It Starts With Me (Putting God First in Your Own Life)

I can’t mother without God.
We Jesus-followers-who-mother-children know this on days they ask the hard questions, test the limits, spill the cheerios on the floor for the 3rd time in a row, crash under the weight of their youthful bad decisions, grow to have facial hair. speak in low voices and push back on everything we thought we taught them well.

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And yet, on the good days…the days they do those things we want, behave like perfectly polite tiny humans in front of other adults, just like we hope…days where our homes are filled with laughter and beauty and fun, yes lots of fun…on those days we need Him, too.

Always…our relationship with our children hinges on our relationship with God. 

It starts with us:

• Spending time with Him so we can manage our emotions when things don’t roll out like the script in our head.
• Living daily in the Word so we can be a woman who mothers from a place of truth, models balance and wisdom and care, so our kids can see something different from the world they live in and know it’s possible.
• Whispering prayers, (let’s be honest: short most of the time) in the car or while we are cooking dinner or doing laundry or being a chauffer or when we finally do collapse into the bed at night with a weariness we can’t explain. And then the other part of prayer…quietly listening.

No matter how good of a mother we are, we will never be good without God. We need Him on the bad days and the good days and the days that are just ok and we survive.

We need Him to balance us and stop our mouths from saying hurtful things little minds do not forget and most of all, to help us lose that perfection tape that plays in our head and messes with our ability to embrace the crazy-beautiful in every day.

We can’t mother without God.

If we try, we will mother from a place of bankruptcy.

The hard moments will be too hard, the good moments under-appreciated, and the daily will feel like mountain climbing without the proper gear.

All of it – the way we model goodness, the way we will endure, the way our kids see God – will always start with us.

Us…and God.

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These things Lisa Whittle loves most: her husband, her children (3, including 2 boys), her fluffy dog who sits faithfully under her desk while she writes, and her Jesus who has made her life well. She’s authored 3 books, including her latest, {w}hole, and will release her 4th in August 2014. You can find her at www.lisawhittle.com, where she blogs less than she should, but when she does, hopes to start honest conversation.

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Don’t forget to go grab the Taking Care of Mom Book Bundle—a collection of MOB Society co-founder, Brooke McGlothlin’s ebooks. You can get all five as a bundle for 50% off their retail price – just $8 for them all! Click here for more details! Sale lasts until midnight EST tonight!

Book Bundle Sale

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