confidence Archives - This Mama Needs Grace

Alive in Your Calling

by Kelli / September 16, 2019

Have you ever had a day or a week where you were struck with a deep feeling in your bones that you were doing exactly what you were made to do? Trust me, I have a lot of days of doubt. A lot of days where I question if the Lord wants more from me. If he wants me to do this mothering thing, alongside a full-time career. There are definitely moments, days, conversations that make me wonder. Amidst this doubt, I am occasionally hit with the unshakeable feeling that I am exactly where I am meant to be.

There was no big event that happened last week that woke me up to my calling, but it was the stringing along of ordinary moments, like singing at mommy and me class and hosting fun baby play dates at our house that made me realize: I was made for this.

Oh, I Just Stay At Home

Being a stay-at-home mom is a tricky subject. It is tricky because I am fully aware that it is a privilege. Not everyone has a choice. I know there are plenty of mamas that would love to stay at home, but the extra income is a necessity. Or, they are a single mama and their job is the sole income providing for their family. Even as I type this, I sense myself holding back and overthinking the words to say. I really don’t want to step on toes. The main point here is that I am fully aware that we all are living our own stories with our own sets of pressures. I can only really write from where I currently am and that is at home. I feel thankful to be in a position that it is possible for me to stay at home. This is a big deal, and I do my best to not take it for granted.

There is a lot of unspoken misunderstandings between the two camps: working mamas and at home mamas. This makes me sad, but I think there is a lot of internal judgement and comparison. And I think it is absolutely felt on both sides. Again, I can only speak from my perspective, but I feel pretty certain that working mamas struggle with not being able to have the same type of experiences or involvement as those that are at home.

Own Your Story; No Need to Fabricate

On the flip side, SAHMs can feel like they are not doing enough. I have had countless conversations with people (all with good intent) that ask me when or if I plan on going back to work. I know it is unintentional, but this question often feels like a judgement. It often feels like all the work I am doing within the home is somehow not enough. I have found myself in this past year making up stories of intentions of returning to work soon. I find myself telling them about how I had a few substitute teaching jobs last school year, as if they need to know that I am doing more than just staying home.

Especially when I talk to other working moms, I have felt this pressure to communicate my heart of eventually returning to my teaching job. But here is the thing, I am not certain this is where I feel called. I really wish I could own my story better and not feel like I need to fabricate things to connect better to the woman I am speaking to.

Staying At Home IS a Full-Time Job!

Most people can acknowledge that staying at home with kids is a lot of work. While I think a lot of people can recognize the tremendous amount of work and value that comes with being at home with your kiddos, I believe there is still a lot of underlying assumptions. Since we don’t have a typical 9-5, people can easily assume that we are the perfect people to take on x, y, and z.

A stay-at-home mom works many job throughout the day. She’s a nurse, chauffeur, chef, teacher, playmate, housekeeper, laundry attendant, accountant, and babysitter all rolled into one.
What Does a Stay-At-Home Mom Do All Day, Apryl Duncan, VeryWellFamily

Again, I am writing this with hesitation because I don’t want to step on toes, but I think there is a lot of truth in this. And it is not a bad thing per se. I feel happy to be in a more flexible position that I can do some extra things I probably would not have been able to do if I was still working outside of the home. The problem is when people assume that we must have the time. This is where I think there is confusion. In a lot of ways, I feel busier than when I was teaching. I feel more on for my one, little toddler, than I did for 100 something students.

I Should…

A lot of the things that I let slip when I was working, I have fully taken on. When the floors are messy, I feel a lot of responsibility and guilt for not being on it. Since my work is within the home, I feel so guilty when the house feels like a chaotic mess. This is my one job! I should have spotless floors, a fridge fully stocked, and gourmet meals on the table every night. I should be doing all the extra things. I should be on the board of my MOMS Club. I should be the one volunteering to be in charge of the email list for our year-long mommy and me class. I should have a foot in every single ministry at church. I should be reaching out to friends more often and sending them letters of encouragement. I should do more for my husband, I mean he is the one fully providing for us. I should, I should, I should.

Sweet Daughter,

Man, typing up the above actually made me really sad. It made me sad because all those things are truly weighing on my heart. Being a SAHM often feels like it is not enough for the world around me and if I’m honest, sometimes I get caught up in believing this lie. But here is the truth the Lord reminded me this week: it is enough and I am exactly where He wants me.

Back to my original question that started off this post: Are you ever struck with a deep sense that you are exactly where you were meant to be? This past week, I felt like I was living out my calling. It was not glamorous and it did not involve fancy meetings or important conferences. Instead, it involved lots of “the wheels on the bus go round and round.” I sang a lot of songs last week with Hudson and I read a lot of the same book over and over and I made lots of snacks. And in this place of singing, reading, and making, I felt alive in my calling. I felt the Lord whispering to me all week: Sweet daughter, you are right where I want you.

To Believe She Can

This mama needs to believe she can. I have always struggled with self-doubt. I am not pretty enough, fast enough, smart enough, bold enough. I can’t run that fast— I am not strong enough. I can’t possibly get that job position—I am not qualified enough. The not enoughs and cannots have been running through my inner dialogue for years now. In some ways this inner voice of self-doubt has created a character of humility (at times, but of course I also am not humble enough). But in a lot of ways this internal voice of mine has really beaten myself up. It seems to show up the most when it comes to running. In high school, I really loved running. I had a coach I looked up to and teammates that pushed and encouraged me. I was on a really great team and for most of my time in high school, I was anywhere from the 7th to 4th runner. In a lot of ways, I thrived in this position. In cross-country, 7 make a team and 5 score. One of the things I loved most about the sport is that your 5th runner was just as important as your top runner because even if your top runner won the race, as a team it would be difficult to win if runner number 5 was high in place. That is why it is so important to have a small gap between runner 1 and 5. I work best in a runner number 5 position. On the course and off. I don’t like the pressure or the responsibility of being the best, but I crave to make a difference and impact. As a number 5 runner I could do this. I could still help my team without being the one that everyone had their eyes on at the front. Something changed when I went to college. Maybe it was the coach. Maybe it was a newfound pressure I didn’t have in high school. Maybe it was me. The sport I loved slowly became an arena of self-doubt. I ended high school, on a high. I no longer was the 5th runner, I was the first. It turned out I also could be a number one type of runner. I gained a lot of confidence my senior year as I was running the fastest I ever have. This confidence for some reason did not seem to translate over when I began running for an NCAA Division I team. I suddenly felt lost in the fastness, in the talent. They were so much faster than me. This self-doubt carried itself over to racing as before races that voice was its loudest. You feel tired. You feel sore. You aren’t mentally or physically ready to run that pace. You can’t hang on to that front pack- they are All-Americans, you are not. While I still had moments of confidence where I ran well and even surprised myself, each race was an internal battle. My coach used to always tell me I was not mean enough. As if my ability to be super competitive in races depended on having to be mean. Throw a few elbow jabs. Cut a few runners off. Glare down the competition. This has never been me and I hope it never will be. It was never a matter of meanness, but more so a need to have a stronger and more firm belief in myself. I had to believe I was fast enough, talented enough, determined enough.

All this to say, I still am not quite there yet. Self-doubt still very much creeps in to my daily dialogue to myself. As I was running today, I was hit with the all-familiar feelings and nerves I was met with before races. It feels funny to even say but I am nervous for tomorrow’s turkey trot. For the past 2 months I have been training with the turkey trot as a goal. By training, I really mean running 3-4 times a week for 30-40 minutes at a pace much, much slower than I ran a few years ago. No workouts, just squeezing in runs when I could. Whether that be early in the morning before Hudson woke up and Lance left for work or during nap times when Hudson was with his grandparents. The first few weeks were hard. I had to quickly come to turns that my body was not the same. I could no longer roll out of bed and run an 8 miler with ease. I needed more time, more coffee, more sports bra support. Things were different now. But I ran. It started with running a couple times a week for 2 miles (it felt like 12). Slowly, very slowly, with each new mile I felt a little stronger. It was in this place of running not for a coach or really for any particular reason at all, that I have begun to mend my broken relationship with running. This took weeks, but these past couple weeks, I have enjoyed my runs. Like actually enjoyed them and craved to be out running again. My body missed the miles, the steady rhythm, the fresh air. So just as I am getting into this healthy place with running, I found my brain wandering on my run. You shouldn’t even get towards the front of the start line. You are going to go out too fast and blow up. You haven’t done any true workouts. You won’t be able to maintain a fast pace. The voice is back. All of this sounds and even feels a little silly because it is not like I am running at Nationals tomorrow. I am running a local turkey trot. But all this to show, that it doesn’t matter the situation, the voice of self-doubt is real. But, there is a voice that is greater. Jesus. This voice of self-doubt I have been referring to is most definitely planted by Satan. He loves my self-doubt. Why? It pulls me away from the truth. It pulls me away from seeing myself the way Jesus sees me. It also makes me focus more on myself and less on Jesus.

I need so much grace in this area. I need grace to fill all these holes of my not enoughs and cannots. I daily need His grace to remind me that it is not about me. No one cares how I run the turkey trot tomorrow except for maybe Lance. So tomorrow, I hope to run with confidence. Confidence not in my own abilities or training, but confidence in Him.

UPDATE: Turkey trot ended up being a lot of fun! Did I win? Not even close. Did I die in last mile? Yes. But, I hit my goal of at least being under 20 minutes. The photo above is our little family post-turkey trot. Even Hudson raced!

Tag: confidence