Firing Up Faith & Family

Kristin Stewart joins us to share her wonderful story of how God strengthened her faith, how she persevered through the trials and how she strives to pour into children so that they have a firm foundation in faith and can overcome the hard times later on.

In this series of episodes with testimonies from various people, our hope is that this will be a regular source of firing up your faith and family! Listen to host, Christine Weller share her story about an experience where she realized she didn’t trust God for all things - especially where her children were concerned. 

As we’re starting a series of episodes with testimonies from various people, our hope is that this will be a regular source of firing up your faith and family! Hear host, Steph Morrison share what God has done in her life and for those she has grown in faith with. Also be inspired to share God’s goodness in the little and big ways to those around you. It’s worship and important Kingdom work!

After a series of talks on parenting insights from the Bible it’s only fitting to discuss the father of us all, God. The one that knows the plans for us, gives us every good and perfect gift, has a steadfast love that never ceases, and is the creator of all that is good. In fact, he is the source of all that is good within each believer and as we raise our children, it is our privilege and challenge to be living the good life that he has created us for!

He has set the example for us in His Word and that is vital to teach to our kids. He has also gifted us with certain skills and talents that are needed for the Kingdom and it is just as vital that we are living that out and showing our children, and everyone else around us, what a relationship with God looks like. How we use what God has given us, speaks louder and more profoundly than anything we can say. 

Raising children in the way they should go takes more than we have naturally. With a steadfast faith in our heavenly father, we can be an overcomer in every parenting challenge. But only when our relationship with God comes first. We can pour all our time into nurturing our children, but if we don’t have a daily walk with God, our father, we will miss out on what our children need the most. Abraham (father of a multitude) shines a light on how his steadfast faith established God’s blessing on a multitude of generations. 

Like most people in the bible, Abraham made mistakes and chose the wrong path in various ways. However, God’s will is greater than our weaknesses. His plan is to redeem us all and we stand on His Word for every situation when we stay connected to Him in conversation, devotion, and surrender. 

Whatever stage of parenting you’re at, be assured that you are raising a treasure to cherish. There are many tests and trials that every parent will go through - there’s no avoiding tough times as a parent. What we can also be assured of is that we have been equipped to raise our specific children in a way that’s best for them. Sure, we may make a few mistakes along the way, but as long as we trust in God’s providence, we know that the children we have are just where they should be.

We are set apart as Christians, but we are also set apart for a specific way of life with our children. We are to lead with God’s direction and not be conformed to this world. It’s not an easy or simple approach to life, but as we know from Romans 12:2, we are transformed by the renewal of our mind (through reading the Word of God and prayer) and by testing we discern what is the will of God and what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Listen in for a perspective on how to make your family set apart and unique in the eyes of God.

This is the first episode of season three where we are talking about parenting insights from the Bible.

Parenting is a personal growth opportunity. We are faced with many challenges and difficult decisions starting well before our children are even born. And while our ‘job’ of raising them may end in a couple of decades, we are always a parent that influences their lives.

We’re taking a few fine insights from the brief story of Jochebed from the book of Exodus to focus on trusting God for our needs and the needs of our kids. Jochebed showed great trust in God's faithfulness; a trait that we need for many of the big decisions we as parents need to make for our family.

Thankful, grateful, appreciative–these are all words to describe how we should be as followers of Christ and to have a life of joy and peace. Think on the good and beautiful of your life, of the people around you and of the world and you’ll find life, people and the world look a little better every day. It’s an intentional training of the mind to be thankful and to stop entertaining negative thoughts of complaints and bitterness. What you focus on grows, so you’re best to focus on the blessings and the great God you have!

Courage is needed in all parts of life. Whether it be in relationships, personal endeavours, or major events in our lives, courage is what we need to do what needs to get done. If we are not challenged to use our courage from time to time then there’s a pretty good chance that we’re not fulfilling God’s plan for our lives. Hear some ways to get inspired to use that courage you’ve been given and how to teach the character of courage to your children.

There are many ways to define love and to act it out, but God’s love has a specific purpose - to love for the benefit of others. We can love others like God loves us - spouse and children included! Get inspired by God’s Word and some personal insights from Christine and Steph on how to teach and train yourself and your children in love.

Hear Steph and Christine share some scripture-based perspectives on forgiveness the way God intended. Be encouraged with some insight on whether we forgive and forget, what forgiveness can be like to give and to receive, teaching forgiveness to your children and direction on forgiving yourself.

Do you really get what being kind means? Can you clearly explain kindness and why it is so important to your children? (It's not just about keeping the peace in the house!). Hear some biblical points of being kind and why it matters in the day-to-day interactions. It takes courage to be kind when it matters most!

New topic in a new season. In the next 8 episodes we’ll be talking about biblical values for building faith and family. Each show we’ll take one value and present scripture to support how we can encourage our family, including ourselves, to grow in that area.

Teaching our children The Word is one of the things that will give them the greatest benefit as an adult, and of course help them through life in their younger years too. God definitely wants us to keep the bible in our thoughts and one of the best ways to do that is to make learning scripture fun and a family affair! Listen in to get some easy options to get your kids speaking God’s Word.

Scripture Learning Ideas Discussed:

Scripture Memorizing

Maintain the peace and joy you have from Jesus in all the ups and downs of life. Christine and Steph have compiled a few of their favourite go-to verses that have helped them through some major changes that have come up in life.  Receive the good that comes from every situation as we trust in Him and His authority in our lives. Hear the insight on verses about living with wisdom, how He works all things for our good, depending on Jesus, comfort from our Father, and the strength you have when you suit up with the full armour of God!

Playing games together as a family is not only fun bond-building time, but it can also be educational. We’re sharing some games that we do with our families to inspire you to gather the crew and have fun!

Games talked about:

• Monopoly/Stock Ticker
• Dominoes
• Dutch Blitz
• Card games: Euchre, Go Fish, Rummy, Solitaire
• Scrabble 
• Puzzles
• Battleship
• Guess Who?
• Ticket to Ride
• Chess
• Trivia games 
• Cranium
• Clue
• Hedbanz

Bringing in an income is a necessity for many moms, and even if not a necessity, a career can be the way we impact others for Christ and feel more fulfilled as an individual. Working from home is more popular and more possible than it ever was and there are many ways to use work to benefit your family.

Christine and Steph, both work-from-home business moms, share some of their experiences working from home and how they inspire others to embrace an entrepreneurial life for the benefit of their family.

Be boosted in your faith and family life with one or more of these ideas that will easily mesh into your day. Christine and Steph share their experiences with different apps and audio options, because this is an easy way to get our families surrounded with God’s Word and ways. Here are a few of the things discussed and where you can find them online:

What are some ways we can boost our faith together as a family?

Whether you take on all the education of your children or not, teaching your children is happening in all kinds of ways. Hear some approaches and perspectives about teaching your children the vital things they need to know to grow into adults with faith and integrity.

Christine and Steph share their mom perspectives about their role raising their children as a calling from God, how that affects their parenting style, the most important things they want their kids to learn and how they teach faith to their children and how to have a life with God.

It can be a challenge to give the time and focus to your faith life but as a mom it is just as important to guide your children in developing their faith as well. Hear some ideas from Christine and Steph about how they focus on their faith (and where they are a bit unfocused) for their own spiritual growth and the growth of their kids.

You’ll also hear (and hopefully be inspired!) about what keeps these two women motivated to keep God in their daily lives and build up others in faith. 

Hear from the creators of Firing up Faith and Family about why they encourage other moms in their many roles and responsibilities. This short introduction to Christine and Steph and the podcast will be a sneak peek into some of the future episodes and what these work-from-home, homeschooling mothers and wives are up to.