Life After Divorce | The New Me Mom

I’ve never been good about making resolutions or having goals to stick to, and I’ve never been the type who wants to check off all the places or things I want to do before the end of my life, like swimming with sharks or jumping out of a plane, absolutely not! I’ve always had a hard time making plans, especially when I never know what hiccup might happen in a given day or what bump in the road might stop me from moving forward. With all we have to think about on a day-to-day basis, I don’t know how any of us are surviving mentally. Especially being a parent: deciding how we plan to raise our children, teaching them life skills, teaching them to be kind and good humans, who to hang out with, who not to hang out with, what to shelter them from, what to be transparent about, the list goes on and on. As a single mom, it’s my job to raise them right. I know I can only control half of what happens with the parenting schedule we have been given, but I just hope the foundation I give them is strong enough to build an amazing and fulfilling life on when they’re not with me.

Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

I know I’ve made some awful and less-than-ideal decisions in my life. I’m in my 40s, and while I can hear most of you saying, “That’s still so young,” I know time isn’t on my side. But it’s what I do with the time left that is what’s important. It’s been almost three years, and I’m so thankful God helped me out of a marriage that was not what he had designed. I finally feel free from a life that was holding me down and holding me back from being my true, fun, and outgoing self. Life should be about silly moments, laughing at the little things, worshiping with your hands held high, and embarrassing your kids in the car line while listening to your favorites from 20 years ago. Life is too short to walk on eggshells and not have a voice. Life is too short to hold your breath on an argument that may or may not come. And life is absolutely too short to feel less than human by being unappreciated and undervalued. Learning to be the “new me” has shown me a different perspective on how life should be lived. If I left this world tomorrow, I’d rather leave knowing I left a mark on everyone I met instead of leaving a mark on my passport, and I’d be happier knowing I had more empathy to help someone out in this life instead of being selfish with my own wants and needs. If I had a “bucket list”, it would consist of just a few things. I want to live a life my kids can be proud of, I want my kids to have a good and solid Christian foundation, and I want all of us to live the happiest life possible. I will constantly teach my children to pray for those who can’t pray for themselves and to pray for the unbelievers so that they see that God can change their hearts. The memories will last, the laughter will last, the joy and tears will last. All those other things are just things. I, of course, sometimes feel things are missing in my life, but maybe God just needs to mold me to be the best mom first.

With today being Mother’s Day and me not being able to spend the day with my own mother, my children and I just made the best of the day and spent our day with each other. And as I was writing this afternoon, I could hear my children jumping up and down and FaceTiming two rooms away from each other, and the giggles were priceless! It’s the best gift I could have asked for today. ❤️