Day 14: Motherhood and Fear

All new mamas have experienced it. We tiptoe in to check that they are breathing. We have that panicked moment where you are just certain you will find your baby face down not breathing. It pains my heart to say that I have friends who have experienced the reality of this fear.

I can't even mentally go there in my head. 

We all want long, healthy lives for our children just as much for their sake as our own. We want them to grow up and be good, responsible, God-fearing adults who give us loads of grandchildren to spoil. Some of us are even crazy enough to want their kiddos to grow up to be missionaries.  Whatever our hopes are for our little ones (and big ones) it is God who fulfills those hopes and dreams and we don't get to choose how that looks. Fear can make us think that we have a choice and it can rob us from raising kids who run hard after God's heart.

If I let it fear would/will rob me and my child(ren) of the fullest life we could have. I would be a constant ball of anxiety rushing to each bump and bruise like an ambulance. I don't want fear to dominate the way I mother. I want freedom and fearlessness to be at the forefront. I don't mean that I don't take safety precautions, but I do mean that I don't hover like an apache helicopter.

Motherhood makes me wonder a million things,

Am I doing this right? 

Is she growing all right? 

Is my child normal? 

Do I have what it takes to be a mama? 

{insert your insecurity here}

The foundation of fearful mothering is the need to control. We believe that we know better than God and that these kiddos belong to us. That isn't true. These kids are strictly on loan and when God says give them back then fearful or not we have to give them back.

Why wouldn't we want them to run, play and live to the fullest? Children are the best way to learn how to live in the moment. As we learn to live in the moment we also learn how to make the choice of courage over fear in the moment. We can listen to the questioning voice or we can listen to the voice of God. We have to remember that just as much as we long to give our babes good things our Heavenly Father longs to give us all good things.

{I admit that I am a new mama and I don't claim to have this thing figured out. I know that I might find myself eating the words that I just wrote on any given day. Thankfully God is gracious.}

What ways do you find yourself fighting fear in your parenting?

 Tomorrow: Day 15: Raising Fearless Children (Part 1)