My TV Interview

I am excited to share with you a television interview I was blessed to do with the Homekeepers show on the Christian Television Network.

When I was first contacted, I was humbled yet a little nervous (you may see some of my nervousness during the interview 😬). But I knew I couldn’t let my fears stand in the way of what God was calling me to do and the blessing it could be for women.

So, I accepted the invitation and Brian and I flew to Tampa, FL for the recording. The TV studio is the largest in the southeast. It was massive and had lots of different sets for the multiple shows they host. It was pretty cool to see.

Arthelene Rippy, the host of Homekeepers has had her own show for 50 years 😮 Can you believe that?! Needless to say, it was quite an honor to be one of her guests. Not to mention, she was amazing!

What You’ll Hear

• My personal story

• My struggles

• How I overcame working outside the home

• How I adjusted to working inside my home

• The toll working had on my family

• Feminism and its impact

• And more…

It was a two-day episode and both have aired so here’s a copy of the recording. Enjoy, and let me know what you think in the comments 💗

Episode #1

Episode #2

---

Join our community to get first dibs on what’s happening around here, free training, tips, and so much more 😉

5 Ways to Honor a Deadbeat Dad This Father's Day

Let’s face it, we don’t live in a world of rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes we get the curve balls of divorce, separation, or weak marriages where our children’s fathers may be absent physically, spiritually, or emotionally.

Only if we lived in a perfect world, right?! We would have…

• perfect marriages

• perfect children

• no divorce

• heavenly bliss

Well, let’s just snap out of that little daydream. Are you still with me? Come back to the light, mama!

While you may not be experiencing a perfect marriage or maybe you are recovering from a divorce or separation, you can still have a heart full of love and demonstrate respect for your husband or ex.

To help you with that, I’ve outlined 5 different ideas you can implement to honor a father you would rather not. Some of these take a major dose of humility.

So, please pray first and ask God to humble your heart in order to carry out at least one of these suggestions.

5 Ways to Honor a Deadbeat Dad on Father’s Day:

1.) You can honor your husband by honoring God and loving him despite what he’s done or not done for you and your children.

Loving those who least deserve it is exactly what God wants you to do. After all, that’s what He did for you. “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

2.) Remember your children. As much as you would like to make this about you and your husband—it isn’t. Father’s Day gives you an opportunity to put other’s interests above your own.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

Contrary to popular belief, men have feelings. While they may not always know how to best express them, they are there. Encourage your husband or ex with words of affirmation.

Words of affirmation are words that build up and don’t tear down. You can express your grateful for his faithfulness to work everyday, or calling his children.

Now you may be thinking…”Tia, those things are way too kind and not true of my situation". Mama, I got you! That’s when you can thank him for breathing today. Now you may laugh, but I’m serious.

There are a lot of men who would have checked out and escaped this hardship and life altogether. Sadly, I’ve known some and their children were left to pick up the pieces and will never really know who their dad is.

There is always something to be grateful for.

3.) Let your children see you place your hurts and emotions to the side for the sake of biblical and Christlike unity.

It also shows your children how to love someone biblically. It is super-duper hard to love people who treat us bad or wrongfully. Yet, that’s exactly what Christ asks us to do in Luke 6:32, 35.

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them…But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

Did you read that? Your reward will be great if you love and do good to your enemies. Now, I’m not saying your husband or ex are your enemies. I’m just saying they may not be your favorite people on earth right now ;-)

4.) Love your neighbor as yourself. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31).

Ouch, I know. This one hurts—a lot!

But as Christians we are held to a high standard. Christ doesn’t say to only love our neighbors if they are kind to us and treat our children well. No, we are to love them like ourselves regardless.

5.) Talk to your children about Father’s Day and one thing you are grateful for and how you are praying for your husband or ex. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

You can tell your children you are grateful for their father because it gave you beautiful children. Another idea, you can be grateful for their father because God is using him to make you more Christlike through sanctification.

Pray with your children and ask God to change daddy’s heart along with your heart to love him when it’s difficult. Ultimately, pray for reconciliation and restoration.

---

Commit and communicate one of the five ideas above to your children’s father. Let him know he is loved this Father’s Day because God first loved you.

Let the beauty of Christ reflect on you and your family this Father’s Day! He is worthy!

Want more?

Join our community to get first dibs on content, behind the scenes footage, and special deals and discounts!

The #1 Question I'm Asked the Most

Have you guessed what it is yet?

You got it…

“How do you do it all?”

Wanna know my simple candid answer? I don’t. That’s right…I simply can’t do it all and God doesn’t expect and want me to.

We put these unattainable expectations on ourselves and then wonder why we’re worn out, overwhelmed, and weary as a wife and mom.

Sometimes we even look over the fence and secretly desire to be like our friends who appear to have it all together.

What they may not be letting you in on is a little secret that most moms don’t realize…

Every time you say ‘yes’ to something or someone you have to say ‘no’ to something else.

So, how do you know what to say "yes” to and “no” to as a busy mom who wants to please God, her husband, children, church, and everybody else, right? I get it. I asked that same question for years.

Then one day it hit me, because it’s been right there the whole time. If you know me even a little bit you know exactly where I’m going with this. I can’t do anything apart from Christ. I don’t have any wisdom outside of God’s Word. Yep, we’re heading over to the Bible.

That’s where the answer is…let’s go on a little journey together. Shall we?

There are three passages I want us to explore together. Don’t worry this isn’t a Bible study or anything, just a little short adventure I want you to join me on for a few minutes.

1. Know your days are numbered. “Teach us to number our days
   that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Time is the rarest commodity on earth, yet we treat it as if it’s the most common or available. It’s important that you treat time for the special gift that it is and learn ways to redeem it.

   In Ephesians 5:15-16, you are reminded to, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

   When trying to decide what you should and shouldn’t do or take on, remember to ask yourself how will this ________ take me away or toward what’s truly important. Glorifying God, respecting your husband, loving your children, and managing your home well are the things that you’ve been called to do. Once those things are done well you can look at your availability to see if any time remains for the other things you desire to do.

2. Make the Lord your delight. “Trust in the Lord, and do good;
   Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:3-4).

   This is one of my favorite verses ever, because it’s a call for us to really know and trust God. How do we do that? By feeding on His faithfulness. Once we find our delight in Him and His plan for our day He will give you the desires of your heart. I’ve seen and experienced it time and time again.

   You must start your day with God and let Him in on your plans so He can order your day aright. Whether it’s meditating on a favorite verse, sitting down to a devotion, or doing an all out Bible study each morning. Your day must start with God and be aligned with His plan, not yours. Always leave room for the Holy Spirit to have His way with your day.

3. Follow God’s blueprint for success not the world’s. “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8). The world tells us to be superwoman and we can have and do it all. Christ says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:29). Newsflash…I’m not superwoman and neither are you. Look at us, we’re just two mamas trying to glorying God in our marriage and home. Guess what mama, that’s sufficient.

   You were created to rest in Christ. You can serve Him in your marriage and motherhood from a place of rest not a place of busyness. You must keep your mission before you at all times and not let the habit of being busy take you away from what God is calling you to do. There are no special badges or crowns in heaven for “The World’s Busiest Mom”.

   “What is God’s blueprint anyway versus the world”, you may be asking. I can just hear you now 😉 Don’t worry, mama, I got ya covered.

The World’s Blueprint

• Love yourself, you are amazing. Believe in you

• Don’t let a man rule over you. You are better than your husband

• Put your children in daycare and don’t let them keep you from achieving your dreams

• You can do it all and have it all

God’s Blueprint

• Love God with all your heart (Mark 12:30a)

• Love, respect and submit to your husband (Ephesians 5:22, 33b)

• Love and disciple your children (Titus 2:4, Deuteronomy 6:7-9, 1 Timothy 2:15)

• Manage your home well (Titus 2:5)

I hope you can clearly see the stark contrast from God and the world.

Well, let’s wrap this all up with a nice pretty little bow.

The bottom line is this…you need to focus on God’s agenda and not the world’s. That is how you will be able to do it all.

“Doing it all” isn’t the world’s way of busyness, grind, and hustle. Doing it all focuses on what God has called you to do and not the world or even well-meaning friends. You have to be so clear on what God calls you to as a wife and mom that you can easily decipher when something will fall outside of that sphere.

When it’s identified, you can be clear and confident on what you can say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to. Only you know if you should really be taking on that part-time job, temporary teaching position, Bible study, dinner party, piano lessons, and the list goes on and on and on, right? I think you get the point.

Trust me, I get the whole pride thing. It can be flattering to be asked to do something on behalf of another or to serve. But make sure you are serving the very people you’ve been called to take care of first. “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10).

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Remember mama, you don’t have to please everyone, you just have to please the Holy One 💗

---

Did you like this post? If so…

Join our community of moms on a mission to glorify God in marriage and motherhood. You’ll get rare opportunities to peek inside my life and you’ll be the first to know about giveaways and new resources.

Will Your Easter be Man-Centered or Christ-Centered?

As Easter is quickly approaching it's so easy to get caught up in pretty eggs, chocolate candy, and bunny rabbits. But as we know, that is a man-centered approach and has nothing to do with Christ at all.

Unfortunately, we even see this creeping into the church when they promote Easter egg hunts, chocolate bunny rabbits, etc.

Spring time is not synonymous with Easter.

But somehow it seems we tend to celebrate spring more than we do the resurrection of Christ during our Easter celebrations.

My goal here is not to go through the origins of the holiday and where Easter originated. I am aware it has pagan roots like Christmas. But I also believe we can take what Satan meant for bad and use it for good.

When I look back to the feasts mentioned in the Bible and compare those to our holidays. One major difference was striking.

Feasts are God-centered and our holidays are man-centered.

When the Passover is celebrated, God is the star of the show. His glory is put on display for the act of mercy bestowed upon the nation of Israel during the Passover in Egypt.

When Easter is celebrated, man is the star of the show.

Our glory is put on display as we give in to consumerism and buy candy, toys, and baskets to make our kids feel special. Some families don’t even mention Christ, His death, burial, or resurrection.

What about you? What are you teaching your kids about Easter?

What we teach our kids doesn’t stop with them.

It is taught to your grandchildren and their children also. It’s a legacy. The question is, what legacy are you leaving when it comes to the holidays we celebrate?

I have outlined five ideas to help you have a Christ-centered Easter versus a man-centered one:

• Advent doesn’t have to be once per year at Christmas time. Christ is coming back so you can talk about His second arrival every day leading up to your Easter celebration. I recommend short little devotionals that talk about the days of Christ leading up to the cross and on Easter celebrating His resurrection. You can find the scriptures in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19.

• You can buy books that focus on Christ and the true Easter story. Here are a few to help you get started.

• If you purchase your children baskets, fill them with scriptures that tell them about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. You can sometimes find chocolate crosses (I’ve found some at Walmart in the past) and see there are a few left on Amazon.

• Imitate the last supper and have a “Passover Feast” with your family and discuss how Christ is our true Passover Lamb and how He covers the sins of those who repent (turn from their sins) and put their trust in Him as Lord and Savior. Here are some Passover recipes you may find helpful.

• Starting on Good Friday make your children aware of the significance of the day and inform them that Christ died around 3 pm to reconcile us back to God and take away the sins of the world. Our true Passover Lamb. Tell them about the burial on Friday and Saturday. Celebrate His empty tomb and resurrection on Sunday! Without it we would still be dead in our trespasses and sins. We serve a risen Lord! He is alive and He is coming back!!!

I pray these ideas help you have a Christ-centered Easter celebration this year as we celebrate our risen Lord! 🙌

For His Glory,

~Tia