Motherhood: part Indiana Jones, part lullaby, part Call of Duty, part Magic Kingdom, part dumpster fire. You might sometimes feel your most exhilarating and shattering moments rise and fall in your kids.

As author Elizabeth Stone wrote, “Making the decision to have a child — it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ”

Anyone in need of encouraging verses for moms? Start here.

Encouraging verses for moms

Originally conveyed as an acrostic from a mother to her son, a crown prince, this poem suggests even in the ancient world, women were crushing it inside and outside of the home. The image now known as the “Proverbs 31 woman” sketches a woman industrious, strong, dignified, capable, compassionate, wise, and entrepreneurial. She manages to be well-dressed, well-prepared, and well-spoken. And undergirding the entire package—a woman praised profusely by her family—is her holy reverence of God.

2. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Somewhere between endless cycles of laundry, siblings intentionally crossing over “the line” in the backseat, and a child melting down when “no” escapes your lips, motherhood can feel like an endless, thankless, even pointless uphill slog. But surely as farmers anticipate seedlings, then harvest following a planting season, Galatians reminds us motherhood carries its own season for reaping—if we don’t throw in the dish towel (or bath towel or beach towel).

3. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

To love on planet Earth, with all its risks, is also to fear losing those we love. But God commands us here to swap worry with requests to God — who cares unspeakably for us, like we do for our own kids (Psalm 103:13, Ephesians 3:19, 1 Peter 5:7). Throughout God’s Word, His reason not to be afraid remains His presence: He is with us. Rather than cowering beneath fear’s boot, we meditate on Him more than our worry He’s given us “a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Whether you’re in the parenting phase of your T-shirt doubling as a spit-up rag or your vehicle doubling as a fast-food trash can, God knows that having children is just plain exhausting. Don’t miss His steady compassion and direction here for moms: “He will … gently lead those that are with young.”

5. “‘For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you….’ ‘Thus says the Lord to you, “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. … You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.” Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.’” (2 Chronicles 20:12, 15, 17)

Perhaps moments in your motherhood could be summarized by this helpless prayer of the ancient King Jehoshaphat.

He’d received word that 25 miles from Jerusalem, three nations had converged with the purpose of sacking the city. Appropriately terrified, the King declared a nationwide period of fasting and prayer and “set his face to seek the Lord” (vv. 13, 3). The king’s prayer, declaring not his military might but his powerlessness, was penned here for all time—as well as God’s response via a prophet. In front of Judah’s army, Jehoshaphat sent people singing praise to God. And in a startling turn of events, the three oncoming enemy armies routed one another (vv. 22-23). Collecting the spoil took three days (v. 25).

God calls us to be active in our kids’ lives, making disciples of them (Ephesians 6:1-4). But plenty of moments in parenting, where our hands feel zip-tied to produce changed, it is God who catalyzes sweeping change in impossible situations.

6. “But he said to me [Paul], ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Comprehension of just how human we are as moms doesn’t take long, right? It may have even happened before you held your child the first time.

But these encouraging verses for moms remind us that far more than perfect parents, our kids need parents who point them to Jesus as the only Perfect One.

7. “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” (Isaiah 40:29)

Whether pulling an all-nighter with a sick toddler, feeding an infant through the wee hours, or wondering if the next sibling squabble might send you to the funny farm—our “God who sees” moms (Genesis 6:13) is the witness, sustainer, and strength of moms at the end of their rope around the globe and throughout time.

8. The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:17-19)

God’s vision for His people, Israel — and His plan to save the planet — kickstarted with just one  home.

God would bless Abraham, by God’s choice, so every people group on earth would eventually be blessed (a vision that comes true; check out Revelation 7:9). And forming a critical part of that vision was Abraham “command[ing] his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice.”

This theme of God’s families living differently reverberates through God’s story: His commands to Israel. Joshua’s words above. The Gentiles, Cornelius and the converted jailkeeper. Paul’s words over and over for families to instruct kids in God’s ways.

And now, in His stories written in our own families.

We read in Judges 2:10, “there arose another generation…who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” Our kids, too, are always a single generation away from not knowing Him; to turning their backs on His good and wise ways for us and toward us. That means you, Mom, are a vital link in a generational chain of knowing and loving God for who He is and has been to His people throughout time.

And as an ancient Jewish quote reminds, “When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.”

10. “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

It’s one of the most encouraging verses for moms: that the day-in, day-out moments of helping our children to say please, or accepting the “uh-oh” call from the school, or the drudgery of discipline affect the core of our kids for decades.

The Amplified Bible clarifies “the way he should go” as “in keeping with [the child’s] individual gift or bent” (see Ephesians 2:10). This beckons us to a beautiful intentionality—not by stamping out godly McChildren, but rather avidly studying God’s Word alongside the rough materials of His good handiwork in our kids.

11. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

Ultimately, our kids belong to God more than they have ever belonged to us. Our trust lands squarely on Him to fulfill — in His timing, His way — what He begins in our kids.

12. “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?…

“Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:7-11)

Discipline is no mom’s favorite part of parenting. But it plays an unavoidable role in loving our kids toward “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” That’s right: When you discipline wisely, it will eventually bring our kids peace, and even prepares them for God’s far more perfect training and authority.

13. “Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, you say to me, “Bring up this people,” but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.”

‘Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.’ And he said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?’

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.’” (Exodus 33:12-17)

Moses turns to God in this passage immediately after the people of Israel collectively create an idol and wildly celebrate it. His words communicate the empty-handed vulnerability of God-fearing leaders—and parents—throughout time. Moses falls on God, asking for two things Moses views as vital: God’s ways and presence. Despite Israel’s clear rebellion, God knows and favors Moses, even as a friend (v. 11). He willingly grants Moses’ request.

On your worst days of motherhood and your best, these encouraging verses for moms remind each of us that it’s Him going with us—and transforming us.

Think of the story of Jesus multiplying five loaves of bread and a couple of fish to feed thousands (Matthew 14:14-21): It’s not what you bring to the table. It’s always been who. 

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Copyright © 2025 Janel Breitenstein. All rights reserved.

Janel Breitenstein is an author, freelance writer, speaker, and regular contributor for FamilyLife. Her work also appears with Focus on the Family and Christianity Today. After five years in East Africa, her family of six returned to Colorado, where they continue to work on behalf of the poor with Engineering Ministries International. She is the author of Permanent Markers: Spiritual Life Skills to Write on Your Kids’ Hearts; Deliver Us from Meltdowns: And Other Real-Life Prayers for Parents, and the upcoming How to Stop Yelling Up the Stairs: Keeping Your Cool While Raising Your Kids. You can find her—“The Awkward Mom”—having uncomfortable, important conversations at JanelBreitenstein.com, and janelbreitenstein.substack.com.