Mom Up: A 4-Day Journey Of Hope For MomsSample

From Survival Mode to Abundance  

When we hear the word abundance, we typically think of a large amount of something. An abundance of coffee (hallelujah!). An abundance of sibling fights. An abundance of dishes. An abundance of attitude adjustments (on our part as well as our kids’!). An abundance of money, health, success, or fame. But that’s not the kind of abundance Jesus was talking about.

The abundant life Jesus offers is a full, intimate life with Him. In John 14:6, He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus came to make all things new—including tired and weary moms. When I first became a mom, I looked hopefully into the eyes of moms with older kids, searching for a bit of “it will get easier,” but what I got was the opposite. They looked back at me with pity and told me it only got harder. They told me to prepare myself for years of solitude and pain.

Then one day a woman wrapped her arms around me and spoke life into my exhausted heart. “You can thrive in this, and it’s time to do it now.” I can what? No way. There’s no possible way. I can barely breathe. How in the world can I thrive and actually enjoy what I’m doing?

Mission impossible, friend. I was struggling in my motherhood role and grasping at any shred of self-worth I could find. And I wasn’t doing it well. I was miserable and wallowing in self-pity.

So, I had a decision to make. I could go on believing the lie that I was not good enough to be a great mom and continue on my miserable way. Or I could realize that through Jesus Christ I could be the mom my children needed me to be. I could keep attempting (and failing) on my own. Or I could choose to experience abundant life right where I was.

I chose abundance.

It hasn’t been an easy journey, but I can tell you that most days I love being a mom. I’m not the best at it. I’m not super creative or necessarily the most fun. I yell too much, get too easily frustrated, and sometimes I don’t even like my kids. Being a mom doesn’t always look like I imagined it would. But I wake up every day and choose to thrive in motherhood because that’s what God intends for us.

Dearest friend, I want nothing more than to wrap my arms around you and assure you that now is your time. It’s your time to thrive in motherhood. It’s your time to jump headfirst into the abundant life that Jesus Christ offers us. Trust me, if this perfectionistic, prone-to-yelling, obsessive mom can do it, you can too.