Raising Kids, Mommas and Hallelujahs

Hey Momma:

I see you trying to find your footing. Looking for ways to appear more confident than you feel. I see you like a duck on water, calm on top, and frantic underneath. I see you worrying about their hearts. I see you wanting to protect them. I see you angry at their mistakes. I see your tears of guilt and shame in the aftermath. I see you searching the pages of your mind for what has worked before and desperately looking to the shelves and the heavens for what might work now. Whether your babies are 2, 8, or 16, chances are, they are walking into new territory and we can feel them looking at us while they walk into the next moment. (Or they are trying really hard not to look at us because they’re grown and need us to know it). Listen to me, sister: You are not alone.

All the big feelings you have for them, that’s what makes you a good Momma. They don’t need you to be perfect, they just need you to not give up on them, or honestly, on yourself either. Deep breaths. Take the new mercies and invite your kids into them every. time. Tell them when you are sorry. Tell them that you are learning alongside them. Tell them who they are and Whose they are. Pray your guts out for them and for you to see them the way their Maker does, not who you wish they were or who they were not. And while we’re at it, let’s pray that over our own hearts too.

Listen, friend. I’m with you on this struggle, but we will not let the lies and the fears get to our children and we cannot let them get to us. Let’s fight for them and for us. Let’s remember that they absolutely have an enemy (Ephesians 6:12) but he is not a part of our family. One of the best ways I know for our little family to cope, to reset, and to wage war, is through singing and dancing together. I’ve made a playlist of our current favorites that mine ask for and I want to share it with you. If you feel led, share the names of your people. They can be your kiddos, your nieces and nephews, your neighbors kids, your siblings, whomever! And as I pray over my babes, I’d love to also think of yours. Let’s raise this hallelujah with so much heart, our children can clearly feel the very courts of Heaven joining in our song.