Motherhood When Seasons Change

Dannah Gresh: Emily Jensen says there’s no formula for motherhood. It’s all about following God’s lead.

Emily Jensen: What I was doing when our children were babies and toddlers is very different from what I’m doing now that they are all in school. So I also think it’s knowing, “Hey, the Lord may need me in different ways and different times.”

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, co-author of, You Can Trust God to Write Your Story, for May 7, 2025. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: If you’re a mom, then you know there are a lot of different mom seasons that you have to navigate.

Like the demanding newborn days filled with sleepless nights. Remember those?

And then the toddler years when your little ones need such focused care and attention all . . . day . . . long.

And then the elementary school days when you’re answering lots and lots of questions and teaching the kids how to read and write and helping them with their math homework. But you’re also helping them manage friendships and sibling relationships.

And then all of a sudden it seems like they’re teenagers, and you’re preparing your babies to set out into the world.

And all this time, your biggest desire is to see these precious kiddos walk with Jesus all the days of their lives.

So motherhood is full of change as one season flows into the next.

Well, not too long ago, Dannah had a conversation with Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler about just that. For the last ten years, Emily and Laura had been heading up a ministry called Risen Motherhood. Perhaps you’ve heard of that and have been blessed by some of their resources. Their desire has been for moms to view motherhood through a gospel lens.

Laura and Emily are co-authors of the book, Risen Motherhood, and just this past October they published a new book. They’ll tell you more about that beautiful resource today.

But you know what? These friends are navigating a new season of their own. This conversation with Dannah was recorded just before the sunset of Risen Motherhood as a ministry. Emily and Laura share more about why this transition is a really good thing in today’s episode.

So here’s Dannah to begin a series called “Gospel Mom.”

Dannah: Laura, Emily, I am a little bit of a Risen Motherhood fan even though I’m a Risen Grandmotherhood. That’s what I’m in, the stage of life—Risen Grandmotherhood. But I am a fan of yours.

I know that you have answered the question, What is God’s purpose for moms? Can you encapsulate that for us?

Emily: Yes. This is definitely a beautiful thing that we see in Genesis. We like to say at Risen Motherhood that motherhood was pre-Fall. This is a good design that God gave with man, and it was not something that . . . We talk about how hard it is. This was not a result of something bad that happened. This is a wonderful, beautiful gift.

And the exciting thing about what we see in even the name Eve. Adam gives Eve in the Garden a name that actually means “life giver.” I feel like right there in that name we get a picture of one of the essential meanings and purposes of motherhood, which is to bring life into the world. And certainly moms do that in a literal way through birth.

But we see in the kingdom of God and the family of God that there is also spiritual motherhood. There is a sense in which women get to partner—older women with younger women. They are helping disciple and bring Jesus Christ into that relationship. They help women, young men even sometimes where spiritual mothering could be for younger men as well, but they are helping bring life, bring Jesus into those relationships.

So I think for a biological mother who is in a family, it’s got a two-fold purpose. First, she is there to nourish and nurture and be for her children’s actual literal lives. And that encapsulates so many aspects of development and neurology and food and education. But it also encompasses the really important spiritual realm, because we know we all don’t just need to be born once. We need to be born again. We need to be born twice. So a mother is also looking to those deeper needs and is walking in that with her family.

Dannah: I love that, Emily! That’s one of the things I love about both of you. You take us past the surface. You take us past the grocery shopping list, the laundry that needs done, the schedules that are endlessly managed, all of that stuff, to the depth of the purpose of the “why” of motherhood.

Now, Laura, take me past that definition that we just got, that purpose of motherhood ideal, to: what does that look like on a weekend or a week when you have one kid that’s got the flu and a baby that’s teething, so you haven’t had sleep—not a good night of sleep—for many nights? How does that show up in a practical application?

Laura Wifler: This is one of the greatest hopes I think we have as mothers is that we have true help and hope outside of ourselves as Christians who believe in Jesus.

So on those regular, everyday weekends where we are dealing with the sickness and the cleaning and the cooking, I think primarily one of the first things that often comes to mind for me is just that there is purpose in our work. We know we are not just doing the daily grind for no reason at all. But instead, that all can be worship. We can give all of that back to Jesus, and we can give all of that glory to God. So even as we are changing sheets or wiping the counters, all of that can be done unto the glory of God whenever our hearts are focused on Him.

And this doesn’t mean in some weird way where we’re not thinking about anything but God. Of course we’re thinking about the daily things of life. We’re giving instructions and schedules and moving things forward. But there’s an overlaying heart posture when a mom is trusting God for her purpose of motherhood that says, “I trust You, God, in whatever comes my way. I can see interruptions not as something that causes anger or is interference, but instead is a gift given by You for me to be able to help mother these children.”

Or, if you’re home with sickness, you can see that as you serve your child, God says that’s actually like serving Christ. So, there’s just this greater mission at play, I think, when we know and trust in Jesus. We see Him in everything that we do. I think as moms, it gives us just a grounding for our work.

 

And then, ultimately as well, we look to the hope of heaven. We know that what we’re doing today doesn’t just matter in this moment, but it actually matters for eternity. Especially I think as moms in our sorrows and in our hardships and in our pain, that’s something we can cling to—knowing that it won’t be this way forever. There is relief coming, and God has a grand plan for us. We can cling to that. We can ask for His reminder in the here and now to help set our hearts on eternity.

Dannah: Yes. Jesus said, “In this world, you will have troubles, but take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Emily, I’ve got to go to you because you told us before we started recording that you just had a pretty germy weekend in your house. (laughter) Take us to one of those moments where you’re feeling tired and overwhelmed by the sickness that’s happening in your home, but you are able to really reset your heart and mind on the gospel. Take us there.

Emily: Absolutely. This is real boots on the ground for us right now. I think one of the biggest things I struggle with, and I was actually just sending Laura a message about yesterday, is how often as moms we feel like, Hey, I don’t have control over my time.

Like, I had plans for my day. I had meetings. I had work that I wanted to do. I had work around the house. I had a routine that I wanted to accomplish. And when someone is home sick, I have to set all of that aside and just moment by moment. I need to go take a temperature. I need to go administer medicine. I need to make sure his water bottle is filled up. Oh, I’ve got a phone call from school. I need to go pick someone up. I wasn’t expecting to have to do that. Or, I had a kiddo who was well enough to go to school, but then when they came home, was needing lots of extra attention. So I feel like this week I had to set my agenda aside and say, “Okay, Lord, what is Your agenda for my day?”

And something that I have been meditating on a lot lately is just this idea of wanting the Holy Spirit to be guiding my steps moment by moment and checking in with the Spirit more often throughout my day. Just really asking Him, “Okay, I need wisdom in this moment for what to do next. Help me see what is most important in the kingdom that I accomplish right now.”

Another principle that comes to my mind in weeks like this that, you know, we’ve been kind of talking about in terms of the purpose of motherhood, is that the reality of life giving is that it’s not free. Right? We see this evidenced in Jesus’ life. He is the ultimate life giver. And the way that He gave life was by dying on the cross. He lost His life that we would live.

Now, there’s definitely not a literal interpretation there for moms, but there is a symbolic way in which we sort of have to bear some of that loss and sacrifice as we are pouring into our children, and we are helping them thrive.

Now, this can get super tricky and super weird, so in no way do I mean don’t take care of yourself or don’t do the essential things that are necessary to make sure that you have the appropriate mental and physical health to be able to care for your family, or don’t ever ask for help. That’s not what that means.

But it does mean that, yes, when sickness comes or needs come, I have to set things aside that I recognize that is part of what this is. That’s part of what mothering is. It’s setting aside my life, my goals, my dreams, my agenda that I had today for someone else because I serve God, not because, “Oh, I’m serving my children.” Yes, I’m serving my children, but it’s not because I’m taking instructions from them. I’m taking instructions from the Lord, and this is what the Lord has given me to do.

So those are some of the things that go through my mind.

Dannah: You’re reflecting Him. Jesus laid His life down for us, and we get to do that for our families, for our friends, for His purpose, for His will in our life.

Okay, I am so excited that you’re here today because you recently released another gorgeous book. Something about me loves it when a book is beautiful. I feel like I’m sitting down with a treasure. Right? I’ve got to light my candle, get the hot beverage going, that's how this book makes me feel.

Its title is Gospel Mom. Listen to this sub-title: How to Make Biblical Decisions and Discover the Mom God Created You to Be.

I’ve got to tell you, I want to testify: everyone needs this book! Moms need this book. Grandmas need this book.

We’re going to have a conversation today about motherhood, but as I was reading this book as a grandma who wants to be a legacy-leaving, Deuteronomy 6, grandmother . . . Deuteronomy 6 isn’t assigned just to mom and dad. It’s assigned to grandma and grandpa, too. We are supposed to teach our grandchildren to walk in the ways of the Lord alongside mom and dad.

I was so enriched by this book, you guys, so blessed by it. Starting in the introduction, I had a really hard time getting past it, so my first question comes from there. It’s a little bit of a zinger, but here it is. In the introduction, you write, “Occasionally time away from our children for focused work and travel . . .”

You were writing about how you sometimes had to take occasional time away from your children for focused work and travel. And right away you had my heart gripped because I could see that you have grappled with the same question we all have grappled with, Is it biblically defensible for me to be a working mom? What would you say to someone who’s wrestling with that question right now?

Laura: Yes. I mean, it does feel like pretty much every mom goes through a season where they are wondering, What does the Bible have to say about working and motherhood? And I think this is a really good question to start off with. Like, it’s so great that moms are thinking about this because it means that they desire to be with their children, that they want to raise their children.

They’re probably thinking about, What does it look like to be the primary caretaker of my own kids while also potentially either pursuing their own dreams or maybe their need to work. Maybe it’s a necessity. They could be a single mom. They could maybe just need some more income for whatever reason.

There’s a lot of reasons why a mom might be considering this question. And something that Emily and I often go back to and really a lot of what the whole book Gospel Mom is all about is just how to think through our decision with the lens of the gospel. And a big piece of that is recognizing that the freedoms that we have in Christ or any command that we have in Christ actually is something that has to be applicable to all people for all of time.

And so as we look across history and we see just the different ways that the fall has impacted our lives, we know that, just like I mentioned before, not every mom will be able to enjoy being a stay-at-home mom, if even if she wants to. Then as we look at Scripture, we can see that that’s not an indictment against her motherhood, but instead actually God has provided a way for her to care for her children still while also working.

And so every mom, I think, has to go through asking various questions. Again, it depends very much on her life circumstances, but really seeking and talking with her husband about what he desires. It’s thinking through, Why do I want to work? If she has the luxury of choosing to work, it’s why do I want to? Is it to escape from my children because I want to be away from them as far as possible? Or is it because, “Hey, this is something that I genuinely enjoy doing and desire to have some income for our family, and I see that God has gifted me in this way.” People have recognized this.

So going through some of those heart motivations as well can be really helpful in walking through what is the reason that I want to work. And if indeed it is to just simply escape, there’s actually a deeper heart issue that probably needs to be addressed before a mom would go off and work.

What other questions? I’m trying to think, Emily. We list a whole bunch in the book.

Emily: Yes. I think things like permanency of the decision. I think something like work, we have to remember is not for everyone, but for some people, for some women, this is something that can change at different seasons.

Like, what I was doing when our children were babies and toddlers is very different from what I’m doing now that they’re all in school pretty much from 8 to 3 every day. So I also think it’s knowing the Lord may need me at different ways and different times.

And this book is all about making biblical decisions. It’s all about following God’s Word and God’s leading in every stage of your life. There’s not a formula for these things. There’s not a A+B=C and then there’s this answer that’s really easy and simple and cookie cutter for every mom. No. It’s about applying biblical wisdom to your circumstances.

And guess what? In motherhood, sometimes things change every three weeks. Sometimes they change every three months. Sometimes it’s every three years, as they get a little bit older.

That’s something Laura and I have wrestled through with the ministry of Risen Motherhood. We’re getting ready to sunset that and walk into a different season, and that’s really hard and actually scary. We came before the Lord and said, “Okay, what we were able to do, it needs to look different for our families going forward. We pivoted and changed. For us, it’s an exciting thing. Hopefully, for most people in their area of work, you’re not stuck one way forever.

Dannah: Yes. Let’s pause there on this decision to sunset Risen Motherhood, because that rippled through the Christian community with a little bit of an echo, I’ve got to say. 

So, that’s a really good example I think for us to land on. Not just the idea of making a decision like this, but the hot pavement of life.

So, what happened? Take us to the place where you guys finally together came and said, “It’s time to do something different.” What were the factors that led to it? What were the circumstances that led to that decision? It might help us make some decisions that we need to make.

Laura: I think Emily and I will have been doing Risen Motherhood for about ten years when we end up sunsetting it or closing the ministry. So the conversation started about a year or two prior to this. I would say on and off all throughout the ministry of Risen Motherhood we’d had the conversation of, “Hey, are you ready to be done?” We were just always wanting to check in with one another, seeing who needed a break, who might have needed relief.

God had us each time, maybe one person would be feeling fatigued, but the other was definitely like, “Hey, we can do this. Let’s keep going. Let’s keep going.” And so the Lord was not aligning our hearts perfectly at the time. It truly was like a teeter totter, back and forth, quite a bit.

But then there was one day, and honestly it’s far less eventful than most people think, but I just turned to Emily, and was like, “Hey, I’m kind of feeling like I’m ready to be done with Risen Motherhood. 

And she goes, “You know what? Me, too.”

That wasn’t the end of it. Of course, we took time away to pray. We talked with our husbands. We talked with our leadership team. We spent a lot of time reflecting, What would be the implications of ending this ministry? We certainly didn’t want to do it lighthearted.

But for some of the reasons, like you were asking for specifics of what brought us to that decision, I would say a big reason was exactly what Emily mentioned. Our children’s seasons are just changing, and that we really felt like we wanted to be able to be more available and more present for them as they enter their middle school years and high school years. We hear a lot from moms who are just ahead of us that those are really demanding years in different ways from the little years, but they do require a lot of time. So that was a big piece for us.

We also knew just having a public platform that spoke about motherhood, there would be ways where we have perhaps inadvertently talked about our children in ways that we didn’t maybe want to have around forever. So there’s a whole other conversation we could have about what it looks like to have a public ministry while also protecting your family. That was something that particularly in the early years of Risen Motherhood when we weren’t maybe as well spoken or as nuanced or just experienced as we are now. There may be some stories that we would prefer to not have out there about our children. We also just wanted to protect them going forward.

Another piece was to really pursue other dreams that we had in our lives. And even our husbands had laid down the law over the past years to really help us pursue the dream of a growing ministry. We never set out with this big goal to create a ministry. It truly was a hobby, and then the Lord kept making it more and more real for us. And so we’ve seen the sacrifices that our husbands have made. They didn’t request this of us, but we really felt like, “Hey, this would allow them to flourish and maybe pursue some career dreams and us to fully support them in that.”

So it was a lot of things. Just like any decision in motherhood, it’s not usually one big thing. It’s a whole lot of little things that sort of tipped us over into saying, “Yes. Okay. The time is right.” And, of course, we took like almost two years to offboard. One year publicly we knew prior to that.

And so we also wanted to finish well. And we really wanted to make sure that when we did this that we were able to do it in a way that honored the Lord, honored what He’d given to us, honored the donors who’d invested in us, and our community who had really come alongside of us.

So it’s been a really slow progression to close it, but we’re so grateful. It’s honestly been a dream to be able to end in the way that we are. That has been a huge gift. Endings are beautiful, and they’re important, but they’re often so, so hard. But to get to choose how you execute an ending really is a gift from God.

Dannah: I love it. It’s beautiful. It reminds me of a time when you say there’s these seasons where you’re doing less or you’re doing more. You’re constantly re-evaluating, which I think is complicated for a woman. It’s different for a woman from a man because we have so many seasons of motherhood. I’m finding that to do grandmothering well is also another season of adjusting.

I remember I was on this trajectory of ministering and loving it when the Lord called us to adopt a child, a teenage child. We basically went back to a toddler-year working schedule. We felt like this might be a fourteen-year-old child, but she still deserves to be bonded with and nurtured in the same way that our biological babies were bonded with.

So it felt like this huge step back in terms of career and purpose outside of the home, but I don’t regret that decision one second. If you’re grappling with a decision, go to the Word. Get counsel. Talk to your pastor. Talk to your husband. Talk to your best friend. Make brave, hard decisions. You will see the Lord bless it.

Nancy: What an encouraging conversation. That’s Dannah Gresh talking with moms Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler. You’ll find more information about their book, Gospel Mom, at the link in the transcript of this program at ReviveOurHearts.com.

If you’re a mom facing change, I hope you were reminded today that you’re not alone, and that the Lord goes with you into each new season. God is simply asking you to follow His lead, isn’t He, Dannah?

Dannah: Yes. It’s so good, Nancy. What a joy it is to be a part of this ministry and to see moms transformed by practical, biblical wisdom.

You know, not too long ago, one of our Spanish listeners who’s also a mom wrote to us with a powerful story.

Woman: When I had my daughter, I wanted to work. I remember my job was my escape. I couldn’t stand the time when I had to go back home to take care of my husband and daughter. There was a young woman at work, and she shared a blog about biblical femininity. 

When I started reading, the Spirit brought conviction, and many things began to change. A new love began to spring up in my heart for my husband and daughter. I began to pray even more as I read Mujer Verdadera, “True Woman” book. I continued to ask God to put a love in my heart for my home and family. Now I see motherhood as a sanctification tool in God’s hands. I understand that my family is my ministry.

Nancy: I never get tired of hearing those kinds of stories. Twenty years into this ministry and they still move me deeply. And they happen because of listeners who believe in God’s power to change lives and who want to join Him and us in that work.

So when we say if you supported Revive Our Hearts, your gift has helped women discover their need for Jesus and the hope that He brings, there’s so many more women around the world who need the truth of the gospel.

Your gift this month by May 31 will help us reach those women who need to experience freedom and fullness and fruitfulness that can only come from Christ. So as our fiscal year ends this month, we’re preparing for the next twelve months and looking forward to the transforming work that God is going to do in the lives of women around the world.

We’re trusting Him to provide all that He knows this ministry needs at this time. So if you believe in what God is doing through Revive Our Hearts, and you want to see these outreaches continue to be fruitful, would you be willing to stop and partner with us at this time?

Now, I know that you have already done that, and if you’re one of those people, I want to say to you, “Thank you so much.” I’m so thankful for each person who has had a part in helping us get to where we are today. But maybe you’ve been thinking about it, and intending to, but you just haven’t had a chance yet to make a gift.

If you’d like to be a part of helping us finish this fiscal year this month strong, you can visit us at ReviveOurHearts.com, or you can give us a call to make your donation at 1-800-569-5959.

Dannah: Thanks, Nancy. We also have some exciting news because starting this fall, Revive Our Hearts is launching a six-year initiative called Wonder of the Word. I am so personally excited about this. In 2026 we will be encouraging you to read through the Bible, then in 2027 we’ll study through the whole Bible with Nancy. We’re working even now to translate it into a bunch of different languages so that the teaching series will be synced up and ready to go in 2027. We’re absolutely thrilled as we think about the global and generational impact we’ll see as women are transformed by the Word of God.

So here during the month of May, our goal is to raise $810,000. This will position us well as we close our books on one year of ministry and look ahead. And guess what? All giving above and beyond the $810,000 will go straight to our Wonder of the Word initiative.

It’s an exciting time at Revive Our Hearts, and we hope you’ll prayerfully consider being a part of it. This month when you give, we’d love to send you our 50 Promises to Live By Card Set. They’re beautifully designed and filled with Scripture to encourage you daily. It’s just our way of saying, “Thank you for your generosity.” You can donate by visiting ReviveOurHearts.com, and be sure to ask for your card set when you do.

If you’re a mom, you just might be familiar with the term, “mom guilt.” Tomorrow Emily, Laura, and I are chatting some more, and we’re going to look at “mom guilt” through a gospel lens. I hope you’ll listen in and be encouraged. That’s tomorrow on Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ.

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