Shontell Brewer - Missionary Mom: Embracing the Mission Field Right Under Your Roof

I thought this would be a serious tome about mothering. I was right and oh so wrong. Funny, relatable, and to the point, Shontell Brewer brings levity to this weighty conversation. Do yourself a favor and do not skip the marginal notes. My eyes happily skipped to the side of the page every time I saw one!

Invite your mom friends to buy this book, then discuss it over coffee, even if you have to ignore the piled-up laundry or finally clear the dining room table to have them over.

Anna LeBaron , author of The Polygamists Daughter: A Memoir

Missionary Mom serves as both a rallying cry and a battle plan in the fight for our children. Packed with practical advice, woven with Scripture, and seasoned with belly laughinducing humor, this book is a delight to read. And yet it is so much more than an easy read. It is a foundational book for those who have the noble task of raising children, influencing children, or simply living on a planet full of children. This is a book I will recommend and refer to often in the years to come. I am so grateful for this invaluable resource.

Jennifer Marshall Bleakley , author of Joey: How a Blind Rescue Horse Helped Others Learn to See

If you are looking for an engaging and intensely practical guide to what on earth youre supposed to do to raise kids who love one another and God, this is the book for you. I have watched Shontell walk this out and I am changed as a result.

Emily Thomas , host of the Mom Struggling Well podcast

As moms, we sometimes feel as if our daily work of mothering is rather mundane and lacking in importance. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. As Shontell so beautifully points out, motherhood is actually one of our greatest mission fields. What I especially love is that she doesnt merely leave us with that lovely conceptshe also provides us with truly practical ideas, wisdom, and inspiration (and lets face it, a great sense of humor!) for how to go about being intentional missionaries as moms. We have the tools at our disposal, and Shontell teaches us how to use them. I highly recommend this book!

Rebekah Hargraves , blogger and host of the Home and Hearth podcast

No matter how you slice it, parenting is hard. So often we feel unqualified, certain were falling short and doing it all wrong. But in the pages of this book, Ive found encouragement to parent my kids regardless of my imperfections and misguided attempts. Brewer reminds us that nothing you do will screw up your kids so much that God cannot intervene. This is the kind of freedom every mom needs. It reminds us that he is capable of our impossible. This is the best parenting book Ive read in a long time, and a resource I will keep within reach.

Carey Scott , author of Unafraid: Be You, Be Authentic, Find the Grit and Grace to Shine

Missionary Mom: Embracing the Mission Field Right Under Your Roof 2018 by Shontell Brewer

Published by Kregel Publications, a division of Kregel Inc., 2450 Oak Industrial Dr. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations in reviews.

Distribution of digital editions of this book in any format via the internet or any other means without the publishers written permission or by license agreement is a violation of copyright law and is subject to substantial fines and penalties. Thank you for supporting the authors rights by purchasing only authorized editions.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked esv are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

The persons and events portrayed in this book have been used with permission. To protect the privacy of these individuals, names and identifying details have been changed in some cases.

ISBN 978-0-8254-4538-5

Printed in the United States of America

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Dedicated to HH Brewer.

Thank you for raising babies with me.

M y village of mamas: Mel, Erin, Marie, Newbs, Jess, and Joelle. My kids would be different humans without you.

Chris and Morgan Lienhard: My kids would be different humans without you.

My mama: Thank you for giving me Jesus and showing me that I have more than I realize.

Jessica Kirkland: Thanks. For all of this.

Jesus came and told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

MATTHEW 28:1820

I hate how easily guilt sets in for me. I heap it on myself and dont intentionally blame others. But every time I am at church and the missionaries are talking about upcoming trips and sharing pictures of their recent journeys, or our pastor is talking about how each of us can make a difference on a mission team, I feel like a bucket of guilt has been dumped on my head. In my vision of it all, the guilt is in the form of green slime, and it takes forever to ooze down to my toesjust as, I am sure, the devil intends.

After years of helping my brother pack for mission trips, donating money to friends to help them fund their outreaches, and listening to countless tales of my own mothers life changing experiences, I just knew I should join them in the field. I decided to talk to my husband about it right after church.

Seriously, even my mother? How could she?

Fired up to serve, I looked down and beheld my five little children seated quietly in their chairs and tried to picture them sleeping in a floorless hut, taking their gigantic pills for who-knows-what disease, and sharing Jesus by way of large hand gestures because, of course, we dont speak anything other than English. At that moment, I realized God was not calling me to another part of the world.

My shoulders went a little droopy with disappointment. I began feeling as if my season of mothering small children was going to be something to suffer through. You know? Until I got to the real work God has planned for me.

Do you ever feel like you cannot remember your purpose? I mean, maybe you know some of it, but you cannot quite find that big, glowing path some of those other joy-filled mothers claim to be following. At the end of the day, you have worked a full day, washed some laundry, dried some dishes, cooked some food for people living in your house, and swept a floor. Still, you are left thinking, That cant really be all I am meant to do, right?