If you are a SAHM you may wonder if you should return to the workforce & "help" with the family finances so that you can afford to go on more holidays, buy a bigger house, send your children to more enrichment classes so that they can "fulfill their potential" :) If you are a WOHM you may wonder if you are scarring your child/ren for life by leaving them with strangers for 8 - 12 hrs each day & missing out on all their developmental milestones.

If you are a homeschooling mum you wonder if are teaching all that your child needs to know. Should you be using a unit study curriculum or a textbook style curriculum. You may even feel guilt ridden that you don't read enough to your children like what all the "experts" tell you you must. And so the guilt trip goes on seemingly, unendingly.

So how does one get off the guilt trip train? :) This is what I do. And you should all know this by now :)

PRAY!

Ah!!! You know that already, right? As all good Christians should know, we need to pray & ask God our father for help & guidance when we are confused & at a loss. But what are we praying for?

Pray to know God's call on your life We need to pray for God's call on our lives so that we can't be put on a guilt trip.

Take for example - you have decided to stay home. Your well meaning mother however, thinks it is a waste of your talent & education. Afterall, anybody can look after the baby, right? :) She may mention how well you were really doing in your job or how much money they had to scrimp & save to out you into university. You start feeling guilty. You feel guilty for wasting your education, you feel guilty that your poor dh is slogging his guts out so that you can stay home.....But wait! You know that this is God's call on your life. Get off the guilt trip! In the world's eyes, you may be indeed wasting your life away, being stuck at home. But remember, Obedience is better than sacrifice. 1 Sam 15:22

We need to be sure about God's call in our lives because there will be many times we will face obstacles & hardship. Then we will start to doubt if we heard God correctly. We will be tempted to throw in the towel & follow the crowd.

But when we are sure about God's call on our lives, we cannot be put on a guilt trip! We are obeying God. The road taken may be narrow & less popular but we are walking in obedience to His call.

Remember, there are many good things to do on this earth. But what does God want you to do? Don't do things out of guilt. But rather do things in obedience to His call.

This is love for God : to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome. I John 5:3

What is God's call on your life? Don't get caught on a guilt trip!