God’s Grace, Love and Little Reminders Through Parenting

I don’t talk about my kids a lot on social media or online. It’s just a boundary I like having. I share a lot about myself and Chris, but not about them. I also don’t like to brag either, BUT I have to right now. Proud Mama moment. All three of my kids are givers. They see needs before I do sometimes. This week they asked me to go to Dollar Tree so they could buy up all of the Bibles. Every time Chris stops to give a homeless person money they want to include a Bible. So guess what?! We have 15 Bibles sitting in the back of my car waiting to give them away. Every time my daughter makes breakfast, she makes more for her Grammy and Paw Paw, next door. Same goes for dinner and lunch.

When someone passes away they see a need of the person left behind and give their time, talents or whatever they can give. But this week their PawPaw and Uncle are hard at work on a project. They stayed with them all yesterday helping and even got up before I did, got dressed and was out the door to meet them to work. Not because they enjoy hard labor all of the time, but because their love language is giving.

Parenting is hard! It’s the hardest thing I’ve EVER done! Being a CEO or being in the performance industry is a piece of cake compared to parenting. Seriously! I know you can relate. Chris and I said from the beginning: they don’t have to be the smartest or brightest, but first and foremost, they need to be disciples for Jesus and functioning adults. I think they are well on their way!

Again not wanting to brag or toot my own horn, but wow when I look at them, I feel good about myself. I may screw up a lot of things, but they are more like Jesus than I can ever be. My job and goal as a parent is to teach my kids how to be more like Jesus. Their job is to listen and to apply. And they are doing it.

Now don’t get me wrong, they work my nerves, fuss and fight, back talk, are smarty pants and sarcastic… (I have no idea where they get these traits from), but they understand the true meaning to their life, way before I ever did and that is to love like Jesus. And they do just that!

So in an hour or two when I’m ready to choke them for being turds (I’m kidding… well maybe, you know you’ve thought about it too. Don’t lie!), I will come back to this post and be grateful and to remember to not sweat the small stuff, to pick and choose my battles and to look at the bigger picture. Cause the bigger picture is what counts sometimes in parenting. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Some days I thought for sure I was screwing them up, but God gives me beautiful reminders like today to remind me we are all doing okay. Chris, I and the kids are all doing okay. We put God first and when we all do that, things start falling into place

Mama, if you are in the trenches now and feel like you are screwing everything up, step back, take a deep breathe, pray through and remember the little moments make up the big moments of life. Every good thing takes a struggle sometimes. Take it fifteen minutes by fifteen minutes. If you screwed up the last fifteen minutes, don’t dwell on it. Pray through, ask for forgiveness and move on. Stop dwelling on what you didn’t do for them or what you did to them, but start praying through, taking it slow, breathe through and watch how your attitude and your Child’s attitude changes.

You are human! All your kids want to know, is that they are secure with you and are loved. If you ask my kids at 12, 9 & 9 if they remember the hard times, they don’t. They will tell you they remember mom and dad trying their best. They want to know you are human! You’ve got this Mama!

When I had three under the age of three, I learned very quickly that I had to rely on God more and more. I learned very quickly I had no control, but God did. I learned very quickly that I was a vessel. God was teaching my kids through me and I needed to chill and do my job. You’ve got this Mama! You are doing great!