So... A few months ago I was introduced to a website called "Power of Moms: A Gathering Place for Deliberate Mothers." But it wasn't until Tydon was born & I seemed to have lots of time on my hands just sitting around on the couch feeding him all day that I started to really READ many of the great articles & LISTEN to the podcasts they had about motherhood. Their emphasis is about not just surviving as a mom, but thriving as a mom. It's about being really deliberate about everything we do as moms, so that we won't have regrets later & so that we'll be helping our children & ourselves become the best people we can be.
And somehow, over time, the few thoughts & ideas I started reading on this website started inspiring me to start living a little differently. A little more passionately. A little more on purpose. I felt my focus start to turn more INWARD, towards these sweet little spirits I spend all my days with. I started filling up notebooks with all the ideas I was getting & the new books I was reading & then I started trying out a few new things in our family. Things like making family dinner-time more meaningful, developing family traditions & we even came up with a family song :) Some of the ideas we've tried have been flops & haven't fit our family's style, but I've been loving the direction we've been moving towards.
But more recently, I'd noticed that there hadn't been quite as many articles being posted on the site & I had the thought that maybe I should check into writing a few articles for it (they post articles from LOTS of different moms!). My second thought after that though was, "What?! ME? I have NO idea what I'd even write about!" So that night, after everyone else was in bed, I said a little prayer & explained to Heavenly Father that if this was something that HE really wanted me to do, to strengthen other mothers, then He needed to help me know what I should write about. Well, I spent the next HOUR writing down all the ideas that kept popping into my head, so I definitely think I've got His support on this one!
And so, I'm trying to be brave & go with this new idea. It's a little daunting though to put your ideas "out there" for so many more people to read through & judge & roll their eyes at if they don't agree with you 100%. And I certainly don't think that I have all the right, amazing answers out there about being a great mom. But I do believe that us moms NEED each other's help, encouragement & great ideas! I can't think of a better topic to write about or a better group to be a part of than other deliberate mothers, all trying to be the best moms we can be.
Two months ago I submitted my first article... It was nerve-wracking & exciting & exhilarating, but I didn't want to tell anyone, for fear that my article wouldn't get used. But about a month ago, they e-mailed me, telling me that they wanted to use my article & I was ecstatic! I guess when you're a mom, doing a lot of the same mundane things over & over everyday, writing an article for a website (other than my blog!) seemed BIG! Bigger than I'd ever dreamed up for myself before. So, fast-forward several e-mails & weeks later, and here we are with my first article being published TODAY! You'll have to click on the link below & check it out!
I know that God has a plan for each of us. A way that we can touch the lives of those all around us. Until now, I just thought that raising good kids & helping out an occasional neighbor was as big as my influence would ever be felt. But this journey is reminding me that with the amazing capabilities of the internet, our sphere of influence can be far more reaching than just that! And so for now, I'm just trying to be brave & do what I feel like Heavenly Father wants me to do. Now I've just got to somehow find the time to WRITE all of these articles that are bouncing around in my head... :)
