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! For full shownotes, head to www.hargraveshomeandhearth.com/podcast