Every Hour I Need You: 30 Meditations for Moms on the Character of God

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Katie Faris understands the challenges that moms are facing and graciously points them to their greatest hope and deepest comfort: God himself. These thirty rich reflections will help a mom in the trenches lift her eyes to her Savior, gaining a fresh perspective as she meditates on her Lord. The truths from this book will trickle down into a mom’s daily life and decisions, helping her navigate the joys and trials of motherhood.

Emily A. Jensen, coauthor, Gospel Mom and Risen Motherhood

"I’m so thankful for Katie Faris’s book. There is nothing I need more than a clearer, closer, better knowledge and love of God; and she has given moms a gift in these meditations on his attributes. Take a few precious moments each day, read Every Hour I Need You, and be blessed by who your God is: faithful, strong, patient, truthful, and so much more."

Kristen Wetherell, mom of three; author, Humble Moms; Help for the Hungry Soul; and the For the Bible Tells Me So board book series

"Motherhood can expose our weakness like none other. Every Hour I Need You by Katie Faris invites imperfect moms to rest in the God of perfect strength. Faris paints thirty glorious pictures of God’s character and calls tired, frustrated, impatient, fearful, and discouraged moms to behold the God of all comfort. Faris never fails to recall the person and work of Christ as she blends her personal stories with Scripture on God’s character. Every devotion inspired me to worship and pray to the God who gives rich mercy and gracious help in time of need."

Nana Dolce, author, You Are Redeemed and The Seed of the Woman

"Motherhood is not for the faint of heart, and Katie Faris knows what busy moms need most. It’s not a list of parenting techniques or even a day at the spa, as wonderful as that sounds. It’s knowing the God who knows us—trusting in his sovereignty, walking in his wisdom, and resting in his love for us and our children. In Every Hour I Need You, Faris takes our hand and leads us to the throne of grace, where we find the mercy and help we so deeply need."

Trish Donohue, Director of Women’s Ministry, Covenant Fellowship Church, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania; author, You Are Welcomed and Between Us Girls

Every Hour I Need You

Every Hour I Need You

30 Meditations for Moms on the Character of God

Katie Faris

Every Hour I Need You: 30 Meditations for Moms on the Character of God

© 2025 by Katie Faris

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: David Fassett

Cover image: Getty Images and Raw Pixel

First printing 2025

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-9899-9

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-9901-9

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-9900-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Faris, Katie, 1978- author.

Title: Every hour i need you : 30 meditations for moms on the character of God / Katie Faris.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, [2025] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2024035212 (print) | LCCN 2024035213 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433598999 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433599002 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433599019 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Mothers--Prayers and devotions. | Motherhood--Religious aspects--Christianity--Meditations.

Classification: LCC BV4847 .F37 2025 (print) | LCC BV4847 (ebook) | DDC 242/.6431--dc23/eng/20241125

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024035212

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024035213

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2025-02-19 11:34:36 AM

For my sisters

I need thee, oh! I need thee;

Every hour I need thee;

O bless me now, my Saviour!

I come to thee.

I Need Thee Every Hour

Annie S. Hawks and Robert Lowry

Contents

Introduction: A Mother’s Heart-Cry

A Prayer for the Reader

1  Self-Existent

2  Incomprehensible

3  Self-Sufficient

4  Sovereign

5  Purposeful

6  Wise

7  Powerful

8  Strong

9  All-Knowing

10  Everywhere

11  Near

12  Eternal

13  Unchangeable

14  Majestic

15  Holy

16  Just

17  Wrathful

18  Loving

19  Jealous

20  Good

21  Merciful

22  Gracious

23  Generous

24  Truthful

25  Gentle

26  Peace

27  Comforting

28  Patient

29  Wonderful

30  Faithful

Conclusion: Motherhood in Light of Eternity

Gratefully

Appendix: Attributes of God Chart

For Further Reading

Scripture Index

Introduction

A Mother’s Heart-Cry

Every hour I need you. Morning, noon, and night. Every minute and every second. Every breath. More than anything else in my life, motherhood has illuminated my need for God. You too?

In the mundane moments as well as the desperate times, whether life feels calm or crazy, in both the joys and sorrows of motherhood, we need the Lord. We need him when . . .

We can’t fall asleep because we’re worried about our children.

It takes longer to get out the door and things (or people) don’t move according to our schedules.

The same sin issue arises again and again.

There’s an unwanted diagnosis.

A child is slow to learn to read.

Our never-ending to-do lists become monotonous.

We’re pulled in multiple directions and feel overwhelmed.

Questions are many and the answers few.

Our spirits are willing, but the flesh is oh-so-tired.

So often, mom life exposes our weakness and insufficiency. It also reveals our children’s needs. We’ll never be able to answer all their questions, heal their deepest wounds, satisfy their greatest longings, or save their souls. Rather than trying to do these things on our own, in his word, God invites us to know him and lead our children to him, to discover what he means when he says, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9), and to ask him to work in us and through us to accomplish more than we ever could on our own—in our lives, as well as our children’s.

Motherhood Is Holy Ground

Talking with moms in my church, I hear them say things like,

Nothing showed me how much I need Jesus like motherhood.

I never thought I was an anxious or fearful person until I became a mom.

Motherhood has been the greatest means of sanctification in my life.

Why is this? For one thing, raising children is an earthy business. Along with lots of other realities, it’s labor and delivery or adoption paperwork, smelly diapers, and sticky fingers when children are young. It’s grass stains and tangled hair, body changes and emotional rollercoasters as they mature. There’s blood, sweat, and lots of tears along the way—for moms and kids alike. But earthiness serves a good purpose. It reminds us that we’re made of flesh and bone, dependent creatures made by our Creator for his glory (see Gen. 1:26–30). Even before Adam and Eve sinned in Eden, as humans, they were designed to depend on God for life; as their descendants, we depend on him for sustenance too. It’s when we resist this reality, when we insist on doing things our own way, that there are problems. However, a humble recognition of who God is and who we are (and aren’t) leads to our rescue from this false sense of self-sufficiency.

Motherhood isn’t just messy on the outside. Motherhood uncovers our messy hearts. Our unmet expectations and unfulfilled desires. How selfish and sinful we are. A multitude of relationships and circumstances can do this, but for moms, motherhood is often a primary one.

When God uses motherhood to open our eyes to see who we are—our finiteness, our dependence on the Lord, and our need for him; when it leads us to look up from the playroom floor and fix our gaze on him and who he is in all his sovereign splendor; when it’s the impetus for humble soul-searching and honest prayer; when it identifies our sin and leads to repentance; when God uses it to do his good work in our hearts, motherhood is a means of sanctification. It becomes holy ground when we see who we are, who God is, and cry out to him:

We’re weak, but you are strong. We need you, Lord.

We’re impatient, but you are patient. We