Three Things to Embrace as a Single Mother
Single Motherhood. How do we do it? How do we take on one of life’s toughest challenges by ourselves? Well, it ain’t easy. And I certainly do not have it figured it out. But I want to share what God has taught me. Because we are all in this together.
1. Seek HELP. I learned quickly that I could not do everything. There were simply not enough hours in the day. At first, I tried. My pride whispered that I could do it. I sacrificed sleep…which affected my mood…mental health…work…connecting with my son…and…see how it snowballed? I was burnt out. God taught me to set aside my pride and to seek help. We are designed to live in community and seeking help is part of that. Help can come in many forms—outsourcing things like housekeeping or asking friends or family to babysit. Find a meal prep group that meets to swap meals. Get to know the local MOPS group for resources. Take advantage of your community.
2. Embrace God’s GRACE. Every day I wake up wanting to be the perfect parent. And every day, I fail. I have to remind myself (daily!) that we live in a fallen world. In the beginning, God made a perfect world. But then, we came along and, through Adam and Eve, we messed it up. So now, we are in this fallen, messed-up world where we continue to fail to be the perfect parents. But there is hope and His name is Jesus. Jesus came to clean up our mess and make things right. Jesus gives us GRACE for our failings. He walks besides us as we solo-parent. When we stumble, He catches us. So how do we reach for His grace? We just have to ask:
Lord, THANK YOU for your never-ending grace. I need it today and every day. Please guide me as I parent my child and help him to grow and learn more about you. I love you, Jesus. Amen.
3. PRAY unceasingly. God craves an intimate relationship with us. Someone said the only person who can wake a king up at 1 am is a child. That is the kind of access we have to God. Given the demands of single motherhood, we may not be able to have a regular quiet time (especially when we have littles), but we can pray without ceasing throughout our day. We can pray while we are making breakfast. We can pray while we are helping our kids get dressed. We can pray in the drop-off lane at school. We can build our relationship with God throughout the day. So, I challenge us to pray unceasingly throughout our day. Developing that intimacy with God so when we can return to a daily, meaningful quiet time with Him, we will have the backbone of a strong relationship with Him.
My Single Mother Friends, I am on this journey with you. My heart sings with yours on the good days, it grieves with yours on the bad days, and laughs with yours on the days in-between. Let’s pray for each other as we march towards the same goal—raising our children to love God.
Tiffanie Limbrick is an attorney and mama to Josh (4). She is passionate about leading and empowering women both in and outside of the workplace. Tiffanie believes that every woman has the power to change the world, even if it’s just her little corner of the world. When Tiffanie is not running after Josh, you can catch her curled up on the couch reading a good book