In the mode of the Olympics, I was thinking about how God has put some amazing women on my mom team lately. We are all focussed on the goal of being the moms that God has designed us to be, following after His heart and rearing our children to love and serve Him above all else. We fall, we fail and get discouraged but we try and succeed and excel, too! We are in this together. We shouldn't be critical, hurtful or even have the slightest excitement when we see another mom failing. We should be ready to come along side, let them know they are not alone and reassure them that one failure doesn't have to lead to another.
So, not to dwell on the negative little petty things that happen in our lives but I have felt so much more attacked since I accepted the responsibility to co-lead a Bible study this school year. We will be going through the book Power of a Praying Parent. More than ever, I have felt the tug on my heart to lift my girls up so much more in prayer, releasing them to the care of God and doing my part that God has asked of me as their mom. In the last 10 days since I picked this study I have been short with my girls, I have felt worn down and discouraged, I have been on the verge of every emotion women feel. I haven't felt more hurt than today when I let a total stranger stir in me anger rather than love.
We were at Target (for the 5th time this week) finishing up school shopping and birthday party favor shopping. I usually don't let the girls roam free in the toy aisles because we are curbing the "I want this" attitude, but Kiki just got birthday money from GG Sylvia so why not look. The girls head down the 2 girly aisles while I head over to the clearance stuff just to see the goodies. They are not unsupervised for more than 2 minutes and they are all together. As I turn the corner, the older girls leave the aisle and I see Mattie pushing a baby stroller with 3 other strollers folded on the floor (these came from a shelf above Mattie's reach), a Barbie box, and about 2 other toys in the middle of the aisle. I laugh and say, "What did you find?" There is a mom in the aisle by now as I start picking things up and putting them back (realizing that 3 of the toys came from another aisle entirely). I make some cute comment (with a little laugh)- "Wow, what a mess! She couldn't have done all this, I was only around the corner for 2 minutes"
All the mom said in a sarcastic tone was - "How long have you been a mom?"
Ummmm....What? Did I just get an ice skate to the knee? What does that have to do with anything? Because you have 4 kids from 3-13, you know more about raising children? Or is it that you know how fast a kid can destroy a toy aisle from experience and now you want to be all superior because it's happened to someone else? I'm "that mom" who's in denial about what a terror my cute little 2 year old is?
I tried to let it roll off and just said - "I'm sure that my girls would have tattled on each other if it was my girls" to which she responded, "I'm sure." We left the toy section as fast as we could before I said something I would later have to apologize to my kids for.
By the time I got to the car, I was praying for that mom (even though I was still upset). I thought about how she must have needed to feel better than me at being a mom in that moment or maybe she thought she was teaching me instead of insulting me. Whatever it was, I am letting go. I need to realize that the situation got heightened in my mind because of the spiritual battle inside right now. I don't need others telling me I'm a good mom for it to be true. I need to be looking to Jesus and following Him. I want to encourage all of you moms reading this - you are doing a great job even on the days you don't think so! Your kids are safe in God's arms and He loves them more than we love them.
So, 5 years ago, We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Isn't that the best way to live life sometimes? Cuz if we really new what adventures were to come, they might scare us off from the best times of our lives! 
