This Devoted Life

30: Overcoming Mom Guilt: Finding Grace in Motherhood

• James and Shanda

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Ever caught yourself thinking, "I'm such a bad mom"? That heavy feeling of mom guilt is exactly what we're unpacking in this raw, honest conversation. What began as a late-night confession in our bedroom became this episode aimed at both encouraging you and helping us process our own struggles with feeling inadequate as parents.

Mom guilt manifests in countless ways—comparing ourselves to seemingly perfect mothers on social media, struggling with work-life balance, losing patience with our children, or feeling spiritually inadequate to guide them. These feelings aren't just uncomfortable; they can be paralyzing and prevent us from being the present, joyful mothers we want to be.

But what does Scripture say about these feelings? We explore powerful verses from 2 Corinthians, Romans, and Colossians that remind us God's grace covers our imperfections, there is no condemnation for those in Christ, and our identity rests in Him—not in our performance as parents. These truths form the foundation for practical strategies to overcome guilt: prioritizing even five minutes in God's Word, trading comparison for contentment, embracing imperfection (and modeling apologies), and building supportive communities.

Perhaps most importantly, we remind each other—and you—that God specifically chose you to parent your children. He knew exactly what kind of mother they would need, with your unique strengths, weaknesses, and personality. When mom guilt threatens to overwhelm, remember Jesus calming the storm with "Peace, be still." His Word brings the same peace to the turbulent emotions of motherhood. You are seen, known, loved, and chosen for this sacred work.

Share this episode with another mom who might need to hear she's not alone in her struggles. Subscribe for more conversations about living a life devoted to faith, family, and authentic Christian living.

Related Podcast:
04:  Postpartum Depression - 3 Things Husband's (and Friends!) Should Know

Resources: (may contain affiliate links)
Megan Woods – The Truth Song
Paul Tripp – New Morning Mercies
Sally Clarkson – Mom Heart Moments
Charles Spurgeon – Morning and Evening

Scripture:
2 Corinthians 12:19 - "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather flory I Amy infinities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Romans 8:1 - "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

Colossians 3:23 - "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men."

James 1:5 - "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be give him."

Proverbs 14:30 - "A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones."

Galatians 6:2 - "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

Psalm 139:13-14 - "For thou has possessed my reins: thou has covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knowers right well."

Let's connect!
Website: This Devoted Life
Instagram: Devoted Motherhood & This Devoted Life Podcast
Email: podcast@thisdevotedlife.com

Introduction to This Devoted Life Podcast

Speaker 1

What started as a Saturday morning coffee date turned into a podcast where we chat about things like faith, family finances and so much more.

Speaker 2

In a world that is encouraging you to live your truth and to follow your heart. We want to encourage you to live devoted to the truth.

Speaker 1

The Bible has a lot to say about how to live a victorious Christian life, and we want to share practical insight in how to apply those truths to your life, as we endeavor to apply them to our own lives as well.

Exploring Mom Guilt and Its Impact

Speaker 2

If you enjoy this podcast, please leave us a review and share these episodes with your friends so that you can help them live this devoted life too. Welcome to another episode of this Devoted Life podcast. So today we're going to be talking about something that I have been dealing with a little bit the past few days, and it's mom guilt. So the other night I don't know, I don't even remember it wasn't even like a particularly bad day, but just for whatever reason, things were just feeling heavier than usual, like I was thinking back on just all the things that I've done with the kids and the things I had to get done and the things that were being left undone. And when we crawled into bed that night I don't remember you asked a question and I responded with I'm just such a bad mom and I was feeling really heavy about it, and usually you are just like so good about you know, reassuring me Listening to you.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it's like patting my back and know, reassuring me Listening to you, yeah, it's like patting my back and it's okay, honey, giving unsolicited advice sometimes, yes, sometimes. We've learned that one over the years. Yes, I have.

Speaker 2

But it was kind of funny because you know, I mean this wasn't one of my absolute like pits of despair or whatever moments. But you jokingly were like, oh, we should do a podcast on this.

Speaker 2

While laying there and the next morning I called you and I was like, yeah, we're doing a podcast on the mom guilt, because not only was I thinking about the fact that if I'm dealing with this, surely there's someone else who's dealing with it too, right, but I also wanted to do this podcast kind of for myself, because I wanted to look at God's word and just to look back and just see what does God actually say about this topic.

Speaker 1

Yeah, no, it's a good springboard to do your own research, really help yourself in a way, and it's like you're already doing this, so let's talk about it and sometimes I always or when, when you struggle with things, sometimes it's really good just to say it out loud.

Speaker 2

Right.

Speaker 1

And you and I do that a lot, and so let's talk about it out loud right now on the podcast and I think it's just something like you said. Obviously a lot of people deal with it and you know, I think we all you know it's not just mom guilt, you know, there think we all you know it's not just mom guilt. You know, there's definitely dad guilt. There's different things like that, but we think differently, and I you know that I don't usually have a lack of confidence and things like that.

Speaker 1

And you know, sometimes it's to a fault, but at the same time, I think we can all learn from it.

Speaker 2

One thing that I was thinking about was that it's not always reality, though Sometimes it's just perceived things you know, and I'm not necessarily actually being a bad mom, but I'm just like keeping more guilt on myself than I really need to be.

Speaker 2

It's not that anything even needs to change, it's just the reality of how life works. You know, I would love to spend all day being able to play with my kids, but that's not the reality of life. You know, I don't think that we will ever have as much time with our children as we would like.

Speaker 1

Right, yeah, you know I've I've said numerous times we literally could spend 24, seven with each other, um, with our children, with our spouses, things like that. A you know, I mean it wouldn't be very productive.

Speaker 2

Right.

Speaker 1

And you know you wouldn't really help the rest of the community things like that. But B, we're going to age and life's going to change and we're going to pass away eventually, no matter what. So you literally cannot spend enough time with each other, so you have to find that balance. And you like you said. You know you're not a bad mom, you're a wonderful mother and this is just. You know the devil does kind of plant seeds and doubt in our minds.

Speaker 2

He does, and I was kind of laughing because I mean, this was maybe a year ago. I was talking with you and I said it seems like there's one week a month where I just am feeling like the worst person in the entire world, and so I knew it was hormonal, but I felt powerless to change the mindset that I was feeling. And I remember you looking at me and you were like, oh well, that's easy. Then I was like, oh boy, here we go.

Speaker 2

But you said then you know to show yourself more grace and to show more grace to those that are around you during that week and you know, to show yourself more grace and to show more grace to those that are around you during that week, and that has been like changing for me, like life changing for me. To think of it in that way, you know, I know that there are certain times of the month where I can't roll with the punches as well as I usually can, and that doesn't mean that I'm a bad mom for it. It's just where I'm at in that moment and we just need to slow down a little bit, you know.

Speaker 1

Yep, I agree, and going through those things it does give you more empathy and it gives you more experience to hopefully talk about things like this on the podcast right.

Speaker 2

Well, I struggled with postpartum depression, which we do have an episode on that.

Common Triggers of Mom Guilt

Speaker 2

Yeah, I think a few actually over time, yeah, and so I just there are hormonal things I've been dealing with over the past, you know 12 years of birthing babies and all the things. Well, I've been so much better now that our youngest is she'll be turning five this upcoming year and hormonally I'm doing fantastic, you know, but it's just like there's still just some fluctuation in there. I'm still working on my health and all of that. I'm trying to get that all balanced back out. But you know, sometimes these things are not completely just attacks from the devil either. Sometimes it can be like a hormone thing. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1

Yeah, title you know, or thing that we want you to get out of this podcast is ways to overcome mom guilt and finding grace in motherhood, and it's really kind of as simple as those two things, and it's not easy necessarily. It might be simple, right, might be simple, but not either Easy.

Speaker 2

Yeah, maybe we should define what mom guilt is. I have it written down as the feeling of not doing enough or being enough for your children, and I do feel like that is a pretty good summary of at least how it is for my life. Sometimes I just feel like I'm not doing enough, either around the house or with the kids. It's like I've heard the phrase where it you can't do everything all at once, so it's like you can homeschool your kids, you can cook really good meals, you can keep your house clean, but you can't do all three, you know. And so it's like if you're cooking really good meals and you're homeschooling your kids, chances are you're not cleaning your house, you know.

Speaker 1

You need your husband to clean your house, for you can't be everything to everyone at all times.

Speaker 2

And there's I mean there's ebbs and flows for that, and when you come up with good routines and systems, you're able to do those more consistently. But it is true, I mean, you can't do everything.

Speaker 1

Yeah no question, and that's where the teamwork comes in. And I don't care if you view kind of the roles of male and female in the traditional sense or not. You know, I mean you can have Mr Mom absolutely and you know, take care of things, but the simple thing is is that it is a team effort and it's not. You know. I mean pitch in whether you know it's. You know the you doing things where maybe I need your help you know, or vice versa.

Speaker 1

It's like pay attention to your spouse and see the needs and, you know, step up to the plate, and I try to do that. I fail many times, but you know there are times, like you said, those times of the month, maybe that it takes some extra effort and hopefully the kids, as they age, can pitch in a lot more too.

Speaker 2

And, just like you said, communicating and also being a listener, you know, because I can't get frustrated if you're not helping out around the house, if I haven't communicated with you the needs you know and vice versa. You know like even today. I mean your truck broke down recently you know, and you called me at like four o'clock and we're like hey, I need you to come pick me up at the office to go and get a rental car Because, literally, his truck blew up.

Speaker 1

Basically, yeah, like not physically, the bike burst into flames, but yeah, absolutely, the engine is toast.

Speaker 2

You're going to have a rental for quite a while. So I had to leave and go and take you a half hour away to pick up a rental car and it's like, oh, how are we going to get dinner done? Well, now dinner's just pushed way back and um, you know. So we have to be able to roll with the punches but sometimes it's just easier to roll with them than others.

Speaker 2

Um, so let's look at some of the common triggers, um for mom guilt. One of them is comparing ourselves to other moms. Um, as someone who is on social media quite a bit, I can understand how this is something that is hard to overcome when you are constantly seeing, like, the picture perfect of other parents because everyone's going to put their their best foot forward. Um, I hope that that's not something that you get from us, that I hope that we are very real. Um, but encouraging you to do um, you know better with whatever area you're struggling with and again, show yourself some grace.

Speaker 1

Yeah, exactly it's not going to be perfect. This is real life that we're in. And the expectations are just not real. So I personally like to have pretty high expectations of myself. So I personally like to have pretty high expectations of myself, but, at the same time, know that you know you're not going to be hitting on all cylinders all day, every day, right.

Speaker 1

You know, there's going to be the normal ebbs and flows in life and you know. Just try to keep the momentum going when you have the good times, but don't be too down on yourself when you have the tough times.

Speaker 2

Yep, yeah, Another trigger could be struggling with a work-life balance. I know that there are a lot of moms who you know work outside of the home.

Speaker 1

And.

Speaker 2

I'm sure that that adds a whole nother level of stress and potentially guilt. On top of that, I run a business within our home and I have even found with myself that there are days where I'm like, man, I just spent, you know, an hour or two working on this. Should I have been doing something else, you know? And I find my mind going through the gymnastics routine of you know, like, should I just quit this altogether? Like, should we be doing the podcast? Should we be, you know, still doing the business? Should I be doing my Instagram account?

Speaker 2

And I do like this like roller coaster of thoughts, and then I have to like remind myself like is this what God has called me to do, and when I take it to him prayerfully, I'm like yes, it is. And there are benefits to this, because our children get to see me minister in this way and also see me, you know, working and trying to help with our income around the house and they know when I ask for a little bit of time, I tell them that I'm, you know, doing some work and they're able to see. Sometimes they enjoy helping me with some videos or whatever.

Speaker 2

But, so I do understand to some extent like that, that struggle with the work life balance and how that that can add a little bit of mom guilt.

Speaker 1

Yep, Yep. And everyone has their challenge. And you know, like you said, like I couldn't imagine as a single parent, you know, it would be exponentially more difficult, and so we're very thankful and blessed for in so many ways, but that doesn't mean that you also don't struggle with things, right, right, exactly, yeah.

Speaker 2

Yep. Another one would be feeling inadequate in spiritual leadership at home. I know that I have received messages from many women over the years who just said, like I'm a new Christian, I don't know how to lead my children, and they maybe feel like I hate to say, like failing in that area, but that is the feeling you know, that they might be coming to me with, but the one encouragement that I can always give with that is just read God's word.

Speaker 2

Like you don't have to be able to expound upon whatever it is you're reading. You can learn alongside your children, but just saturate your home in scripture, because God promises that his word will never return void. So even if you feel like maybe your growth and your spiritual walk are not much further ahead of your children, you can still be a spiritual leader by exemplifying your own devotion to Christ to your children and they will see that and want to grow as well.

Speaker 1

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, everyone starts on the sincere milk of the word and then you over time grow and then you kind of get into the meat right and be able to digest it and understand it a lot more. But yeah, don't ever feel ashamed to learn with your children or learn with a friend and start from scratch. It's actually kind of the most fun stage, I think you know, we're just kind of taking it all in.

Speaker 2

Another one would be losing patience or making mistakes. So that's another trigger and this, I think, is the one that I struggle with the most, because I get overstimulated really easily, and maybe it's not even easily because we do homeschool and we have four kids, so it's just noisy and constant.

Speaker 1

There's lots of stimulants in the household.

Speaker 2

Even when you're home, they're still asking for mom. You know like we'll be driving in the car and there's four people asking hey mom, hey mom, hey mom, and sometimes I'm like your dad's right here, guys.

Speaker 1

You know they just they're with you, so much. It's just become a habit.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and so I'll reach a threshold and, you know, lose my patience with them. And that's, I think, where a lot of my mom guilt stems from, because, like, that is an area that I want to grow in and it's something that God has been working in my life and I've gotten better with it over the years, and but it's still one that I just want to see some growth, and so I try to memorize scripture that I can recall. I've been trying to walk away a little faster. Sometimes they follow me, you know.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's incessant.

Biblical Perspectives on Guilt & Grace

Speaker 2

Yeah. So that could be an area that maybe you're feeling a little bit of mom guilt as well. So what we want to do is make sure that we are addressing all of this from a biblical perspective. So we're going to talk about some verses and how that applies to dealing with mom guilt because really the Bible should be our basis for Absolutely.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I was going to say we don't have it all figured out, no, so we're going to go to God's word, exactly, and this is why I wanted to do this podcast is because I need this you know in the past few days I just, you know, needed some verses, so yeah, the first thing is God's grace over our imperfections, and that the verse that we have jotted down here comes from 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. And he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So that's the KJV right there. What does that all mean?

Speaker 2

Well, basically, what it is saying is that God doesn't need me to power through. He needs me to submit to him and what he has for me for that day. We will never be perfect parents you know, but God is the perfect God and he's going to, you know, shine through us if we have a submitted heart to him and he can use us. And even in our mistakes, like our mistakes. When we apologize to our kids, we're teaching our kids how to apologize and humility, and I think I can't remember what verse it is.

Speaker 2

But God hates a proud spirit Right, and so when we come in humility, it's his glory can shine through our humility.

Speaker 1

Yeah, absolutely yeah. No, it's a powerful thought and also something that takes a lot of work, a lot of effort to do right.

Speaker 2

Yeah, allow.

Speaker 1

God to just you know. Trust in him or I should say just trust in his grace, trust in his love and accept it.

Speaker 2

Yep. Another one is rejecting the lies of the enemy. Romans 8.1 says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. This is where Satan tries to keep you down and in your mom guilt, because he wants to make you ineffective, because you are just feeling like God can't redeem this. God can't redeem this, but there is nothing that God can't redeem and that's where we you know, I think it's in Psalm, but it says where if the righteous man falls seven times, he rises again and it's just like continuing to get back up and coming to Christ again and not allowing the devil to keep you down to not believe his lies that were worthless Because, literally, god sent his only son to die for us.

Speaker 1

He wouldn't die for something worthless Like we are precious to him Absolutely yeah, and actually that kind of filters into so many different areas of our lives, you know, as teens. I think that's really important to know, that God loves us and that we are, you know, wonderful in his image, and don't you know? Don't make decisions and let things I don't know just don't, fall prey to Satan's lies because it can lead to so many bad decisions and lead you down a path that you will regret.

Speaker 1

And it's just as important today in our own lives, even after we've made a lot of life decisions and moved on. But yeah, His grace is sufficient.

Speaker 2

Yeah, there is a song that I have had on repeat lately. It's called the Truth. What is her name? Megan.

Speaker 1

I don't know, oh, I can't remember.

Speaker 2

I will link it in the show notes. But you were so sweet this morning, you literally texted it to me and you walked into the room and you handed me my AirPods and you were like I sent you a text and I was like, oh boy, what is this?

Speaker 2

And you walked out of the room and I sat there and I just cried, listening to the truth that that song was reminding me of that. You know, we don't have to believe the lies that we are made in the image of a perfect king and that he looks at us and he's like I chose her you know so yeah, all right. Another biblical perspective that we want to look at is our identity in Christ, or is in Christ and not in our performance?

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's a good one.

Speaker 2

And that's Colossians 3.23. It says and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. So that is something that I think a lot of us can struggle with, whether you're a man and trying to find your identity in your job your career or you're a stay-at-home mom and you're finding your fulfillment in your children and your identity becomes your kids.

Speaker 1

It does yeah.

Speaker 2

And that's not what God has called us to. You know, just because he's given you that role and that calling to parent these children does not mean that that has become your identity. They're really just the gift that he has given you yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1

And it is so easy to fall into that, and you know, that's why people lose their way you know, because when maybe they, you know their kids grow up and move out of the home and they have the emptiness syndrome, or you know you retire and you begin this new chapter of your life and there's just this emptiness, because you did find your identity in that thing or that task and I think it's good to you know, just really dive into things and invest yourself in worthy causes.

Speaker 1

obviously, but we have to remember and keep things into perspective.

Speaker 2

Yeah, you know, I kind of jotted this down too. It says we're called to be faithful, not flawless. And you know, and if we're working heartily to the Lord, we're still going to make some mistakes along the way but we have that heavenly perspective of the reason that you're doing it. You're not just doing it for your kids, you're doing it with an eternal kingdom mindset.

Speaker 1

And I think, if we only do it in our own power, it'll definitely fail.

Speaker 2

Oh, absolutely, and I think if we only do it in our own power, it'll definitely fail.

Speaker 1

Oh, absolutely, Because then you're forcing things and it's just. It's not how God, you know, really designed it.

Practical Ways to Overcome Mom Guilt

Speaker 2

Yeah, yep, so let's move in kind of, to the next segment that we wanted to talk about. Um, so, we talked about, you know the verses and what the Bible has to say about this, but we also want to talk about just some practical ways to overcome the mom guilt, right, and we're going to bring it back once again to scripture and just prioritizing our time in God's word.

Speaker 2

I've talked about this a few times on the podcast, I believe but when I was in the throes of like the really little years and I was like I just can't find time to read my Bible, I kind of set up this like five, five, five plan for myself five minutes of reading my Bible, five minutes of prayer and five minutes of reading a book or listening to a podcast or something. So I was like I can find five minutes you know, just like randomly, throughout the day.

Speaker 2

And you'd be amazed at the amount of verses that you can read in five minutes. And so even if you are in a phase of life where you just don't feel like you have the time to prioritize God's word, you really do. All of us can find five minutes while you're sipping your coffee and the kids are eating breakfast or something. Even if it's like a minute, Any time spent in God's word is better than none.

Speaker 1

Sometimes you just have to prioritize and execute.

Speaker 2

And there are some really great devotionals that are out there that are really short. There's one, I think it's by Paul Tripp, maybe it's New Morning, new Mercies. That's a really good one. There's another one by Sally Clarkson that is Motherhood Moments, or Moments in Motherhood.

Speaker 1

Oh, now I'm going to have to look that one up.

Speaker 2

But I think it's Moments in motherhood or something like that. And then another one that I just started reading myself is Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. Someone recently told me about this and I was like I'm going to order that because it sounded really good. So basically, this one has it's all by Charles Spurgeon, but it has a devotional for the morning and it has a devotional for the evening and it's all based off of like one, two, maybe three verses.

Speaker 1

And then he expounds on it. It's pretty digestible.

Speaker 2

Very digestible, but goodness, if you've ever read Spurgeon like, you get some meat to chew on for a very long time.

Speaker 1

Very wise man.

Speaker 2

I'm reading through it and I mean it takes, you know, three minutes maybe total to read the devotional and I'm just like holy cow, I've got a lot to chew on with that, you know. So I wanted that to just be an encouragement that it doesn't have to be any grand thing to prioritize God's word. Just get in his word and maybe get a small commentary, like Spurgeon. Not so small, but yeah, there are resources out there and I mean you can't beat the Bible, but if you're looking for something that has a little commentary along with it.

Speaker 2

Those are a few that I recommend.

Speaker 1

Yeah, no, that's great. In the verse we have jotted down here for prioritizing time with God is James 1.5. It says If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. So I love the he doesn't just give you a little bit just a little taste. It's like you get as much as you want, and so it's just kind of fitting for what you just said.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and when we're spending time in God's word, he's giving us that wisdom for the day, no question.

Speaker 1

Oh, definitely Very practical as well.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and then just another one is make sure that you're trading comparison for contentment. If you need to shut off social media, shut it off.

Speaker 2

If it's causing you to be discontent, if it's causing you to feel more guilty. There's a lot of really good on social media that maybe would encourage you and, like I said, I hope that our stuff is that for you. But if you find that when you're spending 10, 15, 20 minutes scrolling through social media, you're not feeling so great anymore, it's probably a good sign to maybe just like step away for an extended period of time.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and like I said, I think it was a couple of podcasts ago where I found myself just kind of in that place and I deleted some apps. I think it was just Twitter and Instagram off of my phone and again I didn't shut down my account or anything like that.

Speaker 1

I just I have to work harder to purposefully go and log in and look, and so it's just that little change has been wonderful. I mean I've spent way less time on there, not that it was out of hand, even, but I just was like you know what I'm going to do this because I mean I've spent way less time on there, not that it was out of hand, even, but I just was like you know what I'm going to do this because I feel like I should, and it's been great.

Speaker 1

I don't have any intention you know of putting it back on my phone anytime soon.

Speaker 2

A little more intentionality with the kids, just you know, less distraction and I've been having so much fun on a few other things that are going on in our lives right now where it's, it's extra easy but yeah, and I'm kind of the same way where the past two months I've made sure that I don't get on social media before noon Cause I found I mean if I just wake up and I'm sitting there, you know kind of waking up, and I opened Instagram like that's a terrible way to start the day Like it's so easy to just get sucked into it Nice big sip of negativity.

Speaker 2

Yeah, exactly you know so for me, because a lot of what I do is on social media. I couldn't just say no, I'm not doing it anymore. I mean, I guess I could, but I wanted to set boundaries for myself, even, and just said, nope, nothing before noon because I want to make sure that I'm starting my day off right.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I have so much energy right now. It blew up the engine in my truck. Oh boy.

Speaker 2

But a verse for this is Proverbs 1430. It says A sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones, and I will just leave that at that. That's just good. We know that envy can create a lot of.

Speaker 1

Yes, it can. Yeah, A lot of discontentment.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Another one is embrace imperfection and apologize when necessary. It's okay to say I'm sorry to your kids when you make mistakes, and that is one thing that I think we do well is apologizing and allowing the Holy Spirit to convict us if we have been in the wrong. And one thing that we have seen is that our kids have learned to say I'm sorry. We have seen is that our kids have learned to say I'm sorry, you know, and some of them it took a little longer than others, but you know modeling that for our children.

Speaker 1

I think is a very powerful thing. Yeah, I agree. And again it shows that humbleness and I mean again, no one's perfect, I don't care if you're, you know, four, 40 or 80, you know we all need to be able to just humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness and move on. And it can be a building block, and especially in our children's lives.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and I think the last one that we can talk about is just trying to build that support system. You know, galatians 6, 2 says bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6, 2 says Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Speaker 2

I know that there are a lot of women out there who struggle with this because they don't have that community and maybe it really is circumstantial to where. There's just nobody around, maybe because of the area that you live in. So there are communities online that you can join.

Speaker 1

But the one thing that I have found with building a support system is you have to be willing to put yourself out there.

Speaker 2

You're not just going to find it by passively sitting there and just waiting for it to come to you. I have a friend who this was a struggle that she had for a while and you know we kind of chatted back and forth so she had that online support system but she put in massive, massive effort to create a community. She started like a homeschool co-op and like all different kinds of things and it was a very slow growth. But I just was asking her recently. I was like how is that going? And she was like Shanda. She said the community that we have built of women who encourage one another. She's like how is that going? And she was like Shanda. She said the community that we have built of women who encourage one another. She's like it's very diverse, but when we show up we're energized by one another and can talk with one another.

Speaker 2

So I share that. To say like this took years for her to build, but God blessed her prayers and her efforts. She really put the effort out there to do that.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's awesome.

Finding Support and Embracing Your Purpose

Speaker 2

Yep, and just another thought that I want to make sure that we leave you with is that God was. God gave you your children. You are the right mom for your kids. It's so easy to you know, in that comparison trap, to look at other women and be like man. They're just doing it so much better than I am. You know, if they had my kids, my kids would turn out whatever. No, god gave you your children.

Speaker 2

You know, he knit them together in your womb, and he did that for a purpose, because you were the person that he wanted to raise his child really, yeah.

Speaker 1

I don't know of any good scenarios where people question God and said, yeah, I don't think what you did for me is right, god, that's not a good place to be in. But, it is in our own little you know humanity and kind of selfish way we do that to God and it's like wow, are you sure God Like really, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2

Yeah. So anyways, I hope that this was an encouragement to you. I mean, it was to me to sit down and just like go through some verses that just encouraged my heart to just reframe my mind on what the Bible has to say, what God has to say about me, and just the reminder that he has called me to this. So if you have found encouragement with this or you want to be an encouragement to someone else, please be sure to share the episode. I know that there are other women out there who are dealing with this topic and so if you found value with it, maybe share it with some of your friends and just allow them to be encouraged too.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, I mean this is. I mean you have been dealing with this really, I guess, in a very strong way the last few days, and you can literally hear the emotion in your voice. I mean it's very real and I do think this was good, but it's not like you can just decide to move on right you have to go through it, you have to get in Scripture. It's very real and unfortunately it comes and goes right. It's not like you can, just you know, get over it once.

Speaker 2

Turn it on and off.

Speaker 1

Yeah, or maybe, if God chooses, maybe this will be the last time you ever think that would be, wonderful. But, now you are equipped and you continue to be equipped, I should say, with Scripture, and these are great reminders. I mean, if you think about, you know, attending a local church on a weekly basis, or even more often, we hear a lot of the same things over and over, especially if you go decades, but it's always just so important to get those reminders and it's amazing at the timing a lot of times.

Speaker 1

All of a know the pastor will preach a message and you're like how did he know? Or whatever you know. And it's like I needed that today.

Speaker 2

And.

Closing Thoughts and Encouragement

Speaker 1

God knew that you needed that today, and we needed that today.

Speaker 2

It's so funny. You just said that because there has been a passage that I've now heard like two or three times in the past week, and it's the story of Jesus calming the sea, where he says peace be still, which I mean. How poignant is that for this podcast? Because it's just talking about the troubles that we'll go through, and God's word calms the storm.

Speaker 2

And that's just what we did right now. So if you are going through a storm, go to God's word and allow it to calm your heart and just breathe truth into it.

Speaker 2

So all right well, we'll leave it right there. So, anyways, we want to encourage you to seek God, love your spouse, hug your kids and stay devoted. Thank you for tuning in to this Devoted Life podcast with James and Shanda. We appreciate your support in sharing biblical uplifting truths with the world. If you found value in this episode, please leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us to improve the show and we'd love to hear from you. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. To learn more about how to live a life devoted to God and family, head over to thisdevotedlifecom. You can also follow me, shanda, on Instagram at devoted underscore motherhood. Thank you again for listening and we look forward to seeing you next time on this Devoted Life podcast.