Brave Moms

Empowering and revitalizing weary moms. Join us as we explore God's heart for you and discover how He longs to empower you to bravely live out your calling as a mom. Our goal is to be a source of rich encouragement for your motherhood journey.

A Mom's Lifeline 09/22/2020

Introducing Brave Moms Groups 09/15/2020

The Power You Need for an Overcoming Life 06/30/2020

Encouragement for Your Mom-Heart Right Now 06/16/2020

Finding Time For Yourself 06/02/2020

Hope for Moms During a Pandemic (and every day) 05/27/2020

God is SO For You 05/20/2020

A Mom’s Brave (and stress-free) Plan for the New Year 12/31/2019

More than Conquerors - Freedom from the Past 12/17/2019

A Mom’s Most Important Tool 12/10/2019

Overcoming Weariness at Christmastime 12/03/2019

Getting Your Hopes Up in the Hardest Seasons 11/19/2019

What Moms of Teens Need To Know 11/12/2019

What Moms of Middle Schoolers Need to Know 11/05/2019

What Moms of Elementary Age Kids Need To Know 10/29/2019

What Moms of Elementary Age Kids Need To Know What do you need to know as a mom to an elementary-age kid? How can you set yourself up for success and have the right expectations? Today we are sharing helpful ways to be a Brave Mom in the elementary age years. IN THIS EPISODE: Give them more and more freedom as they grow. Allow them to feel accomplishment and achievement. Help them learn to do work to help the family out and have a sense of ownership and belonging. Cultivate a sense of importance around reading God’s Word and asking Him for wisdom and revelation as they hear it or read it. Begin to develop your family culture - our family does... our family doesn’t... Teach them about what’s in their food. Start paying attention to what they enjoy doing and what they are good at. Call out the good and speak truth over them if you see them believing any lies. Help them put names to their feelings and work through expressing them properly. Teach them about self-control and forgiveness. Walk them through these often. Pray with them and let them pray when they have issues. Help them learn to give thanks and ask God for what the need and want. Teach them to value others and be kind. Teach them how to handle it when others are not kind to them. Talk to them about sex early and often. Establish yourself as the expert in their life. Let them know they can ask any questions they have and that you can be trusted Keep teaching them about appropriate and inappropriate touching and equip them to speak up if anyone touches them inappropriately. Tell them all the things about them that are unique and special. Help them build confidence in who God made them to be. Teach them to take their thoughts captive. Keep making time for your own relationships to model healthy friendships for them. Continue to work on your marriage and enjoy each other. Pray for wisdom often. CONNECT WITH BRAVE MOMS: | | If you love the podcast leave a review . It will take 30 seconds and I’d be so grateful. Plus, it will help more moms find this encouragement. /episode/index/show/bravemoms/id/11822501

What Moms of Toddlers Need To Know 10/15/2019

What Moms of Toddlers Need To Know What do you need to know as a mom to a toddler? How can you set yourself up for success and have the right expectations? Today we are sharing helpful ways to be a Brave Mom in the early years when you have a toddler. Share this episode with the moms of toddlers in your life. IN THIS EPISODE: Extra sleep is still needed because your toddlers will have lots of energy. Play games with them that have them using up their energy (run around the table 10 times)... Be consistent with what you require from them and with discipline If they get away with something more than once you will have to work way harder later on to undo it Remember that discipline is love. "Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them." Prob 13:24 Keep having them take naps and if they stop napping turn it into quiet time in their rooms so that you continue to get the break and rest you need. Have expectations for them that are on their level. Don’t expect too much or too little Teach them how to act BEFORE you go places. Practice at home and remind them in the car on the way there. Their “why” questions may drive you crazy but answer them when they are not questioning your discipline. Kids need to know the reason why and you are educating them with moral reasons why that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. Why don’t we run in the store? Because someone might come around the corner and we could run into them hurting them and that would not be nice. Give them choices with rewards for good decisions and consequences for bad decisions. Your strong-willed toddler will change the world one day. Equip them to make good choices and be self-disciplined. Start teaching them now to pray and to wait and listen to hear God’s voice. Play with them and make memories but you are not allowed to feel guilty when you need to do the laundry and they want to play. Doing the laundry is for them too and it helps them learn there is a time to play and a time to work. It also helps them to learn to entertain themselves which is a valuable skill as they grow. Start teaching them about how special their bodies are and that no one should be touching them inappropriately. Tell them what to do if that happens and repeat this every so often. Make date night a priority. Keep working on your marriage. Keep taking good care of yourself. Keep doing the things that light you up inside. Remember this is a season and it will end and a new season is around the corner. CONNECT WITH BRAVE MOMS: | | If you love the podcast leave a review . It will take 30 seconds and I’d be so grateful. Plus, it will help more moms find this encouragement. /episode/index/show/bravemoms/id/11651918

What Moms of Newborns and Infants Need to Know 10/08/2019

A Heart for Foster Care - An Interview with Candace Jones 10/01/2019

A Heart for Foster Care - An Interview with Candace Jones Candace Jones believes there’s never an asterisk on what God asks us to do in His Word. She is an advocate for foster care. She has 8 children, 2 biological and 6 adopted. God called her and her husband to foster and the two of them have taken some wild steps of obedience. Candace doesn’t pull any punches in this interview. In this gut-honest conversation, she busts through excuses and misconceptions about fostering and shares her heart and what God did in her life to take such a huge leap of faith. After listening to this episode, you will be encouraged, challenged and informed on how to make a difference in the lives of children that desperately need you to do something. She also shares the most important thing any child needs. Don’t miss this episode. IN THIS EPISODE: God calls husbands and wives together 30% of youth that age out of foster care become homeless The Holy Spirit comes and sets up camp so unmistakably when you foster. God wants these kids. The kids are hungry for scripture How would you give a foster kid back? It’s maybe a valid excuse but it’s still an excuse. The scriptures never have an asterisk Ask God to give you calluses on the right parts of your heart and keep the other parts soft God is not asking you to do more than He knows you can do I would not be good at that. Moses wasn’t good at public speaking… That excuse doesn’t hold up with God. Pride says - I’m not good at that. God only asks for our obedience How will it affect my biological kids? God never asks us to trade our kid's childhood for someone else’s childhood. Don’t get ahead of God and make assumptions You get to fill out a thorough questionnaire of what would work for your family when fostering 100,000 are legally eligible for adoption Half of all foster children are returned to their parents and half of those kids returned end up back in foster care. Half of all foster parents quit the first year. It can be very isolating. Gather your friends before you begin and have them pray. Have them come and sit with you. Start scripture memorization with foster kids. It is powerful. In our American culture maxed out is very self-inflicted What do we have in our calendar that is keeping us from doing God’s will? God removes so many excuses. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows, is God in his holy habitation. Psalm 68:5 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27 How to support someone who is fostering: Contact a foster care agency and ask to get on their approved babysitter list. Offer them a regularly occurring night out. Go over with a coffee and sit with them and let them talk. Fold laundry, clean her kitchen, help her practically. Ask the kids sizes and get new pajamas, new underwear, new shoes. Don’t look left and right. Look ahead. Find an older mom who is a couple of seasons ahead of you to mentor you. All extracurricular activities fade in comparison to knowing the Bible and knowing what the truth is. Men often have financial concerns about fostering. The state of Texas and most states now if they are adopted from foster care or currently in foster care can go to college for free. Any state college. Tuition is paid. That also includes medical school, law school, and technical school. They also have Medicaid insurance through age 18. 100% of them qualify to go to college for free but only 3% of them take advantage of it. Cultivating a love for the Lord through scriptures. ABC printable scripture flash cards. Do 1 a week at breakfast. A whole week to talk about what it means. Discuss who said it in the Bible, what was going on, and when it applies to our lives. God’s Word has power. LINKS WE MENTIONED: CONNECT WITH BRAVE MOMS: | | If you love the podcast leave a review . It will take 30 seconds and I’d be so grateful. Plus, it will help more moms find this encouragement. /episode/index/show/bravemoms/id/11458550