Tired Mama

Dear Tired Mama,

My hope is this will be a sweet letter of encouragement to you, my busy, stressed, overtired friend, and lift your spirits and your tired, tender heart today.

I used to be that mom, but I can now joyfully say I am not one of them any longer. I've tasted burnout in overtime ministry. I know what it's like to be drained doing things that don't energize. I've experienced being overtired and every winter the seasonal depression brings on a new level of tired. I come from a long line of severe depression. My friend, I know where you are. I was there. It breaks my heart over and over again, ever since moving to Minnesota, to see countless moms and women in ministry experience such stress and busyness and I can confidently, boldly say it truly does not have to be that way. I am walking proof. I want to come to you and wrap my arms around you and be a friend.

Let your weary soul take a rest. Lift that burden from your shoulders. Jesus is waiting for you to relent and hand it over. Just relent. Just hand it over. You don't have to overwork yourself. You don't have to say yes to everything. You are not the savior or solver of everyone's problems. Do you need to hear that today? You, mama, are not the savior of all the world's problems. Jesus already took care of that on the cross. Take a breath. Take a load off. God is softly whispering to you "it's ok, sit down, rest, you need YOU time first, because your kids need your full attention." He is telling you it's really ok to take a nap, it's really ok to take care of yourself, it's really ok to take a night out every week to refresh. All He wants from us is our WHOLE heart to love Him first with ALL our heart, ALL our soul, ALL our mind, ALL our strength and then love our neighbor. Notice that? Love God first then love others. Take time to refresh by yourself then love others.

When we are living out of that firm foundation, we find joy in our day. We find freedom from people pleasing. We find courage to say "no" to things that drain us and start saying "yes" to the things that give us life so that we are able to have the energy for our family, to give the full attention our kids need, to have the joy our husbands long to see in us. We are doing no one any good when we are busy, stressed and overtired. We are actually doing more harm than good, our kids start to become all kinds of crazy, our husbands feel disconnected, our health starts to decline and the whole vicious cycle breaks down. Doesn't it just make sense? You are your own worst enemy. Mama, a sweet, happy home starts with YOU. Want to know my secret?!? I took my own advice. I listened to that quiet whisper from the Father and I started taking care of myself. To top it off, I'm in my first trimester with two toddlers running around so if I can find a way to NOT be tired maybe I did find the mystery of motherhood. 

Quiet time with Jesus, naps, and nights out. That's my secret. I fight for it because it's worth it. My family deserves all my energy, all my attention and all the love I can give. Bee encouraged today. Bee lovely. Find what you need and fight for it. YOU are worth it. Your family deserves ALL of you and your WHOLE heart, not just the leftover pieces.

Sending love and hugs today.

xoxo