Verses of encouragement
As a busy mom I often get discouraged and overwhelmed. I fail daily. My faith falters as my house seems to collapse around me. Dinner is burning, laundry goes undone, babies are crying, lesson plans fall by the wayside, a stream of steady interruptions throw my schedule into a tailspin. That’s not once a week, that’s daily. Life happens, everyday. In this post I want to give you 10 verses of encouragement for weary moms.
Lately I have been letting feelings of failure and despair consume me. I was immersed in what I should be doing and not what I was doing. At one point I remember asking myself, “what are you doing? Who are you doing it for? What do they expect? Why do you keep failing?” The answer was much simpler than I imagined.
Join me as I share my answers and the raw, real-life struggles that I face daily and the verses of encouragement I found in God’s word when I discovered what I was doing, who I was doing it for, and what was expected. I pray you will be encouraged by my experiences, lessons, and verses of encouragement .
10 Verses of Encouragement for Weary Moms
Mom, who are you working for?
The kids? Husband? Your boss? Yourself? If you answered yes to any of those, then that is where your problems begin. Moms, you can’t please man, you can’t please those of the same fallen flesh as yourself. Yes, you can make them happy. You can do things to help them, to show love, kindness, respect, and gratefulness; however, you can never really please them. If you are basing your happiness on pleasing others, then you are setting yourself up for failure. Do you need some verses of encouragement
Psalm 119:35Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found.
Others in your life are human, just like you. Yes, it is a good thing to do for your husband, kids, boss, and even yourself and while there is nothing wrong with working for them, there will always be something we can’t do for them or something we do wrong. Moms please quit working for other people.
Deuteronomy 10:12“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul.
Who should Mom work for?
1 Corinthians 15: 58
“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. ALWAYS work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”
Did you read that Mom? Nothing you do, when doing it for the Lord, is ever USELESS!! NOTHING!! So why are we killing ourselves
Even when you are working for others, remember, you still work for the Lord:
Colossians 3:23-24
“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.”
Choose you this day:
Joshua 24:14-15
“So fear the LORD and serve Him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Sever the LORD alone. But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”
Take this verse, substitute society for ancestors, and think about it in today’s terms. What idols and gods are your serving?
1 John 2:16For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
STOP! PRAY! BREATHE! FOCUS!
You feel like you are sinking because you are trying to do too much. Moms, you feel exhausted because you never slow down. STOP! The kids, your husband, and even you will live just as happily, maybe even more happily with less stuff, less events, and more downtime. As you learned in elementary school: “Just say NO!”. Instead take time to focus on serving the Lord. Take His verses of encouragement and apply them to your life.
STOP! PRAY! BREATHE! FOCUS!
That’s it Mom, take a minute, ask yourself, who am I serving? The idols of society, the gods of my family? Or, the LORD?
Of course this is easy to say as I sit here at 5 am, coffee in hand, husband at work, and kids still in bed. However, soon they will be up, our school day will begin, I won’t have the lessons planned, we will get stuck on a lesson, an important phone call will interrupt, a toddler will destroy what was just cleaned, I’ll burn the toast, I’ll forget the basket of clothes sitting on the bed until my husband is ready to fall into bed with exhaustion from his 14 hour day, and inevitably some event will come up that absolutely requires our presence. Yep, it will all happen, likely all in one day. That’s OK, because God has it, the refreshing of the Lord will come. He has given us a book full of verses, verses of encouragement.
Psalm 84:6When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.
Let me be real:
Allow me tell you about yesterday, actually the past few weeks. I want to be raw and open for just a minute.
We are behind in school, I am sinking. It seems like everyday brings a new event, problem, or distraction. Basically I have been leaving the older kids to fend for themselves while I hang here, treading water, waiting on a ship to come rescue me. It has been so bad, that one night, I began texting my Mom pictures of every hole in the wall, stain in the carpet, and pile of laundry to be found; begging her to come save me from myself. Here I was angry, frustrated, overwhelmed sinking and in tears.
I couldn’t pray:
I couldn’t even pray, it felt like my prayers were hitting the ceiling. Some days, I am ashamed to admit, I didn’t even bother. I just kept plugging along, waiting on something miraculous to happen.
That’s where our AMAZING God comes in. HE lives in us, and HE prays for us:
Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
My Miracle:
The miracle came, in the form of a listening friend and a shared schedule.
My sweet, dear, and wonderful friend, Melissa, over at Blessed Simplicity, shared her new found secret with me. OK, it isn’t really a secret, but she shared her schedule and she encouraged me. Moms, find a friend like this.
Find a friend: A faithful, praying friend.
Find a woman of faith
Melissa and I can’t have phone chats because we both have 6 children and busy lives, but we have this nifty app called Voxer. We also can’t meet often for coffee, but now and again, we sneak away, at 10pm and meet half way for even just an hour of laughs and fun.
Ecclesiastes 8:15So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.
On this particular day I left my sweet friend a message and she came through. She listened, then she said, “me too”, we met late that night for coffee, then she shared the schedule she had built, and slowly, I have started building my own. Thank you Missy, I LOVE YOU FRAND! You were my miracle that week.
Encourage one another: verses of encouragement
Moms I don’t have a schedule for you to use, no downloads or printables, my schedule won’t work for you unless we function a lot alike. However that’s not what you need from me. What you need right now is to know you CAN. I have tried every schedule under the sun, every planner
Romans 15:32 NLTThen, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.
Mom your week is tough: verses of encouragement
Your week is a tough one mom, your life is tough, raising children is tough. From laundry to diapers, work, school, taxi driver, appointments, sports, chores, nursing, etc… you never seem to get any rest. Take comfort, the Lord is with you and He sees all you are doing, every.single.day.
Zephaniah 3:17
For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
Moms, I hope you find these verses as encouraging as I did.
Yes I realize there are 11 verses of encouragement, call it your Mother’s Day
THANK YOU!
Thank you for reading, thank you for all you do, and thank you for being here for me. I hope in some way you find these verses of encouragement to be a blessing, if for no other reason than to know you are not alone.
If you found these verses encouraging please leave me a comment below and let me know. Also, if you have a verse that encourages you please share it in the comments for me and the rest of our friends. 🙂
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
For more on what Random Mama believes, you can hop on over to this post: Long Hair & A Skirt: What does Random Mama Believe
