As a mom, you may not have qualified for the Rio Olympics, but you certainly deserve a spot on the podium in our eyes. There are no “perfect scores” in motherhood, but if you had a discipline breakthrough, managed a meltdown, or found time in your day to pursue a dream, then we want to take a moment and celebrate alongside you. Even the little “victories” add up to be big wins in the long run; so let’s champion each other. After all, we’re on the same team.
Today we are featuring a friend who is a wonderful spiritual leader and has been a part of my own spiritual growth over the past handful of years, Deanna DeBrosse. Let’s see that wonderful family of yours!
Hey there! Here’s a picture of me and my family. I love this photo, and it make me laugh because although we may look “perfect” the reality was I was yelling at everyone the whole time and stressing everyone out because I REALLY wanted a perfect family beach photo. I have no idea how everyone managed realistic looking smiles! Mom fail, but good pic… and a reminder that I’m simply never gonna be perfect!
But what a wonderful thing to hear, because this truly is the perfect beach picture! It just proves the point that I always try to remind myself – nothing is as “perfect” as it may seem. But your family is gorgeous, no matter what fails were behind that picture!
So what other hats do you wear in addition to your [big, gigantic, hugely significant] Mom Hat?
I resigned from my role as a senior engineer at P&G ten years ago, and haven’t looked back. The years when my kids were young were VERY hard at times, but I’m glad I was able to stay home with them. Now that everyone is at school all day, I prayerfully ask God what it is He has for me to do. He’s led me to some awesome opportunities to grow, to serve Him, and to serve the community in which I live. I lead a women’s bible study community at my church, I’m a volunteer counselor for women who need a friendly ear at the Eve Center, my husband and I are on the prayer team together and love to find ways to serve together, oh ya, and I’m occasionally a foster “dog” mom.
I had the pleasure of meeting those cute foster puppies last year. They were so squishy and adorable ?! I hear you on the years being so hard when the kids are young. I’m in the thick of it right now. I LOVE the letter you sent me to read that was a letter to “Deanna of the past”. It was really uplifting and fits right in with the mission we try to live out here at Texting the Truth!
You also have a wonderful opportunity for everyone reading this that you are launching next week for the Lenten season, right?! Tell us more about it!
Yes! The season of Lent is fast approaching (it’s March 1st this year), and I have a challenge for everyone to consider taking on…
How about using this season of Lent to get more familiar with the Bible? How about using 40 days during lent to “read” all 39 books of the Old Testament and 1 book from the New Testament in around 10 minutes or less per day?
How awesome would it be to build a more complete understanding of what happened during the thousands of years that lead up to Jesus’ time on the Cross? What stories do you wish you were more familiar with? What prophecies do you hear about but haven’t seen or understood for yourself?
You’re invited to take on the 40 in 40 for lent challenge with a community of fellow journeyers! We will be using content from The Bible Project, and I think you’ll be blown away by the quality of these videos and how thorough they are!
Check out 40in40forlent.com for more details!
I had the privilege of participating in the pilot of this challenge over the past 40 days and I think it’s wonderful! The videos are really engaging and high quality! I plan to participate with the group during Lent and I encourage everyone to check out the website for more details to see if this is something of interest!
Moving on…tell us some more about your kids!
I have a 12yr old daughter, 10yr old daughter and 8yr old son. They are awesome and parenting is HARD!!! We believe fully that our first and most important “disciples” are our children and have tirelessly tried to find ways to create an inviting space for them to grow in their belief that 1) God is GOOD, and 2) God’s ways are good. We’ve focused on progress and not perfection and are starting to see some solid fruit from all of our efforts.
That’s such a good reminder for me. If there is anyone in this world I should be discipling, it is my own children.
Share a recent mom win you experienced that took time and perseverance to accomplish.
I’m training on becoming a better listener. It’s an especially difficult challenge for an “extroverted verbal processor” who has strong gifting in teaching and evangelizing. This is a MAJOR area of weakness for someone like me. My daughter recently came home distraught about something at school. I wanted to “teach” in that moment, but managed to use self-control and simply listened. It worked out beautifully and the conversation ended in a place I never would have imagined.
Ha! God works best in our weaknesses, right ?! That’s so amazing that God is pulling these skills out of you and putting them to fruitful use.
We all need a little “in the trenches” encouragement – What’s a mom win that you have texted your best friend lately?
I managed to remember it was my time to pick up the kids for carpool this week!!! SWEET! Thank you, God for the alarm setting on my phone! (This struggle is REAL for me!)
Haha! I do not look forward to the carpool days! I need to start planning my method of attack now while I still have time!
If you could, leave us with some words of encouragement for us moms in the trenches.
“Progress, not perfection” As a mom we want the best for our kids. For years I fell into the trap of focusing on all the things that were holding my kids back from “perfection” rather than focusing on the progress we have made and on all the things they are doing right. It has been transformative for our family to focus mostly on all the progress we have made and what we’re doing right.
I love that. And it’s so true. None of us are perfect, and if we only focus on the standard of perfection, we miss out on so many other great things. Thanks so much for joining us today Deanna!
If you would like to be featured as a Gold Medal Mom or you know someone who would, please contact us here!