Moms and our Supposed-to-Be's

I have a subscription to Today's Christian Woman. It is such a great magazine! There are so many encouraging articles that seem to be right where I am every time I read the bi-monthly issue.
I wanted to paraphrase an article is the latest issue. It is talking about how mom's try and live their life as a "supposed to" instead of what God has given them.

Here are some excerpts from the article:
"This question was asked, 'Why don't Christian moms, especially younger ones, feel free to do their thing, regardless of expectations of their elders, their pastor, and the women at church? Why are they so conflicted about following their instincts, or what God tells them to do, when those things contradict so-called authority figures?
The answer simple could be because of fear. We love our kids so much, and are so afraid of making mistakes, being bad moms, and living out of sync with God's will, that we put more weight on what the 'expert's' yell than on what God whispers.

We need to trust what God can do in our maternal hearts. We know our babies better than any book or expert. It is okay to live the life we have instead of the life we are "supposed" to have.
"Supposed to" messages come from everywhere. To spank or not to spank, etc... We can function better if we just step back and listen to God's whispers, pray, and follow that way that is right for our family." (Carla Barnhill & Caryn Rivadeneira)

Following God means weighing those "supposed to " messages against what the Bible says and what our culture says we should do. It all goes back to the comparison thing. There are so many ways to do the same thing. If I just sit back, give my life to Christ everyday, he will lead me in how I should raise my kids. I am not saying that the "experts" do not have important things to say or that we should disregard everything else we read. They do have helpful things from time to time. I'm saying that our standard for our family should be Christ and His word. Not all those parenting magazines out there or the way our culture says we should raise our kids.
Believe me, I will continually be working on the no comparison thing!
God provides everything we need. Everything that is just right for our family. He is our custom builder!