Hi Friends! Our God Story this month is an interview with the writers of Hope for the Weary Mom. I hope their words encourage you toward hope. Beginning next week, Monday, March 2nd, we’ll begin a study of Hope for the Weary Mom in OverACup’s facebook group. We’d love for you to join us as share our weary and find hope.

You both say that Hope for the Weary Mom is a mirror of your own lives—that you’ve been living the story of hope for several years. Can you tell us a little about the story of Hope? How it came to be?

 Brooke – When Stacey wrote her article on being fresh out of amazing, the one that started this whole weary mom movement, something clicked in my heart. I was pregnant with our third child—a child we ended up losing to miscarriage—and was totally and completely overwhelmed with the thought of handling three children. The two we had were using up every bit of me there was, and I honestly wasn’t sure I could handle another. I was, in every way possible, a mess. But coming to the end of myself, admitting my weakness and inability to be the kind of mom I wanted to be alone, opened the door for a miracle from God. I truly believe that the place of our greatest weakness can unleash the power of God’s greatest grace.

It certainly has in my life, and this book is a reflection of that.

Stacey – Hope for the Weary Mom was born out of my own white flag moment where God met me in the most precious way. But, as it turned out he didn’t want to only offer me hope, he wanted to use my story to share hope with other moms who were feeling the same way. I had no idea Brooke or a thousand other moms felt the same way as I did. I imagined myself alone in this weary world. But God knew, and his plan was so much bigger. I am amazed he uses my broken places for his glory. Since that day, I have wrestled heavy with hope and I can tell you without hesitation hope does not disappoint. Hope lives and breathes and wants to change more than our circumstances. Hope wants to change us. I am changed. I am changing. Hope is doing that every day in my life.

The subtitle of this book, Let God Meet You in the Mess, is significant. Why?

Brooke – As Christians, we know we serve a God who is able, at the snap of His fingers, to change our circumstances. But more often than not, that’s not the way He chooses to work in our lives. Sometimes He does, but mostly He doesn’t, preferring instead of get down in our messes with us, helping us to find our way out one day at a time, and finding more of Him in the process.

I find the knowledge of that encouraging and frustrating all at the same time. It’s hard at times to know that God has the ability to do something, but won’t. When we’re in the middle of the mess, all we really want is to get out. Because He can see the bigger picture, God knows that walking us through the mess is better for us in the long run, but it never really feels that way in the thick of it. We have to choose to let God meet us in our weak places. We have to choose to stop fighting what He allows in our lives, whining to get out of it, and embrace it instead. If we chose to look at all of life as an opportunity to make His name great, and believe that our responses to the things of life really matter, it would change the way we live.

I’m not saying I’ve arrived in this area. I still fuss and whine to God a lot, but I believe in this process, and know God is moving me closer and closer to it with every choice I make to let Him meet me in the mess.

Stacey – Everyone of us has a mess somewhere in our lives. I know I do. I think we do our best to hide it from our friends, the women at church, and even God. We do this because we believe the lie that we are the only ones who have messy lives and dirty floors. Honestly I’ve learned two very important things through Hope for the Weary Mom regarding the messes we hide: (1) God is not afraid of our mess. He came to a messy world, walked with messy people, and offered hope time and time again to those he met—right in the middle of their messy lives. He does the same for us today because he has not changed. (2) The women we are hiding our mess from have messes in their homes, too. We think they are sitting in their kitchens judging us, but really they are worried we will find out the truth about them as well. It is so much better for us to wave our white flags, invite God into our mess, let him change us, and then share our stories with other women. This is what brings freedom and connects us deeply with others. It is so much better than hiding!

What is one thing a mom could do right now to fight weariness and find hope? In your own lives, what is the one thing you can do that brings you out of a weary state?

Brooke – One of the most important things for me as I’ve battled weariness is remembering the very real presence of God in my life. When we’re in our weary places, God seems far away. But the truth is, He’s always with us. We know this because His word promises it. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the last 10 years is that I get to choose how I feel. I don’t always get to choose my gut reactions to things, and my feelings about life aren’t always bad, but weariness is a feeling. Hope is a choice to believe what I can’t see over what I can.

Stacey – Spend time every day in the Bible. This by far is the most important thing I do to fight weariness. When my girls were babies, I might only have time to write down one verse and think about it. Sometimes, I read a short devotional if I’m short on time. I also love to hang Scripture on my walls all over my house. The point is, to make sure you are focusing on hope filled truth. This will truly change your outlook. I know it does for me.

Stacey Thacker is a wife and the mother of four vibrant girls. Creator of the popular blog Mothers of Daughters, she is a writer and speaker who loves God’s Word. Her passion is to connect with women and encourage them in their walks with God. You can find her blogging at staceythacker.com.

 Brooke McGlothlin is Co-founder of Raising Boys Ministries, where parents of boys are equipped and encouraged to raise godly men. You can find her writing about fighting for the hearts of her sons at the MOB Society blog. A normal day finds Brooke homeschooling her two boys, wrangling two large Labs, Toby and Siri, writing to bring hope to the messes of life (in the midst of her own messy life), and falling more and more in love with the man she’s had a crush on since the third grade (who just happens to be her husband).

If you enjoyed this interview, you can find out where to purchase their book here.

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I haven’t been compensated in anyway to share this interview or promote the book. I read the first edition of the book when it came out several years ago and LOVED it! I want to share this new edition with you in case you’re like me and in need of some hope.