Jill Savage – How to Thrive as Empty Nesters

12/30/24 • 34 min

Becoming an empty nester can be a challenging time—full of bittersweet goodbyes, new routines, and a lot of questions about what’s next. My guest today on The Christian Habits Podcast, Jill Savage, knows this season well and brings wisdom and encouragement for navigating it with faith and purpose. In this episode, she shares practical insights from her book, Empty Nest, Full Life, on how to let go, grab hold of what matters most, and build a fulfilling life in the empty nest season.

What We Discussed on the Podcast

What to let go of and what to grab hold of as an empty nester
How to employ “pray, don’t say” and trust God with your adult kids’ lives
How to unhitch your emotions from your adult child’s choices and problems
How to become a “safe place for your kids to land” so your kids want you to remain involved in their lives
The importance of rebooting both your marriage and your friendships for a more fulfilled life

Resources We Mentioned on the Podcast

Empty Nest, Full Life by Jill Savage
“How to Renew Your Mind” course, starting January 28, 2025. Get more info here.

About Jill Savage

Jill Savage is an author and speaker who is passionate about encouraging families. She is the author or co-author of fourteen books including Professionalizing Motherhood, My Hearts At Home, Real Moms...Real Jesus, Living With Less So Your Family Has More, No More Perfect Moms, No More Perfect Marriages (with her husband Mark), and her most recent release Empty Nest Full Life.

Featured on Focus on the Family, Crosswalk.com, Family Life Today and Today’s Christian Woman magazine, Jill is the founder of Hearts at Home, an organization that encouraged moms from 1994-2017. Jill and her husband, Mark, have five children, three who are married, and eight grandchildren. They make their home in Normal, Illinois.

How to Listen to the Podcast

To listen or subscribe on YouTube: click here
To listen or subscribe on Apple Podcasts: click here
To listen or subscribe on Android: click here
To listen or subscribe on Spotify: click here
Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Christian Habits Podcast.”

The post Jill Savage – How to Thrive as Empty Nesters appeared first on Barb Raveling.

What We Discussed on the Podcast

What to let go of and what to grab hold of as an empty nester
How to employ “pray, don’t say” and trust God with your adult kids’ lives
How to unhitch your emotions from your adult child’s choices and problems
How to become a “safe place for your kids to land” so your kids want you to remain involved in their lives
The importance of rebooting both your marriage and your friendships for a more fulfilled life

Resources We Mentioned on the Podcast

Empty Nest, Full Life by Jill Savage
“How to Renew Your Mind” course, starting January 28, 2025. Get more info here.

About Jill Savage

How to Listen to the Podcast

To listen or subscribe on YouTube: click here
To listen or subscribe on Apple Podcasts: click here
To listen or subscribe on Android: click here
To listen or subscribe on Spotify: click here
Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Christian Habits Podcast.”

The post Jill Savage – How to Thrive as Empty Nesters appeared first on Barb Raveling.

Previous Episode

Strahan Coleman: Thirsting for God

We all experience low points in life; we try our very best to avoid them, but they come anyway! We recoil from the pain, the disappointments, and the difficulties that we face. However, what would happen if we viewed these trials as invitations to experience God? My guest today on the Christian Habits Podcast, Strahan Coleman, has learned to do just that through his many years of chronic illness. Moment by moment, God will meet us in our pain.

What We Discussed on the Podcast

The surprising reason that we have desires
A unique perspective on the essential meaning of life
The place where we find our greatest opportunity to love and to receive God’s love
The mindset shift that casts our pain in a new light
What to do with our negative emotions
A new way to think about repentance and confession
The “wound of love”

Resources We Mentioned on the Podcast

Thirsting: Quenching Our Soul’s Deepest Desire
Beholding: Deepening Our Experience in God
Beholding Prayer Podcast on Apple and Spotify

About Strahan Coleman

Strahan Coleman is a writer, poet, and musician living in Aotearoa, New Zealand with his wife and three young boys. Through years of chronic illness, Strahan discovered a friendship with God filled with vulnerability, honesty and unceasing prayer, and now spends his time teaching and providing spaces of deep, rich, Spirit-led prayer for others through his books, prayer schools and spiritual retreats. In his latest work, Thirsting: Quenching Our Soul’s Deepest Desire, Strahan invites his readers to, like him, learn to transform the ache of our lives into our truest prayers, liberating the fire within us to become our greatest gift – our divine homing beacon. Connect with Strahan Coleman at commonerscommunion.com, on Instagram: @commoners_communion, @strahanmusic, or on Spotify.

How to Listen to the Podcast

To listen or subscribe on YouTube: click here
To listen or subscribe on Apple Podcasts: click here
To listen or subscribe on Android: click here
To listen or subscribe on Spotify: click here
Amazon Alexa: To listen on Amazon Alexa, say, “Alexa, play the Christian Habits Podcast.”

The post Strahan Coleman: Thirsting for God appeared first on Barb Raveling.

Next Episode

7-Week Master Class on Transformation

The live 7-Week Master Class on Transformation Begins January 28, 2025!!!

Do you ever say, “I can’t believe I’ve been a Christian for x number of years and I’m still struggling with this?” Are you reluctant to work on transformation because you’re afraid you’ll fail like you did last time? Do you have some area of your life where you feel stuck?

My guess is that we can all answer “yes” to at least one of those questions. It’s discouraging to fail over and over again.

Romans 12:2 tells us that the answer to our struggles is to renew our minds. But there are two problems with this approach: 1) We don’t necessarily know what that means or 2) we do know how to renew our minds but we can’t make ourselves do it consistently enough to see transformation.

My 7-Week Master Class on Transformation will help you with both of those problems. We’ll get together, each choose an area of our lives to work on, and work together on transformation.

What area of transformation would you like help with?

Here are a few areas you may want to work on during this transformation class:

Break a habit such as overeating, overspending, or too much time on your phone even though you have zero discipline in that area.
Achieve a goal such as writing a book, developing a habit of consistently completing your to-do list each day, or starting a business even if you’re a born procrastinator and can’t make yourself work on your project or list.
Break free from a negative emotion like anger, worry, discontentment, and insecurity even if that emotion has been with you as long as you can remember. Often we think we can’t let go of the negative emotions. Our only hope is to escape them with some self-destructive behavior, stuff them, or control our behavior so the emotion doesn’t hurt ourselves and others. But the truth is, God can help us let go of those negative emotions situation by situation and live in peace and joy (Galatians 5). We’ll learn how to do that in this class.

What are some side benefits (but often the biggest benefits of all) of working on transformation?

No matter what practical area you choose to work on, God will use the transformation process to help you achieve the following goals:

Grow closer to God and more excited about your times with Him as you develop the practical habit of carrying each thought captive to the truth through the renewing of the min.
Live in peace and joy as you learn how to corral, process, and let go of the thoughts that are swirling in your head, threatening to drive you crazy.
Improve relationships and learn how to love others better as you grow in the fruit of the Spirit.

What is the set up of the class?

Here are a few features of the class:

It will be live. We’ll meet on Zoom but the sessions will also be recorded if you can’t make it.
I’ll give 15-30 minutes of instruction but we’ll be pausing during the class to apply what I teach to the area of your life that you want to work on.
We’ll meet once a week for seven sessions but I’ll have six weeks of homework for you to do during the week to apply what you learned to the area of your life you’re working on.
At the end of each class, I’ll have breakout rooms where you can share how you did with your renewing each week and what God taught you during the week.
You’ll also have a chance to find accountability partners.

When will the class start?

The class will begin on January 28, 2025. We will meet weekly for 7 sessions on Tuesdays at 12:00 EST. Each class will be be 1 to 1 1/2 hours long.

What if I can’t make the live sessions?

If you can’t make the live sessions, I’ll have a replay available by the next day, possibly sooner. The replays will be available until at least 6/1/25, possibly longer, so that you have time to do the class. I will also have an online get together on February 4th at 8:30 PM EST for those who can’t make it during the day to help you find accountability partners.

What is the cost of the class?

Although classes like this are often quite expensive, I want everyone to be able to take it, so I’m offering the class at $27 USD.

Is there a deadline for signing up for the class?

Yes, the deadline is January 28, 2025. This is not an on-demand class so even if you plan to take it later, you’ll need to sign up now so I can ...