Every Mom I know has experienced “Mom Guilt”. That sneaky suspicion that you aren’t do things quite right and that you are going to mess up your kids for life.
If we were really honest with ourselves, we would admit that we are not perfect, so of course we could never be a perfect Mom. Yet, we still hope that we will do more things right than wrong, and somehow beat the odds, and become:
The. Best .Mom. Ever.
Reading books on parenting, copying ideas from Facebook, Pinterest and Women’s Magazines. Somehow hoping for the magic combination that will result in perfect kids.
We find ourselves perpetuating the cycle, teaching our kids to strive for perfection. And they cannot reach it.
A few years ago I found myself in the depths of Mom Guilt, dealing with the guilt of being a working Mom…when God stepped in. I would dare to say that He gave me a revelation!
He told me that He would not lead me down a path and then say, “but wait, here’s a bag of GUILT to go with that”. God was not going to tell me, “go to work and by the way, working will mess up your kids”. I prayed, submitted my plans to Him, and OBEYED His words.
This means I can walk in FREEDOM!
Yes, there is a place for guilt, such as when there is unrepentant sin. If God had told me to down-size my life and quit my job, but my reaction had been “no way”, then I SHOULD feel guilty. But that is not what happened.
Guilt does not always come from God, sometimes it comes from the evil one who loves nothing more than to have us feel like crap, leaving us ineffective and beat-up inside.
So I decided to tell him what he could do with that guilt. And suddenly I felt FREE!
To be honest, for the next few years, I had to remind myself of these words several times. But now, I rarely feel Mom guilt. I know I am walking the path Christ has set before me. I don’t always understand it all, but I have experienced FREEDOM in the journey.
That gives me PEACE.
“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” John 10:10
The Peace Filled Life 