Almost every big change in life, almost every big success, is a compilation of tiny steps forward. If you have a Big God Dream in your heart but it seems unattainable right now, saying yes today to the next small step is next best thing to do. And then do it all over again tomorrow, and the next day and the next.

In this episode, Sarah Mackenzie and I talk about how she started living her dream by giving God a bunch of little yeses, even when she was feeling unprepared and unqualified. I love Sarah’s gumption. It’s the kind of thing that had her invite a prominent writer on her podcast before she had even started the podcast. She says she put her trust in God, believing He would give grace right when she needed it. And it certainly worked out! She had over four million downloads on The Read Aloud Revival Podcast this month! Yahoo, Sarah!!

Today we talk about her lovely new book: The Read Aloud Family. And we talk about how she manages marriage, family and a having an enormous online resource that spreads all kinds of good news. We also talked up a pretty impressive book list that you’ll want to check out for yourself and for the kids in your life.

I can’t wait for you to meet sweet Sarah! Here’s the interview on the Dear Daughters Podcast Episode 63.

SHOW NOTES

• The Read Aloud Revival Podcast
• The Read Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids
• The Read Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease
• Nurturing Competent Communicators with Andrew Pudewa
• Andrew Pudewa on Sarah’s podcast ~ RAR #1, RAR #89
• Eavesdropping on the Soul, A Conversation with Katherine Paterson
• A Sense of Wonder: On Reading and Writing Books for Children, Katherine Paterson
• Gates of Excellence: On Reading and Writing Books for Children, Katherine Paterson
• Tomie dePaola’s books, Strega Nona 
• Sarah’s happy insta feed
• A Chef’s Life on PBS
• Austin Christian Fellowship
• Teaching from Rest: A Homeschoolers Guide to Unshakable Peace
• best picture books for age 4-8: Tomie dePaola’s Strega Nona Series, The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen, and Paul Galdone’s Folk Tale Classics (Henny Penny is my favorite :)
• best early chapter books for age 8-12: The Wilderking Trilogy and The Wingfeather Saga
• best books for teens: The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
• Honey for a Child’s Heart: The Imaginative Life of Books in Family Life, Gladys Hunt
• The Rabbit Room with Andrew Peterson
• Beverly Cleary’s books
• The Little House books
• What Sarah’s reading now ~ The Penderwicks by Jeanie Birdsall, and Everybody Always, by Bob Goff
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here.

If you love God, but don’t feel like you can trust Him, I understand. For so many years, I struggled with worry over whether God was really looking out for me. When bad or hard things happened, it made me feel anxious and worried.

Like what happened in the news just this week ... the Santa Fe school shooting. Lord, have mercy. That shooting took place forty years to the day that I witnessed a murder in my own classroom as a middle school student. I understand the long road to healing a lot of those students will be walking down – the same one that many of you are probably walking down from your own personal traumas and fears.

If you love God, but don’t feel like you can trust Him, you need to know that God has only grace for you. And He wants to give you peace. Jesus said, My peace I give to you.

Today’s podcast is about discovering ways to reject worry and receive peace. It’s about finding a practical way to practice peace and walk in it.

SHOW NOTES

• When you start ‘should-ing’ yourself, you’re shaming your heart ~ DD Episode 61 ‘Are You Listening to Your Heart?’
• Mary Oliver’s ‘daily presentations’ and her poem, Mindful.
• Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
• My book, Unafraid: Trusting God in an Unsafe World
• The Unafraid Book Club To Go
• The Christianity Today Article, School Shooting Survivor: How I Stopped Being Afraid
• Faith pleases God ~> Hebrews 11.6
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Find my daily updates on Instagram.
• Keep up weekly by signing up for my newsletter.

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Are you allowing your heart to have space in your daily life?

That might be a strange question but over the last two months I’ve had two dear daughters and one spiritual mama come to me because they were feeling stuck, worried and anxious about things in their lives. Then after talking things out, and walking metaphorically around their lives … I saw with all clarity, they were so in their heads with their issues, that they weren’t giving their hearts voice.

They were working their lives, checking off things on the spiritual list, and quieting the little cries of their hearts. And I do it too sometimes. By prioritizing, analyzing, thinking, planning, working … instead of listening and feeling.

Today on the podcast, we’re going to get curious about the why behind the reluctance to listen to our hearts.

I hope today’s podcast will encourage you to love God holistically.

Do you feel like your life is a mess? Just one mistake after another? Do you ever wonder how God could take the mistakes you’ve made and turn things around? Tricia Goyer felt that way almost 30 years ago as a despairing teen mom and then she prayed, “God, if you can do anything with my life, please do.”

I loved getting to talk with her today about the way God radically answered that prayer and about her beautiful, better-than-a-fairy-tale love story. We also talked a lot about walking through the hard things and what happens when we dare to take our life journey with Jesus.

Tricia lives in Arkansas with her husband and TEN kids. :) In addition to homeschooling her seven kids who still live at home, she has also written 71 books, and writes online. Tricia is a spiritual mama to look to for life advice and wisdom.

SHOW NOTES

• Tricia’s latest book, Walk It Out: The Radical Result of Living God’s Word One Step at a Time
• Join me for the Acts 2.46 Table (Breakfast) for spiritual conversation and Austin’s best breakfast tacos.
• MOPS International
• Ecclesiastes 4.6 ~ ‘better one handful with tranquility than two with chasing after the wind’
• Voxer ~ like a high tech walkie talkie
• Tricia’s favorite family board games to connect with her kids: Dominion, Settlers of Catan, and Mancala
• Pork Verde ~ cube and fry pork chops til cooked through, then add tomato sauce, a can of green chilies, and cheddar cheese. Cook until the cheese is melted, then serve over rice.
• Experiencing God Day by Day devotional by Henry Blackaby
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
• The Little House series
• Sonlight, literature-based homeschooling curriculum
• Hank the Cowdog series
• Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs by Tomie dePaola
• Joy, from Young Living
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Youth Hunting.
• Get the Dear Daughters Podcast Prompts and keep up weekly by signing up for my newsletter.

Who encouraged you? Who took time to listen to you? Who was it that provided a safe haven? Who showed you how to live out your faith? Who was an organic, everyday mentor to you? 

What’s the best gift at Mother’s Day? I think it’s gratitude. And not just for your mom, though she certainly deserves it, but also for the spiritual mamas who shaped you as a young woman.

Besides my own mother, I can think of three women in particular who loved me well. I look back now and can see how each of them played such an integral role in contributing to the person I am today. Do you have those people too? 

I hope today’s podcast will encourage you to thank those spiritual mamas who may not even realize the impact they had in your life. That you’ll feel compelled to look back and remember the people who showed you how to love Jesus in a daily, real way.