Thankful Homemaker: A Christian Homemaking Podcast

EP 32: Preparing Our Families for Sunday Morning Worship

How many times does Sunday morning roll around and you find your heart in a state of chaos instead of calm to worship the Lord?  How many Sunday’s do you arrive at church and realize you haven’t taken the time all week to pray for your pastor or your church family? I want to share with you some simple steps we can take to prepare our hearts and the hearts of our families for Sunday morning worship to the Lord.
The hope today is to get you to understand the purpose and the mission of the local church and then to move on toward how we can proceed with some simple steps to prepare our hearts and the hearts of our families for Sunday morning worship to the Lord.
For the show notes and resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com

EP 31: The Supremacy of God

On today’s episode, I’m sharing with you a message that I shared at our church's recent women’s retreat. Our time together at the retreat was spent learning about the attributes of God. I started the weekend off sharing about the Supremacy, Eternality, Self-Sufficiency, and Self-Existence of our most awesome God and I wanted to share what I learned with you all here today.
It has been said that what comes into a person’s mind when he or she thinks about God is the most important thing about him or her.
When we have a high view of God, it will lead to holy living, worship, evangelism, and service. I hope to spark within you today a heart’s desire to study more about this wonderful God we love and are known by.
When we gain a better understanding of Who God is, we will be better equipped in our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Every area of our life and worldview is influenced by who we understand God to be.
When we speak of God's attributes, we are talking about those characteristics that help us to understand who He truly is.
We will never be able to fully grasp the depth of God’s character, but I hope we can get a bit more of a glimpse in our short time together today.
For the show notes and resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com

EP 30: Cultivating Self-Control in Our Lives

The need for self-control is clear in God’s Word. There is much said about it. We live in a world where we are tempted daily to overindulge and live outside our boundaries. We live in a world that is dominated by “self” – Self-centeredness, self-pity, selfishness, self-deception.
Wayne Barber shared: What’s the middle letter of the word sin? What’s the middle letter? What’s the middle letter of the word pride? Now, you take those two things out—which by the way, the cross does—then you don’t even have a word. When you say yes to Him, you’ve just crucified the “I,” the flesh.
Proverbs 25:28 says, "like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit." This proverb gives us a picture of a city with its walls broken down and is utterly defenseless as a picture of what happens when our wall of defense. Our self-control is gone, and we’re not able to battle the sinful desires that wage war against our soul.
Self-control means to master our emotions instead of being mastered by them. It is the ability to control oneself and in particular our emotions and desires or the expression of them in our behavior – especially in difficult situations.
For the show notes and resources mentioned in the podcast head to ThankfulHomemaker.com
 

EP 29: Where to Begin When You're Overwhelmed in Caring for Your Home

I’m sharing today from a post I wrote quite awhile back called Where to Begin When You're Overwhelmed, and it was dealing with our home keeping. It’s been a very controversial post and people either have a love or hate relationship with it. I’m hoping you all are in the love camp today because I’m not a fan of being in the hate camp.
Before we begin, I want to lay out a statement here that I want you to remember as we walk through this. What I’m sharing is going to look different in every home. I don’t know all the battles or circumstances in your home from health and illness difficulties or various trials you’re dealing with. This may not be the season of your life for you to listen to a podcast on this topic right now.
I’m never talking about perfection or Stepford wives or making an idol out of your homekeeping or whatever your thinking because as soon as you write a post or share a podcast about this topic of homekeeping that’s where the conversation tends to go.
This isn’t about having a Martha Stewart lifestyle in your homemaking. It is about the heart of a homemaker who loves the Lord and desires to love and care for her family well because of the God she serves.It is out of a heart of love and thankfulness because she has been redeemed. Thank you, Jesus!
This also does not mean you don’t do anything outside your home or saying you can’t work outside the home or have any employment. I work for my husband’s business and have ever since my kiddos were young.  In my past - I’ve worked outside the home and inside the home and still work inside the home as a homemaker and for my husband’s business. This is not a SAHM vs. working mom podcast. This is for all Christian women in whatever season of life you’re in.
I want to chat with you today as if I’m talking with my daughter – (Hello My Amberif you’re listening) and encouraging her in the role the Lord has called her to as laid out in Titus 2:3-5
3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
Getting some foundational understanding of why we are called keepers of our homes will be an encouragement in itself not to be overwhelmed in your homekeeping, but I hope to set your mind on things of the Lord and His ways today.
For the show notes and resources mentioned please head to ThankfulHomemaker.com

EP 28: Dealing with Our Anxiousness and Worry

We are discussing on today's podcast what God’s Word has to say about our anxiousness and worry.
We’ve been working through the book of Matthew at church and have been in the Sermon on the Mount for quite a few months now.
I’ve been utilizing D. Martin Lloyd Jones sermon series to read along with the scriptures as I prepare for Sunday mornings. It’s a great resource, and it’s called Studies in the Sermon on the Mount.
One thing Pastor Ross shared about this text (Matthew 6:25-34) and what I want to begin with is an area that convicted me. When I am worried about a situation – I’m creating an idol. Worry reveals the idols of my heart, something I treasure more than Christ.
My worry usually isn’t about physical things. It can be at times, but my worry and anxious thoughts usually come about with situations in my life that I have no control over. I tend to worry about the outcomes that I have no control over, pretty pointless.
At that moment I forget Who is in control and my thoughts are self-centered and I believe at that moment that I know better than God. Ugh – that’s sin and my worry surely isn’t helping God in any way. At that moment – how Pastor Ross put it – I have forgotten that God is ruler – not me.
The passage in (Matthew 6:25-34) reminds me what Jesus says to worriers like myself.  As we walk through this passage today my prayer is that the Lord would speak to my heart and yours and the hope is we will both be reminded that the Lord knows what we need and has already provided for it.
For the show notes and resources listed head to ThankfulHomemaker.com

EP 27: Planning Our Days as Homemakers

I have always been a planner oriented person. I love notebooks and pens and making lists. I love seeing items I have to-do written down. Planning has been a help to me in caring well for my home and family. It helps me to keep order and meet the needs of my family and others while still getting time to do some of the things I love to do too (like write on this blog here). 
I'd like to walk through with you today how I use my planner to plan my days. It isn't meant to be copied buy to spark ideas on ways you can plan your days working with the way God has wired you. 
The days and weeks I take the time to plan well are the ones that are my most productive and efficient. I hope you'll be encouraged today to grab a few nuggets that may work for you and your life. 
For the Show Notes & Resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com
To get a copy, while supplies last of The Homemaker's Friend Daily Planner at half-price ($7.50) you can do that here.

Ep. 26: When the Days are Difficult and Exhausting

When our families go through battles with illness we know, as the mom, there seem to be no sick days for us. We may have quieter and relaxing days as we battle through the illness, but the needs of the home seem to await us until we are feeling better.
Times of difficult trials can also place stress on our homes. How can we keep the peace of our homes when we do not at the moment see closure to the situation the Lord is bringing us through?
Are you a tired mom out there who feels like everything you work so hard to get done seems to get almost immediately undone? I remember those days with toddlers in the house.
Communicating clearly and patiently and pointing our children to Christ in our conversations with them is hard.
Nurturing the hearts of our children is hard work. Day in and day out the workday of a mom can be physically but sometimes even more so emotionally exhausting.
There is one comfort I can always bring us back to: I can assure you there is One who knows what it is like to be exhausted.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
~ Hebrews 4:15
The hope today is to encourage you in these challenging times, give some practical help and point you back to God's Word. So listen in with me today.
For the Show Notes and Resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com

Ep. 25: The Family Dinner Table

How would you like to build relationships with your family, teach good conversation skills, work on proper table manners, eat healthier and laugh and enjoy each other’s company as a family? The solution is simple. Take the time to make the most of your family dinners.
Do you think of your family table as a place of discipleship? Our family tables are a place where we can offer Christ to others. Our hope is that our children and others would leave with more than just full bellies but with the truth of Jesus who wants to feed their souls. Does it sound a bit overwhelming? It doesn’t have to be, and I’m sharing some simple tips today that I hope will be an encouragement to you.
For the show notes and resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com
 

Ep. 24: Dealing with Our Grumbling and Complaining

We’re talking about a topic that I pretty confidently say effects all of us. It’s our grumbling and complaining. My hope today is that the Lord would fill us with joy no matter our circumstances and we would rejoice always and give thanks in all things.
As believers we can do this and how do I know this - because as it says in Philippians 2:13 – it is God who is at work in you.
So let’s dig in, and I pray that as we start our time together today, you will pray for the Lord to give you a thankful heart.
Why does it seem grumbling and complaining is so tolerated within our Christianity? Sometimes I think we tolerate it because we don’t always think of it as sin since it is so commonly practiced among us.
We grumble about the weather, our government, our churches, our circumstances and so many other things that truly are trivial in light of eternity.
For the show notes and resources mentioned head to thankfulhomemaker.com and click on the podcast show notes menu tab. 

Ep. 23: Seasons of Waiting

As I’m sharing this episode I’m finding myself in a waiting room on the Lord, and it’s been a long one, and I don’t see an end near.  It has reminded me that when I gave myself to Him, I gave up my “right” to be in charge. The reality is we never were in charge anyway; we just came to that understanding when the Lord opened our eyes to His sovereign control over our lives.
Even though it is a truth I know or we know, how many times do we want to think that somehow we can effect change in our life situations?
Waiting is hard because there is no guarantee that my waiting will end in this lifetime. One thing I have learned - my waiting has deepened my trust in the Lord and has helped me to develop patience, perseverance, and endurance.
It’s also given me different eyes to see with compassion others who are in a season of waiting.
For the show notes and resources mentioned head to ThankfulHomemaker.com

Ep. 22: Celebrating a Christ-Centered Easter

On today’s podcast episode, we’re going to talk together about how to have a Christ-centered Easter celebration. We’re going to talk a bit about the importance of the resurrection, walk through the gospel, and share some ideas to help us point our family to the risen Jesus and His gift of salvation.
We know this time of year the stores are filled with Easter baskets, chocolates, and egg coloring kits but as Christian’s our celebration of Easter focuses on the truth that we serve a risen Lord. Our God is alive, and that truth is where our hope lies. He is Risen! Jesus is Alive!
As a mom and now grandmother I desire our celebration of Easter or as many of us call it The Celebration of the Resurrection, to be Christ-focused. I’m not elaborate in our celebrations, but I desire to be intentional. I want to share more than just our traditional meal together; I want to point my family to the gift of Jesus.
Please visit ThankfulHomemaker.com for the show notes and resources listed in the podcast. 

Ep. 21: The Routines of the Day: Making the Most of Your Morning and Evening Routines

I find comfort in the routines of the day. We all have areas of our lives that need to be taken care of on a daily basis. Having routines set in your day can make the whole day run smoothly, and those routines tend to become habits over time. I am such an advocate of having a morning and evening routine because they have helped to simplify and make my days run smoothly for over 25 years now.
Starting your day with focus and structure does help you to maintain some order and not have a day of complete chaos. Even if the rest of the day turns to chaos, you have already accomplished a  lot in that first hour or two of the morning.
Whether you're a morning person, not a morning person a mother with littles or someone who already has some solid routines in place, I hope to have some encouragement for you all today.
For the show notes and resources mentioned in the podcast head to ThankfulHomemaker.com and click on the Podcast Show Notes tab in the menu bar.