Don’t we all long to be good moms?  Sometimes that is why motherhood is so hard.  If we do anything that seems like failure we loose heart and go through the motions without conviction and determination.  Nothing stifles your dreams for motherhood faster than percieved failure.

“You might as well not even try.  You just keep getting it wrong”

Ever thought anything close to that?  You used to dream of all of the great things you would do with your kids.  The list of what you would teach them was long.  Your hopes and dreams had no limits.  Your kids would go far and you would do whatever you could to get them there.

Maybe now you just make it through the day?  Perhaps you wake up and brace yourself for the day and still feel exhausted by mid afternoon?  You can barely think through the week much less to next year.

We grow weary and loose perspective {well, it’s stolen really}.  This is the battle we have entered.  It is a war for the dreams that God planted in our hearts for the children that He gave us.  Raising them up to be all they could be was His dream long before it was yours.  But, if you find yourself with your dreams crushed and broken by the overwhelming day to day, there is hope.

Here are 5 Ways to Awaken Your Dreams for Motherhood

1. Keep them in front of you

Think back to that very first day when you found out your were expecting a baby or decided to adopt. Relive the moments after your child was born.  What dreams were stirred in your heart?  What was alive and awake and fresh for you then?  What ways did you know that you wanted to reach their hearts?  Ask God to stir up the dreams you had and the ones He has for your mothering. Write those things down.

Years ago a friend of mine told me that she longed to have sons who were strong and godly men who were examples to the men in our culture.  I never forgot her declaration because it stirred my heart so much for my own son.  “Yes, I long for that for him!”  It began a thought and prayer process in me of how to get him to that point.  These are the types of things we need to remember, to write down, the keep in front of us and revisit often.  It would even be great to print these dreams out and put them in a place we will see everyday and can you imagine your kids seeing the things you are hoping and praying for them for?  It will teach them to hope and dream too.

2. Remember that the biggest battle is in your mind. Take thoughts captive

I mentioned above the failure-thoughts that we think.  Those thoughts are lies and we must take them captive.  God NEVER tells us anything that isn’t drenched in love.  He IS love and can be nothing less than all loving.  Even His correction is tender and loving.  So these failure thoughts, these “I’m so overwhelmed” thoughts need to be told the truth.  No you aren’t! You are an overcomer. Period.  You are never overwhelmed when you lay everything at the feet of Jesus.  He always overwhelms what overwhelms you.

Meditate on God’s word.  Find scripture that speaks to your circumstances and start telling those thoughts the truth.  Before long you’ll find that your mind has been renewed and transformed.  You’ll recognize those toxic thoughts more quickly and be able to crush them before they crush you.

3. Don’t grow weary in doing good

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galations 6:9

This scripture stares at me and mocks me.  Don’t grow weary?  Ha! I’ve never met a mom who didn’t grow weary. But I missed the point.  God’s Word is telling us not to grow weary in dong good.  This mothering thing is a good thing! Such a worthy investment of ourselves.  God’s word also tells us how to not grow weary. By waiting on the Lord.  IF we wait on the Lord…every day {because God’s presence is like mana, we need it afresh every day} then we “shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” {Isaiah 40:31}

4. Gain outside perspective

I’ve been a mom for over 14 years now.  It can be so hard in the middle of the every day stuff to think of anything but the routine.  So very hard.  I gave birth to 7 babies in 10 years and I get how hard it is.  But now I am past the baby stage.  My youngest is 4 and I sometimes catch myself watching a mom with a fussy newborn, seeing her frustration and desire to settle the child and I just wish I could have spoken to myself in those moments of the earliest days.  Because it’s really going to be okay.  You’ll figure out what your baby needs eventually and they will calm and snuggle into you again.  There’s no need for it to be upsetting but, in the moment, it is.  I could use this example for so many things: for potty training, for spilled milk, for crayon colored walls, for bickering siblings… Sometimes we need to get away from it all and, get outside of our situations and see them for what they really are.

To have hope for dreaming and achieving those dreams we need to be able to stop every once in a while and think about the big picture.  It’s so far outside of the moments we get caught up in.  And we will get caught up in them but when we learn to escape them every so often and take time to think about them with fresh perspective it will begin to change how we handle those things in the moment too.

5. Don’t forget to dream for yourself

Dreams beget dreams.  Rekindle your own dreams.  Let your self go there.  Trust in a good God who is a dream fulfiller and seek His will for your dreams.  Dream with Him and trust Him when He shows you things that stir your heart but scare you.

When you begin to dream in little ways it is like opening up the flood gates.  Once you open the doors to dreams they rush in from all over.  Make time to dream for yourself and soon you’ll be dreaming with and for your husband, and your kids too.

What are some of the dreams for motherhood that you need to revisit today?  Do you have any other steps that you advise we take to awaken our dreams?

Dreaming with you, Kristin of The Beautiful Deep