8 Essential Keys to Lifegiving Motherhood

These 8 essential keys to lifegiving motherhood will inspire and help you to be a more intentional parent.

Affiliate links included below. Read my full disclosure here. 

Motherhood has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. From my earliest days playing with dolls and pretending to be a mommy, to the current day as a mother of five.

Even though my children are getting older, I’m still just as passionate about my mothering role.

My heart’s desire has always been to be an intentional mother, making the most of the time we have together.

Through the years I’ve read countless books on parenting and motherhood, longing to know the secret to being a good mom.

Read: 8 Favorite Mothering Books

My primary goal has been to have my children’s hearts and to lead them to Christ, as we live life together.

I haven’t been the mother I always dreamed I would be. Before becoming a mom, I imagined myself always healthy, always cheerful, and skipping through life with my children, sort of like Maria in The Sound of Music.

I think I even envisioned us all in matching outfits, singing together! 🙂

Read: Advice for Younger Moms

Despite the fact that I haven’t been the perfect mother I originally envisioned, my desire remains the same—to nurture them and lead them to Christ and to enjoy a beautiful relationship with each one of them.

Lifegiving Parenting

What is Lifegiving motherhood? Clay Clarkson says it best in his new book, The Lifegiving Parent:

At its core, lifegiving parenting is less about what you do and more about who you are—a child of the living God who is connected with Him and is ready to share that life with your children so that they may know Him too.

This description resonated with me very deeply because it puts into words the goal I’ve had for my mothering all these 18 years.

In order to become a lifegiving parent, we need to nurture our own relationship with Jesus. Then we’ll have something beautiful to pour into our children’s lives.

When I saw that Clay and Sally Clarkson were coming out with a new parenting book, I couldn’t wait to read it. I was thrilled when Tyndale presented the opportunity to review this book. After receiving it in the mail a few weeks ago, I couldn’t put it down!

I honestly feel like this is one of the best parenting books I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot of them through the years). My only regret is that I didn’t have this book when my older children were younger. It’s seriously that good!

My copy is underlined and marked up, and I’m passing it along to my husband so we can share these insights together. That’s one of the awesome things about this book. It’s not just for moms!  Your husband will benefit from reading it too.

8 Keys to Lifegiving Motherhood

While Clay is quick to emphasize that this isn’t a special or secret formula to follow (and he counsels against following “methods” or books that promise success if you’ll follow all of their steps exactly), he does outline 8 “Heartbeats of Parental Lifegiving” that are worth noting.

These are the 8 “keys” that he says “characterize the ways we can bring God’s life into our homes to give to our children.”

Here are the keys, which are found in the Table of Contents:

1. Numbering Your Child’s Days
2. Nurturing Your Child’s Spirit
3. Guarding Your Child’s Heart
4. Renewing Your Child’s Mind
5. Strengthening Your Child’s Faith
6. Shaping Your Child’s Will
7. Cultivating Your Child’s Character
8. Forming Your Child’s Imagination

The Lifegiving Parent book describes in detail how to take these keys and make them part of your parenting as you live out your family’s story with your children. I highly recommend this book!

My heart was encouraged and my resolve was strengthened after reading it. Lifegiving motherhood is worth pursuing!

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here. Sharing here. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale for review purposes. The opinions shared here are my own.