Have you ever felt like your child was your parenting report card? If he or she was doing well in school, then you felt great. But, if your precious cherub was causing the teacher to pull her hair out, then you were failing.

How do we snap out of making our kids our “report card” and instead love and raise them as God calls us to do?

Proverbs 22:6 tells us to direct our children onto the right path so that when they are old, they will not leave it. If the Bible tells us to teach our kids God’s ways, how do we teach when we’re not always sure on how God wants us to live?

Today’s guest, Melissa Spoelstra coaches moms through eight areas that we need to teach our children so that they can develop their own relationship with God. As the mother of four kids, aged 20, 16-year old twins and 14, Melissa understands the difficulties and hard decisions that go along with parenting. According to Melissa, parenting is never about perfect, but intentionally planning out how to disciple our children so that they can learn to love Jesus.

In her book, Total Family Makeover, Melissa discusses how Jesus modeled certain disciplines, like prayer, mentoring and service. Then, Jesus taught the disciples how to integrate those same disciplines into their lives. Melissa will share her experiences as a mom, stories about how she’s “failed forward” as a parent and encouragement for any mom who’s at the end of her rope.

In today’s podcast, listen to my interview with Melissa as we discuss:

• Why we make our children into our parenting report card;
• How not to disciple your children into worriers;
• The CRUCIAL importance of finding a mentor mom to help you stay sane during your parenting years;
• The differences between parenting young kids and parenting older kids;

Melissa Spoelstra’s Website

Melissa’s Recommend Parenting Resources:

• Total Family Makeover: 8 Practical Steps to Making Disciples at Home by Melissa Spoelstra
• Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids by Kara Powell and Chap Clark
• For Parents Only: Getting Inside the Head of Your Kid – Shaunti Feldhahn
• Scream Free Parenting – Hal Edward Runkel

Ladies, let’s admit that we have an awkward relationship with beauty. I actually have another phrase that I use…we have an ugly struggle with beauty.

This is such a shame because Psalm 45:11 tells us that God is enthralled with our beauty. Unfortunately, we are not so enthralled with our beauty.

How often do we criticize, complain or cry about how we look in our clothes? Furthermore, how many of us feel guilty, even less spiritual because we do care about how we look?

We’re in for a treat today because my friend, Shari Braendel comes to our rescue! Shari is considered the leading voice for America’s Christian women when it comes to the topics of fashion, beauty, and dignity. She connects with thousands of women each year to inform, encourage and inspire them.

In the very first episode of the Better Together podcast, Shari will tell you what you need to know about:

• Easily identifying your body type and great tips on dressing for your body.
• How to tell if your bra is fitting correctly. Oh, my goodness, we had so much fun with this!
• She’ll teach us a helpful strategy to increase our confidence once we get dressed for the day.

 And so much more!

• SPECIAL OFFER! Buy Shari’s 27 Hangers program for only $27! If you purchase the program by January 7, 10% of your purchase will be donated to Living In Truth, a ministry that focuses on body image, self-esteem and eating disorders. You can go to Shari's website for more information.

SHOW LINKS: Shari's website

You can subscribe to Shari’s weekly newsletter, learn more about her book, discover her products and much more!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS! Did you enjoy this episode of Better Together? If so, tell your friends by sharing this episode with them. 

ABOUT SHARI BRAENDEL: Shari is considered America’s leading Christian Style Authority, CEO of Fashion Meets Faith and developer of the 27 Hanger Closet Online Academy.

Inspiring thousands of women each year to new levels of confidence at conferences around the globe, she leads with an encouraging heart and vibrant spirit helping women see themselves the way God might.

Author of Help Me Jesus, I Have Nothing to Wear and the fashion editor of More To Life Christian Magazine, Shari desires to inspire females of all ages to dress with dignity and style.

She has been featured on Focus on the Family, The Total Christian Television Network, K-Love, Moody Radio and more.

Shari lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband Dave, three lazy cats and a very overweight yellow lab. Her only son Luke attends the United States Military Academy at West Point and is an Army Basketball player so she loves watching him play ball! She also has adult triplet stepdaughters and one precious grandchild.

The Better Together Podcast with Barb Roose is coming in January 2016! 

Friends, life can be crazy sometimes, right? Where do you go when you are pressed for time and you're all out of answers? It's a perfect time to call your girlfriends! 

Speaker and author Barb Roose gathers real women sharing their real life experience about the topics that we all care about - family, friends, career, health and faith. 

The Better Together podcast will air new episodes twice a month. If you don't want to miss an episode, make sure to subscribe to barbroose.com or subscribe to "Better Together with Barb Roose" on iTunes or Google Play.

Do you have ideas for podcast topics or suggestions for great podcast guests? Tell Barb! Email [email protected]. She'll probably send you a little "something-something" for taking the time to reach out and connect.

Make sure to listen to the podcast preview and share it with your friends!