Mommy Grace: Erasing Your Mommy Guilt [Hardcover]

Sheila Schuller Coleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2009

Universally, mothers tend to feel they are not good enough at parenting and fear they are harming their children by not being perfect. In Mommy Grace: Erasing Mommy Guilt, Sheila Schuller Coleman offers overwhelmed moms short but emotive stories of authentic motherhood from her own and others' experiences-foibles and all-and offers comfort by showing how God makes up for human weakness with His own strength.
Because Sheila shares lessons learned the hard way by real moms rather than giving difficult instructions for better mothering, readers will leave the book feeling encouraged rather than lectured.
For every mom who feels she's not quite up to the colossal job of parenting, MOMMY GRACE is full of hope and compassion.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sheila Schuller Coleman has a doctorate in educational leadership and administration. For over a decade she has worked in both the public and private school arenas, mentoring schoolteachers, principals, and preschool directors. Sheila is currently the director of family ministries at the Crystal Cathedral and superintendent of Crystal Cathedrals Schools. She lives in Southern California with her husband, Jim. You can contact Sheila and read her column at www.crystalcathedral.org/Sheila.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: FaithWords; 1 edition (April 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446545414
• ISBN-13: 978-0446545419
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,128,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sheila Schuller Coleman is the Director of Ministry and Mission at the Crystal Cathedral. She is the firstborn child of Robert H. Schuller, the Founding Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. Sheila has had a diverse career as a published author (curricula, children's books, devotionals, and books on family), a public school teacher, and most recently as a private Christian school administrator for over 14 years. Her latest book is "Mommy Power. Discovering Your Mommy Strength. Throughout her career, her life has been intertwined with families of all ages in multiple capacities. As a Christian leader Sheila has mentored teachers, principals, preschool directors, youth pastors, and children's pastors. Sheila has an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership and Administration from the University of California, Irvine. Sheila and her husband, Jim, have been happily married for almost 30 years. They have four grown sons who are involved in their own careers and academic pursuits. Sheila can be seen every week on the Hour of Power.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mommy Guilt, July 7, 2009

By 

Julie L. Pogue "Jewel1967" (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mommy Grace: Erasing Your Mommy Guilt (Hardcover)

Coleman's "Mommy Grace" is a wonderful easy-to-read book for any Christian mother who is looking for a healing dose of God's grace. The book's chapters, most only a few pages in length, make perfect devotionals complete with Scripture and the author's beautiful, heart-felt poems.

The refreshing thing about this book is the author's honesty. Dr. Coleman, mother of four, refrains from fluffy platitudes and shares poignantly from her own life experiences. Rather than a typical Christian "self-help" book, "Mommy Grace" reads like a stack of letters written from a loving, accepting friend.

One of Coleman's gifts is the ability to demonstrate to her readers how God loves us as His children by showing us, as mothers, how we similarly love our children. In the chapter "Peanut-Butter Hugs and Chocolate Kisses", she draws a picture of accepting God's mercy much like a child accepts hugs from a parent. "Children don't think to clean themselves up before they play with you or before they run up and throw their arms around you....Don't bother to get cleaned up before claiming the mercy of God. It is folly to think we can clean ourselves up, and attempting to do so just prolongs the wait to experience God's grace."

One of the most meaningful chapters to me was Coleman's "Can a Working Mom Be a Good Mom?" As a working Christian mother, I have often felt the stabs of guilt from being torn between the workplace and home. But, this school administrator/writer/educator was able to lift years of guilt from this "Corporate America" employee with her simple, down-to-earth perspective.

"Mommy Grace" would make a thoughtful, encouraging gift for any mother experiencing exhaustion, anxiety, or doubt over her parenting skills. Personally, I think it would make an absolutely ideal child's-first-birthday-gift for the mommy of the one-year-old. As Coleman so eloquently puts it, "Freedom from shame, freedom from fear, freedom to love and be loved: It comes from looking into the face of God!"

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing wisdom for busy moms, May 19, 2009

By 

Renee Whitaker "Renee Whitaker" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mommy Grace: Erasing Your Mommy Guilt (Hardcover)

This book is PERFECT for me. I am a busy mother of 5 and only have time to read in short spurts. This book has super-short chapters with a quick prayer at the end of each. The stories/chapters will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you praise God that you're not perfect! Being a constantly guilt-ridden mom of never doing enough for my kids, my husband, my family, my church, myself, etc., this book helps me to see that God never designed me to be ALL THAT! It's only through His grace that I can make it day to day, no matter how hard I may try. Great book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!!, August 22, 2011

By 

J. Schafer (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mommy Grace: Erasing Your Mommy Guilt (Hardcover)

I am the working mother of 4 children ages 10-5. I read this book in short increments in the span of 24 hours. I am certain this book is going to change my life; although I am not sure in what ways yet because I haven't fully absorbed it. I plan to think on this and then read it again in a couple of days. I laughed some and cried A LOT. One of the most touching chapters for me was the one that freed me from being perfect. She went so far to say that if we were perfect, that others would resent us for it. That, alone, was so profound. So real. So true. Yet, I'd never thought of it that way.

My husband works swing shift, so parenting our 4 children is very often left to me. He is a perfectionist and holds others to the same. I have never met that expectation and have always been so very hard on myself for it. Not to come down on him, but he's always been there to assist in reminding me of my ineptitude. This book opened my eyes to myself. Jesus didn't go in search of perfect men. He went in search of men who would follow him. The disciples weren't perfect---far from it, actually. My children don't need a perfect mommy. They need a Mommy who loves them and Jesus. They need me. God gave me THESE children for a very specific reason.

This book showed me that Mommy Guilt doesn't do anything good for my children. I love this book and would say it's a definite MUST to all Mommy's who always feel that they just aren't getting things right.