Oasis for MommiesA blog for Christian mothers to share about the journey of motherhood as well as to receive refreshment and encouragement from the Lord through other women walking the same path.

Supermomitis

supermomitis- the disease of attempting to become a super mom; attempting to do things all in our own strength, able to love and give until we are completely empty

I think we as mothers all go through this at one point or another.  I heard about this disease, but now am in the midst of truly experiencing it.  In a book by Angela Thomas, the author discusses about an unwritten list of requirements we and society have placed on ourselves as Christian mothers:

“Love God.  Check.  Love your family.  Check.  Manage your home.  Check.  Care for your soul.  Check.”  As moms, we must focus on soul care…everything else comes from that–from our relationship with Jesus Christ.  But let us be honest with ourselves.  This sometimes seems like an impossibility when exhaustion and busyness sink in.

The tapestry of motherhood has many threads of blessings and many strands of frustrations.  The demands of motherhood can engulf us.  One of the coolest parts of motherhood is the way that we begin to learn the fruits of the Spirit as mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23 in the Bible.  Instead of writing how or what I have learned about the fruits of the Spirit, let this be a meditation for you…think on the following fruits of the Spirit and how being a mother has instilled these things in you more.

~ Love

~ Joy

~ Peace

~ Patience

~ Kindness

~ Goodness

~ Faithfulness

~ Gentleness

~ Self-control

How has God used your children to shape your spirit?

And then there are the endless string of demands…trying to balance your children, your career, church, activities, your marriage and intimacy with your husband (if you are married) and your desire to minister to those outside of your family…

We become exhausted…”nothing fuels exhaustion like doing the same things over and over.”  (changing diapers, changing clothes, breastfeeding or constantly bottlefeeding your baby, picking up the same toys, etc.)

We begin to feel empty.  We are constantly giving physically and emotionally to our children.  We are given out.

We struggle with our identity.  We have forgotten the world of adulthood…

One of the biggest strings of frustration??  GUILT!  We should make scrapbooks, read more, pray more, take care of our husband, look better, eat better, lose weight from the pregnancy.  Satan truly uses guilt to rob mothers of our joy…to make us more about “doing” rather than “being”

We feel spiritually barren.  We must call on the Lord to come and refresh our weary souls.  Take a few minutes to read Psalm 23 and ask God to come and restore your soul.

 After all of this, here is what I know: I cannot do this all on my own.  I need the Lord.  In my own strength, I am falling apart and in many ways have fallen apart already.  We must walk with God through this.

“As women of God, we can learn how to graciously endure the hard days and passionately celebrate the good ones.” 

Let us leave the guilt aside of Supermomitis.  Like in Hebrews 12:1, let us throw off that which entangles us….

Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Devotionals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.