Brave Moms

Back to School time is filled with so many things to do, buy and read and sign. It can be exhausting. How do you keep your heart from growing weary during this time? This week we have some ideas for you to take note of how your heart is doing and how to refuel so that you are set up for a great school year with your kids.

• Tend to your heart
• Ask God to show you what you need in this season
• Take care of your whole self
• Be prepared to slow down
• Remember that you don’t have to do any of this as a weary mom

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We all want our kids to achieve great things and follow the dreams in their hearts. How do you cultivate and help steward those dreams? What about the fears you might face as a mom when your kids have big dreams? This week we are talking all about being our kids biggest cheerleaders and helping them learn to trust God with the dreams that God gives them.

• Look for what sets their hearts on fire
• Don’t burn yourself out trying to make it happen
• Speak life into your kids gifting
• Tell them what you see in your kids
• When you don’t see it pray about it
• Don’t squash their dreams without asking God if He is behind it
• Communication is key
• Their dreams may sound impossible but that’s the kind of dreams God gives
• God WILL provide for the dreams He gives our kids
• God loves to show up and show off
• It is a trust journey for us and our kids
• Be your kid(s) biggest cheerleader
• Be a good steward of their dreams until they are ready to do it themselves

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If you worry that you can't be a mom and pursue your dreams this episode is for you. We are chatting about how our dreams are God-given and how to pursue them while being a mom. The dreams God gives you are rarely going to be easy and you may not feel qualified but God can use you and the gifts He's given you to bless others and to encourage your kids to pursue their God-given dreams as well.

• Stewarding your dreams
• When God gives you a dream He is not messing with you
• Ask if He will take away the desire if it’s not from Him
• Trust God with your dreams
• When you have a dream in your heart it will be bigger than you can accomplish
• PRAY
• The journey may be more of a zigzag than a straight line
• Enjoy the journey and rest
• Dream pursuers make progress when they keep going and keep obeying God

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If you love the podcast leave a review here. It will take 30 seconds and I’d be so grateful. Plus, it will help more moms find this encouragement.

Candace Jones believes there’s never an asterisk on what God asks us to do in His Word. She is an advocate for foster care. She has 8 children, 2 biological and 6 adopted. God called her and her husband to foster and the two of them have taken some wild steps of obedience. Candace doesn’t pull any punches in this interview. In this gut-honest conversation, she busts through excuses and misconceptions about fostering and shares her heart and what God did in her life to take such a huge leap of faith. After listening to this episode, you will be encouraged, challenged and informed on how to make a difference in the lives of children that desperately need you to do something. She also shares the most important thing any child needs. Don’t miss this episode.

• God calls husbands and wives together
• 30% of youth that age out of foster care become homeless
• The Holy Spirit comes and sets up camp so unmistakably when you foster. God wants these kids.
• The kids are hungry for scripture
• How would you give a foster kid back? It’s maybe a valid excuse but it’s still an excuse. The scriptures never have an asterisk
• Ask God to give you calluses on the right parts of your heart and keep the other parts soft
• God is not asking you to do more than He knows you can do
• I would not be good at that. Moses wasn’t good at public speaking... That excuse doesn’t hold up with God.
• Pride says - I’m not good at that. God only asks for our obedience
• How will it affect my biological kids?
• God never asks us to trade our kid's childhood for someone else’s childhood.
• Don’t get ahead of God and make assumptions
• You get to fill out a thorough questionnaire of what would work for your family when fostering
• 100,000 are legally eligible for adoption
• Half of all foster children are returned to their parents and half of those kids returned end up back in foster care.
• Half of all foster parents quit the first year. It can be very isolating. Gather your friends before you begin and have them pray. Have them come and sit with you.
• Start scripture memorization with foster kids. It is powerful.
• In our American culture maxed out is very self-inflicted
• What do we have in our calendar that is keeping us from doing God’s will?
• God removes so many excuses.
• Father of the fatherless and protector of widows, is God in his holy habitation. Psalm 68:5
• Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27
• How to support someone who is fostering:
  • Contact a foster care agency and ask to get on their approved babysitter list. Offer them a regularly occurring night out.
  • Go over with a coffee and sit with them and let them talk.
  • Fold laundry, clean her kitchen, help her practically.
  • Ask the kids sizes and get new pajamas, new underwear, new shoes.
• Don’t look left and right. Look ahead. Find an older mom who is a couple of seasons ahead of you to mentor you.
• All extracurricular activities fade in comparison to knowing the Bible and knowing what the truth is.
• Men often have financial concerns about fostering. The state of Texas and most states now if they are adopted from foster care or currently in foster care can go to college for free. Any state college. Tuition is paid. That also includes medical school, law school, and technical school. They also have Medicaid insurance through age 18. 100% of them qualify to go to college for free but only 3% of them take advantage of it.
• Cultivating a love for the Lord through scriptures. ABC printable scripture flash cards. Do 1 a week at breakfast. A whole week to talk about what it means. Discuss who said it in the Bible, what was going on, and when it applies to our lives. God’s Word has power.

LINKS WE MENTIONED:

Dallas Life Shelter

Scripture Printable Cards

CONNECT WITH BRAVE MOMS:

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If you love the podcast leave a review here. It will take 30 seconds and I’d be so grateful. Plus, it will help more moms find this encouragement.

We are beginning a several month-long series using the Brave Moms curriculum that we typically use in small groups. We’d love for you to join in with us as we learn how to be brave and to overcome weariness. You can join us on Facebook here or listen to the podcast weekly for the lesson. We hope you’ll join us! Find this week’s worksheet here.

Today we are discussing the most important thing to do to become a Brave Mom. This one thing sets the stage for everything else and is the key to success. I hope this changes your life as much as it did mine!