Maggie Combs - Motherhood Without All the Rules: Trading Stressful Standards for Gospel Truths

Maggie Combs has thrown a lifeline to moms everywhere. With wisdom and vulnerability, she tackles some of the most popular but unhelpful clichs offered to moms todayand shows, instead, how to trade those stressful standards for the truth, help, and freedom of the gospel. Motherhood Without All the Rules will encourage you, challenge you, help you, remind you, instruct you, and, most of all, point you to Jesus.

COURTNEY DOCTOR | Coordinator of Womens Initiatives, The Gospel Coalition; author of From Garden to Glory: A Bible Study on the Bibles Story and Steadfast: A Devotional Bible Study on the Book of James

Maggie has a gift for relieving unnecessary burdens in motherhood by applying the truth of the gospel. Were grateful for the way she consistently points moms to Christ.

EMILY JENSEN AND LAURA WIFLER | Cofounders of the Risen Motherhood ministry and coauthors of Risen Motherhood: Gospel Hope for Everyday Moments

If you are ready to find freedom from unhelpful expectations and replace them with hope-filled truth, then Motherhood Without All the Rules is the book you have been looking for. Filled with practical takeaways and transformational ideas, it is sure to gain a place at the top of your favorite books list.

MANDY ARIOTO | President and CEO, MOPS International

I wish Id had Motherhood Without All the Rules when I first began my mothering journey. In it, Maggie Combs shows mothers how to walk in the grace of the gospel while prayerfully relying on the Holy Spirit. This book is a gift to mamas in any stage.

HUNTER BELESS | Host of the Journeywomen podcast

If theres one thing that can make a persons mind start to sizzle like an overheated engine, its the heaping pile of unspoken rules the world offers on motherhood. What a relief this book was to my sizzling, overheated mind! Maggies clear, engaging, and precise writing has a way of cutting through the most frenetic noise. I read this book during one of my most stressful seasons of motherhood, and though the words of most other books seemed to wiggle off the page, Maggies words sang through clear as a bell. Even the most frazzled readers will come away feeling as if theyve engaged in meaningful, freeing conversation with a friend while also suspecting theyve been treated with sharp gospel truths by a doctor with an impeccable bedside manner. Maggie, thank you.

CAROLINE SAUNDERS | LifeWay author

As mothers, we so easily lose track of the simple gospel meant to fuel and sustain us. Thats why Im grateful for this resource! Maggie addresses the cultural messages in which we swim these days, pulling down false narratives and erecting beautiful God-oriented truths in their place. Read and let your heart be settled.

CHRISTINE HOOVER | Author of With All Your Heart and Messy Beautiful Friendship

Tired of spinning your wheels? In Motherhood Without all the Rules, Maggie Combs helps moms unhitch from burdensome motherhood maxims and mantras and paves the way forward with grace-fueled obedience. With the help of Maggies disarming personal anecdotes, poignant observations, powerful biblical teaching, and practical action steps, youll learn how to recognize and let go of (sometimes sneaky or subconscious) stressful standards and embrace the freedom and joy Christ offers to you in motherhood.

ABBEY WEDGEWORTH | Author of Held: 31 Biblical Reflections on Gods Comfort and Care in the Sorrow of Miscarriage

Maggie invites moms to find freedom in the gospel from the overwhelming standards that the world sets up for motherhood. She offers words filled with gospel hope as well as practical tips for growing in godliness. Like a close friend, Maggie reminds moms that God is at work in them through this season of motherhood and exhorts them to grow in intimacy with God every step of their motherhood journey.

KRISTIN SCHMUCKER | Founder and CEO of The Daily Grace Co.

With the skill and humility that come only by experience, Maggie walks her readers through the experiences of life, exposing the lies we believe and replacing them with the good news of Jesus Christ. Those weighed down by the stress of worldly standards will find true and refreshing hope in these pages.

ERIC SCHUMACHER | Pastor, songwriter with Hymnicity, and coauthor of Worthy: Celebrating the Value of Women

Many of us moms dont realize how were walking around, holding our breaths, tense under the weight of societys unwritten rules of motherhood. With gospel clarity, Maggie removes the burden brick by brick in Motherhood Without All the Rules. She slices through the appearance of wisdom the world offers moms with honesty, grace, and courage, bringing sighs of relief as she replaces the blinding burden with a paved path for our feet and equipping for the journey.

LAUREN WEIR | Biblical counselor and co-owner of Words Worth Noting

Reading this book has been like a warm conversation with a graceful friend who is speaking gospel truth directly to my wandering and forgetful heart. Mothering by the worlds rules will stress and exhaust you, but embracing the truth of the gospel will lift your burden and make you whole in Christ. Open this book and take Maggies hands as she invites you to make that trade.

BETSEY GOMEZ | Creative Director for the Spanish Outreach (ANC); leader of initiatives for young women in Spanish, Joven Verdadera podcast and blog

In Motherhood Without All the Rules, Maggie offers moms tangible gospel hope through sharing her experiences and struggles in motherhood and pointing moms to Jesus. She reminds us that the pressure is off to be the perfect mama because we have the perfect heavenly Father guiding us and providing for us. Instead of living for the kingdom of ourselves, where we are the queens, Maggie offers us another kingdom to live forthe kingdom of God, ruled by our good and gracious King. This book is for all moms, and I guarantee, after reading these pages, youll be refreshed and reminded of Gods great grace and the freedom He freely gives.

GRETCHEN SAFFLES | Founder of Well-Watered Women

2020 by MAGGIE COMBS

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

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman CSB, and HCSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken 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.