How Can I Do All This?!?

My life is full. I used to think a stay-at-home wife and mother had a simple enough job. I was so wrong. It is the most important, exhausting, never-ending, rewarding, and demanding job I could ever imagine.

I am currently a wife to my best friend, a mother of a very active and rowdy 17 month old little boy, and 18 weeks pregnant with baby #2. I spend my days trying to keep the laundry going, the dishes clean, the floors swept and vacuumed, the house tidy, the yard picked up, the grocery bill down, the errands run, and food on the table - all while training, teaching, disciplining, playing with, and loving on a little boy. Oh yes, and coping with pregnancy fatigue, headaches, and a growing belly.

I also have studying and personal prayer time that should be a priority every day. To be 100% honest with you, it isn't a priority every day. Far too often, I wake and plunge right in to making breakfast, refilling sippy-cups, and squeezing in a shower.

There are hobbies I enjoy (blogging, emailing, reading). I have ministry work to do. There are plenty of aspirations and things I would like to learn (sewing, gardening).

Sometimes I ask myself, "How am I supposed to do all this?" What about family time? My social life? My down time?

When I see our never-ending list of places to be - the dentist at 10 a.m., pediatrician at 11:30 a.m., grocery store run, OB appointment at 2 p.m.,Church meeting at 6:30 p.m.  - and the enormous list of things to do - scrub the kool-aid stains out of the floor, bathe the kiddo, put a load of diapers in the wash, iron my husband's work shirts - sometimes, I want to throw my hands up in the air and say, "I can't do this!" Strangely enough though, I am learning that I'm right. I truly cannot do it all. I can't keep up and I can't keep going without the strength and the power of Christ pushing me onward. Philippians 4:13 tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Apart from Him, we have no strength at all. Without His power, we are weak.

This morning, I was reading 2 Corinthians 12:9 which says, "...My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

I am encouraged by that. I am weak, but in my weakness, I am made strong through the grace and power of Jesus Christ. It is important for us, especially us mothers, to acknowledge the fact that we are not superwoman. We can't be 100% awesome all the time. However, when we fall to our knees and claim the power of God, and confess that He alone has the ability to give us all that we stand in need of, then we are made strong. So, fellow wives, mothers, homemakers, and women, in light of your responsibilities and obligations, TRUST and KNOW that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. (Ephesians 3:20)  That's encouraging, isn't it??