Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Life of a Single Mom Ministry, based out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana has reached over a million single mothers in total with their services, spanning nation-wide. But one single mother sought to make a difference right here in Prattville.
Through the National Life of a Single Mom Ministry, Brandi Smith launched her own small group through the Center Point Church and River Region Pregnancy Center.
“There’s ministry leader coursework that I did, as well as I’ve taken a lot of the single moms classes myself. The coaching that I have gone through has been with the Pregnancy Center where I work, and the Mom Ministry. I’ve learned the difference between coaching and counseling. I’m not a professional counselor and I don’t try to give people advice. I’m more so trying to help them come to their own conclusions with the proper leading questions, and how to navigate what they’re going through,” Smith said.
The mission of The Life of a Single Mom Ministry is to connect moms to groups in their community, services available, to educate and provide support for single mothers through congregation, solidarity, and camaraderie.
The group in Prattville meets once a week, on Wednesdays, and dinner is provided and made by Smith herself. Every person in the group has the opportunity to talk, vent or reflect during the meetings as well as talking on the discussion question for the day. Smith stated that they end the meetings on gratitude, what went well this week and what are they looking forward to.
The meetings are structured through curriculum from The Life of a Single Mom Ministry and led by Smith as a group leader.
To be a part of the group, moms don’t have to be a single mom to participate. There are so many varying circumstances in different households, where a lot of women can feel like a single mom when they just have to parent alone.
“If you feel like you are a single mom, because sometimes there are moms who are married, and they are single moms. We don’t discriminate based on what your actual status is. We have married moms who have been doing this alone for a long time, divorced moms, moms going through a divorce, moms with small and adult children. This group is centered around how to grow and heal ourselves from the experiences that we’ve had so that we can break generational curses and pour into our children better,” Smith said.
Through the Mom Ministry, the organization not only offers training to group leaders, but they also offer coursework for moms looking to expand their education and connect single moms with resources in their specific community and through the Mom Ministry to better their quality of life, for moms and their children.
“I didn’t have anyone, and it was a struggle to find that hope and encouragement. All my friends are married, and it was hard to find support as a newly single mom. But in the group we sit around a table, and we get to talk about exactly what each one is facing and we’re all kind of going through similar situations,” Smith said.
Smith stated it’s basically an online mom university where classes and programs consist of parenting specific classes, bible study, how to budget, tips on leading a single parent household and more. The coursework is geared towards how to navigate different aspects of life that used to be navigated as a partner unit.
There are over 200 courses available online as well as conventions, conferences and speakers, which is where Smith found her passion for helping other single moms going through similar hardships.
“I was one of the only ones with a standing ovation and I kind of looked around the room and I was like, I think I heard that message differently. I would say the hope and encouragement began in small waves then. When I heard Jennifer Maggio, founder of the Life of the Single Mom Ministry, when she came on the stage she prayed over me and I just broke. Knowing what she had gone through and then hearing her testimony, that gave me hope,” Smith said.
Smith’s journey as a single mother started earlier than most, as a teen mom at the age of 16. Her life as a single mother began in 2022. Where Smith called the transition hard, challenging and one of the hardest things she’s ever done. Finding the loneliness and the grief of losing a best friend, heartbreaking.
But Smith didn’t let that pain shape her future, she used that to mold not only a better future for her children, but a better future for herself, as she found and grounded herself with roots that she had never let herself plant before.
“The biggest reflection I have from this two-year-journey so far is that I’m still learning disciplines and I’m still working on healing, but you have to start. That’s what was hard for me, was knowing where to start and I think that you don’t have to know where to start. You just put one foot in front of the other,” Smith said.
However, focusing on herself in all aspects, mentally, physically and through God, Smith created a new chance and stance on life going forward. Especially when she threw the notion of creating a perfect life on social media out the window.
“My son and I grew up together and we joke about that now that he’s 19, we have an amazing relationship. But I had a lot of high expectations in my previous life. I say previous because I feel like I’ve been given a second chance to do it better, and do it more calmly, more educated and more from a place of wisdom. As much as I would never wish this on anybody, for me, it has been almost a rebirth,” Smith said.
Smith went on to explain her perspective on the two mindsets in life, where you can either be a victim or be an overcomer and both have paths in the opposite direction.
“When you choose to overcome something, you’re choosing that you are better, and worth more than staying in that setback that was caused by another or the circumstance that you grew up in. When we play the victim, it’s belittling to ourselves. It’s allowing that thing that happened or that behavior that was projected onto us to be replayed over and over again,” Smith said.
Through this experience, the heartache Smith has been through, she’s broken through the ashes to be where she is today. Smith stated that we are only meant to live this life once and it’s important to put in the work to get to where, in Smith’s opinion, God has led her to be.
“I’m not saying that’s easy at all. It’s work. We haven’t done this before to have experience, to do it right every single time, so give yourself a little grace and make sure that you’re putting yourself in the forefront,” Smith said.
If single mom’s are looking to join in Prattville, Smith can be reached at [email protected], or moms can check out the Life of a Single Mom Ministry website at https://thelifeofasinglemom.com/ for tips on how to navigate a new portion of life, and not navigate those difficulties alone.
“There were a lot of people who said, ‘I don’t think you’re ready,’ but I truly felt like ready or not, through this, I’m going to grow, follow Christ and then I’m going to help others along the way. The best way to be successful is to reach your hand behind and pull somebody along with you. I truly feel that these moms have become my people, and in the last two years I have been unapologetically exactly who I am,” Smith said.
