She is an an author, speaker and "missional mom" as her blog states. I think she's pretty incredible, but you should check out her website and see for yourself.
This is all that I wrote down from her message but I had tears streaming down my face as I did--and I still revisit this quote of hers for encouragement and to just get my "mama mind" on the right track:
The most important thing you can do for your kids is to
LOVE THEM FOR WHO JESUS CREATED THEM TO BE.
We need to just LET GO
and TRUST that He has more in store for them than
we could EVER KNOW!
Do not be anxious.
When you grow and birth and nurse and nurture a tiny little human into a toddler than a preschooler and so on (i'm not any further than that and won't be for A LONG TIME, OK?!) a lot happens to your brain that once was so very occupied with self and husband and dog.
There is a lot to worry about when you have tiny people in your care that you are to raise up to be upstanding, self-sustaining citizens.
Stuff like, trendy outfits and getting fundamentals down for soccer/basketball/tee-ball/[fill-in-the-blank]; like flashcards, then reading, then a foreign language; like art and music and dance classes for days and days and days and days...and then there are all of the other kinds of worry--like if you are killing your kids by feeding them gluten or dairy or by vaccinating them, for heaven's sake ("guilty"x3). And THEN the worries about sleep training and breast feeding and co-sleeping and organic produce and cloth diapers and organic rash creams and baby shampoo and interactive toys and screen time restrictions and THEN the worries about academia and tests and levels and etc., etc., etc.
Seriously. If new moms--or any moms for that matter were forced to display a screen shot of their google search history my point would be proven.
We worry because we love our little monsters more than life itself. We only want the best of the best for them and to give them the world on a platter the best way we know how.
And then words like Helen's sink in and I feel like I've been set free.
Set free from all of the above--all of the silly little worries that at times, I let absolutely CONSUME me.
The UTMOST Important thing I can do for my babies is LOVE them for who their incredible Creator made them so very uniquely and beautifully to be. NO MATTER WHAT.
And to celebrate who they are--not who I WANT them to be, but who they have been created to be.
The most important thing I can do is to breathe divine purpose into their existence through my guidance and example and LOVE. I can only do this if I have faith and trust in God; that He has plans for their life--to serve and love and honor Him.
It's SO, SO easy to lose sleep (more than we already have to, anyway) over things that are out of our control and honestly, so insignificant to what really, truly matters.
Don't be anxious, Mama.
Hold your babies close.
Keep them in an embrace that goes beyond your grasp and deeper into the arms of grace; where they can look up to you looking up to Him, and beneath His life-giving light, bloom.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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