Mommy Needs Jesus

The amount of pressure we place on ourselves as moms is a heavy load.

Now combine that with being a Christian mom.

Mom guilt thought it was big and bad until it met Christian mom guilt! Somewhere along the way, we started believing that if we love Jesus, we should be doing more, fixing more, serving more, advising more, and holding more together.

But where in Scripture are we told to strive harder and carry everything ourselves?

We are not.

Jesus says something entirely different:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me… For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
— Matthew 11:28–30

His burden is light. Not crushing or suffocating. Not built on performance or endless effort. It is light because He carries what we cannot.

And yet, so many of us live as though Jesus handed us a longer checklist instead of an invitation to rest.

The Fixer Trap

How often do we place pressure on ourselves to fix other people?

We jump in with advice. We analyze. We anticipate outcomes. We try to manage other people’s growth, healing, or spiritual maturity. Sometimes we call it love.

But what if love looks more like pointing than performing?

There have been many seasons when friends regularly came to me for advice. At the time, I assumed that was completely normal. I listened. I processed. I offered what I thought was wise counsel.

And then I started to feel resentful.

When the same patterns repeated.
When the same mistakes resurfaced.
When the conversations circled back again.

If I am being honest, there were moments I thought, Why are you coming to me if you are not going to take my advice? Why are you wasting my time?

But the real issue was not them.

It was me.

I was trying to be their savior. And that will never work.

I was not meant to carry the weight of changing someone’s life. I was meant to carry the Holy Spirit within me and use His wisdom to gently point people back to Him, not to what I thought they should do.

Yes, the Lord will sometimes give us something clear and timely to say. He absolutely uses us. But more often than not, the wisdom He gives is quieter than the advice culture we have grown used to. It is less about managing someone’s behavior and more about reminding them who God is.

Advice-giving has become normalized. But discipleship is different.

And I had to learn the difference.

When we take on roles that belong to God, we eventually collapse under the weight.

Psalm 55:22 reminds us:

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.”
— Book of Psalms 55:22

It does not say, “Carry everyone else’s burden so they do not have to.” It says cast. Release what was never yours to control and trust the One who truly sustains.

Boundaries Are Not Unspiritual

A life without boundaries is a life with more than enough problems. Too many times we become fixers instead of encouragers.

And even when we encourage, we need to ask ourselves: Are we pointing someone to Christ and their identity in Him, or are we subtly pointing them to ourselves and our opinions?

True encouragement reminds someone of who God is and what He says about them. It strengthens their dependence on Christ, not on us.

There is a difference between walking alongside someone and positioning ourselves as their solution.

If Not Me, Then Who?

Here is the question that often drives our exhaustion: If I do not step in, who will?

But maybe that question reveals something deeper. Maybe we struggle to believe that God is actually at work apart from us. Maybe we forget that the Holy Spirit is far more capable of conviction, comfort, and transformation than we are.

The Gospel frees us from being the savior in every story. We already have one.

I write from a place of been there, done that. I do not have the T-shirt. Well, actually I do, but it has stains and holes and is not one you would want to wear. The only thing I wear proudly is the gospel that saved me.

This is not false humility. It is surrender to the one true thing that will sustain us all: the Gospel.

Christ has already carried what we were never meant to hold. So maybe the better question is not, “If not me, then who?” Maybe the better question is, “Jesus, what have You actually asked of me today?” And then trust Him with the rest.

One day at a time, fixing our eyes on Jesus, abiding to thrive.