Last week I shared ten living books that have inspired and shaped my motherhood journey. As promised, this week I’m sharing my favorite books about motherhood, full of Scripture-saturated advice and tips and sprinkled with the authors’ personal (often humorous) mothering moments. These are not parenting books in the broader sense but specifically books by mothers for mothers about mothering.
Please note that I’m recommending books here, not authors. I don’t endorse everything these women say or write or post to social media. However, these particular books are very helpful and practical and offer biblical truth for motherhood, whether that be childrearing wisdom or encouragement for a busy mother’s own walk with the Lord.
1. Don’t Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Hubbard
2. Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full by Gloria Furman
3. Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic
4. M Is for Mama by Abbie Halberstadt
5. The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
These books aren’t perfect books written by perfect mothers, but they are biblically-sound resources full of wisdom and practical help for motherhood. Many of them are also quite short!
Although I have read many, many books on motherhood in my 16 years as a mother, as well as in my family ministry courses in seminary, I have neither read every book out there on motherhood, nor can I recommend every book I have read. Some motherhood books are just plain awful psychobabble or filled with terrible theology, and others are somewhat helpful but have enough foundational things I disagree with that I can’t go around adding them to lists like this. However, these are five good ones, so good that even if you stumble across something you think you might disagree with (no book is perfect), I feel confident in telling you to keep going to the end for more goodness.
Whether you need encouragement amid exhaustion, you want discipline advice, you’re torn over your role responsibilities, you want to create a home characterized by discipleship, or you simply want to find creative ways to spend a few quiet minutes with the Lord each day, I hope these five books will be a blessing to you as you seek to be a Christlike mother rearing Christ-loving children.
