Friends, I am away this week, camping the Icefields Parkway with my family with no access to the Internet. I am honored to have my friend Sarah Mae here today, a woman who has written a book that every mother needs. Read on, to find out how you can win one today!
Anxiety struck me immediately. It was too early to be up, but “too early” didn’t matter to my sweet little boy who was ready for the day the minute the sun shone through his bedroom window. My daughter Caroline needed milk and a new diaper, and all three of my little ones were, of course, hungry. After forcing myself to sit up, I stared at the wall, then fell back down into my bed. I pulled my knees to my chest and the blanket over my head as tears came down and these words tumbled out to my God: “I can’t be a mother today, Lord, I’m just too tired.”
Getting awakened multiple times a night, every night, is enough to make anyone crash, but add the weight of having to function throughout the day in order to take care of a one-, two-, and four-year-old, and this mama was spent before the day began. Just knowing the strength and energy that would be required to make it through the day was enough to sway me to stay balled up under warm covers. Serious sleep deprivation combined with the constant giving of myself, soothing cries, breaking up fights, training, disciplining, and trying to stay calm and gentle in the middle of it all was breaking me. I needed help. I so badly needed someone to call who could come and rescue me, just for one day. But that wasn’t my reality.
My mom was ill and living in Florida, my mother-in-law had a full-time job, and there was no money to hire someone to help me out for a couple hours a month, so I could get a break. My husband took over sometimes, but he was tired too, and we wanted weekends to be with each other. Plus, there was nowhere to go even if I could get out because money was tight; coffee at a coffee shop was a luxury out of my reach. It sounds like a lot of excuses, but the point is that I felt very alone, and very, very tired. Depression snuck up on me; there was a shell of a woman where I once was. My ideals, my hopes, my joy were snatched away before I had a chance to notice. Pleas for help aimed at heaven seemed to be met with silence. The message was clear: this was my life, and I needed to just deal with it.
What you just read was an excerpt from my book, Desperate – Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe. Now, you might think I have some entitlement issues, that I somehow think I deserve help. I don’t. What I know is that moms are feeling desperate, and I was one of those moms. I was looking for someone, anyone, to just notice that I felt like I was drowning. The Bible talks about older women teaching the younger women to love their husbands and their children, and there is a reason for that: it’s not natural. It is supernatural (as my now mentor, Sally Clarkson, says) to give of yourself, sacrifice, and persevere when you’re just done. My babes are now four, six, and seven, and a season of rest has come. I can see things a little more clearly, life doesn’t feel quite so dark, and I have found help and mentorship. But I know many of you are struggling to breathe. Your days morph into your nights and mornings come too soon. I know. And that’s why Sally and I wrote Desperate.
I hold these pages, words of Sarah Mae’s and Sally’s, that are a gift to every mother, that welcome mothers everywhere out of hiding and loneliness and into a fellowship of sisters and mentors, that will make you feel not alone, that will make you feel that there is real God-given hope.– Ann Voskamp, New York Times best-selling author of One Thousand Gifts
What You Will Find in Desperate:
- The perspectives of an younger women going through the little years, and an older woman who has raised her children well
- QR codes and links at the end of each chapter that lead to videos with Sarah Mae and Sally talking about the chapter
- A friend who so understands those “hide me in closet” moments
- Practical steps to take during the desperate times
- Bible study and journal exercises in each chapter that will lead you to identify ways in which you can grow as a mom
- Mentoring advice for real-life situations
- Q & A section with Sally where she answers readers questions
If you’ve ever whispered, “I just can’t be a mother today” to God in quiet desperation, you are not alone. Desperate is for those who love their children to the depths of their souls but who have also curled up under their covers, fighting back tears, and begging God for help. It’s for those who have ever wondered what happened to all their ideals for what having children would be like. For those who have ever felt like all the “experts” have clearly never had a child like theirs. For those who have prayed for a mentor. For those who ever felt lost and alone in motherhood. If you’ve felt those things, and you could use some help and encouragement, go ahead and leave a comment and Emily will pick three winners to win a copy of Desperate. If you just want to go ahead and get yourself a copy, you can do that at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your local bookstore. Keep on, friend. Keep on. Love, Sarah Mae