Are you tired of cleaning up the same messes day after day? Are you tired of making dinner, changing diapers or driving carpool day after day?
If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you aren’t alone! In fact, you’re invited into a guilt-free zone for a precious conversation today about embracing God’s grace in the messiness of motherhood.
On this episode of the Better Together podcast, my guest is speaker and author, Amy Seiffert. She’s the author of the new book, Chin Up: Wearing Grace, Strength and Dignity When Motherhood Unravels Our Soul. Amy and her husband, Rob live in NW Ohio and they are the parents of three kids. For the past 16 years, Amy has been writing and speaking on staff with Cru and she's the Director of Outward Movement at Brookside Church in Bowling Green, OH.
Before she became a mom, Amy pictured motherhood as a beautiful dress that she saw her friends wearing so beautifully. However, Amy felt that her motherhood dress felt floppy and didn’t fit quite right. She says that every time she tried to adjust or change, her motherhood dress would shift and expose the things that she wanted to keep covered up.
Amy and I talk about how she found God’s grace in the mundane and maddening tasks of motherhood. If you’ve ever struggled with endless laundry, Mom, I’m hungry, hated playing Barbies or was tempted to burn your kids’ puzzles, Amy’s been there.
One of the most powerful parts of our conversation centered around changing our perspective on the endless loads of laundry or those long sleepless nights. I love how Amy’s former seminar professor calls those seemingly mundane tasks “maintaining and sustaining.” In her book, Amy writes that when we see the sunrise and sunset or the seasons change, those are examples of how God maintains and sustains our world. Amy was encouraged when she realized that her maintaining and sustaining tasks like laundry, making dinner and changing diapers mirrored God’s work in our world. I hope that you listen in for that powerful conversation.
As we talk about Chin Up, Amy shares her struggle to overcome anger, letting go of unrealistic expectations and most of all, how she's learning to embrace God’s grace in motherhood., if you’ve been beating yourself up for not being the kind of mom that you want to be or think that you should be, Amy’s story is you’ve been beating yourself up for not being the kind of mom that you want to be or think that you should be, Amy’s story is
Sweet friend, if you’ve been beating yourself up for not being the kind of mom that you want to be or feeling guilty about not always enjoying motherhood, Amy’s story is perfect encouragement for you.
LINKS:
Amy Seiffert's website
Connect with Amy on Facebook
Buy Chin Up on Amazon.com
Barb Roose is the host of the Better Together podcast. Barb is passionate about reaching women and teaching them to win at life with God-empowered strength and dignity. She loves speaking at women's conferences and events on the topics of fear and worry, self-care and leadership. Barb is the author of multiple books and Bible studies, including April 2018 releases, Winning the Worry Battle (book) and Joshua: Winning the Worry Battle (Bible study). Check out Barbroose.com for more information.