Following God’s call on your life with Harmony Klingenmeyer
It was about seven years ago when my husband and I realized the Lord was nudging us to explore foster care. And just in case you’re new to the Pardon the Mess family, the long story is we finally did what we were called to do and our lives are forever changed by fostering and adopting our little one, JB.
As I look back on my 20s and 30s, I kind of wish someone would have kicked me in the pants and told me to slow down and pray about God’s unique calling for my life. Maybe it should have been obvious, but I was so busy chasing after my own dreams that I wonder how many of God’s dreams I overlooked in the process.
Because of this, I want to very honestly ask if you’ve prayed about God’s calling for your life right now? Do you know that he has very specific plans for your life which he created long before you took even one breath? Might I encourage you to not fall into the trap I did for so long of missing his still quiet voice because of busy schedules and big agendas.
We’re talking about all of this today, and I’m thrilled to have Harmony Klingenmeyer with me. We discuss the good, bad, and ugly of foster care—however, my prayer is that you will take foster care and use it as the blank to fill in for whatever God is calling you to.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to listen to today’s show and then stop and pray that God will reveal any callings on your life that you may be missing. Take it from me—chasing after the things of God will change your life forever, and I’ve got a 5 year old cutie to prove it!
Praying for our kids: Marked by remembering
It’s almost unbelievable that we’re down to our last two weeks of praying through the 2020–2021 prayer journal. As we’re beginning to wrap it up, I’m just so thankful that you’ve been doing this together with me.
As we pray this week for our kids to be marked by “remembering,” we’re praying they will trust God’s faithfulness in their present circumstances because they have seen his goodness in the past.
I love the reference to an Ebenezer stone in 1 Samuel 7. After experiencing a huge battle victory, Samuel grabbed a stone as a memorial and named it Ebenezer, translated as “the Lord has helped us to this point.” Samuel knew the Israelites’ battle win was significant from a tactical perspective, but he also knew the more significant win was the reminder that God had protected them in the past and he’d just done it again.
Our kids need the same reminder today that Samuel gave way back then: The God who has taken care of us up to this point will do it again. He is faithful and trustworthy.
What are the Ebenezers in your family? Let’s talk about it on today’s podcast and pray together that our kids are marked by remembering that God will protect all of their days when they are surrendered to him.
Lysa TerKeurst on “Seeing Beautiful Again”
Lysa TerKeurst joins us today for a second time on Pardon the Mess, and she’s coming in hot (that’s a good thing, BTW)!
I’m continually blown away by how the Lord is using the hard places Lysa has faced in her marriage and health to show his goodness and redemption so powerfully.
Lysa and I talk about so much today, but here are a few of my favorite discussion points:
- Forgiving what you can’t forget
- What forgiveness is and what it is not
- Reframing life’s struggles as a tension to manage, not a problem to solve
- Reminders that bad moments don’t make bad mamas
- The importance of “Seeing Beautiful Again” even when it’s complicated
One more thing: I had a Pardon the Mess first during this interview where I may or may not have cried at one point. I know, right?
But truth is powerful, and I’m so thankful that we have Lysa joining us on today’s show. Listen, share it with friends, and be encouraged!
Praying for our kids: Marked by humility
We’re raising kids in a culture that basks in recognition and praise, making it difficult to strike the balance of teaching our kids to be confident in their God-given identity while also exuding a humble spirit.
We’re kicking off this week on Pardon the Mess by praying humility over our kids, and I’m hard-pressed to think of an attribute that’s more lacking in today’s culture than this one.
Jesus is the perfect model of humility. He came to earth in the form of a baby and lived a blameless life so he could die on the cross and give us new life. He more than deserved recognition and acknowledgment for his heavenly status, yet he chose to demonstrate humility because of his commitment to the Father’s will and the larger gospel story.
Join me in praying this week for our kids to humbly serve others, admit their mistakes, and recognize that all praise and glory belongs to the Lord as the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17).
Let’s also ask the Lord to guide them in being passionate and outspoken when appropriate, but also disciplined enough to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger (James 1:19).
Sally Lloyd Jones’s encouragement for when it all seems to be going wrong
Many years ago I heard Sally Lloyd Jones speak on a friend’s podcast and she made a statement that struck a chord with me: always make sure your definition of success is the same as God’s.
That wisdom has stuck with me because so often I find myself judging success based on our culture’s version of it versus God’s definition. What a great parenting application when we stop to consider what we value for our kids and how we spend our time and resources in raising them.
For years I’ve been dying for the opportunity to chat with Sally Lloyd Jones, and I’m thrilled to have her with us on Pardon the Mess today!
If you aren’t familiar with her, Sally is a New York Times bestselling writer of over twenty-five books, including The Jesus Storybook Bible (which is required reading for every parent). She’s critically acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and, much more significantly, she is unbelievably wise and loves the Lord.
Can I cut to the chase and just tell you that you can’t afford to miss this conversation?
There’s so much we covered, but here are some highlights:
- God’s promotions often look like demotions
- The importance of working the muscle of trust
- Hurry is often a sign that we’re in the wrong place
- Finding what sparks joy in our lives
- A reminder that nothing can thwart what God has planted in the hearts of our children
If you haven’t heard Sally Lloyd Jones before today, you’re in for a big treat. Don’t miss this one!
Praying for our kids: Marked by endurance
Many years ago I trained and ran a half marathon. The end. (Not really, but kind of.)
In doing so I learned a whole lot about what it takes to build endurance so that you can run the race well. I also learned a lot about chafing—but I digress.
The Christian life is like a marathon in that it requires significant endurance if we’re going to make it through the obstacles we face along the way. Having endurance in the context of our faith means we’re always in training mode, getting ready for the hard places of discouragement and suffering that will challenge our readiness for the race.
Practically speaking, we build up endurance by staying true to the basics: things like spending daily time with God, finding Christian community, memorizing Scripture, and seeking discipleship.
This week, we’re praying for our kids to run their spiritual races with endurance. We’re praying that they keep their eyes on Jesus, setting aside anything that weighs them down or keeps them from running effectively.
Take a quick moment to listen today and pray with me, and enjoy a few insights into my short stint as a “runner.”
The freedom of telling your story with Ashley Abercrombie
Today’s podcast hits some tough topics we don’t often cover on Pardon the Mess. But these are very real issues facing so many, and I’m thankful Ashley Abercrombie is with us as we do it.
Ashley is a writer and speaker whose work has been featured in outlets like OprahMag.com, Relevant, and Grit and Virtue. She is the author of Rise of the Truth Teller and Love Is the Resistance.
Ashley chats with us today about her last eighteen years of working through recovery from drugs, alcohol abuse, eating disorders, sexual assault, and an abortion. She’s realized that, as Christians, we’re so often tempted to live in the bondage of silence instead of overcoming our shame and sharing our stories. She’s found that only in breaking the silence will we experience full healing and beautiful glimpses of God’s redemptive hand at work.
There’s also a great word for those of us who struggle with the need to perform (guilty ✔️) and parenting our kids through the hard places they will face in their own stories.
Can’t wait for you to hear from Ashley today, and please share this powerful testimony with those around you who need to be encouraged to share their own stories.
Grace draws everyone in with Bob Goff and Lindsey Viducich
It’s cool enough to have one opportunity to chat with Bob Goff, but then to get a second shot that includes his daughter, Lindsey Viducich?
Well, that’s the makings of a podcast packed with laughter and endless nuggets of truth.
Lindsey and Bob co-wrote Everybody, Always for Kids, and they describe it as a book of stories demonstrating how to live out our faith as expressed in love.
Take that in for a hot minute and consider how different our lives, our parenting, and our relationships would be if our primary focus was to express our faith through the lens of love.
As you might expect, there are lots of great stories coming your way on growing up in the Goff household and their crazy antics.
But I was especially challenged by their family goal of picking the meaningful over the practical in life and intentionally drawing others into our circle through the grace of Jesus.
Sit back and enjoy a few minutes of encouragement from Bob Goff and Lindsey Viducich—and then grab a copy of their new book so you can remind your kids that around every corner lies the opportunity to live bigger than ourselves, when we love “everybody, always.”
Praying for our kids: Marked by our mind
As you know, we’re praying the greatest commandment over our kids this month—that they will love God with their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
As we pray for our kids to love God with all of their minds this week, we’re reminded that our mind is made up of our thoughts. In order to love God with all of our minds, we have to think about what fills our minds and how it impacts the way we love God.
Our thoughts are significant because they have the potential to grow our love for God or distract and pull us away from a relationship with him and his great plans for our life. The Enemy loves to get ahold of our thoughts and make us question God’s goodness and protection in our lives.
For our kids to love God with all of their minds, we’re praying that they “take captive” all the thoughts that are destructive, not instructive. We’re also praying about what’s going into their minds and how that’s fueling (or lessening) their love for God.
Let’s start this week together by praying over our kids’ minds and all that they will think about today and every day.