July 2009 Pearls of Encouragement for CWMs
Welcome
Book update
Facebook
Prayer Partners
Blog/Online Bible Study
Article – Is guilt part of being a Mom?
Welcome

How are you all doing? I hope everyone is having a good summer or winter depending on where you live. We have so many new CWMs in our community and you will find the CWM community a place of encouragement. To see all the many opportunities for you, go to www.christianworkingmom.com.

Book update

The Voices of Christian Working Moms was just released last month. You can click on the banner above to find out more. I wanted to let you know there are two ways to order the book. You can order the book with an inscription for a friend, family member, etc or you can order the book without an inscription. When you go to www.christianworkingmom.com/book.htm just click on which book you prefer and you will be sent to the correct ordering page. Let me know if you have any questions.

Facebook

We have a Christian Working Mom group on Facebook. Just do a search for Christian Working Moms and you will see a blue background square with a red heart that says God hearts CWMs. So, please join us.

Prayer Partners

We haven’t talked about prayer partners for awhile. Many of our CWMs our connected with prayer partners virtually all over the world and pray for one another. If you would like a prayer partner send an email to Kimberly@kimberlychastain.com with Prayer partner in the subject heading and I will send you an email of someone else who requested a prayer partner. You two can then connect through email and pray for one another.

Blog/Online Bible Study

I am going to try and post more Bible studies for our Online Bible Study within the next month or two. My goal was to do it monthly, but unfortunately that hasn’t happen. You can visit our Online Bible study at http://cwmbiblestudy.blogspot.com. The CWM blog can be found at http://christianworkingmoms.blogspot.com. Answer this month’s question, “How can we use Michael Jackson’s death as a way to introduce people to Christ?” I look forward to hearing your answers.

Article – Is Guilt Part of Being a Mom?

In the CWM survey of over 2,200 CWMs, 83% felt some guilt about working. Many women wrote and said they feel guilt about lots of things. It feels like part of being a mom is feeling guilty. We didn’t breastfeed or we breastfed too long. Our kids don’t eat enough vegetables, get enough exercise, play too many video games, etc. Truly, the list could go on and on. Every day there is a new study that seems to assault our parenting or lets us know we are failing in some way as a parent and we feel guilt.
I want us to explore beneath the surface a little more. What is really at the root of guilt? Ultimately, we want control!! If I do all the right things as a parent I will have a “perfect” child or close to it. I can prevent bad things from happening. Yet, we really don’t have as much control as we think.

After being a marriage and family therapist for 20+ years now I have seen many things in my office. I have seen Godly parents who did everything right to raise Godly children and see their children become prodigals. I have seen people who grew up in truly dysfunctional families and become solid, high achieving people. You wonder how they do so well with their backgrounds. So, do the above statements discourage you? They were not meant to.

Here is the nugget of truth: As Moms we have to trust and learn that God is ultimately in control. Listen to this verse from 1Timothy 6:15, “God … is the blessed controller of all things, the king over all kings and master of all masters.” He works in and through us. We cannot control everything our children do. Children are sinners and sometimes choose a crooked instead of a straight road. Is that because we were a bad parent? Most of the times not!! God made all of us independent and children do and can make bad decisions. Does that mean we give up? No. We still give them Godly advice and counsel. We still discipline them. Yet, ultimately they have to choose to follow God on their own.

So, what are we to do? Let’s look at a famous modern day prodigal – Franklin Graham. He even wrote a book about his journey, Rebel With A Cause. His parents are Ruth and Billy Graham. Talk about great Godly parents. Yet, out of Franklin Graham’s prodigal past came a passion for hurting people and he became involved with Samaritan’s Purse. God used Franklin Graham’s difficult past to now glorify God and reach millions of people all over the world for Christ. Ruth Graham shared she spent many sleepless nights praying over her son. God answered those prayers in His own time.

I’m encouraging all of us to stop feeling guilt. We are extremely important in our children’s lives, but God is more important. We must trust that God is working in our children’s lives in spite of us and through us. If we were somehow the “perfect” parents then our children wouldn’t need God.

So, being a Mom and feeling guilt do not have to go hand in hand. We can replace our guilt with trust in God and that His ways and plans are best for us and our children. Remember the great verse from the Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34. Can you join me in giving up on guilt? It will take work, but we can do it.

Till next time,

Kimberly M. Chastain

Kimberly M. Chastain, MS, LMFT is the Christian Working Mom Coach and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is the author of 2 ebooks and an online Bible study. To find out how to receive coaching tips by email daily, go to http://www.kimberlychastain.com/cwmtips.htm. You can find more information about Christian Working Moms at www.christianworkingmom.com For a free, initial coaching session send an email to free@kimberlychastain.com.

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