What do you do momma when you feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and worn out as a parent? When you feel like there’s just not enough energy and resources to go around and you don’t feel like you have any more to give? You turned to that friend, family member, or seasoned mother you’ve seen live through the stages that you’re in right now and share how you’re feeling right now, and the response is, “maybe you shouldn’t have had so many,” or “have you thought about stopping having kids?”

In this episode, we discuss the biblical framework of "bearing one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2) and how God has designed the family to function in serving one another in love, with the father of the house setting the example, and the community of believers is called to uphold the struggling members of the body of Christ in serving and loving weary families.

Scripture Passages to Explore

Philippians 2

Ephesians 5:21-33

John 13:12-17

Matthew 11:25-30

Galatians 6:1-4

Mark 10:43-45

Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:

Kingdom Family: Re-Envisioning God’s Plan for Marriage and Family - Book by Trevecca Okholm

He Giveth More Grace - Hymn by Annie Johnson Flint

Designed to Birth - ECourse by Lydia Braun

Full Quiver Parenting - Episode 6: At the Limit

Why Full Quiver Parenting?

In this episode, we dive into the heart behind this podcast and what the purpose is behind the things that we talk about.

In our family, we have found that taking God at His word has massive implications in everything that we do. We want to know the heart of the Father as Jesus Christ has revealed Him and to live according to His designs. It's not just about doing the "right things," but it's about the relationship that we have with God and how that shapes our hearts and our minds.

When God says that "Children are a blessing," we want to live in such a way as to know and experience the blessings of God in having children. The former generations of the church in America sold their birthright when it comes to the areas of family, marriage, provision (and so much more). And our heart is to take the thoughts captive for Christ, that the enemy used to turn the church away from God's designs and demolish the arguments that now hold the current generations in a bondage of iniquity.

Join us as we take thoughts captive for Christ!

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds, as we tear down speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, ~ 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:

Deep End Podcast - The War on Generational Curses

What does it look like to partner with God in our fertility?

Oftentimes, phrases like, "we want to be good stewards of our fertility," and, "God has given us wisdom so that we can discern when the right time is for having a child," and even, "we need to make sure that we are taking good care of what God has already given us before we add more," accompany discussions around natural family planning. But what if we are having the wrong discussion to begin with? What if we aren't meant to be the one at the control switch for planning out our family size and timing at all?

In this episode, we'll be exploring what is at the core of natural family planning and if it matches with what we find in scripture. Get ready for a long discussion, lots of Bible passages, and an exploration into the heart of God and His design for us in marriage and family and how we can worship and sacrifice to God in offering ourselves, even our marriage and fertility, to Him in surrendering to His will and control.

Passages of Scripture for Study:

Genesis 1:28; 9:1; 9:7; 35:11

Genesis 38:8-10

Exodus 21:10

Deuteronomy 6:6-17

Jeremiah 29:4-7

Romans 12:1-2

1 Corinthians 7:3-5

Hebrews 13:4

We break our podcasting hiatus with an unofficial side series that we're titling, "Table Talk." These are "out of the studio" recordings from live conversations that we've shared together on social media on topics that pertain to Christian Parenting and taking thoughts captive for Christ. The audio comes from direct recordings of our mobile devices so the recording quality does not match that of our regular episodes. We hope that you enjoy these conversations with us around the table!

In this discussion, we talk about the differences between adoption and surrogacy and how the latter is a distortion of the family and functions as a glamorized form of trafficking that has been disastrous from the time of Abram and Sarai, who sought to take matters into their own hands for childbearing with the birth of Ishmael through her maidservant Hagar.

It's summertime and many of us love to go to see the latest blockbuster films! But how often do we stop and think about why we watch the things that we watch?

In this episode, we share our personal experiences with films and media and how we have come to make decisions as a family in choosing what we watch, both as a couple and as a family:

What makes the cut?

How do we decide what is worth our time?

What content is allowable and when?

Does Scripture have anything to say about it?

All media comes with a message. Are we tuning in our minds to listen to what is being said or are we shutting off our brains and passively consuming? Learn how to engage your mind and take captive your thoughts for Christ even in front of the big screen.

How far are you willing to go for the sake of your children?

Parenting can be difficult and demanding. Caring for someone else and taking care of their needs requires a cost. But how far are we willing to go as parents? What's the limit of the sacrifice we're willing to make for the little ones in our lives?

In this episode, we discuss the concept of parenting as sacrifice and what it looks like to parent for the sake of future generations.

There's a story of a mother who pays the price of her own life in bearing a child. A heavy cost in parenting indeed. Was it worth it? There were other children born to the family by that point anyway, was it a necessary cost to pay? Should they even have considered having another child? And yet, God told them to have more children. In fact, He commanded it. Without this mother's sacrifice, you likely wouldn't be reading this right now. It's a story that you probably know, at least a little bit about. The story is the birth of Benjamin, the youngest of the sons of Israel. And there's a certain Benjamite that would later turn the world upside down in bringing the gospel all over the Roman empire as the "Apostle to the Gentiles." That's right, the greatest missionary ever to live, the Apostle Paul! We all have a reason to be thankful for the sacrifice that Israel and Rachel were willing to make so many generations before.

Aren't we all just supposed to be happy?

Do you remember that verse in the Bible where Jesus told His followers, "I just came here to make everyone happy..." Neither do we! That's really not what this is about is it... And yet, there are so many voices out there trying to tell us to do the things that just make us happy, comfortable, and feel good.

What does Jesus tell us?

"The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10b, LSB), and "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10, LSB). And Jesus' followers later affirmed these things in saying, "Through many afflictions we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22b). In this life, following Jesus isn't about being comfortable and happy, and oftentimes it doesn't feel good. Just because something doesn't feel good, doesn't mean that it isn't good.

Having a speck in your eye doesn't feel good, but that pain also helps us to seek out the source of the problem, so that the dirt doesn't act like sandpaper to our eye and cause us eye damage. The feeling certainly isn't good but it's good to know that there's something wrong with our eye!

In this week's episode of Full Quiver Parenting, we discuss the difference between happiness and blessing. What does that look like as followers of Jesus and how does it apply to parenting and family life as Christians?

What happens when something is taken so far that we lose the actual intent and purpose behind it?

In this week's episode, we dig deep into the motivations of parenting choices and the heart that can lie behind the choices that we make as parents.

Drawing from St. Augustine's classic treatise, "On the Spirit and the Letter" we apply some of his principles that he draws from Scripture and bring it to some of the more controversial questions of parenting and the choices that we make in trying to parent and build a family according to God's design.

What we find is that it's not as easy as simply following a set of rules or blueprints, plugging in the proper formula and out comes the right mixture of a godly family. We must dig deeper than that as parents and allow the Spirit to penetrate the depths of our hearts and God's Word to reach into the depths of our spirits in order that He may find and refine our hearts for His good and godly purposes.

As Jesus said to the legalistic pharisees who thought they all had it right by simply following all the rules: "But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” - Matthew 9:13

Join us in the conversation as we share some our own self-examination as a couple on some weighty matters of parenting.

Check out St. Augustine's full writing here.