In celebration of my new book, Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation, releasing today … it is my DELIGHT to introduce you to my mother, Peggy Gerrie. (Though she goes by Mimi.)

She is one of the MOST important people in my life. She is the reason I have energy and love to give to dear daughters  in my life. I am so excited for you to know her better. :)

I’m also thrilled for you to meet my dad, Bob Gerrie. Though he’s better known in our family as Papa. Together they are quite the team.

It’s my honor to introduce them to you!

SHOW NOTES

• My new book, Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation
• Will’s sermon on contentment at ACF.
• Our family favorite verse is Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation is a template for those multi-generational conversations and relationships you’re craving.

Good news is: The preorder bonus is still available! Order your book now and you’ll get 16 questions to dive deep AND you’ll get 4 of our favorite family recipes. Because my favorite place to ask questions is at the table. SO gather your people at the table with some good food and dive deep in conversation.

So this week, I’m bringing you another podcast interview with a live audience. It’s my second in a series of interviews where I invite an author friend for coffee and conversation, and I invite you into my home too. This week, Emily P. Freeman is joining me for this special format I’m calling Dear Daughters Coffee and Conversation.

Emily P. Freeman has been on my show before, which was all joy. Listen to DD Episode 19.

If you’re interested in joining me for these live interviews (and we’ve had people drive in from all over to join me and my guests) then get yourself on my newsletter list because that’s where you’ll hear firsthand who is coming to town!

In today’s special episode, we’ll be celebrating and discussing her brand new book, The Next Right Thing. It’s a book designed to help you uncover the next right steps in your life. If you’ve ever agonized over something big like what you’re supposed to do with your life, or even something small like if you take a certain class. Or even a medium assignment like what preschool your kids should attend, well then you’ll love hearing Emily today on the podcast. Because not only does she explain how to find the next right steps, she also literally walks someone through it.

SHOW NOTES

• Friends University
• The Next Thing Podcast
• The Next Right Thing Book
• Parker Palmer’s Thoughts on Creating a Clearness Committee
• Emily’s beautiful Instagram
• My new book, Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation

If one of your next right steps is to find or be a mentor, I’ve got really good news. My new book, Dear Daughters, is out NEXT week!

And actually, it’s a template for those multi-generational conversations and relationships you’re craving. Good news is: I have a pre-order bonus that you’ll love. Order your book now and you’ll get 16 questions to dive deep AND you’ll get 4 of our favorite family recipes. Because my favorite place to ask questions is at the table. SO gather your people at the table with some good food and dive deep in conversation.

So this week’s podcast is pretty exciting for two different reasons … 

First, this is my very first podcast with a live audience. I decided to invite podcast guests to my home for coffee and conversation so that you could sit with us, listen in and then ask all the questions. I’m really excited about this format called Dear Daughters Coffee and Conversation.

If you’re interested in joining me for these live interviews (and we’ve had people drive in from all over to join us) then get on the mailing list because that’s where you’ll hear firsthand who is coming to town!

The second piece of exciting news is to kick off my DD Coffee & Conversation series … Audrey Roloff is on the show! Audrey and her husband, Jeremy, were on the TV show Little People, Big World. Matter of fact, their wedding was televised. Did you see it? It was beautiful. And she and her husband Jeremy have a beautiful love story.

They have a brand new book out this week called: A Love Letter Life. Inside the book which they co-authored, they encourage couples to intentionally pursue a love story that never ends.

I know you’ll love getting to know Audrey just like we do in this interview.

SHOW NOTES

• Audrey’s website
• Always More
• Audrey’s Instagram Feed
• Audrey and Jeremy’s site: beating50percent
• Young Life
• All that talk on mentoring: Did you hear DD Episode 86 called An Inside Look at a Mentor Relationship with Hayley Morgan?
• Here’s the info on the DD Coffee and Conversation with Pam Tebow
• My new book, Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation

I believe that questions are the best way to know people better, to hear where people are with God and to help people find their way in life.

Questions like …

What’s your God story?

What’s your guy story?

And if you could reach back in your past and sit next to your younger self, what would you say to her?

These kinds of questions are also an incredible opportunity to deepen a mother-daughter relationship. :)

These are the questions I asked my special guest on the show today. Because I wanted to give you a template for how to dive deep in conversation over the important things. And I asked these questions to an important person in my life. My youngest daughter, Sara Regan.

Sara is 25 years old. She’s a musician, a worship leader and an all-around incredible human. Sara is married to David, who is a Young Life director in Katy, TX. Sara and David are all about discipleship. Matter of fact, Sara says

Discipleship is legacy.

I hope that if you’re helping people grow in Christ, whether that’s a toddler you’re taking care of or some high school girls you’re meeting with or a young mama … what you’re doing is LEGACY. And it’s important and it matters.

If you haven’t heard: Sara is going to be at the Grace Gathering in Austin on April 12^th!

She’ll be weaving the event together with original music. It’s going to be phenomenal. Honey Holden, Hayley Morgan and my oldest daughter, Emily Boone, will be leading too. Yep we’ll all be together on stage and I’d love for you to be there too!

You know, I get a lot of questions about how to build or maintain good relationships in family. And I especially get questions about how to have good relationships between my kids and me. So today, I invited my 29-year-old daughter, Emily Boone, on the show to talk all things about the mother daughter relationship.

We talk about a lot of things including what healthy boundaries look like between us. We also talk about what she wished she could have told me when she was younger. And oh my gracious. If you’re in the middle of mothering, you’ve just got to hear that. It will encourage you and challenge you. And it might just make you cry.

If you haven’t heard: Emily is going to be at The Grace Gathering in Austin on April 12^th! She’ll be sharing about some really big transitions in her life as a newlywed in a new city, figuring out all kinds of things, and the inevitable loneliness and confusion that we all feel in those kinds of big transitions.

If you’re listening and you’re in any kind of transition like: the big jump from high school to college or college to post grad or maybe even the really big jump from mom and dad’s house to doing married life as a young wife, Emily will have some incredible things for you to hear about at the Grace Gathering. As will Honey Holden, Hayley Morgan and my youngest daughter, Sara Regan. Yep we’ll all be together on stage and I’d love for you to be there too!

You’ll be encouraged and inspired and you’ll laugh and you’ll cry and you’ll feel God’s presence there. So buy your ticket and come on!!

MORE INFO AND TICKETS HERE!

But for now, here’s my Emily.

Do you wish you had a mentor? Or would you like to be one? Or maybe you're just curious what a mentor relationship looks like?Whether crave deeper discipleship, a mentor relationship or a spiritual friendship, this is the show for you. Today I'm talking with Hayley Morgan. She's someone I've mentored over the years. And this episode, we go through the who, what, when, and how of a mentor relationship that works. And we even talk about mentor relationships that didn't work. I know you'll get a TON of insight listening to our conversation today.

Hayley is an author and business owner. She’s wife to Mike, mama to four boys and a dear daughter to me. If you don’t already know her, I know you’ll love hearing her heart.

Also if you haven’t heard: Hayley is going to be at the Grace Gathering in Austin on April 12^th! Yahooo!! I want you to meet her and hear her incredibly tender letter to her younger self when she felt lost and torn apart when her parents split up. It made me cry and then it made me thank God for how he came through for her BIG TIME. That’s all I’ll give you for now. You gotta come to the event and hear the rest.

JOIN HAYLEY AND ME AT THE GRACE GATHERING!

MORE INFO AND TICKETS HERE!

At the Grace Gathering, you’ll also hear me and Honey and and my very own daughters, Emily Boone and Sara Regan. I’d love for you to come. I know you’ll be encouraged and inspired and you’ll laugh and you’ll cry and you’ll feel God’s presence there. So buy your ticket and common!!

But for now, here’s Hayley.

I adore Stephanie Holden (aka Honey Holden). She’s a southern girl, a mama to 3 grown up girls, a grandma, spiritual mama, and a pastor’s wife. I love talking with Honey because she’s the real deal. She loves Jesus and she loves the church and she loves her family.

Today on the show, we talked about a lot of things including how to build a family that is connected and close and fun. And I figure Honey is the perfect go-to on a fun, Jesus-loving family. :)

I also wanted to interview her because in celebration of the launch of of my new book, Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation, I am hosting The Grace Gathering featuring my dearest daughters and favorite spiritual mamas who will encourage us to explore the ways God speaks through various seasons of life!

And since Honey is one of my favorite spiritual mamas, she’ll be joining me on stage at the Grace Gathering on April 12 in Austin.

Need more grace in your life? Want to write a letter to your younger self? 

If you know your Enneagram number and sometimes wonder, “What’s next?” then you’re going to love meeting Clare Loughrige. 

Not only is Clare is the co-founding Lead Pastor of Crossroads Church and Ministries in Marshall, Michigan which she started with her husband, Scott, more than 25 years ago but she also provides preaching, teaching, and spiritual direction for the leadership team. In addition, she is a formally trained spiritual director for leaders with The Transforming Center in Wheaton, Illinois.

And (wait for it) she has written two books about the Enneagram, her most recent being Spiritual Rhythms for the Enneagram: A Handbook for Harmony and Transformation. This book is filled with exercises to engage, challenge, encourage, and sustain you to grow in greater awareness and lead you to spiritual and relational transformation via your Enneagram identity. 

Whether you know much about your Enneagram number or not, you’ll love Clare’s rich content about relational and spiritual transformation in this interview.

I’m so glad for you to meet her!

SHOW NOTES

• Clare’s new book, Spiritual Rhythms for the Enneagram: A Handbook for Harmony and Transformation
• Enneagram Motions of the Soul Training in Michigan with the Loughriges
• Ruth Hayley Barton’s podcast: Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership
• Scott and Clare’s podcast: Enneagram and Christianity
• Join the Dear Daughters Launch Team

CLARE’S LETTER TO HER YOUNGER SELF

Dear 30-year-old Clare,

You are enough. Rest. Replenish. Retreat. Let solitude and silence quiet your inner performance-oriented driven self. Practice creating for an audience of One. Allow your young children to re-orient you to your essential-self. Let God love you without proving you are worthy of love. Let your acts of justice emerge from silence and listening. Allow the slow wheels of justice to grind slowly. The arc of the moral universe is long, and it is a long way to heaven. Take slow, presence minded, purposeful steps. You desire to do God’s will and that pleases God. Allow the slow work of God to work in you as well as the world you want to serve. You are loved for yourself. Be open. Be present. Be love <3

Want to write a letter to your younger self?

Get the free GRACE GUIDE here

AND

JOIN US AT THE GRACE GATHERING!

MORE INFO AND TICKETS HERE!

Finally … grateful, grateful for Davis sharing her music for the DD Podcast. :)

In a world of constant chaos and conflict, homes are often the only places of peace where souls find rest.

Everybody longs for that place of comfort called home. And in today’s noisy world, home there’s an instinctive yearning to make that space a place of refuge and beauty. Author Christie Purifoy, calls this art of creating such a space, “placemaking.”

In her new book, Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty and Peace she explains what it means to build a space of beauty and peace, whether that’s in a tiny apartment you feel you’ve outgrown or a massive dream house. Whether an untamed garden or a messy work space. 

Christie Purifoy earned a PhD in English Literature at the University of Chicago before trading the classroom for an old farmhouse, a garden, and a writing desk. She lives with her husband and four children at Maplehurst, a Victorian farmhouse in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Christie is inspiring and I’m glad for you to meet her. 

SHOW NOTES

• Christie’s new book,Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty and Peace
• Texas A&M traditions
• My story about how God spoke through a hike in the mountains is in Unafraid: Trusting God in an Unsafe World.
• Christie’s Instagram
• Psalm 90:1 Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!
• Join the Dear Daughters Launch Team

CHRISTIE’S LETTER TO HER YOUNGER SELF

Dear Twelve-year-old Christie reading her copy of The Secret Garden for the third time,

I know that book is filling your heart with a sweet but painful ache. I know you want a garden of your own. I remember how those descriptions of an English springtime blooming with daffodils sent you straight outside into your father’s Texas garden. But I also remember what you found there: mosquitoes, fire ants, scorching heat, and a humidity so thick it took your breath away. You gave up.

You did not ask your Dad “for a bit of earth” as Mary had in the story. You would never grow beautiful things. Didn’t have what it takes, apparently. Best to stay indoors and read another book and another book and another book until the Texas summer finally gave way to the first cold front of November.

Dear girl, so hungry for beauty. Keep reading those books. Keep dreaming of daffodils with yellow trumpets though you have never seen them with your own eyes. That desire for a bit of earth has been planted in you by your Maker. It is good no matter that it hurts so much right now. Don’t stuff it down too far. Don’t see it as a sign of your own failure. Nurture it with stories. Feed it with the roses your mother cuts from your father’s garden and places in a jam jar on the kitchen table. Enjoy the Texas wildflowers in March, those fields of red and blue. They are every bit as beautiful as Mary’s secret garden, though they need no care from you.

One day you will understand why you read that book so many times, and you will give thanks for the ground beneath your grownup feet. You will understand that this is no ordinary ground. It is ground prepared for you–prepared for your spade and your watering can, your dreams and your desires–years before you knew it would be given to you. And when the daffodils you planted bloom by the hundreds you will sing a song of praise to the God who calls forth music from yellow-petaled trumpets.

Want to write a letter to your younger self?

Get the free GRACE GUIDE here

… grateful, grateful for Davis sharing their music for the DD Podcast. :)

"God has equipped you for this season. He has made you strong. Walk in it. Chin high, shoulders back. And fight for what’s important. Fight for connection, privacy, wisdom … these moments are full of wonder and wretchedness. God will use these days."

Meet Kate Merrick. She’s an author, speaker, mom of three, and the cofounder of the Reality family of churches with her husband Britt. She also specializes in making up dances to The Greatest Showman soundtrack, riding a surfboard, horse, or roller skates, and adding more butter to pretty much everything. She lives in Carpinteria, California with her family, five chickens, two goats, and two miniature donkeys.

Kate’s new book is Here Now: Unearthing Peace and Presence in an Overcoming World.

She also has another book, And Still She Laughs: Defiant Joy in the Depths of Suffering, which tells the story of her losing her daughter to cancer.

Kate is all joy and I’m glad for you to know her better. 

SHOW NOTES

• Kate’s new book: Here Now: Unearthing Peace and Presence in an Overcoming World.
• Kate’s interview on DD Episode 21
• Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
• Justin Earley on DD Episode 79
• Join the Dear Daughters Book Launch Team

KATE’S LETTER TO HER YOUNGER SELF

Dear 34 year old Kate,

“Yes, this is heinous, this awful cancer diagnosis.” And, “You are ultimately not in control, but God is.” I want to say, “Honey, sweet, sweet mama, you’ve got to trust God. Worrying only gives you ulcers and makes everyone around you anxious.” I want to say, “God has equipped you for this season. He has made you strong. Walk in it. Chin high, shoulders back. And fight for what’s important. Fight for connection, privacy, wisdom, for your son who is thrown in the middle of the crisis. These moments are full of wonder and wretchedness. God will use these days.”

Want to write a letter to your younger self?

Get the free GRACE GUIDE here

… grateful, grateful for Davis sharing their music for the DD Podcast. :)

Remember the time I offered to homeschool all the children? Yes, it would be in the interview with my new friend, Jessica Smartt.

Jessica’s a former English teacher turned homeschooling mom of three. She’s an ESTJ, an iPhone addict (in recovery) and anxiety overcomer. She’s also an allergy mom (only slightly neurotic ;), loved by God, and wife to Mr. Fix Anything. She runs a mean 12-minute mile and can make just about anything dairy free.

She’s on the podcast today creating a life giving community and family via making meaningful memories.  Jessica’s new book, Memory Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life into Your Home, is about all that and more.

I’m excited for you to get to know her!

SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES

SHOW NOTES

• Jessica’s new book: Memory Making Mom
• Natalie Coulter’s Watercolor Journal Mint and Maple
• And my interview with Natalie on DD Episode 40
• Speaking of memory making, this is interesting: The Power of Moments

JESSICA’S LETTER TO HER YOUNGER SELF

Dear 30 year old Jessica,

You know what you need to do. Put down the phone, stop the frantic cleaning, and don’t worry about rushing to the next place you need to go. Enjoy your children! Now take a deep breath — whatever you are worried about, God has it handled. You don’t have to manage the entire universe. One day, one moment at a time. When you feel lost or anxious or guilty, go back to the basics and back to the rituals that bring you and your family life. You know what’s important! Ask God for help and go do the right thing.

Suffering from a lifelong disease, I’ve been told I can’t possibly be contented. Contentment happens to us because of circumstances, after all – right? But what if contentment found in Jesus is something that everyone can experience? Something we can chase and then catch hold of?

Meet Liz Carter. She’s an author and blogger who writes about life in all its messy, painful, joyous reality. She likes Cadbury chocolates and turquoise, in equal measure, and lives in the UK with her husband, a church leader, and two crazy teens.

Liz is the author of Catching Contentment: How to be Holy Satisfied. The book digs into contentment in difficult circumstances. I’m delighted to introduce you to Liz because she can talk honestly about “rejoicing in the Lord, even in the rubbish of life.” And we’ve all got rubbish in life, right?

I’m excited for you to meet her.

Here’s Liz!

SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES

SHOW NOTES

• Liz’s new book: Catching Contentment: How to be Holy Satisfied
• The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson
• My favorite tea: Yogi Breathe Deep Tea :)

LIZ’S LETTER TO HER YOUNGER SELF

Dear Younger Liz,

Here’s the thing I want you to know most of all, though: God hasn’t let you down. God’s not given up on you, or made you sick deliberately, or refused to heal you because you don’t deserve it. God loves you passionately within your illness, and something else, too. God feels your pain. Sits next to you and weeps with you when it hurts too much, holding your hand, saying ‘I’m here.’ God has never forsaken you or left you alone, even in those times you feel more alone than ever. It’s like David says in Psalm 139 – even our darkness is light to God, and God will be there wherever we go, whether to the heights or to the depths. And God’s right there in your depths, dear one, so hang on. Keep on holding on.

Justin Whitmel Earley was just about to turn 30 when he had a complete anxiety collapse. The years that followed were extremely dark. He went from being a former missionary in China, to a few short years later, an anxious lawyer, medicating with alcohol. He felt like a failure as a father, husband, worker and human being in general.

In his recovery, Justin discovered that habits form us more than we form them. He believes the answer to our contemporary chaos is to practice a rule of life that aligns our habits to our beliefs. His new book, The Common Rule, offers four daily and four weekly habits, designed to help us create new routines and transform frazzled days into lives of love for God and neighbor.

These are concrete, doable practices, such as a daily hour of phoneless presence or a weekly conversation with a friend. These habits have been lived out by people across all walks of life―businesspeople, professionals, parents, students, retirees―who have discovered new hope and purpose.

I can’t wait for you to meet him. Here’s the interview on the Dear Daughters Podcast Episode 79.

SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES

SHOW NOTES

• Visit Justin’s website here.
• Buy The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction
• Pre-order Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter and be the first to know about upcoming events.

Can I start with some BIG news that I’ve been dying to talk about …?

A precious little boy was born into the world. His name is Caleb David Davis. And he is my grandson. He was born 3 weeks ago. And ohmygracious, he is beautiful. Little blonde fuzzy head. Tiny wonderful human. My heart is exploding.

My grandma name is Zuzu. And Will’s name is Bear. Yes, Zuzu and Bear. Sounds like a cartoon or a children’s book. And I love it. Caleb was born the week before Thanksgiving so we’ve been traveling back and forth to Denver to see him. Lots of travel. Lots of wonder. And lots of big feelings for me.

All the travel plus the holidays kinda knocked me off center. And it reminded me of the importance those tiny daily things I do that keep me healthy and centered. Like good sleep and daily writing and eating healthy.

I was on a call last week with a woman I just adore (I’ll call her Jane) that just completed the Dear Daughters Mentorship Program. Jane asked me some very interesting and poignant questions about navigating the holidays in a healthy way with the people in her family. Because she recognizes unhealthy patterns in her family of origin that she doesn’t want to get sucked into. She recognizes that she is susceptible to walking into situations without boundaries, which creates all kinds of crazy for her.

So we’re going to talk boundaries. Because boundaries are insulators. And we’re going to talk about boundaries because the holidays are coming up and that’s often the time we need healthy boundaries most of all.

Here’s the interview on the Dear Daughters Podcast Episode 78.

SHOW NOTES

• Wanna talk over lunch? Sign up here!
• Barbara Taylor Brown’s An Altar in the World
• DD 66 Episode: Boundaries for Soul with Allison Cook
• Allison’s book: Boundaries for Your Soul
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here.
• Dear Daughters Mentorship Program in 2019
• Davis Music Tour Dates

Today on the Dear Daughters Podcast, I’m talking with Kristin Schell of the Turquoise Table about all things Thanksgiving. This is the final episode in what I’m calling the Thanksgiving Trio which is three episodes with three of my favorite table people. The first was with EP 75 with Bri McKoy, the second was EP 76 with Jen Schmidt and last but certainly not least is with my friend and neighbor, Kristin!

Kristin reveals her biggest Thanksgiving blunder and how that led her to create one simple rule to follow every Thanksgiving. I think you’ll benefit from hearing what that rule is and how it makes everything much easier for Kristin over the holiday. As well, she talks about allowing space for real connection with the people at the table. Kristin is just the best at creating space to spend quality time with her people.

Kristin is a hoot. You will just love her.  And you also might love winning a signed copy of her book + a cute pie tea towel + a couple Capri Blue Fir & Firewood Candles. Just jump over to my Instagram to enter to win!

SHOW NOTES

• Kristin’s DD Episode 6
• Cranberry Jalapeno Salsa 
• Musings for Gatherings
• Rebecca Rather’s Apple Pie Recipe
• Sarah Harmeyer’s Neighbor’s Table
• Dear Daughters Mentorship Program in 2019

… grateful, grateful for Davis sharing their music for the DD Podcast. :)

Need some good recipes and gathering ideas for the upcoming holidays? Yeah, me too. So I called on the experts. Last week on the Dear Daughters Podcast | Episode 75, I talked with Bri McKoy. We talked about the most important part of the holiday and how to mix in gratitude when you're feeling lonely. 

This week, I invited Jen Schmidt to chat all things food, memories, and thanksgiving wonder. She’s great at breaking big things down in manageable pieces whether that’s cooking for 30 people or handling the holidays with the best mix of hope + reality.

Jen  has spent the last decade encouraging, challenging and cheering on women to embrace both the beauty and bedlam of their everyday lives on her popular lifestyle blog, Beauty and Bedlam. She’s a wife, mother, and ‘accidental author’, as well as a fellow table person and thrifter.

I loved hearing from Jen. I know you will too! And ohhhh, don’t forget to jump over to my Instagram and enter to win a signed copy of Jen’s book + a darling apron + Capri Blue Candle!

Here’s the interview on the Dear Daughters Podcast Episode 76.

SHOW NOTES

• Episode 49 with Jen Schmidt
• Jen’s Gratitude Rolls
• Jen’s Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes
• 11 of my favorite Thanksgiving Recipes (including all kinds of P-I-E!)
• Jen’s book, Just Open the Door
• The Dear Daughters Mentorship Program Info and Waitlist for 2019
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here to keep up with upcoming events, classes and gatherings. 

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year. I love gathering around the table with my dearest people, sharing affirmations and bumping elbows as we reach for one more slice of pumpkin pie. This season I’m extra grateful because I have a grandson coming Thanksgiving week ~ oh JOY!!

Thanksgiving often gets overshadowed by twinkly, glorious Christmas, so I thought it would be extra wonderful to highlight Thanksgiving by talking with a few of my very favorite table people over the next three weeks. 

My first table friend is adorable Bri McKoy. Bri is a writer, food blogger, air force wife, and a fellow Enneagram 7. Today on the show we talked about how to graciously hold gratitude and sorrow in both hands, and how to be fully present in the Thanksgivings we have, not just the ones we dream of. We also talked some of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes, of course.

I can’t wait for you to hear from Bri today! And ohhhh, don’t forget to jump over to my Instagram and enter to win a signed copy of Bri’s book + Ina Garten’s How Easy is That?

SHOW NOTES

• Bri’s happy Instagram
• Bri’s earlier interview on the podcast ~> dd episode 38
• Savory Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Ina Garten’s Herb- Roasted Turkey Breast
• Bri’s favorite kitchen tool ~ the food mill
• Come and Eat: A Celebration of Love and Grace Around the Everyday Table
• Interested in the Dear Daughters Mentorship Program? More info here. Or join the waitlist here.
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here and you’ll get access to a FREE 4 week Bible study on how to live worry-free.

It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. ~ Myquillyn Smith

I’m so excited to have Myquillyn Smith, otherwise known as The Nester, join me on the show today! She’s a writer, a homebody and a contentment evangelist. Her motto is, ‘It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.’ Isn’t that just lovely? I love her passion for helping women love their most important space, their home.

Myquillyn, her husband Chad, and their three boys have moved 14 times (!!!) over the course of their married life, so Myquillyn can relate to the challenges of loving your rent house when you aren’t allowed to paint, and shopping your home when you don’t have the budget to shop.

They now live just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, where she gets to watch her peonies bloom every year and enjoy her happy place, the pool.

On the show today we talked about contentment, coziness and the gift of margin in our homes and in our lives. We talked about how so often the things that we wish were different about our lives eventually become the stories that we share to encourage others, and how they may even be our path to discovering what we love the most. She also shared a few tips for finding the perfect sofa, oh joy!

Myquillyn does so many wonderful creative things like writing at The Nester, contributing to Hope Writers, and hosting the Nest Fest and other gatherings in her sweet white barn. I absolutely can’t wait for you to meet her.

SHOW NOTES

• Come to our Austin coffee/book signing to celebrate Myquillyn ~> tickets here!
• Myquillyn’s newest book, The Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff
• Alli Worthington
• Study on how clutter effects women ~> The Clutter Culture
• One sofa with timeless lines: the camelback sofa
• Anthropologie statement pillows
• Myquillyn’s book launching tiny house/barn
• Nest Fest
• Teachers Myquillyn admires: Emily P Freeman, Edie Wadsworth (her ‘cozifier mentor’), Angela from The Painted House, and Tsh Oxenreider.
• Favorite bath products ~ Dr. Teals lavender epsom salts
• The Dear Daughters Mentorship Program
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here.

Hey there, dear one.

I see you wrestling under the sadness, afraid that it’ll crush you. I know that the world can be scary and hard, and that our list of losses only grows longer as we get older.

But there is good news.

I believe that if you name what you’ve lost, if you sit with your grief and let it show you what has been taken from you instead of wrestling against it, that is the first step on the path back to joy.

Today I’m talking about grief and loss, and about how those things can be teachers. How they can make us soft and wise, rather than hardened and angry. I hope that you’ll tune in, and take the time to respond to the prompts. Then I hope you’ll share it with someone you love who needs to hear it.

SHOW NOTES

• My book Unafraid: Trusting God in an Unsafe World
• Isaiah 61.3
• Best Baked Eggs
• Share these show notes with a friend, or rate or review the show on iTunes
• Join the Dear Daughters FB group
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.

Here’s my prayer for you.

That you will be a woman who daily surrenders to God’s plans. Even when those plans bump into tragedy or hardship. That you will grieve, list losses and take steps back to joy.  That you will be soft and kind and open to God and this great big world full of hurting people. Not hard and angry and loud. But tender and beautiful. I pray that you’ll know that you are loved more deeply than you could know, and you are not forgotten. God hears your prayers. He sees what you’re going through. And He is with you. Always.

Do you find yourself enduring the season of life you’re in, rather than embracing it? Do you find yourself always expectantly looking ahead, putting the opportunities of today on hold because you’re distracted by your dreams for what’s next? Maybe you don’t even want to want to be content with what your circumstance is right now, you just want it to end! Well, today’s episode is for you, friend.

I’m so excited to welcome Stephanie Holden, otherwise known as Honey Holden, to the show today. She’s a Southern girl, a pastor’s wife and a spiritual mama. She radiates such contentment, wisdom and an awful lot of whimsy – so I wanted you to get to know her. Today on the show, we’re talking about walking gracefully through life transitions, which I know is something you want to do too. And I think you’ll find that what Stephanie shares applies to any season of life where you’re feeling discontent, or where beauty and grief are bumping elbows.

Stephanie has been married to her husband Nick for 30 years. And she’s being doing ministry with him for 20 years. They have three adult daughters and 4 grandchildren. She loves thrift stores, popcorn, and little celebrations… and isn’t Honey just the most whimsical grandma name you’ve ever heard?

Honey is such a delight. I can’t wait for you to meet her.

Here’s the interview on the Dear Daughters Podcast Episode 73.

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SHOW NOTES

• Tara Royer Steele
• Letter to the 16 year old me ~> Dear Me.
• Honey’s favorite fall recipe is chili… maybe make a big pot + this delicious creamed cornbread recipe from the Bald Pate Inn I talked about on the show.
• You’ll definitely want to follow Honey on Instagram
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here and let’s get in the Bible together.

Do you sometimes feel like you’re doing life alone? Do you wish you could have someone who was right there with you, day in and day out, to encourage you?

Today I’m talking about the importance of strengthening your inner self to know more and more about God’s love so that you can feel his love and power in your life every single day. So you can feel the companionship of the Holy Spirit as a leader, teacher and comforter.

I also talk about how this spiritual life we’re after is not something that’s done all on your own. There’s a time for self-leadership, of course. But there’s also a time to let yourself be led and a time to lead others – and all of those roles may bump elbows in the same season of life, or even all in one day!  Listen in and link arms with a spiritual mama or a dear daughter and learn more about loving God and loving the people around you – together.

SHOW NOTES

• Ephesians 3.16-18
• Join the Dear Daughters FB group
• The Dear Daughters Mentorship Program Registration IS LIVE!! Sign up now. It’s a small group/online class-like setting, so there aren’t a lot of spaces available.
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll be the first to know about the new things I’m working on!

I’d like encourage you to reach out to those women in your day to day life who are just a few steps further down life’s road. I pray that this episode has brought someone to mind, and that you can just go have coffee in her kitchen and talk about God and life. But if no one did come to mind, I hope that you’ll  join me in the Dear Daughters Mentorship Program this fall. I’ve had many women ask me if I’ll mentor them, and turning them away breaks my heart – so this program is the result of a lot of prayer and Big God Dreaming, with hopes that it will help you, whatever your season of life.

I’m so excited to have Shelley Giglio join me today because she is basically a professional spiritual mama. Shelley is one of the most intentional people I know about bringing dear daughters alongside her in life and helping them know and love God more. So today, I wanted you to feel like you’re getting a little mentoring/spiritual mama time with Shelley, too.

We talked about letting God redeem the disappointments in our lives and how our perspective changes when we put God in front of our circumstances instead of behind them. We also talked about how we are to live as ‘place makers’ in the Kingdom which was incredibly compelling. 

Shelley and her husband Louie have spent the last thirty years of their lives either living on campus with college students, or leading students all over the world to live for God. They currently lead Passion City Church in Atlanta, where they have 750 dear daughters connected to mentoring through their womens’ ministry, The Grove. Also on her resume ~ the Passion Conference and sixstepsrecords.

Shelley is wise and kind, and I hope that as you listen you feel like you’re sitting in my living room and having coffee with us while we talk about God and life. 

SHOW NOTES

• Baylor University
• Shelley and Louie's church, Passion City Church, in Atlanta
• The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis
• Shelley and her cute dad
•  DD episode 64: A Father’s Influence and DD episode 65: Your Dad’s Influence on How You See God
• sixstepsrecords
• James 1.8 ~ a double-minded man leads himself nowhere
• Shelley’s women’s ministry ~> The Grove
• London the super cute, missional golden doodle
• The Dear Daughters Mentorship Program
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here.

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Do you sometimes feel like you need someone in your life a little older and wiser to remind you that God is still good, and that everything will be alright? Though you may already believe it for yourself, sometimes it’s comforting to hear it from someone else you trust. I hope you have someone like that in your life to speak the truth over you with confidence.

When I think of the role of a mentor, I think of someone who helps you reclaim the vision for your life. Someone who helps you to meditate on, ‘whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is lovely.”  Someone who helps you listen more closely to the still, small voice of God in your life. Couldn’t we all use more of that?

There are some days when I feel like I’m building a legacy- maybe if I’ve had a really meaningful conversation with a dear daughter, or done something that seems like it could have some big impact. And there are other days that feel small like when I run errands, fold the laundry and make dinner for my husband. Maybe you can relate. You may not feel like you are building a legacy when you pray with your friend about her job interview, or when you care for a sick toddler, or make a phone call to check in with a family member but there’s good news … you are leaving a legacy. Yep, even when you do simple things like running errands, folding laundry and making dinner.

Today on the show I talk with a lovely mother-daughter team, Jackie Green and Lauren Green McAfee, about the opportunities we have to build a legacy that outlives our lives. And spoiler alert, you don’t have to be famous to leave a legacy. Jackie and Lauren’s new book, Only One Life: How a Woman’s Every Day Shapes an Eternal Legacy, is all about that and more.

SHOW NOTES

• Only One Life: How a Woman’s Every Day Shapes an Eternal Legacy
• Museum of the Bible
• This Dangerous Book: How the Bible Has Shaped Our World and Why It Still Matters Today, co-written with Jackie’s husband Steve Green
• Jackie’s husband is the president of Hobby Lobby
• Elizabeth Ann Everest, Winston Churchill’s nanny
• ‘The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is the Hand that Rules the World‘, William Ross Wallace
• Queen Elizabeth II
• The Servant Queen and the King She Serves
• Proverbs 3.5-6
• Keep up with Lauren ~> website, twitter, instagram
• …and Jackie! ~> only one life book, facebook, twitter
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here.
• Sign up here for info on the virtual online mentoring program.

If you’ve ever wondered what your calling is, then this episode is for you because today I talk with Beth Booram who has written a whole book on understanding what it looks like for God to birth a dream in your life. Beth walks us through the the gestational process of birthing a dream as well as providing a bit of direction and encouragement.

Beth is a spiritual director and author, who also runs an urban spiritual retreat center in her home in Indianapolis. She’s written four books, and is writing her fifth with her husband. She is a fellow table person, Big-God-Dreamer and question-asker, and I am just giddy to have her join me on the show today.

I can’t wait for you to meet Beth. Here’s the interview on the Dear Daughters Podcast Episode 67.

SHOW NOTES

• Sustainable Faith Indy
• Awaken Your Senses: Exercises for Exploring the Wonder of God, co-written with Brent Bill
• The Wide Open Spaces of God: A Journey with God Through the Landscapes of Life
• Picturing the Face of Jesus: Encountering Christ through Art
• Beth’s newest book ~ Starting Something New: Spiritual Direction for Your God-Given Dream
• …and her forthcoming book, co-written with her husband, On the Lookout for God
• Sustainable Faith in Cincinnati
• Acts 2.46 Table
• Colossians 3.23
• Liz Alig – Fair Trade Fashion
• Beth’s site
• Julie and Julia
• DD episode 61 ~ Are You Listening to Your Heart?
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here.