# Devotionals for Ladies (especially Mothers)



## sastark (Oct 10, 2011)

Can any of the ladies on the board (men are welcome to respond as well!) recommend a good, reformed devotional written for ladies (especially mothers)?

My wife is trying to find something to use in a twice a month ladies morning devotional meeting, and any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## JBaldwin (Oct 10, 2011)

Wish I could help you. There is so little good reformed literature written for women. A lot of the women in my circles have resorted to writing their own Bible studies and devotionals.


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## sastark (Oct 10, 2011)

JBaldwin said:


> Wish I could help you. There is so little good reformed literature written for women. A lot of the women in my circles have resorted to writing their own Bible studies and devotionals.



This is what my wife is quickly finding out, too!


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## jwithnell (Oct 10, 2011)

Abraham Kuyper wrote a book of devotionals about Women in the New Testament. This is by no means deep digging, but I have found it pleasant in the evenings when my brain is otherwise fried.


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## py3ak (Oct 10, 2011)

JBaldwin said:


> There is so little good reformed literature written for women.



I know this is true, but of course women are human too and devotion isn't gender-specific. Certain _topics_ pertain more to one than another, and there does seem to be a shortage in those areas. But men and women can profit equally from a Frances Ridley Havergal or a William Jay.


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## jwithnell (Oct 10, 2011)

> Women are human too


Um, thanks? 
Seriously, I generally agree with this. Our women's study is now going through Randy Alcorn's book Money, Possessions, and Eternity.


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## Grace Alone (Oct 10, 2011)

I always check the PCA bookstore as they have a pretty good selection of women's material. I happen to have that Women in the NT and we used it one year as a devotional in our monthly women's meeting. I think Joni Eareckson Tada has written a few women's devotional books, but I have not personally read them.


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## JBaldwin (Oct 11, 2011)

Maybe it's time some of us women on the PB started writing some devotionals.


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## Andres (Oct 11, 2011)

Why do women need women specific devotionals? What's wrong with using the same devotionals everyone else uses? And lest anyone think I'm picking on women, I don't think teenagers need their own devotionals, nor do cowboys or businessmen either.


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## Kim G (Oct 11, 2011)

I use the Bible and supplement with commentaries from this site: Classic Bible Commentaries

But I don't enjoy most devotional books because of their shallow and solely emotional content. I wish there were better ones out there.

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Andres said:


> Why do women need women specific devotionals? What's wrong with using the same devotionals everyone else uses? And lest anyone think I'm picking on women, I don't think teenagers need their own devotionals, nor do cowboys or businessmen either.



I'm generally in agreement with this. However, if a Bible passage can be accurately applied to a minister or a worker in a secular field, why not compile passages that would greatly encourage mothers in their duties?


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## Romans922 (Oct 11, 2011)

I think the Bible is a good place to start. If you want, you can add in the Matthew Henry commentary to go along with that.


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## Mindaboo (Oct 11, 2011)

> Why do women need women specific devotionals? What's wrong with using the same devotionals everyone else uses? And lest anyone think I'm picking on women, I don't think teenagers need their own devotionals, nor do cowboys or businessmen either.



I think women are looking for encouragement in their everyday challenges. I was very discouraged at times when my youngest two who are only 12 months and two weeks apart were babies. Women face different challenges, and sometimes we just want to know someone out there understands. 

I have found Elisabeth Elliot's Keep a Quiet Heart encouraging. I also just finished her book The Music of His Promises. That was good as well. Not deep, but very direct and to the point. Some of the things she wrote were very encouraging to me. I don't know if Carolyn Ruvolo has anything out, but she is one of the most well written reformed women I've ever read.


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## sastark (Oct 11, 2011)

Mindaboo said:


> I think women are looking for encouragement in their everyday challenges. I was very discouraged at times when my youngest two who are only 12 months and two weeks apart were babies. Women face different challenges, and sometimes we just want to know someone out there understands.



Exactly, Mindy. Women (especially mothers, and especially mothers of young children) face a different set of challenges than us men, and thus need Scripture applied to different areas/weaknesses. Just as a physician will treat a male patient differently than a female, so to ought a pastor/elder diagnose and care for a woman under his care with the appropriate treatment.

Thanks for the recommendations!


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## Grace Alone (Oct 11, 2011)

There are Ruvulo Bible study books at the PCA bookstore. I also really like Elisabeth Elliot and will have to check out the books Mindy recommended.

The Bible has teaching that is specifically directed to women...how to be godly wives and mothers. I certainly think there is a place for teaching material directed to that topic just as there is material for men, etc. The problem I have found is that there are more Bible studies and fewer devotionals available for when you just need a 15 or 20 minute devotional before some kind of meeting or fellowship time.


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## Mindaboo (Oct 11, 2011)

I don't know how you would turn this into a devotional, but Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss was a book I remember reading when my children were young. It helped me tremendously. I believe there is also a book named The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss. That might be something worth looking into. I've downloaded it to my Kindle, but I haven't read it. If it's anything like Stepping Heavenward it's worth the time. 

Elisabeth Elliot also did a book The Shaping of a Christian Family. It gave real life illustrations from her own upbringing. I thought it was practical and encouraging. That might be something else to look into. They are devotions, but at times I've just read a few pages of those during my quiet time and benefitted greatly. Let me think of what else I read when mine were young.


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## moral necessity (Oct 11, 2011)

My wife and I enjoyed this one about Jonathan Edwards and his wife. Not really a devotional per se, but very edifying as a book. The ladies will appreciate the title, I'm sure.

CEP Bookstore - MARRIAGE TO A DIFFICULT MAN

Blessings!


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## JBaldwin (Oct 11, 2011)

I'm with those of you who have expressed the need for things aimed at specific needs. In fact, when I was struggling through those early years of motherhood, I looked for something and was so discouraged at what I found that I stopped looking for support for anything. This was not good either.


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## Filipe Luiz C. Machado (Oct 11, 2011)

I don't know, but I think that it can help your wife: The Law of Kindness - Reformation Heritage Books


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## py3ak (Oct 11, 2011)

Grace Alone said:


> The Bible has teaching that is specifically directed to women...how to be godly wives and mothers. I certainly think there is a place for teaching material directed to that topic just as there is material for men, etc. The problem I have found is that there are more Bible studies and fewer devotionals available for when you just need a 15 or 20 minute devotional before some kind of meeting or fellowship time.



That's what I was driving at above, with mentioning topics of instruction. There is room for particularity. But there are also problems that are common to mankind, and most of the doctrine and encouragement to be had, I think, is not gender-specific. Since ladies have as much need for encouragements to faith and patience as men; since the true doctrines of prayer, assurance, hope, and the hypostatic union are equally relevant and comforting to either gender, a ladies' study group shouldn't be confined only to the topics of particular application to the group.


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