Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange for this review. The thoughts and opinions are my own.
Sitting in my ladies bible study, I listened to everyone give their prayer requests for the week. Over and over I heard a common theme as the women spoke in life-weary voices. Peace. The need to be settled. Calm in the midst of chaos. Each woman a mom, each heart overwhelmed by the responsibilities and duties of juggling children, a home, and life. I saw tired eyes and sagging shoulders and hearts that needed encouragement and hope.
To be honest, I need some peace and hope myself. I struggle to live a life of joy and serve my family wholeheartedly. I too am worn by unmet expectations, failed plans, mommy guilt, and the closet I keep thinking I’ll clean out but never do.
I recently was given the opportunity to read Rachel Jankovic’s new book Fit to Burst : Abundance, Mayhem, and the Joys of Motherhood
. You may have read her book Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches
. In Fit to Burst : Abundance, Mayhem, and the Joys of Motherhood, Rachel addresses the challenges of motherhood and gently prods and points us to what really matters- bringing glory to God in our role as mothers. This book encourages the reader to glorify God and live out the truths of the gospel in our interactions with our children, in the way we feed them, in the way we handle stress, in the way we handle embarrassments, and in all the mundane activities of motherhood.
Each chapter is short-which was good for this busy mom! Filled with real life insights and her own struggles, Fit to Burst : Abundance, Mayhem, and the Joys of Motherhood is a book that addresses issues every mom faces in every day life. But it’s not a book that just jokes about the struggles and allows us continue in our same habits and sins. Rather, Rachel points out sinful attitudes and behaviors that mom’s have and helps us address them through the truth of God’s word. From maintaining a house to training children, from dirty dishes to the chaos of our days, Fit to burst challenges us as mother’s to rely on and remain faithful to Christ in all things.
Rachel was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about this book that I am excited to share with you today:
1. What is the one thing you hope moms will walk away with in reading this book?
“It’s hard to put it into one word, but if I had to I would say encouragement. Once when I was pregnant with the twins and had two tiny kiddos a lady went after me in a really funny way. “I would be so hating my life if I was you. Are you just hating your life right now?” I remember thinking it through afterwards and realizing how overwhelmingly thankful I was that I didn’t care what she thought. At the same time, I realized that it wasn’t some special strength in me-the fact that I didn’t care came from my husband, my family, my church, my faith. That made me want to give that to other women. Encouragement is like a plate of cookies that you can give to someone-only later they will be glad they ate it!”
2. You talked in this book about the way we view food. Often as moms, we can look at food as our savior, putting our trust in a particular diet. That diet for our family often becomes the hill we are willing to die on. I see this often in the “mommy” blogging world. Why do you think we tend to trust and put so much emphasis on food as the solution to our problems?
“Honestly I think that this is just an age old human problem called idolatry. We find something that we think has the power to save us and we worship it. Food is very “in” right now, and I think it is especially tempting to mothers because it is a big part of our job. It seems like every choice we make might be a life or death situation and we get really emotional about those. But at the bottom it’s just a regular old fashioned temptation to not trust God.”
3. In your chapter called “Mean Boss” I had an “Aha!” moment as I read it. Realizing that as a mother, I am both the boss and the employee helped me see why I am often so frustrated with myself. I am both a leader and a follower in the same job. Many times, I emphasize one or the other. I end up feeling guilty or angry with myself when I don’t get things accomplished that I wanted to accomplish in my day. How can we maintain this tension and keep it balanced?
“This one is tricky! For me, being aware of it is a great place to start. Something that I would recommend though is to think about how you react when you are guilty or angry about your performance. Then think about not doing that. Sometimes this reveals that we actually have an elaborate structure in place that we are dependent on to get attention. What would it be like it you weren’t doing this? What would it be like if when your husband asked about your day you could honestly tell him without any drama or tears?”
I guess what I realized was that in some ways I didn’t want the hard times to go away, because in some weird way it noted the value of the work I was doing. This is hard. I am stressed out. This is so crazy. How can I be doing this so badly? Let’s all gather around and hold my hand while I consider…obedience. Of course, once you see that about yourself you have to repent of that. We can get so self absorbed that when we think of ourselves not having any trouble, it sounds boring. We want to be in the throws of something. The reality is that when you lay that down, it won’t be boring, but it might not be about you either.”
4. I also appreciated your chapter on pulling weeds. Raising children requires constant diligence in identifying and pulling out weeds of sin in their hearts. You point out that sometimes, it is helpful to have a sense of humor in doing so. It is possible to address some of their sins with a light heart. How can this be helpful to our children? Can you give a few recent examples in your own life?
“Usually when we talk to our kids about a sin, we are searching for ways to explain it to them. Often times, those are funny. Because the reality is that sin is foolishness, and we don’t want to be reverent towards it. We don’t want our kids growing up thinking that sin is attractive in any way. Laughing at it is sometimes a way of helping with that. Not in a slap-stick way, but more in a “I don’t want to do that thing you are talking about” way.
One of our older kids has had a little trouble lately with receiving correction. She is tempted to take it personally and get her feelings hurt, especially when she feels like we didn’t understand the entire situation. The trouble with this is that when her defenses get up, we aren’t talking about the original situation anymore, because the attitude about the correction steals the show.
I explained to her that correction is love, and then I gave her a noisy and horrible kiss smack on her ear. This made her laugh of course, but it also illustrated the point. Sometimes, when Mom and Dad miss a little bit it sounds terrible to you, and it might be really annoying. But we want you to know it is love. So when the correction smacks you on the ear, don’t get your feelings hurt, instead talk to us about it in love.
When you talk about sin with your kids in a light hearted way, it has a wonderful side effect of making them enjoy talking about sin with you. Today my three-year-old is playing with a cousin, and the last two times we have done this she has cried when I picked her up. So we have been talking about that, about what she is supposed to do, and we laugh at other options (that are worse than what she was doing). I say things like, “Blaire, when I pick you up today are you going to be so crazy and cry about it? Should you scream and run and hide and kick the floor? Would that be such a good idea?!?!” She thinks this is hilarious and she loves to correct me and say, “No! I will run to you and say ‘Hi, Mama!’
In the same vein, sometimes when they mess up badly I make a funny face at them and say something like “Oh, no! Did that happen?! Quick! Let’s try again and do it right!’”
5. Is there anything else you’d like to share about this book or thoughts on motherhood?
“You know, this is funny. We had a really intense time when the twins were little and the two older girls were toddlers. God really used that time in my life for some serious refining. As time went on and things got easier it felt like we were figuring things out. We weren’t so bad at this after all. Well here we are several years later, with a crawling baby, realizing that this is still seriously hard. You would have thought that we know how to do this by now.
It made me laugh to realize that we never figured this out like there was some secret answer key, but rather that time passed. The kids grew up. Things felt easier because things were easier, not because we were suddenly really gifted at this.
While that might not seem comforting, it really is. Some parts of this job are just hunkering down and being joyful. Hanging on and hanging in there. Being faithful in the most normal way possible-by getting up every day to do your best as unto the Lord, with the full knowledge that this time will be a sweet memory all too soon.”
More good news! I have two copies of Fit to Burst to give away! Register to win below. Winners will be announced Saturday the 28th.
The winners are in! Danie and Aileen, congratulations! I will contact you via email to get your info. Thanks for entering!
This one has been on my to-read list for a while! Thanks for the chance to win!
Sounds like a great read that covers lots of the motherhood bases. Thanks for running the contest!
Sounds like a great and timely book! Thanks for the giveaway!
This would be a great book for me to read and share with my moms group.
Would love to get a copy!
I really appreciated her first book, and would love to read this one.
What a down-to-earth Mama!. I would love to have this book as I begin parenting.
This sounds like a great book! I’d love to win a copy!
I would love to read your book…the joys of being a “grandma” !!!
Thank you for these great reviews! Sounds like a great book.
I have wanted to read this one for awhile now, thanks for the chance to win!
THanks for hosting this giveaway, I always look for good Christian books.
So excited for a chance at this book! Thanks for the giveaway!
Thanks for the chance to win! It sounds like a great book!
Great share! Excited to read it, win or lose.
Looks like a great book!!
Ohh! I have wanted this book since it was released in January (and even the pre-release in December!!). Thank you for hosting the giveaway! And thank you for the blog-post!!
I love, love, love this book and I would love to give a copy to a friend!
I would love to win this book! It is on my wish list!
I have heard great things about this book!
I’ve been wanting and NEEDING to read is book for a while now…after reading your interview, I’m hoping to win a copy! But if I don’t, it’s time to buy it.
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This book is definitely on my “to buy and read list”, even more so now! Thanks for the chance to win it!
amazing!!! thanks for the giveaway!
I’d love to win a copy of the book. LOVED Loving the Little Years. Read it once to myself, once to my husband and once with my mom’s group.
I would love to win this book! I have a 13 month old and I’m prego
would be really fun to read!
Well- you must have the inside scoop to get to such a great product to review. I love the Femina ladies, and I loved Rachel’s first book so I have no doubt this one would be great too. Thanks for hosting the giveaway!
I have this book and love it, I would love to win a copy to give away to another mom.
Love to get the book!
Loved her book called, Loving the Little Years. Would love to win this!
Sounds refreshing!
Lovin the Little Years was/is my favorite parenting book! I am so excited that the new book is out, I can’t wait to read it!
talk about the book i need to read. sheesh. i hope i win it. of course i’ll share it too…
I recently finished this book and just loved it! I also really enjoyed Loving the Little Years.
Would love to own Fit to Burst! Thanks for the chance to win!
I’ve already heard great things about this book and would LOVE to win it! Planning on putting it on my Christmas list if I don’t win. Thanks for sharing the opportunity to win it!
I so need to read this right now!
would love to win a copy!
Fun to see two of my favorite blogs linked! I always give Rachel’s first book to my friends when they head into two-child territory, and can’t wait to be encouraged and challenged by this new one. Also, thank you for your posts on teaching Scripture to kiddos — excited to get in that habit before #3 arrives for us.
Sounds great, think I will check out the other book too!
Looking forward to reading this book. Thanks for the interview, and chance to win.
Sounds like a great read! Hope I win
I am so looking forward to reading Fit to Burst!
Being a fairly new mom of one and soon to be mom to two this sounds like a read that’s right up my alley!
I’ve been waiting for this encouragement! Her advice is always so refreshing!
Great reminders for any woman nurturing and influencing kiddos, mom or not! Thanks for the chance to get a copy of the book!
Both of Rachel’s books are high on my to-read list. I really enjoyed reading her response to your questions and look forward to eventually reading the book!
So encouraging. I would love to win this book to give to a friend!
Have it and am reading it. Would love a copy to gift to friends!!
Very fun. Thank you in particular for the interview. I can honestly say that Jankovich has helped me laugh it up more with my children and work hard to engage them in creative narratives, especially as we fight sin together. She has helped me say, “Let’s fight this sin together, your sin and mine.” She has helped me say to a child, “Let’s try that again. Doesn’t it feel good to walk in the light, rather than darkness? Let’s stay in the light. We’re so much happier that way.”
I’ve read a friend’s copy of Fit to Burst, but I’d love to have my own!
This was my first time hearing about Fit to Burst, and after a long day of homeschooling 2 with a cranky toddler and crying baby, I sure do wish it were in my hands right now!
I’ve been wanting to read this book for forever! I would love to win!
I loved “loving the little years” and really wanted to give this book to a friend who is about to have number two! I have two girls, now 3 and 18 months old and know how difficult the transition from one to two is and think your book is a great asset. Thank you for sharing your stories and advice!!
Thanks for the great interview and give-away!
Thank you for the giveaway!
Rachel is a gifted writer! I would love to win!
Would love to read this book! And give a copy to my sister!
Ohh…love the Femina blog and glad she linked to yours! Can’t wait to read this book!
Loved “Loving the Little Years”! Also, i enjoy every blog post on Femina Girls. This one is definitely on my wish list!
Would love to read.
Loved the first one and can’t wait to dive into the 2nd!
I would love to read this book!
I loved “Loving the Little Years” and have been wanting to read this one, as well. Thanks for the review and interview!
I bought several copies of Loving the Little Years to give away to the other young mom’s in our church because it was such a blessing to me & I hope to be able to do the same with Fit to Burst!
Thank you for the review.
Looks like a book for me
Thank you for giveaway!
Thank you so much for hostessing this - I really enjoyed reading the interview, too!
I have been wanting to read this for ages. Would love to win a copy! Thanks for the review and interview. I really enjoyed it.
Thanks for the post; I’ve been wanting to read this book. It’s in my cart on Amazon, but…
It is the day-to-day small things where we have to work on…
Love this!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Interesting review and interview. Rachel always gives much food for thought.
I would love to read this book. It’s been on my list for a while too & after this interview I really want to read it ,
This interview was so inspiring. I would love to have a free copy of the book.
I would LOVE to win this! My children are about the same age spacing as hers (including twins) and she has encouraged me so much in the weariness!!
I’d love to read this - enjoyed the first book of hers!
Encouragement and inspiration for my dear wife.
I’m a mother to only one child, but Rachel’s writings are convicting and a huge encouragement for me.
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