it's not about the soap!

Have you read this article?

It might be old news to you. It was kind of all over the place the other day.
But it really really encouraged me on a day when I really needed to hear encouragement.
Sooo I want to share it just in case you missed it!

Here is my favorite part:

"There’s something deeper going on in family life than can ever be expressed on a social network. Whatever it is we feel we are lacking, can we collectively decide–as deliberate mothers–that we are not going to sit around feeling discouraged about all the things we’re not?

Can we remind each other that it is our uniqueness and love that our children long for? It is our voices. Our smiles. Our jiggly tummies. Of course we want to learn, improve, exercise, cook better, make our homes lovelier, and provide beautiful experiences for our children, but at the end of the day, our children don’t want a discouraged, stressed-out mom who is wishing she were someone else.

If you ever find yourself looking in the mirror at a woman who feels badly that she hasn’t yet made flower-shaped soap, please offer her this helpful reminder: “Your children want you!”"

via

I find myself wishing I were someone else far too often. Wishing I could be thinner, kinder, gentler, more creative, smarter, more Christlike, not so lazy. I fall into the trap of comparing myself with other women and always finding I come up short. But if I say something out loud, venting to Jason, and Mack hears me, he looks at me with this expression of being completely flabbergasted and says "MAMA! That is NOT true! You are the BEST Mama in the whole world!"

Do I need anything more than that?! Even more important, I am who God made me to be! I am not anything other than that! I believe when Mack corrects me, it's Jesus using him to remind me what is important. I have laid these insecurities and neurotic narcissistic behaviors at His feet so many times. I am seeing changes, slowly, I am growing. I wonder if I will be free of this on this side of Heaven?