Do you ever feel alone when it comes to this whole mommy thing? I know I sure have. About 5 months before I got pregnant, my husband and I moved to a new town where we were now 45-50 minutes away from our parents and friends. Our plan was to rent for a little while before buying a home in our new county. The problem is that we left our lives behind in our hometown and failed to create a new life where we were. I figured we would still see our families and friends, but that we would also build a new life. That never happened though. So you can imagine that it can be pretty lonely sometimes. That loneliness grows when you become a stay at home mom when your only interaction during the day is with your baby & two dogs. This is something I haven’t been so great at, but making mommy friends is extremely important.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV): “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” It is important to have other mom friends who can help pick you up when you fall down. And you will fall – multiple times. You’ll strive to always do what’s best for your children , but we’re all human and need a friend to encourage us when we feel like the worst mom ever. Whenever I’m having a bad day, my husband always encourages me, but whenever I have the chance to connect with other moms, that is when I feel completely encouraged. We’re able to freely talk about our struggles and the other completely understand. My husband is able to be sympathetic, but he just doesn’t completely understand what a mom goes through. There have been quite a few times when I feel like I must be the only mom who has done what I’ve done or experienced what I experienced until I connected with another mom.
Before we moved Wylder to his own room, we had him sleeping in his Pack n’ Play in our bedroom. He had gone from sleeping through the night to waking up every 1-2 hours. You can imagine just how exhausted I became during this time. It wasn’t long before I started waking up in the morning to find myself cuddled up to my sweet boy with no recollection of bringing him there. I was completely mortified that this was happening and it was then that we made sure that he slept in his own room so I would have to wake up and walk across the house to him. I started wondering if any other moms had experienced this as well and when I talked to a friend about it, I found that she had done the same thing when her daughter was a baby! I felt so much better once I knew that I wasn’t the only one!
God never intended for us to do life or figure out this whole mommy thing alone. It is important to find not just mommy friends, but other Christian moms that you can connect with and who can encourage you with your walk with God and your mommy journey. If you don’t know where to start looking for mom friends, see if any churches or businesses have events just for moms. Many churches do Life or Growth Groups with some being catered towards moms or we even have a local coffeehouse that is having Mommy Mondays for the summer so local moms can get together. What are some ways you connect with other moms?
