Written by Hannah: Mamapreneur, artist, and blogger at Cold Coffee Hot Mess. 

I’m a busy woman. I’ll venture to guess you are, too. I’m a mama and a business owner who works from home, and I’ll go ahead and tell you that most days I feel like a complete mess. The house, my work schedule, my hair – it’s borderline disastrous. I’m right there in that boat with you, trying to navigate through finding that elusive “work-life balance” we all hear so much about. It’s easy for me to fall into the trap of survival mode. Hear me out: surviving each day is a victory. Let’s not downplay that. But I read a quote recently that stopped me in my tracks: “Life in Christ is not merely a life of survival, but of thriving and flourishing in His presence” (from Flourish by Well Watered Women).

We were made to have a beautiful, abundant, enjoyable life. It’s hard to envision those words when we think of our lives some days. There’s nothing like trying to get a project done and being interrupted by breaking up another argument between my kids. Or getting to the end of another crazy day and realizing it’s been almost a week since you used something other than dry shampoo in your hair #hotmessexpress. It’s in those moments, in the midst of the chaos that I have to stop and remind myself of what is true.

My hope and strength is found in Jesus, not in my own ability to handle my obstacles, or even my ability to handle my daily life. Our lives are messy. My days are literally covered in paint and smooshed up Cheerio crumbs. I could spend my day focusing on that mess and letting it make me feel like a mess, or I could embrace it.

If we are going to believe that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made by God, we have to believe that our strengths and our weaknesses are God-given. Our weakness, our mess…that’s where He shows up. I feel weak and incapable more often than not if I’m being honest. Trying to be a good mom, a good wife, a good friend, and a good business owner is not something I can handle doing and will never be done well if I’m trying to do it out of my own resources. And I wasn’t designed to do it all on my own in the first place! I’ve fallen flat on my face too many times to even try to count. But…

His grace is sufficient. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Sister, it’s impossible to always get it right, and it’s impossible to live a mess-free life. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just go through the daily motions in survival mode. You and I were made for so much more than just surviving. We can thrive when we stop focusing on the mess. We can thrive when we stop trying to do everything out of our own resources. And we can thrive when we let our weaknesses and mess be a space to let God be our strength. I encourage you to stop seeing your mess as failure, and start seeing it as an opportunity to trust Jesus. Can you even imagine how different our days might look with that as our mindset?!