Relationship Reset: Motherhood Marathon
Luke 2 and Selected Scriptures
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Review:
Relationships shape every part of our lives — at home, at work, in dating, in marriage, and across generations. But without intentionality, even the most important relationships can drift from God’s design. Relationship Reset is a practical and biblical journey toward realignment — learning how to build healthier marriages, wiser dating lives, stronger families, better workplace connections, and more redemptive conflict. From motherhood and fatherhood to screens and singleness, this series challenges us to stop drifting and start building. Because when our relationships align with God’s design, they don’t just function — they flourish. This week, we looked at the marathon that is Motherhood…
The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…
o What did you learn about God?
o What did you learn about people?
o What did you learn about yourself?
o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?
Reflection:
Personal Experience & Discussion:
Let’s talk about being a MOM! Even if you’re not a Mom, you have one, so lets break out into pairs and talk about what we most admire about our Moms. Is it the perseverance, grace, resilience, artistic sense, walk of faith…? DISCUSS: What do you admire and how has it made a difference in your own life?
(NOTE: if someone grew up in a foster system or had a terrible relationship with their Mom with absolutely no redemptive qualities, encourage them to just share one thing they would aspire to choose a Mom they admire from Scripture— Mary (mother of Jesus), Sarah (mother of Isaac), Hannah (mother of Samuel), Eve ("mother of all living"), and Jochebed (mother of Moses)).
Reflective Discussion (Remember to look at the context of the verses as you are reading!):
Read Luke 1:26-38. Let’s do a deep dive on Mary as a mother here.
Luke 1:29: Mary’s first response was fear. DISCUSS: What are the scary things about being chosen for something God has in mind to do? How would you handle that fear?
V34: Mary’s response was confusion of how, not doubt of ‘if’. DISCUSS: When we are confused by something God leads us to do, what makes the difference between “God, I’m not sure how that would happen” and “God I doubt You can do that”?
V38: Mary’s landing spot was surrender. DISCUSS: Since surrender is the greatest act of human will, what do you see in the angel’s message and Mary’s character that led her to surrender?
Read Luke 1:44-55. DISCUSS: Who did Mary know God to be,?
Read Luke 2:6-7: A stable is probably NOT where Mary would have envisioned this Child being born! DISCUSS: When following God’s will leads us to an unexpected mess, how does our faith affect our response? (2 Cor 12:9-10, Rom 8:28, John 16:33)
Protection and Release:
Divide into 2 discussion groups. Discuss for 10-15 mins, keep notes and then come back to report to the whole group:
GROUP 1: Read Matt 2:10-15. Mary struggled to protect Jesus; that is what faithfulness looked like in Matt 2. DISCUSS: If you had been walking with her in that moment, what might you have said to encourage her, what Scriptures might you have pointed to?
GROUP 2: Read Luke 2:43-50: Mary is challenged to release Jesus to the work God has called Him to, acknowledging that God is His Father. DISCUSS: If you had been walking with her in that moment, what might you have said to encourage her, what Scriptures might you have pointed to?
It is painful to hold on to hope. It leaves us vulnerable, longing, in ‘heart pain’. Mary’s hope is seen throughout the story of Jesus life, and powerfully in her participation in Act 1:14 where we find her in the upper room praying! DISCUSS: How does Scripture help us find godly hope in our walk of faith? (Rom 8:22-25, 2 Cor 4:11, 15-18, Heb 12:1-3, 1 Peter 1:3-7)
Application:
Mothers care GREATLY for their children. Are there areas in our lives where we care so deeply that we feel unable to give thoe concerns to the Lord, entrusting those absolutely vital facets of our lives to Him? Let’s commit to finding a time and place to bring that up in prayer to God this week.
Prayer:
Spend some time thanking God for the gift of mothers and motherhood as He intended it. Pray for hte mothers in the group for God’s sustaining grace and the comfort of His presence in the journey.
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