The Newness Of Mommyhood - Dinner #27

     You think you're a prepared woman.  You've worked in church nurseries, you've attended a class at the hospital, you've watched DVD material on how to care for a newborn, you've read countless articles and listened to advice from experienced moms . . . and then your OWN baby is suddenly brought home from the hospital . . . WOW, are you ever in for a surprise!  Brooklyn is now a month old, and the verse that has come to my mind the most during the past few weeks is I Corinthians 8:2 - "And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." I thought I understood how tired I would be, waking up in the middle of the night to feed my baby.  I was DETERMINED not to give my child a pacifier until she was at least 3 weeks old.  I was certain I'd never EVER give my little girl formula from a bottle.  I was sure I'd be over the hormonal "baby blues" within just a week or two of having Brooklyn.  Let me now say with experience, when motherhood is suddenly upon you, you truly realize that you are a person who ". . . knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." SMILE!

     Another good verse for new moms is I Corinthians 10:12 - "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."  If you get to the point where you think you have all your emotional "ducks in a row", you'd better watch out!  You may very well fall flat on your face!  When you think you won't ever be frustrated with your baby's actions again, she's going to stain her cutest church dress with a dirty diaper.  When you're sure you'll never be upset at your husband over parenting issues again, he'll rest the carrier with the baby IN it, on the hood of your car.  But when the temptation comes for us to blow our top, we can stand on the promise that with each event that tries our patience, God HAS made a way for us to escape falling.  I Corinthians 10:13 - "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."  Believe it or not, those raging hormones DON'T have to get the better of us! SMILE!

     While it is easy to see our glaring mistakes, it is also easy to gloat about our new-mommy successes.  If pride steps in and causes us to think we're just the most incredible mom ever, we need to recall the words of II Corinthians 3:5 - "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God."  If I even APPEAR to be a sufficient mother to my newborn, it will only be because of Christ!  It is not in and of myself!

     As I'm going through these first-time experiences, it is SO good to know that many of my girl friends are in the same boat! - Each of us struggling to make sense of the new world we find ourselves in.  Are you a lady just about to step into the world of motherhood?  Be prepared to find yourself LESS prepared than you ever imagined.  God wants you to HAVE to rely upon Him during these new days!  Do you feel like you couldn't possibly stumble in a certain area of your life again? "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." And if you're tempted to think you're the best there is, remember that any sufficiency AT ALL only ever comes from God.  May the Lord bring a smile this week with the verse that declares, "And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." Some of us are still coming to the conclusion that NONE of us have "arrived". SMILE!