Prayers for Parents | Biblical Parenting, Christian Family, Homeschool and Discipleship

How do you practice biblical parenting when your child’s needs, your family’s circumstances, or your hopes for the future look different than you imagined? In this episode of Prayers for Parents, Macy sits down with author and publisher Terrie Hellard-Brown to talk about raising children with special needs, navigating grief and uncertainty, and trusting God through the unexpected.

Terrie shares her family’s journey through multiple medical diagnoses, surgeries, autism, pregnancy loss, and the challenges of raising and launching children into adulthood. She offers honest, practical wisdom for Christian parents who want to raise children with faith, character, and wonder—even when parenting looks nothing like they expected.

If you are searching for biblical parenting encouragement, Christian guidance for raising autistic children, or biblical prayers to sustain you through difficult seasons of family life, this conversation will remind you that your child’s worth is not defined by a diagnosis, independence, or worldly measures of success. Every child is made with purpose, and God remains present in the hardest valleys.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Parenting children with special needs while holding onto faith in God

• Navigating the grief of unexpected diagnoses and letting go of the family story you imagined

• Supporting parents who receive a prenatal diagnosis or face ongoing medical challenges

• Advocating for your child when doctors and professionals do not have all the answers

• Raising autistic children with wisdom, patience, prayer, and practical support

• Balancing prayer for healing with the conviction that our children are not mistakes

• Teaching life skills and preparing children with special needs for adulthood

• Building independence through routines, repetition, and breaking complex tasks into manageable steps

• Redefining success and recognizing your child’s God-given worth and purpose

• Finding comfort in God’s presence during seasons of fear, uncertainty, and suffering

Scripture for the journey

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me.” Psalm 23:4

This verse has been an anchor for Terrie through some of the most difficult seasons of her family’s life. When the path ahead is uncertain, biblical truth reminds us that we do not walk through the valley alone.

Meet our guest: Terrie Hellard-Brown

Terrie Hellard-Brown is an author, speaker, and founder of Hypurpley Publishing. Through children’s books, family devotionals, discipleship resources, and homeschool curriculum, she helps families grow in faith and build their lives around a biblical worldview.

Learn more about Terrie and her work:
Website: https://terriehellardbrown.com
Hyperbole Publishing: https://hypurpleypublishing.com

Continue growing in biblical parenting

Prayers for Parents offers biblical prayers and encouragement for Christian parents who want to raise children who flourish in faith, character, and wonder. Whether you are navigating everyday parenting challenges or walking through an unexpectedly difficult season, our hope is to help you turn to Scripture and seek God’s wisdom for your family.

Subscribe to Prayers for Parents for more biblical prayers, Christian parenting encouragement, and Scripture-centered conversations to help you disciple your children.

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I started writing this prayer while I was at the ER with my four year old little boy. The wait felt like an eternity, of course, as we sat there in limbo while they interpreted his test results. Thank goodness he was fine, but I just thought of how many others in my life right now are stuck in seasons of waiting. We most often wish away the waiting, but there is so much the Lord has for us in the midst of these times of uncertainty.

There are seasons of life when we find ourselves in a waiting room. Waiting for test results, a surgery, a relationship to change, a dream to be fulfilled, or simply waiting for God to make sense of circumstances we cannot control.

In this episode of Prayers for Parents, we pray for the grace to abide with Christ when we don't know what comes next.

Jesus tells us in John 15 that He is the vine and we are the branches. Our calling is not ultimately to control the outcome, understand the timeline, or get the answer we hoped for. It is to remain close to Him.

This prayer is for the parent who is carrying uncertainty, replaying the coulds, shoulds, and ifs, and struggling to surrender the picture of how life was supposed to turn out.

We pray for the faith to believe that God Himself—not a favorable outcome—is our greatest good. We ask Him to hold us tightly in the waiting, to give us peace when our minds begin to ruminate, and to teach us to pray, “Thy will be done,” even when His will is not what we would have chosen.

Because sometimes the waiting room is where God teaches us to abide.

• Peace in seasons of uncertainty and waiting

• The ability to surrender our expectations to God

• Trust in God's sovereignty over circumstances we cannot control

• Freedom from constantly dwelling on the “coulds,” “shoulds,” and “ifs”

• Faith to believe that closeness with God is better than any particular outcome

• Strength to trust God's goodness even in suffering

• A heart that seeks God's glory above our own desired outcomes

• The grace to pray, “Thy will be done”

John 15:4–5
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me... Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

If you are in a waiting season right now, I hope this prayer reminds you that you are not waiting alone. God is sovereign over the waiting room, and He is inviting you not simply to wait for an answer, but to abide in Him.

Visit thefruitfulfamily.org to join the Fruitful Family newsletter and receive free resources for Christian motherhood, biblical parenting, family discipleship, and building a home where faith, character, and wonder flourish.

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Until next time, may you remember:

The Lord is with you in the waiting.

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What does it look like to raise children who don't just memorize Bible verses, but actually know Scripture, understand its story, and live out their faith?

In this episode of Prayers for Parents, Macy sits down with Christian creator and Bible teacher Douglas Vandergraph to talk about biblical parenting, discipleship, and the power of immersing our children in the whole story of Scripture.

Douglas shares the remarkable story of surviving a catastrophic car accident at sixteen, an experience that profoundly shaped his understanding of God, purpose, and life. Years later, while creating chapter-by-chapter book studies, he experienced another major transformation that led him to devote his work to helping others understand Scripture.

Together, Macy and Douglas explore why our children need more than isolated Bible verses or occasional Sunday sermons. They discuss the importance of helping kids see Scripture as one cohesive story, giving them the context they need to understand God's character, Christ's mission, and their place within the biblical narrative.

They also talk about something even more foundational: our children are watching us. Biblical discipleship isn't simply about telling our kids what to believe. It is about showing them what it looks like to follow Christ through our own lives, repentance, relationships, priorities, and everyday habits.

• Douglas's incredible survival story and his near-death experience at age 16

• How his experience changed his understanding of God's purpose and calling

• The unexpected way studying the entire New Testament transformed his faith

• Why children need to encounter the whole story of Scripture, rather than only isolated verses

• The difference between memorizing Scripture and internalizing Scripture

• How parents can help children develop a lifelong love of reading and learning

• Why quality time and face-to-face interaction matter so much in family discipleship

• The importance of parents living what they teach

• How our children learn from what they see us do—not merely from what we tell them.

• Why biblical stories from the Old Testament matter for understanding the gospel

• Using family games, conversation, reading, and everyday activities to reinforce biblical truth

• Why it is never too late to reconnect with your child

• The importance of repeatedly reminding our children that they are loved

• How parents can repair relationships through humility, confession, and apology

• What Jesus' interactions with women reveal about His compassion and grace

• God's grace, forgiveness, and the invitation to return to Him

• Finding purpose beyond money, success, and worldly achievement

• Building a family foundation that can withstand life's storms

One of the central themes of this conversation is beautifully simple: our children are watching us.

If we want our children to love Scripture, we need to let them see us reading it. If we want them to pray, they should see us pray. If we want them to forgive, we need to model forgiveness. And when we fail—and we will—we can show them what repentance and reconciliation look like.

Douglas has created a large, free collection of Christian resources, including Bible studies, articles, videos, and podcasts focused on helping people understand Scripture.

Search Douglas Vandergraph on YouTube to explore his work.

Douglas Vandergraph is a Christian writer, Bible teacher, podcaster, and digital creator whose work centers on Jesus Christ, Scripture, spiritual growth, practical encouragement, and long-form Bible study. He has built an extensive free Christian library and a YouTube community of approximately 600,000 subscribers, with more than 2,000 videos across his broader body of work. Douglas writes and speaks to help people connect the teachings of Jesus with grief, prayer, forgiveness, perseverance, purpose, hope, and ordinary life.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@douglasvandergraph
Christian Library / Master Index:
https://douglasvandergraph.com/douglas-vandergraph-master-index/

What if some of the most powerful opportunities for teaching biblical truth are hiding inside the books our kids already love?

In this episode of Prayers for Parents, Macy Bassler sits down with Bible teacher, author, and Christian grandmother Gayle Veitenheimer to talk about the powerful role of story and literature in Christian parenting and family discipleship.

Gayle is the co-author of the Kingswell Kid Detectives middle-grade series, a Christian mystery series for children ages 8–12 that combines engaging mysteries with biblical themes. The first book, The Mystery of the Missing Falls, explores prayer and hearing God speak.

But this conversation goes far beyond one book. Macy and Gayle explore why story can be such a powerful tool for discipling children, how parents can use classic literature to teach biblical virtues, and how reading together can create opportunities to talk about difficult subjects before our children encounter them on their own.

• Why story is such a powerful tool for Christian discipleship

• How children can learn biblical truth through fiction and narrative

• Why Jesus Himself frequently taught through parables

• How approximately 40% of Scripture is narrative, and what that means for how we teach our children

• Choosing children's books with a biblical worldview

• How to evaluate secular and classic children's literature

• Using "secular" books to discuss virtue, character, courage, friendship, sacrifice, and consequences

• How reading stories can cultivate empathy and help children process difficult experiences

• Why parents don't have to restrict themselves exclusively to explicitly Christian books

• The importance of reading aloud and creating a family culture of books

• How grandparents can become intentional partners in discipling grandchildren

• What to do when adult children or grandchildren aren't following the Lord

• The role of prayer and intergenerational family discipleship

• Teaching children how to recognize and test what they believe God is saying against Scripture

• How overwhelmed Christian moms can stop striving and learn to depend on the Holy Spirit

• Gayle's Kingswell Kid Detectives series and why she wanted to combine mystery, adventure, prayer, and biblical faith

• Introducing children to middle-grade literature and finding quality books for ages 8–12

• Navigating conversations about AI, technology, and children's education

• Why literature can help parents introduce difficult subjects while their children are still safely at home

Gayle describes story as a powerful and often overlooked discipleship tool. Rather than simply giving children facts about courage, sacrifice, friendship, obedience, fear, or redemption, stories allow children to experience those ideas alongside the characters.

That gives parents an incredible opportunity: instead of simply telling our children what is true, we can read a story together and ask questions that help them discover and apply those truths for themselves.

Her encouragement to parents is simple: don't underestimate what God can do through ordinary moments of obedience.

Gayle Veitenheimer
https://gailveitenheimer.com

Christian Grandparenting Podcast
https://christiangrandparentingpodcast.com

Kingswell Kid Detectives
https://kingswellkids.com

Gayle's free Kid Lit Tips & Resources guide includes children's reading lists, kid-lit blogs, the Newbery Award list, favorite book recommendations, and information about the Kingswell Kid Detectives series.

• The Mystery of the Missing Falls 

• Charlotte's Web

• The Secret Garden

• Peter Rabbit

• The Chronicles of Narnia

• The Lord of the Rings

• The Book of Ruth

• The Great Gatsby

• The Prince of Egypt

• The Charlatan's Boy 

  Be sure and check out Gayle's Kid Lit Tips Resource

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A Prayer for the Changing Seasons | Trusting God When Life Changes

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.

In this episode of Prayers for Parents, we pause to reflect on the changing seasons of life and motherhood—and remember that while our circumstances continually change, God remains faithful and unchanging.

Whether you're welcoming a new season with relief or struggling to let go of a season you wish could last forever, this prayer invites you to place both your memories and your future into God's hands.

Drawing from Ecclesiastes 3, we reflect on:

• Finding peace when life feels like it's changing around us
• Thanking God for the ways He carried us through difficult seasons
• Letting go of seasons we aren't ready to leave
• The bittersweet passage of childhood and motherhood
• Releasing our fear of what the future may bring
• Remembering God's faithfulness when circumstances change
• Holding beautiful memories without worshiping the past
• Trusting the God who is immovable and unchanging

Scripture:
Ecclesiastes 3:1–8

A Prayer for the Changing Seasons

“Whatever a changing season brings, You are our peace, our sustainer. May the changing of seasons point us ever closer to You, the God who is immovable and unchanging.”

May this prayer meet you wherever you are—in a season of relief, grief, transition, joy, uncertainty, or simply learning to let go.

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What if one of the most important things we can give our children isn't simply an education—but a sense of wonder?

In this episode of Prayers for Parents, Macy sits down with Camila Johnson, a former public school educator, homeschool mom, and creator of Eden's Table Homeschool Curriculum, to talk about education, faith, nature, health, curiosity, and the ordinary ways we can help our children recognize God's goodness in the world around them. After 12 years in public education, Camila began asking bigger questions about what children are actually being prepared for.

That journey eventually led her toward homeschooling and the creation of a curriculum centered around nature study, practical skills, health literacy, stewardship, and a distinctly Christian understanding of creation.Together, Macy and Camila talk about why wonder and curiosity may be some of the most important things we can cultivate in our children—and how learning to wonder at creation ultimately leads us back to the Creator.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why so many parents and educators are rethinking traditional education

• The difference between educating children to pass tests and educating them for life

• How to cultivate curiosity and lifelong learning

• Why wonder is an important part of Christian formation

• How creation points us toward the Creator• Teaching children about their bodies and health

• Helping children understand symptoms and recognize what their bodies are communicating

• The biblical idea of stewardship of our bodies

• What gardening, cooking, and practical skills can teach our children

• Why the dinner table can be such an important place for family formation

• How nature study can help children recognize God's fingerprints throughout creation

• Finding God's goodness even in difficult or uncomfortable circumstances

• Learning alongside our children instead of feeling like we have to know everything

• How stories can help children understand suffering, sickness, disappointment, and faith

• What a nature- and botany-based homeschool curriculum can actually look like

Mentioned in This Episode

Eden's Table Homeschool Curriculum

Camila's nature-based Christian curriculum integrating botany, science, history, geography, math, storytelling, practical skills, health, and faith.

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry— John Mark Comer

The Unseen Realm— Michael S. Heiser

MORE ABOUT CAMILA

Camila is a credentialed educator (M.Ed.) and homeschool mother who founded the Eden Institute to return herbalism to its biblical roots. She is the creator of Eden's Table, the first K-12 Bible-rooted herbalism curriculum, designed so a mother can co-learn alongside her child at the kitchen table, one Scripture-anchored lesson at a time. After training in formal herbalism schools, Camila left over the Far Eastern mysticism woven through them , and set out to build a framework Christian families could trust: rigorous, stewardship-minded, and anchored in the conviction that the healing plants are part of God's design. She is the author of "Back to Eden: A Biblical Foundation for Herbal Healing." Through the Eden Institute, she equips homeschooling families to teach real botany, biblical worldview, and hands-on herbal skill as one unified study.

Pre-order Eden's Table for K-2 or purchase the first 9 weeks in digital format now! Full curriculum slated to release Summer 2027.https://edeninstitute.health/homeschoolFacebook: The Eden InstituteInstagram: instagram.com/edenstablehomeschoolcurriculum

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Throughout Scripture, meals are places of fellowship, discipleship, hospitality, celebration, teaching, and remembrance. Jesus regularly gathered around tables with His disciples, sinners, tax collectors, Pharisees, and friends. And in our own homes, the dinner table can become one of the most ordinary—and most formative—places where we disciple our children.

In this episode of Prayers for Parents, Macy and Andrew explore the theology of the family dinner table and why intentionally gathering around a meal can matter so much for our children's faith, character, and sense of belonging.

We also explore the connection between hospitality, beauty, excellence, and Christian parenting—and why creating a warm, beautiful, welcoming home isn't merely about appearances. The way we prepare food, welcome people, gather our families, and care for our homes can communicate something profound about the goodness and generosity of God.

Family dinners are not always peaceful. They're not always beautiful. But they can still be deeply formative.

• Why God designed human beings to need daily food and what that teaches us about dependence on Him

• The connection between daily bread and our daily dependence upon God

• Deuteronomy 6 and the calling to weave faith into the ordinary rhythms of family life

• Why the dinner table can become a natural place for family discipleship

• Jesus' example of gathering people around the table

• What we can learn from the meals Jesus shared with His disciples, sinners, tax collectors, and Pharisees

• How family meals create opportunities for children to process what happens in their everyday lives

• Why distraction-free time around the table matters in a screen-saturated culture

• The importance of hospitality and making room for others

• How beauty and excellence can point our children toward the goodness of their Creator

• The difference between pursuing excellence and pursuing perfection

• Why the atmosphere and emotional experience of childhood matter alongside formal biblical instruction

• How ordinary family rhythms can shape a child's understanding of God

• The connection between the dinner table and the picture of walking with God in the Garden of Eden

• Why the dinner table can be especially precious for families whose days are divided by school, work, and activities

• How meals can build warmth, community, belonging, and family identity

Deuteronomy 6:6–7
"These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children..."

Matthew 6:11
"Give us this day our daily bread."

Your children probably won't remember every conversation you have around the dinner table.

They may not remember the meal you cooked, the questions you asked, or the specific theological discussion that happened one Tuesday night.

But those ordinary moments are still forming them.

Every meal is another opportunity to say:

You belong here. You are loved. We have time for you. We listen to you. We care for one another. And God is at the center of our lives.

The dinner table doesn't have to be perfect to be formative. It simply has to be intentional.

The Life-Giving Home by Sally Clarkson
A helpful resource on creating a warm, intentional, life-giving home and thinking about the ordinary rhythms of family life as formative for our children.

Visit The Fruitful Family for free parenting resources, book recommendations, and more:
thefruitfulfamily.org

If this episode encouraged you, we'd love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share the episode with another parent.

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Follow along on Instagram: @thefruitfulfamily

Prayers for Parents is a podcast for Christian parents who want to raise children who flourish in faith, character, and wonder—and who want to see biblical discipleship woven into the ordinary rhythms of family life.

What if we could raise children who never become numb to the wonder of God’s creation?

In this episode of Prayers for Parents, we pray a blessing over our children from Romans 8:18–25—asking God to preserve their sense of wonder as they grow, to lead their curiosity toward truth and wisdom, and ultimately to turn their wonder into worship.

We pray that our children will continue to marvel at the ordinary gifts of creation: a flower in bloom, the sound of a woodpecker, the beauty of the world around them. But more than simply appreciating creation, we pray that their pursuit of knowledge would draw them closer to the Creator.

Romans 8 reminds us that creation is groaning under the weight of the curse, waiting for the day when all things will be made right. The beauty we see now is only a glimpse of the glory that is coming.

May our children's wonder never become an end in itself. May it always point them toward God.

In this episode, we pray that our children would:

• Never lose their sense of wonder as they grow older

• See God's fingerprints throughout creation

• Pursue knowledge as a way of knowing the Creator

• Seek truth while recognizing God's goodness

• Understand that creation's beauty is only a glimpse of future glory

• Let their wonder lead them to worship

• Live with hope and longing for the restoration of all things

Romans 8:18–25

“If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

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To enter, leave a written review for Prayers for Parents on Apple Podcasts and send a screenshot of your review to @thefruitfulfamily on Instagram or email it to [email protected].

The winner will be announced September 12, 2026. Visit Instagram for additional ways to earn entries.

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Prayers for Parents is a podcast from The Fruitful Family, created to help parents raise children who flourish in faith, character, and wonder.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” — Proverbs 4:23

What does it actually look like to guard our children’s hearts in a world where smartphones, tablets, social media, YouTube, and the internet can bring virtually anything into our homes?

In this episode of Prayers for Parents, we talk honestly about the responsibility Christian parents have to protect and shepherd their children—not simply by restricting what they see, but by intentionally teaching them truth, giving them wisdom, and carefully considering what they are ready to encounter.

Andrew shares part of his own story of being exposed to pornography as a young child and the 19-year struggle with pornography addiction that followed. His experience has shaped the way we think about protecting our own children from influences they may be completely unprepared to handle.

We also talk about screen time, internet access, YouTube Kids, media consumption, technology addiction, and the importance of replacing screens with meaningful alternatives. In our own home, we have found that our children behave differently when screens are heavily limited.

But this conversation goes beyond screens.

We discuss the idea that nothing is truly neutral. The entertainment we consume, the books our children read, the media we allow into our homes, the companies we financially support, and even the information we give our children can shape their hearts and their understanding of the world.

We also explore the connection between parenting and the Garden of Eden: the idea that God reveals truth to His people in His timing, and that parents have a similar responsibility to gradually introduce their children to the realities of the world as they are ready for them.

Our children don't need unlimited access to information in order to become wise. They need parents who will lovingly shepherd them toward truth.

• What Proverbs 4:23 means for Christian parents

• Why guarding our own hearts comes before guarding our children's

• How children can encounter pornography without intentionally seeking it

• The importance of protecting children from inappropriate internet access

• Why YouTube Kids isn't necessarily as safe as parents assume

• How screens affect our children's behavior and relationships

• Why we have chosen to heavily limit screen time in our home

• What we give our children instead of screens

• The value of boredom, imaginative play, books, and time outside

• Why parents should carefully consider what information their children are ready to receive

• The Garden of Eden and the “knowledge of good and evil”

• Why unlimited internet access can allow the world to become our children's teacher

• Internet filtering and accountability

• How we think about education, public school, and being “a light”

• Why Christian families should consider reclaiming beauty, art, literature, education, and media

• The importance of being intentional about where we spend our money

This isn't a conversation about creating perfectly sheltered children or giving every family the exact same parenting rules. It's about intentional Christian parenting—knowing our children, understanding their vulnerabilities, discerning what influences we allow into our homes, and faithfully shepherding them toward Christ.

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About Prayers for Parents:

We have conversations about biblical parenting, Christian family life, discipleship, education, homeschooling, technology, culture, marriage, and the everyday work of building a fruitful family...all to the glory of God.

Parenting is hard enough without feeling like you're on opposing teams.

In this episode of Prayers for Parents, Macy and Andrew discuss why unity between husband and wife is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children. They share practical wisdom from their own parenting journey—including foster care, homeschooling, finances, discipline, and everyday disagreements—and explain why having a shared vision for your family matters more than always agreeing on every parenting tactic.

Whether you're navigating differences in discipline, struggling with outside influences, or simply wanting to build a stronger marriage, this conversation offers biblical encouragement and practical steps toward becoming a more unified parenting team.

• Why every family needs a shared vision before making parenting decisions

• How presenting a united front gives children security and stability

• What to do when you and your spouse disagree about parenting

• Why conflict should be resolved privately—not in front of your children

• How children naturally test division between parents

• Protecting your marriage from outside influences, social media, and extended family

• The biblical principle of "leave and cleave" in marriage

• Avoiding emotional manipulation during disagreements

• Working together on finances, family goals, and major decisions

• The difference between authority and responsibility in biblical leadership

• Practical ways to strengthen unity in your marriage every day

• John 17 — Jesus' prayer that His followers would be one.

• Philippians 2:3–4 — "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others more significant than yourselves."

📚 Free Family Discipleship Book List

Download our favorite books for Christian parenting, children's discipleship, family worship, and homemaking.

👉 https://thefruitfulfamily.org

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