Holding on When You Feel Like Giving Up, Mama

Tonight we will talk about what to do when you know you should be holding on but you feel like giving up, Mama. 

Transcript

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Have you ever felt like I need to be holding on, but all I feel like is giving up? We're gonna talk about that tonight on Midlight Mamas. This is an interesting way to start an episode, but I feel like discouragement is real for us as mamas, especially when we're in the quiet and tired and dark hours of the night. Tonight my hope is that you don't feel alone in your struggle, mama, because we have all experienced it as mamas at times. And even in those moments when you feel discouragement in your motherhood, just remember that that does not mean that you are failing as a mama. It's because you pour out for a long time. And scripture never pretends that God's people don't get weary. In fact, there's some verses here in Scripture I think will actually help us to understand that there are going to be times of weariness, especially for us as mamas, as we pour out onto our babies and our families. I want to take you over to Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 29 and 31, and it says, He gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increases strength. And verse 31 says, But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. God gives us the strength, and we see it here in his word, but he gives it to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Do you think when we put that together with mamas in the middle of the night and God seeing us and watching our work, do you think that God sees us in those moments of faint feeling and weakness? And doesn't he not give us the increased strength that we need, mamas? I think about when I was in labor with my babies, and I think about when I would feel like I would reach that place if I had nothing left to give, and I felt faint about it, like I just have no strength, God. He gave me what I needed in those moments, and I had more strength than I thought I could muster, but it wasn't within my own self. It was because God was helping me. Now, I won't take away that God creates mamas to be very strong and we can do amazing things like birth babies, but it comes from his strength. I want to take you now to another verse in scripture in Psalm 42 and verse 11, and it says, Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. This psalm was written by one of the sons of Korah, and at the time he is far from the temple in the gathered worship of God's people, and he feels spiritually dry, homesick for God's presence, and deeply discouraged, and tears have been his food day and night, and people around him asking him, Where is your God? In the middle of that heaviness, he does something really vital. He talks to his own soul. And the psalmist is honest about how he feels. His soul is cast down, it is depressed, it is brought low, and it is in turmoil, and he is restless and disturbed, noisy inside of himself. And he doesn't pretend that everything is fine, but he doesn't stop at that feeling and he speaks truth to himself, and he says, Hope in God. So he redirects his heart toward trust instead of letting discouragement have the final word in him. And then there's the part that says, For I shall again praise him. And he chooses in that time to believe that this low place is not permanent, and praise will return. Then he says, My salvation and my God. He reminds himself of who God is to him personally. God is not distant, he is his savior and his God. You see, these verses show a pattern we see often in the Psalms, honest lament followed by deliberate hope. The psalmist feels the weight of discouragement, but yet he refuses to let that feeling be the end of his story. This is interesting to us as mothers, because sometimes we can feel just like the son of Korah. We can feel cast down and in turmoil and tired, unseen, wondering if we can even keep going. But Psalm 42 11 gives permission to name the feeling and then gently point our hearts back to God. It doesn't demand instant cheerfulness. It simply says, speak to your soul, put your hope in God, and remember that praise will come again. I think there's freedom and understanding that praise will return and that this is not forever, and that God is with us in the discouragement, and we can tell him, God, I am discouraged. I myself have felt like, and I have heard other mothers say, I shouldn't feel discouraged, I shouldn't feel downcast, I shouldn't feel frustrated, because here I have this beautiful gift, this new baby, and yet I feel like I can't get it together. Well, mamas, we've all felt that way. We have all had that same feeling of this is such a precious gift, and we are in love with our new baby, and our heart overflows with love for this child, and yet for some reason, sometimes we just feel so far away from where we should be. We feel so sometimes sad and discouraged. And the Lord says, I am with you, I understand. Because, mamas, when we think about hormones and all that that does in our bodies, and just the physical exhaustion, and then the beauty of the new baby, and the laundry that still needs to be done, and then you think of the smell of their skin, there's this beautiful mix of reality of hard things, but there's also this beauty that comes from having this little soul and this baby to care for that's yours. Mama, I understand, and so does the Lord. In fact, I'm gonna share some ways that our lives as mothers and our motherhood has a way of teaching us what love actually costs, just like Jesus. So here we go. Your body is given for another's life. Your sleep is laid down, your time, your comfort, your plans poured out again and again. You carry the weight of someone else's needs, someone else's pain, someone else's future, often in quiet ways that no one else sees. And in these moments we catch a glimpse of what Jesus did for us. He gave his body, he poured himself out, he carried what we could not carry. He loved at great cost. Motherhood doesn't make us Jesus, but it can make us look a little more like him, because it stretches us, it softens us, and it teaches us to keep loving when it would be easier to protect ourselves. And this is the beautiful truth. The same Jesus who laid his life down is the one who strengthens us to keep laying ours down one ordinary, faithful day at a time. Mamas, your sacrificial love has a place in your home, and even when you're discouraged, know that you can have hope in Christ and you can be honest with the Lord about your discouragement because he truly understands. I'd like to leave you with a blessing now from number six, twenty four through twenty six. 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, remember not to stop at the feeling when you feel discouraged, but speak truth about where your hope is and where your strength will come from. And until next time, mamas, take care and we'll talk again soon.