August Christian Working Mom Interview
Welcome
Blog
Interview
Welcome
We have more and more women joining
us each day. So, welcome to Christian Working Mom,
a support site for you in your role as a Christian
Working Mom.
We have had several women talking about wanting to
do an online Bible Study. We are trying to figure
out the logistics of how that would work and what
we would study. If you are interested in participating
in an online Bible Study, please go the Christian
Working Mom Blog at http://kimberlychastain.com/my-journal
and post what you would like to see in a Bible Study
and any other comments you may have. Thanks so much.
We can all grow together.
Blog Comments
We have had lots of interesting discussions
on the blog. One comment was the “best”
job you ever had. Also, we are discussing the online
Bible Study. The most recent post is what would be
the best new invention for you as a Mom? You can be
as outlandish as you want to be. Can’t wait
to see what you have to say.
You can reach the blog at http://kimberlychastain.com/my-journal.
Interview
Sue is a 40 year old CWM who lives in
Colorado in the United States. Sue says she has been
married for 17 years and says that is often hard to
find time to be with her husband who is truly her
best friend. She has two children a son age 8 who
loves Spiderman and loves to play all day. Her daughter
is 2 and all ready has a love for shoes. Sue says
she is all girl.
Sue shares by day she is the Vice President
of a Commercial Real Estate Service financial institution.
My favorite part of real estate and my job is digging
into the deals to find the “story”. There
is a story to everything! By night (and sometimes
early morning), I host and publish a web site for
moms called UnlimitedMom (http://www.unlimitedmom.com).
I started UnlimitedMom as a means to articulate and
understand many of the internal struggles I had after
my son was born. There seems to be so much controversy
out there about how to be the “best” kind
of mom, and I wanted to create an environment where
a mom was just free to be herself.
Recently, I’ve added an e-newsletter
containing monthly devotionals for moms. This has
come as a response to a push I’ve been getting
from God to devote more of my time to studying His
word and in sharing my thoughts on it in my writing.
Sue shares the following joys of being
a Christian Working Mom:
The best part is to share with my kids
the love of Jesus Christ, as well as the knowledge
that God has a plan for each of us, and our only aim
in life should be to serve God and fulfill His plan
(even if we don’t know what it is!) I love sharing
the pride and commitment I have in my work and seeing
those values reflected in their behavior.
Thinking about my children and how I
want them to grow up has made me look at myself and
try to be a better person, as I am their closest and
best example to follow. It is an awesome responsibility,
but one that I know God will help me achieve.
I’ve found that sharing my failures
with my kids ends up strengthening my faith. They
love me unconditionally, and look to me for guidance
even when I don’t think I’m worthy. I
have to believe that God gave them to me for a reason
and I don’t want to let Him down! I want to
be able to share with them that everyone (even grown-ups)
makes mistakes; but, as long as we ask, God will always
forgive and give us another chance.
Sue shares the following struggles of
being a Christian Working Mom:
I always struggle with wanting more
time for “something else”. If I’m
busy at work, I want more time at home. If there are
a lot of family obligations, I want more personal
time. Then, I feel guilty that I’m not happy
with the way life is.
Guilt is a killer for all moms, but
especially for working moms and Christians who feel
they have to be happy all the time to reflect the
“Christian lifestyle.” I’m slowly
learning that even Jesus’ disciples weren’t
happy all the time, and surely they were not the picture-perfect
examples sitting on the pedestal we always put them
on. They made mistakes, got angry, and acted as human
as the rest of us. The important thing is to know
that despite the sin that brings sadness and guilt
into our lives, God loves us for who were are and
wants to help us become the people He sees we can
be.
The struggle is remembering all that
when I am in the midst of a complicated project at
work, carting my son from one activity to another,
or trying to get the laundry done. In other words,
during “real life…”
Sue’s favorite Bible Verse is:
Philippians 4:13: For I can do everything with the
help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.
What is God teaching you right now?
Probably the biggest lesson God has
taught me in the last year is that I am not in control
and I DON’T always know what’s best for
me. This has been made abundantly clear to me through
a somewhat painful experience.
About a year ago I decided I was ready
for a job change and set it in my head to find a new
job within a year. I did everything the books told
me to do: updated my resume, upgraded the wardrobe
and started networking like crazy. Sure enough, after
about 6 months, I was interviewing for my “dream
job” – and I got the offer!
The next day when I called to accept
the position – I was told their organizational
structure had unexpectedly changed and they had to
rescind the offer they had made the day before.
I was crushed. I couldn’t believe
all my hard work had led to this.
After a lot of tears, a lot of prayers,
and a lot of time, God led me to realize that the
dream job I craved was not what He has planned for
me. It was my plan, not His.
To be honest, I still don’t know
WHAT God has in store for me. But what I am learning,
day to day, is to quiet my inner control freak and
listen to hear what He is trying to tell me.
Words of Encouragement for other Christian Working
Moms
Just remember no matter what you are
going through or feeling, you are not the first, you
won’t be the last, and you don’t have
to do it alone. God is always there for you and will
help you through it. And he has put others on this
earth who understand and want to be there for you
and help you through too. For some strange reason,
we all tend to think we have to suffer silently and
handle it all ourselves. Accept the gift of other
people! They are God’s tools, placed here to
help you when you need it the most.
Sue thanks for reminding us that God is truly in control
and we need to yield to him. I think we all can be
control “freaks” from time to time. Appreciate
you sharing.
Till next time,
Kimberly Chastain
Kimberly Chastain, MS, LMFT is the Christian Working
Mom Coach and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
She is the founder of CWMU and author of 2 ebooks
that can be found at www.christianworkingmom.com.
For a free, initial coaching session send an email
to Kimberly@kimberlychastain.com
with free coaching in the subject heading.
