RELATED LINKS:

WEBSITE: Smarttereachday.com

JESSICA on INSTAGRAM

JESSICA on FACEBOOK

BUY the BOOK: Memory Making Mom, Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home

EPISODE SPONSOR: FabFitFun {Use code: GRACEOLOGIE to get 20% OFF your first box!}

ALSO MENTIONED: Wunderlist App is now TO DO  | Book: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT TESTS: Disc Test  |  Enneagram  |  Spiritual Gifts Test  |  Learning Style Test  |  Highlands Assessment Tool

HIGHLIGHTS:

ON DEALING WITH ANXIETY -->

"...for me the first step i dealing with my anxiety was on that physical level of seeing a doctor. There's so many levels to anxiety ... there is a spiritual aspect of it, and that is huge, and in the my worst and most stressed out moments, I usually end up coming back to, "You know, what God? You are God, I am not God, and I'm trying to control something and I'm afraid something's going to happen, but you are God."

And so, if somebody is in a really, really bad spot, honestly, what I would point them to as a first step is going to see a doctor or psychiatrist... And counseling was very important. I saw a Christian counselor just to godly wise man, and you know, for me a lot of the healing came from recognizing that this is my anxiety speaking.

Get some really godly friends. Allow them to hold you accountable when anxiety starts to control you.

Start a PRAYER TRIAD. "Invite two friends, set up some parameters of confidentiality and determine a focused time. It's not to be a gossip hour, we're not going to hang out, but we're going to meet regularly to pray. And we're going to be praying in the off season for each other."

ON MAKING MEMORIES -->

"If we want things to happen in our lives, whether you're a mom, whether you're an aunt, whether you're a friend, whether you're a wife, traditions are the way that it happens."

"We need regular ways to remind ourselves what matters."

"I want to know that I have made intentional choices in our home to prioritize the things that matter to us."

"If you think back to your childhood or probably if you asked some of your kids the things that were really meaningful to them, they're not going to probably say, you know, all those papers that I wrote like no, like it's something so silly like, well dad took me for donuts on Saturday mornings or when my birthday there was always a big giant balloon or on Sundays we would always have pot roast..."

"I have an aunt who sends it $2 bill every birthday to my kids every single birthday."

"Maybe it's praying with your kids on the way to school. Maybe it's texting if you have older kids, texting your kids a Bible verse every day. My mother in law used to do that with my son, she used to text him a Bible verse. So try to think of a way to implement it on a daily level. And then weekly, so we do a lot of food traditions weekly. We started having a family dinner and by the way, I know of a single person who has a family dinner and invites every cycle standing thing, people come into her home, she serves dinner every Thursday night or whatever..."

A PRAYER FOR YOU -->

Heavenly father,
I know that we struggle to do all the things that we know we should do and we aren't going to be perfect wives, perfect sisters, perfect friends, perfect teachers, perfect moms... we're not. And that is why you came. And so I pray that most of all right now your holy spirit would cover us and that we would fall down and say, Lord, we need you. We cannot be the people that we long to be and thank you for sending Jesus to forgive us of our sins and we pray that you would give us your Holy Spirit and Lord; I hope that people were prompted during this hour to maybe start something. And Lord, I just pray that you would give them the gumption through the Holy Spirit to be able to finish it and that your word and your Holy Spirit would minister to them. Lord, we need you to be memory making moms and wives and women and we need you to ground us because we cannot do it on our own. And so I thank you that you are faithful and I pray that you would show up to help us do the things that we long to do to be better women. And I pray for those in particular who may be battling anxiety. Lord, I pray that you would be the light in the dark place. That you would be hope where there is depression and discouragement. Lord and in those dark moments, I pray that just as you did it with Jesus, that you would bring goodness and hope out of those times and just preserve us until we're able to see them.
We pray this in your name. Amen.