Supermom Syndrome

Although I was a little too young to watch this show in its first airing, I loved watching Wonder Woman in reruns. Diana Prince appeared to be just a normal woman, that is, until a situation that required her super powers arose. Then, with a delicate spin of her body and flip of her hair, she was instantly transformed into a full-fledged super hero. I loved pretending to be her when I was younger. What girl didn’t? Not only did she have special powers, but she also wore a tiara (that doubled as a boomerang). Need I say more?

I would spin aimlessly around in the yard switching back and forth from normal girl into Wonder Woman, taking trips on my invisible plane, and lassoing all the imaginary bad guys. I even confess that I had the Wonder Woman “Underoos.” I was a fan.

Well, I am all grown up, married, and have two children, so I don’t pretend that I am a Wonder Woman any longer. That would be ridiculous! But sometimes, I do think that I need to be Supermom.

The pressure we women put on ourselves is incredible and unnecessary. We sometimes feel that we need to be perfect. We feel the outcome of our children is entirely based on our efforts. If we fail at even the slightest thing, we think that our children will be impacted negatively. We need to remember, there is no such thing as a perfect mother, but there is a perfect God.

Now don’t misunderstand, God has called us to be great parents. We are to instruct our children in the ways of the Lord. We are to love them, nurture them, and train them up in the things of God. But, we are human, and we will make mistakes. In fact, if you are not a perfect mom, you are in good company. In Luke 2:41-46, we see an account of a not-so-perfect mother moment.

Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days, they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

Many of you have read this scripture before, but did you realize that Jesus was missing for four days (one of which his mother didn’t even know he was gone). Mary, the example for all mothers, lost, or shall I say misplaced, her son, Jesus, for days. And despite the not-so-perfect mother moment, I think we can all agree that He turned out ok.

Ladies, we need to spend less time trying to get the “Parent of the Year” award and more time praying and trusting God for our children’s future. We need to lay aside our efforts to be Supermom, and focus on pointing our kids toward God, the only real super hero.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.    Proverbs 22:6

Raising This Generation Through Prayer

Isn't Mother's Day a great day where we can celebrate motherhood? I think back to the day I found out I was pregnant for the first time. Pure joy filled my heart. I was instantly in love. I knew that God had entrusted me with a special gift, and I would do anything and everything to keep this child safe. Not too far after the celebration began, I found myself in my first down on my face mother moment with God. I was just seven weeks pregnant. My husband and I were in a remote resort on the island of Antigua. We had a private bungalow on the beach – no television, no phones, no cell service. How romantic! Well, it was, until I started having symptoms of a miscarriage.

The romantic “baby moon” was suddenly turning into a nightmare. I sat in the tiny, open-aired lobby of the resort on the single hotel guest phone with my doctor back in Connecticut. I explained to him all my symptoms, and he explained that there was nothing I could do. A miscarriage was likely.

Tears streamed down my face. My heart began to ache. The situation seemed irreversible and out of my control, but not out of God’s. I was not giving up that easily. I turned to God in my utter sadness and desperation, and I pleaded with Him. He directed me to this passage of scripture found in Philippians 4:6-7:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Peace instantly filled me, although the symptoms continued. We had one more night on the island before we returned home. I just kept praying and believing that God would do a miracle. As soon as I got home, I went directly to the doctors, and to their surprise, not mine, I was still pregnant. And that baby is headed to high school this fall. God is so faithful!

I know some of you went through a similar experience, but your outcome was different than mine. I experienced just a glimpse of that pain and I’m deeply sorry.

You see, God allowed me to go through this trial because He was shaping me from the beginning as to what kind of mother I needed to be, that we all need to be . . . a mother of great prayer, interceding daily for her children. Our children need our prayer time. They need their mother to get on her knees and intercede and contend for them each and every day.

Paul, a master of living a life of prayer, instructs us in Colossians 4:1 to “devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” He later instructs us to "pray without ceasing." This is the greatest gift we can give our children.

This generation has access to such horrible things. Temptations like drugs, alcohol, smoking, and promiscuity are still prevalent, but this generation now deals with Internet access at their finger tips, cyber bullying, texting, camera phones, and all sorts of social media pressures. I won’t even get into the deterioration of television and movies today.

Our youth are in a battle. The Devil is coming after this generation hard. He’s very smart. God has a destiny and a plan for each child, and the enemy is fighting to stop him or her from fulfilling it. 1 Peter 5:8 says,

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

That “someone” is our children and we need to fight this with prayer!

PRAYER changes things.

PRAYER moves mountains.

PRAYER tugs on the heartstrings of God.

PRAYER calls things that are not as if they are.

PRAYER can impact history.

Ladies, I know mothering isn’t easy. We endure a lot. But we need to remember, the best gift we can give our kids is to pray for them with unwavering persistence.

God never called us to be perfect, but He did call us to be prayers!