PreApproved in Motherhood
Kristin Hill Taylor

Seven years ago today, I became a momma. An adoption process that also was a faith journey led me to that hospital room , where I held my baby girl for the first time. She was just hours old and we’d witnessed her brave birth mom deliver her into this world.

I knew being a mom would change me. I just had no idea how much.

I came into motherhood a perfectionist who wanted to control details, define days by how much I accomplished, and measure my worth by how long my baby slept and how she behaved. I embraced motherhood, but I held on too tightly to a desire for approval from anyone who would give it to me.

Then I saw my reflection in my daughter’s little life. I saw her scared to try something new because she hadn’t yet mastered it. I saw her mood crumble when life didn’t go the way she expected. I saw her stress about first-grade homework.

I understood every single one of those scenarios she was facing. I knew how she felt inside.

Yet God had brought me on a journey to smash those idols – those replacement loves that distracted me from Christ’s love. It’s been a long, hard journey to admit and then abandon my perfectionist ways that crave approval.

Actually, I’m still on the journey.

But I’m a better momma when I can reflect Christ into my daughter’s life rather than pass down my Type A tendencies. I’m not perfect, but I’m being perfected by a perfect God. Notice the drastic difference when perfect is an unattainable adjective and when it’s an ongoing verb.

If we could do everything perfectly all of the time, we wouldn’t need a savior. In realizing my need for a savior, I’m freer to embrace life as it is with crumbs under the kitchen table, dirty dishes in the sink, piles of laundry waiting to be washed or perhaps folded on a good day, and days that don’t go as planned.

Regardless of the condition of our house or heart, I’m preapproved because of what Christ did for me on a cross. The more I rest in the promise that Christ’s love is enough, I’m freer to live this life, the one God has given me.

God chose me to be Cate’s mom long before I wandered in my infertility wilderness.  In becoming and being her mom, God has rescued my heart from craving approval and yearning for perfectionism. I want Cate to inherit a legacy of faith and not the burden of her perfectionist mom’s bad habits.

Today I’m celebrating Cate’s life on her 7th birthday and I’m praising God for the journey to and through motherhood that continues to change me.

Kristin Hill Taylor lives in Murray, Ky., with her husband, Greg, and two kids – 7-year-old Cate and 4-year-old Ben. She can often be found trying to beat her husband in Words with Friends, playing games of Settlers of Catan with her best friends, listening to her daughter’s stories, reminding her son to be careful, or texting her friends. She believes in taking road trips, living in community, and documenting real life. You can keep up with her at www.kristinhilltaylor.com  or follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

THE LOVE IDOL MOVEMENT

Click here to find out more about the Love Idol movement.

Click here to purchase the book that inspired the movement.

Click here to join us on Facebook as we lay down our Love Idols and declare our #preapproved status in Christ.

THE PRINTABLE

Click here to print the preapproved cutouts.
Place these where ever your Love Idols have lurked!

A second Preapproved printable: to frame, to put on your refrigerator, to give to a friend.
Click here to print. My gift to you, brave soul!