Instead of trying to control every outcome for our family, we can depend daily on the One who alone produces the fruitfulness we long for.

When we feel buried by failure—whether struggles with sin or inability to live up to our own or others’ expectations—we can run to Jesus in prayer, casting our burdens before him.

When we find roots of performance-based identity and idolatry in our hearts (or our children’s), we can turn in faith to the only One who did meet the mark—Jesus.

When decking the halls deflates or discourages us, the gospel reminds us that our perfect home is in Christ.

Our response to sin and failure provides a unique opportunity to put gospel truth into practice for our kids.

If we stand on the affirmation and glory we receive in motherhood, we’ll fall flat on our faces within minutes. If, however, we stand on the work of Christ and faithfully serve in our homes, like Christ’s humble example, we bring glory to God and experience greater joy.

At the end of a long day of mothering and meeting needs, how sweet it is to know that God invites us to bring our own needs and emptiness in exchange for his strength and rest.

As mothers, we can be tempted to find our righteousness in giving our children the picture-perfect childhood, filled with super-food meals and the best education possible. Somehow we falsely believe that if we can be the ideal Proverbs 31 wife and mother, we will earn favor with God.  

Yet our hope is solely in what Christ has already done, what he accomplished for us on the cross.

Our righteousness will never come from being good enough. It comes from Christ, who granted us new life in himself and placed trust in our hearts—trust in the one atoning death that covers all our sin. Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Every day, each time we fail to keep God’s perfect commands, what glorious assurance we can have.  For we know that our righteousness is not in anything that we do, but in Christ alone. When we fail, when we sin, amidst the remorse and regret, we can thank God for his commandments.  For they reveal our imperfections and lead us to the cross, our only hope of ever being counted good enough."
 

When it comes to toiling in the call of motherhood, I often shift my focus from the upward call of Christ (Philippians 3:14) onto my self-constructed image of the "perfect" mom. Instead of working with the energy the the Holy Spirit provides for the work God has put before me, I clench my fists and drag the weight of "not good enough" as I press on to attain my idea of godly motherhood.