Exhausted?!

A friend of mine posted this today and it just really made me think and also appreciate my babies so much more! It is so true that I sometimes hope for the day when things will be different. They will be older.  I won't have to change diapers.  When I don't have to hear fussing or crying or fighting. But after reading this, it made me realize that I need to appreciate my time that I get with these beautiful children. They are only so little for such a little amount of time.  Before I know it, I am going to blink and they are going to be grown adults.  I also hope and pray that they are passionate Jesus followers. I hope that they see Jesus in me every day. I hope that they know that Mommy is a godly woman.  I hope they know that Jesus is priority in my life. This little post also made me realize that I should be praying those three things over my kids, plus much more. I hope that this inspires you as much as it does me. Have a great weekend!

This is a post by Lysa TerKeurst over at Proverbs 31 Ministries.

When mommy is mentally exhausted

I used to think it was stressful having small children. The bathing, changing, whining, crying, feeding and cleaning up little people’s messes all day would wear me to a frazzle sometimes. I naively would throw myself into bed and think, “when they are older this will be so much easier.”

Have you ever wanted to travel back in time and shake yourself? I would say slap yourself but let’s not get physically aggressive.

On second hand, yes let’s. It’s not that I would full out slap myself but some forceful taps on either side of my cheek would have been in order.

For as your children grow, a transition happens. You trade physical exhaustion for mental exhaustion. Now hear my heart, I’m not trying to pull an Eeyore today and get all down.

Y’all know I love my children with every fiber of my being. I thank God for the incredible honor of having people who call me mom. I dig investing and giving and shepherding these amazing future leaders. And I take it very seriously.  After all they will one day get the privilege of caring for me when I’m old. And, I am going to be a feisty old thing. Can anyone say payback! I laugh when I think about it. But that is a topic for another day.

Back to the shift to mental exhaustion. I am as confident as I can be that I have invested wisely in the nurturing of my children. I haven’t been perfect but then again none of us have. So, I’m not tired from wishing I would have done more. It’s something else.

As the leash of freedom extends with each passing year, I realize how their choices are their own. And I can’t build the security of my identity as a mom on the fragility of young people’s choices. I have to build the security of my identity as a mom on prayer.

So, intertwined in my situational prayers for them I have three fundamental prayers I always try to include:

1. God, make this child one of the most godly people of their generation.

2. God, let them get caught when they make wrong choices.

3. God, save them from the wrong friends and the wrong mate, so they may be saved for the right friends and the right mate.

And then I ask God for the courage to let Him write my kid’s testimonies.
Simple. Necessary. A bit scary sometimes. But so completely comforting. And one of the best remedies to help ease the mental exhaustion all of us mommies feel at times.

What do you pray over your children?