Girl...It's Not That Serious

Girl... It's Not That Serious. | Confessions of a Hot Mess Mom

Ever put your keys in the refrigerator?

Started your car...when it was already running?

Forgot your best friend's name while introducing her?

Or accidentally texted the guy you were dating...while asking your girlfriend what his text actually meant? 😳🔥

Welcome to the Hot Mess Club, where membership is free, perfection is overrated, and laughter is good medicine.

Join Sherry for a laugh-out-loud episode of It's a Single Mom Thing as she shares true stories, biblical encouragement, and a reminder that God's grace is always bigger than our hot mess moments.

Because, girlfriend...

It's not that serious.

Transcript

Welcome Back And Set The Tone

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Welcome to It's a Single Mom Thing. The show for Single Moms by Single Moms. This is Sherry, your host, and I am happy you are here today. Remember, it's a single mom thing, and not the single thing that stops you.

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Hey girls, hey! I sure have missed you. First of all, uh, where did the last two weeks go? I mean, I blinked, and somehow we are already back together again. Welcome back to a moan day of It's a Single Mom Thing. If you're new here, welcome. And if you've been hanging out with me for a while, you know what to do. Grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and let's catch up. Because listen, with It's a Single Mom Thing, this is where we're gonna keep it real. We call it like we see it, slow our roll when life gets just a little crazy, and always leave with a little more hope than we came with. And after some of our recent episodes, I think we all deserve a little break. I mean, we have cried together, we have healed together, we have talked about freedom, surrender, finding hope in some really hard places. Oh, but today, wait for it. Today we are going to do something different and we're gonna laugh. Because, girlfriend, sometimes I have found the most spiritual thing you can do is stop taking yourself seriously. So let's just move into our first segment titled Girl, Who Told You Life Had to Be So Serious? So,

Who Told Us To Be Serious

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as you know, I always got questions. I come with questions. So can I ask you something? Who told us we had to become so serious? I mean, seriously. When did we decide that being a grown-up meant we had to stop laughing? I mean, think about it. As kids, we laughed over the dumbest things. Am I right? I mean, like things like somebody made a funny face, stuck a pencil up their nose, ate some glue, tripped over absolutely nothing, or your best friend started laughing, and before you knew it, you were laughing so hard you couldn't breathe and you snorted outside your nose. Outside your nose, you snorted. And half the time you didn't even know why. Am I right? But now, pfft, now, I mean, we spill our coffee on our night, listen, we spill our coffee, let me slow my roll, on our freshly washed white pants, and we think the whole day is ruined. That happens to me at least once a week. Or we forget an appointment and convince ourselves we are fallen apart. We wear our shirt inside out to Target and suddenly we're questioning every life decision we have ever made. Who can relate to that? Who am I talking to? Or we walk halfway through the grocery store before realizing we've worn our pajama slippers to the store. And don't you even get me started on walking out of the restroom with some toilet paper stuck to your shoe. Can we all agree on one thing? If you see another woman sporting a little white tail behind her, girl, girl coach says you tell her we don't leave a sister hanging, okay, girlfriend? So slow your roll. It is not that serious. Now, listen, don't get me wrong, I am not saying life isn't hard, because it is. We have walked through some heavy things together these last few weeks and months, right? Freedom, healing, surrender, learning to let go, and some of you are carrying things today that nobody else knows about. But here's what I have learned. Life can be hard without making every moment heavy. Those are two very different things. In fact, check this out. The

Laughter As Medicine In Scripture

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Bible has a lot more to say about joy and laughter than I think we realize. Let's look at, for example, let's go to Proverbs 1722 that says, A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Hmm, I love that verse because listen, it doesn't call laughter a luxury. It calls it what? It calls it some medicine. And let's be honest, some of us have been skipping our prescription. And then let's toss in a little Ecclesiastes 3.4, which reminds us there's a time to weep and a time to laugh. Notice it didn't say if you laugh, it says a time to laugh. It says that there's a time for it. I mean, God made room for both tears and laughter. And then there's one of my favorite verses found in Proverbs 31, 25. Oh, this is a good one. She is closed with strength and dignity. She can laugh at the days to come. Hmm. Can we just sit there for a little minute? She laughs. Not because life is perfect, not because every bill's paid, not because the kids suddenly started picking up their socks. Although, if that happens, call me because listen, I want to know what miracle you are praying. On the contrary, she laughs because her confidence isn't in her circumstances. Her confidence is in her God. Now, here's something we don't talk about very often. The Bible never specifically says Jesus laughed. So I don't want to add words that scripture doesn't. But here's what we do know. And let's let's look at this for a second. Okay, so what do we know about Jesus? Well, he went to weddings, he shared meals with friends. Children loved being around him. I mean, have you ever noticed kids in your own personal life? They don't usually run towards some grumpy people, do they? No. And in this case, they ran to Jesus. He also, listen, ladies, he also had an incredible way of teaching. I mean, think about it. He talked about someone trying to remove a tiny speck from another person's eye while they got an entire plank sticking out of their own eye. And you can find that by the way in Matthew 7, verses 3 through 5. Can you picture that? I mean, how many people listening have ever been to a sermon in church and watched preach a pastor actually preach that out while he had a pretend like cardboard tube sticking out of his eye like it was a log? I mean, picture it. That's pretty crazy. Or how about uh this one, straining a tiny little gnat out of your drink while somehow swallowing an entire camel? Matthew 23, 24. Girlfriend, I had to look that one up in the Bible because I have never heard of that one. You know, so what does that tell us? That tells us that Jesus actually was quite an artist. He painted some pictures that made people stop with his words. I mean, imagine it. He had them imagine it and smile and never forget the lesson. Somewhere along the way, I think we as humans, we have confused holiness with some heaviness. Like if we're really walking with Jesus, we should always look stressed, serious, and exhausted. Uh, that's gonna be a serious leap from me. But that's not the picture I see in scripture. Joy is a fruit of the spirit, right? Not stress. Notice how not even perfection, not pretending we've got it all together. Joy. So today, listen, uh, we are giving ourselves permission to smile, permission to laugh, permission to remember that not every little mistake deserves, listen to me. See, I'm gonna be silly today. Deserves a five alarm fire. Because I'm gonna laugh at myself here today. I'm not even gonna try to edit this stuff out. Because sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is laugh. And I remember early on in my walk with Jesus, I remember saying out loud, I got my laugh back. That was so pivotable. But listen to me, pivotable, pivotal in my life because sister stopped laughing. So listen, my sister on the other end of this microphone, listening. I want you to take a deep breath. Shake your head and remind yourself, girl, it's not that serious. And yes, that was a notification you just heard in the background. I promised I wasn't going to edit that out. Just keeping it real and laughing here. So, speaking of some laughter, I had the funniest conversation today that reminded me just how good it feels to laugh. And we're gonna get to some of those in just a minute as we move into our next segment called Welcome to the Hot Mess Club. So, okay,

Hot Mess Club Confessions

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ladies, who's ready for some confessions? And now, before I share mine, let me just say this. This is a safe place. There is no judging. In fact, if you've ever done any of these things, which I am sure you have, I'm about to confess. Well, congratulations. Welcome to the Hot Mess Express Club. You are an official member. And by the way, membership is free. The only requirement, though, is that you occasionally forget where you are going or what you are doing. Ready? Here is my Hot Mess Mom confession number one. The refrigerator mystery. Da da da. I don't know who needs to hear this. But apparently, my refrigerator has become the lost and found. I put things in the refrigerator that had absolutely no business in being there. Things like I put my car keys in there. I have found my cell phone in there. I've even caught myself putting something away and halfway through it thought, now wait a minute. Why am I putting this in the fridge? Anybody else? Or is it just me? Then I get all proud of myself because I finally found my keys, only to realize they were sitting right next to the oat milk. Well, at least these were the easy ones to find. Here's the hot mess confession number two. The car was already running. Now this one, bless my heart. Have you ever gotten in your car, put your foot on the brake, turned the key, and nothing happened? Why? Well, because the car was already running. Yep, been there, done that. I sat there for a second thinking, well, that's some kind of embarrassing. Then I looked around to make sure nobody saw me, as if there were security cameras whose only job was documenting my hot mess moments. Can you relate? Okay, here's my confession number three. Fashion emergency. I think I'm gonna get some of y'all here. So, ladies, have you ever had one of those mornings where you were feeling pretty good? Oh, you look in the mirror and you're like, Yeah, I'm looking kind of cute. Hair looking decent, outfit looking cute, you were ready to conquer the day. Then halfway through the day, you went to the restroom, looked in the mirror, and realized your pants were inside out. And you just left a very big business meeting with some important higher-ups. Well, how the heck does that even happen? And more importantly, I got me some questions. How many people saw it and didn't tell me? Apparently, we need a refresher on some girl code. But wait, there's more. Confession number four. Ooh, ooh, I know I got everyone on this one. Okay, the cute guy. Now this one. Oh my goodness. Check this scenario out. You meet a cute guy, right? You have a great conversation, and you walk away thinking, well, that went pretty well. I am definitely getting a next date after that. And then you get back to your car, flip down the visor, look in the mirror, and discover, oh my god, to my horror. Horror. You have a bat in the cave. The entire conversation. You know, a little burger hanging out of your nose, Lord help us. At that point, you have two choices. You can replay the conversation for the next three days, or girl, you can laugh, grab a tissue, and remind yourself, if he was meant to be in my life, he'll survive the bat. Oh gosh, I hate when that happens. It's happened more than once, by the way. Number five. What's your name again? This one still makes me laugh, and because I do it often. Um, but in this situation, what I did was I introduced one of my very best friends to someone and completely forgot her name. Her name! A woman I have known forever. I mean, I just stood there smiling, waiting for my brain to reboot. It's buffering and buffering and buffering and nothing. Blank screen. Thankfully, though, she's still my friend. She didn't forget her name. She did introduce herself. Mostly because she knows, well, my heart still works even when my memory doesn't. How about this one? Hot best. This is a hot mess. Mom confession number six. And this doesn't really have to be a mom thing. This could be anyone. Uh wait, how old am I? Please tell me I'm not alone on this one, okay? There have been times I have actually had to stop and think and ask myself, now wait a minute, how old am I? And have you ever noticed yourself you start counting on your fingers? Well, not that I'm ever going to be 10, uh, but not because I was also trying to shave off years either. I honestly couldn't remember. And listen, before you start judging me, you know you have done it too. Now, here's what I love about every one of these stories. Not one of them changed who I am. Not one of them made me less capable. None of them made God love me any less. They simply reminded me that I'm human. And maybe ladies, listen, that's exactly what some of us need to hear today. We've started treating ordinary human moments like personal failures. Well, they're not. They're just little reminders that we're caring a lot, working hard doing our best, living real life. So girl, listen, check it. So the next time you put your keys in the refrigerator, start a car that's already running, running, wear your pants inside out, forget your best friend's name, wonder how old you are. Or even discover a bat in the cave after talking to a cute guy. Smile, pop it and lock it, laugh, give yourself a little grace and remember, girl, it's not that serious. Now funny. If you think those confessions were embarrassing, the and that's just that's minor embarrassing. You just wait until I tell you what happened between a treadmill and a text message and an entire

The Text That Backfired Hard

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fire department. This sounds like a good dad joke. So this is about the text that nearly sent me into cardiac arrest. So, okay, I saved the best one for last. Or maybe I should say the most embarrassing one, because this story is 100% true. Well, so were the others, but this one is 100. So picture this, okay? Your girl Sherry, she is at the gym, and I am in between sets trying to convince myself that squats are somehow a good idea. Mm-hmm. While I'm catching my breath, a guy I was dating sends me a text. Now, ladies, you know how sometimes you get a text and you read it, and then you read it again and think, hmm, what exactly does he mean by that? So naturally, uh your girl Sherry did what woman had been doing for years. I called in a girlfriend. Well, not literally. I copied his text because I wanted to send it to one of my best friends and ask, well, what do you think he means by this? Because I am not sure how to respond. Because let's be honest, every woman has that one friend who speaks fluent man. So I copied his message, opened what I thought was my girlfriend's text thread, pasted his message, typed my question, looked it over, thought, oh, perfect, and confidently hit send, got back to my reps, and about three seconds later, my heart stopped. I looked at the top of the screen and realized I had not sent it to my girlfriend. Oh shoo, I sent it right back to him. Mmm, y'all. I just froze up right there in the gym in between sets. You know that moment where your stomach drops, your face gets hot, and already planning your move to another country? Yeah, that was me. Now remember, he wasn't just sitting at home, he was at work at the fire department, and all I could think was, oh dear Lord, Lord, Lord, please let him be on a call. Please don't let him look down at his phone. Yeah. He looked at his phone like immediately and texted me right back. Let's just say uh he called me on the carpet. There was no pretending, no explaining in a way, no magical unsend button. I have been caught red-handed. And that's when I realized turns out I didn't need the fire department. I caused the emergency. Now, I'd love to tell you I handled it with complete confidence. I'd love to tell you I laughed it off. I'd uh love to even tell you I was cool, calm, and collected. I was not. I was absolutely mortified. But here's the funny part. I'm telling you this story today, not because it was funny then, because it wasn't. I'm telling it because enough time has passed that now I can laugh about it, and it isn't and listen, isn't that true about so many things, right? The moment we think we're going that are going to define us, we usually become the stories we tell. The mistakes we think we'll never live down eventually become the stories that make everyone laugh around the dinner table, including us. Time has a funny way of turning panic into perspective, embarrassment into entertainment, and mistakes into memories. So if you've done something this week that has you hiding under the covers, girl, I need you to take heart. One day it just might become your favorite story. So until then, give yourself a little grace, take a breath, laugh if you can, and remember, girl, it's not that serious. So moving on to segment four, and here's where I want to talk about maybe we've been too hard on ourselves, possibly. So before we wrap this all up together, can I tell you

Stop Expecting Perfection From Yourself

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something that just happened today? I was on the phone scheduling an appointment, and somehow the conversation listen to me, the conversation drifted to family. The sweet lady helping me mentioned she was a believer. Then she casually said, Yeah, I'm 77 and my son is 26. Oof. I laughed and said, Uh, well you got a little bit of a late start now, didn't you? Without missing a beat, oof, thank God for a very could have been an awkward moment. She laughed and said, Yep, God sure does have a sense of humor, doesn't he? And we both laughed. And after I hung up, I just sat there smiling. Not because we're making fun of God, but because we were enjoying the life he has given us. For me, it reminded me that somewhere along the way I think we have forgotten that joy is holy too. Am I right? Sometimes I think, listen, let's we we picture God sitting in heaven with his arms crossed, waiting for us to mess up. But that's not the God I know. The God I know created joy and a sense of humor. I mean, he gave us friendships, he gave us laughter, he gave us stories we'll be telling years from now. And maybe, just maybe, he smiles when his kids are enjoying the life he's given them. Not because our lives are perfect though, but because we're his children. Because becoming spiritually mature doesn't mean we have to laugh less. Maybe it means actually that we have to laugh more because we've learned to trust God with the things we can't control. And you know, girl, what I've also noticed? Every single one of those stories I share today, at the time it felt like a really big deal. The refrigerator, the inside out pants, the bat in the cave, forgetting my best friend's me the name, the text message to the firefighter. Oh my gravy, even one of them felt huge. Every one of them did. For about five minutes. Then life moved on, nobody stopped loving me, my friends didn't abandon me, the world kept spinning, and eventually I laughed. I wondered how many of those things were we worrying about today? That six months from now, we'll laugh about it. Maybe we've been given too much power, too little moments, or maybe we've been expecting perfection from ourselves when God has been inviting us into grace all along. You know, I think especially as women, and especially as single moms, we carry this invisible pressure to have it all together. To never forget, never drop the ball, never make mistakes, never let anyone see the cracks. But girlfriend, listen, that is some kind of exhausting and it's impossible. Possible because here's the truth. You're going to forget things. You are going to burn dinner. You are going to send the wrong text. You're going to leave the house wearing one earring. You're going to slip on those cute shorts. Head out the door feeling fabulous, and later realize you forgot to shave your legs. And you're going to have days where your brain simply says, Um, I'm out. And somehow, somehow, life is still going to go on. And you know what? God isn't pacing around heaven saying, I can't believe she did it again. He's not keeping score of your hot mess moments. He's walking with you right through them. Psalms 103-14 says, For he knows our our let me say it again. For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. Well, then not just humble you. I mean, I love that verse because God knows exactly how he made us. He knows we're human, he knows we get tired, he knows we get overwhelmed, and he knows that we even forget. And he loves us anyways. Maybe that's why I love that Proverbs 3125 so much. Remember it? She's clothed with strength and dignity. She laughs at the days to come. And notice again, she laughs. Not because she's got every answer, not because she's never made a mistake, not because she's perfectly perfectly organized. She laughs because she knows who's holding her tomorrow. That's like my favorite. That's like a sweet hug from God. And listen, when you know who's holding tomorrow, you don't have to panic over today. So here's your little homework this week. And it's an easy assignment. Laugh. Laugh at yourself. Laugh with your kids. Laugh with your girlfriends. Call that friend who always makes your stomach hurt from laughing, maybe even

Homework For The Week: Laugh

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as you run into the bathroom before you wet your pants. Watch something funny. Dance in your kitchen. Tell your favorite embarrassing story. Let that snort out while you're doing it too. Life is too short to spend it trying to look perfect. And if you happen to discover you've had a little toilet paper stuck in your shoe all afternoon, or your pants are inside out, or you got one earring in, or you catch your legs in the sunshine and realize that you could use a good shave, or you accidentally, like me, send that wrong text, smile, fix it, move on. Because one day it's probably going to become one of your favorite stories. And if you remember nothing else from today's episode, I want you to remember this. Grace is bigger than your hot mess. Joy is stronger than your embarrassment. And perfection was never the goal. So girlfriend, please take a deep breath, slow your roll, give yourself some grace so you can freely give everyone else some grace too. Laugh a little louder, smile a little more, and the next time life hands you one of those, are you kidding me moments? Just shake your head. Smile and say, girl, it is not that serious. So ladies, it's been fun. And if you're anything like me, you've probably already thinking of another hot mess mom confession you forgot to tell. Or that you're going to tell. Maybe that's because there are just too many to count. And you know what? That's okay. I find joy in that actually because listen, life isn't about collecting perfect moments, it's about collecting real ones. The kind you laugh about years from now, the kind your kids will remind you of at Thanksgiving in front of all of the other grown-ups. The kind your girlfriends will never let you live down, and somehow, those are usually the stories we treasure the most. Am I right? So before we go, I want you to do me this solid for this week. The next time you do something completely ridiculous, and trust me, you will, before you criticize yourself, before you replay it over and over and over and over in your mind, before you convince yourself, everyone is talking about you. Stop. Take a breath, smile, and ask yourself, will this matter a year from now? Uh most of the time the answer is a no. And if the answer is no, don't give it the power to steal your joy today. Laugh, learn, and move on. Life is too precious, girl, and way too short to spend it trying to be perfect. Besides, perfect people never have great stories to tell either. Hot mess moms do. And I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trade those stories for anything. So hey, if this episode made you laugh today, would you do me a favor and share it with another girlfriend? Because she probably needs a good laugh. Because I have a feeling she's got a few hot mess confessions of her own,

Share It And Find Prayer Help

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a hot mess mom confessions of her own. And who knows, maybe one day we'll do a little listener episode where I read some of your funniest stories. I do have a feeling we would laugh until our stomach hurts, and I'm sure some underpants will be wet. So thank you for hanging out with me today, and thank you for laughing with me and maybe even laughing at me just a little. I'm happy to be the butt of your jokes. I don't mind. I got me some big shoulders for my little body. Because if my hot mess moments remind you that you don't have to be perfect either, then every one of those embarrassing stories was worth telling. Until next time, keep it real. Keep slowing your role, keep trusting Jesus, keep laughing and remember the woman in Proverbs 31. She didn't laugh because life was easy. She laughed because she knew God was already in tomorrow. So whatever tomorrow holds, he's already there. And if he's not worried, maybe we don't have to be either. I love you ladies, have a beautiful week, and remember it's a single mom thing, and not the single thing that stops you.

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Thanks for listening to It's a Single Mom Thing. I hope you enjoyed our time together. If you have more questions on how to have a relationship with Jesus or do prayer, visit us at www.shepherdsvillage.com backslash prayer. For more information and resources, check out our show notes.