A Prayer for All the Mamas Out There

Through blogging and sharing about all the difficulty I had during Claire’s early months, I’ve heard from a lot of you who experienced those same struggles and tears. And encouragement that it does get better (even though I hated hearing that at the time). That encouragement meant so much to me and I needed the camaraderie that honest motherhood can offer—that truly helped me get through some of the hardest days. And so, I wanted to take a moment to pay it forward, to all those new mothers out there who are struggling today. This prayer’s for you.

Oh Lord.

Thank you for motherhood. Thank you that it is a gift that you give to us. And I pray that, like with the best of all gifts, we will cherish it and hold it dear, even if it feels more like a penalty right now than a pleasure. Because I know that you will see to it that it will—someday, hopefully someday soon—feel like a pleasure, feel like the blessing that it is.

I pray that you will walk us through these days and that you will give us grace to whimper and crawl and heave ourselves through them. That we will do what we can to survive them and that, in the midst of all that, that you will be working wonders. In us, in our faith, in our children.

Because the truth is, that you wouldn’t bring us to this place if you weren’t going to do something with it, with us. You don’t bring struggle to us for the sake of struggle. You always have a purpose. Let us see that. Let us look for your redemption in these moments. Let us open our eyes to what you are already doing. Give us grace to look for that and to hope for that, even now.

Let us trust that we can do this, with your help. That you wouldn’t have trusted us with this child if you didn’t know we could handle it. Let us forget about all the woulda, shoulda, better-do-it-the-right-way adages that all the parenting “experts” throw at us. Give us the grace and permission to forget about those things and to listen to you—the only true parenting expert for our one-of-a-kind baby.

Grow us in the midst of these days that often feel like one big mess. Teach us patience and forgiveness and controlling our emotions and seeing you in the smallest of places. Open our hearts and teach us vulnerability and that our weakness is beautiful. Teach us to open up and ask for help and to be honest about the hardship. And in those places, bless us. Show us your love. Show us that you are always with us, even when it feels like you have closed your ears to our prayers and are ignoring us. Give us strength to ignore those lies and to trust you and to keep praying (for the thousandth time) for help and rescue.

And then, I pray, rescue us. We know that you do finish what you’ve started. So work here. We know you won’t leave us in this place of hardship forever. Give us the strength to hope and wait on you. And then the blessing of watching you work. Here, in this place. Now.

Thank you for your unending, ever-present love. And the fact that you are always redeeming. We love you, we trust you. In Christ’s name, Amen.

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