0:00

Motherhood is hard.

0:08

One second

0:10

we think we're doing a good enough job, and the next

0:13

we feel like the worst mom on the planet,

0:15

which is why we need the refreshing truth

0:17

of the gospel to be repeated over and over,

0:20

giving us hope in the everyday moments. So

0:22

mama, whether you're sipping cold coffee or doing

0:25

a sink full of dishes, we hope you find

0:27

truth, encouragement, and laughter

0:29

here. This is the Risen Motherhood

0:31

podcast. Thanks for joining

0:34

us.

0:39

Hey friends,

0:40

welcome back to another episode of Risen

0:42

Motherhood. Today, we're continuing with our

0:44

interviews about areas of weakness that we have in

0:46

motherhood and how we seek God's abundant provision

0:48

within them. But before we get to the show,

0:51

I have to tell you about a few things. First off,

0:53

Emily's new book, He is Strong, releases

0:56

next week on October 10th. This

0:58

devotional is incredible, and it includes

1:00

scripture-filled reflections written to meet

1:02

you with the hope of the gospel and the love of Christ

1:04

in every shortcoming and hardship you have. This

1:07

is your last chance to pre-order and snag

1:10

a set of free scripture cards to

1:12

go with your copy. You can head to our show notes

1:14

or visit risenmotherhood.com forward slash

1:16

books to pre-order it now. Second,

1:19

did you know we have a free library full

1:21

of downloads filled with resources, devotionals,

1:23

and kids' activities? All you have to do is

1:25

become an email subscriber and you'll get access.

1:28

Joining our email list gets you more than just the resources,

1:30

though. As an email subscriber, we often

1:33

give you the first word of what's next with Risen Motherhood

1:35

and pop into your inbox here and there with some words of encouragement

1:38

and some of our favorite reads and products. If

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this sounds like your thing, head to risenmotherhood.com

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forward slash subscribe to sign up today. Okay,

1:46

let's talk about today's show. Today, Emily

1:48

is chatting with Marianne Helms. Marianne

1:50

is a wife to Pat and mom to four young

1:53

adult children. She is passionate about

1:55

mentoring and discipling young women and loves to

1:57

see God's truths shape their hearts and lives.

1:59

She loves to write and share with the Lord is teaching

2:02

her as she practices raising older children. In

2:04

her spare time, she loves trail running, spending time

2:06

with family and leading Bible studies and book clubs. You

2:09

can head to our show notes for more

2:10

info on Marianne and where to follow her on

2:12

social media. Okay. Let's

2:14

get to the conversation with Emily and Marianne. All

2:24

right. Well, welcome Marianne to the Risen

2:26

Motherhood podcast. I am truly

2:29

so thrilled to be chatting with you here

2:31

because you and I have been able to chat

2:34

a little bit over Boxer, maybe

2:37

over like the last six months or so. And

2:39

I have

2:40

really, really enjoyed our conversations

2:43

and I have learned so much

2:45

from you.

2:46

So when we were thinking about who to talk to

2:48

for this series, I was like, I have got to get

2:50

Marianne on here because I know she's

2:53

talked to me about all these different things. And

2:55

I want other moms to hear some of

2:57

your wisdom. So before we jump

3:00

into kind of the topic at hand, I would

3:02

love it if you would just tell us a little

3:04

bit about who you are, kind of

3:06

the various callings that the Lord has put on

3:08

your life and just what a

3:10

day looks like for you. Well, I

3:12

am married to my husband Pat and we live

3:15

in Atlanta, Georgia. So we're kind

3:17

of north of the city in a small

3:19

little county called Cherokee County. And we love

3:22

it here. It's a little quieter than it is south

3:24

of us. We have

3:26

four young adult children. Our

3:28

oldest just turned 21 a couple

3:31

of weeks ago

3:31

and our youngest is about to turn 14 in

3:33

August.

3:33

So

3:36

we have

3:36

two sons and two daughters and

3:39

they're 21, 19, 16 and 14. So

3:43

that keeps us very busy and mainly

3:45

busy in the evenings. So I've

3:47

learned with teenagers, they

3:49

definitely come alive at night just

3:51

when you're wanting to not be

3:54

awake and you want to settle in. That's when they

3:56

tend to come alive. And so there has

3:58

been a part of my. parenting that's had

4:00

to really shift into being

4:02

more of an evening parent. So

4:04

we live in Atlanta and my husband works for

4:07

IBM and he's worked for them for

4:10

many years since before we were married. He's

4:12

a developer. So he develops the software

4:15

that's behind your phone,

4:17

your phone plans essentially is what he does.

4:20

And in a day in my life

4:22

is very different now than when

4:25

I was a young mom. So the sameness

4:27

of young motherhood is something that I

4:29

at times miss, but I'm also feeling

4:32

somewhat liberated from that at the same time.

4:35

So something about not having to be bound

4:37

to the house and naps and set

4:40

meal times and all of that is, is really

4:42

kind of nice. So in

4:45

the past few years, a lot of my

4:47

day to day has been taken up

4:50

with, I love to lead Bible book studies,

4:53

one-to-one mentoring of younger women,

4:55

volunteering in church contexts or school

4:58

contexts. And

5:00

I found that really fulfilling again, to be a little

5:02

bit more out of the home than I was able

5:04

to be in

5:05

the younger years.

5:06

So that's kind of a summary. I know that you

5:09

do a little bit of writing too, on Instagram

5:12

and just sharing things that are going on

5:15

in your life. So definitely a great

5:17

person to follow. If somebody's looking for

5:20

a mom just in another season of life, I really

5:22

value your balanced

5:25

and wise perspective, a little

5:27

bit kind of out of the

5:30

thick and the heat of the little years, which is

5:32

really, really helpful. So today

5:34

we're mainly talking about the topic of patience.

5:36

And it was funny because when

5:38

this topic came up for Laura and I, we're

5:41

like, we're going to ask somebody about a time in motherhood, but they

5:43

didn't have patience. And it kind of feels like

5:45

it's all the moment. So, you know, like in what

5:47

moment did I have patience? Um,

5:50

and so I know that this is kind of a big

5:53

question, a broad question. And

5:55

so I'll let you kind of take it wherever you want, because

5:57

it could either be like a time

5:59

when.

6:00

You didn't have patience with something that was

6:02

going on with your kiddos, like in

6:05

a moment, or just patience

6:07

for where God has

6:09

you and what he's doing in your life

6:11

and what he's doing in your child's life.

6:13

I know that that's more some of the

6:15

things that you and I have talked a lot about

6:17

over the last six months

6:19

or so is just how hard it

6:22

can be when God

6:24

is doing something and it's maybe not as

6:26

fast or as clear as you want

6:28

and it's just really, really hard to be

6:31

content where he has you. So I'll

6:33

kick that off to you. What's the time you felt like

6:35

you were lacking patience?

6:37

Well, I remember very distinctly,

6:39

largely because I've kept such

6:42

detailed journals over the years, but I remember

6:44

so distinctly being challenged

6:47

in patience when my kids were small, just

6:49

because there is a certain level of

6:52

chaos that's different when kids are little.

6:55

And I'm fairly orderly, at

6:57

least I think of myself as fairly routine

7:00

oriented and orderly. And so the chaos

7:02

of the little years was actually really difficult

7:04

for me at times, just having so many interruptions.

7:08

In hindsight, I think that those little

7:11

day-to-day interruptions prepared me

7:13

and I'm sure many sort of midlife

7:16

moms, older moms would say that those do

7:19

prepare you for some of the longer

7:21

haul patients'

7:24

journeys you're going to be on. And

7:27

so for me, some

7:30

of my patients' story is really

7:32

related most recently to suffering.

7:35

And God has taken me through

7:37

a very long patient

7:41

season that was not directly related

7:43

to motherhood, but certainly affected my

7:45

motherhood. And so it began

7:48

late December 2019. We

7:50

lost my father very

7:52

suddenly and unexpectedly. And

7:55

that was followed fairly quickly by the loss

7:57

of my brother's son. And

8:00

that was followed by the loss of my husband's

8:02

job. And of course,

8:05

that was also, that last job

8:07

piece was in the middle of the pandemic. And so,

8:10

as though we weren't already struggling, everyone

8:13

else was struggling as well with just the unknowns

8:15

of a global situation that

8:17

none of us had ever encountered before. And

8:20

so, alongside

8:22

those elements of suffering, both of our daughters

8:25

started to really manifest symptoms

8:27

of great physical and emotional

8:30

grief and trauma. And those started

8:32

to come out in really difficult ways.

8:35

I'm not really able to speak to the particulars

8:38

of those at this time,

8:40

but it was a long

8:42

process of working through some really

8:44

deep rooted trauma responses.

8:47

So, I remember thinking, what was interesting

8:50

is, I thought many times looking back,

8:53

I'm so grateful the Lord doesn't let us

8:55

see how long our trials will last. Because

8:58

up until that point, my

9:00

patients had been tested by fairly

9:03

mundane things. And I say that

9:05

it might sound

9:08

almost silly, but I had not encountered

9:09

anything of

9:11

major trauma to that point. And so, most

9:13

of my patients' work had

9:16

been done in the mundane. And then

9:18

God shifted that category to something that was

9:20

much higher in intensity and

9:22

higher trauma. And so, I had to learn

9:25

an entirely new set of tools. So,

9:27

the Lord has really, really had to teach

9:30

me the endurance link

9:33

to patients and how endurance

9:35

really glorifies the Lord, but

9:37

how difficult it is to endure

9:40

well. And so, that's kind

9:42

of the context of a lot of the conversations

9:45

you and I've had over Boxer.

9:47

I really love how you started

9:50

with kind of young motherhood and the mundane.

9:52

And now you're helping show how

9:55

that is also linked to what you're facing

9:57

now in midlife with older

9:59

children. because I think as

10:01

a mom of young children feel like

10:04

this is the most patience I'm ever going

10:07

to need is right now. You know, when

10:09

they are pulling on me

10:11

and they're waking up multiple times a night

10:14

and they're crying and they're interrupting

10:17

and they are disobeying

10:19

me over and over and over and over again, like

10:22

you almost, at least I felt like this of like,

10:24

okay, if I can just get through these

10:26

years and have some patience with

10:28

them, patience is going

10:31

to be easier when they get

10:33

older. Like, I'm not going to have to be

10:36

as patient because I won't be irritated

10:39

or I won't be, you know, this won't be instigated

10:42

as often as it is now. But

10:45

what, you know, you and I have been talking

10:47

about and I think what you're sharing here is that

10:50

God is actually preparing you in

10:53

a later season for a depth

10:55

of patience and endurance. You're going to continue

10:58

to need, right? That, you know, He's growing

11:01

your capacity for patience and

11:03

that may not look like kids

11:06

up in the middle of the night. It may not look like

11:08

kids, you know, pulling on your clothes

11:10

or having a meltdown or not obeying

11:13

you, but it may be another

11:15

level of suffering that

11:18

you're going to have to trust God in the

11:20

midst of, even though it keeps going on

11:22

and on and on and on and it feels

11:24

like there's not necessarily like a clear end

11:27

in sight or clear solution in

11:29

sight. And I know that really

11:31

caught me off guard and it was

11:33

really helpful to me when you kind

11:35

of came in just a few steps

11:38

ahead of me, a few years ahead of me to go, I

11:40

actually think that that's what a lot of moms

11:43

experience in midlife and when their

11:45

kids get into the teenage years, it's just

11:47

a different level and type of patient.

11:50

I guess like just to get down more into the

11:52

nitty gritty, what was your kind of initial

11:55

way of

11:56

reacting to or dealing with

11:58

this sense of, lack around,

12:01

you know, patience, if that makes

12:03

sense. I can remember this still

12:05

very clearly again, because so much of it

12:08

is written down in these sort of heartfelt

12:10

journals. But I remember thinking,

12:13

I got through

12:16

those little years to be done with

12:18

some of this, some of these elements

12:20

of parenting. I've put

12:23

in my time, and I don't want to do

12:25

this level of intensity anymore.

12:28

And I think that's a pretty normal place

12:30

to get to, especially by the time you're in

12:32

those middle high school years. You are feeling

12:34

a little bit more of your humanity

12:37

and your weariness, all

12:39

the up in the nights and the long days. They really

12:41

have taken a physical and emotional

12:44

pull, and you're feeling tired. So

12:46

my initial reaction was a little

12:48

bit of frustration with God that I

12:50

was thinking I was sort of in the clear.

12:53

And looking back, of course, that was naive. And

12:55

God does not promise that at all. But I

12:58

had promised myself something, and

13:00

it was a false promise. And so the Lord

13:02

really had to gently confront

13:05

me in my own maybe

13:07

entitlement. This is what I'm owed

13:09

at this stage in parenting. So

13:12

there was a lot of ground level

13:14

work that had to be done in my heart. And

13:16

you heard some of that as we talked. And

13:20

yeah, just significant

13:22

spiritual maturity that had to happen. I

13:25

think that's the thing with patience

13:27

or any spiritual attribute we want

13:29

to cultivate. There's just a long

13:31

process of maturity. It's gained

13:34

in inches any of that growth. What

13:37

you said about thinking

13:39

we're entitled to something

13:41

at a certain stage of parenting is,

13:45

oh, that's just a gut punch. That's right where

13:47

I feel like I'm at right now. And

13:50

I would imagine many moms listening,

13:52

especially some that have potentially been listening

13:54

to Risen Motherhood from the early years, and

13:56

they started with babies and toddlers. And like

13:59

you said,

15:21

have

16:00

to learn to see you in a lower capacity

16:02

category. So the

16:05

whole aspect of that is really

16:07

challenging to navigate. So for me,

16:09

it looked like in a sense

16:12

respecting the terms of

16:14

the fall. And that sounds sort of

16:16

dramatic, but I had to really scale

16:18

back and recognize, you know, the Lord

16:20

is in control of this world. He

16:22

is sovereign over everything. Because

16:25

of the fall, some of the providences we

16:28

experience are very,

16:30

very difficult. And so in a sense,

16:32

we have to just respect that those are the terms

16:35

of life in this world. And

16:37

many things that happen to us that

16:39

challenge our patience and our endurance are

16:41

nothing to do with us. We simply the

16:43

only thing we can do is learn how to respond well

16:46

to them because we didn't cause

16:48

them. We are just sort of at their mercy.

16:51

And so learning that was really,

16:54

really difficult for me. But in the end

16:56

has proven to be very helpful because I can now

16:58

apply sort of this whole capacity

17:01

model to other challenging

17:03

situations. But going back

17:05

to your question, it looks like defining

17:08

and accepting that

17:10

my ability to

17:12

handle life was lower. And then

17:14

alongside that, it looked like sort

17:16

of gently explaining that to people

17:19

who might have previously seen me as someone

17:21

who could do more. And that was

17:23

humbling. That was really humbling to

17:25

do. It was really hard to

17:28

recognize that I wouldn't be seen as someone

17:30

who was as competent for a time. So,

17:33

yeah, it was it was very, very difficult, much

17:35

more than I would have ever thought before

17:38

I encountered all of the losses we did. And

17:40

just

17:40

to kind of provide some additional context

17:42

against thinking more about potentially

17:45

what a mom in her

17:47

season of life, where it like she has, you

17:50

know, older elementary through middle and

17:52

high school. Those are kind of the season that you

17:54

and I have been talking about. We've

17:56

mentioned, hey, there can be a lot of grief that come

17:58

up in life. at this point.

18:00

For most women, most

18:03

moms, sometimes there is aging

18:05

parent situations going on, maybe

18:08

the death of a parent. There

18:10

can be significant other health issues

18:13

going on in the family. I know you

18:15

shared with me, just like teenagers go through

18:17

a lot of struggles and sometimes struggles

18:19

that you can't openly

18:21

and easily share with other moms in

18:24

the same way that you can share about

18:26

your sleep issues or whatever, or

18:28

your nursing issues. They are not things that you

18:32

can go on social media and say,

18:34

hey, my teen is struggling with X, Y,

18:37

and Z. Maybe the load

18:40

of grief gets a little bit heavier.

18:42

I even think it's

18:44

helpful for me to say, hey, to

18:47

your point, because of the fall

18:50

and because of just the way the patterns

18:52

and the seasons of life work, it

18:55

doesn't necessarily mean like I'm doing

18:57

something really wrong or that a mom has

18:59

really failed. It's like this is

19:02

part of walking with the Lord and part

19:04

of living after the fall. It's like,

19:06

this is normal, unfortunately.

19:08

This is normal, but

19:11

God is also able to provide

19:14

patients in that suffering. I

19:16

like how you brought up the word endurance because

19:18

that's really what I've learned. If we're talking

19:20

about this inch by inch, these are things

19:23

that can take years

19:24

to walk through

19:26

and see the fruit of.

19:28

It's not just something that gets resolved

19:31

within a couple of days or a few weeks.

19:34

I really appreciate you breaking

19:37

that down for us. One

19:40

of the things I wanted to make sure we kind

19:42

of touch on, of course, we're in this series of abundance,

19:45

is just what does it look like

19:47

for

19:47

you

19:49

specifically? I know you've mentioned a few things, but

19:51

to depend on the Lord when you need

19:53

patience and how has

19:55

He shown up for you in that? I think often

19:58

the Lord shows up low.

19:59

kindly through other

20:02

Christians, right? Like because he doesn't

20:04

show up bodily until his

20:07

return, he shows up bodily

20:09

through other believers. And so I think learning

20:12

to accept words

20:15

of kindness and empathy from other

20:17

Christians has really shown me how the Lord

20:19

thinks of me. And so many,

20:22

many times in the past few years I felt

20:25

very disappointed in myself, and

20:27

I think that's one of the harder elements of any

20:29

kind of long-term suffering or

20:31

endurance. You tend to feel

20:34

a little bit insecure in yourself

20:37

because you're not performing perhaps up

20:39

to your own standard. And so

20:41

other Christians coming alongside me and recognizing

20:45

the challenges in my life and speaking

20:47

things into my life such as you're

20:50

doing well considering what you're

20:52

bearing has been really, really encouraging

20:55

and helpful. And I've seen that as the

20:56

Lord speaking to me through his people.

20:59

Simple things to

21:01

do with protecting my body,

21:04

even just gaining more rest. You

21:06

would not believe the effect of long-term

21:09

exhaustion takes on a body. And so

21:11

many young moms are in a place of just

21:13

total exhaustion and they don't recognize

21:16

how much that is affecting their day-to-day.

21:18

And so I think as your children

21:20

start to get older you can address things

21:22

like that in your life and start to take a little

21:25

bit better care of yourself. So

21:27

some physical addressing

21:30

has been really necessary in my

21:32

life as well and all of that of course creates

21:35

the environment in which you can then

21:37

have more patients. If you feel better and

21:39

you're better rested you're likely to show

21:41

up better for your family.

21:44

So those are practical things but

21:47

God really has been so kind to show

21:49

me

21:50

more healthy ways to operate

21:52

and I'm grateful for that because I

21:54

operated on a fairly

21:57

irresponsible level to some extent as

21:59

a young just neglecting a lot

22:02

of parts of myself that needed care. It's

22:04

so interesting to think about the link between

22:07

our bodies and, you know,

22:09

our spiritual health and just how

22:11

we, how God works in and through

22:13

that to produce the fruit of the spirit

22:16

in our lives. And I know

22:18

that's something I've learned a lot in these past

22:20

years is just even

22:22

thinking about an athlete, right,

22:25

that trains for endurance,

22:27

right? There's an element of caring

22:30

for and conditioning the body so that

22:33

they can go out and run

22:35

in a race setting and go

22:37

really, really, really far because

22:39

they have practiced like a little bit of time going a little

22:41

farther, a little farther, a little farther, and

22:43

then really

22:44

kind of taking

22:46

care of their body up and before that race so

22:49

that when the time comes, they can really go. And

22:51

yeah, I think to your point, I've just realized,

22:53

like, as my body is getting older, those,

22:57

like, margins become razor

22:59

thin in terms of

23:02

rest and physical nourishment

23:06

and maybe taking care of, like, past

23:08

hurts or past traumas that need to be

23:10

resolved so that I'm not kind

23:13

of triggered in that in the moment. And then

23:15

the way that that comes out in my parenting or whatever

23:17

those things are. So I think that's something I've noticed as

23:19

I've gotten older that even something

23:21

like patience, that God is doing a work

23:24

in that in my heart, it's multifaceted,

23:26

right? It is the word.

23:29

It is prayer. It is other people speaking to it. But

23:31

there's also, you know, I'm a whole person

23:34

and I have a body too. And there's elements

23:36

with the body that you realize,

23:38

yeah, it is harder to endure

23:42

and use kind

23:44

responses and persevere with others

23:46

when you're really, really hungry or you're really, really

23:48

tired.

23:50

And so how can you also be thinking about and addressing

23:52

those things? I think that's really

23:54

helpful.

23:54

Yeah. And then one other thing

23:56

that that's a practical element

23:59

related.

25:28

life

26:00

inside my home that day. So I

26:02

love that you added that. So

26:05

for this series, again, we are focusing

26:07

on abundance. So I would love it if you would

26:09

share with us something that

26:11

you love about the abundance

26:14

of God's sovereignty and his plans

26:17

and his timing for our lives. He is utterly

26:20

patient. He is utterly good

26:22

in that. How does that encourage you? So

26:25

I think when our children are young, this

26:27

is one thing that I

26:29

believe about God that was probably not entirely

26:32

true. I think when I was raising

26:35

young children, small toddlers, etc.,

26:37

I tended to think that the Lord viewed

26:40

me in the same way that I

26:42

was parenting my children in

26:44

a very kind of constant,

26:47

why did you do that? What are we doing? Corralling

26:50

me all the time. And I think

26:53

young moms have to be in that place to be good

26:55

moms and to be attentive moms. But

26:57

I think somehow I connected

27:00

the Lord to myself

27:02

in a sort of young parenting, almost

27:05

impatient way. And I think that the longer

27:09

I've grown in my faith and I've grown

27:11

in my parenting in my motherhood, I've learned

27:13

that God's patience

27:16

is so much more abundant for me than

27:18

mine is toward my own children,

27:20

toward myself. And I think

27:22

it takes a long time to learn that. I

27:24

think we have to walk through some failure

27:28

and some unknowns and some

27:30

personal difficulties,

27:32

maybe challenging our own theories about

27:35

motherhood and whatnot, to get to a place where

27:37

we are very comfortable with the fact that God

27:40

loves us in our imperfection and

27:42

that his grace for

27:44

us is so much more

27:46

abundant than it is for ourselves or even

27:49

for our children. So that has

27:51

come home to me over and over again and that's really

27:54

been through brokenness. I've seen God's

27:56

abundant kindness through brokenness.

28:00

I never felt that same

28:02

freedom in the Lord when I was more

28:05

whole in my own view of myself. It's

28:07

come through being very broken and realizing

28:10

that he rejoices over me with singing,

28:12

whether I'm performing as best

28:15

I can or not. So

28:17

that means more to me than anything. And

28:19

I think that then opens the door to a

28:21

really long standing friendship with the Lord,

28:24

not hiding from him, but recognizing

28:27

like a good friend, he will walk with

28:30

you through any season. So

28:32

that would probably be the way that I've most seen

28:34

his abundance, is just his kindness

28:37

and brokenness.

28:38

I love that.

28:39

Sometimes I think I can see in motherhood like so

28:41

many different areas that I need to kind

28:44

of fix or correct or get back on track

28:46

and maybe not just motherhood, but there's things in

28:48

marriage and then there's things professionally. And you

28:51

can just see dozens of things at any

28:53

given time that you're like, I really need to

28:55

grow in this. I really need to correct this. I really need to pray

28:57

about this. And just to recognize

28:59

like God is working in all those areas

29:01

over a lifetime and he's not

29:03

asking

29:04

or working to fix all of

29:08

those things perfectly all at the same

29:10

time. He's very gracious to do that

29:13

and lead us in different seasons in different

29:15

ways. And I just go back to that promise

29:17

of like God is going to complete the work

29:20

that he started in us in Christ Jesus.

29:23

He knows that for sure. We can know

29:25

that for sure. Like it is going to be

29:27

completed. And so in that

29:30

there can be patience, right? So

29:32

I love that reminder. So

29:34

I guess just to close today, Mary Ann, what

29:37

would you say to a mom who's listening

29:40

who feels like she does not have enough

29:42

patience today either

29:44

for the little ones around her or for something

29:46

that's going on in her life? What encouragement

29:49

would you give her?

29:50

Well, I always find the most encouragement in my

29:52

own life from Charles Spurgeon. I read

29:54

as much of his writing as I possibly can.

29:57

And one of my favorite

29:58

books or series.

29:59

of books is his sermons and

30:02

it's sort of a collected sermon

30:05

series for his students. But

30:07

in that sermon series he talks about

30:11

times when we are struggling,

30:12

whether it's in depression,

30:15

discouragement, anything. His

30:17

reminder is to remember

30:19

that the Lord is what he calls training

30:21

our graces. And I think

30:23

that is really helpful for young moms

30:25

to remember that a lot of your young

30:27

motherhood is feeling

30:30

like you're getting absolutely nowhere.

30:32

But in all of that, because the Lord does

30:35

desire our maturity and he wants us

30:37

to be conformed to his likeness, and

30:40

he wants our children to be conformed to his

30:42

likeness, that he's collectively

30:44

training our graces as we raise our families,

30:47

our own, our children's, our husbands. And

30:50

I think if we can just remember that, if young

30:52

moms can remember it's not futile,

30:55

the Lord is really doing

30:57

deep work that

30:59

can't be done in any other

31:01

context, right, except through

31:04

enduring and navigating

31:06

discouragement and coming out the other side of it. I

31:09

think that can encourage even on the

31:11

hardest day. So to

31:14

not look at our circumstances

31:16

as mistakes from the Lord's view, but

31:19

purposeful context in which to

31:21

grow into more beautiful women.

31:23

And that surely can

31:26

encourage us to know that it's all

31:28

for good. Yeah, it's like when we

31:30

know something is happening,

31:32

right, there is a purpose to the suffering,

31:35

there's a purpose to the struggle, there

31:38

is progress in the midst of that. That

31:41

can sometimes be the very,

31:45

you know, encouragement that we need to keep waiting,

31:47

to keep trusting, to keep having faith, because

31:49

we know that God promises that he is

31:52

working for our good in the

31:54

midst of things, even if it's really, really tough.

31:57

And he is building that endurance, he's building that character, and he's building

31:59

that character.

32:00

so that, yeah, we can keep growing and following

32:02

him. So thank you so much,

32:04

Maryann, for chatting with us today. I'm

32:07

just grateful for your wisdom and

32:09

just your willingness to share some of the things

32:11

you've learned with us.

32:13

Thank you for having me. It's always a joy to talk

32:15

with you, Emily.

32:24

Hi, my name is Esther, and I'm

32:26

part of the Risen Motherhood community

32:29

because I believe that motherhood

32:31

is one of the highest callings

32:33

that I've had. As a

32:35

mother of four now and

32:37

homeschooling some of my children, I

32:40

just need that encouragement of the gospel

32:42

truth, and I love that Risen Motherhood helps

32:45

me apply so

32:47

much of the gospel to just everyday situations

32:50

where I need it most.

33:00

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33:03

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33:05

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33:07

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