Have you ever felt as a Mom, that maybe God just doesn’t get what you are going through? How exhausting a day can be? How hard it is not to drive yourself crazy with worry? How self-control, when you are worn down and stressed-out, is almost impossible to maintain? After all, Jesus was a single man, how could He really understand what it is to be a Mom?
Does God care about the struggles and joy that motherhood brings into our lives? And how can we apply His Word to our role as a mother? Isaiah 40:11 says, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” This passage of scripture is talking about all the ways God comforts His people. He names those with young children by name! God wants to gently lead you through the journey of motherhood. His Word is full of promises that can both inspire and comfort you as a mother.
God sees you! He knows how heavy motherhood can feel, how much worry often fills our minds, and His Word is a rock you can stand on when life as a parent starts feeling like more than you can handle.
Here are four amazing promises from God’s Word that offer comfort to mothers today:
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1. Persevere and You Will Reap a Harvest
Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
I first heard my pastor’s wife talk about this verse from the stage in regards to motherhood when I only just had only one squishy, adorable baby. At the time, her use of the verse sort of baffled me. I was over the moon in love with that tiny squeezable 10 pounds of flesh. I could not imagine that this motherhood gig would be anything less than joyful and energizing.
New motherhood, sigh...what a special time!
After adding two more adorable children to the crew and so many milestones later, I cling to this verse daily! The good of mothering can be so utterly exhausting. It wears us down in ways we actually didn’t know were possible. Like you thought your body would collapse if you made it walk around with this little sleep. But, hey...now you know it will still move around—even cook—under extreme sleep deprivation.
We can take two things from this verse:
First, don’t grow weary. Not growing weary calls for our participation. We have to be mindful of how tired we are. Sometimes, we can’t avoid fatigue but lots of times we put ourselves after literally everything. This is good for no one! If we don’t want to burn out, we have to invest in our own hearts, health, friendships—whatever it is that recharges you.
Second, keep at it. If we keep at it, there is a reward to be had! Like the joy of watching your kid love others well because you first loved them. Maybe it’s the pride of seeing them excel in an area where you encouraged them.
God is the giver of good gifts and our kids are one of the best ones we have in this life.
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2. God Knows You and Your Children
Luke 12:7 says, "And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”
The language of this verse is so intimate. It reminds us as parents that we didn’t make the kids we’ve been given, God did! God knows our children better than we ever could. He knows their thoughts, the nooks and crannies of their personalities, and what their future holds.
Beyond just knowing our children, God tells us that He has good things in store for them.
Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse I pray over my children often. These words remind us of God’s heart for them. God has good plans for them and a hope-filled future. God desires and even plans for the best possible outcome for our children’s lives.
1 Timothy 2:4 declares that God’s heart is for everyone to come to salvation.
God’s spirit is actively pursuing our children’s hearts. God wants your kiddos to find truth even more than you do. It can weigh heavily on a parent's heart when our kids wander away from the faith but we can rest in the knowledge that God doesn’t give up on them. He loves them with a relentless, unending love.
The picture the Bible paints for us is that without a shadow of a doubt we are known, we were made for a plan and a purpose, and God desires salvation for every person. As mothers, we can find comfort in these promises that are so beautifully articulated in God’s book.
Pray these verses over your children to remind them that God knows them best and has good plans in mind for them.
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3. God’s Word Promises a Glorious Future
Revelation 21:4 describes the future we all can look forward to as believers. It says, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
Motherhood is one of our greatest tests of faith!
I never questioned God until I was given a tiny, fragile baby to take care of that I loved more than my own flesh. Suddenly all the evil in the world transformed from a distant idea to a real threat. I needed to know that things would turn out okay for this child I love so fiercely.
Revelation 21:4 is a beautiful reminder that God promises a great ending to our story. He promises a future with no more tears, pain, or death. That may seem like a distant promise, but life truly is short.
This is a reminder that when our kids face difficulty it’s important to step back and take a view of the situation that includes eternity. We are raising eternal beings, which is why how we parent is vitally important. Reminding them and yourself that God will work it out in the end is one way to infuse hope into a hard moment.
As moms, we don’t have to live with fear because we know that God is in control.
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4. God Cares about You
Worry can feel like an ever-present burden that accompanies motherhood. It starts the second we find out we're going to be parents and never seems to go away. We don’t have to carry this burden alone!
1 Peter 5:7 says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” God invites you to give Him your worries.
Often, we feel that a mother’s vigilance, forethought, and presence are the best fail-safe to prevent our kids from experiencing harm. Unfortunately, we allow prayer to take second-place to our own hard work and dependability as mothers. Pride likes to offer us a false sense of security in our own abilities to buffer our families from difficulty.
Hard work is important, but a truth that stings for most of us moms is that despite our best efforts, protecting our children from all harm is beyond our ability. We really have no choice but to surrender their futures over to God. This reality is both humbling and terrifying!
Thankfully, God tells us that He cares about the birds, the lilies, and the grass; but he cares about you even more (Matthew 6:26-34).
Ultimately, our children are God's. He alone knows their full story. We can trust His word when He says He is going to work that story out for good (Romans 8:28).
How then do we control-freak mommas begin to hand those worries over? We know they aren’t ours to carry and that God is the only one able to truly protect them. We can start turning our relentless worries into prayer cries for our kids. We tell God we are freaked out and we need His help!
That’s what He really wants from us, to be in it with us. He’s a relational God and it matters to Him that we ask for His help and lean on His strength and understanding for our lives.
God’s word is filled with encouraging truths that offer comfort to us as we navigate motherhood in an often uncertain and scary world. You can stand on those truths, pray them over your heart, and over the lives of your children.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
No matter what our circumstances we can find peace in knowing that God is our great Comforter!
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