Don’t forget to pre-order my new book, It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children and Teens Develop Sexual Integrity. This is the book you need to give you all the tips and tools for keeping your kids safe from the danger and damage pornography can cause. And most importantly, this book will help you feel confident and comfortable having some of the most challenging conversations with your kids. Pre-order it today, right here! 

What a perfect time to talk to my friend Alyssa Bethke about her new book, When Doing it All is Undoing You: Meeting God in Your Unmet Expectations. The Christmas season feels so full of to-do lists and activities and many, many expectations that are impossible for us to meet and that leaves us feeling like we’re letting down others and often feel let down ourselves. Alyssa shares her own journey of coming to a place of being undone and what it looked like to draw near to Jesus and His care for her when she began to tend her heart. 

We also talk about the importance of travel, having novelty and wonder in our lives, and peeing in the woods! So take a deep breath and settle in to be encouraged by this episode. I know you’ll come away from this episode feeling refreshed. 

Where to find Alyssa: 

Find her and her husband Jeff’s website here 

Find Alyssa on Instagram here 

Find Alyssa’s book here 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Matt 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

Ann Voskcamp’s gratitude journal here 

Some of my favorite quotes from this episode: 

“When I go for my walks, I try to notice one thing that is different or new. It helps me be less distracted and more present, to put away my phone and to ask myself what do I see and what do I feel?” Alyssa Bethke 

“Being an observant person, a curious person, a person who finds joy in your every day are powerful and important things to make a part of our everyday life.” Greta Eskridge 

“I felt like it was my responsibility to make sure everyone around me was OK.” Alyssa Bethke 

“I think you need a season of caring for your heart.” Alyssa Bethke 

“The goal of life is not to be free of pain but to be more and more intimate with the Lord, and letting Him see us through the pain rather than keep us from the pain.” Alyssa Bethke 

“It’s OK to come undone and come to the end of ourselves because that is where God does His best work in our lives.” Alyssa Bethke 

“I wanted to live in my ideal life not my reality, but when we are honest with God He will meet us in our reality.” Alyssa Bethke 

“God always meets us with such grace and kindness. It’s His kindness that leads us to repentance.” Alyssa Bethke 

“We have to ask ourselves, ‘who or what are we doing all this for? What is my legacy? What do I want to leave behind?’” Greta Eskridge 

“Every day I go for a 30 minute walk, without my phone, and I’m going to talk to God. And I ask myself, ‘where have I felt God’s presence and where have I not felt God’s presence’? This was such a time for me to tend to my heart and commune with Jesus.” Alyssa Bethke 

“The world is telling you all these things you need to be and do and that is going to leave you disappointed. But instead, by tending your heart and going to Jesus you’re going to find the antidote to that anxiety and stress and disappointment.” Greta Eskridge 

“There is always wonder to behold so go on a wonder hunt!” Alyssa Bethke 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org