This weeks dreamer I have known for most of my life. My first memories of her, were as a little girl with the cutest face and the most beautiful curly hair! She has grown into an amazing women... introducing Ashley McNary, a wife, mother and passionate dreamer who is clearly making her stamp on this world and in her community. Be encouraged~
I get to be the wife of an amazing man, Jon and I will have been married for 8 years in May! We have three awesome kids: Beckam (boy, age 4), Easton (boy, age 2), and Braylin (girl, 9 months). Growing up, I always figured that I would be a stay at home mom. My mom stayed home with us, and did a great job, so I didn't see that I would do anything different. I graduated with a degree in Middle School Education, but took a job doing high school and college ministry at Heartland Community Church right after I graduated. I didn't realize that I would love ministry so much. I had my son, Beckam, and while I LOVED spending time with Him, I had this desire to continue to pour into God's kingdom. I continued to work for Heartland in various roles for the next couple years, while getting to be a mom and it was wonderful! It wasn't until after my second son was born that I really struggled with my choice to work or stay at home. I knew that I loved my job, it provided me with a chance to use my God given gifts, but also flexible hours to still be the mom I wanted to be. I enjoyed having the opportunity to hear about life change and be a small part of watching God do His thing. But I struggled because I saw so many of my friends making the choice to stay at home, and wondered "Am I a bad mom because I want to continue doing my job?" Through some deep processing with God, a series at church, and many conversations with my husband, I finally felt the freedom to say that I love my kids, and I love doing ministry, and I can do both. I love it. Currently, I am the Programming Director at our campus in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin as well as our Children's Ministry Curriculum Coordinator, which is a new role for me. But due to the fact of having young kids, and knowing how important spiritual wisdom and conversation is at these early years, I have been having a blast! And I am having a blast, well most days, being the mom of two crazy active boys and a sweet, smiley little girl. They are my joy! Recently however, I have felt this stirring in my heart that it is becoming harder and harder for women to be honest about parenthood. Due to the world of facebook and blogs (which I love both) we are so tempted to continue to compare ourselves to other mom's posts about fun activities, sweet moments, funny stories, creative ideas. Women don't post things like "I lost my temper today and acted in a way I am not proud of." We post "My son came and cuddled up to me and said 'I love you so much mommy!". Women don't post pictures of their children watching a cartoon for the 3rd time that day, we post pictures of us doing a fun craft with all homemade ingredients and everyone smiling. There is more temptation than ever to compare our "day to day" life to everyone else's best experience and feel guilty, less-than, or just feel like a bad mom.
So as a group of women at Heartland in Sun Prairie identified this in our own lives, we wanted to offer that same freedom to other women. Because while I love my children with everything in me, there are many moments in a day that are not pretty. And from every conversation with other moms, I know I am not the only one. But instead of us all feeling like we are the only one, let's get together admit that our lives aren't picture perfect, then move on. Let's equip ourselves with more tools to embrace the moms that we were created to be and strive to be even more intentional with those that God has given us to nurture. We won't be supermom, not even close, but we can be great moms. Let's just redefine what that means.
 |
| Lindsay Letters If your in the Illinois/Wisconsin area this conference is for you! With amazing speakers like Shauna Niequist and Jodi Hickerson you are bound to be motivated, encouraged and challenged with a good bit of humor in-between. You can register here Hot Mess Mom Conference |
1 comments:
That's a great article! Our pastor, Andy Stanley, just finished up a series on the dangers of comparison. There is no WIN in comparison. You will always lose... Someone else will always have more and if you are happy that you have more than someone else then that is wrong too! No win.... We normally compare ourselves to somebodies best version of them - not their everyday selves but the height of their accomplishment. Who is our measuring stick? God.... We are made in His image and he created us to be our best us. It's so hard to remember though. So hard to be real... There is no win in comparison - that is what I need to remind myself of daily!
Post a Comment