Wondering how to stay encouraged when winter feels like it comes back? A cozy, faith-centered reflection for moms and homemakers.
Have you ever felt like winter was leaving… and then somehow it came back again?
Just last week, it felt like we were stepping into spring. The snow was melting, the air felt softer, and I could almost hear the birds coming back in the mornings. It felt like a turning point.
And then… Minnesota reminded us where we live.
We woke up to 6 inches of fresh snow covering the homestead—thick, heavy, the kind that bends branches and quiets everything. Some areas in Minnesota got over twenty inches. The wind picked up, temperatures dropped back into the negatives, and suddenly it felt like we were right back in the middle of winter again.
It’s actually been so cold that we had to move our baby chickens inside the house. I’ve done this a couple of times before, and it’s always such a mess because the only decent place for them is our downstairs bathroom. I promised myself the last time I had baby chicks in the house that I would never do it again. Our basement ends up smelling like a barn. Unfortunately, with the Minnesota weather, we really had no choice.
Minnesota offers the kind of cold that seeps in deep. The kind that makes everything feel a little heavier.
And I’ve just been sitting with that this week… how quickly it can all shift.
Not just outside—but in my heart too.
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How to Stay Encouraged – Expectations vs. Reality
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22–23 (ESV)
I think part of what makes weeks like this feel heavier is the expectation.
Because just a few days ago, it felt like we were moving forward. Like we were stepping into something lighter. I had it in my mind that winter was ending, that things were shifting. And then it wasn’t. And I’ve noticed this not just with the weather… but in motherhood, in my faith, in my own heart.
Sometimes discouragement comes back when you thought you were past it. Sometimes the heaviness returns when you thought you had worked through it. And it can feel frustrating… like, “Why am I here again?” Unfortunately, progress isn’t always a straight line.
Sometimes it looks like moving forward… and then circling back… and then moving forward again.
And maybe that doesn’t mean we’re failing.
Maybe it just means we’re human.
Setting Ourselves Up for Success
Sometimes, I think we have to be really intentional about where we place our focus.
Because it’s so easy right now to get pulled into everything happening around us—the noise, the headlines, the heaviness of the world, even just the dreariness of the weather.
And the truth is… we can’t control any of that. We can’t control the weather. We can’t control the state of the world.
But we can tend to our homes. We can care for the people God has entrusted to us. We can create warmth—even when everything outside feels cold.
I’m reminding myself of that today as I move around my kitchen, as I wipe the counters, as I stir something warm on the stove. These small, ordinary things—they matter more than they seem. They’re not just tasks to get through. There are ways of loving the people right in front of me. Ways of creating a place of peace in the middle of a world that can feel anything but peaceful.
And I think about this verse:
“She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.” — Proverbs 31:27 (ESV)
There’s something so steady about that. Not rushed, not overwhelmed—just faithfully tending. Showing up. Caring for what God has placed in her hands.
I may not be able to change what’s happening outside my door. I may not be able to fix the heaviness in the world or even in my own heart some days. But I can light a candle. I can bake something warm. I can gather my children close and create an atmosphere that feels safe and gentle and rooted in love.
And maybe that’s not small after all.
Healthy Monster Cookies
So today, I’m in the kitchen making my sourdough monster cookies. This is actually the fifth time I’ve made them this week because the kids keep flying through them. Every time I make a batch, they’re gone almost as quickly as they cool.
Yesterday, I made a batch and brought them to work. As a church staff, we’re reading the book The Biblio Diet by Jordan Rubin and Dr. Josh Axe, and these cookies fit very well within the diet’s parameters. I decided to change the sweetener in them to coconut sugar and maple syrup, and it honestly turned out so well. If you want to modify the original recipe, I’m using one cup of coconut sugar and about 3 tbps of maple syrup to replace the Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet (I still love this sweetener) and stevia-based brown sugar.
My kids have been loving these, so between bringing them to work and little hands, yesterday’s batch is already gone.
There’s something about working with your hands… measuring, mixing, pulling something warm out of the oven… it pulls your mind away from everything swirling around and brings you right back into the present moment.
It reminds me that even when things feel off, I can still create something good right here.
Finding Your Quiet Faith
Motherhood doesn’t always feel light and joyful.
I think we all know that—but it can still catch us off guard when the days feel long, when patience runs thin, when everything feels a little… muted.
Even faith can feel quiet in these seasons. Not gone. Not absent. Just… quieter.
And I think sometimes we expect that once the light comes back, it stays. Once we feel encouraged again, it should just carry us forward without interruption. But real life isn’t like that.
There are rhythms to it. Seasons.
I keep coming back to this simple truth: Just because it feels dark again doesn’t mean God left.
He is just as present in the gray days as He is in the bright ones.
When I was a teenager, I had someone quote to me a very cliché Christian statement, but it’s always stuck with me: Don’t doubt in the darkness what God has revealed in the light.
Faith in seasons of discouragement doesn’t look like big, bold steps. Sometimes it just looks like continuing on. Showing up. Choosing to trust—even when the feelings aren’t there.
Rooting Our Days in the Resurrection Story
Today, we’re starting a little Easter mini-unit in our homeschool.
And I’ll be honest… I was a little hesitant at first. It felt like one more thing to add to our days. I did not originally plan this unit at the beginning of the school year, so taking it on meant we would be extending our normal school year. I love homeschooling, but I know that once those spring temperatures stay and those rays of sunshine warm the earth, we will all want to be outside.
But now that we’re stepping into it, I’m actually really looking forward to it.
I created a simple handwriting booklet for the kids with ten scriptures that walk through the Easter story—from the sorrow to the resurrection. And we’re also using the Gather ‘Round “He Is Risen” unit study, just simplified a bit to fit our rhythm right now. I’m going to actually skip one or two lessons, or maybe I’ll just summarize two lessons together
And maybe it’s the timing of it all…But I needed this reminder just as much as the kids do. The Easter story is the reminder.
That what feels like winter… what feels dark… what feels final… isn’t the end. Discouragement doesn’t have the last word. Grief didn’t have the last word. Death over Jesus didn’t have the last word.
Joy comes. Life comes. Resurrection comes.
And I’m holding onto that right now—in the middle of the gray, in the middle of the cold, in the middle of a week that feels a little heavier than I expected.
Comfort in the Small Things
I often get emails and comments on how I am so creative with my kids. Maybe comparatively to someone else, but in reality, I feel pretty lazy when I compare myself to what I know I’m capable of. I used to be that teacher or nanny (way back in the day) who did amazing crafts and projects with kids. Now? I’m comparatively quite lazy.
Easter eggs are a great example. In our curriculum today, we are supposed to decorate Easter eggs, and I remember in years past doing complicated, messy dyeing projects, but the last couple of years, I’ve relied on my trusty Eggmazing egg decorator. It might be lazy comparatively, but boy, it cuts down on my anxiety levels, and it’s one of those simple, happy moments that brings a little bit of color into an otherwise gray day.
And I think these small things matter more than we realize. Lighting a candle in the afternoon when the sky is still dark. Choosing a simpler Easter project instead of a more complicated one that you know you are capable of, but will bring chaos into your home. Opening the curtains—even when the view is just snow and clouds. Making something warm in the kitchen. Sitting down with your children and doing something simple together.
These aren’t big, life-changing resets.
But they are steady. They are grounded. They are little pockets of peace that remind us there is still goodness here… even in the middle of a hard week. And sometimes, that’s enough.
Closing Encouragement
If your winter came back this week… you’re not alone. If things feel a little heavier than you expected… you’re not the only one.
And this season you’re in—it won’t last forever. Spring will come. Light will return. Wars will end.
And until then, we keep tending to what’s right in front of us.
We keep showing up.
We keep choosing faith—even when it feels quiet.
And we trust that God is present in all of it.
Even here.
Even now.
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