Ep. 347: Smile
There’s a simple action you can take that has profound theological and neurological significance in your household… smile. Jay shares the correlation between smiling and the blessing of God from Numbers 6. A core facet of God’s blessing upon his people was the shining face of God looking upon them. In a similar way, we bless the members of our household simply by looking at them and giving our smile.
In this episode Jay goes on a scriptural journey to explain the concept of the smile of God and then turns to the neurological benefits of training a child with our smile. If you want a simple way to build attachment, lower stress, and increase security in your home, look your family members in the face and smile!
Resources mentioned:
https://letsparentonpurpose.com/support/
Ep. 346: Not Your Fault, Still Your Responsibility
Jay shares a powerful set of words that can help rewire your household to get past the blame game and start working towards making things right. “It doesn’t have to be your fault to be your responsibility” is a concept we see through the teachings of Scripture (The Good Samaritan, Galatians 6, the incarnation of Jesus). As we start to incorporate this concept into every day life we will see endless applications in our households that will train our children for a more fruitful adult life. Learn how “not your fault, still your responsibility” can help you change the conversation with
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messes and spills
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lost toys
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group projects and homework assignments
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arguments and fights
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the larger broken world around us.
Jay walks through a biblical basis for the concept and then shares several real world examples where you can apply this teaching in with your children.
Resources mentioned:
https://letsparentonpurpose.com/support/
Connect with Jay:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@letsparentonpurpose
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsparentonpurpose
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsparentonpurpose
Ep 345: Moving Beyond Anxiety in Parenting with Sissy Goff
“Our past hurts mixed with our present pressure often dictate our future fear.” Counselor and author Sissy Goff has watched this reality play out hundreds of times through the decades as she councils chidden as well as their moms and dads. So often parents are willing to get help for their anxious children while not addressing their own anxieties. In our conversation today, Licensed Counselor and author Sissy Goff explains that anxiety is contagious, and the worries we see in our children can often come from our own unaddressed anxieties.
In our conversation today, we talk about the rapid growth of anxiety as major struggle for more and more children and adults. Sissy shares insights from her new book, The Worry Free Parent: Living in Confidence So Your Kids Can Too. We discuss
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The difference between worry and anxiety
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The way unaddressed past hurts can bleed into our present parenting
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How the amygdala is contagious
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Practices to deescalate when anxiety is taking over
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The importance of the following advice: Try Softer, Trust Your Gut, and Trust God
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How the hope of the resurrection re-centers us on our darkest days
Bio
Sissy Goff, LPC-MHSP, has worked as the director of child and adolescent counseling at Daystar Counseling Ministries since 1993. She speaks to parents and children's ministers across the country and is a frequent guest on media outlets such as Southern Living, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Good Morning America, Focus on the Family, That Sounds Fun, Family Life Today, Fox News, and many more. Sissy Goff is the author of 13 books including her latest, The Worry-Free Parent. She co-hosts the chart-topping Raising Boys and Girls podcast, with fellow Daystar Counselor David Thomas. The podcast just celebrated more than 5 million downloads to date www.RaisingBoysandGirls.com
Resources mentioned:
Instagram: @RaisingBoysandGirls
The Worry Free Parent: Living in Confidence So Your Kids Can Too: https://amzn.to/3NZCBOm
Are My Kids On Track: The 12 Emotional, Social, and Spiritual Milestones your Child Needs to Reach: https://amzn.to/3PL4bR0
Episode 217: Worry, Anxiety, and Emotional Vocabulary with Sissy Goff
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Connect with Jay:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@letsparentonpurpose
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsparentonpurpose
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsparentonpurpose
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jaydholland
Ep. 344: The Sex Talk with Nick Liberto
Do your kids know beyond shadow of a doubt, if they see pornography on the school bus, they can come home and tell you? Today’s guest Nick Liberto introduces us to an incredible resource that will help equip mom and dad to be THE expert on sex in their child’s life. The current average age of exposure to hardcore pornography is 8 years old. As parents, we need to have a good defense of protecting our children through internet filters and limiting harmful friendships. But equally important, we need a good offensive plan for how we are going to talk to our children about sex early and often over the course of decades so they can understand God’s great vision and see their parents as the safest, most trusted resource.
In Jay’s conversation with Nick, they discuss:
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How early should we begin talking to our children about sex?
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What is a good definition of pornography to help our children understand but not arouse curiosity?
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The new resource “The Sex Talk” that helps equip mom and dad as THE expert to discuss sex with their children from childhood through engagement.
Additionally Nick shares the following golden nuggets:
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Embrace “it’s not if, but when your children are going to be exposed”.
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Early and often - as early and as often as you can, you don’t need a course. Make mom and dad the number one place to go to have the sex talk.
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It’s both offense and defense - why should we assume we will equip our children to thrive with sexual integrity if we only put a filter on their phone? Figure out what your gameplan is for offense for the sex talk.
Nick is a graduate of Liberty University as well as a husband, church leader, avid adventurer, and someone who is constantly looking for new and exciting ways to experience Jesus. He has been leading Proven Ministries for over seven years and is excited to see the ministry in a place to serve the whole family with sexual integrity resources.
Nick’s story is not unlike many other men. He has experienced the stronghold of the Internet on his generation and witnessed the toll it takes on a man’s identity and relationships. He has been discipling men within his sphere of influence for over a decade and seeks a revival which starts with the family and spreads across the nation. Nick has a unique view of the world and its ever-changing sexualized culture. It’s his calling to help individuals discover their strength in Christ so that they can become a resource to a dying world.
Resources mentioned:
www.thesextalk.com Use the code “parentonpurpose” to receive a 25% discount!
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Connect with Jay:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@letsparentonpurpose
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsparentonpurpose
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsparentonpurpose
Let's Parent on Purpose is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org
Ep. 343: Discipling Your Family Through Missional Living with Josh Gardner
What if your family’s pursuit of Jesus takes you in the opposite direction of The American Dream? Josh Gardner and family sought to obey Jesus by intentionally moving closer to a lower income housing development, befriending their community, and becoming an incarnation model of the gospel of Christ.
Josh and his family had been serving in a traditional church setting when he and his wife felt the burden to live more intentionally missional. They initially left Stuart, FL for a discipleship role in Anderson, SC. As they settled in the community, the Lord continued to put the hurting and broken in their path. Over time, the Gardners ministry began to focus on a lower income apartment complex in South Carolina. While incredibly challenging, the Gardners experienced the joy of their children becoming teammates in their efforts to make disciples in their community. They gained trust among people who would normally look at them with suspicion, and they became valued members of a community often plagued by poverty, crime, and loss.
Josh’s story of faith is not one where it all worked out neatly. There was massive stress, heartbreak, loss of safety and comfort, and the loss of a normal support network of Christian friends. At the same time, the Gardners were able to live on mission as a team, know Jesus more deeply, and see fruitful disciples in an area that is often overlooked by the traditional church.
Listen to Josh’s story and listen to how Jesus might be calling your family to live with sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom.
Resources mentioned:
Support Let's Parent on Purpose through your Tax Deductible Giving
Connect with Jay:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@letsparentonpurpose
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsparentonpurpose
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsparentonpurpose
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jaydholland
Ep. 342: Spiritual Breakthrough Through Prayer with Jennifer Love
Jennifer Love longed to experience the life of Christ and the transformational power of prayer like she was reading in the Bible. As she sought the Lord asking for this life, He began to answer her. Through a series of experiences with her prayer group in church and on a mission trip, Jennifer began to see spiritual breakthrough in her prayer life. Her prayer team at church saw movement in areas that had long been stagnate. Ultimately, Jennifer’s husband and children experience transformation in their own lives as God began moving powerfully through Jen’s prayers.
We talk about Jen’s journey, the way this has impacted normal life as a wife and parent, as well as how God has used prayers for discernment and healing to open missional doors that had long remained closed. You’ll be inspired and encouraged by Jennifer. Her story might sound exceptional, but if we believe the Bible, her story should be normal for each of us!
Jennifer Love leads Pray Through It with her husband Don Love. She has been involved with leading a college listening prayer ministry for 5 years and has been part of her church’s prayer team for 8 years. She holds a BS in Secondary Education and an MAR in Pastoral Counseling. She is the author of the Bible in Stories and a blogger for Pray Through it and Intentional Traditions. Her passions are to creatively teach the Bible to children, to write about what God is teaching her and to meet with others to help lead them through life’s issues to freedom in Christ.
Resources mentioned:
The Bible In Stories:https://bibleinstories.com/?ref=jennilee.love
Unquenchable: Biblical Theology, Listening Prayer, and Christian Living: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unquenchable-biblical-theology-listening-prayer-and/id1548674310
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Connect with Jay:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsparentonpurpose
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsparentonpurpose
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jaydholland
Ep. 341: Inner Healing Through Prayer with Don Love
What if the Holy Spirit truly served as the Comforter and Counselor? When we read our Bibles, that what we would expect. However, when we live our lives, the transforming power of the Holy Spirit is often diminished, and we carry wounds and hurts for decades. While serving as a biblical professor at a large Evangelical University, Dr. Don love began to ask the Lord to show him if there could be more to his walk and life. Why did he not see the fruit of the spirit in his character? These prayers began a transformation in Don’s life as he learned to seek Jesus in a much more intentional and intimate way through prayer.
Today Don and his wife Jennifer lead a ministry called Pray Through It, where they help lead followers of Jesus to experience the transforming healing power of the Holy Spirit through focused prayer. On this episode we talk about Don’s journey to experiencing the healing power of prayer. He shares the biblical basis for prayer having more power than we typically experience. And then Don leads us in a time of prayer as we ask God to reveal the condition of our heart.
Dr. Don Love is the director of Pray Through It and the host of the weekly podcast Unquenchable: Biblical Theology, Listening Prayer, and Christian Living
Before leading Pray Through It, Dr. Love was a pioneer in online education, designing some of the first online classes for Liberty University. He spent almost two decades as a Biblical Studies professor and during that time, he taught over 10,000 students. He holds BS in Biblical Studies and Youth Ministries, an MAR in Church Ministries, a Masters of Divinity (MDiv), a Masters of Theology (ThM), and a PhD in Biblical Theology.
He and his wife Jen co-lead Prayer Through It and unquenchable while raising their children in Lynchburg, VA.
Resources mentioned:
Unquenchable: Biblical Theology, Listening Prayer, and Christian Living: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unquenchable-biblical-theology-listening-prayer-and/id1548674310
Support Let's Parent on Purpose through your Tax Deductible Giving
Connect with Jay:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsparentonpurpose
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsparentonpurpose
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jaydholland
Ep. 340: Parenting Through the Stupid Years with Jim Ramos
Many moms and dads are shocked to find out how disorienting it is to parent their young adult children. Our 18-25 year old children still need parenting, but the relational dynamics are very different during these years. Pastor and author Jim Ramos has navigated these years with three of his own children, and shares insights he learned from parenting through this time frame. One of his mentors called the 18-25 year old period of life “the stupid years”, and it can be a terrifying time for a mom and dad as our children seek independence and often drift in their faith while making major life choices.
Listen as Jim shares seven insights from his time of parenting through the “stupid years”. As you listen, you’ll learn why it’s vital to
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Remember that you are the incarnation of Christ to your children
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Pray over your children and pray for their spouses
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Engage with your children - be the rubber band!
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Remember to show them that you love them, and that you LIKE them, with your eye contact and facial expressions
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Understand that when your adult child is out of the house, THEY are now the ones who control the relationship
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Be wise as a parent and avoid being the bulldozer or helicopter parent
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Trust Jesus with your children!
Bio: Jim Ramos is a bestselling author, speaker, and the founder of Men in the Arena, a non-profit Christian ministry focused on equipping men to honor God in the leadership of their family, church, and community.
He hosts the #1 ranked Spotify podcast for Christian men, the Men in the Arena Podcast, and has written the #1 Amazon Bestseller Strong Men Dangerous Times.
Jim lives in McMinnville, Oregon, with his wife Shanna. His goal is to live each day to its fullest with courageous abandon according to Jesus’ promise in John 10:10.
Resources mentioned:
The Men in The Arena Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/men-in-the-arena-christian-mens-podcast/id1144237071
Strong Men Dangerous Times: Five Essentials Every Man Must Possess to Change His World: https://amzn.to/3oq8DZV
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Connect with Jay:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jaydholland
Ep. 339: What if I Missed God’s Will By Blowing a Major Decision?
There are times in our lives when we know we’ve made a terrible decision. Sometimes our choice was blatant sin and rebellion, and other times the choice might have just been totally foolish. We know it’s not God’s will for us to sin and it’s not God’s will for us to make foolish decisions. So how do we recover when we know we’ve blown a major decision? Do we miss God’s will for our life?
In this final episode in Jay’s “Knowing and Doing God’s Will” series, Jay talks about the reality of blown decisions and understanding why it’s important to have an eternal perspective on our temporal choices. He shares the hope that we find in Romans 8:28 and the joy of knowing that God’s purposes are not thwarted because of our foolishness or rebellion.
As we come to terms with the reality of bad decisions, Jay gives us a simple pathway forward that will help us back on the right path. Listen as Jay discusses why it’s important for us to:
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Acknowledge our poor choice and repent to God and anyone else affected
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Grieve the loss caused by our foolish decisions
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Seek to make amends if possible
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Trust God’s word, especially Romans 8:28, is true even in this situation
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Minimize the fallout of our poor choice by not compounding one bad decision with another
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Learn from our mistakes and choose more wisely next time!
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Find joy in the grace of God, the humility of our weakness, and the hope that God uses even our worst moments for our good and His glory
Resources mentioned:
Support Let's Parent on Purpose through your Tax Deductible Giving
Connect with Jay:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsparentonpurpose
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsparentonpurpose
Let's Parent on Purpose is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org