A short devotional of encouragement for Christian moms

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

I can be a bit of an overachiever. In school, getting good grades was important to me. I could tell you my GPA and class ranking pretty much every day of high school my senior year. I carried that attitude into college and beyond.

Now as a mom, the same attitude pops up. I’m not competing with other moms as much as I’m competing with myself to be the absolute best mom I can be for my children. I love them so completely that I want the best for them.

Yet, I fall short and mess up. I have times of weakness where I get frustrated or selfish. I don’t say or do the right things. Just like when I’d get a lower grade in school, I can be hard on myself for not getting it right.

Fortunately, God knows this. I’ve seen His power in my weakness time and again. Sometimes it’s in big ways and other times it’s in little ways.

For example, one evening when my children were preschool and toddler age, I was too overwhelmed and exhausted for dinner. I fed them Froot Loops — not even healthy cereal. I was beating myself up about it.

Then I noticed their faces. They were utterly thrilled and thought it was such a treat. They gave me grace. I needed to give myself grace. God blessed me that I was able to even feed them!

Sometimes in our weakness and struggles, we need to give ourselves some grace, turn it over to God and just hang on. He is there in the midst of all of it!

And He doesn’t expect us to be overachievers. He just wants us to be who He made us to be.

Prayer:

Dear God, thank you for knowing me so completely and giving me grace even when I mess up and fall short. Help me to give myself grace and lean into you. Give me your strength, power and encouragement when I feel so weak. In Jesus’ name, Amen.