Brave conversations with our kids part 2: The birds and the bees with Mary Flo Ridley and Megan Michelson

We’re kicking off week two of brave conversations we need to have with our kids, and it’s a doozie (or at least for me it is). 

I, for one, am particularly proud of myself for being brave enough to have a conversation around the birds and the bees in the confines of my home, much less on a podcast with all of you! 

Thankfully, Mary Flo Ridley and Megan Michelson speak into this topic biblically and quite practically—and I couldn’t be more grateful. 

We cover everything from: 

  • the hang-ups we have as parents when it comes to talking about sex with our kids, 
  • the importance of using correct anatomical technology (my bad), 
  • and shaping our family’s narrative in this important area before culture does it for us. 

If you struggle to have conversations around this topic and need a little encouragement and practical wherewithal . . . I promise that today’s podcast is for you!


Praying for our kids: Marked by armor

This week we’re praying a hearty topic over our kids as we focus on the armor of God. 

 

Most of us don’t spend a lot of time contemplating how to fight against the devil’s schemes, but Scripture does. Thankfully, Jesus has already won our ultimate battle by his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. But, even then, there will still be trouble in this world because we have a real Enemy who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).

 

As we face the visible (and often invisible) battles each day, Satan’s success hinges on catching us unprepared and with our guard down. Let’s pray that our kids are battle-ready by wearing the armor of God, as seen in Ephesians 6:13–17:

 

  • The belt of truth: Pray that God’s truth will defeat the enemy’s lies in their lives.
  • The breastplate of righteousness: Pray that they withstand attacks of impurity and wrongdoing by clinging to righteousness.
  • Feet fitted with the gospel of peace: Pray for a willingness to go and share the gospel.
  • The shield of faith: Pray for protection from doubt, fear, and anxiety.
  • The helmet of salvation: Pray for a mind controlled by God.
  • The sword of the Spirit: Pray that God’s word is their offense, knowing it’s sharper than any sword.

 

Take a minute to listen to today’s podcast, and then use the list above as your guide for praying all week for kids that are battle ready!


Brave conversations with our kids Part 1: Anxiety with Sissy Goff

We’re focusing the next few weeks of Pardon the Mess on brave conversations we need to have with our kids. 

This week we have licensed counselor Sissy Goff with us straight from Nashville. We’re chatting about anxiety in our kids and some of the hard emotions they are facing after this last year. 

Sissy and I cover these topics around anxiety and mental health: 

  • Questions to ask your kids to gauge their anxiety level 
  • Strategies to implement when dealing with anxiety 
  • Eating disorders and other mental health issues increasing in teens
  • Common parenting mistakes in dealing with anxiety

I especially loved Sissy’s explanation of anger being a secondary emotion that often stems from issues of fear and anxiety. 

It’s a good reminder that what meets the eye is not always a true representation of what’s going on inside of our kids. 

As we think through anxiety in our children this week, I want to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Sissy’s new book, Brave: A Teen Girl’s Guide to Beating Worry and Anxiety

“All the girls I’ve ever met who are anxious have a few things in common: they’re bright and conscientious, they care and feel deeply, and they try hard. Those very gifts are sometimes the things that make us more anxious. Worry’s voice does not have the power to define you. That job belongs to you and the God who loves and delights in you.” 

What a great reminder of why we must have brave conversations with our kids around this topic.


Praying for our kids: Marked by refinement

As we begin a new week of praying for our kids, it may seem that praying they are marked by “refinement” is a bit odd; however, we’re asking the Lord to sift out any impurities that keep them from God’s best in their lives.    

Refinement is the process of using heat to remove impurities from metal. Only after the gold is refined do the most valuable qualities remain because the impurities and lesser qualities have been eliminated. 

God is in the constant process of refining all of us. Even though we’re created in his image, we are free-willed human beings riddled with impurities that don’t line up with who we were created to be. This refinement is best accomplished through trials in our lives, which may be uncomfortable in the moment but are important nonetheless.    

As we’re praying for our kids to be marked by refinement, let’s not ask God to remove our kids’ obstacles but rather to remove their impurities. Let’s pray that when the heat intensifies, our kids learn to trust that the One who allows the fire will also bring them through it. 

Looking forward to praying God’s refinement over our kids this week.


Faith, fitness, and Full House: My conversation with Candace Cameron Bure

Candace Cameron Bure is on the show today! 

It’s as if nothing else matters having just reached a new Pardon the Mess podcasting pinnacle. 😀 💕 🙌 

To say I love Candace is an understatement of epic proportions. 

First of all, she’s Hallmark royalty, and there’s not a one of us that hasn’t needed movies with predictability and a happy ending after the year we’ve weathered. And don’t even get me started with her Full House greatness that marked all of our childhoods. 

But then hearing about her life growing up in show business and how her faith has played into her career . . . well, it’s almost too much. 

Candace (which is what I call her now because we’re best friends) very vulnerably shares the struggles she’s recently faced with social media critics and her best parenting advice having raised three kids. 

She also talks about how she came to know Christ and the impact it has on all facets of her life today. 

Check out her new children’s book, Candace’s Playful Puppy, based on the fruit of the spirit, faithfulness. You’ll definitely want to grab it for the younger kids in your life. 

Yes, I’m all over the place, and yes I’m giddy! 

Please just take a few minutes today and enjoy our conversation with Candace Cameron Bure. 


Praying for our kids: Marked by surrender

This week we’re praying for our kids to live each day surrendered to the Lord.  

The idea of living a “surrendered” life may be one of those confusing concepts we hear about at church but don’t know how to practically implement. It’s the antithesis of trying to “work” our way into a right relationship with God—instead, it’s allowing the Spirit of God to enter into us, shaping us into something greater than we could be on our own.  

The first and most significant act of surrender we can pray over our kids is their choice to surrender to the lordship of Christ by accepting Jesus as their Savior. 

But, even after our kids have accepted Christ, we can pray that they surrender their words, plans, dreams, finances, and relationships to the Lord.  

W. Tozer reminds us of the great benefit of living surrendered to God: “The man or woman who is wholly or joyously surrendered to Christ can’t make a wrong decision—any choice will be the right one.”

Join me in praying that our kids live each day in a way that’s pleasing to God and brings him glory.  


The Life You Long For with Christy Nockels

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who inspired you to do the very thing that deep down you knew God was calling you to do? 

That happened to me with today’s conversation with Christy Nockels

She gave the most grace-filled, permission-giving reminder of the need for rest in our lives. As parents, that’s something that’s so easily neglected in the busyness of raising kids. 

Christy is a singer, songwriter, author, and host of the podcast Glorious in the Mundane. She shares with us how God taught her to begin living from a heart of rest during a season where he called her to leave a busy touring schedule to stay home with her family. 

In the quiet moments, God taught Christy to seek him in the deep places she had been neglecting so that she might live from the inside out instead of the outside in. (So convicting, but soooo good.) 

I walked away with so many truths for my own life, but I think these will resonate with all of us: 

  • We need rest.
  • Rest comes from surrendering to our creator. 
  • Our tendency to “hustle” prevents God’s supernatural work in our lives.
  • It’s critical we learn to guard our time in order to prioritize physical and spiritual rest. 
  • Living from the inside out comes from resting in our Savior. 

Join me today for a powerful conversation on rest. 

I have a feeling you’re going to walk away with the encouragement you didn’t know you needed. 


Praying for our kids: Marked by God’s certainty

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we don’t know what’s coming our way at any given time. 

One year ago this week, the World Health Organization confirmed an additional twenty cases of COVID-19 in the United States, bringing the total number of cases in our country to thirty-five. Even though the number was seemingly small at the time, it was unsettling not knowing what the future held with this virus at hand (and thank goodness we didn’t know).  

The one thing we can be certain of this side of heaven is that our lives are going to be uncertain.  

Yet even in the middle of uncertainty for Joshua, God reminded him that “every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you” (Joshua 1:3 ESV). 

The message to Joshua is the same message for us: with God directing our steps, not even one is unexpected or without purpose to the One who authors them all. 

This week, we’re praying for our kids to understand that what’s uncertain to them is anything but unexpected or unplanned to God. Knowing that, we can put our trust in the One who not only knows the future but also writes it. 

Join me in praying for our kids to be marked by God’s certainty through all of life’s unknown roads.  


Single parenting, interior design, and God’s redemption with Susie Robb

I write to you today in the midst of Texas’ 2021 polar vortex.  

With great anticipation, we southerners were awaiting our first big snow in years. It was going to be sledding, hot chocolate bars, game nights, and family bonding.  

Until . . . we had an electricity crisis. 

Yes, the state of Texas is the leading energy producer in the United States and, well, we have a massive power shortage.  

My house has been running a temp of around 46 degrees INSIDE, and there’s been more family bonding than I care to share with you. 

That said, we’re grateful to be safe and to have food, and we’re looking forward to some fun memories to share one day.  

Nonetheless, we’ve got a great podcast for you today. 

I’ll keep it short and just say PLEASE listen to my conversation with Susie Robb. She’s an interior designer, single mom, and has a great word on God’s redemption in our lives.  

Besides giving us encouragement for single parents, she also shares design tips and even her favorite paint colors. Talk about full service! 

So thankful for each of you and praying you’re safe and warm.