Overcoming Overwhelm: God's Comfort for Working Mothers - Find Peace and Purpose in the Dance of Work and MotherhoodSample

Day Three: Loneliness in Leadership

“Is anyone else finding it this hard?”

I’d find myself asking this question (mostly to myself) in the early days after my eldest was born. The stark transition from over a decade of working without thinking about much beyond my to-do list, to now trying to carefully craft work slots in nap times, was something I couldn't have planned for. As well as now being an Author, I run my own coaching business and was a teacher for several years before that. My work, whether I liked it or not, has formed a part of who I am. When I felt like I no longer could, nor wanted to operate in the way I once did anymore, all it would take would be a quick scroll of social media to feel like I was the only one feeling this way.

When God speaks to Elijah at his breaking point, he asks him what he’s doing where he is. Elijah’s response doesn’t directly answer the question. Instead, he’s quick to tell God that despite his very best efforts, he’s alone.

This level of vulnerability and fear isn’t a shock to God. In fact, when he asks Elijah what he was doing, it’s not like he was asking because he didn’t know the answer already. God longs for our honest and heartfelt devotion when we come to him as opposed to the “I’m fine” we might say to our co-worker through gritted teeth when we feel anything but.

Perhaps Elijah felt as though he had no one he could share his frustrations with, considering he felt he was ‘the only one left’.

I wonder if you’ve ever felt like I did in those early days? Perhaps you’re feeling it now - as though every other working mother has got this whole juggle thing totally together and you’re the only one dropping balls left right and centre?

We see from the very beginning of scripture, in Genesis 2:18, that God’s plan isn’t for us to do life alone. It doesn’t take much then, to assume that what God calls ‘good’ (community) is going to be what the enemy tries to destroy.

The full life Jesus promises us is to be found in the fellowship of brothers and sisters, not while we’re by ourselves wondering if we’re the only ones feeling this way. We’re absolutely not. We’re told ‘it takes a village’, and whilst our village might not look like we thought it would, there are always others who can relate to where we’re at and remind us that we’re not alone. Just look at what God says to Elijah in 1 Kings 19:18 about the seven thousand others who also worshipped the Lord!

Give yourself some time to reflect on the following: