"Other moms make it look easy; I'm the only one barely surviving motherhood."
How it sounds in your head: You scroll through Instagram and see beach trips, homemade bread, kids in matching outfits smiling. Meanwhile you're hiding in the bathroom crying because you can't do this one more day. Everyone else got the motherhood manual except you.
"Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world."
-- 1 Peter 5:9Source: comparison culture and the enemy's lie of isolation that convinces you you're uniquely failing.
Social media shows everyone's highlight reel while she's living in the blooper reel. The curated perfection makes her survival mode feel like singular failure.
Elijah thought he was the only faithful one left after defeating 450 prophets of Baal. He ran, hid in a cave, wanted to die, convinced he was alone. God told him there were 7,000 others who hadn't bowed to Baal—Elijah's isolation was a lie. He wasn't alone; he just felt alone.
I REFUSE the lie that I'm the only one barely surviving. IT IS WRITTEN that the same sufferings are experienced by my brotherhood in the world—I'm not uniquely broken; I'm humanly normal. The highlight reels are LIES; the struggle is REAL, and I'm not alone in it. IT IS WRITTEN that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, not because I make it look easy but because He finished the work. I am a branch abiding in the Vine, and survival mode doesn't disqualify me—it qualifies me for His strength made perfect in weakness. The BARAK blessing is on me even when I'm crying in the bathroom, because it's based on covenant, not capacity. I am loved, held, and not alone.
The Father sees you hiding in the bathroom thinking you're the only one, and He's whispering the same thing He told Elijah: you're not alone, and you're not failing. He sees past the Instagram moms to the real moms—the ones crying, surviving, clinging to Him—and He's running toward you with the robe, the ring, and the party.