A lifetime of hard work and dream chasing has made actress Gigi Orsillo the newest “overnight success” story. A homeschool mom turned working actress. Today we’re going to talk about Living Out Your Dreams. Gigi shares her story about God restoring her dreams. In a very surprising way, God showed up unexpectedly for Gigi.

We've all seen other parents "lose it" ― at a restaurant, the mall or in the grocery store. Sometimes we wonder why the parents don't have better control of their emotions (and their kids); other times we're just thankful that it isn't happening to us. Today my guest Becky Kopitzke shares about Identifying Your Cranky Triggers.So many of us have cranky triggers yet we don’t bother to take a deep dive into discovering what they are and how to better understand them. To better understand cranky triggers, we must identify what triggers us, whether we feel cranky with our self, our kids or our husband. The root of this is sin and it is all rooted in the heart. It’s interesting that many of us don’t even know what triggers these behaviors, but we know something is wrong. “Understanding your triggers is a spiritual exploration. What is the root of it?” Becky likes to think of triggers in terms categories. For example, spiritual, physical, emotional, and environmental triggers. There are so many things to consider before we point the finger at others. However, if we don’t intentionally explore our feelings and emotions what happens next is a sweltering of anger and frustration. Becky warns that not digging deep into our emotions allows anger to take over, and further isolates us as moms.

When it comes to core worldview subjects, such as, life, marriage, race, gender and materialism, should it be Christ or culture that decide our convictions? My guest Dr. Carol Swain shares her thoughts about how we should live a Countercultural existence.Dr. Carol shares about growing cultural trends in our society, like Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Queer Theory, which are anti-Christian, anti-Civil Rights, anti-Constitution and unAmerican. People have compared CRT and Critical Queer Theory to a religion. They’re very dangerous ideologies which have taken our country by storm. “The Bible created one human race. Any group can be racist and evil toward another group. And it doesn’t have anything to do with the color of our skin.”She explains that such ideologies teach our children to be conscious about differences, like race and sex/gender which they’re not naturally inclined to process like adults. She says that, “It is teaching our children the wrong message about race and [gender].”In addition, Dr. Carol shares how many public school systems are pushing Critical Queer Theory to children as young as five years old. These children are being taught that they can choose their own gender. This indoctrination is demonic and shows an aggressive liberal agenda in school. As a result of the societal pushes of these ideologies, we can see the consequences in our children and their behavior. We have a class of children who are now questioning whether they were born in the wrong body and are feeling inordinate guilt or resentment simply due to their racial group.

Today we’re going to focus on the subject of prayer. Does teaching your children how to pray feel overwhelming? There are some families who pray consistently and others who may be not even know how to pray. My guest Stefanie Schindler shares about Praying for your Children and Teaching Them How to Pray.Stefanie shares about the power of praying over our children emphasizing its importance as a change agent. The enemy knowing this actively tries to distract moms, cause to fall into prayerlessness and we need to recognize that. If we don’t recognize it, then our children will be blindsided by it. Because of this reality, Stephanie taught her own children how to stand up against the Prince of Darkness because she did not want to fall victim to his schemes. “We have incredible influence over our children’s lives especially when we stand up in the spirit for them.” Stephanie encourages moms to pray for their children to have their own faith. She also shares how important it is for moms to pray for God to give our children discernment and be light in their darkness. “I want my kids to have a lot of hope and that their lives have a purpose.”

The Word says honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. This is a commandment with a promise. Today my guest, Dr. Scott Turansky shares about Teaching Children to Honor and Respect their Parents.God has designed honor to be a valuable tool that every child must learn. The word “honor” is used in nine specific commands in the Bible. It speaks volume of how much children must be taught and learn this lesson. But, where do they learn it? It starts at home. We sometimes use respect and honor interchangeably, yet there is a difference. Respect comes from the Greek word “fabas” and it’s where we get the word phobia from. When we teach respect, we teach them manners. Honor on the other hand comes from the Greek word “time” which means to value someone.The idea of honoring centers on adding value or valuing a person. When we teach children to value something, we must emphasize ways where they can do more to add to value to their parents — that means you and I. The key word is initiative. And the key concept is contributing to others. In other word, honoring and respecting parent simply adds value to our children’s lives as they experience God’s purpose in establish parental order. “One of the definition of honor is that children are looking for the extra thing to do.”

If you look at culture right now, it’s no secret that families are under attack. With so many families struggling, we want to equip you to build a healthy Christ-centered family.Today my guest, Erin Davis is back on the show. She will be talking about developing a Christ-Centered Family Calendar. What is the one thing you can pull out of your home? How do you spend your time? How we spend our time is a really strong indicator if we’re building your family around King Jesus. Erin shared about the 7 feast in Leviticus. She discovered the feast years ago. She felt beat up and exhausted towards the end of the year during the holiday. And she felt like she would miss Jesus. When she began studying the Jewish traditions, she realized that there’s something to those sacred rhythm. She shared about observing and celebrating just as the children of Israel did. “Each feast really correlated to the Gospel. It’s an interruption on our of our regular business and our regular rhythm.”

Sometimes we need to dream, make plans and take steps forward. My guest, Annette Trucke shares how as moms we need to step out of our comfort zones in order to freely pursue our God-given dreams.Annette shares her story about finding her God-given dream while weaving in the complexity of her journey. She honestly relies how scary pursuing our dreams can be at times, but how we have to trust God in the process. In her own journey, she learned the importance of having godliness with contentment. "We have a collection of things in our hands. We can see God’s touch on everything. We have to trust God and the process.”Annette also shares how to wisely and honestly discern what we’re good at, and eliminate the things that were not good at. The comparison game is extremely not beneficial. Instead, we should recognize who God made us to be. She shared her experience finding her way and what God showed her in the process. “Trust God in His timing. There are ways to prepare when you’re in the wait. Appreciate where you are at.”

We all have been through some crazy times the past 2 years. But it’s never too late to start believing in your dreams and looking forward to a what you want to accomplish in the coming, days, months, and year. My guest Kathleen Hardaway, is an inspirational speaker with a passion to encourage and equip people to live out their God-given dreams. Kathleen shares about her book Dare to Believe. In her book, she gives a step-by-step guide to realizing our dreams in accordance with God’s ways. According to Kathleen, people usually give up on their dreams because we live in a culture embedded with “instant gratification.” Most people are unwilling to sit and wait for the Lord, and instead refuse to realize the full purpose of God.She also shares about the importance of knowing and living out ones spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts, your talents and your temperaments are key. Those three things are who we are, that’s how God made us. If you understand those three things about yourself then you should be pretty confident to move forward. And if you’re walking in your gifts, it will give you joy. “Spiritual gifts is key to walk in your spiritual walk.”

Are your children ready for school? This is a question most parents often contemplate yet don’t realize the complete answer until years later. Truthfully speaking, a child's social, emotional, and behavior skills are equally critical to school success; however, too many children in this country are starting kindergarten without them. My guest, Mary Duncan talks about school readiness in young children. Mary explains what school readiness means and how to identify it in your own children. Simply put, before a child enters kindergarten, they should be able to recognize shapes, count one through ten, take turns in a play setting and more. “There’s so many aspects to preparing our children for school. Attention span and bonding is very important, building vocabularies and including new words during specific time of the day is just as important.”Mary shares how important play is to a child development. And how play is work for children. She also suggests different activities that moms can do with their young children to enhance school readiness. Mary likes to break the five main subject areas which is pre-math, pre-science, pre-social studies, pre-writing and pre-reading. She breaks those down into each of the years and then work on what to build in those foundation pegs. Her timeline for child preparedness is instructive and helpful to cultivating an environment of learning.

Mom Fatigue Syndrome is real. It’s pervasive. And it creeps into every facet of a mom’s life. My guest, America’s #1 Mom Coach, Hannah Kelly will talk about the Mom Fog.“I kept on having failure after failure. Whatever could go wrong went wrong. I realized I was struggling with mom brain.” Hannah shares about what she was like when she first became a mom. She struggled mightily remember simple day to day tasks and she wondered why. She finally realized that she was going through a mom fog. After seeking God for His intervention, He stepped in to guide and help her find her way through the fog. “As moms, we have this thing where we call categorical thinking where we believe if we get one area of our life successful, all the other areas will implode. We subconsciously sabotage ourselves.” Hannah wrote a book called the Mom Fog. She shares about why the average programs and techniques do not usually work for moms. She also shares some tips on how to work on being a better mom starting with rewarding yourself with self-love and self-care.

God ordained families from the very beginning. Mothers are used as a metaphor to describe the ways God loves and cares for His children. My guest Laura Booz talks about expecting something beautiful in motherhood, is motherhood good? “Look for the gift of Jesus being right by your side. And envision Him holding your child close to His heart even closer than you can.”Laura shares from her book, Expect Something Beautiful: The Essential Gifts of Motherhood. In her chat, she highlights some essential gifts of motherhood, like prayer, God’s word, and Jesus being by our side. She touches on the biblical principles found in Isaiah 40:11 to encourage mothers to strive for their higher calling. Naturally, moms are self-sacrificial people, yet true satisfaction is simply found when we put all our weight on Jesus or as Laura calls it “a free fall entirely on Jesus.”“I turn to Him with confession, I mourn what must be mourn, I ask Him for help in areas of weakness and sin, and then I look for blessings that I have overlooked. We must thank Him for that and it changes the lens that we’re walking through.”

Seeing young girls become movers and shakers for God in today’s culture is incredible. As Christian parents, God encourages us to embolden our children’s faith and when you witness it can be earth-quaking. My guest Amy Debrucque chats with us about emboldening our daughters to greater things. Amy shares her story about how she grew in her faith. Her fears led her to trust in Jesus. She was diagnosed with cancer and this experience emboldened her faith and walk with God. Her personal battle convinced her that she needed to teach her own daughter about divinity, conviction, spiritual tenacity and perseverance. “Raising a gutsy daughter is having them stay convicted in their faith.”The importance of modeling our walk as Christians to our daughters will be a life-size example to them. Encouraging them in simple things like, joining small groups, getting involved in the community and finding a mentor, are crucial for their spiritual journey. Talking about the latest cultural phenomenon and current events will push our daughters to be well-versed in the happenings in today’s society, and in turn, will let them become change agents for the future. “It’s really important to talk to your kids about the issues that are going on. If you don’t, someone else is going to!”

The relentless pressures of motherhood don’t afford much time to nurture your personal identity, and it can become easy to let yourself slip away. In our culture, mothers are told that anything we do for ourselves takes something away from our kids. Today my guest Mara Measor will be talking about rediscovering self. Mara shares about her fears and insecurity of being a mother. However, after having her daughter, she realized that the world is very simple which helped stripe away her insecurity. Looking at the World through the eyes of her child, helped Mara rediscover herself she expressed. “As I was around my daughter, I was affected by the way she was. She was full of life and vivacious. And it brought me back to a place to rediscover who I am under the layers of fears and insecurities.” She also shares how she took full advantage of the little time she had. Due to the limited time she had to her self, she spent her time songwriting while her baby napped. Although her time was limited, she felt a little more free, thus, simplifying the process. “One of the things I decided to do was to make music a very controlled outlet. I just gave myself a ton of limitations. All I have is two hours to write music and I can’t get perfectionist about it.”

Our legacy is a continual expression of love, value, faith, and belief. Our investment in the bright future of our kinds inspires hope that whatever we have taught them will live on after we’re gone. Jan Silvious speaks to us today about building legacies based on God’s strength and graciousness that our children can easily follow. “I never liked the uniformity of church. My dad insisted I attend church three times a week. We have to work with children with the way they are bent.”Jan challenges us to be creative and recognize the bent of each kid in order to encourage them to raise a banner of godliness in their generation. Some children are very creative, some are shy and some are outspoken, yet each can be reached in unique ways. Jan suggests ways we can reach our children creatively and how we might adjust our approach to meet their needs graciously.“When I see graciousness, I see women who are strong, and they offer to people around them what they do not deserve.” Jan further shares practical advice on how to be gracious and how to leave a legacy of strength. Graciousness is shown by giving. Our sacrifices models a framework for our children to grow into their own people — with strength, grace and commitment.

Motherhood is the hard, but it is also very rewarding. It is overwhelming and under appreciated, yet many mothers wouldn’t have it any other way. Add a 9 to 5 job to the mix, and you may find yourself feeling stretched. Our guest is my personal friend, Jenn Gotzon who will be sharing about how she started a business around the same time she gave birth to her son and how she is managing it all as a first time mom. Managing a business as well as being a mom involves having good time management. Jenn shared how she has leaned on her mentors to learn ways of dealing with the stresses of motherhood while balancing work and career. She talks about the filming of The Farmer and the Belle, which she stars in, and managing her business franchise. Jenn also experience with anxiety shortly after having her baby, and she shares freely how she sought professional help to overcome what she was going through. This support helped tremendously to see the need for rightful balancing, true connections and community. Jenn regiment starts with time with God, going to Him for everything, to find peace, tranquility and sense of purpose. Her daily routine with her baby and what she does with him, inspire her to pursue her dreams without sacrificing time with him.

Mothers play a huge role in helping their children become leaders. Cultivating values in your children creates individuals with strong beliefs, empowers them to follow their convictions and focuses their eyes on issue-based value systems. My guest Karen Hetzler speaks about shaping children into culture change agents.“There’s no higher calling if God has gifted you with children. Seek the Lord about timing when you should be home with them. Life is full of seasons.”Karen shares about her experience of staying home with her children during the early years. God stirred up new dreams in her heart while she prepared for when it would be the appropriate time to allow them to live freely. She envisioned herself transforming the culture by encouraging her children to be difference makers, and to stand firm in their beliefs.“We have an obligation for civil disobedience. Sometimes it’s not the right time to stand, sometimes we may need to listen and at other times, we have a moral obligation to stand.”

My guest Arlene Pellicane, author of Screen Kids, shares about raising kids in a world of screens. In her house, Arlene and her husband have a “no phone, no gaming, no social media” policy for their kids. They have a practical reason behind this decision and she shares her research with us.   “Kids who are raised constantly with screen, don’t know how to honor or talk with their parents. They are not spending enough face-to-face time with them.”Today, the majority of American children spend five to eight hours a day in front of a screen and less than an hour playing outside, reading a book or interacting with family. This means a child’s sleep quality, attention span and stress level is negatively affected by the tight grip of modern technology.Arlene challenges parents to think more critically about using devices, instead of just accepting the notion that a device is a necessity. She stresses the importance of delaying giving kids a device for as long as possible. “When a child is playing a video game, their body is thinking fight or flight. So naturally all the blood goes to protect the major organs except for the prefrontal cortex. And if this happens everyday, that prefrontal cortex will be malnourished.”Things we talked aboutDigital vegetables vs digital candyReconsidering phones for younger kidsBuilding real world skills for our kids instead of just digital onesSetting digital boundaries. How to reset from the digital world

Certain conversations should be non-negotiable in your house. But when should you have them? And how? Tough conversations are just that—tough. Either way, we still need to have it. My guest Bev Berrus will be talking about how to have hard conversations with your children.“We have to prepare our kids for the world to live in the world and not being of the world. While I want to protect them, I also want to prepare them.”As mothers we’re constantly being challenged. It’s not easy consistently training up our children in the way they should go. Bev shared about handling the different discomforts in motherhood.

A homemaker is defined as “one who manages a household, especially a wife and mother. This career is important enough to demand a woman’s diligent preparation, commitment, full energy, and great creativity. Today my guest Beverly Berrus talks about the high calling of a wife and mother. “As wives and mothers, we’re in the business of shaping and preparing the next generation.”  We want our children to be both mighty in the Word and mighty in the Spirit! Beverly shared her own story about how she came to know Jesus and how she wished to raise her own children in Christ. Her examples were Lois and Eunis in the Bible whose sincere faith helped them raise their son and grandson, Timothy in the faith. “I’ve learnt over the last decade, there is an inexhaustible grace, mercy and strength that comes from God to do the work of being a mother.” While being mother has its challenges, you experience many ups and downs and you face discomfort, these things are simply challenges which point us back to Jesus. We have a choice to see these challenges for what they are, opportunities to allow God to manifest Himself in our circumstances. His will is to makes us more like Him, so that His spirit can be poured out. As God breathes life into every creature, motherhoods mirrors this call of being life giver too.

Now we all want well behaved children, but kids often misbehave. Having difficult conversations with children is hard. Yet, In today’s podcast, Stacy Bellward talks about The Power of Questions. She shares concerning the importance of asking questions. The opposite of asking is telling. And telling does not work. We often get into these patterns in our homes where we just tell… and telling turns into nagging and sometimes even into yelling. And sometimes it’s almost like a tug of war. “If we were to boil down our job raising our kids, the two important things that we want them to exercise is wisdom and responsibility.”Stacy talks about breaking patterns of defensiveness and how the power of curious questions creates productive conversations. She also talks about asking effective questions as well as type of questions to avoid in an effort to get the best results in correcting our children’s behavior. What we chat aboutThe power of questionsEffective questionsBad questionsSetting our kids up for successTeaching our children to cooperateBuilding our children’s character