"Help me in this season of longing"

Prayers & encouragement for you - plus our first photo essay!

This week on Mothering Spirit

Melissa Clayton reflects on the spiritual garden God is growing in her heart throughout her fertility and infertility experiences, using photography and its representations of grief, love, and more:

“I’ve wondered where I should start telling this story. 

There are so many places I could begin. The countless ER visits as a teen. My first surgery on my 19th birthday. The surgery which formally diagnosed me with endometriosis. The subsequent doctors warning me of infertility. The day my husband and I met. The day I told him I might not be able to have children. Our wedding. The years of infertility. The four miracles to follow. Three here with us. One lost too soon in the womb. Premature ovarian failure. The hysterectomy. The complications that followed. The now.”

Explore the whole photo essay: Between Light and Shadow.

(And check out Melissa’s incredible photography here.)

Megan Hogg

shares a heartfelt prayer that offers honesty before God about longing, a broken heart, and a burning desire to be a mother:

“O Lord, to You who fill all things in every way, help me in this season of longing.  

When I feel empty, fill me with Your abundant love.

When I feel defeated, fill me with Your buoyant hope.”  

Read the whole prayer: A Prayer for the Empty

To lift you up

If you’re feeling soul-weary after a long, hard season: Can these bones live?

In our war-torn world, Rakhi McCormick’s prayer gives voice to our cries of lament.

Tasha Jun speaks truth that some of us wrestle because we are full of a grief we cannot escape.

Take it from us (and Bluey): You’re Doing Great.

Got a prayer to share?

We’re looking for prayers written by our readers on the following themes of upcoming essays:

• Pregnancy after loss - due 2/29

• Traumatic birth - due 3/6

• Caregiving in the “sandwich generation” between children & elders - due 3/16

Original prayers are accepted (previously published on your social media, blog, or other personal site are fine). We’ll give you full credit and copyright, and tag you on our social media when we publish. You can respond here with your prayer(s) or email them to newsletter@motheringspirit.com.

If you like what you read at Mothering Spirit, we’d love if you’d share this Substack with a friend who needs encouragement in parenting—or a place to pray in the midst of busy days. Thank you for supporting our writers by sharing their work, following us on Instagram or Facebook, or supporting us on Patreon.