Moms Take Ten

Have you ever prayed a prayer asking God to do something in you or use you in some way but were wholly unprepared for his answer? When my guest, Kristi Strossner, prayed asking God to take her deeper with him, she didn't anticipate that he would lead her to open her home and her heart to a little girl. Saying yes was not easy nor has the journey since been, but Kristi has seen the Lord continue to...

It is hard to wait. It is hard to wait for our coffee in the Starbucks line. It is hard to wait for the test results. And it is really hard to wait to see change happen in our parenting or in our children after we have put in so much time, energy and effort. Laura Zach joins me today to talk about her season of waiting and to encourage us in ours. Rather than growing discouraged, we can grow in ac...

We have a new season of Moms in the Bible starting and we are doing something a little different. Each week, I will be joined by a fellow mama to talk about how they related to or were taught by one of the moms in the Bible. Today, Kim Tews joins me to talk how God used the story of Hagar to remind her that she too is seen and she too is cared for even when life takes an unexpected and hard turn....

When the unknowns of hosting a sweet little boy stirred up old anxieties, God met me in Psalm 46 with a timely reminder: He is our refuge and ever-present help. In this episode of our Parenting in Scripture series, we talk about what it means to stop fighting for control, be still, and trust Him in the hard moments of parenting and life. Want to join one of the upcoming moms groups?! I am a Connec...

We are back for a new season of Moms Take Ten, kicking off with an episode of our Foster Care and Adoption Series. Sierra Belton, who I had the pleasure of meeting through the Replanted Ministry, joins me today. From pursuing cross-cultural ministry overseas to becoming adoptive parents to three teenagers, Sierra shares how God has shaped the family she has today and what he is teaching her about...

We all want our children to be overcomers, ones who get back up when life knocks them down, and who learn from the challenges they face. In short, we want them to be  resilient . Dr. Nicole Wilke joins us today to talk about what resilience is, what the Scriptures say about it, and how we can cultivate resilience in our children. Her words bring hope no matter what your children have or are facing...

As we have studied the moms in the Bible the past couple of years, have you seen yourself in them? Have you related to their pain, their struggles, their personalities, their stories? They are not so very different from you and I. And what God said to them, he also wants to say to us. You are loved by him. He delights to be in relationship with you. He is working in you and through you for his goo...

We've talked on Moms Take Ten a lot about our hope of Heaven and the complete restoration that will come on that day. It is a beautiful future that we get to look forward to! But we are living here and now. What good is there here? Quite a lot actually when we begin to look for it, even in the hard, the messy, the ugly. May you find encouragement through this episode and the scriptures below for y...

My guest today waited three years to adopt—and then welcomed three kids in three years through domestic adoption. In this episode, Emily shares her story and her growing understanding of the both/and of adoption. God has used that to deepen her relationships with her children's birth family as well as to serve foster and adoptive families through her church. Her encouragement is that we would not...

We want our children to forgive others, but do we forgive our children? Our guest today, Katie Johnson, shares how God convicted her of a lack of forgiveness towards her own children. I can relate to that, can you? From her journey, we learn the impact unforgiveness can have on our relationships with our children and the beauty that comes when we do forgive. More than that, we are reminded of the...

Have you ever found yourself "back" to a situation you thought you had moved on from? Or facing a sin you thought you had defeated? It can be so discouraging, even doubt-inducing when that happens. We can feel as though we are back to square one. That all that we had done up to that point had been for nothing. But I don't think that's what God would say about it.  Verses Referenced: John 11:1-44 M...

When I feel overwhelmed, or helpless, or tired, or straight up selfish, my parenting starts to struggle. I start to use my authority in a way that seeks to control and to manage. The apostle Paul sets a different example for us as he tells the Corinthian church that the authority that God gave him is for building them up. That is how we are to use our authority as parents as well. To build up our...

In today's episode of our Foster Care and Adoption series, Holly Ruge shares how the Lord brought her and her husband through their struggle of infertility to opening their home through foster care. It seemed like God took so long to answer but now he has filled their hearts and home with three sweet boys. If you are in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, check out Ruth Project and the ways they sup...

The gospel matters. We know that. We believe in it and we want our kids to also. But sometimes we struggle to know how to parent from those beliefs. How does the gospel help us navigate our children's whining, or our toddler's tantrums, or our teenager's angst? Jess Brandon, a Connected Families certified parent coach, shares how the gospel has come to inform her parenting and walks us through how...

Sometimes there's an episode that feels like it is just for me, and this is one of those. Things have been challenging in my home lately and sometimes I've wanted to give up or despair. Sometimes hope is hard to hold onto. The Canaanite Woman says, "press on. don't give up. keep fighting for yourself and your child. And do it at the feet of Jesus." She persisted, even when it seemed that her only...

As Mamas, we all find ourselves in need of wisdom, which the Lord so generously and unreproachfully bestos on us when we ask. That's what James 1:5 promises us. So, if that is how the Lord responds to our requests, then perhaps we should respond to our children's requests for wisdom in the same way. That thought has been convicting me lately.  Scriptures referenced: James 1, with focus on verse 5....

We've talked before in our Foster and Adoption series about grief--the many places it can come from and the many shapes it can take. My guest, Emily Lawson, has spent the past few years on her own grief journey following the loss of her dad. Hard as it was, she sees how the grief she experienced has enabled her to better empathize with her children in their own struggles. And she also sees how the...

The gospel matters. We know that. We believe in it and we want our kids to also. But sometimes we struggle to know how to parent from those beliefs. How does the gospel help us navigate our children's whining, or our toddler's tantrums, or our teenager's angst? Jess Brandon, a Connected Families certified parent coach, shares how the gospel has come to inform her parenting and walks us through how...

Elizabeth, like many of the moms that we have studied in our series, bore the shame of infertility even though her and her husband were both righteous before the Lord. And it got me wondering how she dealt with that throughout her life. Did she question if her infertility really was something that she caused? Did she want to prove herself to other people? And what do we do now when we wrestle with...

The love that we are called to as moms is not easy. I was reminded of this as I spent most of the past month sick and yet still had three kiddos to care for. The temptation to whine and complain and get frustrated was real! In the middle of it, the Lord drew me to the example he set before us of his servant love. And he showed me that not only am I called to that towards my kids, but that is how h...

Foster care and adoption are full of grief, and that grief can come at unexpected times. As I saw with fellow foster and adoptive mamas, I was reminded that its ok to acknowledge and even share those feelings. And that when we do, we create space for others to share their own harder feelings. So that's what this episode is. Me sharing a little of the hard of my journey, and also pointing us to the...

In part two of our conversation on anger, Laurie and I discuss God's heart for us. He is not put off by our emotions. Instead, he invites us to bring them before him and allow him to guide us through them. Our episodes on the Moms in the Bible like, Hagar, Naomi and Hannah can attest to that. And in the moments where we feel the anger rising, we can give ourselves the freedom to take some space an...

Have you had moments in your parenting journey where you are caught off guard by your own anger? I know I have, and so has my guest today. Laurie Shaffer, a fellow Connected Families certified parent coach, joins me for a conversation about facing our anger, seeking God in it, and what we can do to navigate those moments. There is so much to cover here that we made it a two-part conversation so be...

In today's episode, we look at the second part of two stories--The Widow Zarephath found in 1 Kings 17 and The Shunammite Woman found in 2 Kings 4. Both mamas had seen blessing in their lives and both suddenly found themselves facing the death of their only son. Their grief raised questions like "Why did this happen?!" We all have asked that question when hard things, painful things happen in our...

Mary's experience of Christmas was very different from ours. Yet hers impacts ours so deeply. Not just on the 25th but everyday of our lives. Her son was Immanuel. He was God with her and now he is God with us. In the bustle of the holidays and the busyness of our lives, let us remember what Immanuel means for us today. Merry Christmas! Song: He Has Come For Us (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen) perfor...