Pardon the Mess with Cynthia Yanof

Rebecca Carrell joins me today to chat about forgiveness and praying it over our families. During these stay-at-home times, there will be a multitude of opportunities for apologies. And there will be equal opportunities for extending forgiveness. Let’s choose to pray forgiveness over our families and remember it’s a central message of the gospel—one that will have a lasting impact if modeled well.

Sheila Walsh, bestselling author and Bible teacher, joins us today on Pardon the Mess with a much-needed reminder that God is always listening and waiting for us. Sheila offers practical tips for praying when we don’t know what to say. She shares honest stories that remind us that God is not looking for perfect words or perfect people, just open hearts.

Anyone else feel like in the midst of all this family time you’re doing great one moment, and then a few minutes later, you’re completely off your parenting game? Me too. I think the hardest part for me comes when I allow myself to go down the road of “how long” and “how big of an impact” these times will have. Whatever you are working through these days, please know you’re not alone; we are right here with you.

Erin Weidemann joins Pardon the Mess as many of us find ourselves (unexpectedly and suddenly) in the throes of homeschooling. A professional educator and now a homeschooling mama, Erin offers extremely practical ways to maximize our homeschooling operations.

Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Jeremy Camp experienced both love and gut-wrenching loss in his twenties after falling in love with Melissa Henning and then losing her to cancer shortly after their honeymoon.  Today, Jeremy is married to his wife of seventeen years, Adrienne. They have three children and are passionate about keeping Jesus in the middle of their life and marriage and sharing God’s love around the world any way they can. 

On today’s podcast, five-time cancer survivor and founder of Truth Becomes Her Erin Weidemann talks about the importance of praying for both the physical and spiritual health of our kids. Erin’s testimony reminds me a lot of David’s. After beating cancer five times, she has complete confidence that her God is able to heal her over and over again.  But even if he chooses not to in the future, she will choose to live each day at peace without worry or despair. 

Do you feel like you’ve got more questions than answers these days? Me too! Which is why I’m thrilled that we have Sissy Goff and David Thomas on our podcast to walk us through ways we can support our kids emotionally during these tough days.

We’re praying peace for our families this week on Pardon the Mess.  We need to be focusing on the truth of God’s word over the chaos in the world. We need to spend more time in Scripture and less time in the news and on our social media feeds. We need to be consumed with God’s promises instead of the world’s words of hopelessness.

Singer, songwriter, and author Ellie Holcomb joins us today to talk about suffering and what this passage has meant to her in the seasons of struggle. We talk about knowing God better in the middle of hard times and how God’s word is our defense when we feel trapped and helpless.  Ellie reminds us that suffering never has the final word in our life because Jesus is coming back. She also has a great word for parenting with intentionality, even when our days can seem very mundane and ordinary.

This week, as we’re praying our kids through the school year, we’re focused on praying about service for our families (especially in days like we’re facing now). Serving others is an opportunity that is most present when people are suffering. We are here for a time such as this, and the Lord can use us mightily when we are willing to trust his heart and follow his plans.

“It’s never too late to start today.” That’s the challenge Latasha Morrison leaves us with on today’s podcast as we talk about diversity and racial reconciliation. I can promise you that listening to this forty-minute podcast will be one of the best uses of your time today. It’s that good!

This week, we’re praying that our kids have the resolve to turn away from the temptations they face and a willingness to turn to Jesus when they need a way out. Our kids’ generation is inundated with social media, pornography, graphic music, widespread internet access, and so much more. Their resolve will need to be mighty to withstand the temptation they will face in their lives.

We’re kicking off a new series this March focused on intentionality. I can’t think of a better way to get started than with Jennie Allen encouraging us to be intentional in identifying the toxic thoughts in our lives.  We’re so fortunate to have Jennie Allen on Pardon the Mess. She’s a gifted communicator and the founder and visionary behind the IF:Gathering, an organization that equips women to know God more deeply and disciple others. She’s a speaker, author, podcaster, and much more.

As we pray inerrancy this week, you may be wondering what in the world that word even means. And, for that matter, why does it matter for our kids? You’re not alone. I think we’ve all had that question.

New York Times bestselling author Melanie Shankle joins us on Pardon the Mess as we continue our February series focused on the things we love. Melanie has a great word of encouragement for us on truly appreciating friendship. She talks about what the ups and downs of friendship have meant in her life and reminds us that we have to make new friends in order to eventually have old friends.