If I Knew Then
- Cathrine Schmelzer
- May 26
- 3 min read
“We can’t do any of it without God guiding us. Being fully in charge, really.”
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
This month, MMF has been learning from moms of all seasons, and especially older moms who have been through it and lived to see the other side of motherhood. We’ve asked these seasoned moms and grandmas what they would tell their younger selves. The answers, which varied from “Let the dishes go” to “Pray for your babies constantly”, all felt to me like they centered around one truth.
We can’t do any of it without God guiding us. Being fully in charge, really.
Today’s scripture is like a mini guide book on how to include God in our mothering. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Moms, think about this for a minute. It’s so easy to say we do this, but do we really? Do we really trust God with our whole heart, including trusting Him with our children? If God spoke a direction for your child to you, and you didn’t want to do it or understand why, would you trust Him and do it anyway?
In the next few words, we’re reminded that trusting God means not leaning on or relying on our own understanding. We only have part of the facts, only see the earthly things that are in front of us, and therefore our understanding is flawed. We definitely won’t make better choices than God makes because He knows our children so much better than we do, and has better plans.
And this scripture goes on to tell us that trusting sometimes isn’t enough, or isn’t the whole picture. As we trust, we’re also called to submit. It’s trusting that God's ways are best, and then doing what He’s telling us to do. We can say we trust God until we’re blue in the face, but if we’re not submitting and actually doing what He’s guiding us to do, we’re not really mothering WITH God. We’re still doing it on our own.
Whether you’re deciding between homeschool or public, making choices while parenting teens, or anything in between or after, moms, let’s lean on God to guide us, knowing we can trust Him to make the path straight and clear for us.
Take a moment to:
Hang this verse in your house. It’s a beautiful verse to see/hear/read every day. Share it with your kids. Memorize it together.
Pray: God, I don’t always understand or know what’s best for my children. I want you to fully be in control of my mothering steps, I want guidance all along the path. I pray that I would always be attentive to hearing from You, but if I miss something, would You send me another reminder. I don’t want to ever look back and wish I had involved you in our choices more. I want you fully involved now. Thank You for loving us all so much that You want to help us in this life. I love You, amen.
Written by Cathrine, mothering 4 of God’s children