Shows
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastUn-hurry your heart and life with Jennifer Dukes LeeI don’t know about you, but it feels like now that school is back in session I can finally exhale and breathe a little bit knowing there’s going to be more routine in my days. Maybe it was getting one ready for college, or mentally preparing for high school with my middle son, or the beginning of kindergarten with my youngest—but life has felt like a lot the last few months. If you’re feeling this same way, today’s show with Jennifer Dukes Lee is for you. Jennifer shares with us a time when she was at a breakin...
2021-08-2640 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting Podcast“Are You Really OK?” with Debra FiletaSometimes we confuse spiritual health with mental health, assuming they are one in the same when that’s often far from the truth. Knowing this, it seems appropriate to take a little deeper dive into our emotional health with Licensed Professional Counselor, Debra Fileta. We cover a lot of ground today with topics like: ways to take inventory of our mental health, when spiritual answers don’t address our mental health issues, the importance of modeling emotional health with our kids, training our kids to identify their emotions, recognizing our kids’ default emotion and investigating the deeper issue. And please don’t...
2021-08-0534 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting Podcast7 Traits of Effective Parenting with Danny HuertaHere’s the thing about parenting—It’s really hard to evaluate how you are doing or identify areas of improvement when you’re in the thick of it every day. Because parenting comes with no performance evaluations or long-term guarantees of success, we often find ourselves simply trying to survive, not thrive (I speak from experience). Danny Huerta from Focus on the Family joins us today with some valuable benchmarks to consider in our parenting journey. His new book, 7 Traits of Effective Parenting, very practically lists some of the most critical areas of our parenting and how to assess how we’re...
2021-07-2237 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastAll about boys with David ThomasImagine this: You’re picking up your son from the first day of school after waiting to hear all about his day. Even as he’s closing the car door you begin asking the most critical of questions like... How is your teacher? What friends are in your class? Who did you meet? Did you talk to any girls? What did you have for lunch? Are you tired? Why are you so quiet? Were the kids mean to you? Apparently unaware of the millions of questions swirling in your mind, your son simply responds that his day was “good.” I feel your...
2021-07-1546 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastA podcast for every dad (and those married to them) featuring Jeff KempIn honor of Father’s Day this weekend, Pardon the Mess is dedicating our whole show today to the dads we love! Former NFL quarterback Jeff Kemp speaks all over the country, championing fatherhood by speaking into God’s design for dads as difference-makers in their families. Today we’re blessed to have him speaking into our own families by sharing his passion behind building up men, encouraging them to be strong leaders both in our homes and in the world. Here are just a few of the powerful topics we cover: dads building healthy relationships with their kids, needs our kids...
2021-06-1738 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastPraying for our kids: Marked by missionIt’s officially here, the last week of our prayer journal! I have mixed emotions as we wrap up the 2020–2021school year, especially as the mom of a graduating senior. Yet I’m so thankful that even as we’ve braved the hard places of a pandemic, we’ve come together each week (okay, most weeks) to faithfully pray that our kids are marked by the things of God. We’ve prayed that our kids are marked with integrity, confidence, generosity, endurance, and much more. But these are nothing more than admirable qualities if they aren’t used for God’s kingdom purposes...
2021-05-1717 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastPraying for our kids: Marked by rememberingIt’s almost unbelievable that we’re down to our last two weeks of praying through the 2020–2021 prayer journal. As we’re beginning to wrap it up, I’m just so thankful that you’ve been doing this together with me. As we pray this week for our kids to be marked by “remembering,” we’re praying they will trust God’s faithfulness in their present circumstances because they have seen his goodness in the past. I love the reference to an Ebenezer stone in 1 Samuel 7. After experiencing a huge battle victory, Samuel grabbed a stone as a memorial and named it Ebenezer, trans...
2021-05-1011 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastGrace draws everyone in with Bob Goff and Lindsey ViducichIt’s cool enough to have one opportunity to chat with Bob Goff, but then to get a second shot that includes his daughter, Lindsey Viducich? Well, that’s the makings of a podcast packed with laughter and endless nuggets of truth. Lindsey and Bob co-wrote Everybody, Always for Kids, and they describe it as a book of stories demonstrating how to live out our faith as expressed in love. Take that in for a hot minute and consider how different our lives, our parenting, and our relationships would be if our primary focus was to express our faith through the len...
2021-04-1537 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastBONUS: Praying refinement over our kidsAs we begin a new week of praying for our kids, it may seem that praying they are marked by “refinement” is a bit odd; however, we’re asking the Lord to sift out any impurities that keep them from God’s best in their lives. Refinement is the process of using heat to remove impurities from metal. Only after the gold is refined do the most valuable qualities remain because the impurities and lesser qualities have been eliminated. God is in the constant process of refining all of us. Even though we’re created in his image, we are free-willed huma...
2021-03-0810 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastFaith, fitness, and Full House: My conversation with Candace Cameron BureCandace Cameron Bure is on the show today! It’s as if nothing else matters having just reached a new Pardon the Mess podcasting pinnacle. 😀 💕 🙌 To say I love Candace is an understatement of epic proportions. First of all, she’s Hallmark royalty, and there’s not a one of us that hasn’t needed movies with predictability and a happy ending after the year we’ve weathered. And don’t even get me started with her Full House greatness that marked all of our childhoods. But then hearing about her life growing up in show business and how her faith has played into her c...
2021-03-0438 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastBONUS: Praying surrender over our kidsThis week we’re praying for our kids to live each day surrendered to the Lord. The idea of living a “surrendered” life may be one of those confusing concepts we hear about at church but don’t know how to practically implement. It’s the antithesis of trying to “work” our way into a right relationship with God—instead, it’s allowing the Spirit of God to enter into us, shaping us into something greater than we could be on our own. The first and most significant act of surrender we can pray over our kids is their choice to surrender to the lord...
2021-03-0110 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastThe Life You Long For with Christy NockelsHave you ever had a conversation with someone who inspired you to do the very thing that deep down you knew God was calling you to do? That happened to me with today’s conversation with Christy Nockels. She gave the most grace-filled, permission-giving reminder of the need for rest in our lives. As parents, that’s something that’s so easily neglected in the busyness of raising kids. Christy is a singer, songwriter, author, and host of the podcast Glorious in the Mundane. She shares with us how God taught her to begin living from a heart of rest during a s...
2021-02-2546 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastBONUS: Praying God's certainty over our kidsIf 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we don’t know what’s coming our way at any given time. One year ago this week, the World Health Organization confirmed an additional twenty cases of COVID-19 in the United States, bringing the total number of cases in our country to thirty-five. Even though the number was seemingly small at the time, it was unsettling not knowing what the future held with this virus at hand (and thank goodness we didn’t know). The one thing we can be certain of this side of heaven is that our lives are going to be u...
2021-02-2211 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastSingle parenting, interior design, and God’s redemption with Susie RobbI come to you today in the midst of Texas’ 2021 polar vortex. With great anticipation, we southerners were awaiting our first big snow in years. It was going to be sledding, hot chocolate bars, game nights, and family bonding. Until... we had an electricity crisis. My house has been running a temp of around 46 degrees INSIDE, and there’s been more family bonding than I care to share with you. That said, we’re grateful to be safe and to have food, and we’re looking forward to some fun memories to share one day. Nonetheless, we’ve got a great podcast for you...
2021-02-1834 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastBONUS: Praying self-discipline over our kids“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11 ESV). Raise your hand if you feel like you check the box well when it comes to being marked by self-discipline. Me neither. That’s why I’m glad we’re praying it over our kids this week. Self-discipline (or lack thereof) will impact every part of their lives, including dating relationships, finances, online accountability, marriage, physical health, and even their occupations. The author of Hebrews (in perhaps the biggest understatement ever) reminds us that dis...
2021-02-1511 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastRaising kids with special needs: Support and encouragement for all parentsAs we focus this month on loving what God loves, I’m so excited to shine some much-deserved light on our precious families raising children with special needs. Nichole Huggins, Director of Special Needs at Prestonwood Church in Dallas, Texas, joins us as both a mom to a son with special needs as well as one directly engaged in church ministry in this area. Today’s podcast is not just for the families in the trenches each day raising children with special needs, but it’s also a much-needed word for those of us who are called to walk alongside and suppor...
2021-02-1138 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastBONUS: Praying God's presence over our kidsThe entire theme of this year’s prayer journal is built around the notion of being “marked” by the things of God. In a culture that threatens to mark our kids with anxiety, depression, and social media inundation (and in the midst of a pandemic), we’re praying that our kids will be supernaturally marked only by the things of God. This week we’re praying for arguably the most significant “marking” in our kids’ lives: that they will be marked by God’s presence. The presence of God is a core message from Genesis, with Adam and Eve in the garden, all the w...
2021-02-0811 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastLoving what God loves with Lisa HarperWe spent the month of January considering the different areas in our lives that might need some adjustments in a new year. We talked about our parenting, finances, and our physical and spiritual lives in the context of our faith. Now as we move into February, we’ve got a month-long focus on love. More specifically, we’re considering how we might better love the things God loves. You’re in for a big treat today because Lisa Harper is with us, and she’s amazing. If you haven’t run across her before, suffice it to say she’s hilarious, hon...
2021-02-0450 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastBONUS: Praying purity over our kids“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word” (Psalm 119:9 NIV). This week we’re praying that our kids are marked by purity in their lives. The idea of raising pure kids in an impure culture can feel like an impossibly tall order as parents. We sometimes mistakenly make purity a goal our kids must achieve, staying away from certain things or even keeping on a prescribed path until the finish line of marriage. But purity is not an accomplishment—it’s a relationship, as Dan Martin of Pure Hope Ministries shares with us on tod...
2021-02-0117 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastOur finances and the money challenge with Art RainerWe’re wrapping up January by discussing all things money with Art Rainer. Art has written countless books on this subject and talks with us today about the biggest money mistakes we make. He also gives suggestions on how to assess the state of our finances and how it’s impacting our marriages. I love his approach to this sticky subject because it’s all based in Scripture and God’s design for our money. This month, we’ve blown up the old adage that it’s taboo to talk about religion, politics, or money in mixed company. We’ve hit two of the...
2021-01-2834 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastBONUS: Praying confidence over our kidsToday we’re praying for our kids to be marked by confidence. As I think back on the mistakes I made growing up, many of those could have been avoided if I would have rooted my confidence in the Lord and not in this world. We will talk about practical ways to give our kids confidence in the character of God by pointing them back to our personal “stones of remembrance.” It’s sharing how God’s been faithful in the past to gain confidence in his faithfulness for our future. His character is unchanging. And as an aside, I felt oddly comp...
2021-01-2512 min
Pardon the Mess: A Christian Parenting PodcastYour medical questions answered with pediatrician Dr. Hillary LewisDo you remember all the questions you asked the pediatrician about your first child? I remember one particular appointment when my daughter was about six weeks old. I showed up at the doctor’s office with a list so long it barely fit in my SUV. The questions seem silly now, but I asked things like: How do I know when to change diaper sizes? (Duh, when the others don’t fit). And how do I know if the crib bedding is overstimulating her? (Thanks a lot, Babywise). Bless my heart, and thank goodness for patient pediatricians. Today we have the chance...
2021-01-2147 min