Thankful Homemaker: A Christian Homemaking Podcast

EP 45: Our Best Parenting is Done by Prayer

God’s Word reminds us:
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
~ John 15:5
“apart from me you can do nothing” is a continual reminder that I am utterly dependent on the Lord to do anything. There are many things I can do without dependence on Christ, but the reality is I have achieved “nothing” in God’s sight.
This is so true in the raising of our children.
Our children are a gift from the Lord, a heritage, a reward (Psalm 127:3) and they are ever so precious to the Lord and us.  Caring for our children is an immeasurable responsibility but one as believers we are not left alone in or to fend for ourselves.  We can cry out to the One who created all things and is the only One who can redeem them.
I have learned over the years that I am helplessly dependent on the Lord. I can’t parent on my own. I can’t do anything on my own. As parents, we can’t change the hearts of our children. Only the Lord can change their hearts.
This truth should continually bring us to our knees in prayer, but many times we find ourselves thinking we can do this on our own. As a parent of now adult children, I can share that these are the more difficult years of life as the decisions and the difficulties they face are much more challenging than when they were young.
Show Notes:
“It didn’t take me long to realize that I did my best parenting by prayer. I began to speak less to the kids and more to God. It was actually quite relaxing.”  ~ Paul Miller, A Praying Life
God does a much better job of being God than I do.
Children are fully dependent on parents for everything. As we get older, we become more and more independent. We need to be reminded to go back to living as dependent children. Living as a dependent child to the Lord in the everyday moments of life is the best example we can give to our children.
The prayer below is from Setting Their Hope In God: Biblical Intercession for Your Children page 193
“Eternal God,
Let my precious children rejoice in the Word, through whom all things were made.  May they seek life only in Him.
Praise be to Your name for causing them to receive Him and believe on His name, for giving them the right to become Your children.  Open their eyes to the glory of the Word, the glory of Your only Son, full of grace and truth.  From His fullness let them receive grace upon grace–the grace and truth that come through Jesus Christ.  Help them to do what is true and come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been carried out in You.
Help them not to judge by appearances, but instead to judge with right judgment.  And when they thirst, let them go to Christ and drink.  Let them follow closely after Him always, so that they will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.  Make them abide in His Word as true disciples so that they may know the truth and be set free by it (John 1 & 8).”
Related Link: Podcast EP 20: The Blessing of Loving Our Children
“I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” ~Martin Luther
Related Link: Podcast EP 43: Hope for Imperfect Parents
“What makes a heart upright and what makes prayers pleasing to God is a felt awareness of our tremendous need for mercy.”  ~John Piper
“Prayer is bringing your helplessness to Jesus.”  ~ Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life
Scripture & Resources:
John 15:5
Philippians 4:6-7
Romans 8:28
John 5:19
John 5:30
Luke 5:16
Matthew 18:3
Mark 10:14-15
Luke 10:21
Praying God's Word Over Our Children
Podcast Ep 23: Seasons of Waiting
A Praying Life: Connecting With God in a Distracting World by Paul Miller
Setting Their Hope in God: Biblical Intercession for Your Children by Andrew Case
Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney
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EP 44: Dealing With Our Sins of Jealousy and Envy

Today's podcast episode is a topic we probably don’t find ourselves talking about with others because it can be a bit uncomfortable but it’s one I know we all deal with —it’s addressing our sins of jealousy and envy.
It just seems no matter where we are in life we can always find ourselves sinfully comparing ourselves to others. I would think at my age and life stage this would be over, but sadly it's not. How often do I find myself in my head comparing the circumstances of my life to others – too many!
Even though it may be just in my head, it's still a sin, and it may seem subtle, but it's not – all sin is an offense against God and one we must continue to do battle with.
When we find ourselves dealing with jealousy comparing ourselves to others or envious of others, it's like we're saying to God that we're not satisfied with what He's given us.
“If we are to successfully combat the temptations to envy and jealousy, we must mentally bring God into the picture. We must remind ourselves that He determines not only what abilities we have but also the degree of those abilities and the blessing He will bestow on their use.”  ~ Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins
Show Notes:
Jerry Bridges, in Respectable Sins, a book I most highly recommended you read, describes jealousy of “intolerance of rivalry.” He shares there are legitimate times to express jealousy, like when someone is trying to win your spouse away from you. Our God declares Himself to be a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). Our jealousy becomes sinful when we become afraid someone is going to be more successful or honored over us. King Saul's jealousy over David (Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousand – 1 Samuel 18:7) is an example of Saul's jealousy over David because honor was given to David and not him. At that moment he saw him as a rival and jealousy took root.
Envy is defined by Jerry Bridges as:
“the painful and oftentimes resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by someone else. Sometimes we want that same advantage, leading to the further sin of covetousness. And sometimes we resent the other person having something we don't have. But we don't just envy people in general. Usually, there are two conditions that tempt us to envy. First, we tend to envy those with whom we most closely identify. Second, we tend to envy in them the areas we value most.”
Scriptures & Resources:
Exodus 20:5
1 Samuel 18:7
Romans 1:29-33
Galatians 5:19-21
Psalm 103:10
Philippians 4:12
Hebrews 13:5
Romans12:2
Romans 12:5
Romans 12:10
Philippians 4:11-12
Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges
Messy Beautiful Friendship: Finding and Nurturing Deep and Lasting Relationships by Christine Hoover
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EP 43 Hope for Imperfect Parents

How many imperfect parents out there? Raise your hands. I’m hoping all my parents out there raised their hands. We are going to experience failure in our parenting – it’s not an option but a reality in our lives on this fallen earth.
Don’t we all find ourselves at times sure that we’ve ruined our children? How many times have we yelled, acted rashly in our correction and the list of mistakes and sinful responses towards them we’ve made over the years sadly goes on.
We’re going to fail – and in saying that it doesn’t mean our failure shouldn’t affect us. I know we all are saddened by the times we’ve caused hurt in any way to our children, and this isn’t a podcast to just give us a pass to the failures we’ve caused our children.
We need to seek the forgiveness of our children, repent to the Lord of wrongs we’ve caused to them and to the best of our ability and by the grace of God avoid hurting them in the future when possible.
We must remember always that we are sinners’ parenting sinners. Sin affects every one of our relationships.
Romans 7:18-19 is true in my role as a parent just as it’s true in my relationship with all others on this earth.
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
We are not perfect—we already know this.
Remember that it is God’s grace that transforms our lives and the lives of our children – it’s not our perfect or more likely imperfect parenting.  He is the only One that has the power to transform their hearts and minds.  This doesn’t mean we don’t strive to set a pattern and routine for our homes that directs the hearts of our children towards Him.  It is our duty as parents to train up our children in His ways but we can’t trust that our parenting is going to save them.
Scripture & Resources:
Romans 7:18-19
Ephesians 6:1-4
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Matthew 19:25-26
John 6:37
1 Corinthians 15:10
Romans 3:23
Psalm 119:11
Matthew 18:22
2 Corinthians 12:9
Parents, Require Obedience of Your Children 
God's Blessing Does Not Depend on Our Performance
Podcast Ep 20: The Blessings of Loving Our Children
Podcast Ep 18: Putting on an Attitude of Love in Our Homes
Parenting: 14 Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family by Paul Tripp
Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus by Elyse Fitzpatrick
Free eBook - Motherhood Delighting in Our Children by Marci Ferrell
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EP 42 Some Titus 2 Encouragement Along the Way

As we start getting back into fall and a routine (as we talked about last week at the podcast), I wanted to share a bit of encouragement for all of us today. Who doesn't like to be encouraged?
Our time today is just a reminder that no one out there has it all together. We are a continual work in progress in the Lord's hand. If I shared only what I had mastered on this podcast, it would be non-existent ;).
So today listen in and be reminded that no one has a perfect marriage, family or home while living on this fallen earth but that doesn't mean we just throw in the towel and stop trying. I'm reminded and reminding us today of God's Word to persevere and work heartily as unto the Lord, and this includes my normal day to day life of caring for a home and family.
In the spirit of Titus 2, I want to be an encouragement in the areas of loving our husbands and children, being keepers of our homes, being self-controlled and submissive to our husbands so God's Word will not be reviled.
We need to share our struggles but not leave each other there. But we need to spur one another on to love and good deeds. My hope always is to point one another back to Christ and to live by and abide in His Word.
My greatest comfort in this world is that Jesus Christ is enough.  He is enough on the days when everything goes wrong and on the days when it seems that everything is falling apart. 
Come listen in with us today.
For the full show notes head to ThankfulHomemaker.com 
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Scripture & Resources:
2 Timothy 3:16-17
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Homemaking 101 Series: Getting Dressed
Are You Kind to Your Husband?
What's for Dinner?
Weekly Home Blessing
18 Ways to Be Your Husband's Helper
Busyness is Not Godliness
Podcast Ep 32: Preparing Our Families for Sunday Morning Worship
Battling Our Sins of Envy & Jealousy
Podcast Ep 28: Dealing with Our Anxiousness and Worry (Matthew 6:25-34)
How to Resist Gossip
Homemaking Ministries Online Conference - The Deep Dive Summit
Thankful Homemaker Facebook Group
 

EP 41 Getting Back Into a Routine After Summer

Are you struggling with getting back into a routine after the summer months? I know for us our summer months are a bit more spontaneous and flexible so I'm out of a daily routine quite often.
Summer brings a sense of unpredictable days in our home. We don’t always have a regular schedule, and we’re on the go or outside more than usual so we may find our inside tasks take a back seat and our regular routine schedule doesn’t happen as often as it does in the fall, winter and even spring seasons.
For me, I’m not sure why this is because I’m not even dealing with kids in school anymore but it just seems to be a rhythm in my life too in this season.
I love to be open to spontaneous adventures and not get caught up in what needs to be done at home because I’ve learned over the years - the reality is – it always gets done.
I do still get things accomplished in the summer, and my home is still running pretty smooth – it’s not a total disaster, but I have to share – I honestly miss the regular routines I’m used to. I am a creature of habit. I don’t find myself deep cleaning or de-cluttering or overly organizing anything. For some reason, I tend to drift towards those chores in the fall and winter months.
So listen in as we talk about what it looks like on getting back into a routine after summer.
Show Notes:
Planners Mentioned:
Brilliant Life Planner
iBloom Planner
Living Well Planner
Articles & Podcasts Mentioned:
Homemaking 101 Series: The Routines of the Day
The Joy of a Morning Routine
The Peacefulness of an Evening Routine
Podcast Ep 21: The Routines of the Day - Making the Most of Your Morning and Evenings
Menu Planning 101
Podcast Ep 12: Simple Menu Planning Tips
Homemaking 101: My Daily, Weekly, Monthly Tasks
Podcast Ep 16: Simplify Your Housekeeping with a Cleaning Schedule for Your Home
Podcast Ep 27: Planning Our Days as Homemakers
How I Plan my Days
Bringing Order to Our Homes
Podcast Ep. 14: Simple Tips for a Clutter-Free Home
Podcast Ep. 29: Where to Begin When You're Overwhelmed in Caring for Your Home
Grab your Free Weekly Menu Planning PDF
Find the show notes and resources mentioned at ThankfulHomemaker.com
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EP 40: Marriage Series #7 - Sexual Intimacy in Our Marriages

Sex is a beautiful gift from God. As Christian’s we have God’s permission to enjoy sex within our marriages – God invented it. We can learn not just to enjoy it but delight in intimacy with our husbands
Martha Peace shares:
The physical union of husband and wife is designed by God to meet God-given desire for companionship, to protect the husband and wife from temptation, and for the mutual giving and receiving of great pleasure and joy between the husband and wife. Companionship is strengthened by the private, intimate, physical bond of a married couple.
Even as Christians we can too easily let the world or other voices in the church give us our view of sex when it has to come from God’s Word. God’s Word is sufficient in all ways and especially and even in our sexual relationship with our husband.
Resources:
Thankful Homemaker on Instagram
Homemaking Ministries 2018 Online Conference - The Deep Dive Summit
Marriage Series at the Blog
My Favorite Resources on Sex and Sexual Intimacy in Marriage
The Excellent Wife: A Biblical Perspective by Martha Peace
Intended for Pleasure: Sex Technique and Sexual Fulfillment in Christian Marriage by Ed Wheat
Intimate Issues: 21 Questions Christian Women Ask About Sex by Linda Dillow and Lorraine Pintus
When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey
Rekindling the Romance: Loving the Love of Your Life by Dennis & Barbara Rainey
A Celebration of Sex: A Guide to Enjoying God's Gift of Sexual Intimacy by Dr. Doug Rosenau
Strengthening Your Marriage by Wayne Mack
The Intimate Marriage: A Practical Guide to Building a Great Marriage by R. C. Sproul
My Abortion story & Why I Counsel at Abortuariesat Thankful Homemaker
The Devilish Puppet Master of the Word-Faith Movementsermon at Grace to You on False Prophets
Weekend to Remember from Family Life Today
Podcast Ep. 35: Marriage Series #2 - To Love Their Husbands at Thankful Homemaker
Podcast Ep. 17: What it Looks Like to Cherish Our Husbands at Thankful Homemaker
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For all the show notes, quotes and resources head to ThankfulHomemaker.com
 

EP 39: Marriage Series #6 - How To Communicate with Your Spouse

We're going to discuss in today's podcast about how well we communicate with our spouses. God created us as relational beings so we are designed to communicate not just with Him but with one another. Because we're created in God's image, our communication within our marriages should be one of intimacy, beauty, and harmony. 
Communication is a huge part of our lives together. We share all of life together in our marriages and home should be a place where we can be vulnerable, open and honest with one another regarding all areas of our lives.
We're going to break the show today down into three areas: Listening well, our day-to-day communication and dealing in a God-honoring way with conflict.
Because of Jesus, we can have homes where we communicate with grace and peace. Our tongues can be tamed by the gospel – Jesus came to set us free. We are new creatures in Christ.
For the show notes and resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com 

EP 38: Marriage Series #5 - What Does Submission in Marriage Look Like?

We are continuing in our marriage series on the podcast, and this is the second half of the episode on submission. If you didn't get a chance to listen to the first one where my husband joined us you can do that here. I highly recommend it before listening in to this one.
My husband shared last week on the theology of submission, and I'm continuing on today on what submission in marriage is and what it isn't.
When we are living out the beautiful doctrine of submission the unbelieving world around us will take notice. They will see wives respecting and loving their husbands.  Peace and joy in our homes.  Wives who talk about their husbands with honor and respect.  Wives who look to their husbands for guidance and leadership and are true helpers that come alongside them in the advancement of God’s Kingdom.  They will see marriages filled with genuine love and affection.
My hope today in our time together is to give you the practical application in our everyday lives of what submission in marriage looks like and what it doesn’t look like. Please know that when I am sharing with you, it does not mean I have this area of my life mastered.  I am still a learner, and God continues to teach me much.  Let’s pray that with the Lord’s help we can all be more obedient to God’s ways and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior.
For the show notes and resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com
 

EP 37: Marriage Series #4 - What is Biblical Submission? (with guest Doug Ferrell)

We're continuing on in our marriage series and podcast episode 37 is part one of a two-part episode in the series on submission. I'm a bit excited to have my husband joining us today and he's going to work through with us what is the theology of submission. You can find all the podcast episodes in the marriage series here. 
We're camping in the text of Ephesians 5:22-24:
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
That’s the Christian wedding text that everybody wants their pastor to use for the ceremony but after the wedding cake, it becomes a real struggle in its application! It is a text often quoted, usually misunderstood and misapplied and creates a lot of unnecessary tension in a marriage. And that is why it is critical for us as married couples who are followers of Jesus, His disciples, to grasp this properly and obey its teachings. And so what we should attempt to accomplish in our short time together is the theology embedded in this principle of submission; that is, what does God mean in His command for wives to submit to their husbands?
For the show notes and scriptures mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com

EP 36: Marriage Series #3 - Showing Respect to Our Husbands

We’re continuing in our series on marriage at the podcast, and episode 36 is on respect.  So far we've covered God's Design for Marriage and Our Role as Women, Loving Our Husbands, and today we're talking about what does it look like to show respect to our husbands.
What is respect? How is it defined? The dictionary defines it - A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
We are called by God to respect our husband’s position of headship in the home, and as we do this, we are honoring God first and foremost. God has called them to this position, and He has called us to respect their position.
God has called our husbands, just like us, to be like Christ. One way we do this is by submitting our will and humbling ourselves before the Lord and taking the place of a servant in our homes. Christ is our ultimate example of a loving, respectful servant.
This is only going to come about when we get a right view of who God.  God is worthy of my trust and loyalty and respect and submission (please take a listen to Podcast Ep 31 on The Supremacy of God). This is part of His plan. The apostle Paul started out the verses here in Ephesians 5:22-33 with love and submission and he ends them here in Ephesians 5:33 with love and respect.
For the rest of the show notes and resources mentioned visit ThankfulHomemaker.com
 

EP 35: Marriage Series #2 - To Love Their Husbands

We’re continuing in a series here at the podcast on marriage. Each episode can stand alone, but they are meant to be listened to together. Last week we talked about God’s Design for Marriage and Our Role as Women. We touched briefly on areas of submission, respect, and love. Today we’re going to start by seeing what God’s Word has to say about loving our husbands.
I struggled with titling the episode, so I borrowed it from scripture from Titus 2:4 passage that we are to be taught by the older women “to love their husbands.”
Before we dig into that passage, I want to work through with you on what is love?  Love is a necessary factor in our marriages. If we don’t have love for one another there’s going to be a lot of issues in our marriage. Without love in our marriages they’re going to be difficult to endure, any problems in the marriage will be difficult to overcome, as time goes on when we live in a relationship where there is no love the relationship is going to begin to fall apart. We’re not going to like each other very much or have any desire to be near one another, and it is just a dangerous place to be.
God’s Word is clear on the importance of love in all our relationships and especially in our marriages.
In a most familiar passage - Matthew 22:37-40 states:
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
We stated last week that our husbands are our closest neighbors. When love is talked about, do we understand what it truly is or what it means when God commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves?
We married our spouse because we loved them. Now that we’ve been married a bit we can find ourselves acting very unloving at times or maybe a lot of times and wondering what happened? We can’t exhaustively cover today what real love is, but I do desire to work through on what God’s Word says because He’s given us a clear idea of what real love is in His Word.
For the show notes and resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com

EP 34: Marriage Series #1 - God's Design for Marriages and Our Role as Women

I am so grateful to be back at the podcast and excited about this upcoming series on marriage. I've enjoyed my study time for this series and this first one is foundational because it lays out from God's Word His design for marriage and what our role is He has called us to as women.
As we dig in together today if you can sit with a Bible handy that would be a help as we're covering a lot of verses. They are all listed below so you can go back and refer to them later. Genesis 2:18-25 is my main text in understanding God's design for marriage.
My husband is going to join in on the podcasts on submission and I'm looking forward to working together with him on this series. We've been married over 32 years and consider ourselves continual learners in our walk with the Lord and in our marriage. The Lord has grown us in our love for Him and in that, in our love for one another. I have said it before but my Doug makes me want to be more like Jesus.
For the complete show notes and resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com
Future Podcasts in this Series: (not official titles yet but it gives you the topics at least)
Loving our Husbands
Respecting Our Husbands
Submission (two-part series)
Communication
Intimacy
Resources:
Homemaking Ministries Conference - Deep Dive Summit
The Creation of Woman- John MacArthur Sermon
The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
God of Creation by Jen Wilkin
Strengthening Your Marriage by Wayne Mack
ESV Study Bible
John MacArthur Study Bible
Podcast Ep 17:  Cherishing Our Husbands
Podcast: Loving Our Husbands- Women's Hope Podcast
Who Am I by Jerry Bridges
Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney
Love Has a Price Tag by Elisabeth Elliot
A Picture-Perfect Marriage- Tim Challies
For the complete show notes and resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com