This episode, I have my friend Kelly Brens joining me and we are talking about all things Mother's Day.

We take some time to recognize that being a mom is hard, like really hard. One of the greatest gifts that we have been given is our friends who we get to experience motherhood with.  They give us the encouragement we need and are there to let us know we are not alone in our struggles with being a mom. I can say for sure that my friends make me a better mom.
We also want to recognize that although so many of us look forward to celebrating Mother's Day, there are many women who dread Mother's Day.
We want this episode to bring an awareness and sensitivity to those women around you that may struggle with this day.
It may be a friend who has lost her mom or lost a child.  It may be a friend who is struggling with infertility or is just still single and desperately wants to be a mom and Mother's Day reminds her of the reality that she isn't a mom.  You probably also have a friend who is a single mom. She could use some encouragement to know that she is doing a great job because she may not have anyone in her life to give her that right now.

We will also give you 5 simple and practical ways you can be thoughtful and reach out and celebrate your mom friends on Mother's Day.  These tips can also help you let your friend who may be struggling know that you see her and you know that this day is not easy for her. These are great ways to be intentional and start showing up for your friends today!   

 1. Send a  handwritten note of encouragement

2. Flowers. Go to your local grocery store and get a few inexpensive bouquets of flowers.
Take the bouquets apart and make a couple of small bouquets from the mix of flowers.
 Either take tissue paper and wrap the flowers up and deliver or put them in a cut little
 Mason jar.

 3. A treat you can bake. Is there something that you bake that everyone loves?  Whip up a
couple batches and leave some treats on your friends' porch. What a treat it will be for
 them when they see your sweet treat awaiting them!

4. Something to pamper her.  A bath bomb, shower bomb, lip scrub or anything that
is a luxury that  we moms usually never treat ourselves to.  If it would be a treat
for you, then it will probably be a treat for her too.

5. Devotional or Journal.  Pick out a cute journal or give her a copy of your favorite devotional or book. 

We hope that this episode helps by giving you some fun, simple ideas to go out and let those friends in your life know how loved they are on Mother's Day and that you would not be the woman you are without their presence in your life
.

CONNECT WITH ME:
Facebook:  Connecting in the Chaos
Instagram :  heather.oncken
Email : [email protected]
Click here for my free guide Simple Ways to be Intentional in our Friendships.
If you are loving this podcast and its helping you with your friendships, would you head on over to iTunes or your favorite podcast app and leave a rating and review?
Click here to leave me a review at iTunes!!  Let me know why you love this podcast. 

Most of us don't have to look very far to find a  friend who is struggling with depression, but most of us also don't know the best way we can help and support that friend.

Today, I invited a guest on to help us tackle how we can show up in our friends' lives who are struggling with depression. My guest today is Jackie Randall Lentz.  Jackie counsels people who are struggling with depression and has also struggled with depression  and anxiety herself.   

This episode is filled with practical ways that we can help show up and support that friend who is struggling with depression. Jackie talks about how she has struggled with depression, and that just her friends showing up and being "present" was enough to let her know she was not alone.

She also talks about how much it meant to her to have her friends praying both with her and for her.   Sometimes too often, we forget how powerful prayer is and how much of an impact it can make on our friends lives.
 
Jackie explains how important it is for us to have empathy and to not minimize why our friend is feeling the way she is.  Your friend needs to feel like she can be honest and be herself around if you minimize how she is feeling, she if far less likely she is to show up as herself.
Your friend needs to know that you are a safe place that she can go that is free of judgement and full of empathy and love.  Jackie also lets us know some really important things to avoid saying or doing that may hurt or detrimentally impact a friend struggling with depression.

This episode is filled with so much insight and I hope that after you are finished listening to it, you feel better equipped to  love and show up for your friend who may be struggling.  Since we were not meant to do this life alone, it is so important that we learn ways to show up and love on our friends who are struggling with depression.   

CONNECT WITH JACKIE:
www.beautifulmindscoaching.com
www.facebook.com/JackieRandallLentz

CONNECT WITH ME:
Facebook:  Connecting in the Chaos
Instagram :  heather.oncken
Email : [email protected]
Click here for my free guide Simple Ways to be Intentional in our Friendships.
If you are loving this podcast and its helping you with your friendships, would you head on over to iTunes or your favorite podcast app and leave a rating and review?
Click here to leave me a review at iTunes!!  Let me know why you love this podcast. 

In this episode,  we dig into why friendships should be a "standard feature" and not just an "optional feature or upgrade" in our lives.  These days, so many of us treat our friendships and being intentional in our friendships like our friends are just an upgrade or add-on to our lives, rather than seeing them an essential standard feature.  We need our friends to join us to get from point A to point B, because without friendships, when we get to point B, we realize that we are alone when we get there.  God created us to be in community, and when we are not living connected like we were created, we are not living life to our greatest potential.
 
I will talk a bit about being disconnected and how that disconnection can negatively impact our health and our happiness.  Being disconnected in our friendships can effect us physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.  Loneliness, which has slowly crept into more than 50% of our lives, is the obvious result of being disconnected in our friendships.  Science has shown that loneliness puts us at an increased risk for depression, anxiety and difficulty sleeping.  I don't know about you, but in the last year, I have experienced all of those symptoms.

Finally, I will remind you that being connected with your friends will enhance and improve your quality of life.  Being connected to our friends can assist in being both happier and healthier.  Our true friends call us out on our issues, push us to live up to our fullest potential, celebrate our highs, and weep with us in our lows.  Our friends make us better people.  When we live connected, we thrive, and that is my prayer for all of you who listen.

Books Mentioned:
The Art of Friendship: Creating and Keeping Relationships that Matter
Author: Kim Wier 


CONNECT WITH ME:

Facebook:  Connecting in the Chaos
Instagram :  heather.oncken
Email : [email protected]

Click here for my free guide Simple Ways to be Intentional in our Friendships.

If you are loving this podcast and its helping you with your friendships, would you head on over to iTunes or your favorite podcast app and leave a rating and review?
Click here to leave me a review at iTunes!!  Let me know why you love this podcast. 

On this episode, I have a guest who also happens to be a very good friend of mine. My guest & friend, Kelly Brens, shares my passion in the importance of building and cultivating deeper friendships, despite all of the chaos that life throws at us.

Kelly works in the mental health field and sees firsthand how a lack of deep connections in relationships and friendships can negatively impact people's mental health.

Today we are talking about Promptings in our Friendships.  Kelly shares with us what promptings are and how we can do a better job of not only listening for them, but also following through on them when God puts something on our hearts.  We also talk about the fruit we see not only in our friends lives but also our own life when we start listening for those promptings and take action to actually follow through on them.  There is often huge disconnect  between (1) having a thought and (2) actually following through on putting that thought or idea into action.  We all think about our friends, but then we get too busy or something distracts us and the moment to act passes. 

This episode will encourage you to not just stop at the thought of doing something God has placed on your heart for a friend, but making sure to follow through to actually do it!  This is a great episode with practical takeaways that we can start practicing in our everyday lives today!! 


CONNECT WITH ME:
Facebook:  Connecting in the Chaos
Instagram :  heather.oncken
Email : [email protected]

Click here for my free guide Simple Ways to be Intentional in our Friendships.

If you are loving this podcast and its helping you with your friendships, would you head on over to iTunes or your favorite podcast app and leave a rating and review?
Click here to leave me a review at iTunes!!  Let me know why you love this podcast. 

This episode is to help us take a look at ourselves and look at some ways that our behavior can impact the depth of our friendships.

This episode will touch on the importance of showing up as our true, authentic selves. We should ask ourselves this question - Are we doing our part in showing up as our real selves, or are we showing up as a version of ourselves that we feel that we need to show up as to be accepted? Friendship is about cultivating genuine relationships with people. If they see you every time you get together and  you "have it all together," they will think you are good. When we present ourselves to our friends as this "put-together masterpiece," that is not you being real. When we present ourselves this way, we become something that nobody can relate to.  In your friendships, show up as the real you. Show people that you do not have it all together. Show them your struggles and your imperfections. Show them that you are real because it will form a connection.  A REAL connection.

We talk about how its easy to point the finger at how our friends are letting us down or not showing up for us in the way we wish they would. We are going to take a hard look at ourselves and ask the question - Are you being the friend to others that you would like that friend to be to you? Are you showing up in your friends' lives the way that you desire your friends to show up in yours?  Be the friend you want others to be to you.

Lastly, are you running to these friends to fill a void that only Jesus can fill?  Yes, Jesus has created you with the need for connection with other people, but He never meant for it to replace His place in your life. Is He your number one?  Are you are putting expectations on your friends to fill something in you that only God can fill. If you are trying to fill that God-shaped hole with something other than God alone, you will continue to end up feeling empty, disappointed, and lonely. God gave us friends, but he still wants to be the number one in our lives.

CONNECT WITH ME:

Facebook:  Connecting in the Chaos
Instagram :  heather.oncken
Email : [email protected]

Click here for my free guide Simple Ways to be Intentional in our Friendships.

If you are loving this podcast and its helping you with your friendships, would you head on over to iTunes or your favorite podcast app and leave a rating and review?
Click here to leave me a review at iTunes!!  Let me know why you love this podcast. 

Welcome to Connecting in the Chaos.  I am so excited to begin this journey of building deeper, more meaningful friendships that I think we are all craving these days. Making, growing, and maintaining friendships as an adult is much harder than I think many of us admit.  Our friends are one of the greatest gifts that God has given us, yet many of us spend most of life too distracted in the chaos of life to enjoy the gift that friendship is. 
God created us for not only for connection with HIM but also for us to be connected to others. Most of us go through life trying to do this journey without much connection and wonder why on the inside we feel so broken and lonely. It's because it's not how we were made to live. We are not living our life to our fullest when we are  not connected to Jesus and others. I pray that this podcast encourages and motivates you to live with intent when it comes to your friendships.

This episode is short and sweet. 
It's a little bit about me and my passion for starting this podcast. It will also give you a little peek at what your can expect and most importantly why you should listen.

Books mentioned:
Live In Grace  Walk in Love    By: Bob Goff


CONNECT WITH ME:
Facebook:  Connecting in the Chaos
Instagram :  heather.oncken
Email : [email protected]

Click here for my free guide Simple Ways to be Intentional in our Friendships.

If you are loving this podcast and its helping you with your friendships, would you head on over to itunes or your favorite podcast app and leave a rating and review?
Click here to leave me a review at iTunes!!  Let me know why you love this podcast.