Unlimited Motherhood: Overcome 12 Limits That Overwhelm and Conflict Our HeartsSample

Title: Desiring a Different Life

I have a confession. Do you know how people compare their lives or their bodies to others’? Well, I do something different: I compare my PROBLEMS to others’. And here is the worst part, my troubles always trump everyone else’s.

Then, I sulk. I throw a pity party and secretly wish I had a different life. When that doesn’t work, I take my complaint to the Big Guy Upstairs.

When my daughter was first diagnosed with autism, I wasted months wrestling with God.

Yes, I said wrestling. When you resist surrender, you naively believe you can secure God in a chokehold and claim victory.

Right hook.

Jab.

Knee to the stomach.

My way God.

My will.

Listen to me.

Submit.

But guess what?

God always wins.

Just as Jacob wrestled all night with the angel of the Lord, commanding him to bless him, we attempt to pin God to the ground and demand he concede to our master plan.

Some of us spend our lives foolishly feuding with an omnipotent, all-powerful God. The end result? We collapse on the mat in exhaustion, having squandered precious time and energy.

But Jesus came to the world to model for us a different way. Despite the suffering he endured, he lived a life of complete surrender. In the garden Jesus prayed, “Your will, not mine, Father.” Jesus understood that even when he faced difficulty, he could still trust that the heart of his Father was good.

Your life won’t look anything like you expect it to—it will look wildly different.

For years, you’ll grieve this loss.

You’ll get angry at God.

You’ll wrestle with accepting the life you’ve been given.

You’ll fall into a pit of self-pity.

But I promise you, the day you wave your white flag in surrender, you’ll realize this beautiful truth: A different life isn’t a less-than life.

This plan has been adapted from the book, Unlimited Motherhood: Overcome 12 Limits that Overwhelm and Conflict Our Hearts [https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/542741].