Sunshine in My Nest

This is the prettiest study I've ever put together. Initially it was my most expensive, but I've had so many people pour into me this year. I want to give it to you for free! DOWNLOAD HERE!! I hope that you will choose to give to others too by not keeping it to yourself, but sharing it with someone else who would love to be nourished in the word of God also! "Freely you have received,...

I’ve noticed a theme in the Bible. God sets up different celebrations for his people. It becomes undeniable that God intends celebration to be a key part of discipleship. The great thing for us is we don’t have to write celebrations from scratch, though if you have milestones in your family’s faith story, absolutely celebrate those! I grew up knowing nothing about the church calendar, but have slo...

They say when you become a mother, it's like part of your heart is walking around outside our body. But those aren't the only relationships that are so meaningful to us that it's painful to think about or imagine the bad things that could happen to them. Worrying about them is really natural, but can also be debilitating. Hunter Beless is a former military wife and the mother of four c...

When we think of discipleship, family worship, or devotions, we often think of cute little faces all in a circle while we read from the Bible, recite a Bible verse, or catechism question. But when Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me." He knew what kids were like. He made kids to love fun and laughter. I'm going to chat with Carl Laferton about how to make teaching little...

I don't know about you, but I want to do more than manage schedules and be a chauffeur in my own life. I want to have good habits that lead to a connection with my family. Many habit books talk about how to revolutionize our lives, but so many of them focus on professional success, and that's not really the metric I'm chasing. I want to learn to do the hard things in my relational life...

I was reading an article the other day. It was saying you become like the sum of your 5 closest friends. The things that we think about, talk about, and watch shape us more deeply than we are aware most of the time. I think the podcasts we listen to and tv we watch also would apply to this. In fact, I so deeply believe this I recently deleted a bunch of shows I listen to because I think the messag...

I know so many of you are already day 1 listeners... would you help me chase a curiosity? I've been winging this podcast situation, but I just found out you can get on the Apple podcast charts if a bunch of people hit follow on the show on the same day! The email list is ON IT! And Instagram is ON IT!! Would you experiment with me and hit FOLLOW on the podcast for today, and then invite a frie...

As parents, we know the words we say matter so much. But in the heat of the moment, many parents still find that angry or degrading words come pouring out. After these moments, hot tears of repentance stream down cheeks, and oaths are sworn. It will never happen again. Amy is a mother of nine, parenting coach, and writer in the Wild and Free community. She and I are going to explore how God's...

The number one thing I get asked when I share about memorizing the catechism is "Wait... I didn't know you were Catholic." Trying to explain that there are many kinds of catechisms and we use a Protestant one leaves even more questions. That's sad to me because teaching my kids the catechism has become one of the most formative faith practices I've had.  Today I'm talking...

My walk with God has looked so different in different stages of my life, or do we call it Eras now? But in every one of the new stages of life, I have found myself encouraged by hearing the way other people practice their faith. Today I'm talking to Katie Orr, Bible Teacher and Bible study writer. We are going to compare and contrast what our spiritual walk looked like as we were kids, how it...

I was reading a year or two ago, I can't even remember where now, but a sentence from the article has solidified itself in my memory. It said something along the lines of "Most people on social media follow someone one step ahead of them, or one financial bracket above them. Any more than that and it's overwhelming, under that and it isn't inspiring." It struck me because it named rather specifica...

Have you ever wondered why stories hold such power over our hearts? From fairy tales and Greek myths to Disney movies and the Bible itself, stories shape the way we see the world. In this episode of Sunshine in My Nest , I sit down with Marian A. Jacobs , author of On Magic and Miracles , to explore the role of stories in Christian life, how to discern between good and harmful narratives, and why...

Burnout feels like waiting for the next blow. I remember sobbing to a friend after three months, where it felt like everything I valued was stripped away. Later, another friend echoed the same words: “I’m just scared of what will happen next.” Burnout isn’t just exhaustion—it’s the crushing weight of repeated losses. The first time someone explained burnout recovery to me, I nearly cried with reli...

The Secret Joy in Your Work I wish we were in the same room and everyone of us could share what the word calling means to us, and what you feel called to do. Maybe you've known that with burning clarity from the time you were tiny. Maybe thinking about your calling is confusing and gives you anxiety just thinking about it. Maybe you felt like your calling was one thing, but others or life circ...

Back to school can be challenging for families. I find that many moms I talk to are more susceptible to the "Am I doing enough?" question this time of year. Add to that, we are all starting all our routines from scratch again, and kids are being required to do more structured time. All that gives a full recipe for meltdown (and not just for the kids). Let's talk to veteran mom Jamie...

I’m so excited to launch into a new season with you this fall! We wrapped up our Legacy of Faith series, and I felt led to take a little break for the first time since starting the podcast. I mean, I’ve taken time off at Christmas in the past, but as a mom to three little boys, we all know Christmas isn’t a break. I did this as part of practicing what I preach. In my real life, I’ve said 100 times...

Many of us have heard Sally's encouragement to mothers, but today we are doing something a little different. Many life advice books encourage us to "begin with the end in mind." When I was thinking about how I wanted to close out the Legacy of Faith series, I sat down with a pen and asked "Who do I see finishing the race well?" Immediately, Sally Clarkson came to mind. She...

Hey don't stop listening! Based on stats, a lot of you who listen are under 40. I'm excited this means we are in the territory of getting out of echo chambers, because if I had to guess, most of you aren't grandparents yet. We are getting close to the end of our series about what it looks like to live a Legacy of Faith. Grandparents have a unique role in modern culture. In times past,...

We would never dream of waking up one morning and just going to run a marathon. Yet, we often do that with Christian life. Then we hit that wall at the 18th mile and want to drop out. A phase of my own life that nearly took my faith out at the knees was when we lost our baby to miscarriage. Death is something that doesn’t neatly fit into our boxes and leaves us asking a lot of questions about our...

As Christians, we want to be formed by wisdom. Biblically, we know that wisdom comes with age, but we live in a culture obsessed with youth rather than one formed by gospel truth. I’m of the age that I have friends turning both 30 and 40, and for so many women, those milestones are greeted with grief. Creams and fillers to disguise our age are in our social media feeds constantly. When you open th...

For many people, God calls them to serve in the middle of full-time work or parenthood. For other's he calls them to work in ministry. Each comes with its own unique challenges. When did you step into vocational service, and how did God work in you specifically to help you know you were called? What does being a woman in ministry look like functionally for you? What have been some unique challenge...

Throughout the history of the church, there has been a tendency to fall into different ditches of emphasis. During the medieval times, singleness was celebrated, and religious movements were dedicated to convents and monasteries. But those days are far in the past of the church. Our current services and church social events are set up to cater to married couples and parents. So much so that I’ve h...

Culturally, we’ve been conditioned to believe that the pointof marriage is to make us happy. Now, no one has made me happier than my husband, but even more importantly (as in any of our relationships), marriage has been teaching me to love more like Christ. Sometimes, I watch myhusband’s positive example, and at other times I have to give up what I want for what someone else needs. The wild thing...

For our legacy of faith series, we will talk about both marriage and singleness in the church.  Marriage is such a massive topic that I spent probably the most time praying over it while trying to decide whom to invite to talk to me about it. Then I remembered the conversation I had with Pastor Bob Flayhart on "Recovering from Anger in Parenting" and knew I wanted him to apply that same method for...

As Christians, we want to, as the old saying goes, "Walk the walk not just talk the talk." But along the way there are often "It's not supposed to be this way" moments. The hardest ones are the ones that are entirely out of our control. Looking toward those we can either live in constant anxiety or open our hands to know that God will give us the grace to handle what comes...