Motherhood sometimes doesn’t feel like a milestone and it’s like a silent phone call that you’re still learning to handle. In Finding God Every DayRebecca Simon reflects on trusting God within the most sacred bonds of life and relying on His grace in all seasons. You can check out his book if you would like to go deeper.
Parenthood is one of the holiest, most difficult callings the heart can bear. It’s asking a lot. It requires your time, your energy, your patience, your compassion – and even then, there are days when you wonder if you’re getting any of it right. Days when the weight of your journey feels heavier than your soul can handle.
If you are here, reading this, you are probably tired. Maybe you question whether the love you give out is enough. Perhaps you carry a silent fear, or a hope that feels too fragile to believe.
This is for you. A quiet reminder that even in your inadequacy, even in your weariness, even in your moments of doubt – you are doing sacred work, and you are not doing it alone.
Here are eight kind reminders to every Christian parent that need to be told over and over again—you are seen, loved, and guided by hands stronger than your own.
You were not called to be a perfect parent. You are called to be a person who exists.
There is no such thing as a perfect parent. You will lose your patience. You will have difficult days when you say things you wish you didn’t say. You will screw up, not once, but a thousand times. But the truth is – your children don’t need a parent who has never struggled. They need a parent who keeps showing up despite it all. They need a parent who keeps choosing them, even when it’s difficult. A parent with God’s love. A steadfast, forgiving, gracious love. It is your presence, not your perfection, that leaves a lasting mark.
God loves your child more than you.
You have a deep love for your children, and yet – God’s love for them is deep, far-reaching, and steadfast. You are part of the love story God is writing for you, but you are not the whole story. When you worry about their future, when you feel powerless trying to hold their pain, remember—God’s hands are strong, and always open. You don’t raise your children alone. God is always near you, God always reaches out to them.
The seeds you plant now will take time to grow.
You won’t always see a garden right away when it comes to the things you’ve been trying to grow, and build, within your life. There will be seasons when it feels like your words, your prayers, and your example are not being heard. But God reminds us – “Let us not be weary in doing good, because at the right time we will reap, if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9) Trust that your faithfulness will not be destroyed. Trust that every act of kindness, every silent prayer, every truth spoken in love, grows, even in ways you can’t quantify right now.
You are not called to protect your child from all pain – you are called to walk with them.
You can’t always protect those you love from heartbreak, from judgment, from the ends of this earth. As often as you wish, some lessons can only be learned when they go through and experience pain, or sadness, or disappointment themselves. Your calling is not to erase every pain or obstacle in their path, just to hold their hand as they walk through it. A strong presence that reminds them that they have someone on their side, that they are not alone. Just as God walks with you through all the seasons, you teach them, with your gentleness, that love lasts even when life gets tough.
It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers.
There will be questions that you don’t know how to answer. There will be times when your child looks up to you with the kind of certainty that you feel you don’t have within yourself.
There will be times when you wish you could save yourself, but you can’t. At those times, it is okay to say, “I don’t know, but I believe that God is good.” Remember that your kindness, your honesty, and your willingness to trust the story written for you—these things will teach your child more about God’s faithfulness than any rehearsed or half-baked conversation.
Your child’s story will not be the same as yours.
You love your children, and therefore it is very humane to hope that they avoid your mistakes, that they make the kind of choices that you know will benefit them, that their journey is kinder to them than yours. It is easy to want to write their story for them, but they are made to go their own way. Their relationship with God, their dreams, their struggles—everything will be different than yours. That is not a sign of failure, it is a sign that God is doing work among them. Trust that you are still the author, even if the chapters don’t read the way you expected. Trust that what he writes for them will be good and rooted and full of his grace.
You don’t give birth alone.
When you’re sitting at the kitchen table late at night wondering if you’re doing the right thing, when you feel like your heart is heavy, when you feel invisible, tired, and stretched beyond what you thought you could handle—God is there.
God reaches out to you. God holds you together, even if you can’t feel him. You cover all the gaps you can. His strength is perfect in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9) You were not created to do this holy work alone. You were chosen for a reason, and you will continue to be chosen, even on the darkest days.
Grace is your parenting partner.
Being a parent is not easy, it is not wrong. There will be times when you don’t get it right, when you wish you had a reset button, when you wish you could do things differently. You cannot shame yourself for not being a perfect example of God’s wisdom or patience. You have to remember that kindness always chooses you. You don’t have to find your way back to God’s heart after a bad moment. His mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) He is allowed to be human. You are allowed to seek forgiveness. You are allowed to start over, and believe that love, not perfection, is what your children will need most.
