The loss of an earthly dad deeply impacts the life of a child, although it’s not always realized in childhood. Children can often grow into grief and not deal with dad loss until their adult years.

Many times a positive mentoring relationship is the tool that God will use to remove an infected emotional splinter and bring about healing.

Zach Garza, the founder of Forerunner Mentoring and Vice President of Expansion for the Mentoring Alliance, equips and encourages mentors to build relationships with kids who have experienced adverse circumstances.

In this episode Zach talks about:

Additional Resources:

The Mentoring Alliance

Forerunner Mentoring

You Can Mentor by Zach Garza

You Can Mentor Podcast with Zach Garza

The Importance of a Mentor Part One

The Importance of Mentors and How to Ask

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.

Mentoring plays a valuable role in the life of a fatherless young man. A young man needs to be challenged in ways beyond what a mom can offer. When a boy does not have an earthly dad, he needs a mentor who will make a practical, emotional, and spiritual investment in his life.

Although this important relationship will look different for everyone, the benefits are often the same - God uses men as His vessel for fathering. Affirmation, guidance, and prayer join together with hands-on teaching of skills men need to learn in life. Mentors help boys turn into men.

Today’s guests, Dave Inabnit and Evan Apon, discuss the following:

Additional Resources:

The Importance of a Mentor Part One

The Importance of Mentors and How to Ask

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.

Inserting mentors into the lives of your children is crucial during those child-raising years even if there are two parents in the home but especially if you are raising children without a dad.

Mentoring for a fatherless family provides not only a vessel of God’s tangible fathering for children who do not have an earthly dad but also guidance for the single mom. Being intentional about asking men and women to mentor our family was one of the “Pillars of Grace” that God used in the life of my family.

In this episode Lori shares her experience with mentors discussing the following:

Additional Resources:

The Importance of Mentors and How to Ask

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.

The average age of exposure to pornography is 9 years old. Any child can stumble onto this perversion whether they are looking for it or not.

Pornography is a subject that is often uncomfortable for moms to discuss with their children, but it is an important conversation. Moms must be proactive against this battle that many fight against, even Christians.

In the conversation today Mo Isom Aiken candidly talks about:

Additional Resources:

The Realities of Suicide Go Beyond Mental Health by Mo Isom

Wreck My Life: The Journey from Broken to Bold by Mo Isom

Sex, Jesus, and the Conversations the Church Forgot by Mo Isom

Fully Known by Mo Aiken

Pornography, More than a Battle with Joe Rigney

Mo (Isom) Aiken is a New York Times bestselling author, a nationally

sought-after speaker, and a powerful voice rising up for her generation. In her younger years, she was an All-American goalkeeper for the LSU Women’s Soccer team and the first female to train with and try out for an SEC men’s football team. Her life was riddled with great personal tragedy – including battling an eating disorder, overcoming the suicide of her father, struggling with promiscuity, and surviving a horrific car accident. But by the grace of God, alone, she encountered the love and mercy of Jesus – the Great Deliverer and the One who makes all things new.

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.

There are many conversations that moms must have with their fatherless children including talking about purity, pornography, and the enemy's plan to work against our children and moms in this area. Even though these conversations might be awkward they should not be avoided. God created us as sexual beings therefore we must teach our children about the gift of sex with its delights and dangers.

Dr. Joe Rigney, the author of the book More than a Battle, joins us today to provide wisdom and practical guidance for moms as she navigates this territory with their sons.

In this episode Dr. Joe Rigney provides helpful insights including the following:

Helpful Resources

Lori’s story:

My Fairytale Romance

My Greatest Fear Becomes Reality

Dr. Joe Rigney served as the President and Professor of Theology and Literature at Bethlehem College and Seminary. He is also the pastor at City Church in St. Paul, MN, and serves as a teacher at Desiring God.

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.

Valentine's Day brings with it many memories and emotions - exchanging cards with friends, chocolate, roses, and romance. Single moms get to decide how to celebrate the day by showing love to others instead of waiting for someone to show love to them. Even though it's hard, we can push into the tender and hard emotions, and instead of focusing on what we don't have, we choose to make new memories.

Today’s episode offers a practical idea for celebrating Valentine’s Day as a single parent with these considerations:

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.

A big fear moms have when raising fatherless boys is that they will not learn some of the valuable skills needed in life. Who's going to teach them how to change a tire or tie a tie (the basic things that they might learn just by watching Dad)? Fatherless boys themselves often fear that they will walk with that limp in life.

Rob Kenney grew up fatherless and dispels this and many other fears. Two years ago Rob started a YouTube channel called Dad How Do I? and thought he was going to help 30-40 people learn a few basic skills, and in just a month and a half, his channel went viral, growing to over 1,000,000 subscribers. Two years later, he has over 4,000,000 subscribers and he's known as “YouTube’s Dad”.

Rob candidly shares his Dadvice on the importance of:

Additional resources:

Dad How Do I? 

Dad, How Do I?: Practical "Dadvice" for Everyday Tasks and Successful Living

God is my Dad: Hope for Fatherless Families

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.

The beautiful thing about toddlers and little ones is they package grief in a way that we all want to -  really quickly. A toddler's ability to understand loss will increase as they grow, but in the beginning, they are unable to truly grieve. Toddlers will grieve, but they don't grieve in the same way that older children and that adults grieve. Moms will grieve that loss for them, and eventually with them. In a lot of ways, a toddler’s slow processing of grief is a gift allowing the mom to focus on her own grief.

In this open conversation Lori and her daughter candidly talk about the following:

Additional Resources:

How to Show Empathy to Hurting Children with Lisa Peck

How to Build a Support System

With Hope by Steven Curtis Chapman

Finding Male Role Models for your Fatherless Girls

Who Will Walk Me Down the Aisle

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.

When we think about what God uses to shape us, people, books, and practices play an important role. The apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (2 Peter 3:18). It’s that time of year when discipline becomes a priority in our lives. What comes to mind when you think of the word discipline? Physical exercise, training children, or personal habits that help you grow spiritually?

Psalm 84:7 says we will go from strength to strength. So let's start where you are. Maybe this is your first day in the spiritual gym and you can only do one push-up. You might be able to take one of these disciplines and add them to your life.

Listen as Lori shares 5 Spiritual Disciplines that she has grown into over the years:

Suggested Resources mentioned in this episode

What Happens When Women Pray by Evelyn Christensen

Disciplines of a Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund

Life Can Be Good Again by Lisa Appelo

Beyond the Darkness by Clarissa Moll

The Bible Recap Podcast

The One-Line-a Day Five Year Memory Book

7 Feasts: Finding Christ in the Sacred Celebrations of the Old Testament by Erin Davis

Elijah: Faith and Fire by Priscilla Shirer

He’s Where the Joy is - Bible Study book - Getting to Know the Captivating God of the Trinity by Tara-Leigh Cobble

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.

Last year was very exciting for Perspective Ministries!

One of last year’s highlights of the ministry and for me personally was launching this podcast, offering help for moms who are raising kids without an earthly dad because of death, divorce, or desertion.

Check out these favorite and most listened-to episodes!

Let’s Talk About Grief

For Fatherless Girls

For Fatherless Guys

Special Topics

Mom, you are not alone!

Join our private Facebook group for more encouragement and community: https://bit.ly/widowmom

For more information and helpful resources, check our website: PerspectiveMinistries.org & follow us on Instagram @PerspectiveMinistries.