Frazzled Moms Devotions To Go Review
Written by Arika on June 18, 2009As moms we all have our “Can I please just have 5 minutes to breathe my own air?” times. Some days even just 2 minutes would suffice. For me personally, over the past few months those times came closer and closer together until every single day numerous times throughtout the day I found myself not just asking but literally begging for those few minutes to myself - outloud even. To my kids, hubby - honestly ANYONE who was willing to listen, which wasn’t many because between home and business I rarely saw or talked to anyone outside the family.
I’ve never been one to really keep to myself. Even though I am a Cancer and should fall into the homebody category, that’s never been me. I’m a social creature. I’ve always been the kind who is never sitting still, loves her plate full, always on the go and thrived on being with others and DOing. That is until the past few years.
I don’t know maybe it’s just getting older, having kids, settling down, working from home or a combination of all of them that’s making me this way, but I honestly don’t think growing up and having responsibility is the major reason I’ve become such a hermit. Even when Zachary was young I was a busy body. We went and did all the time. Not so much anymore.
All that slowly diminished without me even realizing it was happening until I found myself starting to fall apart - literally. I’ve gotten to the point nothing I did made me happy and everyone else was starting to see it because I wasn’t easy to be around, always in a bad mood, which as a mom you learn your kids can and will eventually pick up on no matter how good you are at hiding it. Not only do they sense your moods, they mimic them if they see them enough. Yeah my kids were beginning to do this.
Just one example: My oldest got snippy with me a lot for no particular reason, all because he saw me being that way. Yes, he’s approaching 12 and the hormones are flowing which has a lot to do with his “attitudes” lately, but if you knew my son you’d know that’s not all of it. He is his mama through and through.
It just dawned on me that he used to have an imaginary friend he called ’shadow’. Now Shadow was more than just Zachary’s actual shadow. It started that way, but then he became Zach’s best buddy. He used to eat dinner with us, take his bath after Zach and watch TV with us. I even remember Zach telling me that Shadow was on vacation in Texas or Indiana among other places when we hadn’t heard about him in a few days. Makes me wonder if there was a reason his friend was named that because I tell ya the older he gets the more he reminds me of my own shadow. - Stop laughing if you’re reading this mom!
Anyway, back on topic…sorry still have those moments where I just get on a roll and can’t stop.
During this extremely extended PMSing time, I came across a Tweet from a friend of mine who was looking for moms who were interested in reading a book that one of her clients had written. I replied that I’d love to read it (I hadn’t read a book in a very long time - since I was breast feeding Sierra so it had been months) and a few days later I was holding in my hand this tiny little pocket size book:
Rochelle Vasalek’s Frazzled Moms’ Devotions to Go was an answer to a prayer I’d been praying for months. I was definitely a frazzled mom who couldn’t tell whether she was coming or going. I had dug myself a rut so deep I didn’t even know how to begin to get out.
Rochelle has a realness that almost any mom can relate to at some point in her devotions. She’s dealt with things in her life that many of us would think we’d never make it through. As a matter of fact one of her biggest challenges she almost didn’t make it through and neither did her son.
But through it all - even at times she thought she wouldn’t need him - she had God on her side and found her way through the craziness of life with His guidance and her faith. She walks us through real life stories of her own filled with humor and encouragement to help us moms see not only are we not alone, but it’s probably not as bad as it seems.
Reasons I loved this book:
It’s little!
It is small enough to fit in my purse (I didn’t think anything else could fit there but it did), cubby hole under the radio in the van, the baby’s diaper bag pocket, just about anywhere. If I tried hard enough I could probably fit it in the back pocket of my jeans even!
It’s broken up into bite size pieces that get the point across without rambling on.
We’re moms, we’re busy and therefore we don’t have time to sit down and read an entire novel or chapter. Each devotional is 2-3 pages long and can easily be read and entered into our memory in a few minutes.
There are 30 days of devotionals.
Take it 1 day at a time, which is all we can muster the courage or time for. This makes it perfect for moms like me who didn’t need anything else unneccessary crammed into my brain to try and remember. Being able to focus on one single devotion at a time gave me the ability to do just that - FOCUS & WORK on ONE thing at a time.
You can easily keep going if one isn’t enough too.
There were some days I actually had more than a minute or two to spare (you know after the kids FINALLY went to sleep and hubby happened to doze off on the couch!) and I could keep reading more.
Scriptures & Spirit Builders
Each day started with a scripture and was followed by Rochelle’s story. These alone would be enough to get you thinking and really motivated, but that’s not all. At the end of each day there is a spirit builder. These are only a paragraph long and give you advice and specific activities to do to help strengthen your relationship with God and build on the scripture and story before it.
The only thing I found a bit on the negative side of this tiny bundle of joy (yes I found great joy in the things I read and took from Rochelle’s book) was that there were a few typos. Now, this was not enough to make me stop reading and some nights it even gave me a little chuckle. However, I have writer’s blood AND I’m a perfectionist so I notice the little minute details like this. Sue me!
I will tell you it took more than JUST this book to get me out of my funk but it absolutely helped the process. Along with a few dear friends (you know who you are T & N) who were there when I needed them most, kids who loved me unconditionally and a loving husband who even though he doesn’t deal well with my regular PMSing was willing to stick with me even though I was bringing him down as well, Frazzled Moms’ Devotions to Go showed me there was light at the top of the hole. It showed me that we all have our times when no matter how hard life is we’ve always got a helping hand reaching down ready and willing to pull us up and show us the way.
I highly recommend any mom who is feeling like she just can’t think inside her own head for being so frazzled, grab this tiny piece of heaven on Earth. You are NOT alone, we all have these moments, but there is a way to relieve the stress and get through even the toughest of times as moms.
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