Let’s Connect As Mothers for a Minute…
Something we need to settle right from the start: I’m not a parenting expert. I’m a mom, with two almost-grown kids who don’t rise and call me blessed 365 days a year. (That’s the Proverbs 31 woman, by the way, in case you missed it.) But they do know they are fiercely loved and sometimes micro–managed when fear gets the best of me.
This blog is not my parenting advice. Maybe you’re like me and you’re not really looking for another parenting book. Because you’re tired and weary and you’ve worried yourself to the bone. You don’t need someone else explaining to you how to be a better mom because you’re barely hanging on and already trying to do everything you can. And it’s still hard. So hard. And you don’t yet see any answers to your prayers.
Maybe, like me, you don’t really want ten more ideas to help, you just need hope. You’ve read all the books, listened to all the podcasts and prayed all the prayers and you are exhausted. You feel like you cannot continue to bear the weight of motherhood all by yourself– but you also feel like you can’t admit this. Because that feels hopeless. And terrifyingly vulnerable. As mothers aren’t we supposed to hold inexhaustible hope for our child’s future? Are we allowed to admit we don’t always innately know what to do? Shouldn’t our love and consistent correction be enough to keep our kids from making wrong choices?
If so, then why don’t our endless efforts at caring and guiding them seem to be working?
But what if the place that feels the most hopeless becomes the most hope–full? The place where we realize Who we really need is God. We cry out to Him and say, “Help me! I’m losing hope!” I believe scripture shows us that the moment we ask for God’s help, our eyes become opened to see His hand and hope begins to rise.
So, I’m not a parenting expert. But I am a lover of God’s Word and an ardent student of the Bible.
My words come from my own seasons of deep struggle and digging through the scriptures in search of the shallowest stream of hope. I, too, exhausted every resource of help. But the battle for my children waged on.
My discovery? God holds a special place in His heart for mothers. He meets them personally on the tear–stained pages of my Bible in desperate moments, unanswerable questions, and seasons of waiting. He feels their pain, draws them close, and consoles their broken hearts. Through my studies and readings, I saw God’s response to our feelings of fear, weariness, and helplessness. And His tender care of mothers, not one of whom is presented as perfect on the pages of Scripture.
If you are a mom seeking consolation that your mistakes are not your child’s ruin, that what’s been lost can still be found, and that your family’s future can hold more light and goodness than darkness. My hope is that through spending time in prayer and in the Word, you will come face to face with a God who proves to be an ever–present help in our parenting.
The world offers endless outlets of parenting advice. There are podcasts galore and experts on every corner. They will offer habits, hacks, and tips to make you a more effective parent and tell you all the things you can do to be better. But I found hope in noticing what God does. What He has already done, and promises yet to do, all because of who He is.
The Bible is full of timeless truths from the One who designed motherhood, formed our children, and sees and knows all things. He longs to pull you close, invite you to rest in His embrace, and remind you that He is the wisdom you seek, the peace your heart craves, and the strength your soul needs to navigate motherhood in a chaotic culture.
Eve
Take a moment to consider Eve, the mother of all mothers, who made some big mistakes long before she ever became a mother. Isn’t it interesting that the very first mother failed so miserably? No family history to blame it on. Nor poor parenting to point back to her bad ideas. Never in the history of mankind has there been a perfect mother or family, and my friend, as much as we might like it to be so, ours will not be the first. But God already had a plan to fix it.
So, what was Eve’s first big mistake? She had the wrong conversation.
Now, I don’t want to add anything to Scripture, so I’m not going to suggest that Eve knew the serpent was a deceiver from whom she should steer clear. The Bible does not say that. But since we do know that, because the Bible refers to him as “the father of lies”, our first thing we ought to notice is that a wrong conversation can result in confusion and destruction. Look at how this conversation started. “Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 CSB.) Instead of rolling her eyes, walking away or shrugging her shoulders, she joined the conversation.
Eve responded, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” (Genesis 3:2-3 CSB.) The serpent contradicted what God had made clear to Eve. “No! You will certainly not die… In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” (Genesis 3:4-5 CSB.) In Eve’s confusion or her rebellion, she chose to disregard God’s directives. Who we choose to listen to as mothers matters. Greatly.
It’s not about becoming a perfect mother. It is about knowing the heart of our perfect Father, and trusting He is at work in our lives and pursuing the hearts of our children. Because if your children are anything like mine, they aren’t perfect either.
Let’s go seek our faithful Father, the God of all hope. And breathe a sigh of relief that we don’t have to be the one who has all the answers all the time. We have access to the One Who does, and He’s given many of them to us in the stories of the mothers of the Bible. Help is here. Let’s make it our habit to run to the Father. He longs to give our hearts the hope we crave.
