Finding Rest for the Weary Mom

Finding Rest for the Weary Mom - Parenting Like HannahMotherhood is exhausting! When your kids are little, it’s often from lack of sleep as they wake at odd hours for feedings and diaper changes. Older kids can mean nights lying on the floor beside the bed of a very sick child. Teens can mean losing sleep worrying over any number of things. Add to lack of sleep, constant running in circles and often back breaking chores and volunteer work and many moms are running on fumes.

Running on empty is not a great place from which to parent. HALT really applies to adults, too. When we are hungry, angry, lonely and tired, we don’t always make the best parenting choices. So what’s the answer? Find Rest, a devotional journal by Shaunti Feldhahn tries to provide some help for women needing the answer to that question.

The book is actually advertised as a 60- day devotional book. I would add journal, only because there is so much space given to the reader to allow for journaling. I love the idea that it is 60 days, taking away the pressure from inevitably missing a day when it is a specific date. (After all, the book is for super busy women!) I’m not a fan of devotional books in general (just a personal preference thing), but I really do love the space she gives for writing your own thoughts.

The setup is a little different, too. Each entry begins with a Bible verse. The author then adds a couple of pages of her thoughts on the topic. Feldhahn is a writer I normally enjoy, and her entries here didn’t disappoint. They are easy to read and have lots of real life stories to hold your interest. Although, I would characterize the Bible in most of her entries as “light”, she does strive to make godly points in each.

She then adds a page with a couple of reflection questions and plenty of space for writing your thoughts. Personally, I found the questions to be my favorite part. She asks some really important questions, which all of us should probably spend more time thinking about and discussing with other Christians.

She ends each entry with a decorative page containing a quote from a person on the topic. I’m not a huge fan of quoting people instead of God for a variety of reasons, but the quotes themselves aren’t necessarily problematic. Given the choice though, I wish she had chosen to make the scripture the decorative page and not the quote from some random person.

Although, I am not a devotional book fan, this is probably one of the better ones I have seen. The entries are long enough to give her plenty of room for story telling, making a godly point and giving some practical advice. There’s ample room to process what she has shared and she doesn’t include those forced written prayers. If I were going to do a devotional book, this would be the one. If you are a busy mom, I think it has a lot of important things for you to consider – even though it isn’t specifically written for moms. If nothing else, using the book may get you to slow down enough to spend some crucial time with God each day.

 

 

This book was given to me for free in exchange for my honest review. An affiliate link is included for your convenience.

 

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Thereasa Winnett

Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.

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