Tending to Your Heart with Alyssa Bethke

Episode 103 

Oh this episode could not feel more relevant to me right in this very moment! I have a house full of teens and young adults, my first child to be getting married and Im nearly done with my many years of being a home school mom. There is a lot of joy in this time of my life, but also so much change and we all know change is hard. And the empty nest years sure are filled with change. 

Thats why I am so excited about this conversation with empty nest coach, Pamela Henkleman. Pamela is a wise, gracious and joy filled guide to any mom on this journey. You might think this conversation doesnt apply to you because your kids are little, or in elementary school, but Pamela and I also talked about how to prepare our hearts for the empty nest days, no matter what stage of parenting were in. Not with mourning and sadness, but with the knowledge that its our job to send our kids out in the best way possible. 

I also asked Pamela to share what we have to look forward to in the empty nest years because it cant all be doom and gloom, right? The good news, its not! Youll love hearing the moment I realized there were some things I am really looking forward to in my empty nest years. I know youll get a lot out of this episode and love getting to know Pamela. 

Be sure to give her a follow and to share this episode with a friend. And leave a review of the podcast too, if you havent done that yet! 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Find Pamelas website here 

Find Pamela on Instagram here 

Find Pamelas podcast here 

Find Pamelas coaching here 

Find info on Gretas Womens Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds here 

Get your copy of Gretas latest book, Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn here 

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

Episode 102 It was so good to have my friend Justin Earley back on the show today! If you missed the last episode with Justin and Brook Mosser, hosts of the Intentional Fatherhood podcast, you can listen to it here. It is a fun one and you dont want to miss it.

In episode 102, Justin and I dive into his newest book, The Body Teaches the Soul: Ten Essential Habits to Form a Healthy and Holy Life. I loved reading Justins book. As you can imagine, that made it hard to narrow down what parts of the book to focus on. But ultimately, I asked Justin if we could focus on the chapters of his book that covered 3 specific topics: breath, exercise and sex. It was such a good conversation! I walked away learning so much and I know you will too.

As always, please share this episode and if youve never left a review of the podcast, do that today too! Id be so grateful. And if you havent yet picked up your copy of Its Time To Talk to Your Kids About Porn, consider this your weekly reminder to do so. You can find your copy here. 2026 is your year to have these conversations with your kids! Thanks for listening friends. I cant wait to see you next week!

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

Find Justins website here

Find Justin on Instagram here

Find Justins book here

Find the Intentional Fatherhood podcast here

Find tickets to the Intentional Fatherhood retreat here

Find info about Gretas Womens Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds here

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

Episode 101 

Its been a while since I did an Ask Me Anything episode, so here we are! 

This episode is all over the place, which only makes sense because you listeners gave me the topics to talk about. And you are all different and want to know different things. I love that! 

So in this episode I shared about hormones and perimenopause, favorite books, raising young adults, my womens walking retreat in the Cotswolds, and more. I hope you enjoy another little peek into my life. 

Putting links to the walking retreat below, as well as a link to the book you need to read in 2026, Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn. Ive said it before and Ill say it again, make this the year you have one of the most important conversations in modern day parenting with your kids. Dont worry, I wrote a guide to help you. 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Get info on my Womens Walking Retreat in the Cotswolds here 

Get my book here 

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

 Episode 100 

10 Favorite (current) Worship Songs 

1. My Testimony by Elevation Worship 

2. Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me by City Alight 

3. Scars by I Am They 

4. I Thank God by Maverick City Music 

5. Goodness of God by CeCe Winans 

6. Sing Wherever I Go by We the Kingdom 

7. Thank You Jesus for the Blood by Charity Gayle 

8. What an Awesome God by Phil Wickham 

9. Bless God by Brooke Ligertwood 

10. Jesus Lifted Me by Cain 

10 Favorite Bible Verses 

1. Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 

2. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,4who comforts usin all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. II Corinthians 1:3-4 

3. As for you, you meant evil against me, butGod meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. Genesis 5:20 

4. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 

5. I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart. I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Psalm 9: 1-2 

6. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Act 4:12 

7. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 

8. So I will restore to you the yearsthat the swarminglocust has eaten, Joel 2:25 

9. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7 

10. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. Ephesians 6:19 

10 Favorite Treats 

1. Milka chocolate bars 

2. Iced lattes 

3. Manzanilla green olives from Trader Joes (yes, specifically these) 

4. Homemade popcorn 

5. Coffee ice cream 

6. Roasted and salted macadamia nuts  

7. Kettle cooked potato chips 

8. Kouign-amann pastries 

9. Chips and salsa 

10. Italian Confetti Almonds from Trader Joes (yes, specifically these) 

10 Favorite Books 

1. How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn 

2. Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri 

3. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 

4. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom 

5. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder 

6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 

7. Persuasion Jane Austen 

8. The Chronicles of Narnia (the whole series) C. S. Lewis 

9. Rainbow Valley by Lucy Maud Montgomery 

10. Gods Smuggler by Brother Andrew 

10 Favorite Movies 

1. Its a Wonderful Life 

2. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 

3. Napoleon Dynamite + Nacho Libre (cannot pick one and they are a pair to me) 

4. My Fair Lady 

5. Sleepless In Seattle 

6. Little Women (1994 version) 

7. Sense and Sensibility 

8. That Thing You Do 

9. To Kill a Mockingbird 

10. Up 

10 Favorite Places Ive Visited 

1. Cinque Terre, Italy 

2. The Cotswolds, England 

3. Big Sur, CA 

4. Murren, Switzerland 

5. Meteora, Greece 

6. Olympic National Park, WA 

7. Annecy, France 

8. Hyderabad and Secunderabad, India 

9. Reykjavik, Iceland 

10. Glacier National Park, MT 

10 Favorite Coffee Shops  

1. Scout Coffee, San Luis Obispo, CA 

2. Honest Coffee, Franklin, Tenn 

3. Orange Inn, Laguna Beach, CA 

4. Certified Kitchen and Bakery, Boise, ID 

5. Merchant, Long Beach, CA 

6. Giovanni Cova & C, Milan, Italy 

7. Jos Coffee, Austin, TX 

8. Barista Parlor, Nashville, TN 

9. Hooray Coffee, Redlands, CA 

10. Sant Eustachio Il Caffee, Rome, Italy 

10 Favorite Things That Were Also Really Hard 

1. Natural childbirth 

2. Writing books 

3. Being a public high school teacher 

4. Becoming a speaker 

5. Sharing the most vulnerable parts of our marriage story publicly 

6. Running a half marathon 

7. Fighting porn 

8. Parenting teens and young adults 

9. Home schooling 

10. Becoming a podcaster 

10 Favorite Things from Nature 

1. Giant Sequoia trees 

2. Cardinals 

3. Sea otters 

4. California Poppies 

5. Coast Live Oak trees 

6. Moss 

7. Tidepools 

8. Red Tailed Hawks 

9. Wild Mustard 

10. Dolphins 

10 Favorite Adventures 

1. My Christian walk 

2. Being married to Aaron 

3. Becoming a mom 

4. Spending 2 summers in my teens in India with my dad 

5. Summering in Scotland with 25 teens + Aaron when we were newlyweds 

6. Becoming an author 

7. Family road trip from California to Minnesota 

8. Home schooling our kids 

9. Backpacking through Europe as a young married couple 

10. Family trip to Italy 

10 Misc Favorite Things: 

1. The color yellow 

2. My Blundstone boots 

3. My Nugget ice maker 

4. Wearing brand new socks 

5. Watching travel shows with Aaron (especially Stanley Tucci, Rick Steves and Travel Man) 

6. Colorful bags from Orla Keily 

7. My collection of Yearly bangles that Aaron started for me 

8. Red shoes 

9. Stickers especially travel and encouraging words 

10. My collection of Ronnie Kappos jewelry that Aaron started for me

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

Episode 99 

If you had told me 15 years ago, or even 5 years ago that Id be doing a podcast episode on masturbation, Id never, ever believe you. But here we are, 99 episodes into my podcast having a conversation that I couldnt imagine having. But over the years as I have talked with parents about creating a healthy sexual culture in their homes, one of the most common questions I get is: how do I talk about masturbation with my kids? So it is something we absolutely need to talk about. But Ill be the first to admit, it is a challenging topic. 

Thats why I appreciate people like Molly Bertles and her boldness and vulnerability in writing an entire book on the topic of masturbation. And more specifically on women and masturbation, which is even less talked about. In fact, the topic of women and masturbation often has so much shame and loneliness attached to it. And that is part of the reason it is hardly ever talked about. Molly bravely and compassionately steps into this topic in her book and in this podcast episode with me.  

Our goal is to help women find freedom from the shame and the addiction of masturbation and instead experience the goodness God is offering. This episode might be one you need to listen to for yourself, or to offer understanding and hope to a friend, or to equip you to talk about this with your own daughters and sons. I hope youll listen to this episode and hear in our voices and conversation that you dont have to be embarrassed or uncomfortable talking about this topic. God cares about every part of our lives, our struggles our heartaches, our questions and our confusion. So yes, He cares about this. And we do too. So join us for episode 99, the one where we talk about masturbation.  

Important things we talk about in this episode:  

*That kids using masturbation is most often not a sexual act, but simply a kind of self-soothing. 

*When masturbation does changes into a sexual activity. 

*How so many of us never had parents or anyone talk about it with us as kids or teens. 

*The way we act like masturbation is a male problem only and how that impacts women. 

*Why people use masturbation and how it is often used to numb negative feelings. 

*How masturbation is unhealthy and even harmful. 

*How culture tries to make us think masturbation is perfectly fine and healthy. 

*How masturbation hurts others. 

*The danger of fantasy and masturbation. 

*Why the gospel isnt about performance or working for Gods love, but accepting the free gift God gave us. 

*How some people choose masturbation after theyve been hurt sexually and how God loves you so much in that place and why there is hope in this place! 

Resources and other important things mentioned in this episode:  

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

*Quote from Mollys professor: Sex in marriage is as holy as prayer. 

*The 2 lies Satan wants people to believe when they are stuck in sexual sin: you are uniquely ruined by this and no one can ever find out. Sam Alberry 

*The gospel applies to every part of our life, even our sex life. Greta Eskridge   

*We can, through Christ, renew our minds. That is spiritual and scriptural and scientific! Romans 12:2 is a good place to start with this understanding from a scriptural standpoint. 

*Find more on the topic of women using masturbation and porn in this episode right here that I recorded with Joy Skarka and in Joys book here. 

Where to find Molly 

Find Mollys book here 

Find Molly on Instagram here 

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