What Are You Doing Right Tonight, Mama?

Tonight we will talk about focusing on the things that we are doing right as mamas.

Transcript

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Have you ever just sat and considered what's actually going right as a mama? Let's talk about that tonight on Midlight. Welcome back to Midlight Mamas. I'm so glad to spend some time with you tonight. I found myself telling my husband that things felt heavy today, and I felt overwhelmed at times in my motherhood. You see, our car broke down on the side of the road today while I had three of the children with me, and I was tempted to be very frustrated by that. But instead I chose to focus on what was right in the situation versus what was wrong. So here's what I found. Number one, I wasn't that far from home. Number two, my husband was on his way to come and help me. Number three, I happened to have enough root snacks in my car to hand out to my hungry little ones. And number four, I wasn't alone because God was with me. You see, mamas, things can feel heavy and not always go the way we want sometimes. But the beautiful part about it is we're not alone. So tonight I want to talk about what we're doing right in motherhood. Because along with my breaking down car, I just felt like all I could focus on was where I was failing as a mama or coming up short. And I thought, there are places I need to fix as a mama. I can do better in many areas, but maybe you like me just need for a little bit to focus on things that are going well and that we're doing right as mamas. So here are some places I think we might be doing well as mamas. I think we're showing up for our families, even when it's easier to check out. We're choosing to comfort them and feed them and give them our presence. And that's sacrificial love in real time. I find that if I am being distracted either by my phone or the needs of people, and I know that there is something tugging that's more important, I am setting those things down and putting my attention where I need to. I am choosing to nurture my children and nourish them. And that is a gift to my family. Even if I feel like there's something else I should be doing, the fact that I am nourishing my children is a big deal and one that I will focus on as a win as a mama. I am choosing to put good things inside of my brain, whether it's God's word or worship music or reading scripture and preparing for the podcast. I am choosing to put God's word in my heart and in my mind. I'm choosing to speak life over my family. I'm choosing to tell them the things that they need to hear that the Lord wants them to know, and I'm trying to demonstrate that to them. I'm even getting showers here and there and taking care of my own clothes and my body as I take care of theirs. These are some of the places that I am doing right. I'm also trying to handle my children with care and my husband too, where I nurture them and I listen to them and I give them my presence. It's easy to get distracted. I understand that as a mama, but we are showing up for our children. We are giving them our presence. We are speaking life over them and we are demonstrating a need for God in every way in our lives to our children. What about you, mama? These are places where I feel like the Lord says, I see you and you're doing it, when all I can see are my failures. What about you, Mama? Something else that I can say I have felt I needed to change in my life was just making sure that when someone is talking to me, that I'm giving them my eye contact. You see, I know that we grow up in a digital age, and I know that we have technology at the ready all the time and in our hands. I'm learning to set that down. I'm learning to set down my phone and not even have it on me so that I am not distracted and that I can spend time looking at those people in front of me that really matter. And I'm also, because I have older children as well, making sure to pause, set the needs of the little ones aside within reason once they've been met and let the children play while I talk on the phone with an older child, just giving our presence where it's needed. Because, mamas, we're doing so many things, aren't we? And we know our places that we need to do better, but I think the most important thing to do tonight is to stop, recognize that you are doing a lot, that you are doing a lot well, you are doing all the important work for your little ones and for your spouse, and you know you can look back on these days and say, I feel like I did this, fill in the blank well today. Can you find one thing that you can say, I did that, I showed up for that, I changed that diaper, I made that bottle, I held that baby when they were crying, I took care of my own emotions and my own mental state when I needed to by taking it to the Lord. What did you do today that you can say that honored God? Because that's the whole point, mamas, is to do this thing and run this race well, because the Lord has given us this lot and he maintains it, and we get to be a part of it. So, mamas, tonight I want to encourage you with God's word in Matthew 11, 28 through 29, which we've heard before if you've listened for very long, but it's so precious to me as a mama to read this one. And it says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. You see, Jesus doesn't scold us when we're tired, Mamas. He calls us to himself. His rest is not just physical, but it's rest for our souls. So, Mama, tonight, when you are feeling like you need to find that you've done something right, you're doing it right now by spending time with the Lord and handing over your heavy burdens and asking him to exchange those for light ones and learn from him and find rest for your souls. Is that actually something that you've done right for your family today? Well, if you made it this far in the podcast, you did because you listened to truth, you thought about what you have done well in your life as a mama today, and you naturally know those places you need to do differently, and God will help you with those. But you've allowed the Lord to speak truth to your heart. You found hopefully rest for your soul in that, and mamas, you really are doing a great job with a beautiful heavenly work that is in front of you. So keep going, mama. Keep working for the Lord and serving him and not man. I love what Colossians 3 23 through 24 says when he says, Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. So, Mamas, whatever you're doing, do it heartily for the Lord. Pay attention to the opportunities you have before you as just that, not something you have to do, but something you get to do for the Lord. Until next time, Mamas, I would like to leave you with a blessing tonight from numbers 6, 24 through 26. May the Lord bless you and keep you, make his face to shine upon you, be gracious unto you and give you peace. Amen. Until next time, mamas, take some time to focus on what's going right in your motherhood, and we'll talk again soon. Take care, mamas.