In honor of Mother’s Day this month and all of the moms reading, I want to encourage you that whether your kids are 2, 12, 22, older, younger or somewhere in between…God made you a mother and that is such a wonderful gift and a huge calling!
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Do you ever feel like you are having an identity crisis as a mom?!
What I mean is, sometimes, you and I get so wrapped up in the chaos or busyness of everyday life that we forget what a gift motherhood is…We easily get overwhelmed or feel like we’ve lost a piece of our identity in a way, of who were were before becoming moms, and have now given over to mini-vans, unending laundry and high wasted jeans for life. (Although those are quite comfortable, I must admit!)
But just because your workplace may become the home place, or it’s hard to find a moment to yourself to even go to the bathroom, when you have littles running around, I want to encourage you that you haven’t lost your identity or your purpose, because that was already sealed up and found in Jesus alone the day you decided to give your life to Him!
So now that you’re a mom, just consider yourself a disciple maker on whole another level…Since you have to carry them, birth them, feed them, clothe them, teach them to walk, talk and get them to the point where your ultimate goal as a mom can become possible, which is to teach them about living a life for Jesus!
So then, why do you and I get so easily overwhelmed or confused of our identity in different seasons of motherhood? Because really the ultimate goal is really pretty clear…
I can only think of ONE reason and, that is because it’s EXACTLY what the devil wants us to do…
He wants us to fill up our calendars with sports, music or dance classes, running errands and doing homework…anything to keep us from sitting around the dinner table together as a family or from getting up earlier to spend time with the Jesus because we are so tired!
Then over time, it gets easier, to mistake busyness for purpose and normalize blending in with everything the world is doing. And it gets really easy to let your kids become your whole identity when this happens over years and years of time, leaving you empty and having to relearn who you are when they grow up!
Let me encourage you with my story and a little Faithful 31 Moms history…
In 2019, a season where both of my boys were really little, and I was living far away from family…I was struggling finding my identity, outside of being a mom. I knew the Lord was telling me He had big plans for my life, but I had to first find my identity in my relationship with Him and not in motherhood or anything else.
I came upon a sermon one afternoon while my boys were napping on the Love Worth Finding App, where Pastor Adrian Rogers quoted this in a message called Magnificent Mother.
He said:
“Mothers are perhaps the most powerful and influential force on the face of the earth.”
Adrian Rogers
I can’t tell you want it meant to me when I heard that. How the Lord used Pastor Rogers to affirm in me that what I was doing, raising my two young boys to know Jesus, was ENOUGH! That I was being an influential force in this world, because I was trying to raise up warriors for Christ to continue on, even after I am long gone from this earth.
So from there, I began to study God’s Word more and began writing again, because I believe, when we are in tune with the Lord, he restores our gifts to use them for Him. I made it my goal to pour Jesus into my kids and to encourage other moms to do the same…
And the next year in 2020, in the middle of a move to Memphis, TN and a pandemic, this Faithful 31 Moms ministry that you know today, was born.
Over the last couple of years, I have learned through some great times and some hard times too, that God is faithful. That He never leaves. That my identity isn’t found in my kids, my husband, this ministry or anything else—it’s found in Jesus! The best way I have found to stay on track with that through the years, is to read His Word faithfully, and it’s also the best way to be be that influential force of a mother that Pastor Rogers was talking about, because His Word will naturally overflow out of you and into your kids!
So be encouraged today mom, that you are an actual influencer, not the kind on social media that ultimately serves no eternal purpose! You are an influencer and a power house to a much smaller audience, right at home, and that is how you can shake this world! Forget fitting in and blending in to the busyness and the activities…your calling is bigger than that…it is given to you by Jesus, the Savior of the World! So the next time you question yourself or your identity….just remember that!
To every mom who reads this, I hope this story has encouraged you and that you know that when you have an occasional identity crisis in motherhood, that you are NOT ALONE!!
In fact, if you are walking through an identity crisis right now and need some encouragement, please reach out to me personally! My contact info is HERE.
Thanks so much for reading today! Please be sure to share this blog with a friend who needs some encouragement today and remember to keep up the good work of pointing your kid to Jesus!