17 Beautiful Proverbs For Moms To Encourage And Inspire

These are my favorite proverbs for moms that give wisdom, encouragement, and hope to help me truly enjoy every part of motherhood.

The blessing of Proverbs for moms

After waiting longer than I wanted to get married (he’s worth the wait!) and going through years of infertility, it’s been a great joy to be a mom for the past 6 years.

But with 4 kids still in their littlest years, I’m tired. Mom life is exhausting!

As moms, we need encouragement and inspiration to make it through the long days – especially if we’re going to enjoy these days the way we want to.

And there is no greater encouragement than the truth of the Lord. God’s Word is our wisdom and our hope.

Where can a Christian mom find energy for the chaotic days? How can we get wisdom for the trials of parenting?

Where do our priorities come from when there are more things to do than there are hours in a day?

We turn to the Bible.

As we open God’s Word, we find gospel hope. And one of the simplest, quickest places to find that hope and inspiration is in the Bible book of Proverbs.

[This post may contain affiliate links. If a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.]

Why I love Proverbs as a Christian mom

For the past few years, I’ve been reading the Proverbs daily. (At least… that’s the goal.) It’s been eye-opening, convicting, and incredibly encouraging.

The Proverbs are helpful for every part of life – and that definitely includes motherhood. Plus, as a bonus for us busy moms, most of the book of Proverbs is quick nuggets of wisdom and encouragement.

Proverbs gives us wisdom for how to raise our children, how to stand firm in our faith, and how to pursue the right things when we are surrounded by the world.

So today, I want to share my reflections on a few of my favorite proverbs for moms. They aren’t the only ones, but they are beautiful, encouraging… and might be a bit surprising for you!

Beautiful and encouraging Proverbs for moms

As we go deeper with the Lord, we find greater peace, hope, and joy. Even on the hard days. Even during the stressful seasons.

Do you have your own regular Bible time? If not, these proverbs will be a great jumping off point – and you can grab my FREE Holy Habits 45-Day Bible and Prayer guide to start building this rhythm into your own life.

Here are 17 of my favorite proverbs for moms, and my own thoughts and encouragements for them as a family therapist, pastor’s wife, and mom of 4 little ones!

(1) Proverbs 1:8-9 “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.”

Mom life is all about teaching, encouraging, and building up our children. What a gift it is to open the Bible and see affirmation of this goal!

It can feel draining to always be serving and helping our kids. They don’t always appear thankful for our hard effort.

But God reminds us here that the effort we put into teaching and training our children is a great blessing to our kids. It is worth our energy and focus. The Lord encourages our children to listen to us, and encourages us to stay consistent with our teaching and love.

(2) Proverbs 14:4 “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.”

Every mom can get frustrated by the state of her home… the clutter, the mess, the clean-ups, the organizing. There will always be chores to do and bills to pay, especially when we have kids still in the home.

But my friend, this is where the harvest comes from. Our children not only bring blessing and joy into our homes, but the Lord has good works for them to do. The harvest might feel slow in coming sometimes. But without the “oxen” who make the mess, the harvest is impossible.

Yes, an empty manger is cleaner. A house without children is much easier to keep under control. But where is the harvest? The joy? It’s worth the mess and chaos, and this proverb reminds us of this important truth.

(3) Proverbs 10:25 “When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.”

Every Christian family will go through bad storms. They might be literal or figurative – many families go through relational, financial, and emotional storms.

And this proverb encourages us that we do not go through the storms alone. No, we stand firm because we are close with the Lord.

As Christians, we have Jesus’ righteousness covering us. Because of that, we never need to fear these storms. They will come, they will pass, and we will stand firm because of the strength and faithfulness of our God and Savior.

(4) Proverbs 10:19 “Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.”

A mom’s words shape the atmosphere of her home. And when our emotions start to get the best of us, it’s tempting to multiply our words… to vent, take control, or convince someone of our way.

But that isn’t usually helpful.

So what an encouragement this proverb is for moms! It reminds us of the value in trusting God instead of trying to handle problems ourselves.

As we live out this proverb, we will find ourselves feeling an emotion and then pausing, thinking, and responding more calmly. The Holy Spirit can guide us when we move at the Lord’s pace instead of by our own reactions.

(5) Proverbs 12:28 “In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality."

This is what we want for our kids: righteousness, a good life, and eternal life with God our Father and our Lord Jesus!

But it’s what we want for ourselves too. When we’re tempted to take shortcuts through motherhood or we’re feeling burned out in our responsibilities and relationships, this Bible verse is so helpful.

As moms, we must choose the path of righteousness. This is our only option if we want a happy, healthy, and holy family life! It might feel like the hard choice sometimes to follow God’s plans, so let this proverb motivate you to stay on the narrow path.

GO DEEPER: Strengthen your spiritual identity with the Finding Your Identity In Christ devotional workbook.

(6) Proverbs 13:24 “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.”

Discipline isn’t fun. It’s hard, and it can feel like we’re hurting our relationship with our child.

But God’s Word is clear that healthy, careful, intentional discipline is part of how we love our children well.

The word “careful” is an important part of making this proverb so beautiful and encouraging for Christian moms. It reminds me to focus on being intentional with my kids. I can stay more calm if I have a plan, I’m praying about the problem, and I’m investing in my bond with my child all the time.

(7) Proverbs 14:1 “The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.”

This is probably my favorite proverb for moms! While it’s tempting to focus on the foolish things that I do in my family (and yes, I need to confess and repent!) this beautiful proverb reminds me to be intentional in how I approach our Christian family life.

We all want a godly, joyful home. And it does take wisdom to get there!

Wisdom helps us approach conflict with patience, stay humble with our children, prioritize intimacy with our spouse, and leads us back to the Bible again and again for the Lord’s help. There’s so much more! I wrote a whole blogpost just about this verse 🙂

(8) Proverbs 16:3 “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.”

Moms tend to have a lot of to-do lists. There is always something going on! We can easily feel like we don’t have enough time to get it all done.

But really, we have exactly the right amount of time God has planned for us – and if we commit our plans to him, we can rest in the fact that we are on the right track. He will help us.

This proverb reminds us to pray about everything going on in our family life. That to-do list? Pray over it. Your busy schedule? Pray over it. Hold your tasks and obligations loosely, so you can make changes with a good attitude. The plans God has for you and your family are ultimately the best, so seek his wisdom every day.

(9) Proverbs 16:24 “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

Oh how I want this proverb to describe the words I use in my home! How we speak to our husbands, children, and everyone entering our homes will shape what those relationships look like.

Are our words gracious? Sweet? Healing? Do our words offer the kindness and goodness that will strengthen our relationships?

This is a beautiful proverb to motivate us to be careful about our tongues and to focus on positive, encouraging, helpful words that build everyone up.

(10) Proverbs 17:1 “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.”

Some proverbs feel very obvious… and this is one of them. Of course we would prefer a house of peace and quiet rather than a house filled with strife!

But this is such a helpful reminder that we are wise to focus on the attitude and atmosphere of our homes as a higher priority than cooking the best meal or keeping the cleanest house.

Keeping a lovely home can be part of loving your family well. But it will never be more important than investing in the relationships with your family. Managing conflict well, forgiving one another, and leaning into quality time together will help our families bond well, no matter what the home or meal looks like.

(11) Proverbs 17:6 “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.”

When our kids are little, it’s hard to look ahead to our future as moms of adults, being friends with our grown children, and enjoying grandparenting. But Lord willing, this is the future we will walk into!

The legacy of family life can be a great encouragement to us today. I want my children to enjoy our relationship when they are older, and to feel proud of who I am and how they remember our home life.

This proverb encourages me as a mom to keep a long-view in mind. It helps me find perspective on the overwhelming or challenging days of motherhood today.

(12) Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Again and again, the book of Proverbs brings us back to the power of our words. A wise mom will take this proverb to heart and will be intentional about how she uses words in her home. Words have the power to encourage, motivate, comfort, and strengthen. They also have the power to hurt, cut, or discourage.

The words we speak to our children especially will echo in their minds for their entire lives. Similarly, words will shape the quality of our marriages. Words can bring great joy and encouragement, or they can wound us and distance us from one another.

I know which fruit I want for my family – and with the Holy Spirit’s help, I can bite my tongue, speak words of blessing, and use my words to bring life and hope to my family.

(13) Proverbs 20:5 “The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.”

I love this proverb as a mom. This is how I want to interact with my children and husband!

With a deep, close, intimate relationship, we can draw out the deeper things inside each other. It takes a close relationship of trust, humility, gentleness, and kindness to share the deeper parts of our hearts.

How do we create this type of relationship? It takes insight – which I think is similar to saying that it takes wisdom. And wisdom comes from the Lord. As we ask questions to each other, manage conflict in our family life, handle discipline, or just generally talk to one another, we need to pray for the Lord to help us have wisdom and insight!

(14) Proverbs 23:15-16 “My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad indeed; my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.”

When I’m tired and busy, I really value Bible verses that I can simply turn into prayers for myself and my family. And this beautiful proverb for moms is a little prayer we can lift up on our toughest days.

This is what we long for as moms. If our children’s hearts are wise, our hearts are glad. We rejoice when our children speak what is right. When they know truth, understand truth, and live by truth. Please, Jesus!

(15) Proverbs 22:6 “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”

As our children get older and gain independence, we know they will make some good decisions and some bad. This can be a fearful thing as a mom. And while it’s important that we not take this proverb as a promise of our children’s faithfulness and right living, it can be a great encouragement to us that this proverbs speaks to the natural way of life.

When we parent intentionally, we put our children on a path. There is no magic wand or surefire parenting plan that will get the results we want. But habits run deep, especially when we are consistent in showing our children the value of “the way they should go.”

Let’s go that way ourselves, and rest in the hope we have in Christ – the One who sets each of us on the narrow path toward heaven.

(16) Proverbs 31:25-29 “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come…”

Sometimes, we find the Proverbs 31 woman intimidating. But I hope that instead, we can be encouraged and motivated! These Bible verses do not present us with a check-list. I think it gives us a picture to aim for.

It is the Lord Himself who clothes us with strength and dignity. We speak with wisdom because the Spirit makes us patient, gentle, loving, and wise (verse 26). As moms, we care for our households because of the impact that has on the people we love (verse 27).

Certainly, we all hope that our children will call us blessed and that our husbands will praise us (verse 28). But these verses in Proverbs 31 encourage us not because we are praised by our family but because it is a picture of God’s faithfulness to us.

(17) Proverbs 27:19 “As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.”

When we are living in line with our values and priorities, we find a lot more peace and purpose in our days. We want our life to reflect our heart – because Jesus is filling and changing our hearts! He makes us more patient, more kind, more loving. This will shape our marriages, our motherhood, and our family life.

Of course, water does not reflect the face perfectly. It’s not solid glass like a mirror, but is always slightly rippling. Our lives too will never perfectly reflect our hearts. We will get too busy, burned out, or distracted from what truly matters to us.

But, friend, the Lord is gracious. He will continue his Spirit’s work in our hearts, and our lives will more and more reflect God’s love in us. What an encouragement from this proverb!

Moms need biblical encouragement every day (and not just from the Proverbs)

Life can overwhelm us. Even at home in our family life, we can get discouraged, distracted, and start to feel like we’re drowning in everything we’re trying to balance.

While it may be tempting and quick to turn to social media or television for encouragement, this is rarely as successful as we hope. It’s easy, but not truly meaningful, and certainly not long-lasting.

The truest and best encouragement that we need as Christian moms is the truth of God’s Word. Scripture never changes. The Lord is our refuge and shield. He works all things for our good, even when we feel overwhelmed by it all.

If you’d like to grow your own Bible reading habit, to feel more confident coming to the Bible and talking to the Lord in prayer, I hope you’ll try my FREE Holy Habits 45-Day Bible and Prayer Challenge. It’s a simple guide to get you in the Bible, thinking and reflecting on God’s Word, and taking your most important concerns before Him in prayer.

Let's connect!

JOIN MY EMAIL LIST for gospel encouragement and first-to-know updates.
JOIN THE FAITH FIVER CLUB and support this ministry on Patreon. Enjoy behind-the-scenes perks and access to my private podcast.
JOIN ME ON PINTEREST and on Facebook for all the latest posts.

And as they say... sharing is caring!

Deepen your spiritual identity as a mom:

Disclaimers: I am a licensed therapist but my podcast, blog, and resources are not professional or personal advice. I am an affiliate for many of the resources that I link to, and may earn a small commission if you purchase through my link. Read my full disclaimer here.