The Homemaking Foundations Podcast

As we've embarked on full time travel this past year, we've learned so much! As of the day I'm recording this, we have been traveling full time for exactly 11 months. And while I feel like we are always refining the process, we've also gotten so much better at it! This episode is inspired by the fact that I've gotten a handful of friends messaging me, asking for travel tips for this summer. Some are going camping for the weekend, one friend is taking an 8 week trip staying in cabins, another friend is embarking on a 3 month RV trip, and others are venturing out in their local areas for day trips. So after thinking about it, here are my travel tips for families (especially those with little kids). Listen to the Podcast: We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both  And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Psst: This is our very last episode under the name of Homemaking Foundations. ALL of my episodes will still be here in the feed for you, but all 330 episodes will be set to episode 0. The next episode to come out will be episode 1, under season 1 of Finding Joy in Your Home. All the same amazing content...just under a new name to better capture what we do here!  1. Just do it. Go. Make it happen. It might sound overwhelming. It might be overwhelming as you pack and get ready. It might be a lot more work than just staying home...but go. The memories and experiences are worth it. And you'll get better at it with time. 2. Plan as best you can, but go with the flow. For those of us planner types, we can get deep into the details of planning out summer plans. In fact, I actually LOVE planning out our trips. I get very geeky and excited about mapping out the perfect route, where we will stay, and what we will do. Whether you dread or love this step...you have to remember to take it all in stride. It's NOT going to be perfect, in fact, it's often in the imperfect that we remember things the most. We've had RV plans fall through last minute, which ended up being huge blessings in the things we ended up doing. On moving days, we are always so exhausted after taking down camp, driving to a new location, and setting up again. But then the sun dawns the next day and we are ready for fresh exploring. 3. Stock up on activities for kids...and slowly release them. Don't give them all out at once. On long travel days, we usually let the kids just read or do their own thing for the first 2 hours or so. Usually until our first rest or gas stop. Then we will pull out a craft or activity and let them play with that for a while. A few hours later when we are starting to get tired, I'll pull out something else new! The key, for when you are traveling a lot, is to find cheap stuff! The dollar tree is my favorite place to grab stuff and I've gotten creative with the things I'll get for the kids to do. Some ideas: $1 crayon and picture packs $1 Felt pictures with markers $1 magic market packets. Or get the $5 from Walmart, they usually come with several pens and sheets of paper. I'll buy random stickers and scrapbooking stuff + packet of markets + $1 notebook for each kid and have them write their own book. $1 activity books Walmart as these cool glitter poster boards for $1 each. Give them stickers + pens and make a poster Print off mazes, activites, and pages from Pinterest and bind into a book for each one. Etch a sketches, Melissa and Doug Water wow books, etc. It's not until usually the final hour or so that we break out the Kindle fires and let them...

Mother's Day is coming up in a few weeks. And while we may look forward to the day (or not), it can also be hard with expectations and a lot of emotions. Maybe you will get a hand written card. Maybe you will get a half-hearted “Happy Mother’s Day” from your teen. Maybe your husband will do the dishes for you. Maybe it will be all you dreamed of and it will be amazing. Maybe. Or maybe you will feel a little disappointed. Maybe you will feel hurt that your husband didn’t make a bigger deal out of the occasion. Maybe you resent the fact that you still had to do all the cooking and the cleaning over the weekend. Maybe you will wish that just for once, someone in your family would notice ALL that you do. Listen to the Podcast: We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both  And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. I get it. I think all of us have been there at one moment or another. “Don’t they see ALL that I do for this family day in and day out?” “Wow, I sure wish I could just throw my clothes all over the room and hope that someone else will deal with it later.” “I don’t ever stop working, I wish that just for one second that someone would notice that and recognize it!”  I know it’s easy for these feelings to creep into our hearts. But at the end of the day, this is only going to lead us feeling frustration, overwhelmed, and with a lot less joy in our lives. These feelings and this line of thinking robs us of our contentment in the everyday.  When mother’s day is over and we are feeling under-appreciated and overwhelmed, how do we being again to find joy? Finding our Joy in the Lord It can be so discouraging when we feel like we are not appreciated for all we do. We want to be recognized or even just given a small thank you every once in a while. But when we don’t get these, or it doesn’t look like how we think it should look…we are quickly robbed of our joy. The problem is: We are placing our hope, our trust, and our joy in the things of this world. We are placing our joy – or our lack there of – in the hands of our toddlers who might wake up on the wrong side of the bed and scream all day or in the very angsty hands of our teenagers. We are turning to our family to fulfill us and meet our needs. I did this a lot in the early days of our marriage. I looked to my husband to fulfill all of my needs. I looked to him for encouragement, for security, for complete and perfect love…and of course, when he would inevitably fail…my joy would go along with it. I’ve learned through too many mistakes throughout the years that ultimately, my joy needs to be in the Lord. These sinful humans that we live with day in and day out WILL fail us at one point or another. Or everyday. Yes, our children and our husband can bring us an immense amount of joy. But if our ultimate joy, peace, and life rests in how our family all responds to us then we have turned our family or our kids into an idol and at the end of the day, we will be sorely disappointed. RELATED: Idols of the Heart and Keeping Our Eyes on Jesus – Hf #45 “Idols aren’t just stone statues. No, idols are the thoughts, desires, longings, and expectations that we worship in the place of the true God. Idols cause us to ignore the true God in search of what we think we need.” – Idols of the Heart, page 23 Instead of placing our trust and our hope in our family, we need to place that trust and that hope in Christ. We need to turn to him when life hurts, when we feel disappointed, when we are overwhelmed. When we tie our identity,

Anxiety is no stranger to both Phylicia and myself. In this episode, my guest Phylicia Masonheimer, is going to share her journey with battling anxiety from a Biblical and practical stand point. It's a very encouraging chat. Let's dive in! Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: This interview originally appeared in the 2021 Homemaking Ministries Online Conference. If you would like access to the other 39+ conference sessions. Check it out here Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com/home50 and enter code: home50  

In our culture, we run from hard things. We tend to think that hard = bad or wrong. But today I'm going to give you some encouragement that hard doesn't necessarily mean bad. In fact, God often does His biggest work in Hard. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. We get asked a lot how we do certain things: run a business from home with 6 kids, travel full time, go out to eat with said kids, homeschool all of them without losing our minds, etc. And honestly, most of what we do doesn't seem overly mystifying to us, but some of it is really hard. A big theme in our life has become: hard doesn't mean bad. Often in our culture, we equate hard with bad. We think that if things are hard, they must be wrong. Or that we are doing them wrong. For example: Newborn days and entering motherhood can be HARD. That doesn't mean we are doing it wrong. Some homeschool days are terrible. It doesn't mean the sacrifice isn't worth it. Traveling all around the country with 6 young kids can be exhausting. It doesn't mean the education and exploration isn't worth every single second. In our culture today, we've been trained to think that hard is bad. We feel like life should be easy and good, not tough and hard. So we either assume we are doing something wrong or that the hard isn't worth pushing through. The thing is: most worthwhile things in life ARE hard. Getting a college degree is HARD. But it can be worth every single bit of work. Pregnancy and labor is hard. But it produces new life. Discipleship is hard, and exhausting, and frustrating at times...But it's God's work in our children's lives (and in our own lives). God disciplines us and it's often so hard. But it produces the fruit of the Spirit. "God’s sovereignty is exercised primarily for His glory. But because you and I are in Christ Jesus, His glory and our good are linked together. Because we are united with Christ, whatever is for His glory is also for our good. And whatever is for our good is for His glory." “God does not willingly bring affliction or grief to us. He does not delight in causing us to experience pain or heartache. He always has a purpose for the grief He brings or allows to come into our lives. Most often we do not know what that purpose is, but it is enough to know that His infinite wisdom and perfect love have determined that the particular sorrow is best for us. God never wastes pain. He always uses is to accomplish His purpose. And His purpose is for His glory and our good. Therefore, we can trust Him when our hearts are aching or our bodies are racked with pain.” ― Jerry Bridges, Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts Links & Resources: Book recommendation: Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking12 and use code homemaking12 for 12 free meals, including free shipping!

We hear all the time that "you are enough" or "just believe in yourself." But what happens when you are NOT enough? When you can't just make it happen or work it all out? We run headlong into trouble in our life when we start relying on OUR strength instead of in God's strength. That's what we are discussing today. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Book recommendation: Enough About Me: Finding Lasting Joy in the Age of Self by Jen Oshman Our Sponsor: Try out StoryWorth, no shipping required, by going to StoryWorth.com/homemaking for $10 off  your first purchase.

Mentoring is such an important topic in the Church today, but it's to still feel left wondering what it looks like. In today's episode we are going to discuss some different ways that mentoring can look in real life and a call to the importance of the local Church! Plus I'll share more resources for Biblical mentoring. Let's dive in! Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Mentoring in real life can look so many different ways! It can look like a formal Bible study time, or meeting one on one for coffee, by watching how others conduct their life, and just living real life with other women. Links & Resources: Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests Spiritual Mothering: The Titus 2 Model for Women Mentoring Women Finding a Mentor, Being a Mentor: Sharing Our Lives as Women Adorned: Living Out the Beauty of the Gospel Together Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com/home50 and enter code: home50

My reading time has fluxuated greatly in the past year. And after only hitting 50% of my reading goal in 2020, I knew I wanted to really dive back into better reading habits this year. And so far, I'm smashing my reading goals and have formed some new habits. In this episode, I'm going to share some reviews for 10 of the books I've read so far this year (out of 33) and then share what has been helping me this year in reading more. Let's dive in! Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. What's helping me this year compared to last: Getting excited about reading again! I bought some new books to get excited and its helping me work through old ones Going back to reading 1 chapter of a non fiction book a day:  currently working through a beastly systematic theology doing this. Setting an easier goal so I feel excited when I break it instead of just feeling supppper behind. Making it habit to listen through audiobooks again in nooks and crannies. My favorite books read so far this year: You can follow me over on Goodreads to keep up to date on what I'm reading. But here's some of our favs! As a family we are currently reading through the Chronicles of Narnia. This is our first time reading the whole series with all the kids and we are going through it very slowly when we have travel days! We are also on book #1 of the Wingfeather Saga as a family and are really enjoying it. Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley- 4 star Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson - 3 starts Why Children Matter by Douglas Wilson  - 4 star - I listened to this for free with the Canon Press app free trial. Hooked - 2 star The Common Rule: Habits for Purpose for an Age of Distraction - 3 star The Household and the War for the Cosmos - 4 star - I listened to this for free with the Canon Press app free trial. A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope Through the Psalms of Lament - 3.5 stars Eve in Exile: and The Restoration of Femininity - 5 stars - I listened to this for free with the Canon Press app free trial. The Self Sufficient Backyard - 5 stars (I purchased it from their website) Before Jerusalem Fell - 5 stars Comparison Girl - 5 stars Meal Planning Help for Eating Healthy: I am really excited to share with you the sponsor of today’s podcast episode: PrepDish! If you ever feel like you wish you had a little help in your meal planning, then I highly encourage you to check out PrepDish. They offer gluten-free meal plans and paleo meal plans. But you don’t have to eat a gluten-free or paleo diet in order to take advantage of all that PrepDish has to offer! In fact, almost half of their customers don’t eat those diets. The meals are healthy and non-processed and work well for anyone who is trying to eat a healthy diet. And PrepDish is offering a super special TWO week free trail when you sign up through this link (how awesome!!) When you sign up, you’ll receive an email every week with a grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. After only 1-3 hours of prepping on the weekend, you’ll have all of your meals ready for the entire week. I absolutely love how easy they make it. Free TWO week trial of PrepDish

In this episode we are going to be discussing what it means to serve others with a heart of humility. We will focus on laying aside pride and putting on humility...in all areas of our lives! Listen in: Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Book recommendation: Comparison Girl: Lessons from Jesus on Me-Free Living in a Measure-Up World Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking12 and use code: homemaking12 for 12 free meals, including free shipping!

Here in our 5th and final part of our eschatology series, we are going a Q&A wrap up. Jason and I are sharing where we've landed on this whole debate (maybe), determining churches based off Eschatology (should we??), viewing current events, and where do we go from here? I hope to leave you at the end of this episode with a ton of encouragement! Listen in here: Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. A note on this series: In no way are Jason and I an expert in this topic. But we’ve greatly enjoyed diving into eschatology this year and are excited to share what we’ve learned. We are covering the 3 main views of the end times, but even within those 3, there are countless smaller viewpoints of those. So what we are attempting to do here is a broad overview of each point. Please forgive us if we over generalize any areas or if we make a mistake on any of these. Please come dialogue with us on Instagram if you want to share anything! Links & Resources: Check out the previous episodes in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Book Suggestion: Three Views on the Millennium Book Suggestion: Four Views on the Book of Revelation Video Suggestion: An Evening of Eschatology (We highly recommend this video!!) Our Sponsor: Visit BarberMom.com and use the promo code HOME for $10 off a Lifetime Membership. Our Sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/90homemaking and use code 90homemaking to get $90 off including free shipping!

Welcome to the fourth part of our Eschatology series: A look at the end times. In part 1, we covered WHY you should care about Eschatology and why it’s worth spending our time on. Then in part 2 we covered the Premillennial viewpoint and part 3 we covered the Amillennial viewpoint.  Now we are going to deep dive into the Postmillennial viewpoint. Then we will wrap up the series with a Q&A episode (and where do we go from here)?  Let’s dive in! Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. A note on this series: In no way are Jason and I an expert in this topic. But we’ve greatly enjoyed diving into eschatology this year and are excited to share what we’ve learned. We are covering the 3 main views of the end times, but even within those 3, there are countless smaller viewpoints of those. So what we are attempting to do here is a broad overview of each point. Please forgive us if we over generalize any areas or if we make a mistake on any of these. Please come dialogue with us on Instagram if you want to share anything! Overview of the Postmillennial Viewpoint: This is the view that Christ will return after the Millennium here on earth (hence the post part). This is a partial preterest viewpoint which means that they view many of the events prophesied in the book of Revelation as already have happened (i.e. the great Tribulation, the Antichrist and so forth). Because of this (and Bible verses from both the Old and New Testament), they take the most optimistic view of human history. They believe that the Gospel will flourish (from the times of the Apostles and the Early Church) now through until when the Millennium is ushered in here on earth. They think the world will get "better and better" because of the triumph and influence of the Gospel in the world. They see the world becoming more and more Christian until even the nations bow to Christ. Once the Gospel has spread that far, the Millennium here on earth will be ushered in and Christ will return after that. Graphs from The Blue Letter Bible Proponents of Postmill: Rousas J. Rushdoony, Greg L. Bahnsen, Douglas Wilson. Jeff Durbin, James White, Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., David Chilton, Gary North, Eusibius, Athanasius, Samuel Rutherford, John Owen, Isaac Watts, Jonathan Edwards, Richard Sibbes, John Cotton, BB Warfield, Loraine Boettner, Iain Murray, Ligon Duncan. Postmill resources: The Puritan Hope by Murray, Iain H. Eschatology of Victory Kik, J. Marcellus He Shall Have Dominion: An Eschatology of Victory Gentry Jr., Kenneth L. Millennium Boettner, Loraine. Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope Mathison, Keith A. Before Jerusalem Fell Kenneth Gentry Allie Stuckey Relatable Episodes with Jeff Durbin (Part 1 and Part 2) Postmill documentary: On Earth as It Is in Heaven

Welcome to the third part of our Eschatology series: A look at the end times. In part 1, we covered WHY you should care about Eschatology and why it's worth spending our time on. Then in part 2 we covered the Premillennial viewpoint. Now we are going to deep dive into the Amillennial viewpoint. The next episode will feature Postmillennialism. We will wrap up the series with a Q&A episode! Let's dive in! Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. A note on this series: In no way are Jason and I an expert in this topic. But we’ve greatly enjoyed diving into eschatology this year and are excited to share what we’ve learned. We are covering the 3 main views of the end times, but even within those 3, there are countless smaller viewpoints of those. So what we are attempting to do here is a broad overview of each point. Please forgive us if we over generalize any areas or if we make a mistake on any of these. Please come dialogue with us on Instagram if you want to share anything! Overview of the Amillennial Viewpoint: This is the view that there is no earthly millennium. Rather, the millennium is a Spiritual one that is currently taking place in Heaven. We have been in the millennium since Christ ascended into Heaven and will remain until He comes back again. They believe the 1000 years is a figurative term to mean a really long time. Believers who have already died and die today will be in Heaven immediately experiencing the millennium. The Kingdom of God (proclaimed by Jesus and his apostles) is synonymous with the millennial kingdom of Revelation 20:4-6. This is a very simple and straightforward look at our present age and Christ returning. They are partial preterists and interpret many of the prophecies in Revelation to have already happened in the first century (i.e. antichrist, great tribulation, etc). Preterism - An eschatological viewpoint that places many of the eschatological events in the past, especially during the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. - What Does the Bible Teach About the End Times?  Graphs from The Blue Letter Bible Amill Resources: What Does the Bible Teach About the End Times? The Bible and the Future by Hoekema, Anthony A case for Amillennialism – Kim Riddlebarger More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation by Hendrikson, William Triumph of the Lamb by Dennis Johnson Sam Storms video The Preterist Approach to Revelation - Ligioner Ministries eCourse: The Last Days According to Jesus by R.C. Sproul

Welcome to the second part of our Eschatology series: A look at the end times. In part 1, we covered WHY you should care about Eschatology and why it's worth spending our time on. Now we are going to deep dive into the first viewpoint: Premillennialism. The next episode will feature Amillennialism and the next part Postmillennialism. We will wrap up the series with a Q&A episode! Let's dive in! Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. A note on this series: In no way are Jason and I an expert in this topic. But we've greatly enjoyed diving into eschatology this year and are excited to share what we've learned. We are covering the 3 main views of the end times, but even within those 3, there are countless smaller viewpoints of those. So what we are attempting to do here is a broad overview of each point. Please forgive us if we over generalize any areas or if we make a mistake on any of these. Please come dialogue with us on Instagram if you want to share anything! Defining our Terms Before we jump into the Premill viewpoint, let's first define a few terms we will talk about when it comes to all three viewpoints. Second Coming of Jesus: To conquer sin and death and Satan once and for all. Verses: 1 Thess 5, Titus 2:13, Matthew 24:30, Revelation 1:7, Revelation 19:11. When will the second coming happen? It will be like a thief in the night. No one knows when it’ll happen. Verses: 1 Thess 5:2, Matthew 24:44. Antrichrist: Man of lawlessness. Verses: 2 Thess 2:3-4, Revelation 13:5-8. The Rapture: Gathering up of all believers; the Church. Verse: 1 Thess 4:17 Millennium: the 1000 year reign of Christ (either figurative or literal 1000 years). Verse: Revelation: 20:2-3 Final Judgement: Where Jesus will judge the living and the dead. Verses: Revelation 20:11-15. Overview of the Premillennial Viewpoint: This is the view that Christ's second coming will happen before the Millennial Kingdom which will be the 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth, The two most common views within premil are pre-trib and post-trib. Though there are arguments for mid-trib as well. Premills have a futurist view of the book of Revelation. This means that they believe the events outlined in Revelation to be future events (to us). Revelation chapters 4-22 are yet to be fulfilled. Premills argue that theirs is the most literal reading of Revelation. Those who disagree argue that premills take passages of Revelation as literal when in fact they should be read and interpreted symbolically or figuratively. Pre-trib Premils believe that Christ will rapture the Church BEFORE the 7 years of tribulation. Post-trib premils believe that the Church will live through the 7 years of Tribulation before Christ comes again. Dispensational Premill:  The most popular view of the end times in America today is the dispensational premill view. This view first appeared in the 19th century which distinguished it from historic premill. This view argues for a secret rapture 7 years before Jesus returns. They also emphasize the fulfillment of the promises made to Jewish people during this Millenium. Proponents of this view include: Wayne Grudem, John MacArthur, Erwin Lutzer, Charles L. Feinberg, John Walvoord, Charles Ryrie, and J. Dwight Pentecost, and it was popularized through Hal Lindsey’s 1970 bestseller, The Late, Great Planet Earth, and the Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Graphs from The Blue Letter Bible Historic Premill:  As oppose to their dispensational brothers,

Jason and I have done a deep dive study into eschatology this year. And what was once a very confusing theological idea has turned into a very rich and profitable theological point for both of us. We are kicking off this mini series (A Look at the End Times) with an episode all about why we should care about eschatology. Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. This is the first in our 5 part series on Eschatology. In this first introduction we are going to cover WHY we should care about eschatology and take this time to study it. Then over the course of 3 mini episodes that are all released at once, we are going to cover the 3 main view points: Premill (pretrib & historical), Amill, & Postmill. Then in the final episode in this series, we are going to go over more resources and questions! We are excited to dig into this topic with you. And while we certainly don't have all the answers on this topic, we are excited to share the resources that have been helpful for us in studying it all. At the end, we hope this inspires you to dive into Scripture more! Links & Resources: Our Sponsor: Get 15% of your order at HighKey.com/HF Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking10 and use code homemaking10 for 10 free meals, including free shipping!

Last week we talked about getting to the bottom of WORK, leisure, and what's the point? Today we are looking at the next logical topic: building out your schedule and the importance of taking care of yourself. Listen in here: Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. What does it mean to invest in yourself? This is a hot topic right now in Christian circles. Many people proclaim we need to be doing MORE to invest in ourselves and others say that this is an entirely selfish phrase or idea and we need to throw it out. Where do I stand? Right in the middle of this debate.  I think that there is a huge movement in our culture to be selfish. Spend all your time and money on yourself. The good life consists of many shopping days, trips to the spa and making sure YOU are #1 priority in your life...to the exclusion of others. That is a wrong and sinful attitude. So on the flip side, I think Christians often overreact on the other end and we take the idea of denying ourselves so far to the extreme that we no longer have the capacity to serve well because we've neglected ourselves physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Matthew 16:24 - Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." We see that we ARE to live a selfless life. We are to want to become more and more like Christ. We are to deny our own selfish wants and desires and follow HIM! So we shouldn't plunge all of our time, money, and energy into ourselves. We shouldn't be selfish to the detriment of those around us especially. Caring for our health But we should also be concerned about caring for this body and mind that God has given us so that we can serve him with joy and vigor. If we run ourselves into the ground trying to be and do everything, we won't have the energy or creativity to joyfully serve our family and do all that God has called us to in this life with joy. God calls us to be wise with our time. To use it well. To serve him. And I think a very wise use of some of our time, is making sure that we are taking care of ourselves. "Some godly people who exercise regularly and eat well drop dead at every age. And some sedentary overeaters live to be ninety. Our days are set by God, not us. You won’t live a day longer or shorter than God decides. But keep in mind that some people have survived the plunge over Niagara Falls. That doesn’t make it wise." - Physical Exercise by John Piper "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." - 1 Corinthians 15:58 John Piper explains why he puts time and energy into jogging: "Underneath most of my besetting sins is despondency. I am less prone to such melancholy when I hammer my body three times a week. The reason could be endorphins. Could be ego. Whichever, it’s cheaper than Prozac or psychotherapy. I’m simply happier. And I sleep better. I have more energy. Most of that energy goes into the Bible and preaching and people. And the fruit from that is, I hope, edification. Which means I exercise to be a more loving person and a better pastor."  Caring for our bodies and our minds is being a WISE steward of what God has given us: "If you ask how the fruit of exercise relates to the fruit of the Spirit, my answer is this: the Holy Spirit produces his fruit both directly and indirectly. He can zap you in your worst moments and make you kind. But he often does it indirectly. For example, if you are impatient when you get little sleep, and if patience is a fruit of the Spirit (which it is, Galatians 5:22),

If you want to get more productive in life, then a really important place to start is our view of work (and leisure). How we view the work we do (especially those mundane moments of our day) has a really big impact on how we craft our own habits and routines. In this episode, we are going to dive into what this looks like from a Biblical perspective. Let's jump in! Listen to the Podcast: And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. The goal of this episode is to give you ENCOURAGEMENT. When we have the proper end goal in mind, it can transform our homes and the work we do! God’s View of Work How do we spend our time? Where do we turn throughout the day? What does it mean to construct a life and schedule that brings glory to God?  I think one important discussion that we must have around this all: Is what is the point of work? It's a question that we must grapple with especially in our modern society. Past cultures didn't really have the luxury of pondering the point of work and leisure. They worked hard for their very survival. And they rested when they needed to to make that happen. They had natural habits built into their day: They went to bed with the sun and rose with the sun. They could do a few tasks well and that was it. In some ways, I envy them: They saw the direct fruit of their labor day in and day out.  In our modern society, I think many of us can feel like we are "wasting" our day when we spend more time in the kitchen cooking or picking up around the house. We see it as somehow bad that we are spending more time preparing food. We are constantly looking for ways we can save time and cut down on things around the house because we want to do more "worthwhile" things. We miss the point deeply that God created us for work. Work is good and hard work can produce much fulfillment and fruitfulness in our lives. Instead of constant grumbling and complaining about the tasks that God set before us: What if we embraced them with vigor and joy? What if we took on 2021 and joyfully labored for the Lord in all that he has given us to do? What if we put our heads down and just got to work!? Keeping it all in perspective that we are laboring for the Lord...all for His Glory! How we view work: “Work is a major instrument of God’s providence; it is how he sustains the human world.”- Every Good Endeavor  When it comes to a proper view of our work, I think it's easy to fall into one of two camps: We are lazy and not working unto the Lord OR we create work to be an idol. Making an idol out of our work:  “The idols of modern culture have had a profound influence on the shape of our work today. In traditional societies people found their meaning and sense of value by submitting their interests and sacrificing their desires to serve higher causes like God, family, and other people. In modern societies there is often no higher cause than individual interests and desires. This shift powerfully changed the role of work in people’s lives—it now became the way we defined ourselves. Traditional cultures tended to see people’s place on the social ladder as assigned by nature or convention, each family having its “proper place.” That view had put too little stock in the role of individual talent, ambition, and hard work for determining the outcome of one’s life. But modern society responded by putting too much stock in the autonomous person.” ― Timothy Keller, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work Work Before the Fall I think we often think of work as being a result of the Fall. But in fact, we see work as part of God's perfect plan. "And to Adam he said,