Free shipping on all orders over $75🎄

She’s worth it, you know.

The days that pass by in a blur, with the minutes flying past, the babies crying on her shoulder, and the nap times missed. She’s worth it.

The days with Bible studies, heads down reading the word, hands held in prayer. When she’s cooking dinner for a beleaguered spouse, the darkness coming earlier and earlier now. She’s worth it.

The early mornings—searching through backpacks, shuffling car seats, milk in cups, pairs of shoes. The early mornings—brushing her teeth next to a man she’s loved since the beginning. The beginning when she couldn’t hear him speak because the blood rushing through her ears roared over his voice. The beginning when goosebumps followed his hand as it tracked across her arms. The beginning. And since the beginning, she’s been worth it. 

The nights with the sick babies, or the nights with dishes left still in the sink. The nights with friends and cards. And the nights waiting up for those babies to come home. She’s worth it.

The dinners at the table—forks clanging on glass plates, chatter rising up above the table. Laughter. The how was your days, and what did you do todays. She’s worth it. 

The face in the mirror with fine lines and laugh lines and worry lines. The face in the mirror that reflects tired eyes, day two hair, and ears that were pierced in the fifth grade. The face in the mirror that looks a little timid some mornings, and fierce other mornings. The face that reflects courage. She’s worth all of that.

She is worth your love.
She is worth your affection.
She is worth your attention, your wonder. 
She is worth the slow moments in which you only see HER.

She’s worth more than money and a 401k. She’s worth more than a house with big TVs and plenty of room and laundry that always seems to be done. She’s worth more than her “voted most likely to succeed” certificate from her senior year of high school. She’s worth more than her size 10 jeans. Or her size 16 jeans. 

And it’s here—

When she finally recognizes how much she is actually worth—when she feels it rise and tighten in her chest. It’s there.

It’s when she realizes how the silence she carries can shift the tectonic plates. And it’s when she realizes that her voice—

The same voice that harmonizes with every single woman who has ever come before her.
The same voice that is rusty from lack of use, and a little unsure.
The same voice with a churning ocean full of words she has yet to speak.

Her voice is the same voice that propels truth, goodness, and grace towards others. 
Her voice is the same voice that dispels the darkness of self-doubt. 
Her voice is the same voice that will quietly whisper in your ear that you are worth it. 

You are so worth it.

So God Made a Mother book by Leslie Means

If you liked this, you'll love our new book, SO GOD MADE A MOTHER available now!

Order Now

Rebecca Cooper

Rebecca Cooper-Thumann is an English teacher in a sleepy town in the midwest. She has published four novels and is currently working on a fifth. She has a precocious four-year-old son, she loves nachos and Jesus, and she tries to live her life every day rooted in courage and joy. 

Sometimes Love is Filling the Empty Water Bottle

In: Marriage
Husband looking at wife, color photo

It was just another typical chaotic morning in our home. As I was about to run out the door to pick up our daughter from school, I noticed my husband’s empty water bottle sitting on the counter. In a split second, I had a choice. I could leave now and take my time walking out to the parking lot. Or, I could stop to fill the water bottle up and end up doing a rushed jog out there. I stopped and filled the water bottle. I took a minute, fully knowing it would add another 60 seconds of chaos to...

Keep Reading

Marriage Is Too Short to Fight over Trash Bags

In: Marriage
Man hugging woman in front of a window

It was a Sunday, and we had just returned from a hospital stay with our medically complex daughter. We needed a reset—one of those “all house chores get tackled in a day” type of resets. We needed a fresh start. Around mid-day, my husband Josh and I were both in full cleaning mode. The morning had been chaotic. Our daughter was struggling with seizures, and our son was still buzzing with excitement from two birthday parties he had attended the day before. As he begged for the banana bread in the oven to cook faster and for more episodes of...

Keep Reading

Your Husband Needs Friendship Too

In: Faith, Friendship, Marriage
3 men smiling outside

As the clock inches closer to 7:00 on a Monday evening, I pull out whatever dessert I had prepared that week and set it out on the kitchen counter. This particular week it’s a trifle, but other weeks it may be brownies, pound cake, or cookies of some kind. My eyes do one last sweep to make sure there isn’t a tripping hazard disguised as a dog toy on the floor and that the leftover dinner is put away. Then, my kids and I make ourselves scarce. Sometimes that involves library runs or gym visits, but it mostly looks like...

Keep Reading

Dear Husband, Some Days I Feel So Alone

In: Marriage, Motherhood
Woman holding toddler looking tired

Dear my love, I am sitting here at the table you built, back when time was plentiful, and money was sparse. Back when pre-drinks were always at our place, loving sleep-ins were abundant, and the days were our own. I wonder . . . back then, what we might have imagined our life would look like, 10 years later? Would we have pictured the white picket fence, the curly, fair-haired, sensitive little boy and cheeky little girl? We probably would have imagined that we would be hard working, but would we have pictured the deep-set exhaustion that is our day-to-day...

Keep Reading

I Never Thought I’d be Divorced…Twice

In: Living, Marriage
Woman walking away on boardwalk alone

Divorced. I never thought it’d be me. Especially twice divorced. Yet, here I am, single again after two failed marriages. I say failed because the marriages didn’t last. But were they really failures? Failure is defined as a “lack of success.” But by what yardstick is success measured? I know plenty of people in absolutely miserable marriages that I would not consider successful. So is it really fair to call my two marriages failures? I guess it depends on who you ask and what they see as a failure versus a success. Just because a marriage is legally intact doesn’t...

Keep Reading

Marriage Is So Much More than Love

In: Marriage
Husband and wife hugging, color photo

I met my husband when I was 19. I knew right away there was something there. I was intrigued by him—his looks, his smile, his big heart, his mysterious side. He was unapologetically himself. He listened to his music a little too loud, did his own thing, didn’t try to impress my parents, and lived his life on his own terms. With his hat backward, those big blue eyes, and that mischievous grin . . . I fell hook, line, and sinker. I loved the fact that he had his own house, his own boat, his own life. I was...

Keep Reading

Look for the Green Flags Too

In: Marriage
Couple hugs with twinkle lights in background

We all think we want that storybook romance. We want a partner to sweep into our lives, sing love songs outside of our bedroom window, buy huge bouquets of flowers for no particular reason, publicly declare their love for us every day, and when they’re wrong they should always apologize into a microphone in front of a large crowd. Besides the fact that most of the above are clues that Prince Charming is actually an undercover narcissist and you should probably run far away, this kind of romance sounds rather exhausting. Sure, it sounds fun for a while, but there’s...

Keep Reading

Dear Husband, I Remember It All

In: Marriage
Man and woman touch foreheads and smile

Dear husband,  I remember when we were dating in high school, all snuggled up sitting on the couch by the fire in your parents’ basement, talking about our hopes and dreams for our future. We both hoped to be in each other’s future. I remember going on so many adventures. All the laughs, the jokes, all the times we got into trouble and said, “This will make a great story afterward.” I remember when you asked me to marry you. We were so young, so naive with no idea of what the future would hold, but we couldn’t have been...

Keep Reading

What Happens When Your Perfect Life Explodes?

In: Grief, Living, Loss, Marriage, Motherhood
Sad woman by window with her head in hands

One day you’re living your best life, writing articles about how perfect your marriage is, and the next, BOOM, life as you know it completely changes. I was blindsided by information that my husband had been lying to me for three years about certain aspects of our lives. I felt like I had been hit in the gut by the biggest rock you could imagine. What has followed has been a snowball of events and new information that has changed the course of my and my kids’ lives. So what do you do when your perfect explodes? This is one...

Keep Reading

Dear Husband, In This Busy Season

In: Living, Marriage
Busy family in the kitchen, man walking into the door holding coffee

Dear husband,  I know this is a busy season for you. I see how hard you’re working. And I know you come home exhausted every night. I know you’d be here earlier—and more often—if you could. But you can’t. Because this is your busy season.  And there are a few things I need you to know.  This is hard for me too. Even on normal days, I’m on call 24/7 for the kids, but now, I don’t have you at home as backup. The needing never stops, and I no longer have you to share it with. I can’t say,...

Keep Reading