Finding Joy in Your Home

Welcome to our kind of annual life and ministry update! Jason is joining me on this episode. Today we are debriefing about all our travels and business projects from 2021. And looking ahead to all that we are planning for 2022. Join us for a fun and exciting chat! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Purchase the recordings from the 2022 Finding Joy in Your Home Online Conference from last week Join our free community: FindingJoyCommunity.com Check out our new sponsor: Organize365.com and check out their amazing Sunday Basket system! (AND try their 7 day free mini course!!)

We have a tradition around here. Each year when our annual online homemaking conference launches, I always share the first session for free here on the podcast. I always pour my heart and soul into that first talk and I love being able to share it with everyone here on the podcast. Well, today launches our 8th online homemaking conference so today's talk is the opening session titled: Homemaking in Light of Eternity - how do we make Christian households that point to Christ? Listen in: Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. What we are going to talk about today: WHY this entire topic is so important What does Scripture say about the household? What wisdom from Proverbs do we see for our households? It has never been more important to critically think through: The purpose of the household, our duties as Christian women, how we sold use our time, how we can glorify God in mundane moments, how we persevere through hard times, and what our joyful Gospel purpose should be n the days ahead. It's not acceptable, before the Lord, to carry on normal life, accepting the world's standards as our own. Thinking through our priorities: The world tells us to seek our own pleasure eat all costs. --> Christ tells us to deny ourselves and live a godly upright live in these present days (Titus 2:12 says, "training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age) The world tells us to leave our husbands the moment our needs are not being met (or even, never to get married at al because you'll be oppressed). --> Christ tells us to love our husband and our children and to lay down our lives for others. The world tells us that the things worth pursuing are bigger houses, nicer cars, a magazine worthy $50,000 kitchen or you are doing something wrong and all the strappings of a successful life. --> Christ tells us that a successful life is to take up His cross daily and follow Him. For those in Europe, Australia, and other places around the world, you've been living in a anti-Christian culture for a good 10 years or more. Here in the U.s. and Canada, its finally coming as well. We no longer are part of the dominant culture. We now have sesame street having a transgender story house. We have phedophelic shows on Netflix, being applauded by the critics. We have governing officials saying that parents shouldn't be in control of, nor even being aware of, what their children are being taught in schools, medical procedures, or even hormone therapies and sex changes for children as young as 7 or 8. We live in a culture that is hostile to Christ. And instead of this making us fearful and fretful of the future, instead of making us anxious about the world our kids are growing up in... It should be an exciting time to live. We finally get to take all of these lessons from Scripture and really put them into action. There's nothing like a little adversity to wake us up to how friendly with this world we've become and the immense joy we can have from serving the Lord, even under persecution. It's a time where living set apart for the Lord can truly shine. It's a time that instead of hiding in insane fear, we can proudly display the hope we have in God and be ready to share that hope we have. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires." James 1:2-5 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Allow perseverance to finish its work,

For the past several years, I've picked word for my year. This word kind of revolves around all of my goals for the year and helps to give me some direction. But this year, I've chosen a theme for my year instead of just a single word. Listen in to find out what my theme is, how to pick your own, and some ideas for incorporating it into your year! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. 8 years of themes: 2012: Intentional 2016: Joy 2017: Create 2018: Refresh 2019: Faithfulness 2020: Cultivate 2021: Kingdom And now, my 2022 theme for the year: The Year of Transition. What has gone into choosing this theme: We've got a LOT of transition going on around here. 2021 was a FULL year, but mostly a stable one. Lots of travel as we looped the country 1.5 times. We went to the southernmost part of the lower 48, we visited the hottest place in the USA, and spent time in the highest capital city in the USA - among a million other things. It was a wonderful, full, and busy year. But as I started thinking to 2022, I realized that this is going to be a pretty major transition year for our family - and our ministry here - in many ways. And while "transition" isn't the most fun work to pick, I thought it worked well as more of a theme. The year of Transition. I feel like this is an important distention, because transition can be hard. I'm already a tad exhausted thinking about the decisions coming up for us this year and the possibilities. It's truly a year of transition in many ways, and that could be bad. But instead, we know that God has great things in store for His Kingdom and His People. So for me, it's a positive. I'm walking into 2022, knowing it's going to be chocked full of transition. I'm expecting it and therefore excited to see what God does. For me, The Year of Transition theme has a few helpful distinctives: With many of our very necessary upcoming changes, we don't totally know what the end step will be. We have some vague ideas or even plans, but only God knows truly what will come from this year. So The Year of Transition helps me to remember, that as we walk into the unknown, God is making a path ahead for us. And we don't need to see every step of the way. Transition can be hard, daunting, and even scary. As someone who actually likes change, I already feel a bit overwhelmed at all this year is going to pack in. I feel overwhelmed with research and decisions. And so, The Year of Transition reminds me that it IS a transition year. And in transition, I can find great joy. So as I look forward to 2022, The Year of Transition reminds to me 1) Trust in God's sovereignty in all things 2) let go of the need to control all decisions and 3) walk in Joy - even when it's an uncomfortable season. A few verses I've been looking at as I pray through my to do list has been: A Time for Everything 3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace." - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 "He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding" - Daniel 2:21 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and ...

It's finally that time of year again: We are here today to announce the 2022 reading challenge and chat about this year's reading. We will discuss our goals, making new goals, and some exciting changes to the 2022 reading challenge (it's going to be so much fun)!! Listen in here: Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. What's New This Year In an effort to inspire more reading, and to do it as a community, we are introducing a community aspect for the first time ever! We've always wanted to do this, but now is our year!! The community group will kick off on January 1st. You can join our community in the meantime here ---> FindingJoyCommunity.com In the community, we will all be able to update on our progress, share new favorite books and ask for book recommendations in categories. Jason and I will also be publishing detailed book lists throughout the year and posting our book reviews of our books we read throughout the year!! Next exciting change: You will determine your goal for the year and then compete against yourself for some fun little prizes. If you hit your quarterly goal, we'll have stickers, magnets, and bookmarks you can win for free and add to your next store order!! It's going to be super fun. I'll be unveiling quarter one's prize soon! BONUS: I'll have a reading planner PDF to download for FREE as part of the challenge. I'm almost done with it and will release it into the community as soon as it's done!! It has places for book summaries, tracking your reading goals, favorite quotes, and more. Jason & Jami's 2021 Reading Goal: We both set big goals for this year, and neither of us are hitting it! But that's okay because I feel like we both had great reading years. And that's really all that matters. Jason's read (so far): 93 books for the year Jami's read (so far): 97 books for the year 2022 Christian Reading Challenge Here's how it works: You will find the reading challenge below. You'll see that we've given you two tracks – 13 books or 26! This is either reading one book every four weeks or one book every two weeks. If you want to do 52 books (one a week) you can easily adjust for that as well. A note about fiction: This year we've included fiction categories per your request! I think fiction is hard because all of us are going to have different tastes in what fiction we prefer. You can find some of our favorite Christian Fiction books here. But feel free to substitute any fiction books or series that you enjoy. Pick Your Level: I know each of us has different reading levels and time for reading, so I created two different tracks you can follow. 13 Books a Year – This works out to 1 book every 4 weeks. If you have no habit of reading right now or have no idea you will fit reading time into your busy schedule, then this is a great level to begin with. Pick one book every 4 weeks and commit to getting it down within that time. 26 Books a Year – If you want to tackle a bigger challenge, then this level will get you reading 1 book every two weeks throughout the year. It's still a very doable reading track but will challenge you to stay on track! If you want to follow this plan, read one book from each list every month. So in January, read book #1 and book #14! This way everyone can read through and follow along with books #1-13 together. Here are the categories: Christian Living Marriage Parenting/Family Life Theology Fiction Biography/History Spiritual Disciplines Christian Classics Church History *If you are not a parent or are not married, then scroll down and fill in those spots with other fantastic book suggestions from the other categories. Book Recommendations Per Category: Christian Living:

Are you ready to get planning for 2022? Maybe you are like my guest today who has already done all her 2022 planning, or maybe you are like me and you've done zero planning yet 😅 Either way, you are going to love this interview with Elizabeth Santelmann from A Sunshine in My Nest. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Visit Elizabeth's blog Sunshine in my Nest Follow Elizabeth on Instagram Our Sponsor: Go to StoryWorth.com/homemaking and save $10 on your first purchase! Our Sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking10 and use code homemaking10 to get 10 Free Meals including free shipping!

Welcome back to the 3rd episode in our mini series: The Family & Culture: How to bring glory to God within our households in a hostile culture. Last week we talked about how we can learn to be BRAVE women in our current age (And why it's so important to do so)! Today we are doing the second part of bravery: How we can take examples from Scripture to see how to be brave. Bravery is something that isn't built into our culture. For the most part, we haven't had to be brave in our lifetime and don't know how to prepare the next generation for what may be coming. So let's journey into Scripture to get bolstered up that we CAN be brave through the Holy Spirit - and how that impacts our households. Let's dive in: Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Our culture is becoming increasingly hostile to Christians. I think we've all seen this building in the past 10-20 years but many of us have been left shocked at how quickly it has ramped up in the past 2 years. I'm raising 6 young kids in this world and as I look into the future, I can be fearful for the world that they will be handed and what it will look like for them raising my grandkids. I know so many have felt this fear that I've heard time and again from women questioning if they should even have any more kids or even from young couples wondering if they should have children at all. But we are NOT living in unprecedented times It's been the thing to say the past 2 years that we are living through unprecedented times. Well no, we aren't. Plagues and pandemics are nothing new, in fact this is an extremely mild pandemic. Political strife and unrest is nothing new, in fact, it's been far worse at many times in our own countries history. Riots and looting are nothing new, in fact, our parents and grandparents have lived through many riots in their days. Very generation thinks they are unique, but the truth is, what we've been going through will hardly be a blip in history. In fact, the only reason I think anyone will read about the past 2 years in the future is how egreasgously the whole thing has been handled. I don't downplay the loss and devestation that many have suffered the past 2 years. There has been real grief and heartache. But because of social media especially, it can all feel a whole lot worse than it is. And is a constant presence every single second. In episode 19 we talked about how and when we should carry each other's burdens. And in that episode, we cover a good talk on social media and how it's caused a lot of problems for our generation. And then in episode #15 we take a look at the Christian responses to the Black Plague, early Greco-Roman plagues, and Emperor Nero. It's a good one if you need a dose of perspective. And in episode #16 we take it further to see how we should be looking into the future. If you need some more encouragement after this episode, dive into those two! Now turning to Scripture SO, today we are going to look at some brave acts in Scripture. But the real hero we are going to see, isn't Daniel or Abraham, it's God. Too often, we focus so much on the Bible characters. We focus on their story instead of what their story tells us about God. So let's see how acts of bravery are actually acts of our gracious God. When we can understand that, and walk boldly knowing that God is sovereign and is making a path ahead of us and that nothing will happen outside of His will, then we can be BRAVE women and build up BRAVE families. Learning from Daniel "Purpose of Writing: In 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had conquered Judah and deported many of its inhabitants to Babylon – Daniel included. Daniel served in the royal court of Nebuchadnezzar and several rulers who followed Nebuchadnezzar. The Book of Daniel records the actions, prophecies, and visions of the Prophet Daniel."

Welcome to the second part in our new series: The Family & Culture: How to bring glory to God within our households in a hostile culture. Last week, we took a deep dive into the joys & duties of a Christian household and it was a good introduction to this topic. We've got some terrific topics coming up in this series. But today we are tackling a really important lesson for all of us today: We need to be brave in faith before the Lord. We need to lead and love our families with Bravery. We need to teach and train our kids to be brave. And it starts with us. Listen in today: Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. We need to learn how to be brave. We need to be brave women. We need to be brave mothers. We need to help inspire our men to be brave. And we need to instill bravery in our children as they grow. We need to be brave, in order to follow God's leading. Especially in an increasingly hostile culture. If we don't cultivate bravery, we may very well bow the knee to false gods and idols. Learning how to be brave in a hostile culture Something that the past 2 years has brought to a lot of our attention is how hostile our culture is against Christians. We've become so use to comfort and ease, that with the world getting a little shaking, we don't know how to respond. We need to become braver. We need to become brave Christians. And THIS is going to heavily affect how we respond now and especially into the future. We've seen this shift in the western world over the past 20 years. Those perhaps in the UK or Australia have been feeling this shift for a decade. And those of us here in the US are finally feeling it now as well. "This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing through. My treasures are laid up Somewhere beyond the blue. "In reality, for us in the English-speaking West this world has tended to feel very much like home and our treasures have been right before our eyes. But now we are finally facing the fact that this broken, sinful world in which we live is not actually our home - that what the Bible says concerning believers in this world is really true: That we really are aliens and that we really are strangers. The fact of the matter is that it has been true that we are strangers in and to this world. It has just been clouded, obscured by the size and influence and legal protection of the church in most of the Western world. But this world is not actually our home. We're not supposed to be treating this life the way other people treat it, as if this is the be-all and end-all of everything, or as if as Christians we can have a comfortable, respectable, prosperous life here and look forward to even more of those things in eternity. "Secularism pushes back again and again against what the Bible says about sexual ethics, about salvation, about education, about the role and reach of the state, or about matters of public welfare. Public opinion has turned against Christians." - Brave by Faith We've become so comfortable in our world, that we are not ready or willing to make sacrifices. I can't even begin to count how many times those around me (and myself) have uttered the past 2 years "I just can't wait until things get back to normal." But what if God is teaching us some profound truths through all of this. What if he is exposing the true Church, cutting the wheat from the chaff and teaching all of us in the Western world how to stand firm in the Lord once again. But God is Sovereign. He is in control. He is foreseeing all that is happening and He is working it all out to His Glory (and for our good to those of us in His Church). We freak out at the slightest inconvenience. We fear for the future and what kind of society our kids will inherit. I'm not saying it's wrong to speculate about what's coming and it's certainly not wrong to be proactive in protecti...

Welcome to my new series here on the podcast: The Family & Culture: How to bring glory to God within our households in a hostile culture. We are at a time, as a society and as the Church, where we need to be thinking really critically about our families, our households, and the larger culture. We need to figure out how and when we are going to interact with the culture and what it means to share the Gospel and also protect our families. This is a BIG and incredibly important topic, so today kicks off an entire series on this topic. In this series that will span into 2022, we will cover topics like: Equipping our family to be brave for the coming future, How to prepare your family to weather the storm in a hostile culture, how to prepare your home to nurture your family, The mother's role in developing a family culture, The father's role, The children's role and responsibility, defending our faith, and more! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. So today we are kicking off this discussion first by discussing the household. After all, that's what this podcast is for, Finding Joy in Your Home...all for God's Glory! So then, as we jump into these even greater topics, I want to first make sure we see how essential the household is. In the past 50 years or so, Christianity in the West has become progressively more individualistic. We've wanted to shed any ideas of religion in favor or a "relationship". We want to emphasize our own personal walks with the Lord over corporate walks. We've lost how community oriented the Christian life is suppose to be and this has deeply affected our households and how we teach our children about Christ. We need to fight for the households again. We need to fight hard for time as a family, time with our kids, time to slowly teach them about Christ. We've become a very individualistic society that goes a thousand separate ways. And in some ways, I think this has been made worse the past 2 years. We need to start thinking to our great grand children. What are we building for future generations? How are we training up parents and grandparents. Over the course of the next couple of hundred of years, I cannot even begin to calculate how many descendants that Jason and I will have. The Whole Armor of God 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:10-20 There are great joys in a Christian household. There is fellowship and intimacy. There is working through problems and conflicts as Christians. There is the deep love and support of a life lived for Christ. There are male and female,

In between series here on the podcast, we are sneaking in a holiday episode. Are you READY and excited for the holidays? Or perhaps dreading the effort and the time coming up? Whether you feel excited or are dreading the upcoming holidays, we can all use a good dose of perspective for finding Joy in the Lord this year! Listen in: Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. A call to be generous & servant hearted "In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' " - Acts 20:35 We can witness to unsaved family and friends this way and be a good model for our kids. "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:16 We are called to use the life and resources that God has given us to serve. "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love." - Galatians 5:13 Examine our expectations With this in mind, let's be ultra clear on what our expectations are for the holidays. Many of us go into the day with grand ideas and an agenda. We have a picture of how this family get together will be and what we will do. Plans don't always go our way. So plan for the day, expect God's glory to be shone, and let all the little things go. If we have unrealistic expectations, the holidays will never be fun and we will probably be upset or angry. Let's remember to serve and glorify God with these days. Remember those who are hurting this holiday season I never understood how hard the holidays could be until my mom passed away. My eyes were opened to the fact that the holidays can be incredible for so many and incredibly sad for so many others. Look out for who you can serve. Who needs some encouragement or a hug this holiday season? Who doesn't have any family to spend the holidays with? Watch for ways that you and your family can serve. Make the holidays about Christ I love November and December. I adore putting up Christmas lights and walking down the oldest street in town, hot chocolate in hand, and ooing over all the lights and houses. I love Christmas carols and sitting by the fire. I love the ambiance and the time of year. But above all of those things, we love Christ. And as in everyday life, we should seek to make the holidays firmly about Christ. Let's make sure to center our celebrations and our joy around HIM. Christmas carols: https://uribrito.com/optimism-christmas-carols/ I have a few goals as I head into the holiday season: Recognize that this is a busy season. This is not the time for mama to kick her feet up and have the perfect holiday. It's the time we can serve and love our families in the best possible way. Adjust your expectations accordingly. If you go into this season with the right perspective, it can change everything. I want to have a servants heart - and look for ways I can serve Bring my family together. More family time, not less, is my goal during the busy holiday season. For our young ages, this sometimes looks like saying no to friends things so we can just be home as a family of 8 together. Finally and most importantly: Bring glory to God. Make our mission about Christ in all we do. From thanksgiving praises, to working hard in the kitchen, from thinking ahead as to how we can be a blessing at relatives houses, to being the first to offer to clean up, from focusing on Scripture to singing joyful Christmas caroles together: We can aim to be bring glory to God in everything we do. Cleaning House for the Holidays sermon series: Gaining a clear consciences before God Finding relief from regrets

Whew! We are here. Today we are wrapping up our 25 foundational episodes to kick off the relaunch of my podcast. These 25 episodes are to stand as the foundation of the idea of Finding Joy in Your Home. Go back and catch up on the ones you missed. Next week we are kicking off our NEXT 25 episodes. The theme for those? The Family & Culture: How to bring glory to God within our households in a hostile culture. It's gonna be good 🔥 Today we are wrapping up our discussion on drawing closer to the Lord through spiritual disciplines and a Q&A. Listen in here: Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. We need to put in the work and the discipline and the time. So often we cry that we want a deeper spiritual life, but we don't want to put in the work. We want one or two slides on Instagram to teach us how to do it. We don't want to go through the work of listening to an entire podcast episode or reading a book. We want fast and quick results. But a life that becomes more and more like Christ…takes small daily steps. Every single day of your life. Small little steps that don't seem like anything earth shattering until you look back after 5 years, 10 years, 50 years and you are suddenly a different person. Questions we chat about today: How to get into consistent Bible reading. It's such a struggle for me. Why as moms we should read our bibles? How to read the Bible to young kids Thoughts on fasting —> READ THIS Family worship. —> Listen to episode #17 Scripture memorization? Favorite kids devotionals? see below Favorite Kid's Devotionals: The Ology - Marty Machowski Wonderfull: Ancient Psalms Ever New 30 Prophecies: One story Links & Resources: Book on the Puritans I'm reading that I mentioned: Thriving in Grace: Twelve Ways the Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth Join our community!! Grab your ticket to the 2022 Finding Joy in Your Home Online Conference Make sure to return next week as we kick off our next 25 episodes. The theme is: The Family & Culture: How to bring glory to God within our households in a hostile culture