Tag Archives: motherhood

Brave Mothers of the Bible

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Brave Mothers of the Bible

It’s daunting to try to raise little humans. There’s no instruction manual. What works for one doesn’t always work for another.

We worry about their health, the possibility of getting hurt physically or mentally, whether they’ll make friends, the influence of bad friends, their character formation, their spiritual formation, their future spouses, their future work, our failures, and so much more.

We can draw inspiration from a few mothers in the Bible.

Eve is the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20). We’re not told much about her everyday family life. How dismaying it must have been to navigate a world affected by sin, so different from the garden where she first came to life. How confusing to raise children with no other examples before her. How crushing when one son murdered the other.

When Eve’s first son was born, she said, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” Then after Cain murdered Abel, and Seth was born, she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him” (Genesis 4:2, 25).

These two statements show me that she trusted God, depended on His help, and saw her children as gifts from Him. Eve knew God’s grace in forgiving her after she had miserably failed.

Some think that she might be referring to God’s promise of a coming redeemer at the birth of her first son. If so, she demonstrated faith that God would fulfill His word, even though the timing would be far different than what she thought.

Jochebed lived when the children of Israel were enslaved by Egypt. The Israelites had become so numerous that Pharaoh decreed all male babies should be thrown into the Nile River. Can you imagine being in that situation?

Somehow Jochebed managed to hide her pregnancy and newborn until he was three months old. The Bible says she saw he was a “fine child”–some translations say “beautiful” or “goodly.” The NLT says “a special baby.” Some commentators believe this means she saw something unique about Moses. Others think she was just a normal mother who was enamored by her beautiful new baby boy.

When Jochebed could hide her baby no longer, she technically obeyed Pharaoh: she put the baby in the Nile. But first she made a basket and waterproofed it before putting the baby in.

I’d always thought she did this at random, and Pharaoh’s daughter “just happened”–by the providence of God–to come along at the right time and take the baby home for her own. But one source I read said that Egyptian royalty would have had indoor bathing facilities. So Pharaoh’s daughter being in the Nile might not have been for the sake of hygiene, but rather a ritual bath. And Jochebed may have known she would be there.

Whichever way it happened, it took faith for Moses’ mother to send her baby off in a basket in the Nile River. What if it overturned? What if a crocodile found it first? What if the waterproofing didn’t hold?

God answered beyond Jochebed’s dreams. Not only was Moses safe, but the daughter of Pharaoh herself rescued him. And Jochebed herself got to nurse Moses, which meant in those days that she would have had him for another two to three years, at least. Little did she know how God would use her son in the future.

When people ask, “How can we raise children in such a world as we have today,” I think of Moses. God can keep our children safe in any kind of world. And He just might use them to help turn it around.

Hannah was infertile, which is a cause for grief to anyone desperately wanting a child. But in the culture of this time, having children was thought to be a sign of God’s favor. So not having children, and experiencing torment from her husband’s other wife, grieved Hannah.

Hannah’s husband didn’t seem to understand. “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” (1 Samuel 1:8).

So Hannah went to the temple and poured her heart out to the Lord. She prayed so fervently, Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk and rebuked her.

Hannah promised God that if He gave her a son, she would give him back to God. And when God gave her Samuel, she kept her vow and gave him to the Lord.

Sometimes those closest to us, and those who are supposed to help us, only cause more pain. But, like Hannah, we can pour our hearts out to the God who sees and understands.

Hannah also teaches us that our children are gifts of God and belong to Him.

Mary‘s motherhood was unique in many ways. An angel announced that she would conceive and bear the Son of God, the long-promised Messiah, while she was a virgin. She knew who He was, but she didn’t know how everything would work. She might not have understood that the cross was coming, though Simeon forewarned her that “a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:22-35).

But she had to learn early on that Jesus must be “about His father’s business.” She must have delighted in His miracles, teaching, and followers. But she was likely confused when the religious crowd turned against Him.

God sometimes calls our children to hard things, for His glory and the good of others. We may not understand His leading, but we can trust Him.

An unnamed Syrophoenician woman asked Jesus to cast a demon out of her daughter (Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30). Jesus’ initial negative answer to her is puzzling. Mark’s account says Jesus was in Gentile territory and didn’t want anyone to know, and one source says that’s why He seemed to put her off. Another source said the gospel was first shared with the Jews, and later came to the Gentiles. Though that’s true, Jesus healed other Gentiles. Many sources say He was testing her faith. But one said He was showcasing her faith. I think that might be the most accurate. Matthew’s account says the disciples wanted Jesus to send her away because she was crying after them. Maybe He wanted to show them that this woman they didn’t have time for, this woman they wanted to get rid of, had great faith despite many obstacles.

Though this woman was a Gentile, she addressed Jesus as the Son of David. The ESV Study Bible notes on Matthew’s account say that she evidently knew that through Abraham, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). She was humble before Jesus, yet persistent.

What can we learn from these mothers?

  • Jesus provides grace for past sin and failures when we repent of them and believe in Him.
  • He is more than able to take care of our children.
  • We can pour out our hearts to Him.
  • He understands our deepest needs when no one else does.
  • He may call our children to difficult things, but His grace will be sufficient for them and for us.
  • Our circumstances may not always make sense. But we can cling to His Word in faith and hope.

Are you inspired by these or other Biblical mothers? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Proverbs 31:30

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

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This week we observed the anniversaries of the passing of both of my parents. They died in different years, but the fact that they died so near Christmas, and at a relatively young age (late 60s), can cast a shadow over the holidays. Even a loss earlier in the year or decades ago can cause pangs at Christmas. It seems like every year, someone I know has experienced a fresh loss. I don’t usually include my own links in this space, but I wanted to share some thoughts that helped me, written several years ago: Christmas Grief, Christmas Hope, Christmas Joy.

And while I am at it, I am starting to see posts about choosing a word for the next year. I want to remind us that You Don’t Have to Choose a Word for the Year. If you find that practice beneficial, it’s fine to do. But it’s not something Scripture tells us to do. However, He does tell us to mediate on His Word day and night.

What If I Don’t Desire Jesus This Advent? “We are an unapologetically over-the-top Christmas family. But this year, somehow, feels different. As I write this, we are preparing to walk into the Advent season, and to be honest . . . I haven’t been feeling it. At all.”

Mama, You Don’t Have to Save Christmas, HT to Challies. “I always seemed to face the holiday season in a state of low-key panic that I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. I certainly have bigger regrets as a mother, but I do wish I could go back and tell my younger self to take a deep breath.”

Combating Imposter Syndrome by Embracing God’s Presence, HT to Challies. “I don’t know if I’ve ever felt like I was the right person for the job, whether as a dad, a pastor, or even a friend. There has always been a small voice in my head telling me that I’m not good enough. Sometimes, even in the wake of a compliment, I feel added pressure to prove to myself that I deserve the affirmation.”

The Blessing Paradox. “God’s good blessings have the potential to ruin us. If we aren’t careful, we’ll take the good things God gives and turn inward so that we consider ourselves the hero rather than the one who needs rescuing.”

Waiting in the Hope of Coming Redemption: Walking with Our Sister Anna. Anna is one of my favorite lesser-known people in the Christmas story. I enjoyed these observations from her life.

7 Practical Ways to Cultivate Faith in Children from a Young Age. “It’s still a learning curve to coach my kids in following Jesus through the different ages. But I’m convinced that teaching the next generation about God’s faithfulness means laying a biblical foundation before the teenage years arrive.”

Motherhood Is a Refining Fire, HT to Challies. “Weary mom, take heart. Those moments — the hardest, the most broken — are precisely when God can, in the words of John Bunyan, do his “wounding work,” conforming you into the image of his Son.”

Chris Anderson quote

Only as man could He die as a substitute for other men.
And only as God could He suffer infinitely, paying for the sins of all the redeemed.
Chris Anderson, Gospel Meditations for Christmas

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I have several good reads to share today:

Hope In Hindsight: Navigating Unexpected Journeys, HT to the Story Warren. “Just as Stephen looked to the stories of Scripture to remind him of who God is and what he has done, we can do the same when we face uncertainty in our futures. When plans are interrupted, when hardship comes, and when we’re confronted with the reality of sin and death in a fallen world, we can look to the story of Scripture and the story of our life and see the goodness of God woven throughout.”

Maybe You Don’t Need a Therapist, HT to Challies. “I’ve found that for a growing number of people there is an assumption that to be a human is to need therapy. We’re all maladjusted, and the purpose of therapy is to adjust us so that we’re high-functioning members of society, living flourishing, mentally healthy lives. In this model, therapy is something like a weekly medicine we all need to mentally survive a hostile world.” But such an approach raises concerns, which the author discusses.

When Spiritual Disciplines Took Over My Life, HT to Challies. “Scrupulosity can be jaw-droppingly deceptive. Spiritual disciplines are essential for growth, and we want to encourage one another to practice them. But there’s a difference between healthy spiritual practice and someone who’s struggling with OCD. Since the outward behaviors may be the same, we need to look below the surface to identify scrupulosity.”

On Biblical Mandates and Cultural Expectations, Part 3. “Once we’ve invested the time and effort it takes to be informed about what the Scripture says, and what the law requires, and what the culture expects, we need to get down to the business of making decisions about how we respond to specific demands from those authorities.”

The Rise of Hyperpleasures, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “If humans experience pain and pleasure on a 1-10 scale, then hyperpleasures are those activities which take us ‘off the scale,’ so to speak. They give us experiences that make us feel like a 20, 30, 100, 1,000, and so on. The particular number is arbitrary, of course, but the principle remains — these are pleasures that go far beyond the ordinary range of enjoyment, principally by removing those discomforts we experience in our ordinary pleasures.”

It Takes Years to Grow, HT to Challies. “We think transformation will be quick, and sometimes it is. But generally speaking, God isn’t in a rush. There’s a certain kind of holiness and beauty that develops only after decades of walking with God. You can’t microwave it. But when you see it, it’s a beautiful thing.”

Mom and Dad: Show Your Need, HT to Challies. ““I have one regret of how I parented . . . I wish I would’ve shown my kids my need for Christ more. I worked so hard to show them my godliness that I didn’t show them my need. I should have been more transparent. I should have shown them just how much I needed Jesus.”

To Everything in Motherhood, There Is a Season. “It would have been impossible for me to explain my grief in that moment. I was missing something. Not people necessarily, but a time of life with those people. . . Yet, each new season brings new joys.”

People Who Were Bookworms As Children Often Display These Seven Unique Traits, HT to Linda. “Many of us were those so-called bookworms as kids, and it’s fascinating to see how this early love for reading has shaped us into the adults we are today. You see, spending all that time with our heads buried in books did more than just help us ace our English tests. It subtly carved out traits within us that are not only unique but pretty advantageous, too.”

Do Quests, Not Goals, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “The conventional term for this sort of personal campaign is a ‘short-term goal.’ But I suggested to OBW participants that they drop the G-word in favor of something more fanciful: the quest. If that sounds a bit whimsical, hear me out. Whereas ‘goal’ has become a tired and bloodless descriptor for the (supposed) intention to do something great, the word quest instills the right mentality for achieving a real-life personal victory.” I’ve never thought of a “goal” as tired and dull, but the quest mentality does have some good points.

This is a good time for my occasional reminder that linking to a site doesn’t mean 100% endorsement of everything on that site.

Any theology that minimizes God’s holiness and tolerates people’s deliberate sinfulness
is a false theology. — Warren W. Wiersbe,
from Be Decisive (Jeremiah): Taking a Stand for the Truth

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Here are some thought-provoking posts discovered this week:

God’s Amazing Rescue Out of War-Torn Israel. Amazing is right. Debbie shares how her friends in Israel were able to get out with some unusual help.

A More Spontaneous and Genuine Evangelism, HT to Challies. I especially like the second point.

How to Prevent a Spiritually Dry December. “Busy days mean our schedules get squeezed. Work and school hours don’t change, so this means there’s a competition for our time at the margins. And, if you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you know that devotional time is often a casualty in this battle.”

I’m Adopted, HT to Challies.. “For me, those heavy questions needed to be asked, then answered, before I would be able to see my adoption for the gift it is.”

Am I a Good Mom? HT to Challies. “Every day, I am faced with opportunities to fail or succeed but there is no one other than my three kids under three to see. For the last three years, I have constantly strived to be the best and most God-honoring mother I can be. In my striving, I have never, ever felt more like a failure.”

Before You Go On the Attack. “A classic strategy in times of warfare is to dehumanize the enemy. No sooner has a conflict broken out than the two sides begin to refer to one another as animals rather than men, as mere creatures rather than human beings.” I had been thinking of writing a post along these lines: now I don’t have to.

Alexander Maclaren quote: "Seek, as a plain duty, to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life."

Seek, as a plain duty, to cultivate a buoyant,
joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life.
– Alexander Maclaren

Is Being a Mother Worth It?

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Is being a mother worth it

I waited with my youngest infant son in the doctor’s examining room for a well baby check-up. It took the doctor an interminable time to come. Meanwhile, baby had a leaky diaper that necessitated cleaning him and the examining table. Then baby spit up all over his clean clothes and his mom..

And I thought wryly about “the nobility of motherhood.”

Mothering is filled with highs and lows. There is nothing like snuggling with a baby wrapped in a hoodie towel fresh from his shower, the smell of baby shampoo wafting from his hair. Or receiving your first gift of a wildflower plucked with chubby toddler fingers especially for you. Or “book gluttony” after a library visit. Or laughs and tickles and playgrounds when they are young to games and talks and insights when they are older.

But there are also continual struggles with never-ending laundry, picking up toys, feeling like there is not enough time and energy to go around, not to mention blow-out diapers, meltdowns, trying to teach manners, arguing over why eating candy before dinner is not a good idea and why “everybody else is doing it” is not a good reason.

Some women focus more on the bad than the good, as one woman did when she wrote that she regretted having children. So now she advises other women not to have them. She feels motherhood keeps women “out of the work force, trapping them in a prison of domesticity.”

One of her reasons not to have children is that her children disappointed her. She doesn’t reflect on how she disappointed them. She tells women, “To persist in saying ‘me first’ is a badge of courage.” Yet she doesn’t feel that way about the child saying “me first.”

It’s true we sometimes come to motherhood with idyllic expectations. Christians know that our children are born with sin natures, but we’re surprised how early and strongly those natures exert themselves.

And we bring our own sin natures into the mix. It’s no wonder all these sin natures bumping into each other cause conflict and stress.

But they are also an excellent segue for teaching about grace and our need for God’s forgiveness and help. It’s not for nothing Colossians 3:12-14 says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Besides sin, children aren’t born knowing how to behave, share, think of others’ feelings, take turns. That’s what parents are for: to patiently teach them all those things.

Many in our society at large honor those who invest their lives in others–teachers, mentors, philanthropists. Yet so many look down on the investments of everyday motherhood, which for love’s sake deals with the nitty gritty and teaches and trains children through the highs as well as the lows, the mundane as well as the heart-warming. Why is being in the work force considered more valuable than training children at home? Why is taking care of and training children considered such a low-level occupation (even among paid professions like child care and teaching, some of the lowest-paid jobs) when children are our future?

Being a mother is hard work. Nothing else in my life showed me my own selfishness and need for God’s wisdom and enabling.

But being a mother is also rewarding work. My children aren’t perfect–of course not, coming from an imperfect mother. I pray God makes up for my mistakes with them. But my children are enjoyable people to know and be around.

In everything else I thought about being when I grew up, I always wanted to be a wife and mother as well. I am so thankful God gave me that opportunity.

So to the naysayers I respond: yes, it is worth it to be a mother. I am so grateful for my mother’s investment of time and love in me and for other women who “mothered” me in various ways.

Even as I try to defend and support motherhood, however, I am keenly aware of the pain of some women whose longing for motherhood is an unanswered prayer. God, for reasons only He knows, has not seen fit so far to bring husband and children.

Though motherhood is a blessing, it is not God’s highest calling. God’s highest calling for each woman is to be exactly where God placed her, doing exactly what He called her to do, whether that’s being a teacher, secretary, writer, nurse, or whatever. He can work in and through us to develop Christlikeness and further His kingdom in any number of ways.

Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice. Proverbs 23:25

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

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Here are several good online reads found this week:

7 Things Moms Will Always Need to Hear. “Throughout my mothering journey, I think I’ve learned more from fellow moms who are further down the parenting path than from any other source of wisdom besides the Bible.”

Counsel for Those Struggling with Assurance. “Christians wrestle with nagging doubts about their standing with God. In this article, I would like to define what assurance is, explain why Christians might lack assurance, and offer counsel for those who are struggling with worries about their salvation.” If you struggle with assurance of salvation, I invite you to read of my own battle with this in Blessed Assurance.

3 Powerful Ways the Holy Spirit Is Active In Our Bible Study. “Why do some Christians talk so much about Bible study? If we are truly led by the Spirit (Rom 8:13–17), some may ask, what need is there for something as dry and cognitive as study? Could we be in danger of quenching the Spirit and trusting our own efforts if we focus too much on rigorous, academically responsible study of the Scriptures? I cannot capture in a single blog post the sum total of the work of God’s almighty, infinite, and eternal Spirit. But perhaps I can highlight a few of the exceptionally clear and certain ways God has shown his Spirit to be at work in and through the Scriptures.”

Honour the King? HT to Challies. “‘I don’t understand how a Christian can agree to a proclamation declaring somebody other than Jesus to be our only king’. Well, it’s really not very hard. Jesus has the title ‘king of kings’ (Rev 17:14), not ‘the king who obliterates kings’! Jesus calls the kings of the earth to kiss him in Psalm 2, not to repent of their failure to introduce democracy. It’s very possible to be both in authority and under authority at the same time (e.g. the centurion in Matt 8:9). So, Jesus’ kingship isn’t an excuse to look at the British crown and say: ‘Not my king!'”

When Leaders Fall. “Then a few days later, I heard of allegations against another Christian leader – one I am less familiar with but whom I had respected from what I knew of him and his teaching. It brings up all kinds of questions: Why is this happening with so many Christian leaders? How many more? Who else? And how can we know who to trust? There is a lot I don’t know, and I’m still processing it all, but, here are a few things I do know.”

Please Don’t Weaponize Good-Faith Disagreement, HT to Challies. “In this new world, Christians seem increasingly unable to critique without canceling. We don’t see in our disagreements an opportunity to pursue truth together—to argue by appealing to Scripture, logic, reason, and tradition. Instead, disagreements devolve into quarreling. All heat, no light.”

A Plea for Fewer Metaphors in Children’s Talks, HT to Challies. Why teaching from metaphors isn’t effective for those under age nine and some alternative suggestions.

The Theology of Work, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “Many people today find themselves in opposite gutters along the highway of Biblical work; those gutters being laziness and idleness on the one side and workaholism on the other. Some people spend their lives chasing meeting after meeting or shift after shift and others spend their lives binging show after show, or scrolling reel after reel on their phones.”

Love Me, Love My Food. Very interesting article about how learning to love (or at least eat without a show of distaste) another culture’s food is a way of showing love to them.

When Mother’s Day Hurts. It can, for several reasons. But God sees, knows, loves, and helps.

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Here are some great reads found this week:

God’s Word and a Scalpel. “God’s word can be comforting. We often buy wall art and home decor plastered with passages about God’s love and care for us. We create or share memes for social media with verses about God’s good plans for us or encouragement to be strong and courageous. And I would never want to diminish these expressions of God’s great grace and mercy for us. But we can’t grasp on to the tender promises and ignore the instruction and conviction the Bible contains.”

Surviving the Winter of Suffering, HT to Challies. “During a blizzard of suffering, I drew the blinds down in my heart. I pulled inward so I could survive. I eked out a small corner for myself and gave the bare minimum to the world. I didn’t know any other way forward. I met the needs of my family, I checked off the homekeeping list, and then I crawled back into the darkness.”

Shepherds Feed the Sheep, HT to Challies. “This is something you hear over and over in certain kinds of churches and discipleship cultures—the notion of self-feeding. ‘You need to learn to self-feed.’ Do maturing Christians need to take responsibility for their personal growth? Do they need to take ownership (as it were) of their spiritual disciplines? Absolutely. You aren’t saved or sanctified by somebody else’s faith. But in the dim light of modern evangelicalism, I still find it glaringly clear in John 21 that Jesus does not say to Peter, ‘Teach my sheep to self-feed.’ He says, ‘Feed my sheep.'”

On What Are You Basing Your Value, Your Hope, Your Being? “What challenging circumstances are you navigating today that seem to have altered your life to the point where it’s unrecognizable? Do you ever question your value because your productivity is ‘unacceptable?’ (At least by your own standards…)”

Keep the Romance Alive in Your Relationship. “Knowing how to keep the romance alive in your relationship or marriage on a day to day basis can be hard. You know, when the washing machine is broken again, the kids are playing up and work hours are long and exhausting. Sometimes it can feel like we are ships that pass in the night, only coming together when both partners are tired and maybe feeling just a tad grumpy.”

The Resilient Mother: How We Bend Without Breaking. “When mothers are brittle and fragile, we snap, and the sharp edges of our breaking wound our families and leave us full of regret. Perseverance in strong habits of holiness keeps us connected with God’s word and rooted in what is true about God’s character.”

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Here are some of the good reads found this week:

5 Effects of Expository Preaching, HT to Challies. “To publicly herald God’s Word is an act of worship (2 Tim. 2:15), and a stewardship for which we’ll give an account. Here are five ways expository preaching beautifies Christ’s bride.”

Growth: Potential vs. Actual. A tale of two fig trees, one flourishing and one not, and what we can learn from them.

3 Ways to Turn Against Your Pastor, HT to Challies. “How do otherwise good Christians turn against otherwise good pastors? Here are three very common ways it happens.”

Not as the World: Finding Peace in Motherhood, HT to The Story Warren. “The sun dips and light filters through the back window, washing my kitchen in a warm shade of orange. It would be peaceful, except for the teething baby screeching in his highchair. The sizzling of a half-cooked dinner on the stove. The drumming in my head from sleeplessness. Fading light reminds me that the day is closing, but my responsibilities are endless.”

Why We Must Teach Our Kids Safety Skills, HT to Challies. “Young people are growing up in an increasing godless world, while also in deep need for wisdom and discernment to navigate it. More than ever, they need to know how to traverse the dangers around them.”

Truth and Story, HT to The Story Warren. “‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…’ Psalm 24:1 (ESV). This verse applies to books and readers, too. This is the foundation of why we read to the glory of God, because we have Him to thank for excellent literature.”

I’ve read parts of The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Poems and Devotions, but not the whole book. Hope’s review mentions an interesting article about who collected and edited the prayers in the book.

I heard a great message from Adrian Rogers on the radio yesterday while working in the kitchen. The overall message was about burdens, but the section on today’s broadcast was about restoration after one has fallen. The audio is here and an outline and transcript are here.

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Here’s the latest thought-provoking reads seen around the Web lately.

In Christ, We Have Direct Access to God, HT to Challies. “Is it inconsistent for the Bible to teach us that God ‘dwells in unapproachable light’ (1 Tim. 6:16), while at the same time exhort us to draw near to him? If God dwells in the white-hot light of his holiness, how can sinners like you and me ever hope to take even one baby step toward him? If God is so pure, so completely undefiled, so sharply separate from sin, how can we approach him? Indeed, it seems, he is unapproachable. Yet the author of Hebrews strongly encourages believers to not only approach God, but to do so with ‘full assurance.'”

Still, HT to Challies. This is beautifully written. “Is it true that the quiet valleys of this world harbour stillness like some treasure to be dug up? Quite possibly. But I’m not convinced that is what the ancient song-writer is calling us to. Rather, it strikes me that there is a tone of command here, a tone better heard if we had sat with the desperate disciples on a wind whipped lake, the night dread gripped their hearts.”

Keys to Knowing God’s Will for Your Life. “Of all the issues related to Christian living, few receive greater attention than knowing God’s will for our lives. Many believers, and especially younger ones, agonize over knowing what God means for them to do and how he means for them to live out their days. Many end up leaning toward a low-grade form of mysticism, longing to receive some kind of a sign from the skies or some kind of a word in their hearts.”

What Makes a “Strong Woman” Strong? HT to Challies. “‘Strong woman’ is a phrase heard often these days, and because I admire both words and women, I’ve been paying attention. It’s used in politics, on campuses, in the media, and even by little girls who know at a very early age to describe themselves as ‘strong.’ It’s made me think about what strong actually means—what is the implication when people say ‘strong woman’?”

We Don’t Need to Rescue Biblical Characters from Themselves, HT to Challies. “If we understand that the Bible is not a book of heroes to emulate, but sinners in the need of Jesus, our outlook changes a bit. We don’t need to rescue the biblical characters from themselves so we can emulate them, we can take comfort in the fact that even our very greatest heroes in the Bible were not perfectly faithful. They, as much as us, needed Jesus. The Biblical characters are not there principally as examples to us to emulate, but as examples to us of God’s grace.”

Two Letters and a Cute Dog Photo, HT to Challies. “My mind turns to the commute home and the evening ahead. Oh, that’s right: tonight is Bible study night. I was already feeling physically and mentally tired, and now I realise I’ve got to get home, do a quick turn around on dinner, then up and out in the cold to head to my home group. Or … I could stay home, get those nagging chores done, quickly watch the next episode of that Netflix series I’ve been enjoying, and get to bed at a time more in keeping with the level of fatigue I’m feeling. I’m sure my group and the leaders will understand. They always do. Here are five quick reasons to intentionally derail that train of thought and go to growth group.”

Not What I Expected, HT to Challies. “One of the most shocking television moments I ever witnessed was on L.A. Law in the 1980s. A character everyone loved to hate, Rosalind, stepped through her law office’s elevator doors mid-sentence and unexpectedly plummeted to her death. That’s kind of how I felt when I became a mom…like I was falling. I stepped forward and the floor wasn’t there. The drastic life change was so much harder than I expected, in ways I didn’t anticipate.”

Teach Us to Number Our Drives, That We May Gain the Hearts of Our Children, HT to Challies. “Even though I know this comes with the territory, I struggle to enjoy it. This season of spending lots of time together in the car is fleeting, and I need to take advantage of having a captive audience. But while I love my kids with all my heart, and I’d jump in front of an oncoming train for them, some days I don’t want to lay my life down to drive them across town.”

And a thought for the day:

Happy Saturday!

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Here’s my almost-weekly round-up of good reads found this week:

The Secret to Not Being Manipulated. “We take it in, often uncritically. Yet right on the surface are aspects that should make us question what’s going on. . . . The key word is uncritically. We don’t stop to question. Thinking critically about what we read or hear doesn’t mean being critical in the sense of finding fault. It means asking questions.”

3 Common Mistakes We Make When Reading the Bible, HT to Knowable Word. “We are Bible people. And as Bible people, we should pursue reading Scripture well by avoiding common mistakes that we sometimes make.”

How to Kill Your Love for God’s Word. ‘Green thumb, black thumb, or somewhere in between—many of us are following these steps, and I’m not just talking about houseplants or gardening. If you want to kill your love for God’s Word, the same steps apply. “

As You Pray About Roe v. Wade. “But as we pray for America, I want to encourage us to widen our gaze a little bit and pray for the matter of abortion in other countries as well. Because, strange though it may be, the potential overturning of Roe v Wade, which is the law of the land in only one country, is already having ripple effects around the globe.”

Growing Up to Be Mom, HT to Challies. “Little hands on mighty hips, my seven-year-old face-offed with her teacher. The innocent question, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ torched the classroom. It seems out of the entire class only my daughter thought the response, ‘I want to be a Mom,’ worth defending.”

A Mother’s Prayers. ‘Being a mother is a great joy—but also a heavy responsibility. And that’s why this Mother’s Day, I wanted to give the gift of prayer to each of our readers. I asked several mothers to share with me a specific way they pray for their children.”

32 Encouraging Bible Verses for Moms with Printable Graphics. These are beautiful!

A Mother’s Day Message for the Childless Woman. “You may not have physical descendants, but you have an eternal legacy that will shape the world you leave behind.”

Finally, this video of cakes that look like other objects is fascinating, HT to Steve Laube. I can’t even make regular old cakes that well. I watched a show with my son and daughter-in-law that was a contest like this: people had to choose everyday objects and then make a cake to look like their objects, then judges were brought in to determine which was the cake and which was the object. Amazing!

Happy Saturday!