Moms
My 3 Strands for Moms
You. Your Child. God.
A lifetime of love, faith, and hope—from the first heartbeat to every season that follows.
Motherhood begins in many different ways.
Sometimes with joyful anticipation.
Sometimes with surprise.
Sometimes with uncertainty.
Sometimes after years of waiting.
But however the journey begins, one truth remains:
Your life matters. Your child’s life matters. Your relationship matters.
At My 3 Strands, we believe that motherhood is never simply a relationship between two people.
There is always a third strand:
You
Your Child
God
And through every season of motherhood, God gives you three spiritual gifts to strengthen that relationship:
Faith. Hope. Love.
The My 3 Strands materials for mothers describe this relationship very simply: God, your child, and you, held together through the spiritual strands of love, faith, and hope.
Motherhood Is Woven Over a Lifetime
Motherhood does not remain in one season.
It changes.
A child begins within you.
Then rests in your arms.
Then learns to walk away from you.
Then grows into someone with thoughts, dreams, choices, struggles, and a life of his or her own.
And still, you remain Mom.
Motherhood may mean caring for:
A baby.
A toddler.
A child beginning school.
A teenager finding independence.
A young adult building a life.
A grown son or daughter raising children of their own.
A child going through difficulty.
Or grandchildren who become new strands woven into your family.
The relationship changes.
But love continues.
Three Persons in the Relationship
A mother naturally thinks about the connection between herself and her child.
But My 3 Strands asks you to remember Someone else is present too.
God.
So the relationship is:
You + Your Child + God
When your child is little, you may carry much of the responsibility.
You feed.
Protect.
Teach.
Comfort.
Guide.
Pray.
As your child grows, your role changes.
You may have less control.
You may need more patience.
You may need to listen rather than direct.
You may need to trust God with things you cannot fix yourself.
But God remains the third strand through every stage.
The mother’s prayer resources describe this directly: the three persons are God, your child, and you, and prayer is used as a reminder that God’s loving presence remains with both parent and child.
Three Gifts for Every Mom
Faith. Hope. Love.
These gifts do not belong only to one stage of parenting.
You will need them throughout your life.
Faith
Believe in God. Believe in your child. Believe that you are still growing too.
Faith says:
God is present, even when I cannot see what He is doing.
As a mother, there will be many moments when you do not know what comes next.
Will my baby be healthy?
Will my child make good choices?
Will my teenager find his or her way?
Will my adult child return to faith?
Will my family come through this difficult season?
Faith does not mean you know every answer.
It means you keep entrusting your child to God.
You continue believing that God can work in your child’s life—and in yours.
Hope
Believe that today is not the end of the story.
Hope is one of the most important gifts a mother can carry.
When a child is struggling, hope says:
There is still another chapter.
When a relationship is strained:
Healing may still be possible.
When you worry about the future:
God is already there.
When you have made mistakes:
Love can still grow.
The My 3 Strands materials for mothers facing difficult family situations describe love, faith, and hope as the spiritual lifeline that remains available when children lose their way.
Love
Cherish the person God entrusted to you.
Motherly love takes many forms.
Holding a baby.
Packing lunch.
Reading stories.
Driving to school.
Waiting up.
Setting boundaries.
Listening without judgment.
Forgiving.
Encouraging.
Showing up.
Praying when your child does not know you are praying.
Letting go when it is time to let go.
And welcoming them home when they return.
Love says:
Your life matters to me.
The original My 3 Strands prayer for moms pictures the relationship as a bond woven by God, mother, and child, strengthened through love, faith, and hope.
Expecting a Baby?
Your Life Matters. Your Baby’s Life Matters. Your Story Matters.
Pregnancy is a unique season of motherhood because your relationship with your child has already begun before you ever see your baby’s face.
Your body is nourishing another human life.
Your baby is growing.
And you are growing into motherhood too.
For some women, pregnancy brings excitement.
For others, it may bring uncertainty, fear, financial concerns, relationship questions, or a future that suddenly looks different than expected.
My 3 Strands wants expecting mothers to remember:
You are not walking this journey alone.
The expecting-mother resource uses the umbilical cord as a powerful image of connection: your baby receives physical life through a cord containing three blood vessels, while love, faith, and hope become a spiritual lifeline connecting mother, child, and God.
God.
Your Baby.
You.
Those are your three strands.
Before Birth: A Lifeline of Three Strands
Before a child is born, life flows through a remarkable physical connection.
The My 3 Strands materials point to the umbilical cord—typically containing two arteries and one vein—as a physical lifeline connecting mother and child during pregnancy.
That image becomes a symbol for something even larger.
The physical cord is eventually cut.
But the relationship continues.
And God’s presence continues.
Throughout life, mother and child remain connected through the spiritual gifts of:
Faith
Hope
Love
The physical connection changes.
The spiritual relationship keeps growing.
Raising Young Children
Every ordinary day is part of the tapestry.
When children are small, motherhood can feel filled with repetitive moments.
Meals.
Baths.
Laundry.
School runs.
Questions.
Bedtime.
Illness.
Tears.
Laughter.
Mess.
A thousand little needs.
It is easy to think the important moments are the big ones.
But much of a child’s sense of love is formed in ordinary moments.
The hand held crossing the street.
The story read one more time.
The encouragement after disappointment.
The prayer whispered at bedtime.
The words:
“I love you.”
“I’m proud of you.”
“You matter.”
These small strands become part of something much larger.
Mothering Teenagers
Love them while they discover who they are.
The teenage years can stretch the relationship between mother and child.
Your child begins forming stronger opinions.
Wanting independence.
Testing limits.
Making choices you may not always understand.
Your role changes.
You cannot control every decision.
But you can remain present.
Faith says:
I trust God is still working.
Hope says:
This season will not last forever.
Love says:
Even when we disagree, you still belong in my heart.
Your task may move from directing every step to becoming a steady strand your child knows is still there.
Mothering Adult Children
Your role changes. Your love does not.
Eventually, children grow up.
They make their own decisions.
Build careers.
Choose relationships.
Move away.
Create homes.
Perhaps become parents themselves.
Motherhood at this stage often requires a different kind of love.
Less managing.
More respecting.
Less directing.
More listening.
Less solving.
More praying.
You may have to learn how to love an adult child without trying to control his or her life.
That can be difficult.
But it can also open a new kind of friendship.
Your child is no longer little.
But your three strands remain:
You. Your Child. God.
When Your Child Is Struggling
Tangled does not mean lost.
Some of the hardest moments of motherhood come when a child is in trouble.
Addiction.
Broken relationships.
Financial crisis.
Choices you fear will cause harm.
Loss of faith.
Estrangement.
Legal trouble.
Mental or emotional struggles.
A mother may ask:
Where did I go wrong?
What can I do?
Will my child come back?
My 3 Strands does not promise simple answers.
But it offers a spiritual posture:
Stay connected through faith, hope, and love.
Your materials for mothers in troubled times encourage mothers to remember God’s presence, pray the names God, your child, and you, and use love, faith, and hope as a spiritual lifeline through difficult seasons.
Sometimes love helps.
Sometimes love waits.
Sometimes love sets boundaries.
Sometimes love says no.
Sometimes love keeps the door open.
Sometimes love simply keeps praying.
Becoming a Grandmother
The tapestry grows another generation.
There is something beautiful about watching your child become a parent.
Now the tapestry stretches farther.
You see new threads.
New faces.
New relationships.
New possibilities.
As a grandmother, your role may be different, but it can be deeply important.
You may offer:
Wisdom.
Stories.
Traditions.
Prayer.
Encouragement.
Time.
Patience.
A listening ear.
A place of safety.
And perhaps one of the greatest gifts of all:
A reminder that this child belongs to a story larger than one generation.
The three-strand relationship can now be seen again:
You
Your Grandchild
God
And another strand is woven into the family tapestry.
Grandmothers Carry the Story
A grandmother often holds memories younger generations do not yet understand.
You remember who came before.
The joys.
The sacrifices.
The difficult years.
The prayers that were answered.
The stories children have heard many times—and someday may treasure more than they do now.
You can help younger generations see that family life is not made only from perfect moments.
It is woven from perseverance.
Forgiveness.
Faithfulness.
Laughter.
Mistakes.
Second chances.
And love that keeps showing up.
You are part of His Tapestry of Grace.
And through you, another generation can discover where some of its threads began.
Motherhood Is Not About Perfection
No mother does everything perfectly.
You may look back and wish you had handled something differently.
You may remember words you would take back.
Moments you missed.
Choices you regret.
Things you did not know then that you know now.
Your tapestry may include knots.
Every family does.
But a knot is not the whole tapestry.
God can continue weaving through imperfect people.
Love can repair.
Faith can begin again.
Hope can imagine something new.
Your story is still being woven.
Start With Two Minutes a Day
My 3 Strands offers a simple prayer practice for moms.
In the morning, pause.
Remember the three persons:
God.
My Child.
Me.
Pray for your child.
Ask God to strengthen your faith, hope, and love.
Then do the same again before bed.
The mother’s prayer resource encourages exactly this practice—writing the child’s name on the card, naming God, your child, and you, and using a brief morning and evening prayer as a reminder of God’s continuing presence in family life.
Two minutes is only a beginning.
But beginnings matter.
Pray Your Three Strands
The original My 3 Strands prayer for mothers expresses the heart of this relationship:
A child and mother,
with God’s hands,
knit a union
of 3 Strands.Three cords of love,
faith and hope
weave a tighter
bond than rope.One greater love,
a braid of three,
formed by God,
my child and me.
That prayer does not belong only to mothers of young children.
The words can remain meaningful as your child grows.
Because your child may become an adult.
You may become a grandmother.
Life may change completely.
But you can still pray:
God.
My Child.
Me.
Your Family Is Part of His Tapestry of Grace
Think of every stage of motherhood as another section of a tapestry.
Pregnancy.
Birth.
First steps.
School days.
Teen years.
Graduation.
Leaving home.
Marriage.
Grandchildren.
Ordinary phone calls.
Family gatherings.
Times of closeness.
Times of distance.
Joy.
Worry.
Loss.
Reconciliation.
You see each piece as it happens.
God sees how the threads connect.
Some threads shimmer brightly.
Some are darkened by tears.
Some become tangled.
Some stretch farther than you expected.
But the weaving continues.
You may see only the strand you are holding today.
God sees the larger pattern.
For Every Season of Motherhood
Expecting Mothers
You + Your Baby + God
Treasure the life growing within you and remember that you and your child are held in God’s love.
New Moms
You + Your Baby + God
Begin weaving love, faith, and hope into the first days of your child’s life.
Moms of Young Children
You + Your Child + God
Find God’s presence in the ordinary moments that shape a childhood.
Moms of Teens
You + Your Teen + God
Stay connected while your child grows toward independence.
Moms of Adult Children
You + Your Adult Child + God
Let your relationship grow into a new season of respect, friendship, and prayer.
Moms in Difficult Seasons
You + Your Child + God
Hold onto faith, hope, and love when your child’s path becomes difficult.
Grandmothers
You + Your Grandchild + God
Help weave faith, memories, love, and family story into another generation.
Treasure the Relationship Today
Tell your child you love them.
Call the grown child you have been thinking about.
Listen longer.
Judge less quickly.
Pray before reacting.
Celebrate what is good.
Encourage what is growing.
Forgive when possible.
Ask forgiveness when needed.
Make memories with your grandchildren.
Tell the family stories.
Speak words of faith.
Hold onto hope.
And love generously.
Because relationships do not become precious someday.
They are precious now.
My 3 Strands for Moms
You. Your Child. God.
Faith. Hope. Love.
From the first heartbeat through every generation.
For Expecting Moms →
For Moms With Young Children →
For Moms of Teens →
For Moms of Adult Children →
For Moms in Difficult Times →
For Grandmothers →
My 3 Strands Prayer for Moms →