You can find the original Dear Weary Mom letter I wrote right here. It is the first page really of a long letter. This is the second page. My friends over at the new Hope for the Weary Mom blog, decided to turn this into a weekly series and ask all the moms to write letters and link them up. I think it is a great idea.
Dear Weary Mom,
I’m so glad you are here. I know you probably should be cooking dinner or washing something, or maybe you are doing that while reading this right now. Sometimes people ask me how I do “it” all and I think to myself, “A weary mom gets real good at doing 5 things at once or she drowns in all of it.” True right? I can read, cook dinner, find the remote, and take my toddler to the bathroom all at the same time. It may not be college level calculus – but it is real world math.
I’ve been thinking lately about what hope really is. It all started some time after the book came out and I was praying for God to give me fresh world about it. I had spent the whole day begging for a word from Him. Face down, on my bed He made it clear what it was down in the core of the message:
H – Honest about where you are
O – Openly inviting Him into your mess
P – Pray like you need Him every hour
E – Encouraging your heart with His Word (daily)
This is what Hope is really about. You want to know the truth?This message is the Gospel for moms. It is the Gospel for everyone. See, we all have to come to a place where we realize we can’t, but He can. We all find ourselves crying out to Him to meet us in our lives. We talk to Him through prayer which is really our hearts begging for Him to meet us for real and right now. His Word – it is our lifeblood that strengthens us. Since Jesus is the Word made Flesh, we are really crying out for Him. Lord be strong in our lives.
I preach this to myself over and over every day. I need a reminder that this message is not just for you. But it is for me. I am the needy one. I cling to it. What I’ve realized more in the past few weeks is motherhood has shown my neediness in a whole new way. This gospel of Hope is my answer.
I read this recently:
“The gospel is so foolish (according to my natural wisdom), so scandalous (according to my conscience), and so incredible (according to my timid heart), that it is a a daily battle to believe the full scope of it as I should. There is simply no other way to compete with the forebodings of my conscience, the condemning of my heart, and the lies of the world with the Devil than to overwhelm such things with daily rehearsing of the gospel.” Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians, p 14
Hope helps me daily rehearse the Gospel. My heart and mind they condemn me night and day. But the Gospel? It is an incredible dose of hope for my heart. Hope can overwhelm me in a different way.
Oh mama, do you preach it to yourself all day long, too? Please know, that you are not alone. This is His heart for you—all day long, every day, during the crazy, and while you are doing five things at once.
Hope is the Gospel. It is for your heart. It is for mine. It is real. There is a reason it speaks to our hearts. It is because Jesus is the one doing the talking. He loves us, He wants to be all that we need. He wants to be our strength all day long.
So preach on Weary Mom. Preach on. . .
xo,
Stacey
(to read other letters just for your heart, visit the Dear Weary Mom link up each Thursday right here.)
love it 🙂
I didn’t know that HOPE was an acronym. I love it! And I love your heart for encouraging mothers. Your book, your words, your life example has been such an encouragement to me. I am honored to be a part of Team Hope. God is at work, there is no doubt. I look forward to seeing all that He will do!
I love acronyms, and this one is excellent. Thanks for sharing it, and your heart.
Me, too, I need them to help keep my thoughts straight! Hope it blesses you!
lovely – hope!
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13