Comfort for Hurting Moms

MY CHILDHOOD DIAGNOSIS

My mom realized that I didn’t remember many of the details surrounding my childhood diagnosis of kyphoscoliosis, as well as a host of other memories that were still so fresh and packed with emotion for her. Although I had lived the experience with her, and it was part of what made me who I am, I listened that day as more of an observer than a participant as she invited me to reenter our shared story.

She led me upstairs from the kitchen to the second floor and through two doors to the bedroom where I had grown up – but it hadn’t been my bedroom when the scene she described occurred. Back then, it was an attic, and she showed me where she had stood by her ironing board when she had pleaded with the Lord to lift the dark and heavy cloud that had descended over her, encompassing her first experience of motherhood and robbing her of joy. She craved a “normal” childhood for me, one undisturbed by alarming concerns or interrupted by the fears and anxieties that doctors had forecast.

COMFORT FOR HURTING MOMS

She showed me where she had stood, where she had wept – and where (She pointed with her finger to the spot on the floor.) God had met her, a suffering mom, on a day like any other. Like Mary, she hadn’t been looking for a story – and similar to Hannah, she had known there was nowhere else for her to go. In the middle of ironing clothes, she cried out to the Lord – and He heard her, right there in southern New Jersey. He met her with the assurance of His presence and peace. He comforted her with truths she needed to hear, assuring her that He heard her cries; she could trust Him. The cloud lifted.

When my children were diagnosed with Alpha-1, the Lord met me in His word. There was little time to write in my journal in that intense season; still, I began writing a list of Bible verses about trusting God, adding quotations and encouragement from friends so I could remember His goodness during one of the hardest seasons of my life. As difficult as those days were, the promises of God’s word fed and sustained me.

Our God sees, hears, and keeps His promises. He is the great I am – our self-existent, unchanging, creating, and sustaining Lord. He is gloriously good – full of mercy, grace, love, faithfulness, and forgiveness. God’s character (including these and many more attributes described in His word) offers great comfort to hurting moms. How can this be?

GOD IS THE SOURCE OF COMFORT FOR HURTING MOMS

Because we know who God is, we know He is for us right in the middle of our real lives – and because God already kept His promises in sending Jesus (through whom all His promises are yes and amen [2 Corinthians 1:20]), we take Him at His word and expect Him to keep all His promises to us. With assurance of His character and promises, we are encouraged to trust His ways. This includes believing God when He says He works for the good of those who love Him in all things (paraphrase of Romans 8:28) – even when we can’t yet see the good that’s being worked.

Dear Lord, when we consider Your character and promises, what can we do but worship You? You are Lord, and there is none like You. Holy is Your name! Thank You for hearing our prayers, seeing our sorrows, and coming down to us. We praise Your glorious goodness, revel in Your mercy and grace, wonder at Your love and faithfulness, and gratefully accept Your forgiveness. Especially in our motherhood trials, remind us of Your promises and of who You are. Teach us to trust You. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Excerpt from God is Still Good by Katie Faris, ©2023. Published with permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION 

1. What makes it hard for you to remember God’s character and promises on your Tuesday afternoons – or any other time of the week that isn’t set apart for Bible study and prayer?
2. Which of God’s promises has become dear to you in your challenge?
3. When has God met you in your everyday, maybe when you least expected Him?