HE GIVES MORE GRACE:
30 Reflections for the Ups and Downs of Motherhood Through the Years
By Sarah Walton and Linda Green
The Good Book Co. 256 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 784 989 354
Release date: 1 December 2023
In a society that is keen to give us its own take on what mothers should be like and how they should act, we need to be repeatedly turned back to the gospel of grace: this book is great for doing just that.
The chapters all begin with a Bible verse and a summary ‘Grace in a Line’ for the reader to remember and meditate on further throughout the day. Each chapter is a very manageable six pages long, concluding with a few questions for further reflection and a journal page to write down your own thoughts.
The chapters are all stand-alone, allowing you to dip in and out of the book without the need to read (or re-read!) all that has gone before. It is also helpful that the chapters don’t address a specific stage of motherhood but have applications to mothers with children of any age. Chapters include topics such as worshipping God amidst the mundanity of motherhood; parenting strong-willing children or children with extra needs; our tendency towards comparison; awareness of our own weakness; or how to lean on our Shepherd-King when suffering comes or we’re fearful.
Grounded in Scripture, the book brings grace to bear on these different situations, that we might appreciate more the different facets of this truth. As it covers the breadth of motherhood, the book recognises the complexity and variety of both women and their children and is clear not to give a ‘one size fits all’ application, but to show what it looks like to apply grace in it.
The book would be ideal for a woman to read herself, or to read together in a one-to-one or small-group setting, that the women might encourage one another as mothers.
Far from a ‘how to’ guide for mothering, this book instead directs our hearts towards the One from whom all grace flows. Whatever our children are like, this is the truth they need: amazing, abundant grace now – and grace that can keep them (and us) safe for eternity.
