Taking Postpartum Thoughts Captive

“Parenthood always comes as a shock. Postpartum blues? Postpartum panic is more like it. We set out to have a baby; what we get is a total take-over of our lives”

-Polly Berrien Berends–

I know that the topic of all things postpartum is vast, and I simply cannot capture it’s entirety in this blog post. My aim here is to encourage you to take those crazy, insane, and frustrating thoughts you have after having a baby, and hold them captive against the word of God and watch His word come out on top.

I know I haven’t been a mom for that long, but I am all too familiar with the baby blues as they call it. In fact, they hit me the day after I gave birth to Leona. I had taken a little shower in the bathroom in my hospital room, and when I finished, the most overwhelming feeling of sadness and an emotion, that I still cannot comprehend, seemed to take over me and I began to weep. Right there in the bathroom, still sore and bleeding from birth, and still shocked that I actually pushed a baby out not even 24 hours ago. The nurses asked if I was okay and I lied and said yes.

This wasn’t the last time I had those overwhelming feelings, they became more common and heavy before they simmered down about a week or two from now. During those times, thoughts would cross my mind that were simply not of God. They were fleshly and selfish. I would think thoughts like, “I can’t do this, I want my old life back. Why did we even do this? I wish someone would come take her and bring her back later when she’s potty trained and can take care of herself.” After the emotions calmed down I began to feel extremely guilty for feeling them. And I would cry to the Lord and ask Him to put His spirit in me because mine was a mess and out of control.

This is the key friends, we need the Holy Spirit, not just in everyday life, but especially for motherhood and all that it entails.

I wish I could say that magically one day after praying that prayer again that I no longer had any negative feelings about motherhood, but I would be lying, just like I did to that nurse in the hospital. It’s a process, and I’m so thankful to be surrounded by God and loved ones who remind me of two things:

1. It’s incredibly normal to have the baby blues or postpartum depression after having a baby, and more women deal with it than we know.

2. God is good. He is in control when we are not. He is ready and available to come onto the scene of our lives and give us aide and peace. He intimately understands the tangled mess of thoughts that accompany postpartum life, and He offers His peace and His word to help us get through it.

“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5

#Authentic #Faith #Motherhood #BabyBlues #MentalHealth #Newmom