The Heart of Motherhood — Carol McLeod Ministries | Find Joy in Your Everyday Life
It’s a boy!
It’s a girl!
It seems like those three little words are among the most precious words in the entire English language!
A baby … there is nothing like a baby!
After a mom and a dad know the gender of their baby, the next important decision is … what will we name it?
What will we name the baby?
I am giving birth to a baby on April 20, 2021 and I already know what it is!
It’s a book!
My baby has a name and I can’t wait to share it with you …
“The Rooms of a Mother’s Heart”
It’s a book that has been a lifetime in the writing and has taken 40 years of practical experience.
I guess you could say that I have been pregnant for 40 years!
I have not been a perfect mom … but I have loved being a mom in every short night and during every long day.
My love for motherhood is bursting forth from the pages of this, my 13th book.
I thought that I would share a snippet of the book with you this week … and perhaps you would pray about ordering it for every mom in your life.
If you would like to pre-order your copy, simply click here.
Children are God’s love-gift; they are heaven’s generous reward. Children born to a young couple will one day rise to protect and provide for their parents. Happy will be the couple who has many of them! A household full of children will not bring shame on your name but victory when you face your enemies, for your offspring will have influence and honor to prevail on your behalf!
—Psalm 127:3–5 TPT
“You are about to enter, or perhaps have already entered, the breathtaking, fulfilling, and frustrating address where motherhood lives. This residence is unequaled by any other season or event in life. When you are gifted with your first baby, the Lord looks at you lovingly and whispers, “I’ve prepared a place for you here! Welcome to the heart of motherhood!”
Once you step your foot across the threshold of this magnificent dwelling that is reserved for those who have been bestowed with the wonderful blessing of children, your life and your heart will never be the same.
Some of us arrived at this address after nine months of aching backs, swollen feet, and heartburn that culminated in giving birth to the visual demonstration of love. Others have tentatively knocked on the door of motherhood after long years of waiting for a baby to be delivered to their heart and their home through the miracle of adoption. Others, as foster moms, are wondering how long their stay will be at this significant address. However you arrived, know that God is the One who guided you here by His divine and loving wisdom.
We all long to be perfect moms—but that is not going to happen, dear one. Perfect is not a feasible option for any of us, but perhaps a better goal is wonderful.
“The Rooms of a Mother’s Heart” is filled with stories, wisdom, tears, truth, lists, advice, and laughter. You might also discover the mother that you were meant to be within these pages.
At your initiation into the sweet yet noble world of motherhood, you quickly realize that your heart is never the same. Your heart grows exponentially when you become a mom and with that maternal growth, a new woman is established. You will discover a redesigned and much-improved version of the life that you formerly lived. Remember when you were allowed to sleep all night, when you fit into skinny jeans, and when your home was perpetually neat and orderly? You will love the new you so much more than the old you!
Your heart has now become a sumptuous home of the priceless treasury of motherhood. The repurposing of your heart may not be easy, but it will certainly fit you for the journey that you are on for the rest of your life. My heart’s prayer for you is that you will not be a perfect mom, but that you will discover all of the ways that you can be a wonderful mom!
If your children have now flown the nest, consider this book as my invita- tion to once again sweetly stroll through the rooms of your heart and find new joy in the trials and triumphs of motherhood. You will laugh and you may cry, but you will also rediscover all of the ways that responding to God’s highest calling has made you a better woman.
Many years ago, I read the story of a young woman from the heart of Texas who had responded to the call to preach the gospel of Christ to the people of Korea. Ruby Kendrick was only twenty-four years old when she dedicated herself to teaching, praying for, and taking care of sick children in Songdo, Korea. Ruby was young and beautiful; she could have accomplished many impressive achievements had she chosen to live her life in the comfort of America. However, she chose to give her life for a generation of Korean children.
Ruby died from fatigue just eight months after setting foot on her beloved soil of Korea. Her untimely death inspired other Americans to take her place.
Ruby’s is only one of 570 graves in the Foreigners’ Cemetery Park in Seoul, South Korea, that honors Christian martyrs. On Ruby’s tombstone are engraved these fierce yet gentle words:
“If I had a thousand lives to live Korea should have them all.”
My heart lies in puddles as I contemplate who this woman was, the price that she paid, and how deeply she loved the little ones on foreign soil.
I feel the same way about motherhood and I hope that by the closing page of this book, you will feel the same way, too. Perhaps the inscription on my tombstone and on yours someday will read, “If I had a thousand lives to live, motherhood would have them all.”
“The most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home.” —Harold B. Lee
Thanks for listening to my heart this week. As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me. And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!
