on March 1, 2021
Genres: Non-Fiction, Christian Life, Parenting
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Discover how God uses the daily struggles and sacrifices of motherhood to make us more like Christ.
There are many books on motherhood but not many that talk about how hard it is – physically, mentally, and spiritually – and what to do when you reach your limits.
When Liz Wann became a mother, she was unprepared for how hard it would be. In this book, she writes honestly about these deeply challenging aspects of motherhood and how God works through them to make us more like his Son.
This short, easy-to-read book encourages mothers to depend on Christ when they reach the end of themselves. They will find that God will supply what they need to cope with the daily sacrifices and challenges of motherhood, and that he will use these struggles to make them more like Christ.
The End of Me is a well-written, insightful book that encourages overwhelmed Christian mothers to find hope and acceptance in the gospel, instead of trying to prove themselves through their own strength. Liz Wann explains that when she was a new mother, she didn’t want to admit that she needed help, because she thought that she should be able to do everything on her own. However, over time, she came to see that God would work through her weakness, and that Jesus knows what it is like to feel exhausted, worn out, and pulled in different directions. She encourages other women in the trenches of motherhood to draw close to God in the midst of their daily sacrifices, basing their sense of purpose in Him and not in how much they can accomplish.
The seven chapters in this book are short and accessible, and at the end of each one, Wann shares a brief prayer and includes a few blank pages for journaling. This is a great book for independent or group reading, and can help open up conversations about important issues. This book acknowledges challenges like postpartum depression, chronic illness, and parenting children with mental health issues or special needs, and in addition to sharing about her own experiences with the baby blues, and with her son’s anxiety, Wann incorporates stories from other mothers with more extreme situations. In all of this, she shows that gospel truths still apply when life is at its worst, not just in ordinary, everyday challenges.
The End of Me: Finding Resurrection Life in the Daily Sacrifices of Motherhood is a great book for Christian mothers. Even though Wann primarily gears her examples towards mothers of babies and young children, the gospel insights apply to anyone, and mothers who have older children and thought that life would be easier already may find this book just as helpful as a mom who is just starting out. Wann’s writing is honest, faithful to Scripture, and deeply reassuring, and because she acknowledges hard realities that many Christian books on motherhood ignore, this can be an especially powerful resource for women dealing with deep suffering in their homes. I found this book very moving, and highly recommend it.
