Hope When Motherhood Is Hard: A 5 Day Devotional Sample

I don’t know what this journey called motherhood has looked like for you, where you’ve walked on a broad, well-traveled, and familiar road or where your experience has taken you off-road, following unexpected trails. But if you’ve walked some of the more harrowing paths of motherhood, I want to assure you that no matter how lonely you feel, you’re not alone.

You’re in good company. While your story and experience are unique, there are moms who have walked precarious paths before you. There are moms facing similar challenges today— moms like me who sometimes feel our foothold slipping and who are attuned to anticipate something lurking, ready to pounce when we round the next bend. The apostle Peter reminded persecuted Christians that

“the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Pet. 5:9).

Though our suffering, yours and mine, is of a different nature than that of his immediate audience, here’s a similar truth: there are women in our neighborhoods, sisters in our churches, and moms around the world experiencing hardships related to suffering and motherhood just like we are. You’re not the only one.

And here’s another truth that is even more precious: Jesus is a Savior who is familiar with sorrow and “acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). He wants to walk with us—and he is able to help us persevere by faith, with grace—even on difficult paths we would never have chosen. When we walk with the Lord, these off-road trails don’t end in themselves. They aren’t just painful parts of our motherhood journey. They, too, are part of our journey heavenward. This reality offers great hope and comfort to moms facing challenges in all seasons and stages of motherhood.

The path of a medically complex family wasn’t one that my husband and I wandered down on purpose, and this story isn’t the one I would’ve chosen to tell; the telling itself stirs emotions, draws forth tears, and exposes my weaknesses for any and all to know. But “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction” (2 Cor. 1:3–4). My family’s trial is real, but so is God’s comfort, and I love him more and cling to him more tightly because of it. My hope is fixed on him; through it all, I can say with certainty that he is still good.

Reflection Questions:

1. Have you encountered any detour signs off the main road of motherhood? If so, which ones?

2. Are you walking any of these off-road trails right now? How does Jesus’s humility encourage you in your weakness?