Risen Motherhood
Risen Motherhood: Gospel Hope for Everyday Moments
By: Emily Jensen & Laura Wifler
“We cannot will ourselves into finding joy in motherhood because we cannot will ourselves into the obedience or love God requires of us. If we’re to find true, lasting joy in our motherhood journey, what we need is the work of Jesus Christ.”
All mothers of any kind should read this book— not just because it’s beautifully designed and just feels good to hold and read— but because Emily and Laura are able to transparently articulate the thoughts, desires, needs, struggles, and fears of motherhood from the small things to the big things and bring gospel hope into each and every one of them!
These two women, who are also sisters-in-law, have a whole Risen Motherhood ministry including a WEBSITE and a PODCAST. I’ve seen articles posted on social media here and there but have not really been a committed follower of their stuff. Therefore, I cannot tell you if anything in this book is a duplicate of other things they’ve written. However, truth is still good to take in more than once, yeah?
I’ve read many books on being a woman and/or a mother so in some respects, some of the information didn’t feel new, but I think the topics they structured their chapters around were really good. They were specific and relatable and things I wouldn’t have been able to easily point out as an area I needed the gospel spoken into in my life.
We hear the phrase ‘preach the gospel to yourself’ a lot. I use it myself. But sometimes we don’t really know how to do this. Emily and Laura do a phenomenal job demonstrating how to take a struggle and view it through the lens of the gospel.
They do this by categorizing the gospel message into four sections: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation.
Creation tells us what God’s original design was and how it reflects his character. The way things should be before they were tainted by sin.
The Fall exposes the ways sin affects our lives, our choices, our bodies, our relationships, etc. We can see how sin and brokenness creates divisions, pain, heartaches, and struggles.
Redemption is the reminder that Jesus made a way for reconciliation. Through his death and resurrection he defeated sin so that we may have forgiveness and experience his love and the power of the Holy Spirit he sent us. This is where the power to find joy and hope in all areas of motherhood is found. We need help and He is it.
Consummation is our ultimate future hope where God promises to restore everything. Even though we have the Holy Spirit’s power to overcome our struggles and our sin, we won’t be completely free from its pull and its affects until Jesus returns. Earth is not our home. Curating and striving for perfect lives here is impossible, but our joy and hope is anchored in that which is to come for those who trust in Him.
With each chapter topic they:
Expose the message the culture is telling us
Contrast what culture says vs what the Gospel says using the four sections listed above
Give examples of how this looks in real life
End with a few discussion/reflection questions
“If you trust in Christ, the power that raised him from the dead is the same power in your daily life. The Holy Spirit provides what you need to be patient, kind, loving, long-suffering, faithful, and gentle toward your husband, children, and others around you. He allows you to see that motherhood isn’t just made up of long days and tedious work— motherhood is made up of a million tiny moments for worship. All of life is growing in Christlikeness, sharing God’s love, and seeing Christ’s kingdom established here on Earth.”
What topics do they talk about?
Risen Motherhood is…
… Recognizing our hearts’ rebellion to God’s design and God’s help and resisting the cultural message that we just have to try harder and be better.
“We are now our own biggest problem, and most of the time, we live in denial of how rebellious our hearts truly are. We raise our voice when we feel unheard. We defend when we feel wronged. We worry when we lose control. The dragon whispers deceptions in our ears: ‘Try harder. Be better. Maintain control. Find the willpower within.’”
… Not putting our hope in our circumstances but enduring every transition, using it as a time of refinement and trusting that God is working.
“Our goal in life is not simply to survive this current hard thing in hopes that it will be our last. Rather, we endure whatever God has for us to the very end, believing God’s promises even when we can’t see the outcome.”
… Offering our husbands the same unconditional love we give more easily to our children, not seeing them only in comparison or in reference to the unattainable standard we’ve constructed from social media, our friends, and whatever podcast we’ve just listened to.
“Rather than looking at everything he’s doing wrong, begin finding everything he’s doing right. Let Christ’s love in you be stronger than any misunderstanding, bigger than any feelings of resentment, louder than your desire for justice, and greater than your own prideful heart.”
… Trusting God with our moments of monotony that there is nothing too small to bring God glory and work out his purposes.
“It might be mundane to fold laundry, but it’s extraordinary to do it patiently with joy and a heart of love. It might be mundane to sit on the couch and read another book to a whiny four-year-old, but it’s extraordinary to show kindness and mercy to an undeserving sinner. It might be mundane to fill the fridge with groceries, but it’s extraordinary to praise God for his provisions. Our everyday moments might be ordinary, but when we accomplish them while displaying the fruit of the Spirit, they reflect our extraordinary Savior.”
… Understanding that no matter how much research or planning we do, we cannot curate the perfect birth experience. There is no failure or achievement; there is no perfection. There are groans in childbearing, pains and struggles with broken bodies, but the best delivery is yet to come.
“Remarkably, it was through the very thing by which we’re cursed that God sent our Savior, who would eventually deliver us… Jesus came through the curse to break the curse.”
… Accepting the sacrifice we make with our bodies when we bring life into the world and care for our children. Being a mom is not free of cost, and our bodies will show evidence of that. Obsessing over our post-partum bodies distracts us from loving others and focusing on our heart attitudes.
“Jesus certainly understands what it means to be scarred, stretched, and marred, even shedding blood so he could give life to others.”
… Withholding judgment and criticism from other moms who make different food choices than we do and understanding that health is a good gift that we are to steward without caring more about what goes into our stomach than what goes into our hearts.
“Because of Christ’s work, we don’t find our identity in special food rules or diets. We still want to be wise stewards of our bodies, but we know we are not set apart or made more godly by avoiding certain foods, nor should we feel ashamed or embarrassed by what’s in our refrigerators.”
… Identifying when we’re holding our personal preferences too tightly so that it hurts relationships with people who make different choices than we do. There are times we need to confront a sinful word or deed in love, but peace in relationships is not built on getting everyone to affirm and put into practice the same choices we make.
“We’re not in competition; we’re in community.”
… Treating traditions humbly, not allowing our disappointments with the outcomes or the attitudes of our kids to dictate our worth. Traditions are fun, but we can’t let the pressure to make ‘Instagram-worthy’ memories (or ourselves) become our focus.
“God didn’t design traditions to impress others; he designed them to remember and to celebrate his work.”
… Seeking wisdom, guidance, and encouragement not just from like-minded mom friends but in our Christian communities— the church. We miss out on a God-given provision and support system when we isolate ourselves to just the people who are in the same stage of life or mindset that we are in.
“The church is where we encourage each other while we wait for Jesus to return. It’s the family tasked with praying for us and helping us live like Jesus. Even when we don’t feel it or experience it on the first try, the truth is that Jesus loves his bride, the church, so much that he’s coming back for her. We should love her too.”
… Serving others— both our own families and people in our community; striking a balance between saying yes and stepping out and saying no and staying in.
“For believers, engaging in service is not optional. Christ commands us to love him and love others, and that includes serving the vulnerable, the needy, the stranger, and the hard to love… Yet at the same time, as moms, we have a critical ministry opportunity with our children and families. This means, at times, we have to say no to valuable or worthwhile opportunities and causes in order to care well for those God has placed closest to us.”
… Seeing our limitations and not living for more ‘me-time’ and the version of self-care that the culture promotes as an antidote to the stresses of life.
“Self-care strategies are limited and temporary… We will always need more, new, and different types of self-care. God provides the only unlimited well of refreshment in Christ.”
… Trusting God with the future and outcome of our children’s health and future— especially when we are mothers of children with disabilities or differences. Their futures are not dependent on us to research enough, advocate enough, and care diligently enough, though those are all good things. Sanctification is here; God’s glory is here; God’s ultimate restoration is coming.
“If you are a mother facing the challenges of a child with differences, there is a purpose: God is working in your child’s life and through their challenges to display his glory— and he is working in you too.”
… Taking responsibility with teaching our kids the truths of the Bible regardless of school choice and knowing that no ‘right choice’ in school— public, private, home, etc— is a path to salvation or otherwise. We make our decisions in faith and make adjustments as we feel led to best help and guide our children.
“Scripture helps us see that while wise school choices are good, a method or institution doesn’t have the power to send our children down the right path for eternity.”
Other Comments
I related with pretty much everything Emily and Laura shared in this book. It’s clear that they put in the hard work of serious self-reflection. They took common struggles in motherhood, shared their own transparent experiences and thoughts and went a step further to explore their motives and their fears.
So many times I had ‘aha’ moments where they articulated the whys and hows that are behind my own thoughts and actions, convicting me that in a lot of areas I’m not living out of the gospel truths.
I thought it was also insightful when they used the phrase ‘felt needs.’ A felt need means that something feels important and necessary to us, but it may not actually be a ‘need.’ We don’t always know what we need and our feelings dictate a lot more in our lives than they probably should.
We can still acknowledge our desires and our wants, but when we see the work of Christ in the gospel message we start to see how our actual needs are supplied in Christ and the things we think we need don’t last or satisfy fully.
I hadn’t heard that phrasing before and thought it was a good thing to ponder.
I loved the repetition of the gospel message because if we’re going to be applying it throughout our days, we need to be familiar with it. It needs to become second-nature to adjust our daily perspective through this lens.
I like how their last chapters are encouragements to get into the Word. There is no better book than the Bible to make us more like Christ. Risen Motherhood is a great launching point in giving us a framework to look at our own lives, but true transformation comes from the very words of God.
For learning how to study the Bible they recommend Jen Wilkin’s book Women of the Word (which I haven’t read yet). They gave a link in their book for Bible study tools on their website but unfortunately the link didn’t work for me and a quick search on their website didn’t turn up anything.
Some other options would be to check out The Daily Grace Co. Bible studies.
The book You Can Handle the Truth helps you learn how to study your Bible for yourself.
Angie Smith’s book Seamless takes you through the entire Bible seeing the themes and the Bible as one big story.
You could also check out R.C. Sproul’s book Knowing Scripture (which I also haven’t read but comes highly recommended)
However, this book does have its limitations. It was never meant to be an exhaustive book on motherhood. There are plenty more struggles we will encounter that they didn’t bring up. But the gospel principles can still be applied.
It does seem to be geared more towards mothers with littles rather than teenagers. The anecdotes shared may not resonate as much with moms who are beyond pregnancies, snack plates, or Christmas activities. But again, the gospel principles can be applied wherever you are.
Post-partum bodies equates to any body-image. Marriage and mundane moments are life-long endeavors. We may not be having to decide whether or not to serve with little ones in tow, but serving at any stage of life usually involves a familial sacrifice of some kind.
Some reviewers have felt it excludes moms who don’t stay at home. I’m not sure I felt this but I don’t work outside the home so my perspective is different. They did not share topics specifically related to the workplace but I’m not sure I see how the topics discussed only apply to stay-at-home moms.
The overall point is that I think this book will help get your mind understanding how to identify the cultural message of any struggle of motherhood and seeing how sin affects it and how we need Christ to endure or overcome it.
And even if you feel like you’re not the target audience for this book, perhaps it will equip you to speak truth into moms in your life who ARE in this stage of life.
Recommendation
Whether you are a biological mom, a foster mom, or an adoptive mom, this book will speak truth into the struggles of your motherhood and point you to the only Person who is enough.
As moms we need each other to put into practice this ‘preaching of the gospel’ into each other’s lives. Ask each other- What was God’s intention for this? How is this affected by sin? How does the power of Christ enable me to obey and follow God’s original design for this? How does our future hope change my perspective on this?
This book will help us center our lives on God and what he wants for us, not in our own ability to be ‘good moms’ in the eyes of our culture.
“We need a risen motherhood, transformed by the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. We need his shed blood if we’re going to shed our guilt and failures. We need his fullness to fill us where we are empty. We need his sacrifice and hurt so we can sacrifice for others until it hurts. We need his wounds to cure our wounds. We need his atonement to atone once and for all our sins. We need his death to give us life.”
Sidenote: Laura Wifler also wrote a children’s book called Like Me to teach your kids about disabilities and open up a dialogue with them about diversity, empathy, and God’s love for everyone. If you’re interested, I featured it on one of Shelf Reflection’s Story Time videos HERE.
Second Sidenote: Emily and Laura- I live in your area and if you would like to be friends I’m game. I love what you guys do- keep up the great work of sharing the freeing message of the Gospel to all us mothers doing our best out here!
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