Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full by Gloria Furman
Jessalyn Hutto
A wonderful thing is happening in the Christian publishing world: books are once again being written for women and by women that don’t revolve exclusively around Proverbs 31 and Titus 2! These books are challenging women to step out of their circumstances, behold the beauty of God and his gospel, and then bring that new vision back into their everyday lives.
These gospel-filled books are desperately needed by every woman regardless of her stage of life, but perhaps those who are moms of little ones need this dose of sanity just a smidgen more feverishly than others. Books that give them a theological framework to view their chaotic, non-stop, and and often exhausting calling can feel as good as a full eight hours of sleep when your baby is still nursing through the night does.
One author who has shown herself to be both theologically astute as well as hilariously practical is my friend Gloria Furman. Her first book, Glimpses of Grace, took readers on a quest to understand how the gospel impacts and compels thoughtful homemaking. In this book, Gloria, focuses her gaze squarely on motherhood and the difficult realities mothers face. Topics like the temporal nature of motherhood, the temptation to compare your mothering “achievements” against other moms’, and the common overall feelings of overwhelmeded-ness (It’s a mommy word, trust me) are explored from an eternal lens.
The beauty of Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full is that while it is written for mothers, it isn’t about mothers. It seeks to elevate a woman’s gaze from the exhausting here and now to a place of awe as she breaths in the life-giving air of the gospel and drinks the pure water of the Word. While its focus is motherhood, its message is Christ. If your looking for a book of coping techniques to get you through until bedtime, then you will be disappointed. If, however, you have come to the realization that there are not enough coping techniques in the world to make you a better mom, then you will be relieved to read this down-to-earth, but theologically robust work on motherhood and the gospel.
The book itself is made up of 11 short devotionals, reminiscent of similar works by Rachel Jankovic (another author I am very fond of), but still unique in its laser-like focus on the gospel and eternity. Once again, Gloria proves herself to be a faithful handler of the Word of God as well as a wise counselor to mothers in similar life circumstances who are in need of a spiritual reality check.
I heartily recommend you pick up a copy of Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full to read when those beautiful moments of solitude arise (seriously, if you have to, keep a copy in your restroom!) or give it as a gift to a young mom you know needs help directing her gaze toward Heaven (which is all of us by the way!).
“Jesus died on the cross so that we would have the free, unmerited grace of God. And as we appropriate that grace in our lives and serve others, we are serving in the strength God supplies. This is how we can serve so that God gets the glory–through his strength because of his grace shown to us in Jesus… Even as we are trembling and trusting in the Lord, God makes us worthy of his calling and fulfills every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power…” (Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full)