17 | From Sacrifice to Sanctified: A New Way to Mother with Joy & Purpose

Welcome back to Intentional Motherhood with your host Kelsey Redd—Former Mental Health Counselor, and Mom of four (including twins!), peaceful parenting coach, and your guide to living a soulful life while raising emotionally healthy kids.

In this heart-to-heart episode, we’re tackling a topic that hits home for every mom: the pressure to sacrifice everything in motherhood. Society tells us that the more we give up, the better mom we are. But what if there’s a better way?

✨ This week, Kelsey shares how to shift from a mindset of constant sacrifice to one of sanctified mothering—a grounded, spiritually aligned approach that honors both your kids and your God-given identity.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

🌿 Why sacrifice is glorified in motherhood—and how it leads to burnout
 💡 How to reframe your day to focus on connection instead of depletion
 🕊️ 3 practical tools to align your energy with God’s grace, not your own willpower
 💬 Simple phrases and spiritual check-ins to bring peace into chaotic moments
 💗 How to model emotional regulation and self-worth for your kids
 🙏 Why motherhood is a sacred calling you’re not meant to carry alone

Whether you’re deep in the trenches of toddler life or feeling the weight of motherhood on your spirit, this episode will remind you that you don’t have to choose between being a good mom and being a whole woman.

You can love your kids AND yourself. You can pursue your dreams, grow spiritually, and still show up with patience, peace, and purpose.

Perfect for:

• Stay-at-Home Moms seeking balance
• Women craving spiritual alignment in their parenting
• Moms ready to break free from burnout and guilt
• Families building intentional, emotionally connected homes

🎧 Tune in and start mothering from a place of abundance, not exhaustion.

💌 Share this episode with a friend who needs encouragement & Grab Your Guides here!
📲 Connect with Kelsey on Instagram @creating.intentional.mothers

Episode Transcript

Kelsey Redd (00:09):
Hey there friends, welcome back to Intentional
Motherhood, where we're allabout living that big soulful
life while raising our kids withlove and intention. I'm your
host, Kelsey Redd, a stay athome mom just like you juggling
four little ones under six. Yep,twins included, and trying to

(00:30):
keep it real and keep ittogether. Today, we're diving
into something that hits deep.It's that pressure to sacrifice
everything for our kids versusthe call to mother in a more
sacred and vibrant way.
So we're gonna unpack whysociety cheers for sacrifice and

(00:53):
how living counter culturallycan fill your heart with more
joy and purpose. So grab yourAwala, go for a walk, and let's
get into it. So let's talk aboutsacrifice. As moms, we're told
it's our badge of honor. Societyloves the image of the selfless

(01:15):
mom.
Skipping her dreams, to packlunches, staying up late to fold
laundry, dropping everythingwhen the kids need her. I've
been there. I am there scrubbingthe floors while my own goals
sit on the shelf. I get it. Butfrom social media to old school
parenting books, we're fed thisnarrative that the more you

(01:38):
give, the more you give ofyourself, the more you give up,
the better mom you are.
Sacrifices celebrated withphrases like, oh, she's such a
devoted mom, when you cancelyour plans, or skip your self
care to take care of your kids.But here's the catch. That

(01:59):
constant outpouring of energycan only leave you emotionally
drained and even resentful. It'slike pouring from an empty cup
and the emotional toll of this,the exhaustion, the guilt for
wanting more rips away from thevibrant, amazing woman you are,

(02:25):
that is actually what would makeyou the best mom you can be. And
this script doesn't just affectyou, it also teaches your kids
that love means self sacrifice.
And I don't think that's thelegacy we want for our children.

(02:46):
For us high vibe moms who cravespiritual growth, our dream
life, wealth consciousness, funand leisure outside of
mothering, this feels misalignedto me. We want to live
counterculturally choosing apath that honors our souls and

(03:07):
our kids and our deeper purpose.So that's where sanctified
mothering comes in. This isabout mothering as a sacred
call, channeling the love of Godand His grace and energy through
you so that you and your kidscan both thrive.

(03:29):
Unlike sacrifice, which drainsyour energy away, sanctified
mothering creates a flow ofenergy and joy. Imagine pausing
during a toddler meltdown tobreathe, to say, I'm okay. I'm

(03:51):
doing the best I can. I amenough. God grant me the
strength.
God grant me the grace. Thatbreath shifts you from the
frazzled mom that we typicallysee displayed to a more present,

(04:12):
emotionally regulated mom. Andyour kids can feel and pick up
on that energy too. When we'remothering from this energy of
sanctified rather thansacrifice, instead of depletion,
we're feeling more aligned, morealive, and more emotional energy

(04:33):
to deal with all the things wedeal with every day. So how do
we do this?
How do we break away from thisidea that motherhood is all
about sacrifice and depletion?I'm gonna give you three ideas
to help redirect your energy andto change our thought process,

(04:55):
which changes our emotions.First, we can reframe the
choices that we make from I'mgiving up my time to do this
with my kid. We can instead say,I'm choosing to make this
connection with my child. We canask ourselves at the end of the

(05:17):
day, instead of saying somethinglike, what did I not get to
today?
We might say, what was a momentof joy and connection and love
with one of my kids? Sometimesjust a check-in helps us process
the emotions that are fillingour hearts. And you might need

(05:38):
to use that check-in as anassessment of where you're at.
If you're feeling resentful andbitter, if at the end of the
day, you're feeling frustratedand annoyed, you might need to
start auditing where yourchoices have been focused on
sacrifice versus sanctification.And you might also need to be

(06:03):
aware of changes in how you useyour time so that you can fill
your cup.
This goes back to all the selfcare things that we've talked
about, which leads into ournumber two, which is using some
of those sacred mini rituals torecharge your spirit. So while

(06:24):
your kids are playingindependently, taking just a
couple moments for a micromeditation might just be 10 deep
breaths, or it might beimagining yourself in a peaceful
place. Sometimes I just gooutside and look at the sky or
the mountains and just take adeep breath and breathe in the

(06:45):
divine energy of the universe.Maybe with a little prayer in my
heart that says, give me theenergy I need or help me to have
a little bit more peace. Give meyour love so I can give it to my
kids, becoming that channel orthat vessel for God's love

(07:05):
rather than pouring out of yourown reserves.
And lastly, we talk about thisso much, but modeling emotional
regulation to your kids to helprewrite this script. When the
chaos hits, when everyone iscrying and screaming, I try to

(07:28):
sometimes channel my meditationvoice and say, let's all take a
deep breath in. Let's all take adeep breath. We're struggling
right now. Let's take a deepbreath.
I do this when we go into ourfamily prayers. I say, Remember,

(07:49):
prayers is also about listening.So let's take a deep breath.
Let's be quiet and let's listen.And we sometimes get two to
three seconds of silence andit's glorious.
This is building thatintentional family culture and
teaching your kids that loveincludes self care and self
love. More than anything, I wantmy kids to see that I love

(08:15):
motherhood, that I lovemothering them. I don't want
them to see me as a frazzled,frustrated, resentful woman who
sacrificed everything to quote,quote, be the best mom and yet
ended up hating being a mom. Iwant my kids to see that I

(08:37):
balance doing things that Ienjoy and having things outside
of motherhood and channelingGod's love and being spiritually
connected and living as a motherwho recognizes that it is a
sacred calling and blessing andprivilege to be a mother. I want

(09:00):
them to see that I love beingtheir mom.
And I also love myself and takecare of myself. I want them to
see that I make choices forconnection and that I choose to
do what I love, which is beingtheir mom and enjoying time for

(09:20):
myself. And I want them to seethat all of this works together
to make our entire familyculture and the energy in our
home one of uplifting andsanctified energy flow rather
than constant frustration anddepletion. I would love for this

(09:41):
energy to be in our home all dayevery day. And I wish I could
say that's the case, But I'mlearning and I'm practicing
these things as I teach them toyou.
Some days are better thanothers. But I'm here to remind
you and to remind myself thatbeing a mom is a sacred calling

(10:02):
that of course requires us tosacrifice and that is what
creates the personal growth thatmakes it the PhD degree of life.
And also, is a sacred callingthat God has given us as women
and that He therefore willenable us to fulfill. These are

(10:24):
His children that we have theprivilege and the stewardship of
taking care of in this mortallife. And so He will help us, He
will guide us, and He will giveus direction for how to raise
them, how to take care of themand ourselves.
And He will give us the graceand the power to do it in the

(10:45):
best way we can. I have feltthat when I have prayed for it.
I have felt it when I've been atmy breaking point or at my wit's
end. And I have said, I needhelp. I need help getting
through one more moment.
I need help getting through thisnext diaper change. I need help

(11:06):
getting through this nextbedtime. Because on my own, I'm
done. I'm over it. I feel likeI've given everything and my cup
is empty.
And when I have said thoseprayers, that's when I feel that
channel open up and that's whenI feel like I become a vessel
for God's love. Let me know ifyou can relate to this. I would

(11:29):
love to hear your thoughts.Connect with me on Instagram at
creating. Intentional.
Mothers. If you're enjoying thisshow, please share it with a mom
who needs to hear it. Don'tforget to subscribe and maybe
even leave a review letting meknow what you think. I'll see
you next time on IntentionalMotherhood.