4 Super-Truths Every Mom Must Know

Reflecting on the joys, challenges, and timeless truths every mom must know can guide you in trusting God’s faithfulness through parenthood.

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139:13-14

In a few short weeks my oldest, my firstborn, will move away for college. Its funny how a moment can feel surreal and predictable and unexpected at the same time. But I’m here to testify, it can.

I’ve known I was raising my kids to launch from before I even had them. I have no right to feign surprise here. This was always the plan. My son was waitlisted for flight school, leading him to take a gap year, which means we even got a bonus year with him home. What a gift! But the plan has been in motion both in my heart, and then in writing, for some time now. It should come as no surprise.

And yet, it does.

Truths Every Mom Must Know

Lessons from the Early Years

I remember him as a wiggly 3 year old who struggled to sit still in church and tried my new mama patience. Also, I remember the first grader who was determined to have fun with those “draw a line from the word to the matching picture” worksheets, making his connecting lines in big swoops and creatives swirls all around the page before successfully completing the task because it was far more fun that way. I smile now, but I know I worried about him on those days.

Would he ever get it? Did I have the patience for this job? The faithfulness to keep praying and trusting the Lord for this massive responsibility He had given my husband and me?

There were moments when raising a healthy and thriving young adult felt like the most challenging and impossible job in the world. But I have picked up a few bits of wisdom along the way. None of these are my own creation, but rather gems shared with me, passed down from time worn and faith tested women who have gone before. These are truths every mom must know that have served (and continue to serve!) me well and the least I can do is graciously share them with you.

But first, a brief caveat. I told you I’m launching my first child, which means I have three others I’m still faithfully rearing at home. This also means if you find yourself in the thick of parenting, glancing ahead and wondering how do I even get there from here?, I’m still very much in this, with you. I don’t write from a place of vast retrospect, but rather as a fresh and green witness. I’ve seen the faithfulness of God while I can still remember acutely, how long and hard the parenting days can be. The dirt of hard work is still fresh under my nails, but so is my view of God’s abundant grace in parenting, so I’ll bravely speak to that while its still fresh.

Know God loves your kids even better than you do.

That’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? Truly, my mind reels a bit when I try to grasp it because I love these kids of mine wildly. Could their Creator love them even more? Is it possible? But John tells us God is love and we love because He first loved us. This compelling motherly love that we have is only a shadow of our Father’s perfect love and that’s powerful knowledge for us as we raise our kids. When we are restless in confusion of how to lead them or aching for them in their loss and loneliness, we must remember the God who formed and knitted them together loves them perfectly.

Jesus Christ is interceding for you (and your kids!)

Another powerful truth every mom must know, friend. Don’t rush past Romans 8:34 when Paul teaches us this. Or 1 John 2, when he tells us Jesus is our advocate. Or Hebrews 7 where we learn Jesus lives to make intercession for us. Every single one of us should be strengthened and encouraged by this truth.

Do not attempt to do this in your own strength.

I refuse to sugar coat parenting – to look back on the years of raising this boy, now man, that I am about to launch and say, it wasn’t all that hard. I don’t want to forget the real tears I cried or times I doubted, how lost or confused or alone I felt, because every single one of those moments proves the reality of my weakness and God’s strength.

Any success in our parenting should be a testimony to God’s faithfulness, but we absolutely don’t have to do it alone. Return to Galatians 5:22, to that list of the fruit of His Spirit that you may have memorized as a child and recall the gift you have been given. The fruit of His Spirit alive in our parenting equals love and joy and peace. It is patience and kindness and goodness. It’s faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.

What a great recipe for mothering from toddlers to teens! What a list of ingredients for a new mom, or a grandma or this mother about to launch her first kid. Don’t mother alone. Pray at every age and stage for the Holy Spirit to imbibe your parenting and grow His good fruit in you.

Let truth light your way.

There are a lot of amplified voices these days. A lot. And the world seems more confusing at the same time. Rapid shifts in culture and technology present us with parenting questions the generation before us never had to address, so we must get really serious about one thing: Determine to know truth. Get serious about reading your Bible faithfully, even small bits at a time. Know the character of God.

The most beautiful journey I have been on this summer is to read through Scripture with my heart set on recognizing the character and nature of God. Have you ever done that? It has been a sweet adventure for me to cozy up with familiar stories and seek to look at them from a different angle. What does the creation story tell me about the Creator, for example. His creativity without chaos, the good limits and boundaries He set, His determinations, acumen, order – all beautiful reflections of Him I barely paused to notice in the past. There are many different ways to get yourself in the word, but determine to let Truth light your way through this massive job of raising children.

Here I sit, sorting through a list of college “must haves” that feels somewhat like crossing a finish line and a starting line all at the same line. As quickly as some parenting questions and concerns have been answered, new ones arise. And I get a strong sense that this is parenting – always a new season of beginning and learning and trusting God to lead me as I lead them. But the same God that has been faithful in the past will be faithful in all the new ahead. So as the real tears fall and the goodbyes come, I will keep putting this wisdom in to practice right along with you.

In His Word

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in you book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.  Psalm 139:13-16

In Your Life

Consider how much God loves your kids. Have you ever really thought about that? You know how much you love them, but how much, how perfectly, does the Creator of the Universe love them? Is it helpful, as a parent, to take a minute to view your kids as God does?

We Recommend

If you haven’t already, take time to explore Katie’s book, But Then She Remembered. You will be encouraged and inspired as her writing and research focus on helping women remember who God is and how He loves. Remembering changes everything.

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To read more from Katie, you can find her writing at katiewestenberg.com or sharing regularly on Instagram at I Choose Brave.