Grace in Chaos - Biblical Hope for the Hard Days of MotherhoodSample

The truth of God’s Word helps us on our darkest days.

In 2 Corinthians 4:1–12, Paul affirmed that as Christians, we do not lose heart, even when we face great challenges. He said that we have a treasure in jars of clay, the precious message of the gospel hidden inside fragile, aging bodies. So, though we are hard pressed, we are not crushed. Though we are persecuted, we are never abandoned. We may carry the scars of motherhood on our bodies, but we can rejoice when we walk in faithfulness to Christ because we are identifying with the sufferings of Christ.

The gospel helps us in so many ways as moms, but let's talk specifically about two ways. The gospel helps us to 1) Joyfully sacrifice for our families and 2) Biblically process the difficult emotional days of parenting.

First, the gospel helps us to joyfully sacrifice for our families. In motherhood, we have the opportunity to love our children like Jesus loved us. We have the daily opportunity to sacrifice for our children, to die to ourselves, and to learn patience, kindness, and self-control. We have the opportunity to get up in the middle of the night because of newborn cries or bad dreams. We can cook meals, clean clothes, and help with homework—not for ourselves but for our families, and as joyful expressions of worshiping God.

The gospel also helps us to process our emotions biblically on hard days. It helps us recall and remember what’s true.

• When we’re anxious, we remember that God is in control over every tomorrow.
• When we’re overwhelmed, we remember that we are limited, but God is not.
• When we feel apathetic or lazy, we remember that Jesus has given us an important mission to love and teach our children about the gospel.
• When we are exhausted, we remember that God renews our strength.

The gospel reminds us that the goal of our mothering is not to make ourselves the hero, or to find our worth in our ability to be good moms. Instead, our goal is to point to Christ!

Without question, the days of motherhood can be hard. But even more assuredly, God is with us as our help and strength on the hard days. We can cry out to Him for help, and He will hear us.

Questions:

1. Has God’s Word ever encouraged you on the difficult days of mothering? How so?
2. Do you ever feel struck down, persecuted, or crushed? How do today’s verses encourage you?
3. Ask for the Lord to give you hope for the hard days, founded upon His steadfast love.