Encouragement for Motherhood: Devotional Writings on the Work of Christ

By Katie Koplin

Being a mom is hard work! Few of us find that motherhood is what we expected it to be. We mothers all need a little encouragement now and then to get us through the days when things feel a little too difficult and we're not feeling the joy in our vocation.

This book offers that encouragement, rooted in and focused on Christ. We're reminded of the work of Christ and the reality that he has established the work of our hands brings hope, peace, and sustainability to our work as mother.

Encouragement for Motherhood is honest about the struggles of motherhood.

Each contributor's words are vulnerable and honest about pieces of their work as mothers. The authors write about their limitations, fear of the future, failures, and relationship dynamics. More importantly, each contributor points to the hope found amid the struggles of motherhood. The hope found is not within the mother. The hope found is freely given to each of us by Christ.

Encouragement for Motherhood will not give you 30 tips and tricks to a more successful motherhood. What it provides is the gospel reminder that you are forgiven and free on account of Christ and his work. Being kept in those unfailing promises of Christ we get to live in freedom. Living in freedom we will fail and ask forgiveness, be confronted by our limitations but held by God, and be fearful yet rest in Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: 1517 Publishing
• Release date: Apr 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9781956658743

Book preview

Cover pictureTitle page: Collective, Encouragement for Motherhood, 1517 Publishing

There is no one harder on themselves than mothers. The pressure of the spiritual, mental, and physical health of our precious God-given children weighs heavy on us all throughout our lives. This devotional is a must read because each chapter reminds us in a uniquely insightful way that we are not alone in this good work. Despite our insecurities and failures, we can fully depend on our Father in heaven because He has promised that our children are His children and not a single one will be snatched out of His hand. Take up and read and you will be comforted and encouraged!

Erica Sorensen,

Executive Director, Higher Things

With tremendous tenderness, Koplin and the other contributors see the intersection where the heartache and challenges of motherhood and the grace of God meet. This is no pithy mommy devotional, but actually an anecdote to it. In a time when motherhood feels like the ultimate performance of our lives, this beautiful book reminds us that we are only rooted in the redemption of our gentle Jesus. And we can find rest for ourselves (and our children) there.

Rev. Sarah Condon,

Cohost of The Mockingcast

Katie Koplin is pure joy. Motherhood is moments of pure joy sprinkled with fear, grief, self-doubt, and longing. In this devotional Katie has collected a series of stories that truly encompass all of the emotions experienced in motherhood, with a thoughtful curation of Biblical application sprinkled with Katie’s signature joy. This book will encourage the weary, celebrate with the joyful, and return the reader time and again to the promises of God.

Courtney Burns,

Counselor, Faith Lutheran Middle & High School

This wonderful devotional offers gospel truth to the heavy-laden group close to all of our hearts known as mothers. It speaks with full volume the assurance that God loves them, cares about them (and their children), that his grace is sufficient for all of the tasks and trials of motherhood, both the difficult and the mundane. A refreshing and much-needed invitation to moms everywhere to rest in the mercy and love of Christ. Highly, highly recommended.

David Zahl,

Director of Mockingbird Ministries

and Author of Low Anthropology

"Encouragement for Motherhood delivers just what the title promises. The devotion reads as if I am sitting on a couch listening to these women open their hearts… or maybe at a wine bar after the children are all asleep. They are intimate and honest about the struggles, but also the joys. The stories these women share shatter the preconceived notions one might have that every other mother in the universe has it all figured out. Instead, they draw us in with their failures, fears, and frustrations and intentionally lead us to the Cross and to the heart of Jesus. I don’t know about you, but that is definitely where I need to be. I highly recommend this devotional for anyone who needs a few other messy mothers in their living room doing life together. It is a great reminder that we do not have to walk the road of motherhood alone. This will definitely be a book I purchase for more than one fellow mom as encouragement for the road ahead."

Darcy Paape,

Director of the Women’s Leadership Institute,

Concordia University Wisconsin-Ann Arbor

In each of these devotions you hear the vulnerable stories of motherhood that can’t help but resonate with your own personal joys and struggles of being a mom. And then the clear voice of Christ speaks directly into the midst of these daily mothering realities. You hear of a God that is for you—delighting in lavishing you with forgiveness, comfort, peace, and hope!

Martha J. Hanson,

Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church,

Morris, Minnesota

Even though this is a book for moms anyone could pick it up and hear the good news of Jesus Christ spoken into the midst of daily living. The light of Christ shines bright in these pages as his word liberates people from the weight of daily sin and strife.

Michael T. Hanson,

Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church,

Morris, Minnesota

"Encouragement for Motherhood is a book that drags every aspect of motherhood (oftentimes kicking and screaming) to the cross of Jesus Christ. The end result is always the same: genuine encouragement. Unflinching in its portrayal of motherhood’s insecurities, hopes, and surprising competitiveness, the essays of this book will show new and experienced mothers that there is no place beyond the grace and comfort of Jesus Christ who longs to gather all people together like a hen gathers her brood under her wings."

Rev. Timothy Koch pastor

of Zion Lutheran Church (Linn, KS),

Managing Editor of Seelsorger: A Journal for the

Contemporary Cure of Souls.

Encouragement for Motherhood: Devotional Writings on the Work of Christ

© 2023 New Reformation Publications

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

Published by:

1517 Publishing

PO Box 54032

Irvine, CA 92619-4032

Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data

(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Names: Koplin, Katie, editor.

Title: Encouragement for motherhood: devotional writings on the work of Christ / edited by Katie Koplin.

Description: Irvine, CA : 1517 Publishing, [2024] | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: ISBN: 978-1-956658-88-0 (paperback) | 978-1-956658-74-3 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Motherhood—Religious aspects—Christianity. | Christian women—Religious life. | Parenting—Religious aspects—Christianity. | Jesus Christ—Biblical teaching. | God (Christianity) | Forgiveness—Religious aspects—Christianity. | Liberty—Religious aspects—Christianity. | LCGFT: Devotional literature. | BISAC: RELIGION / Christian Living / Devotional. | RELIGION / Christian Living / Parenting. | RELIGION / Christian Living / General.

Classification: LCC: BV4529.18 .E53 2024 | DDC: 248.8431—dc 23

Printed in the United States of America.

Cover art by Zachariah James Stuef.

This digital document has been produced by Nord Compo.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Hello

Unexpected Joy of Motherhood

Our Bodies

Finding Peace

We Are Limited

Hi, My Name is Mom

Which Mom is Best?

Being a Mask of God

Sunday Morning

A Pyramid Scheme

The Perfect Daughter

A Quiet Delivery Room

Letting Go

Miscarriage

Confidence in the Face of Doubt

The Gift of Bags

The Curious Dance of Parenting

Unplanned

Unlimited Information

Lord, Have Mercy

If-Then Statements

Threat of Death

Everything is Going to Be Okay

Spiritual Safety

Babies Bounce

Wrestling

Overestimated and Undervalued

Why Can't You Just Get Along?

Put it in a Box

Sorrow and Joy

Meet the Authors

Hello

MOM, MOTHER, MAMA,

Whatever title your children use, I’m thankful this book made it into your hands. I pray it will bring encouragement to you and your work as a mother. Encouragement found not in our work but in the work of Christ and the hope we have because of him.

When I sent out the emails asking the lovely women who contributed to this, I gave them a list of possible directions. The one thing needed in each contribution was a reminder of the work of Christ. Each of us has different yet in some ways similar experiences of motherhood. The similarities rose to the surface as I read the words of these fellow mothers.

Motherhood brings about a recognition of our limitations, fears we didn’t realize we had, a deep need for forgiveness, and the myriad of relational dynamics. Amid all that motherhood brings, the work of Christ remains.

Regardless of what experiences we have or have not had, Christ is at work in our lives and the lives of our children. He uses the work of our hands to serve and love our children. This book is a compilation of diverse experiences and circumstances. The commonality between the writers is their eyes being focused on Christ.

KATIE KOPLIN

Unexpected Joy of Motherhood

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

and for as many years as we have seen evil.

Let your work be shown to your servants,

And your glorious power to their children.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us:

yes, establish the work of our hands.

—PSALM 90:14-17

THE WORK OF MOTHERHOOD is not what I expected. Joy is