God’s Word and prayer are all we need to have a relationship with him. Those two things should be our go-to resources for a spiritually healthy life, before anything else.
To supplement God’s amazing gifts, Messy Tired Love devotionals are designed to help us connect our every day lives to the gospel. There are also a lot of other solid resources out there that can help you and your family dig deeper into knowing and abiding in Christ.
The resources you will find on this page have made an impact
Resources to Grow Deeper in Your Faith
Leaving Your Mom Legacy – is a 30-day devotional on reflecting and knowing Christ in motherhood, written by me! This devotional speaks truth into your mom life by diving into the imperfect legacies of eleven moms in the Bible, exploring how their stories point to the gospel and how yours does too. You’ll be inspired and equipped to reflect Christ in the tough and unglamorous mom moments. And no matter what is in your past, your present, or your future, you’re eyes will be opened to how your legacy will point to Jesus Christ for generations to come. Read more about this devotional and reviews from moms here.
Bad Girls Of The Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs – If you want to know more about the women in the Bible, this is a great book to dive in! Each chapter starts with a modern day representation of a “bad girl” in the Bible and then switches to the Biblical account. It reveals the relevancy of these women’s stories and outlines what we can learn from them. This is a good book for a women’s Bible study. This author has also published Really Bad Girls of the Bible and Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible.
A Heart Like His by Beth Moore – David’s story is an amazing story of a young shepherd boy who God rises up to become King of Israel. David has a huge heart for God that points to Jesus Christ in many
Stepparenting With Grace: A Devotional For Blended Families – This devotional is comprehensive, with 90 devotionals relating to stepfamily life. Each devotional begins with a Bible
Presence by John Myer and Seth Evans – If you are looking to deepen your prayer life, challenge yourself in your relationship with Jesus, and discipline your mind to focus on the Word of God, this book is an amazing resource. Part book, part workbook, it walks you through praying through scripture and encourages you to discipline yourself to do it daily. For busy moms, the Word of God will be the only consistent, refreshing, energy-soaked thing we will get from day-to-day. This method of praying through scripture will challenge you, but will also strengthen your prayer life in exciting ways.
Solid by John Myer – This book helps new Christians learn (and older Christians learn more about) the foundational truths of the Bible and how to maintain a healthy, spiritual life with Jesus. It should be a staple for every Christian’s bookshelf and can also be used in mentorship groups and small group settings, with discussion questions for each chapter.
Jesus Calling by Sarah Young – This year-long, daily devotional is written from the perspective of God talking directly to you. Each devotional can be read in under three or four minutes and has corresponding Bible verses for you to read that inspired the narration. It’s beautiful, convicting, and easy for busy moms to fit into our chaotic days.
Pray in Faith by TW Hunt and Claude King – Prayer is hard. It’s hard because most people think they don’t know how and have not disciplined themselves to be consistent with an active prayer life. Using the Bible as a guide, this workbook has easy to follow lessons and practical exercises to teach you how to pray, and why you need to be doing it.
Parenting Resources
Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna & Revolutionary Parenting Workbook by George Barna – If you are looking for practical advice and realistic habits to start with your family to put your children on a path to loving Jesus, this is a great resource. My biggest prayer is my children to not just be “go-through-the-motion” churchgoers, but to be passionate Christ followers. This book and the corresponding workbook uses real-life families as examples to find success
New City Catechism by The Gospel Coalition – Catechism is essentially just learning or teaching the very basics of the Christian faith. This is great for Christians of any age, especially if you are a new believer. For children, the FREE app is also a great resource, as it includes songs to help memorize the questions and answers! Just click “children’s mode” for the shorter versions of the questions and answers.
Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp – It’s important to remember the goal of parenting: raising a child to love and honor God. In the tough situations, it’s easy to forget this goal and focus on the issues at hand. Discipline is hard. We get lazy. It’s easy to focus on the short term. This book has been great in guiding my parenting strategies to bring my child up in the Lord.
Children’s Bibles
Tiny Truths Illustrated Bible contains solid teaching. It obviously leaves out many stories, as all children’s bibles do. But the critical parts of the gospel are all present. This Bible also includes stories from Acts and some parts of Revelation – an amazing feature for a children’s Bible that is hard to find.
This Bible is incredibly beautiful, with the illustrations filling up the entire page, wrapping around the text and engaging even the youngest of readers. The reading level is elementary-level, so this is also a great Bible for early readers. Read my full review of this Bible here.
Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones – This Children’s Bible uses conversational language to put Biblical language into an easy to understand narration for kids. The images are beautiful and really help keep kids actively listening and engaged. Most importantly, Jesus is clearly the red thread throughout each story, which helps children connect the Old Testament stories to the gospel. I read this Bible daily to my children.
God’s Love For You Bible Storybook by Rich and Renee Stearns – This children’s Bible, published by World Vision, does a great job of showing that God’s love applies to everyone around the world. Between each Bible story is a real-life example of issues others are facing the world (unclean water, for example) and what we can do about it.
The Prayer Bible is a wonderful Bible for children. If you struggle with prayer, or with praying out loud, this Bible will be especially helpful for you to guide your child. You and your child can read pre-written prayers based on scripture from the Psalms and topical prayers. There are also short devotions with prayer pointers throughout the Bible, making it easy to apply your child’s reading to his or her everyday life. The Prayer Bible is written using the International Children’s Bible translation, which uses language that is easy to understand for even young children. Read my full review here.
Children’s Devotionals
How Great Is Our God – I cannot say enough amazing things about this devotional. The author creatively ties in God’s Word to the most unique topics. It’s filled with interesting science information that weaves who God is into every devotion. If you’re looking for an easy way to talk to your kids about God, this is it! You can read my full review here.
These devotionals provide an amazing outline on topics that are important for children to learn. I’m excited to go through these with my children now, and continue to use them as they grow. Repeating information helps to solidify their understanding of the three persons in our one God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. You can read my review here.
Preschool Bible Workbooks – My children and I created a learning wall that has four sections: numbers, sight words, alphabet, and Bible. Every day (when we have an extra five minutes), we go through each section and review the content. For the Bible section, I found these amazing Bible workbooks that are absolutely perfect. The three we’ve tried are:
Bibles I Love
(in)courage Devotional Bible – If you struggle with the tough, messy stuff in motherhood, I encourage you to check out the (in)courage Devotional Bible. It will make you want to dive deeper into God’s Word while also connecting with the other women and mothers who contributed words of wisdom throughout its pages. Read the full review here.
The Study Bible For Women – I am really enjoying my new CSB The Study Bible For Women. My favorite part is that it puts so much useful information right where I need it – on the pages of scripture! As a busy mom whose hands are always full, I love having everything I need to do a comprehensive Bible study in one book. It’s easy to find and easy to read. Read my full review here. Read the full review here.
She Reads Truth Bible – This Bible is an excellent study Bible for moms! It’s beautiful, has over 200 devotionals and reading plans for every book of the Bible. Not to mention there are color charts, maps, and many other resources that are perfectly placed to be a supplement to your time in God’s Word. I LOVE this Bible! Review.
NIV Study Bible – An older version of this Bible was given to me by my home church when I graduated high school. It has been used more than any other Bible that I own and is still my favorite Bible. The study notes are clear and easy to understand and the historical and literary information at the beginning of every book is interesting. I highly recommend this Bible as a solid, go-to Bible for deep study or everyday reading!
Christmas Children’s Books
Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones
The First Christmas by Carol Heyer
The Christmas Story by Carol Heyer
Welcome to Messy Tired Love! The devotionals you'll find here aim to connect your everyday mom moments to the truth of the gospel. I hold nothing back as I share my story that's filled with lots of messy, tired, but oh-so-filled-with-love moments. I have three little blessings, that together with God's Word are the inspiration for these devotionals. I hope you will be encouraged, and maybe even get a good laugh, while exploring these devotionals. Much love!