Decluttering Your Heart and Home for Maximum Joy with Julia Ubbenga

When her ideal life as a stay-at-home mom didnt pan out the way she hoped, Julia Ubbenga found herself pleading with God.  Instead of the extra time with her kids that shed been dreaming of, she felt more like a time stuff. And as she prayed to God about this, she read Luke 12:21, be rich in what matters. This planted a seed in her heart, knowing that something in her life around possessions needed to change. 

Through a series of more learning and growing, Julia embraced minimalism where she got rid of 75% of her familys things, downsized to a smaller home to reduce debt, and she and her family havent looked back. In this process, Julia realized that she needed to declutter her outer home but also her inner homeher heart. 

She and I discuss the question: what is cluttering up our heart? What do we, and others, use, consume, buy, or do to fill that void? 

Julias book, Declutter Your Heart and Your Home: How a Minimalist Life Yields Maximum Joy, made me face some uncomfortable truths about my own possessions. It was really eye opening and helpful. I really loved talking to Julia about those revelation, her book and so much more in this episode, and I know you will love listening to it!  

If you loved this episode and you love this podcast, will you consider leaving a review? 

It really helps the podcast grow and helps other people find it easily. Just go to your favorite podcast platform and leave a rating or a review, or both! Thanks so much! 

Where you can find Julia: 

Get Julias new book here 

Find Julias website here 

Find Julia on Instagram here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

As soon as I saw the title of the upcoming book by Dr. Thom Rainer, I knew I had to have him on the show. He told me right away to call him Thom and it was easy because hes friendly and down to earth. But his newest book, The Anxious Generation Goes to Church is anything but down to earth. It is a compelling, well researched and fascinating look at what our kids are navigating with church involvement while growing up in a tech saturated world. 

And while it would be easy to believe kids nowadays really arent interested in church, Thoms research shows something different. He has found that kids today are interested in spiritual things and are longing for a place to belong. Inviting them to church is not something we should be afraid of. Rather, it should be at the top of our list of things to do to reach the hearts of todays youth. And if its our own kids were talking about, Thoms advice is that we model showing up for church and actually being involved in church. That is the best way for our kids to care about being part of churchby seeing that we care. 

You will find this conversation encouraging and hopeful. Thom is a loving father and grandfather and his wisdom and kindness felt like a warm hug to me. I loved having him on the show and you will love hearing him share. Go pre-order his book today so you can read it as soon as it hits the shelves. You wont be disappointed! 

Where to find Thom: 

Pre-order Thoms new book here 

Find Thoms website, Church Answers, here 

Where to find Greta: 

Find Gretas new book here 

Find Gretas website here 

Find Gretas other books here and here 

Find Greta on Instagram here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Well, cue all the tears, team. This episode is full of them. 

It felt like it was time for a life update, so this episode catches you up on all the big happenings and some of the littler ones too. 

The biggest one is our eldest sons engagement to the love of his life, and a girl hes known since they were both 5. Its the sweetest story and I loved sharing some of it with you in this episode. 

The rest of the episode is full of other life updatestrips and conferences where maybe well get to hang out! And also, yes, why I changed my Instagram handle after 10 + years. 

There is a lot here and youll want to check the show notes to links for all the things. 

As always, thanks for listening and being a part of my community. It means the world! 

Links mentioned in this podcast episode: 

Find out more information about Forest Home Family Camp here. Mention my name for the 1st time family discount! 

Message Greta to get tickets to the Literature Soirée or with questions here. (scroll to bottom of page) 

Find out more about Gretas womens walking retreat through the Cotswolds here 

Make sure you are keeping up with Greta and her new Instagram handle here 

Check out Gretas beautiful new website here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

It's almost summer, so lets talk about one of my favorite ways to pursue intentional connection with our kids and friendshaving a book club! Reading books together has been one of the most connecting activities for me since I was a little girl and my mom read aloud with me. It has remained that in my life until now, as I have read books with my kids and with my friends. And then what has taken our reading together to the next level is to celebrate the books weve read together by having a book club meeting/celebrationyou can call it what you want. These book club celebrations have been a huge part of my kids childhood. They have loved them! And still do. And the book club I have had with my own friends for 12 years is still going strong and bringing me so much joy!

Book clubs are a way to take reading to the next level and make it feel more special. Invite friends! Make fun snacks! Dress up! Or just gather some friends to sit around the picnic table, have some popsicles or iced tea, and talk about the book you read together. No matter how you do it, being intentional about gathering to read a book together and then celebrating it will be a gift in your life. And I am inviting you to try it this summer!

Some of the resources mentioned in this episode:

My book, Adventuring Together, that has a whole chapter with instructions for a kid or mom book club and book lists. Find it here.

My friend Ainsleys inspiring Wild + Free book about book clubs. Find it here

Find some Instagram posts about our kids book club here, here,here, here and here, and the famous Hobbit book club here.

Find some Instagram posts about our moms book club here, here, here and here.

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

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Friends, I was on the verge of tears, or actually crying, for this whole episode. The conversation is so dear to my heart, and it is so important. I wish I never had to share this information with you, but since I do, I am so glad I get to do it with todays guest, Rosie Makinney. Ive wanted to have Rosie to be on my podcast before I ever even had one! Thats just how much she inspires me; how much I admire her and how deeply I appreciate the work she does. She is a mother, wife, podcaster, speaker, author, the founder of the organization, Fight for Love. And in this work that she does, Rosie is indeed a fighter for love, for marriages and for women.  

     Rosies work is two-fold: fighting to educate women about porn use/addiction in the lives of their partners or husbands in order to provide preventative help, and fighting to come alongside women whose partners or husbands porn use/addiction has caused great hurt and destruction in their lives. Both aspects of her work come out of the pain of her own story with two men who had porn addictions, one who was unrepentant and didnt see it as a problem and one who admitted a problem but needed help to break free of it. In both cases, Rosies compassion and love for women who are suffering greatly due to their partner or husbands porn use grew and she knew she had to do something to help these women. She let God give her pain purpose and so many women, including myself, have benefitted from Rosies courage, vulnerability and wisdom.  

     You will find this episode to be so full of practical, helpful information. If you are walking through this very thing in your marriage, you will feel seen and understood. We hope you will realize you are not alone. If this is not your story, we hope you will listen anyway, because it is the story of a sister, a friend, a neighbor, a daughter, or a women that sits next to you in church, and she needs your support. Get educated and grow your compassion so you can share both with a woman who is hurting, yourself or someone else.  

     This episode is very dear to my heart, and I am so deeply honored I get to share it with you. I am so deeply honored I get to share Rosie and the incredibly important work she does with you. Please listen and share this episode. It matters so much. The freedom is worth it! 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Find your 4 steps for help with a partner/spouse and their porn use/addiction  here 

Find the Fight for Love Facebook group here 

Find Pure Desire Ministries here 

Find Pure Desire groups for porn users/addicts here 

Find Pure Desire groups for betrayed spouses here 

Find Called to Peace here 

Find Gretas book, Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn, here 

Of one thing I am perfectly sure: Gods story never ends with ashes. Elisabeth Elliot 

Where you can find Rosie: 

Find Rosies website here 

Find Rosies book here 

Find Rosies podcast here 

Find Rosie on Instagram here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org