Today I’m making fifteen sandwiches and lunch bags for my favorite sports team this season, and it’s not for a Superbowl party.  I’m a basketball mom.

I’m a tennis mom, theater mom, a choir mom, a cross-country mom, a youth group mom and a tennis mom. I’ve also been a volleyball mom, a band mom, piano-lesson mom, a gymnastics mom, a 4-H mom, a volunteer mom, a show-choir mom, an honor-society mom, a science-fair and a camp mom.

I’ve been a tired mom. Are you a tired mom?

As I speak and minister to moms and women through out  country, there’s a common theme  – moms are busy, trying to do it all and are exhausted. Can I get an “Amen!”

I’ve been a stay-at-home-mom and a working mom. I’ve parented toddlers, school-age kids, teens and college kids and no matter what the stage, busyness doesn’t go away, the demands don’t go away, the stress doesn’t disappear. Moms are the hub of the household, holding everything together. Sometimes we’re balancing so much we feel like we’re walking a tight-rope and just one breath of wind is going to knock us off balance, sending us and our families into chaos.

Walking on a tight rope through life and motherhood isn’t what God intends for his daughters. In Luke 10:38-42 Jesus tells multi-tasking Martha that her priorities that day are a little unbalanced. Her sister, Mary , who spent time at Jesus’ feet worshiping and resting in His presence, was affirmed by Jesus for her choices.

“Martha, Martha, you’re worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken from her.” Luke 10:41-42

The Mary/Martha struggle has plagued women, particularly moms, for two-thousand years. Moms consistently find ourselves inundated with expectations to balance our busyness, doing everything at home, work, church and our communities simultaneously. How do we live like Mary in a world screaming “Do more, be more….or you’re not enough?”

It’s my privilege to bring Christ-centered, practical, tested-and-tried principles for balancing life no matter your stage of motherhood in a retreat called, “Got Balance?” – a retreat for moms on Balance, Busyness and Not-Doing-It-All. I’ll be bringing it to my hometown, Shipshewana, Indiana, from a request of moms needing rest, encouragement, and practical applications for a busy, messy, expectation-and-stressed-filled lives so many of us are living. 

I recently held this retreat for moms. Every time I do, I hear from women who are exhausted, hurting and carrying around extra stuff on top of just trying to keep laundry done and getting the right kid where they need to go. I can identify. I’m that mom. At the time my house was running the smoothest, my world was falling apart. 

Moms, will you join us for a day where you can rest, refill and be blessed?

“If you plan it, they will come” one mom said to me, asking me to have a retreat in our local community. 

So we’re planning it.  We are excited to bless moms for one day, March 22, from 9 am -3 pm at the Farmstead Inn and Conference Center. Complete information about the retreat, purchasing tickets, etc, is found here.  Ticket sales begin tomorrow, Feb. 1. We’d love to see you there! We’re going to have giveaways and special treats for each and every mom!

I can’t promise a three-step formula for living a perfect life. I can’t promise the exact answer to your situation. What I can provide are

• practical applications for Christ-centered balance, 
• new ways to look at expectations 
• keys to finding balance in wholeness
• truths to help you gain confidence to live in your strengths, not your weaknesses
• practical applications for running a household and family without doing it all
• hope for situations you might be too scared to talk about
• worship, love, fun give aways and the opportunity to celebrate spring in my beautiful town!

I’d love for you to join us. Email me at retreat@brendayoder.com for questions or to order tickets. You can also get them online here, at The Red Wagon in the Davis Mercantile, Shipshewana, or by phoning Heidi Stoltzful at 260-768-7876.  The prayer and planning team is already praying for you. Will you let us bless you?

Complete details are here.  Now…I’ve got some sandwiches to make.