This message was given at Casey
Life group Study: "The Protective Mother Heart of
God"
Date: Sunday 11th May 2025Speaker: Andrew Chisholm1. WELCOME & OPENING PRAYER (5 mins)Greet everyone warmly. Acknowledge that Mother’s Day brings
a mix of emotions.
Invite someone to pray, thanking God for mothers and asking
for comfort, peace, and deeper understanding today.
2. OPENING REFLECTION (10 mins)Prompt: Mother’s Day can be filled with
celebration—or sadness, or both. Let’s take a moment to reflect together.
Ask:What’s one special memory you have of your mum, or a mother
figure in your life?
For those who find this day difficult, would you like to
share why, or how it feels for you?
Optional: read aloud the short reflection from the message
intro about Christine and the speaker’s own mothers—how honouring them came
with joy, loss, and reconnection.
3. SHORT TEACHING: GOD’S MOTHER-LIKE NATURE (10 mins)Read Genesis 1:27“So God created mankind in his own image… male and female he
created them.”
God made both male and female in His image—meaning His
nature includes both fatherly strength and motherly nurture.
Discussion prompt:Have you ever considered the feminine, nurturing qualities
of God before?
What comes to mind when you hear “God as a protective
mother”?
Teach briefly:Throughout scripture, God is shown to carry, protect, and
rescue like a mother.
Even in the Lord’s Prayer, the word “deliver” has deep
imagery—of a mother delivering a child, or of Israel being delivered from
slavery.
4. SCRIPTURE REFLECTION & DISCUSSION (25 mins)Take turns reading each scripture aloud. After each one,
allow a moment of silence, then ask reflection questions.
1. Matthew 6:13 (NIV)"And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from
the evil one." This is maternal language—“deliver” like a mother in
labour.
Ask:What does it mean to you that God delivers us?
Can you recall a time when you felt God protecting or
carrying you through something?
2. Exodus 19:4 (NIV)"You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how
I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself."
Ask:What do you picture when you hear “carried on eagles’
wings”?
How does this change the way you see God’s involvement in
your life?
3. Numbers 11:12 (NIV)"Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them
birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an
infant…?"
Ask:How does this imagery of God ‘carrying’ people connect to
your own experiences of being carried or comforted?
4. Revelation 12:14 (NIV)“The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that
she might fly… to the place prepared for her in the wilderness…”
Ask:What does it mean for God to make a place of refuge for us?
In what “wilderness” season has God met you or protected
you?
5. PERSONAL REFLECTION & ENCOURAGEMENT (5 mins)Prompt:Whether or not your earthly mother could be there for you,
God promises to nurture and protect you with deep, unwavering love.
There’s no loss or wound too deep for God to gently tend to.
Ask:What part of God’s nature as a nurturing parent do you most
need to lean into right now?
6. PRAYER & CLOSING (5 mins)Invite the group to sit quietly for a moment and ask God to
show them where He wants to be their comforter, protector, or healer.
Close in prayer, thanking God for His mother-like love that
carries, shelters, and delivers us.
Optional: TAKE-HOME VERSESWrite these on cards or text them out after the session as
encouragement:
Isaiah 66:13 – “As a mother comforts her child, so will I
comfort you.”
Psalm 91:4 – “He will cover you with his feathers, and under
his wings you will find refuge…”
Deuteronomy 32:11 – “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest…
spreading its wings to catch them…”
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