Five years ago on Mother’s Day I was carrying a lifeless fetus inside of me. I had experienced a missed miscarriage. While we knew that there was no heartbeat, my body had not yet recognized the loss. The following Mother’s Day I was dealing with the results of bloodwork that showed that I was infertile. The next Mother’s Day I was holding my three week old baby girl in my arms. Last year on Mother’s Day, I dedicated my second daughter to the Lord in a ceremony at my church. This year on Mother’s Day I had the absolute honor of being interviewed at my church about experiencing God in the everyday moments, and especially in the painful seasons of life.

I am so grateful that my church not only recognized the hurting women on Mother’s Day, but dedicated the entire service to addressing the painful seasons of life that mothers experience. I was able to discuss with my pastor, Dennis Malcolm, the inspiration behind the writing of my two newest books, Learnable Moments with Moms: 100 Devotions to Discover God in the Everyday and Inconceivable Redemption: God’s Presence in Miscarriage and Infertility. In addition to how and when the books were written, a few of the things that we discussed include:

How to discover and recognize God in the everyday moments of life
What we learn from the joys and stresses of motherhood
What grief looks like
How to process grief in a healthy way
The spiritual questions that we wrestle with when experiencing loss
How we grow during seasons of loss and waiting
The hope that we have in Christ in the midst of tragedy

I never thought that I would be the one sharing about God’s promises and faithfulness in church on Mother’s Day, but that just goes to show how inconceivable His redemption truly is! If you had a particularly difficult Mother’s Day, I encourage you to listen. Know that you are not alone, and God is not finished writing your story!

If you are interested in reading either of the books discussed in the interview, here are the links!