It's a bird ... it's a plane ... it's Supermom!
Or at least that's who you're trying to be. The problem is, being the perfect mom is as impossible as becoming an actual superhero—it is not who we were created to be.
Barbara Rainey, co-author of the book Parenting Today's Adolescent, understands the pressure to be perfect. "It comes from expectations that we place on ourselves that may not be in line with what God's called us to do," explains the mother of six. "God clearly has expectations of us that we would walk with Him and that we'd raise our children to become godly adults. I think a lot of times we get confused on how to get there."
The notion that you're failing if your kids aren't involved in the right activities or schools leaves moms feeling discouraged. The idea that you're a lousy Christian if you're not reaching out to your community and active in your church leaves moms feeling defeated. Add on the desire to exercise, keep your home in order and have something left over for your husband, and women can feel downright crushed—which is how the archenemy of moms wants them to feel.
The only expectations that matter
"Too often behind our smile is a growing frustration and fatigue that starts to come out in other ways," writes Carol Kuykendall, director of communications for Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) International. "We have less patience. Shorter fuses. Headaches."
Thankfully, with God's priorities as a plumb line, and God's power as their source of strength, moms can conquer these feelings of discouragement and foil the evil one's plan. Moms can meet the only expectations that matter—God's.
His priorities for you are different in motherhood than they were for you as a single woman or as a wife without children. They also differ from person to person, but God can tell you what you can and cannot handle.
Challenges of a stay-at-home mom
Nancy Kern found herself succumbing to the pressure that she had to do everything right when it came to raising her two boys—especially when son number two turned out to be a challenge. His hyperactivity caused problems in school and in her heart. "I didn't know how to keep his self-esteem up through all of it," says Nancy, "and yet enable him to fit into the school system."
Nancy realized she needed to give up the idea of perfection and give it to God. Her main objective became loving her son and introducing him to Jesus.
The stay-at-home mom also dealt with others' assumptions that she had tons of time to work at her church, head up committees and dive into other commitments. "I ended up being hurt by my own failure of not doing it all," says Nancy. "But I realized if [during the day] all He was calling me to do was read to those kids, then that's all I was going to do." Nancy withstood the pressure to participate in activities, instead preserving family time, and her sons—now adults—both walk with God and married Christian women.
Whether you have one child at home or 10, whether you work outside the home or not, and whether you're single or married, God's Holy Spirit can help you sort out His priorities from unnecessary pressures you put on yourself. But there is no quick fix to the supermom problem.
Relinquish control to your Father and tap into His power. The power that raised Christ from the dead can conquer the misleading urges to try to do it all and be all things to all people.
As a believer in Christ Jesus, God has given You an amazing gift -- His very life, breath and power lives in You in the person of the Holy Spirit.
We experience the Holy Spirit's constant help, guidance, comfort as we ask Him and we trust Him to keep on filling us. When we do, we overflow: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
From Christian Women Today
Written by Elizabeth Bahe
To see the complete article, click on the link below.
http://christianwomentoday.com/parenting/supermom.html
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