This week’s quick note from my heart to yours…
(I’m thinking of starting a monthly column here on Thursdays called “Bits of Brooke.” I love sharing my heart with you, and want to give you short messages that are packed with meaning and meet you right where you are. What do you think? It’ll be like it’s just me and you sipping coffee together…helping each other through this motherhood thing).
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I’ve noticed you laboring there under the weight of it all. Those decisions you’ve made to protect and guide and instruct your precious ones—you know, the ones that are different from all the other moms, that make you feel like the only mom in the world who feels the way you do—they’re weighing you down and making you feel like you’re running this race totally alone.
But you’re not. There are other moms like you.
And that’s the beauty of the age we live in, that you can find them on the other side of the country—maybe even the world—and although you only see them once a year if you’re lucky, you feel right at home, because you know they get you.
I want to tell you to shake it off, girl. If you’re walking in the wisdom of God, and laying your life, and that of your children, down at His feet, you’ve just got to trust that He’ll lead you. And if the things He asks you to do look different than what He requires of all your friends, so be it.
His opinion is the only one that matters.
Shake it off. Let the looks, and the stares, and the quiet disagreements (or maybe sometimes the loud ones) roll right off your back. Examine your heart to see if there’s any truth, and then walk confidently in the path God has chosen for you and your family.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Shake it off, girl. Trust God to give you exactly what you need. Get bold and ask Him to send you a friend who gets you. Connect with moms online who are in the trenches just like you. Reach out, walk forward, and shake it off.
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Brooke McGlothlin is the co-founder of the MOB Society, author of Praying for Boys: Asking God for the Things They Need Most, and co-author of Hope for the Weary Mom: Let God Meet You in Your Mess (releasing from Harvest House in February 2015).
I felt like you were talking right to me this morning, Brooke. Thanks for this. I’m going to be repeating “shake it off, girl” like a mantra. Going through a season of feeling judged in some of my circles, but I know God’s got my family on a certain track, and I’m celebrating being in his will today. Thanks, lady! Have a great 4th!
{Melinda} Thank you so much for the encouragement, Brooke. Raising kids and making counterculture choices can be so exhausting and overwhelming sometimes. I am so blessed to have real-life and online friends to support me as I walk this journey. We need each other! We can do all things through Him who gives us strength.
I found these words very encouraging and confirming, as I do feel the disagreements, and question what I am doing. Thanks Brooke, for reminding me that if I am walking in God’s way for my family, then that is all I need to worry about.
Thank you…. i do usually feel alone, but i know God is right there with me. I feel Him walking beside me and quietly nudging me to hug my boys or talk quietly when im being too loud or to take a breath when i feel up tight. Thank you for reminding me that i am not alone in this world of mine. He hears, and he cares.
We’re moving in a few weeks, and my prayers have been for my boys to find friends. But if I could just, maybe, if it’s not too much to ask, have one friend for myself…and I’m sure it’s just too much to hope for a friend who ‘gets me’…