So, I took my girl on a date last night. We went to dinner and then to a show downtown. You see, my daughter is having a really hard time lately. Although this video shows her smiling and dancing, underneath that mask a lot of hurt is swirling around.

It’s one thing in life to have an aching heart as an adult, but quite another to see a child go through a painful experience. There are definitely no rule books on how to handle things: what to say, what not say; what to do, what not to do; how to comfort, how not to comfort.

Just like anything in parenting, you close your eyes, hold your breath, spin around 3 times and then try to pin the tail of success on the donkey’s of life. Sometimes you hit the mark with great precision, other times you fail miserably.

But what I’ve learned is that we ALWAYS WIN the game if we are trying. Trying our best to love, trying our best to get it right, trying our best to learn and grow along the way.

I wish I could tell my sweet girl that life gets easier. But, instead I encourage her that somehow, some way we usually end up finding nuggets of goodness in the manure piles of life. I try to convince her that the crappy parts of our journey have redemptive blood running through their veins—-even if we can’t see it.

In the meantime, God creates opportunities for us to feel His love as we push through the gunk. When that love is exchanged between the people we adore the most, those are for sure the most wonderful times of any year.

xo

If you are dealing with all kinds of momma emotions, download 3 FREE Chapters of Shelby's new book with Lisa Leshaw, How Are You Feeling, Momma? (You don't need to say, "I'm fine.")

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