Comparative Motherhood

Normally, I am a pretty secure person. Then I attended a homeschool convention. One of the booths had grain mills you could purchase. Curious, I stopped and chatted. Turns out there are moms homeschooling multiple children of varying ages, helping run a farm, sewing their kids clothes AND grinding grain into flour to make homemade bread! Did I mention their kids are multi-talented and hold college degrees by age fifteen? Talk about humbling.

Motherhood can magnify any insecurities you had before becoming a mother and/or add a whole new list for you to ponder. The problem is if we become too consumed with our insecurities, we can lose focus and miss some of the best and most crucial parts of parenting.

Realizing we can all struggle with the comparative motherhood disease, I was interested when offered a chance to review the new book Untangled: Let God Loosen the Knots of Insecurity in Your Life, by Carey Scott.

The author begins the book by telling her story and why it led to many of her insecurities. At first, I thought the book was written for survivors of sexual abuse. As the book continued though, I realized the root of Scott’s insecurities was her abuse by a stranger at age four, but all of us have some reason or reasons for our own insecurities.

The book covers the various areas that can cause moms, and really any woman or person for that matter, to be insecure. Whether it’s your marriage, your kids, your housekeeping abilities, your friends or even social media and success, she shares what she has learned.

Each chapter almost reads like a novel. Scott shares her story and gently weaves in the spiritual truths from God that have helped her work through her insecurities. Although she does not quote a lot of scriptures within each chapter, she ends each with several scriptures. I love that she quotes the verse and gives the version she used. Often, when people give a reference in a book, I mean to look it up, but rarely do.

The author also provides a written prayer (not a fan of them, but I imagine they help some people) and some discussion questions to consider or discuss in a group setting. Some chapters refer to multiple Bible stories, while others may only mention one. Although some may find a few of the chapters a little on the light side of Bible references, I appreciate that she doesn’t try to force someone who lived in the Old Testament into representing how to handle social media for instance.

The interesting thing about this book is it doesn’t read like a how-to book. Some sections she just leaves readers with questions to ponder. If you are looking for a book to tell you step by step exactly what to do, this one may not be your favorite. If on the other hand, you want someone to help you think about things differently, perhaps in a more godly way, I think you will find this book very helpful.

Whether you read this book or not, if you are finding your insecurities are preventing you from living the life God wants for you, I hope you will look back at the women in the Bible. Many of them struggled with their own insecurities. Yet those who turned them over to God often seemed to find the perspective they needed.

This book was given to me for free in return for my honest review. An affiliate link is included for your convenience.