Upstreamers

Who doesn't love a good Hillsong worship song? I know I have listened many, many times. But what are they teaching? What does their church teach and is it even that important if we know? Isn't God going to just work all that out and I'll just enjoy their music, not worrying about their church teachings? I mean I don't go there, so what does it matter? 

Frankly, I was tired of hearing critiques about Hillsong so I decided to listen to a Hillsong message the other day. I wanted to hear for myself whether or not they strayed from scripture. 

Are any significant errors or are they merely secondary disagreements? Is their messaging dangerous or just different? Come find out what I heard and decide for yourself what to listen to.

Have you talked to your kid about sex? Don't wait for them to ask you about it. And don't expect the state to do it for you. If you've never heard about the history of sex ed listen in and find out who is behind all the programs public schools use to teach our kids about sex. We can no longer be silent. We must initiate conversations and take back the authority given to us by God to teach our kids about relationships and sex without using the scare tactics of our predecessors. There is a beauty to explore and rich conversations to be had. 

Don't miss out because of fear or hypothetical awkwardness. 

Here's the program, Passport to Purity, that we used.

Here are the articles I read from in the show today:

Rethinking Schools

Planned Parenthood

The Naughty List

Learning to silence the liar from within is tough, especially when the lie is subtle. One lie I've fallen prey to is that I'm destined to yell because that's just part of motherhood. Come listen to how I deal with this lie.

Do your kids listen when you speak in a normal voice or do you have to yell to get their attention? Training for attention is so important and early on we received some fantastic advice on how to help our kids learn this skill. Since then we've adopted a win/win method for continuing to emphasize that habit. 

And the bonus is, we're using Scripture to help us develop that habit in our kids. But there's a lot of tough stuff to read aloud from the Bible like rape, war, murder, incest, fornication and more. The Bible isn't some fairy tale! So what do we do with all those hard to read parts with our kids? Come find out...

Did you ever get a book from someone that you never read? This book sat on my shelf for several years but eventually I took the time to read it and  it changed the course of my life for the better. 

Go get yourself a copy and dare to read a book that's underwhelming to look at, but has treasure inside. Are you willing to put the magnifying glass on your beliefs about women, feminism, and what it means to be a godly wife and mother? Let's do it together!

What we listen to matter and what we let our kids read matters. 

It's hard to draw hard lines in the sand when it seems like the Bible is silent about a topic. But several umbrella verses, or principle verses exist to help guide us when specific guidance isn't spelled out in scripture. 

Let's talk about Captain Underpants, why he's so popular and why I allowed my kids to read the books for years. And then let's talk about why the series is now a hard "NO" in our house. I hope this example helps you wade through some of those books and movies that you're not sure if you should allow or not. Discernment is available to those who are in Christ Jesus and I pray we all continue to grow in that area!

This episode is different. Scripture says there is a time for everything under heaven. There are times when I love talking about current events and getting into the thick of all the hot topics. And then there's times when I just need a good laugh. 

So today, I invited my husband to hang with me in the closet for seven minutes in heaven, just kidding. It was more like twenty, but we spent the whole time just being silly, being ourselves, and chatting about my podcast and life. 

Enjoy and hope you can take some similar time with someone special to you to relax and just giggle a bit.

How do you react when bad news hits you? When something out of your control happens or when leaders in your life lay down ultimatums? 

How can we respond? How will you be different as a Christian mom when tough policies or difficulties arise in our culture in the coming days? It's time to practice responding to so-called experts and think the issues through. Say goodbye to group-think regardless of what you decide about the vaccines.

No one wants to be that person that everyone stares at, but Christians are commanded to live differently. So why can't we just stay quiet and live a life where we never speak up for what is right? 

Do we have to scream from the tops of buildings and create blogs or podcasts? No, but God has spaces and people in our lives where we can stand for him or deny him (just like Peter). 

So which are you doing? Why is it hard to speak up? What can we do about it?

There are so many manipulation techniques out there! Believe me, I've tried many of them and I can tell you, none of them are productive. Let's talk today about Gas-lighting, Triangulation, and how they can keep us silent. God created us to speak the truth, but we cannot do this if we're under the toe of these slippery tactics. 

Come on in and listen so you can identify the gaslighters and triangulators in your life...and don't be surprised if you find out you do it too! I know I have.