God Is Still Good
God Is Still Good: Gospel Hope & Comfort for the Unexpected Sorrows of Motherhood
By: Katie Faris
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2023]
“My prayer is that this book offers gospel hope and comfort to all moms, but especially to those who feel hurt and bewildered by the unexpected sorrows of motherhood.”
I’ve read a lot of books about grief and how we reconcile our pain and losses with a good and loving God. Why are there so many of these books?
Because one of the Enemy’s best tools to hurt us is to cause us to question God’s goodness. To encourage us to turn away from the very source of hope, healing, and life.
And with every pain, with every unexpected hardship and unmet expectation, we find ourselves asking the same questions and having the same doubts. There are so many books like this, because there is a market for it.
There is a great many people who need to hear these truths, again and again and again. From however many people it takes to write them on our hearts and hands and minds and start living by them.
God is Still Good by Katie Faris is not a book with new philosophies and ideas. What does make it a little different than some books on this topic is that she focuses on the challenges of motherhood.
She does a good job of encompassing all the different journeys that motherhood takes whether it’s waiting, birthing, or adopting. Special needs. Physical, emotional and spiritual challenges, stress and busyness.
By sharing her own sorrows in motherhood and pointing to biblical examples of women grieving and suffering, she validates our pain, encourages us to lament, and points us to the Who that trumps all the why’s that bubble up inside us.
“Isn’t this what our hearts so often desire when life is hard— the comfort of knowing that someone is in charge, that we can trust that someone, and that he cares about us?”
When I went through my miscarriage that led to many questions and bouts of anger, bitterness, and despair, what finally brought me out of that darkness was remembering who God is. That I can trust the Person when everything else seems to be failing me. I had to stop asking why, and start looking at Who. The Bible tells us who He is. He is loving, good, constant— with us. No matter what our circumstances seem to tell us. He sees us.
“Does the sun stop shining when it’s hidden behind the clouds? No, it keeps on shining as brightly as ever. We just can’t see it. Similarly, if we accept God to be who he says he is— gloriously God— then we have every reason to believe that his ways are also glorious and good, even when what he’s doing is hidden from our view.”
While the entire book is good, encouraging, and helpful, I think I liked the second half of the book the best.
She talks about things that come from our trials, how God is doing something. He will not waste our pain. Our pain is not meaningless.
She exposes some of the lies that we may start to believe during these times of darkness. And she combats each lie with the truth based on what the Bible tells us. We need to start talking back to the lies and recognizing what’s behind our questions and our doubts. We need to listen to our Shepherd’s voice.
She also talks about biblical contentment and how when we start comparing our lives to others, our children to others, our motherhood journeys to others, we lose our joy. We lose sight of what God has given us.
“When that happens, there’s one danger that poses particular risk to suffering moms, one that threatens our full experience of the sufficiency of Christ and the discovery and enjoyment of the contentment he offers. This is the danger of sinful comparison.”
“To sum up, don’t look at the ground (at all of your obstacles), but also don’t look around (getting caught in the comparison trap). Instead, keep your gaze fixed on Jesus. Let him write your story, and don’t get consumed comparing yours to someone else’s. Trust him to be enough…”
Formatting Notes: Each chapter ends with a short prayer, a list of relevant Bible verses, and a few reflection questions. I’m not sure if the questions are really made for discussion if you were to do this with a group of people. You may need some supplemental discussion material.
The back of the book includes an appendix of ‘Go-To Bible Verses’ that Faris had accumulated during her struggles that she found helpful to keep her focus on Christ. I think it’s a super helpful list that I know I’ll come back to.
There is also a lie and truth chart.
Recommendation
I would definitely recommend this book. She understands the challenges and pains of motherhood and this book will help you feel seen and will offer hope without minimizing the struggles you face.
I would also recommend some of these other books on the same topic:
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegop [This expands on the idea of lamenting that Faris touches on and teaches through the Psalms how we can lament biblically. That coming to God with our questions and our pain is actually biblical]
Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund [This reminds us that the heart of Jesus is for us. That he wants to carry our burden for us. It fleshes out who Christ is and how we can trust him because he truly loves us and desires to comfort us when we are frustrated, weary, and disenchanted.]
Suffering Wisely and Well by Eric Ortlund [By looking in-depth at Job, he focuses on the type of suffering that is inexplicable and how we can help others who are going through suffering that is just can’t be explained.]
How Long, Oh Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil by D.A. Carson [Probably best to be read when you aren’t in the middle of suffering, but in preparation for it. Helps put our suffering in the right perspective and has a really good chapter on Job]
Another thing that helped me besides trying to speak truth to myself when I was feeling bitter, was to listen to music that captured the hurt in my heart while also speaking truths that I needed to believe again. HERE is a playlist of those songs that really resonated with me if you are interested.
More Quotes
“God doesn’t give you or me grace to live another woman’s life, and he doesn’t give us grace for the lives we expected to live. But as we fix our eyes on Jesus and find our contentment in him, we can experience greater freedom and increased joy to live the lives we’ve actually been given and to mother the children God’s placed in our homes. We can move forward with songs on our lips and prayers in our hearts as we look to Jesus.”
“The Bible assures believing mothers that our pain isn’t in vain and we won’t always suffer. No matter how confusing the middle parts of our stories seem, no matter how bitter they taste, we look forward to a very good ending. No matter how tangled and rocky, tear-filled and, yes, even bloody, these at his may be, they lead to a glorious place.”
“The afflictions we face as moms— either in our own bodies or as we carry the burden of love and care for our children— include all kinds of losses. Lost sleep, lost time, and lost relationships. Suffering also costs us mental and emotional energy, wearing on our bodies and souls, and it often brings financial burdens. These losses and costs might not all be equal, but we’re right to grieve whenever our bodies and our children’s bodies don’t work the way God originally intended.”
“Even if your suffering hurts more tomorrow than it does today, there’s more to your story… There is purpose to our pain.”
“Do our questions rise from a rebellious heart or a submissive one? Having already judged God, do we now toss our scornful accusations at him in the form of questions? Or do our questions overflow from broken, contrite spirits?”
**Received a copy from Crossway in exchange for an honest review**
This book just released January, 2023. You can order a copy of this book via my Amazon affiliate link below or from Crossway directly.
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