Overwhelmed Working Mom | Overwhelm, Work Life Balance, Financial Stability, Mom Guilt, Time Management

Do you barely see your kids during the week — and then spend the whole weekend scrambling to make up for it? Packing in the trips, the outings, the activities, sure the fun will finally add up to enough?
I've been that mom. I married my high school sweetheart at 19, and he spent the first five years of our marriage deployed to war. So when he came home, I thought I had to cram every lost memory into whatever time we had. And what I learned fast is that cramming doesn't create closeness — it steals it. It leaves you tired, cranky, and rushing from one thing to the next with no real connection to show for it.
The same thing happens with our kids. That drive to make up for lost time on the weekend doesn't serve you, and it may not be serving them the way you hope.
In this episode, I'll walk you through a gentler way: taking that mommy guilt to the Lord (1 John 3:20), releasing what you don't need to carry, and simplifying so the connection can actually happen. I'll also share the moment from our Labor Day weekend that blew me away — after the beach, after the mall, I asked my daughter her favorite part of the whole weekend. Her answer wasn't what I expected, and it changed how I see quality time completely.
You don't have to do the most to be enough. Sometimes a coloring book and a deck of cards say more love than a packed calendar ever could.
Take a deep breath, mama. Let's slow down together.
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Have you handed that voice over to God — done the work, silenced the inner critic — and you still feel heavy?
Here's the trap, mama. Because we laid it at the feet of Christ, we think we're supposed to feel weightless. And when we don't, we start reading that heaviness as proof we did something wrong.
In this episode I'm telling you about the Bible study my friend and I quit. The Life Ready Woman by Shaunti Feldhahn — the one where she said out loud that you cannot be the power CEO and the PTA superwoman and everything else all at once, because there aren't two or three of you. I threw that book across the room. Ten, twelve years later, I know she was right.
But here's the part she never mentioned: that pull you feel between motherhood, your work, and your marriage doesn't mean you're failing. It means you've been entrusted with something of great value. That's not the weight of condemnation. That's the weight of stewardship.
We'll sit with three truths — your home, work, and marriage were entrusted to you, period; you were meant to tend these things, not produce the outcome; and tending them will never be equal, because there's a season for everything under the sun. Then we'll open Romans 12:2 and talk about why the world's pattern has you running on empty, and what it looks like to be transformed instead of conformed — because the heavy lifting belongs to the Owner, not to you.
Don't confuse the heft you're feeling for a sign you're failing.
Take a deep breath, mama. We'll walk through this season together.
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You're in the room with your kids — but you're also answering one more email, checking one more text. And that quiet guilt creeps in: they're getting the lesser version of you again. If only there were more time.
Mama, I've been there. In this episode I take you back to one ordinary summer Tuesday — meetings stacked all day, my little girl painting gems beside me — and the moment I looked up, saw those chubby little hands and those round cheeks, and thought the most terrible thing: I am a bad mom.
But that's not the truth, and it's not yours either. You're not a bad mom — you're just carrying a lot. And the very fact that you're asking the question tells you everything about how much you love them.
So let's win back your hours. I'm walking you through the three S's that have restored balance to my own workweek: situational awareness (does this really have to be done today?), setting boundaries (why rest was never a suggestion), and simplify (what can actually come off your list). And along the way, one word tucked inside Ecclesiastes 3 that completely changed how I see my kids' childhood — and the fleeting little season you're standing in right now.
Take a deep breath, mama. We'll walk through this together.
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Are you emotionally exhausted, mama? You're sleeping. You're eating. You're doing all the right things. And still there are moments where you just sit there — completely numb, dry and used up on the inside.
Here's what I learned the hard way: it wasn't my kids draining me. It wasn't my job. It was the dialogue running in my head all day long, asking me one annoying little question — are you doing enough?
Maybe for you it sounds like: are you doing enough to spend time with your kids? Reading to them? Getting their vegetables in? Creating the Kodak moments they'll tell their own kids about someday? Or maybe, like me, it takes the shape of your work — am I doing enough to make this thing a success, and am I still showing up for my babies while I do it?
Sis, that voice is running us ragged. And it is not the Lord.
In this episode, I'm walking you through REST — recognize the voice, examine where it comes from, set it against Scripture, and turn it over to the Lord. We'll get honest about whose voice you're actually listening to, ask the Holy Spirit to show you the root, and stand on Romans 8:1: there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because when that inner critic drains you emotionally, you can't show up in excellence for the things God gave you to steward — not as a mom, not in your work, not as a kingdom wife.
This is part one. There's something bigger driving our emotional exhaustion, and we're going after it next week.
Take a deep breath, mama, and keep your eyes on God.
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Have you ever hit your absolute limit, mama? The groceries are still on the counter, the kitchen's a wreck from breakfast, your coworker won't stop pinging, and somehow the printer picks this moment to quit — and before you know it, you've snapped at the very kids you'd lay down your life for.
And then comes the guilt. The quiet voice that whispers you're a bad mom. Maybe even a bad Christian, because shouldn't your faith have kept you calm?
I know that voice. This week it had me on my office floor, on my hands and knees, crying like a dam had finally broken. In this episode, I'm not tidying that story up — I'm walking you straight through it, because in the middle of it I heard the Lord say two words that changed everything: "Show her."
So here's what I need you to hear first: you are not a bad mom. You're a woman who got completely overtaken by her circumstances and her nervous system, and you had a human moment. Being a Christ-follower doesn't exempt you from being human — and one moment of frailty doesn't get to define who you are.
Then I'm handing you the tool I've leaned on for years to catch a panic attack before it takes over: P-E-A-C-E. Pause and ground yourself. Exhale the pressure and speak truth — not everything has to be done right now. Address the overwhelm and rebuke it in Jesus' name. Call on the Holy Spirit to restore the peace that's already yours. And Engage what actually needs you first. It's built on the promise Jesus made in John 14:27 — my peace I give to you — because that peace is yours to reclaim, sis.
I'll also share the three things that reset my whole week after the storm passed: reaching out to a friend who prays over me, apologizing to my kids, and putting the Lord back where He belongs — the main thing, the main thing. Honestly? I think I needed that hard moment to remember it.
Take a deep breath, mama. We'll walk through this together.
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Does your mental load have you spinning your wheels, mama?
The lunchboxes, the new water bottles, the school supplies, the practices to drive to, the job, the calling, the meals — and it's all somehow living in your head at once. If your list is fuller than ever heading into this season, you're not alone. I'm right there with you. And in this episode, I'm not handing you another system. I'm asking you to sit with me.
This is the honest one. No tidy tips today — just me processing my own long list out loud and inviting you to hold my hand while we ask three questions together. Because staying steady when the load tips your balance isn't about a better calendar. It's about knowing what's actually yours to carry.
We'll walk through them one at a time. Are you holding this out of habit — still tracking something your kids have quietly outgrown needing you for? Are you holding it out of control — keeping it under your thumb because no one else does it "right"? Or are you holding it because you haven't truly handed it to God yet? That's where 1 Peter 5:6–7 meets us: humble yourself under His mighty hand and cast your care on Him, because He cares for you.
Here's what I found while writing this: every one of those questions comes back to surrender. Not surrender as giving up — surrender as the grace to carry your load with open hands. Loosening your grip on what's grown, letting others help even when they do it their own way, and handing God the things you were never meant to hold in the first place.
So here's your one thing, sis. Don't run your whole list through the wringer tonight. Pick the single heaviest thing you're carrying — the one that makes you exhale just naming it — and run only that one through the three questions. Habit? Control? Or trust? Then loosen your hands around it.
Take a deep breath, mama. We'll walk through this together.
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When was the last time intimacy with your husband felt like something you get to do — and not one more line on a to-do list you're already too tired to finish?
If you're honest, maybe it's been a while. Maybe the spark feels dimmer than it used to, and somewhere in the back of your mind a quiet voice whispers that you're past your prime, too busy, too touched-out, maybe even a little broken. Sis, I want you to hear this: you're not broken. And that intimacy you've been filing under "someday, when things calm down"? It's not a chore God is asking you to squeeze in. It's a sacred covenant He's inviting you to steward.
In Genesis 2, God officiated the very first marriage — two people becoming one flesh — because your union was designed to reflect the heart of Jesus for His bride. That means the connection you have with your husband isn't a nice-to-have you get to once the dishes are done. It's holy. And when it's off, you feel it everywhere — in your patience with the kids, in how you show up at work, in the way you talk to yourself.
This week I'm joined by my friend Luciana Gondim, desire coach and host of Intimacy for Working Moms. Luciana brings the science — the difference between the spontaneous desire of your early days and the responsive desire that's still very much available to you now, the "brakes and accelerators" that either pull you toward your husband or shut you down (yes, we talk about the dishes). And I get to filter all of it through what we know to be true: that God made your body for connection, and that reviving this part of your marriage is less about doing more and more about surrendering into what's already yours.
We get real about owning your own desire instead of waiting for hubby to read your mind, about grieving what past relationships took from you so you can be present with the man in front of you, and about the small, non-sexual ways — a hand on his chest, five quiet minutes of eye contact — that rebuild connection when you have nothing left to give.
Your one thing this week: don't try to fix everything. Just name one "brake" that's been stealing your spark — the mental load, the resentment, the full sink — and say it out loud to your husband. That's it. That's the start.
Take a deep breath, mama. We'll walk through this together.
Listen to Luciana's podcast, Intimacy for Working Moms, here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/intimacy-for-working-moms-desire-relationships-sexuality/id1874000176
The book Luciana mentions — Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski, PhD: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=come+as+you+are+by+emily+nagoski%2C+ph.d&crid=2IQHV36F1226Y&sprefix=come+as+you+are%2Caps%2C270&ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-expert-pd-ops-ranker_3_15
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Do you ever feel like no matter how much you do, it's never enough? Like there's a version of you from the past that everyone would reject if they really knew? That quiet weight has a name — shame — and it's stealing more from your motherhood, your marriage, and your walk with God than you realize.
In this episode, J. sits down with Christian speaker and Bible teacher Jessica Chenoweth — a former teenage runaway and teen mom — who spent ten years striving to prove her worth and outrun a past she was sure disqualified her. Jessica describes shame as two heavy suitcases she carried everywhere, so bulky she couldn't fit through the doorways to the very relationships and freedom she longed for.
Together they unpack how a distorted view of God fuels a distorted view of yourself, why striving and burnout are so often rooted in shame, and how declaring the truth of your identity in Christ — even before your feelings catch up — begins to break the cycle. If you're an overwhelmed working mom exhausted from trying to earn your worth, this conversation is your invitation to set the suitcases down and step off the sidelines into the identity that's already yours.
Because your mistakes don't get the final word — and your identity was never up to you to earn.
This week, do one thing to reset: name one lie shame has been whispering, and write the truth of who you are in Christ right next to it.
Connect with Jessica and explore her weekly devotionals and her "Unlabeled: Finding Your True Identity in Christ" talk at https://www.jessicachenowethspeaks.com/.
Take a deep breath, mama. We'll walk through this together.
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Mama, is your to-do list a mile long? Do you dread even looking at it because you know it's going to swallow you whole?
You are not alone. Between work, kids, the house, the never-ending list of things pulling at you — it's easy to feel like everything is urgent, all at once. But here's what I want you to sit with: not everything you're carrying was ever meant to be yours. Some of it is God's, some of it is someone else's, and some of it just needs to be let go.
In this episode, I'm walking you through the ABCs of prioritizing tasks — a simple, practical system to help you sort your list, delegate what you can, and rise above the overwhelm that comes with trying to balance it all. But before we get to the tools, we're going to the root: why do you feel like you have to do it all? Is it fear of disappointing someone? A belief that saying no is selfish? A hamster wheel of productivity you didn't even realize you'd stepped onto?
You don't have to carry it that way. Philippians 4:6-7 reminds us we can bring our anxiety to God and receive peace that stands guard over our hearts — that includes the anxiety of the to-do list. Stewarding your energy well is holy work, and letting go of what was never yours to carry is part of walking in the identity you already have in Christ.
We'll cover a simple actionable-list method, how to categorize your tasks, when (and how) to delegate without guilt, and how to deconflict competing priorities so you know what truly comes first. I mention two tools that make this so much easier — Trello for a free, color-coded task board, and MindMeister if you're more of a visual, mind-mapping planner.
Take a deep breath, mama. Let's rise above this together — one prioritized, God-honoring step at a time.
Your homework this week: Do a full brain-dump of everything on your plate, then choose just one task to delegate — even if it's not done perfectly.
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Mama, do you remember the moment anxiety first showed up? For me, it was becoming a mom. One minute I was just a wife enjoying life, and the next I had this tiny, defenseless person who needed me for everything—while my husband was overseas, and I had no family or friends nearby to lean on. I became obsessed with schedules, I lost my chill completely, and I didn't even like being a mom for a long time. Sound familiar?
In this episode, I get honest about my ten-year journey with anxiety, and I take you underneath the symptoms to the real root: control, fear, rejection, unhealed trauma. Because 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind—and anxiety trying to sit on the throne of your life is not who you were made to bow to.
Once we name the root, I walk you through the five practical, accessible ways I've dealt with my own anxiety symptoms—starting with repentance and surrender (Psalm 139:23-24), then diet, supplements, essential oils, and one powerful herb. Most of these are free or under $20, and I share exactly which brands and products have worked for me for a decade.
You don't have to white-knuckle through another day, mama. Your kids need you, your husband needs you, and the world needs you—whole. Take a deep breath, mama. We'll walk through this together.
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Products mentioned in this episode:
NOW Foods essential oils: https://www.amazon.com/stores/NOW/page/7C89AA39-7209-4289-AA91-6D186B43F3C6?lp_asin=B00028MKRQ&ref_=ast_bln&store_ref=bl_ast_dp_brandlogo_sto
CORRECTION- I mentioned Natural Solutions Essential Oils, its actually Healing Solutions essential oils: https://www.amazon.com/stores/HealingSolutions/page/CFEFB9C5-C8C8-44C9-ACC5-E0D4598B309F?lp_asin=B00SVYBN62&ref_=ast_bln&store_ref=bl_ast_dp_brandlogo_sto
Vitamin D: https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Truth-Vitamin-400-Count/dp/B06X9DZ325/ref=sr_1_27
Valerian Root: https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Valerian-Root-500mg-Capsules/dp/B001F0R93A/ref=sr_1_10
As always, please consult your doctor before starting any new supplements.