Grace and Love when Parenting is Really Hard
When I was in college my roommate and I always joked that being school teachers was going to be our backup plan. We were working at getting degrees until we were able to do what we really wanted to do. What we really wanted to be stay-at-home-moms.
But then my plans didn’t go as I thought and when I finally did become a mom it was harder than I could have ever imagined.
My little kids who I thought were just perfect, weren’t. The parenting skills that I thought I was born with, lacked love, compassion, patience, kindness and on lots of days, much-needed grace.
False Illusions
One of the hardest things I have ever done is parent. In parenting, some of the hardest things I have had to overcome were the false illusions that everything would turn out the way I had imagined, wanted, or dreamt up as a child.
The reality of parenting has often been my most shattering moments. I have experienced great joys but also great losses and hardships.
Growing up I had the false illusion parenting was going to be an easy job. Share on XI always assumed that I was going to be great at it all the time. After all, I love kids.
In reality, not trusting God through parenting also left me with the illusion that it was more than I could bear. When I first became a parent I wasn’t walking with the Lord. I found myself not trusting anyone to have my child, even my own husband.
The burdens and fears overtook me and left me with sleepless nights.
The gap I had created between God and myself, left me feeling alone and overwhelmed.
The overwhelming weight of kids getting hurt, becoming ill, or even not surviving their own childhood, terrified me. So I took to the unrealistic assumption that I could control everything myself.
For more encouragement and to finish this post on parenting, hop over to Kelly Baker’s site for 15 days of Walking with God. There you will find other great articles and some giveaways including the Parenting Kit that I created to encourage to Grace and Love when Parenting is Really Hard.
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Your parenting kit looks amazing, Jamie! I know it was a labor of love born out of the lessons you learned a mom who struggled, but overcame through Jesus Christ. Thanks for hosting. I love being a part of the Sitting Among Friends Blog Party. Have a great week!
I knew I was in for a challenging time with parenting, and it has definitely lived up to all those expectations.
The one thing I did NOT expect was the joy.
I think it’s a toss up, a tie, if you will for hardest thing, whether that’s parenting or marriage, they are both hard! And if you are doing both at the same time, boy you better be on the same team or it all gets super hard, am I right? Great post Jamie! 🙂
Heading over, Jaime! Super excited to read your perspective on parenting!
Such a fun series over at Kelly’s! And your parenting revelations are so easy to relate to!