So, as some of you know I am a new mom of three. Whoa! What a thought! I went from living the single life for 33 years to all of a sudden being married with three children. And I mean literally “all of a sudden.” My husband is incredible and these three kids bring me more joy then I’ve ever known. But I’m not going to lie and tell you there’s not some hard times too. But with every triumph there’s also a trial. And that’s what leads me to this…
My trial- Last week I had my first guilty mom moment. We had a snow storm here in Pennsylvania. We were so excited when we heard it was coming that we went to the grocery store the night before and got candy, food, and face masks to get snowed in with. When we woke up we got less then they called for but still enough to go sledding. So we bundled up, me, my husband, our ten year old and 3 year old, while our 14 year old stayed warm and watched Grey’s Anatomy (she was the smart one.) We have a giant hill behind our house so this is where we would spend our day. As it started off, I went down a couple times with our three year old. We were all smiling and laughing. Then Jameson our three year old says he wants to go down on his stomach without me. Wow, did he get brave in 10 minutes! But I guess that’s what little boys do. So my husband Neil says to hold on and he will run down to the bottom before I push him down. Well my husband goes to the corner of the black wrought iron fence that closes off the yard next to the open yard we are sledding down. So when Neil yells he’s ready, I push Jameson towards him. Jameson flies down the hill towards Neil at the corner of the fence, and in the matter of 5 seconds our lovely afternoon in the snow turned into crying. Neil stopped Jameson before the fence at a screeching hault and because of the quick jolt he ends up with a fat bloody lip and I end up with my husband asking me why I pushed him toward the fence? Boy did I feel terrible! Clearly our communication was poor. I was under the impression I was supposed to have Neil catch him at the bottom of the hill but Neil just wanted to be down there just in case as I pushed him into the open yard. Uh! I get into this horrible place feeling like I failed. I thought “his little lip is so fat and it’s all because I’m not a good mom! And his real mom is going to think I’m an idiot.” My husband quickly realized how badly I felt and tried to tell me it wasn’t my fault but I just couldn’t shake it.
About two hours and 3 pity parties later, it was almost like God tapped me on the shoulder and said “did you forget about grace? You’ve got to give it to yourself! And did you forget the victory you had last week when you saved the day?” And all of a sudden all those bad feelings started to change.
My victory- A week earlier we all left Target and Jameson who is just learning to go in the potty says “I have to go pee pee.” Well at this point we are driving on route 30, twenty minutes from home and we realize he is in underwear. Ohhhh nooooo. Two minutes in an idea pops into my head to start singing! This little boy is obsessed with Christmas so I start singing Jingle Bells “ok that’s 3 minutes down”, then Santa Claus Is Coming to Town “that’s 3 more minutes down”, then Frosty, one by one the whole family was singing Christmas carols. We must have sung 10 Christmas songs and laughed the whole time. We made it all the way home with no pee pee mess and a whole family of happy hearts! Victory!!
Do you see how quickly God can change your heart? He wants us to remember grace! He wants us to remember our victories when we go through trials! The enemy wanted to keep me down that day. He wanted to make sure my joy was stolen but God wants me to live life to the fullest. (John 10:10)
I encourage you, don’t let two hours go by and lose time with your friends or your family because your heart is not in a good place. Remember your victories, remember the good and give yourself and others grace! It’s the only way to live life to the fullest!
****