The summer is a busy time for my family. My husband is a pastor, and we have a camp meeting for two weeks in June. Then we have a small window to unpack and recover (though, honestly, my kids come home sick from camp meeting every year so far) before my husband’s yearly mission trip (another two weeks) begins.

We know we should let God lead in our lives, right? But why is it so difficult?

Last week was a tough one for me. Not my-life-is-over difficult, but it was tough. I cried a lot, and I’m not much of a crier. I wasn’t feeling great physically, I was hugely disappointed over a matter of prayer that I felt hadn’t been answered in the way I was hoping, my two year old was acting out more than usual (we’re talking serious tantrums) and my home was in chaos (partly out of my control, and partly my own fault).

I’m feeling better now, but honestly, not too much has changed. I’m away from home right now, and vacation is definitely helping. BUT, there’s a mess waiting for me, my prayer still hasn’t been answered definitively, and we’re not out of the woods yet, tantrum-wise.

You might be thinking that there’s a pretty major problem with the title of this post, but nope! The 3 moms I’m thinking of were (probably) the some of the greatest Bible moms. We’re talking serious #momgoals here, but these mamas have no words written about them in the scriptures. We don’t know their names or much about their circumstances.

Parenting, and especially discipleship parenting, is not easy. It’s not easy being patient when you haven’t gotten enough sleep for 2000 consecutive nights. It’s rough because the hours are terrible and you never get a day off. It’s hard because there’s a lot of really gross, really smelly, and even really slimy stuff you have to deal with on the regular. It’s frustrating because toddler logic (even on a good day) will stretch the limits of your patience, endurance, and probably even your knowledge of scientific, religious and philosophical truths. And, to top it all off, your actions teach by example (whether you like it or not) through it all.