Weak and Loved: Books

There is a time when all looks to be lost. There is life silenced, a sleep that no one can disturb. There is a time for cold, quiet, and waiting. My friend buried her father this year. My father buried his sister. These days with little sun come relentlessly, and the cold gets into our bones.

But that time is a season, a mere season. Soon our Lord will speak, and that season will end.

"And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people." (Ezekiel 37:13)

We cannot rouse the trees, nor can we rouse ourselves or our loved ones from the sleep of death. But like the trees, we can receive life when God pours it out on us. We receive it today, we who are living; and even after our mouths are silenced for a time, He will cause us to receive it again.

Join me, here between seasons, as we wait in hope for the coming of Jesus.

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paperback and kindle versions available!

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A collection of the most popular devotional articles by Emily Cook

including discussion questions and Bible study helps.

Permission granted to reproduce the contents of this book for any non-profit use

with due credit given to the author.

Contact the author with questions.

It is not the quantity of children, but it is the blessed weight of any number of children, that makes us what we are: mothers. We find that lost mitten, practice phonics in the car, and come up with creative ways to discipline. We hide in the shower, we collapse when the kids go to bed, and we forget to take our vitamins even though we give them to the kids. We have bad days, when we raise our voices and we cringe when we hear the word “mommy.” We have good days, when our hands willingly bake cookies and shape souls.

Our jobs are never done, and what did get done could have done better. Our hearts are too small, our bodies are too tired, to love these little people as they deserve to be loved.

The grace of God in Christ allows us to be honest about our vocation; to look to Him for what we lack, to take refuge under his grace when we feel the weight of our sin.

Mothers, let us draw strength from each other, and look to Jesus for mercy, hope, and wisdom for this impossible, wonderful vocation of motherhood.

Jesus, Good Shepherd,

Tend to us.

All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to

Project 24
a mercy project for orphans in Kenya

Click here to learn more about Project 24

Weak and Loved: A Mother-Daughter Love Story by Emily Cook
Now available on Amazon.com

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

In October 2008, shortly after her fourth birthday, my daughter Aggie was diagnosed with epilepsy. The year that followed was one of the most difficult years of our lives.

Aggie's early seizures were short and mild. At first, we thought she might be just daydreaming. As the months passed and medicine after medicine failed, her seizures kept getting more dramatic and more dangerous.

Seizures are like time-thieves.

They robbed her Christmas moments.

They tipped her off a diving board

They pushed her off a bunk bed.

They sapped her energy.

They stole her breath.

They shattered my heart.

As I struggled through those awful days of testing and waiting and fear, my Aunt encouraged me with the following words:

“People say be strong. I say be weak and be loved.”

Loved.

I was loved. God loved and carried me (and the whole family) through this trial. He showed me, and continues to show me, that He is a God who cares for the poor and needy.

Even when I am weak, He loves.

"Weak and Loved" has become my heart song.

My story.

Her story.

Our story.

Aggie and Curious George getting an EEG

"Emily, unlike any other Christian mom-author I've ever read, finds comfort in precise places: her daughter's baptism, her own baptism, the real promises of God rather than fake general ones people made up, salvation in Christ even if there is no happy ending in this life. There is no blather about God's perfect plan or the blessings of watching one's child suffer a life-threatening illness (?!). There is only the cross that breaks us, sick baby or not, and the cross that saves us, for we are all sick babies" Rebekah at CSPP (Read the full book review)

This story includes no clichés or easy answers, and it is not an attempt to answer complicated questions of human suffering. Rather, it is a demonstration of God's faithfulness toward one sick child and her imperfect mother: both weak, but both loved. Aggie had a brain tumor that disrupted her young life; her mother’s sin and selfishness disrupted her best attempts to care for her. Written from the perspective of a mother who suffers with her child, Weak and Loved allows readers to experience the struggles of faith and encouragement of God. Readers will enter the difficult, earthy, and sometimes humorous world of a sick child, and be pleased to find the beauty of God's love in Christ even there.

“From my experience, stories of Christians enduring trials often present the events as a semi-documentary, with only glimpses of what goes on inside the person. The circumstances themselves take on a life of their own and become central. Not so in Weak and Loved; Emily bares her soul before God, sharing fear, doubt, even sin. And now she shares it with her readers. The inner conflict, so painfully exposed on each page, yields to this confession: ‘Death and sickness harassed Aggie while sin, doubt, and despair harassed me.’

To Aggie, my nap buddy

"Weak and Loved is a remarkable story of clarity about the inner turmoil of a parent who questions what is happening, herself, and even God. By God’s faithful persistence in working with her in the turmoil, not removing her from it, Emily learns about God’s love for her daughter, her husband, her other children, and ultimately God’s love for her."

Rev. Richard Shields

President, American Lutheran Theological Seminary
(read the full book review here)