Let’s face it, motherhood can be tiring. Even on days when everything goes right, it can be exhausting. Then, on those days when everything seems to go wrong, we can feel beyond exhausted, like we’re operating in automatic mode and don’t know how we’ll make it through another day on our own.
During sleepless nights, seemingly endless days, diaper changing, potty training, runny noses, fevers, boo-boos, spills, and meltdowns, life as a 24/7 mom can feel overwhelming and all-encompassing. Having children look to us for their day-to-day care and well-being is a daunting task for any woman.
Likewise, as they grow into teenagers and adults, our mothering hearts continue to tune in to their needs. So where do we turn during those years of non-stop mothering?
The following are eight scriptures in God’s Word that we can turn to for encouragement, strength, and hope when facing weariness as moms:
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/FamVeld
1. Jeremiah 31:25 - God Satisfies the Fainthearted
Going 24/7 as a mom can wear us out pretty quickly, especially when days and nights seem to be non-stop with no breaks in sight. God assures us in Jeremiah 31:25 that “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
As most mothers know firsthand, motherhood is not for the faint of heart. As individuals, we are on our own spiritual journeys through it, learning and growing as we go through its unknowns while trying to nurture, direct, and help children with their own wills, challenges, and spiritual growth.
As mothers, we often face hidden fears and insecurities that we didn’t even know were within us, facing them at unexpected and uninvited times, because mothering has a way of uncovering the worst and revealing the best in us, all at the same time.
When our two oldest daughters were babies, my husband was serving in the Air Force, working 12-hour shifts seven days a week. Living in Alaska, 4,000 miles away from family, I was pretty much on my own day and night.
It’s where I really began to look to the Lord for His encouragement and started learning how to turn to and rely on Him to keep me from fainting as a new mother.
Photo Credit: ©tatyana_tomsickova
2. 1 Peter 5:7 - God Offers Us Relief
As 1 Peter 5:7 urges, God is telling us to “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”
God didn’t create us to carry alone all the responsibility that comes with being a mom. He understands the weight that comes with it. Because He does, His arms are outstretched towards us with hands wide open, saying, “Let me take that for you.”
It reminds me of when my daughters were babies, and I would fly alone from Alaska to Ohio with them to see my parents. After a six-plus-hour flight, as we disembarked the plane, my parents would be standing near the doorway of the airport as we exited, greeting us with arms wide open and reaching out to take hold of the children in their arms.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/LightFieldStudios
3. Matthew 11:28 - God Calls Us Close
In Matthew 11:28, Jesus calls out to us, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
God’s arms are reaching out to us, motioning us to draw nearer to Him and calling us to come closer. He doesn’t want us to be standoffish moms, thinking we’re on our own and have to figure it all out by ourselves.
He wants us to come to Him to be refreshed and renewed from the weariness that can come from being an around-the-clock caregiver, like a little child who comes and lays her head on her parent’s lap for rest.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/FatCamera
4. Matthew 6:27 - God Urges Us to Trust Him
Matthew 6:27 reminds us, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
Feeling worn down can often lead us to worry. In our weariness, the enemy of our souls works to stir up fears that can grow in our tiredness, leading us to feel insecure about our children’s futures.
But God reminds us that worry doesn’t add anything of value to our lives; it only tries to rob us of the contentment and peace we can have when we trust God for the days and years ahead.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/SolStock
5. Proverbs 3:5 - God Encourages Us to Lean on Him
Proverbs 3:5 urges, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
God wants to actively co-parent with us and longs for us to rely on Him to lead and guide us in making decisions. He is available 24/7 to help us and doesn’t want us to wear ourselves out trying to figure out what to do next.
We don’t have to look to worldly advice or even deep within ourselves for answers, as John 14:26 describes: “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Drazen Zigic
6. Proverbs 22:6 - God Asks Us to Believe in His Word
Proverbs 22:6 encourages us to “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”
God has laid out a plan for us to follow as mothers that will influence and impact our children’s entire lives. Even if they seem to reject it, try to run from it, or leave it behind, His Word, which is true and does not lie, promises us that as they grow older, they will turn towards it rather than away. Psalm 119:160 assures us, “All Your words are true; all Your righteous laws are eternal.”
When we, as mothers, teach our children God’s Word and His ways, we are preparing them for the rest of their lives because Scripture has lastingness to it. Unlike the saying, “out of sight, out of mind," when we put God’s Word inside their hearts, it’s not ever out of mind. Jesus tells us in John 17:17, “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/monkeybusinessimages
7. Galatians 6:9 - God Implores Us to Not Give Up
Galatians 6:9 encourages, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
It’s easy to feel like we want to give up at some, or even during all, stages of our children’s lives because most of what we do as mothers takes time—lots of time—to see lasting results.
Because motherhood can be very disheartening at times, it’s easy to grow weary. Often, moms feel like they’re blamed for everything that happens and thanked for very little. Some mothers spend their whole lives waiting for their kids to look back and recognize all the love, time, and effort they’ve invested in the lives of their children.
But for some, that time doesn’t seem to come during their lifetimes. Still, even if it doesn’t, there is peace and satisfaction in knowing they did all they could or knew how to do at the time to teach their children to love and serve God.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/fizkes
8. Psalm 100:5 - God Remembers All Our Effort
Even after we leave this earth, God’s faithfulness doesn’t end in the lives of our children. As Psalm 100:5 reminds us, “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”
Even if a mom doesn’t ever see the results on earth, God has not failed in His promise to her and will continue to work in the lives of her children for as long as they live. Mothers of prodigals can trust fully that God is working in their kids’ lives, even if they have no information to back that up. Moms can be assured that what they taught them about God has a stick-to-itiveness like nothing else they learn in life.
Throughout Scripture, verse after verse tells us how God remembers. When we plant and cultivate God’s words into the lives of our children, God remembers, and He causes our children to remember, too.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images /RyanJLane
Originally published Monday, 06 May 2024.
