171: Expecting Beauty in Motherhood with Laura Booz

Laura Booz is a wife, mom, gardener and chicken keeper, and author of the book, “Expect Something Beautiful: Finding God’s Good Gifts in Motherhood”. She joins me on the podcast today to encourage you with the joy that can be found in God’s good design for motherhood. May you be encouraged and find yourself better equipped to fight back against today’s toxic mommy culture.

What we Chat about in This Episode

~Laura’s book, “Expect Something Beautiful: Finding God’s Good Gifts in Motherhood” what led her to write it, and what readers can expect

~The gifts of God’s goodness, His character, and His sanctifying power that we find in motherhood

~God’s perfect timing in the writing and release of this book

~Negative mommy culture in our day and how this beautiful book addresses that issue and reframes our thinking on motherhood

~The goodness of God’s design and heart for motherhood

~How practical theology is for us in our motherhood

~The importance of self-control in motherhood

~Trusting God to establish the work of our hands moment by moment

~Willingly surrendering to the Lord our time and our days and taking on the boundaries He, in His wisdom, has for our time and our families; how these boundaries have fallen to us in pleasant places; embracing that fact

~Giving ourselves the freedom of understanding that maternal love does not always come natural and we have to actually learn how to love our children well (as Titus 2 points out, we have to be *trained* in it)

~How knowing the love of God changes everything in how we are then able to love our children

~Mothering with the end in mind

~The mistake we make of resenting the natural effects of life with kids; the way God uses these very things to produce fruit in our lives

~How crucial it is to be in the Word as mamas; practical tips for how to actually do this as busy moms

~Doing what you can to make sure you are seeing clearly

~And more!

Resources Mentioned

Offer for a free audiobook and 30 day trial from Audible: www.audibletrial.com/HomeandHearth

Laura’s book, “Expect Something Beautiful: Finding God’s Good Gifts in Motherhood”

Suffering: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family by Paul David Tripp

Inspiring Quotes from Laura:

“The Lord is graciously, slowly sanctifying us to be more like Jesus through our days of motherhood. We can expect God to be with us and to give us the good gifts of His goodness, His character, and His sanctifying power.”

“It’s important for Christian moms to read about motherhood in His Word, to read of who God created us to be, how He created motherhood to be, and realize that His design is really good and truly beautiful. It’s not a drag like the culture wants us to believe it is.”

“Remembering the essence of His calling to each one of us to go out into the nations and make disciples reframes how we view motherhood. We have our own little nation right here where we are to make little disciples of these little ones the Lord has entrusted into our care.”

“It is important for us to open our hands and surrender to the work the Lord is establishing for us in any given moment, even if it is not the work we had planned for our day. He knows best, and His plans for us are good.”

“We tend to blow up as moms when we think that this is the day *I* have to make. But that is not on our shoulders. This is the day the *Lord* has made, and I can rejoice and be glad in it.”

“What loving our children really requires is wisdom, learning, and growing in our understanding of God’s design of our kids and our mothering of them.”

“When we live loved, when we remember how loved we are by God, that changes everything.”

“If we could mother with the end in sight, the picture in our minds of that glorious day that is coming when we finally meet Jesus face-to-face, it would change everything! Living in light of that picture in our day-to-day lives would bring so much peace and joy.”

“There is a verse in Proverbs that encourages me as a mom so much. It says that where there are oxen, the barn is not clean, but that there is strength that comes through the work of the ox. Our homes may be messy, and we may struggle with keeping everything neat and clean. But that is ok – there is strength that comes through pouring effort into these eternal soul’s in our homes.”

“God intends for His Word to be your spirit’s food and water, our medicine and our nourishment. We need it. We cannot keep this debate going of is it important, do I have time, is it worth it? We need God’s Word because we are giving and giving and giving, and we are paying attention to everything else. We need God’s Word to be paying attention to us.”

Where You Can Find Laura Online

Website – Laura Booz

Instagram – @laurabooz

Facebook – Laura Booz

Podcast – Expect Something Beautiful (from Revive Our Hearts)

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