The night before the cross, Jesus took his friends to a common place: the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew His suffering, humiliation, and death were near, but He didn’t hide. Instead, He prayed and asked His closest friends to pray with Him. In this prayer, he instructs us how to pray in the midst of our suffering.

Does motherhood feel more fearful that joyful? It did for me, and here’s how God comforted me in my unending anxiety.

As well as we know the sting of the unfaithfulness of others to us, we also know of our own unfaithfulness. Who can be trusted? If even those who love us most will still be unfaithful due to their sin, and we ourselves cannot be trusted because of our sin, is there anyone who we can look to that will be steadfast?

What we don’t think about is the possibility that we may not always enjoy motherhood. That motherhood isn’t all bliss and sloppy kisses. I experience days like this, and I know the only thing sustaining me is the grace of God. If motherhood has taught me anything, it is that God will hold me fast. 

I wanted to find healing for my guilt. I knew many of the Bible verses that talked about forgiveness, but that didn’t feel like enough. No matter how many people told me that was a thing of past and I was forgiven, this guilt seemed to lay heavier on me each day. I poured my heart out to an older friend, and she hit me with a hard truth I did not expect: You don’t need to forgive yourself.

For most pregnant women, preparing their nursery for the arrival of their precious baby marks an exciting time. Happy thoughts of rocking their baby to sleep fill their minds, along with sounds of their baby’s sweet coos as they snuggle in the crib. But my first thought was not so sweet. Instead, it was bitter: What if my unborn baby dies? How do we learn to trust God with our unborn child?