Kara Moss recently joined me on the podcast, and I’m excited to have her sharing more of her heart today on the blog today! I want to encourage you, Mom—share your challenges with Him, day and night, and let Him be your shelter.

xo, Heidi

Momlife. It’s the good life, the hard life, the fun life, the challenging life…It’s full of glorious moments, and it sees its fair share of crash-and-burn days too.

If you’re anything like me, you open your eyes each morning with an idea in your head of what the day should look like. For many years, I had this idea that if we could just make it to the end of the day with no major issues, attitudes, meltdowns, or frustrations then I could call it a successful day in our home. A good day meant everyone made right choices…no conflicts, no problems, no arguments. As you can imagine, we didn’t have very many successful days when that was how I defined it.

I was unintentionally putting a pressure on myself to do things perfectly. I was expecting a level of perfection out of my children to the point of growing impatient and frustrated with their sin…when the truth is, I am well aware of my own sin and my need for grace on a daily basis.

The journey of motherhood is teaching me that success isn’t defined by not messing up; it’s defined by getting back up. Every failure is an opportunity to grow…for both me and my children. If we learn to fail forward, our failures become launchpads for growth rather than set backs.

The real victory is overcoming challenges together not simply avoiding them. Those attitudes and meltdowns…those are actually gifts.

I know, I know…call me crazy. But that moment when your toddler has a meltdown in the middle of Target, and you have to walk out mid-shopping, leaving a cart full of stuff un-purchased…it’s a gift. Or the moment when your teenager is spewing words that you know deep down they can’t possibly mean…that is gift. These are the moments we get to see into the hearts of our children. We see where they are struggling, and we get to walk with them through it. We get to find Jesus together in the middle of it.  

When we pause, take a breath, and anchor ourselves in Christ right then and there, we can change our perspective. We begin to see the challenges that will inevitably come up, not as an inconvenience, but instead, as a moment we can make an impact.

So what does a successful day look like? It looks like making the most of every opportunity we have to speak love, life, and truth into our children’s hearts. It requires us to let go of the pressure of perfection and be fully present where we are. It calls for us to stop taking our children’s sin personally and help them find Jesus in the middle of it. Success is when we capture the struggles and challenges of the day and watch them become the moments where hearts are changed and souls are shaped.

You can always go back later and get that cart of stuff you left at Target…

Kara Moss is a wife and mom daily reminded of her need for Jesus. She is passionate about equipping and encouraging women to walk in the abundant life Christ promises. Her message is open and honest as she brings a relevant word rooted in Biblical truth.

More on Kara: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Abundant Motherhood