Sometimes you read a book that completely resonates with you. This book was one of those. From page one I was completely drawn in, and I found gems in every chapter. In fact, two weeks after finishing this book, I am still thinking about what I read, and I keep bringing different parts up in conversations with Kyle and my momma friends.

In Everyday MOMents, the lovely Jessica Poe takes us through a normal day at home with her three littles, and shares with us the divine details she has started discovering during her time at home.  Motherhood is often mundane, and can be a thankless job. Often times we might wonder if what we are doing even matters, or we might lament on how the busyness of motherhood takes up all our time, and doesn’t leave us any time to really ponder the Gospel, or to progress closer to our Heavenly goal. Jessica felt this way, too. But as she started striving to find little lessons and details during her day-to-day life as a mother of three small children, she started to find them. And now she’s written the wonderful, relatable book that urges us to do the same.

At the end of chapter one, Jessica urges us to create a personal symbol. The sun immediately came to mind. Throughout my life, the sun has been an important symbol for me. I am naturally a positive, happy person, and have always been told how much people love my smile and my sunny disposition. I was also given a blessing once, that encouraged me to “catch the vision of my great importance,” and for some reason the image of a sunrise has always stuck in my mind for that phrase. And of course, I love the idea of finding and sharing sunshine throughout life – hence my blog’s name! And so I started trying to formulate an image. I couldn’t find that perfect picture of sunlight, though. But as soon as I found this beautiful picture of daisies basking in sunlight, I knew it was it, and that it was to be accompanied by the phrase “Scatter Sunshine”. What better what for me share my beliefs, blog, personality then through that phrase? By scattering sunshine, as you would flowers along a path, throughout my life and others lives, as well. And so, here it is, my personal symbol, that turned into a mission statement, of sorts. I highly encourage you all to sit down and think about what you personal symbol or mission statement you want for your life! Think about you. And what you want to accomplish and learn.

One of my favorite chapters I spoke about agency, parenthood, and how it can relate to our Father in Heaven. Jessica states that the more we get to know our children, the more that we are around them, the better we get at predicting what each child’s next step will be. We know what sets them off, we know their “tells”, we know their likes and dislikes, and their personality. For example, if we have a child who is currently getting used to eating solids and/or using utensils, we, as mothers (and/or fathers) can usually predict when the child is all done and is about to throw the bowl/spoon/cup, etc. off the table. Do we know that’s what they’re going to do next? No. But we can predict it, and usually be right about it. Likewise, our Heavenly Father knows us. He has known us forever. He has seen us grow and progress. He knows us. And that is why, even though we have the agency to choose what we do and how we react to situations, He can correctly guess what we will choose. I had never thought about that before, but it was so powerful to me. He truly does know us.

And one more favorite part, before I end. Those of you who are LDS will recognize the phrase “this is my work and my glory” (see Moses 1:39). Jessica talks about her work and her glory as a mother. Now – I’m paraphrasing what she wrote, and am applying it to myself here – I think we often feel that motherhood is work. Cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. Running errands and cooking. Focusing on the needs of all the others in our family. But then, we often have those happy moments. Moments of glory, if you will, where we can see through all that work and watch as our glory unfolds. This might be something as simple as your child saying “momma” for the first time. Or when they learn to count to 10, or when they get an A on a test, or when they tell the truth. All of these moments help show us the glory of the work we are doing. We are raising little souls unto God. And really, how glorious is that? So yes, it might be work, but we are working for a higher purpose. Our glory is not worldly glory, it is a heavenly glory of teaching our children the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I do not know if I have done this book justice. It was such a powerful, although short, read. I would urge any and all Christian mothers to pick this up, especially if you are currently the mother of a small child (or two or three or….)! Jessica is LDS, like me, but has written this book for all Christian women who are earnestly seeking to find the divine in motherhood. Because what good is life if we cannot find God in it?

Find Everyday MOMents at Amazon, Deseret Book, and Barnes and Noble.
Other blog’s reviewing this book here.
Jessica’s blog here.

I received free product from Cedar Fort in exchange for an honest review.
All opinions are my own.