Don't Mom Alone Podcast

You know who is coming to town. The big man in the red suit is everywhere this time of year and each of us grew up with different traditions on how to engage with and celebrate Santa.  My assistant Sarah-Jane and I chat about what it was like for each of us growing up with and without Santa and how we acknowledge the jolly yuletide figure with our kids without taking the focus off Jesus. Sarah-Jane shares how her family adopted a separate holiday in December, Saint Nicholas Day, and I talk about playing the “Santa Game” with my kids. Wherever you fall on the “Santa spectrum,” we hope this conversation gives you grace to celebrate Christmas with your family with or without Santa being a major part (and give that same grace to others).   “Isn't it so great that God doesn't work the same way as Santa? It’s because we're so naughty that we got the gift of Jesus. It's the opposite. So I would, as a teaching moment to reemphasize the glorious grace of Jesus. Instead of thinking, I can't do Santa because it takes away from the grace of Jesus, the good news is we have a different option.” Links Mentioned:   Saint Nicholas Center Veggietales- Saint Nicolas: A Story of Joyful Giving Buck Denver: Who is Santa Claus? Light ‘Em Up  The Star from Afar The Shepherd on the Search Using Santa to Teach Grace [BLOG POST]  Featured Sponsors:  Skylight Frames --get $10 off your purchase of a Skylight Frame when you go to SkylightFrame.com and enter code DMA. Story Worth -- Give your loved ones the gift of spending time together, wherever you live, with StoryWorth. Get started right away with no shipping required by going to StoryWorth.com/dma. You’ll get $10 off your first purchase! PrepDish -- Just go to Prepdish.com/shop and enter code DMA5020 at checkout to get HALF OFF meal plans (deal only lasts from Black Friday to Cyber Monday). 

As a mom of three small children, author and podcaster Tsh Oxenreider found Christmas a bit overwhelming and as Charlie Brown would say, “too commercial.” Year after year she found herself dreading the season and looking for simple ways to refocus the holiday on the things that mattered most.  After living overseas for a year with her family and switching to a more liturgical church, Tsh found the centuries old observance of Advent to be the perfect way to slow down the crazy season of Christmas. She joins me to introduce Advent if you are new to it and to talk about the beautiful new Advent guide she created. “This is for us, this is to reset our hearts and our focus to that which is the true reason we celebrate Christmas. So the thing I love about celebrating Advent in our culture is that it feels pretty counter-cultural in a world that both is focused on the gifts and is focused on the consumption parts of Christmas.” If you’ve ever wanted to know more about the liturgical practice of Advent, this is the show for you! Tsh shares a lot of practicals and perspectives about why celebrating this separate season can help us prepare for both the celebration of Jesus’ birth and the eventual time when Christ will, one day, make all things new. Connect with Tsh:  Website:  https://tshoxenreider.com  Instagram:  @tshoxenreider Twitter: https://twitter.com/tsh  Links Mentioned:   BOOK: Shadow and Light: A Journey into Advent Biblical Feasts with Amber Lee  Advent resources from Tsh Other books from Tsh Featured Sponsor:  BetterHelp -- Get 10% off your first month of online professional counseling betterhelp.com/DMA Acorn TV -- Try FREE for 30 days using code: DMA https://acorn.tv/ 

Do  you  ever  find  yourself  replaying  and  reliving  the details of the deepest hurt in your life? My guest today has endured a devastating, public heartbreak – and she has wrestled with the lingering,unresolved pain which followed. Author and speaker Lysa TerKeurst joins me to share part of her  journey of  learning to forgive what you can’t forget. “I don't want to make this sound more clean and pretty than it actually was. It was hard. It was horrific. It was terrible. And walking out something as devastating as an affair in a marriage created tremendous burden and tremendous hardship. But I will say that one commitment that I made that was really important was that I can feel hurt, but I don't have to choose to live hurt. Or perpetuate that hurt into other people.” Lysa shares vulnerably and offers advice for anyone who feels stuck in a cycle of unresolved pain. We talk about the huge help a Christian counselor has been both for Lysa and her children throughout this process and how she delved into what the Bible really says about forgiveness. “The Bible never says that people have to forgive and forget. It actually says quite the opposite. If we can be healed of it, it is actually beneficial not to forget because it becomes a testimony that can be used in powerful ways. And that's part of the good that God can bring in our story. I think how we know that we are experiencing healing is the way that we tell the stories of our lives.” Connect with Lysa:  Website:  https://lysaterkeurst.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialLysa  Instagram:  @lysaterkeurst  Links Mentioned:   EP 45: 5 Schedule Sappers and How to Stop Them :: Lysa TerKeurst EP 131: Uninvited :: Lysa TerKeurst, Kay Wyma & Courtney DeFeo  BOOK: Forgiving What You Can't Forget  Featured Sponsors:  HelloBello --Get a diaper bundle 25% off, free shipping and 15% off add-ons hellobello.com/DMA BetterHelp --Get 10% off your first month of online counseling betterhelp.com/DMA Ancestry --check out the holiday deals on Ancestry DNA products ancestry.com/DMA

As a long time believer, my friend Molly just couldn’t see much value in prayer. With her always on-the-go personality and her full life raising three boys with her husband, taking the time to sit in silence and pray seemed unappealing. Besides, doesn’t God already know what’s going to happen?  But, something shifted in a big way for Molly as she started to learn more about the Holy Spirit and met a friend who prayed with power and conviction and talked about really having a relationship with God.  “I would say that my prayers were very polite and just formal at best and just really few and far between. So I really did just kind of blow the lid off of the box that I had him in regarding prayer and just gave me this fresh perspective of going to him and communing with him…  I started to see it as this right and this privilege to pray as God's daughter.” Since then, Molly has seen God move in powerful ways in her life through the humble act of prayer. She shares just a few of the stories of how God has used her — just a “normal mom” — to minister to others around her, even door-to-door salespersons!  If you are feeling discouraged or need a boost in your prayer life, this is the episode for you! I pray Molly’s story gets you excited about talking with God in a new way.  Links Mentioned:  In Light of Eternity :: Jen Clouse [Ep 100] More on Prayer:   Listening to the Lord :: Kelsey Phillips [Ep 279] Praying the Scriptures :: Jodie Berndt [Ep 194] God-centered Prayer (part one)  |  DMA blog post God-centered Prayer (part two)  | DMA blog poast God-centered Prayer (part three)  |  DMA blog post Featured Sponsors:  Prep Dish -- Try two weeks of free meal plans prepdish.com/DMA Better Help -- Get 10% off your first month of counseling betterhelp.com/DMA

With the heaviness of 2020 weighing on so many moms, I thought this week we should share a few laughs. My assistant Sarah-Jane Menefee joins me to share some funny mom stories we’ve experienced and stories that listeners submitted.  We’ve got everything from simple misunderstandings to funny church stories to the ever-popular and unavoidable poop stories. I also share a tip on one way to remember the fun stories for each of your kids that doesn’t involve trying to write things down in a book. 😉 Sometimes you’ve got to laugh to keep from crying and that’s what this week is all about. Featured Sponsors: ModCloth -- To get 20% off your purchase of $75 or more INCLUDING sale items, go to ModCloth.com and enter code dma at checkout. Promo code can not be combined with other offers. Hello Bello -- if you go to hellobello.com/DMA, you’ll get 25% OFF your diaper bundle order! Plus, get 15% off any add ons like vitamins or wipes. And Free Shipping!  Sun Basket -- Sun Basket is offering $35 off your order when you go right now to SunBasket.com/DMA and enter promo code dma at checkout.

Several listeners recommended Dr. Rosaria Butterfield as a guest on our recent survey. I’m so glad you did! Dr. Butterfield shares about her former life as a lesbian and professor of queer theory. In a quest to understand why Christians hated her, a neighbor introduced her Christ. Now she is an author, speaker, pastor’s wife,  adoptive mother of four and gospel advocate to her neighbors.  She is passionate about helping Christians lovingly look past labels of sexual identity and share the gospel effectively. “So if you know that you have neighbors who identify as lesbian. Don't avoid them. That's not what Christian neighbors do. You know? I think we really do need to see these things head on. Don't be afraid to listen to what people's concerns are and then speak a word in season. I would say too that Christians don't throw people away. We shouldn't be known for people who throw people away because they're inconvenient.” We talk about a lot of subjects that can be difficult for us as moms to discuss, but also about how important it is that we have conversations with our kids about sexual identity, the Gospel and who God made them to be.  “The first thing is as Christian parents, if you don't talk to your children about sexuality, Someone else will. So while we want to maintain modesty and care and age appropriateness, we absolutely do not want to shirk this responsibility. We need to foreground the beauty and the majesty and the calling of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman.” Connect with Dr. Butterfield:  Website:  https://rosariabutterfield.com  Links Mentioned:   Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters** The Birds and Bees Curriculum  When to Have “the Talk” :: Mary Flo Ridley [Encore Podcast] Birds and Bees (Continuing the Conversation) :: Mary Flo Ridley and Megan Michelson [Ep 153] Preparing Now for Future Puberty and Masturbation Questions :: Mary Flo and Megan [Ep 243]  Dr. Butterfield’s Books: The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert** Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ ** The Gospel Comes with a House Key** Featured Sponsors:  AncestryHealth -- get a kit to determine your genetic risk at ancestry.com/DMA Sun Basket -- get $35 off your first order at sunbasket.com/DMA use promo code DMA

Whether we like it or not we have habits that define our lives. We have habits that determine when we wake up, how we spend our time and where we focus our energy. Joining me today to talk about how to establish routines and healthy habits is my good friend Kat Lee.  As the founder of Hello Mornings, Kat is all about helping people have a life-giving morning routine every day in as little as three minutes, but beyond just mornings, Kat has a wealth of knowledge to share on habit formation and a lot of encouragement that we can do them. “Whatever it is that you're wanting to change or improve--whether it's your morning routine, your parenting, your marriage--whatever it might be, if you believe that it's possible with God and you have a plan and you're committed to it, then you can only progress.” We talk about the idea of deconstructing habits we want to break to find solutions. Decision design and how our lives make habits easier or harder and we even get into a little neuroscience.  But ultimately, Kat wants to remind me and you that God is for us and wants our time and attention. “It's not just about the morning routine or checking anything off, but it's about tapping into the one thing that's going to help you the most each day. And I hope that if you walk away from anything from this episode, it's just that God is with you and that He is for you.” Connect with Kat:  Website: hellomornings.org  Facebook: facebook.com/hellomorningsofficial  Instagram: @hellokatlee    Links Mentioned:   The 3-Minute Morning Hello Mornings book Kat’s podcast: Hello Mornings “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” Psalm 143:8 Featured Sponsor:  Thrive Market -- get a free gift of up to $24 when you sign for a Thrive Market Membership. go to thrivemarket.com/DMA

Marriage can be really hard. You start out so in love and excited but over time the daily strain of work, home, and parenting makes it challenging to connect with your spouse. Add a global pandemic and the strain is just overwhelming.  My guests Brent and Janis Sharpe are both Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists who have been married for 42 years. They are passionate about helping couples have healthy and thriving marriages even in the hardest of times.  “Most marriages are dealing with malnutrition. They're feeding everything else in their life… all the demands of children, the demands of taking care of a house, the demands of their job. And by the end of the day, they're just spent and they don't have much energy to move back towards each other. So finding little ways that we can move back towards one another and care for each other is significant.” We talk about healthy habits that we start right now to give our marriages a boost and they aren’t what you might expect. What is so encouraging about the tips they share is how simple and small these habits are and the big impact they can make. Don't miss the 90/10 lie!  Connect with Brent and Janis:  Website: brentandjanissharpe.com  Counseling Practice: lifeconnectioncounseling.com Links Mentioned:   Brent and Janis’ book: The Making of a Marriage Keeping Your Marriage Healthy While Sheltering in Place [BLOG POST] The Care and Feeding of Your Marriage [VIDEO] Featured Sponsors:  Prep Dish -- Get two weeks of meal plans for free prepdish.com/dma "Will You Be My Friend" -- new children's book by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram featuring beloved characters Big and Little Nutbrown Hare -- found wherever books are sold. Amazon Link

It was such an honor for me to chat with one of my favorite authors for this episode. Max Lucado has written almost 100 books and is a pastor at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. We talk about his new book You Are Never Alone and he shares with so much kindness and care about how we can trust in the miracle of God’s presence — yep, even in 2020.   Max knows God’s word and he combines meeting you where you with the truth of who God is in a powerful way as we talk about responding to loneliness as moms.   “I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but what if God does have a miracle? And what if God in his sovereignty can use this isolation or use this unusual circumstance to draw you closer to him and show you who he is? So rather than resist this, be open to the idea and say, Okay, Lord, I still believe you're there.”   If you are feeling weary with all this year has brought your way, this episode is the pep talk you need to reframe your perspective on God’s goodness and not give in to our emotions or feelings of hopelessness.  “The message of the miracles is you're really not by yourself. You're not alone. Your heavenly father loves you and the Lord Jesus will come to you. And the Holy Spirit will empower you. Don't give in to despair now. You may feel nothing but exhaustion, but your feelings are not a barometer of the presence of God.” Connect with Max:  Website:  maxlucado.com   Facebook: facebook.com/maxlucado  Instagram:  @maxlucado  Links Mentioned:   You Are Special (our family favorite!)** The Oak Inside the Acorn** Max’s New Book: You Are Never Alone** **Amazon affiliate links Featured Sponsors:  Will You Be My Friend -- new book by Sam McBratney (author of "Guess How Much I Love You") Available where books are sold**. Care/of -- Go to TakeCareOf.com take your 5 minute quiz. Enter code dma50 to get 50% off your first order. Sunbasket --Go to Sunbasket.com/DMA and enter code DMA to get $35 off your first order.

Keli Reese is a naturally joyful person and a teacher who loves children. She figured that motherhood would come naturally for her too. But, after having five children in five years she found herself in the midst of life and home with lots of littles and wondered where her joy had gone. “I had this mindset of what our home was going to be like because I'm doing this for Jesus. We're going to have this wonderful home. And when things were not looking that way, when I wasn't loving getting up early; I wasn't loving the laundry that never ended; I wasn't loving potty training; (all the things that was actually happening in my real life) I found myself sinking really deep.”  As she struggled to perform and achieve her way through motherhood and live up to the ideals she’d had before motherhood, Keli came to breaking point with God and that’s when everything changed.  “I said God, I can't do it anymore. I cannot do it. And I can just remember the love of the Lord wrapping around me. And he reminded me that no one called me to do it all. I experienced this relief in this release of God.” Connect with Keli:  Website: www.ministryinmothering.com   Facebook: facebook.com/ministryinmothering  Instagram: @ministryinmothering  Links Mentioned:   Keli’s life verses: Colossians 3:12-17 Featured Sponsors:  Ancestry Health -- Go to Ancestry.com/DMA to get your AncestryHealth kit today Thrive Market -- Go to ThriveMarket.com/DMA. Join today and you’ll get a FREE gift of your choosing, up to $24 dollars in value. BetterHelp -- Special offer for Don't Mom Alone listeners get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/Dma.