Do you feel like the master of your schedule or mastered by your schedule?

I’ve had days this fall where each half hour is so tightly packed that a few minute delay shifts the whole day. In response, my mood is rushed, my tone is harsh and my joy is zapped.

Today’s podcast guest, Lysa TerKeurst, author of the new book, “The Best Yes” has some wisdom to share if you feel the same soul stress as me.

Are you being intentional about what you say ‘yes’ to? Or are you reacting to the needs around you and saying ‘yes’ to more than you can handle?

Are you living the life you feel God desires or are you attempting to do all-the-things to please people around you?

In this episode Lysa and I dig into five schedule sappers, ways we don’t take control of schedule and in exchange lose control of our sanity. She shares practical tips for the mom of little ones, ways to be proactive in living our best lives.

What we talk about:

• How she is on this journey with us to manage the tension of overwhelmed schedules and underwhelmed souls.
• The season Lysa is now in and how she would have handed herself this book 10 years ago—how the daily choices are impacted by our best “yeses”.
• The goal of concentric impact circles of a God Centered Mom, but the reality of strangers get my best and my family getting my worst.
• Lysa’s confession of being a people pleaser.
• The tension of having more requests of you than can be done in a day and the power of the words “yes” and “no”.
• Unrushing my soul can sound good in theory, but hard to implement with a rushed reality.
• How do we ‘unrush’ when the realities are rushed.
• Practical ideas for fitting in our best yes with a chaotic four boy schedule.
• Have to get intentional with the time we have.
• Definition of “Schedule sapper”: those things that come and sap our schedules, that we dread saying ‘yes’ but feel powerless to say ‘no’.
• If you allow the thing that feeds your soul to get away from you, you do your family a disservice.
• Delaying never lets the ‘no’ go down easier.
• If you get a request and feel a sense of dread, disappoints family/kids, or introduces drama, then you should say ‘no’ right away.
• Saying ‘yes’ to everything won’t make me wonder woman, but a worn out woman.
• Overestimate my capacity and underestimate my time.
• People not projects need to occupy the sacred space of my heart.

“When the motions of my life are rushed, my emotions don’t have to be.”

“How I set my schedule is how I spend my life. How I spend my life is how I spend my soul.”

Connect with Lysa:

Site :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest

Show Notes:

• Made to Crave
• Unglued
• The Best Yes
• The Best Yes resources: weekly time assessment tool, chase down the decision tool, videos
• “The Unrush Me” Challenge – 5-day devotional straight to your email, an appetizer leading up to the book.
• “It Will Be Okay: Trusting God through Fear and Change” – new children’s book by Lysa

I’m married to a pretty fabulous man.

Bruce is kind, positive, loving, intelligent, wise and successful. From the time we were dating I’ve also been impressed with how well he gets along with his sisters and how his family loves one another well. Not only do they love each other well, they all love to serve and care for those around them.

Now I’m telling you all that not to brag, but to give you credentials for today’s podcast guest, Rosemary MacFadyen, my mother-in-law.

Married to a successful general surgeon, mother to 4 (3 girls, 1 boy), grandmother to 12 (9 boys, 3 girls) and minister to many, Rosemary lives a full and godly life.

Over the past 18 years of knowing the MacFadyen family I’ve tried to ask as many questions as possible about growing up in their home, about how they did things and what makes them special.

In today’s episode we all benefit from Rosemary’s wise approach to mothering. She shares the principles that led her parenting decisions and daily actions. We also discuss the benefits of serving internationally as a family, including their time in Liberia, years ago.

(I’ve titled the episode with “5” principles but really I think we surpass that number. . .).

What we chat about:

• The use of logical consequences instead of nagging.
• Letting children work out their own disagreements.
• Staying emotionally uninvolved from your children’s bad behavior.
• The importance of morning time of prayer and Bible reading.
• Never talking about one child to another, or even talking about your children’s decisions to a friend.
• Realizing once you say something it’s out there and can’t be taken back.
• Importance of telling your husband what is important to you.
• If you aren’t part of a problem, then you won’t be a part of the solution.
• Getting involved in a another person’s problem, the problem can sometimes escalate.
• To grow like Jesus grew in 4 different areas: wisdom, stature, favor with God, favor with man (Luke 2).
• The importance of helping your children develop a personal relationship with God.
• Helping your children hide God’s word in their hearts.
• How your love for God’s Word can transfer to your children.
• Praying with and for your children.

You have God, the Creator of the whole universe, ready to listen to you, why would we not pray?

• The Bible gives principles for living, boundaries you can use in parenting.
• Parents involving your children in ministry sets a standard for your kids of life including service.
• Observing your child’s skills and plugging them into your family ministry.
• An experience they had with two of her daughters running a guest house in Liberia.

If perfect was what was required in having people in our homes then none of us would do anything, because none of us could do it perfectly.

Show Notes:

 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:52

• Revolutionary Parenting: Raising Your Kids to Become Spiritual Champions
  by George Barna (**Amazon affiliate link)

What principles guide your mothering? Let’s start a list in the comments.

What could people pleasing and pickled cabbage possibly have to do with one another?

The answer ? Today’s guest’s real food journey.

{real food} :: …food as close to the way God created it as possible, free of additives and over-processing. 

Trina Holden vulnerably shares how panic attacks and stress plagued her for years. And constantly worrying about what other’s thought had made a physical impact.

First she began to make small changes in her diet. Because of her gradual approach to eating healthier foods, she has sustained a “real food” lifestyle for years.

Trina also worked on re-wiring her brain to recognize God as the only One she needs to gain approval. Then to remember through Christ’s work, she is pre-approved.

The author of two “real food” books, Trina, is a wealth of information in regards to eating better. In today’s episode she gives some practical ways you can improve your family’s eating habits today.

What we chat about:

•  The health concerns which led Trina to eating real foods.
• What two things she replaced in her diet.
• A history of panic attacks which escalated after the birth of her first child.
• The load of all the roles she had and the pressure of the assumed expectations others have of her.
• A huge amount of stress she felt was based on worrying about what people thought of her.
•  A need to rewire her brain and realize she is approved by God thru Christ.
• How Heather gets intimidated by real food writers and nervous they will make her switch all the food in her kitchen.
• What are fermented vegetables and the benefits of eating them.
• Heather’s love of Kombucha (how it makes her a better mom) and what that is.
• Why we need cultured food.
• Helping our bodies digest the food we eat, so we don’t just shove it through our system. Food becomes fuel.
• Preference of using the word “cultured” vs. “fermented”.
• How to make sauerkraut from cabbage on your counter.
• How Trina realized food isn’t the most important factor in our health, God is.
• Don’t eat healthy food from a fear-based perspective.
• How to buy the best chicken, what labels to look for.
• Does it matter if the eggs are brown?
• Legacy of healthy eating we want to leave our kids.

Stressing about what you are going to eat, is worse for your body than eating a candy bar.

Connect with Trina:

 Blog :: Facebook :: Instagram :: Twitter

Show Notes:

• Real {fast} food
• Your Real Food Journey
• Naturopath 
• My favorite Kombucha drink
• The story I mentioned of my son breaking his arm
• How to make your own yogurt
• (at the end of the show I mention a new link for instructions on leaving a podcast review. . .but I said ‘backslash’ instead of ‘forward slash’. . .here’s the correct link: GodCenteredMom.com/review . Thank you!)

God never promised a life without pain. But He did promise to walk with you through it.

If you find yourself in the midst of a challenging time, then today’s podcast will be an encouragement to you. 

Back in March 2008, today’s guest, Stacie Smith, received news no mom wants to hear. Her oldest son, Gavin, who was 3 1/2 years old at the time, was diagnosed with cancer. An aggressive type with a low survival rate, filling a third of his brain and down his spine.

Stacie’s faith had wandered in the years leading up to Gavin’s diagnosis, but in that moment she chose to turn towards God, beat on His chest. She claims that is the only way she survived childhood cancer.

What we chat about:

• The events leading up to Gavin’s diagnosis.
• How Stacie first responded when the Dr said, “brain tumor”.
• When she rode in an ambulance with her son, how good friends proved true.
• How anger has surfaced more now, than at the beginning.
• The fear she felt at the beginning and pleading with God to save Gavin’s life.

“Lord, you created this. I believe you can recreate it. But if it’s not going to change, prepare me in advance if bad news is coming.”

• Stacie’s belief: Cancer didn’t come to Gavin before it passed thru the hands of God first. Wasn’t a shock to God. He knew it was coming.

Anger isn’t bad. But will the anger turn you towards God or away from God? Beat on His chest. 

• The reality and length of cancer treatment.
• Gavin’s way to cope. . .his medicine cap collection:
• How Gavin’s brother reacted to the cancer diagnosis/treatment.
• Before cancer, Stacie drifted in her faith. . .stopped attending church because she didn’t want to expose her son to germs.
• God spoke to her the night before Gavin’s first surgery. . . and gave her a vision and amazing peace.
• Opportunities Stacie was given to share her faith during the treatment process.
• How to help someone going through a hard season.
• If you are going through a hard time, how to accept help from others, so you don’t rob that person of the blessing of helping you.
• The lessons when these things happen aren’t just for the immediate family.

• Connect with Stacie:

  Email- StacieSmithslp@gmail.com

  Show Notes:

  •  Isaiah 55:9–“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
  • Stormie Omartian–“Just enough light for the step I’m on”

   Have you or someone you love dealt with the horrors of childhood cancer?

  Leave your story in the comments so we can join you in prayer.