Two Truths & a Lie about Hormones
Editor’s Note: This article addresses the general impact of hormones on moms. It’s encouragements are best read with discernment and consideration of your specific situation. If you’re experiencing depression or other serious impacts from hormones, please reach out to a counselor, doctor, or other professional, and check out our Suffering & Loss Resources and Moms in Crisis page.
After five pregnancies, five c-sections, and tiptoeing into my forties just as my Irish twins were blazing into their teens, I’ve become very well-acquainted with the ups downs of what my hormones have to offer. They’re a regular part of female living and achieve a great many miraculous feats, which I thank God for. But phases like pregnancy, miscarriage, infertility, peri-menopause, menopause, and even syncing cycles with our teen daughters dramatically impact our moment by moment living as mothers. Sometimes, they make a life filled with grace and peace feel nearly impossible.
Hormones can induce experiences from wildly varying emotions, foggy thoughts, and moodiness to deep anger, irrationality, and feelings of depression. Spiritual truths can seem elusive when we’re in our first trimester and crying for no reason or when it’s day two of our cycle and the rage-monster is fighting for air time. Throw a teen daughter, even a godly one, into the mix, and tears and tense moments can certainly make an appearance. How, pray tell, do we live Christ-honoring lives with these hormones often threatening to throw us off balance? Here are three truths to keep us on track.
Truth: You are responsible for your behavior, even when it’s hormone-inspired.
It’s tempting to think that sins committed during a hormone surge are somehow less offensive in God’s eyes, and that the consequences for those around us aren’t as severe. It’s a common refrain: “I’m so sorry. It’s my hormones!” However, there are no caveats in the Bible when it comes to sin. Sin separates us from God and from other people no matter what motivates it.
Matthew 4:1–11 tells of when Jesus was tempted in the desert after he had been fasting for forty days. The physical exhaustion coming from extreme hunger and depletion created vulnerability that the enemy wasted no time preying upon. But just as Jesus found victory in a season of physical vulnerability through the power of Scripture, we, too, can look to God’s Word for victory in our moments of temptation. When hormones incite our temper to explode on our children or make irrational assumptions that hurt a friend, we are still responsible for our sin—but we can look to the Bible for strength and grace.
When we do sin, it’s our responsibility to confess these things to our Father and the offended people. Even though we may face real difficulties and pain, there are no freebies when it comes to sin. But the fantastic news is that God is gracious and merciful, and he forgives all confessed sin.[1] Hormone-inspired sin included.
Truth: God is bigger than your hormones.
Thank the Lord, we don’t have to stop there. I remember a day on the beach with a friend who was a year or two ahead of me. She offered wisdom from her own journey as I was entering my 40’s: “No matter what,” she urged, “just remember that God is bigger than your hormones!” That truth felt like the sea breeze blowing through my very soul.
As thankful as we are for forgiveness, it’s easy to wonder whether we will ever gain victory over something that seems to plague us like clockwork, often in our weakest moments. Good news! God helps us even in cyclical, ongoing struggles. He offers the classic triple-threat approach we see throughout Scripture in all struggle against sin: God’s grace through his Word (which includes both Scripture and Jesus as the Word) + God’s power through his Spirit + God’s presence through his people = moment-by-moment victory over sin.[2] Most of the time, these victories will feel tiny or insignificant. But believe me, when hormones are involved, tiny things become big. Especially victories!
Lie: Hormones are an obstacle to your sanctification.
I used to think God was in the process of sanctifying me, but he had to work around my hormones, as if they were buzzing gnats he was constantly swatting away. But Romans 8:28 tells us that he is able to use all things for our good and his glory—and that includes hormones. Sometimes God uses emotional surges to bring thoughts to the surface that might have otherwise remained buried—so that he might show us his grace more clearly. What a concept! “That time of the month” might also be a magnifying glass or litmus test used to more clearly diagnose what’s really going on deep inside when there aren’t any polite filters applied. Luke 6:45 reminds us that “Out of the abundance of the heart, [the] mouth speaks.” It may flip our thinking to imagine that hormones might not be something annoying, but in fact, they might sometimes be God’s tool of choice, turning a buried need for mercy into a felt need for mercy.
As we seek to live as women in the world, we can rest in the truth that God made our bodies good—and he made them for his glory. Our hormones are tools in God’s hands for our good, and his glory enables us to reorient our approach to this strong undercurrent in our lives.
[1] 1 John 1:9
[2] John 14:6; John 1:1; Ephesians 1:18–21; James 5:16
