Part One

I’m going to ask you several questions. Questions you need to answer for yourself. I am not here to make my convictions, my beliefs, your convictions, your beliefs. We are each called to work out our own salvation. I’m just here to give you some meat to chew on, some food for thought.

So, let’s expound on that text message and take it a step further… Moms, what IF it’s OKAY to fail? To make mistakes? To fall short? Or better yet… what if it’s actually more beneficial to our kids if we DO fail? What IF God actually uses our flub ups, our mistakes, our inadequacies as a catalyst for our kids’ development?

Think about this… if we were perfect and never failed our kids, what would be their need for a kind and loving Savior?

Our perfections don’t point them to Christ, our failures do! (specifically, our repentance from those failures!)

Maybe you’re thinking “Oh, but I don’t ever want to hurt them. I couldn’t bear to be the one that hurts their hearts.” One – sorry, but that’s just not realistic. We are human and we are going to hurt our kids, more times than we can count. Two – in our children’s best interest, we must purpose and settle it in our hearts that if it brings them closer to Jesus, we have to be okay with causing them a little temporary pain. Ask yourself this: are you after immediate results or eternal results?

I am going to warn you ahead of time to prepare your feet… these truths coming up might hurt… God said this to me (with love, affection, and a twinkle in His eye) “Guess what, mama? You are really not that powerful!” Ooooo! Not gonna lie, this one was like a sucker punch to the gut! But while that deflated the air in my lungs and took my breath away it also helped me to breathe a huge sigh of relief. You see over the years my son navigated high school and graduation, God had continuously spoken these words to my heart (and I say continuously cause it took ME a while to get it, lol): “Jamie, you are NOT his Holy Spirit!” “Jamie… you are not His Holy Spirit. It’s not YOUR job to convict him!” Seriously, I’m guessing God had to hit me over the head with that one at least 50 times before it actually went from my head to my heart. And boy did my son rejoice when I shared with him that God had given me that revelation, hahaha! But God wasn’t done. Having finally learned that lesson, He then so lovingly moved on to teaching me that He is God and I am not!

I know, common sense, right!? Like duh, I’ve always known that, who doesn’t? But friends, even though I knew that, I WASN’T LIVING THAT WAY! My life was not reflecting that I believed those words to be true! Especially as a mother! I had to have my hand in EVERYTHING, turning the wheel of the ship, directing the course of their lives. When they went off track, I panicked and felt responsible. When things were good, I took pride and felt puffed up and “look at what a great mother I am” (patting myself on the back). This goes back to the lie that I believed: that my success as a mother was defined by my child’s behavior/success.

Ah, but here’s the true heart of the statement that “He is God, and I am not”. Are you ready? It goes along with what I said earlier, about me not being that powerful. God is MORE powerful than I am. (I know, I know another duh statement. I never said these would be new truths.) But just wait… let’s go a little deeper. If you hear nothing else, listen to this profound truth that comes out of THAT?

Because I am not really that powerful and God is more powerful than I am…I cannot undo His love, grace, plan, or purpose for my child’s life!
(did you hear all those shackles fall off?)

Why can’t I undo His love, grace, plan, or purpose for my child’s life? Because He can redeem WHATEVER I mess up!

How freeing is that?

Part Three