Hope When Motherhood Is Hard: A 5 Day Devotional Sample

Before leaving Egypt, Moses pleaded with God not only to go with them but to show his glory—and, remarkably, God agreed. “He said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name “The Lord”’” (Ex. 33:19). We know what it’s like for devastating news to send our heads spinning; we get gut-punching disappointment. But Moses was about to fall to the ground for a totally different reason. He would bow his head and worship God for his glorious goodness.

You and I might not know what God is doing in our pain, but he’s doing something. Even if we did know his purposes, we might not understand them. But he’s still doing something. Does the sun stop shining when it’s hidden behind the clouds? No, it keeps on shining as brightly as ever. We just can’t see it. Similarly, if we accept God to be who he says he is—gloriously good—then we have every reason to believe that his ways are also glorious and good, even when what he’s doing is hidden from our view. And that’s just what Romans 8 tells us to expect. As we learn to trust God’s character and promises, his word becomes increasingly dear to us, and the soaring truths of Romans 8 are especially rich with hope and comfort for moms who suffer.

The apostle Paul opens this marvelous chapter with a breathtaking reminder that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Our condemnation was done away with at the cross where Jesus died. Instead, once separated from God, we are in Christ—hidden, sheltered, secure, and inseparable from him. And “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (8:11). No longer dead in our sin, our new, resurrected lives have already begun. These lives aren’t characterized by slavery or fear (8:15) but by adoption as God’s children and a shared inheritance with Christ (8:15–17). Yet even real, spiritual life in Christ—for our earthly days—includes trials and suffering.

Motherhood doesn’t always deliver what we hope and frequently delivers hurts we don’t expect. Real life in a fallen world includes heartache and loss, loneliness and hunger, disappointment and broken trust, shattered dreams, and sleepless nights. Romans 8 shows us that our suffering isn’t pointless but purposeful: God is doing something to fit us for heaven and for fruitful lives on earth. Specifically, our gloriously good God is preparing a future-oriented glory and working for our present-oriented good in our suffering.

Reflection Questions:

1. What comfort do you find in knowing that God is doing something in your trials, that they aren’t pointless but purposeful?

2. What does it mean that God is “preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17), and how does this stir your hope?