God has used John Piper to teach me three truths related to motherhood and suffering that have given me great hope in my sorrow. The first is that we will suffer as mothers. That reality would be devastating apart from God’s promise that our pain as his children will not be wasted. Not only does God offer us future hope; his Word also sustains us in our suffering.
So much of motherhood is about presence, not performance. It’s about being present with and for our children in a thousand moments that make up their early years and beyond.
Dear Lord, I’m thinking today of the mom who desires joy, but when she considers her present circumstances, all she sees are challenges.
“I love you so much…” I hear my three-year-old’s voice singing these words to the tune of “Happy Birthday” in the next room as she plays, and I smile.
God never forgets any of it. Our grief. Our joy. He remembers all of it. And our losses, even the loss of an unborn child, are better kept by him than anyone else.
God works all things—even the gritty moments of parenting—for the good of those who love him.
On a recent family road trip, we stopped at least once an hour. No exaggeration. By the fifth potty stop for the same child, it was all I could do to hold my tongue as we walked to the restroom. I felt impatience filling me like a balloon, and I was about to burst.
I see many parallels between 9/11 and the pandemic of 2020. What is the main difference—for me—between these two life-changing events? This time, I am a mother.
Here are ten go-to Scripture verses that have sustained me in both mundane and profound moments of desperate motherhood. They are manna for mamas, and they remind us that motherhood isn’t just about us and our babies. Motherhood is another means of sanctification that points us to our Savior—Jesus, the Word made flesh, the bread of heaven that satisfies our souls for eternity.
“I’m not a robot.” So said the three-year-old...Here is a collection of my children's thoughts and questions, spoken between ages two and five years old.
