Do you resist the rest your body aches for because the floors must be scrubbed today? Do you say yes to yet another project, another event, even though your schedule already has you weary? What if we stopped following the example of our children and instead obeyed God’s call to rest?

One day as I struggled to burp one baby while the other wiggled next to me, I muttered to my husband, “God should have given mothers of multiples the ability to grow an extra arm.” But as each day passed and more people offered to help, I realized that God had given us something much better than extra limbs—he had given us whole people who loved us and our children.

What’s wrong with self-sufficiency? The problem is that we are far from capable of doing it all on our own. This misplaced desire to be self-sufficient causes a number of problems: legalism, broken community, and idolatry.

What we don’t think about is the possibility that we may not always enjoy motherhood. That motherhood isn’t all bliss and sloppy kisses. I experience days like this, and I know the only thing sustaining me is the grace of God. If motherhood has taught me anything, it is that God will hold me fast.