packed with bountiful gifts, lessons, and unconditional love from our Father that He created  JUST FOR US. Yet we tend to miss them by quietly (or not so quietly) wishing and praying these seasons away. Before we know it, years have passed and we’re a little older and our beautiful mess-making babies are no longer tugging on our legs for a snack every five seconds. Instead they are able to fend for themselves without as much as even brushing past you to get them. We find ourselves missing the way their little voices sound as they relentlessly asked us 100 times over. What an amazing moment that was passed up because we were so ready to be in the next stage of life. As tough as this is for me personally to process, I am learning that this is painfully true. I am beginning to realize that there are things my kids were doing just weeks ago that they no longer do anymore; and I find myself longing for those tiny sounds and touches. If only I were still and truly absorbed these moments. If only I had said “thank you, Lord” more than I said, “please stop.” Would I have been able to be more present and have time slow down just a little bit? Maybe? Or maybe I could have taken away something from the moment much greater than my annoyance at the time.

The beauty about this is that God is patient and that time isn’t an issue for him. He sees us through our toughest seasons, and celebrates us through our amazing successes of life while never wishing away any of it. He has so much in store for us thorough our walk with him that even cutting one corner can be a missed blessing. What an amazing gift we were given to have these amazing little humans to raise; To shine God’s love for us, onto them and to lead them as Jesus leads us. It mustn’t be wasted, not even one second. The enemy will try and distract you from the beauty in the chaos. Don’t let him! Don’t listen to him when he tells you to frantically clean your house like a maniac for the 1,000th time that day. Instead, sit in the mess and love them through it just like He loves us through our mess. He never rushes us to clean it because there is beauty and lessons within it. When you walk into your kid’s room and step on a lego, don’t scream in pain- scream out to God thanking him that your child’s imagination was at work and the legos you bought are helping their little brains develop! Thank him that the hotdog they are protesting means that you were able to feed them even if they have to learn that an empty belly is much worse than the hotdog they asked for ten minutes ago. Even thank him for the major blow out your baby had when you were late leaving out the house. Why? Because another tired momma may come to you at her wits end and just had the same thing happen and you can share your crazy poop story to brighten up her mood and make her feel less crazy. None of these moments are wasted and the most important I’ve learned is that God builds these communities for us so that all of us can come together and strengthen each other and build up our weaknesses together. Because in our weakness, He is strong and that is something to be incredibly thankful for. 

“2 Corinthians 4:15

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the Glory of God.”