A note to the struggling mom who missed her meeting with God

I see you there, standing in what appears to be the only quiet, clean room of your home right now. You’re escaping for a minute, finding the ability to catch your breath and trying to relish in the peace while you gather your thoughts; all while kids scream and fight and create the biggest Lego mess ever in the room next to you.

I see you because I have been you, many times.

You wonder how did the day slip by you with so many messes? How did the day become so frustrating and overwhelming? How has it felt that all you achieved today as a mother was something similar to a bootcamp? Yelling constantly, barking orders, having to break up fights and send little ones off to time out. You’re lost, you’re frazzled and you’re wondering where did it go wrong today…

Today you overslept. You didn’t wake up to have peace before the children. You didn’t wake up and read a devotional, or have some quiet time with God. Today you chose those extra thirty minutes of sleep because your body just felt like it needed it. Your children kept you up all night with bathroom calls, coughing spells and sleep walking, so yes, you chose sleep.

But now you’re standing in a room, or your pantry, or even the bathroom wondering why has your day come to this? Where has the peace of yesterday gone or the joy of last week’s days gone? Where has the laughter and calming environment escaped to?

A Secret to the Struggling Mom

I don’t think it’s much of a secret, especially to Christian mothers, that making God a focal point and an every day presence in our life brings about an inner peace and joy that can’t compare to anything else. We hear the good news and we know by everything that we have been taught that being present with God is supposed to make life better. But the question is, are we always there? Are we always showing up as we should? And are our bad days off key because we didn’t sit with the Lord? Why can one day be so smooth and the next day so chaotic?

The secret is that yes - quite often our life becomes frazzled, overwhelmed and chaotic when we don’t sit with the Lord. Whether we overslept and missed our thirty minute meeting or we overslept and just missed our ten minute catchup, missing our time together wreaks havoc on our day. But why? Is He punishing us for not sitting with him? He is just trying to show us? Is this just life? Are my kids just bad?

No. Never.

He loves us no matter what and sees us mothers in our darkest, most trying moments. He sees the pain we carry when we regret the way we handled a situation; He sees the guilt we hold on to when we can’t be in three places at once and He knows when we tried to show up but let the moment slip by. He sees us!

The beauty of missing out on our time with Him is that we notice a pattern of less peace and joy. We notice that when we don’t sit to visit, our day isn’t quite as peaceful. And to be honest it’s not just because we need a Holy time, but because as mothers we need a quiet time. Period. We need thirty minutes before the kids wake up to get into the mindset for the day. To meet with our Father, maybe enjoy a warm cup of coffee and even start the first load of laundry. Or perhaps we meet with Him mid day during nap time when the house is quiet. Or perhaps our days are meant to end with Him to rest easy that night and get refreshed for the dawn of a new day. There is no right or wrong time to meet with Him. He sees us whether we give a full holy hour or if we are able to just squeeze in 10 minutes of HIs word.

He sees us.

Whatever it is, I hope you know the secret is that we need Him. Our crazy, chaotic days of life and motherhood are not punishment for not showing up - it’s moments in time showing us that we need Him (and yes, it’s also just life because kids be a little cray cray). But struggling throughout the day and getting lost in the pantry, hiding for five minutes of peace is when we are shown just how much we need Him. We can’t do this alone, and we can’t do it nearly as peacefully and joyfully as we can with Him by our side.

So I encourage you to share this secret with other moms, just as I’m sharing with you. Because just like many mothers of young ones, I sometimes choose those extra thirty minutes of sleep too. I sometimes crash before my head hits the pillow at night; and there went any chance at meeting with Him. And I can personally tell you that time after time, I notice my days are frazzled, hard and overwhelming when I skipped that important morning meeting. Every one can find a rhythm that works for them, for us, that rhythm is to meet first thing in the morning to build the foundation of our day.

So the secret is out - we need Him. With Him is where so much more peace, grace and joy lies. And I don’t know about you, but I need all the peace, grace and joy as a mother. I need Him.