But God says our worth isn’t based on “parenting right.”
God says that our identity and worth don’t come from “parenting right.” God is unimpressed by a completed checklist, but He adores when people have faith. God gave us His Son Jesus who did all things right because He loves a people who rarely do anything right.
As mamas, our role is to live out of the truth of our identity in Christ. When we know that we are fully known, loved, and forgiven, we can parent from a place of hope, rest, and joy knowing our identity isn’t defined by “parenting right.”
3. We fear we’re messing them up.
We worry that all of our quirks and preferences, mistakes and imperfections, yelling and even personality are ruining our kids. We ask ourselves if we’re a good parent… or at least an okay one.
Our response to this fear is to be as perfect as possible, which can lead to anger, exhaustion and frustration when we can’t follow the experts’ advice or every best practice.
The bottom line is that we think we’re responsible for the outcomes and any bad choices they make.
But God alone is responsible for the outcomes.
His job is to hold all things together. God created us to be dependent, to be obedient, and to trust Him. He is the only One who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.
Our role as moms is to surrender our children into His never-failing hands because He surrounds them with His never-failing love. When we rest in the truth that God is in charge of the outcomes, we see the love He has for us and our children.
Motherhood doesn’t have to be fear-inducing.
Motherhood is indeed filled with snuggles and sprinkles and laughter and joy and fun, but often what we feel most as mamas is fear. We fear for our kids’ futures. We fear not parenting right. We fear messing them up.
But God’s perfect love drives out all those fears. He has good plans for our children. He tells us that our identity is not found in our ability to parent perfectly. He reminds us that He alone is responsible for outcomes.
This season, let’s not parent out of fear. Let’s allow love to lead.
