In Gospel Centered Mom, author Brooke McGlothlin tackles the idea that while we may not feel like enough as a mom, God is. Further, if we can separate ourselves from the ME gospel (where the world centered around me) we can come to terms with motherhood being worth the sacrifice.
Maybe its because my husband and I had such a difficult time having children, but I struggled getting through this book. I just want to own that this book is not what I thought it was before I continue with my review. I thought it was about lining up your parenting with the Gospel- to see my home as the most important mission field. There are so many positive aspects within the pages of Gospel Centered Mom that make it somewhat encouraging. Really, I wish i could cut and paste chapters…remove a few ideas…and add a heavy dose of joy.
While I am certain I understand the difficulty of raising boys (I have two) I found McGlothlin’s angst unrelatable. She refers to her boys as the “hard to handle” kind many times in the book. Aren’t all kids on some level and in different seasons “hard to handle?” I think a little humor would have helped tremendously. All of us with kids in retrospect can look back and laugh at some of the craziness that we experience raising our babies! Also, I had hard time finding a rhythm or order in the book. The chapters did not flow from one to the next, they felt loosely tied together.
The best part of the book can be found in the the ninth chapter, Worth Fighting For. It is here you will find helpful advice broken down in a useful way. McGlothlin encourages mom’s to fight for and not against their kids. She gives ten ways to fight for your kids: Tell God He can have you, Learn when to keep your mouth shut, Get in the habit of prayer, Embrace the power of the mommy time-out, Prepare ahead of time, Be Stronger, Love Harder, Be a student of your child, Think outside the box, and Refuse to give up. I could be off base, but those could have easily been ten chapters.
I write one critical review for every hundred positive reviews. I absolutely hate that I did not love this book. I will say, that if you need to read something by a mom who has had a difficult time, you find a friend here. This book just was not for me. I was given a copy of this book by BloggingForBooks. I was not required to write a positive review. All thoughts are my own and I have not been compensated.
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