Scripture In This Episode:

John 17:14-19 – “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”

2 Timothy 3:10 –  ^“But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

Hebrews 10:24 – “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,”

James 3:1 – “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”

Galatians 6:9 – “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

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Full Transcript:

Welcome to Courageous Parenting podcast, a weekly show to equip parents with biblical truth on raising confident Christian kids in an uncertain world. Hi, I’m Angie from Courageous Mom, and I’m Isaac from Resolute Man. We’ve been married 20 years and have seen the fruit in raising our eight kids biblically.

Based on the raw truth found in the Bible, we can no longer let the culture win the hearts of children. Too many children from Christian families are walking away from the faith by age 18. And it doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way. Join us as we start an important conversation about effective parenting in a fallen world.

Hey, everybody, welcome to the podcast. Hi, guys. We’re excited to give you this episode. I think it’s relevant to uncertain times, wouldn’t you say Ang?

Yeah, we’re going to be digging into a lot of different scriptures. Some of them actually are about end times. Last week’s podcast was five. It was five tips, right, to raising independent thinkers. Yeah. And in that one, we did bring up that. Right now there is a need more than ever for us to train our kids, to be able to discern between truth and false teaching. Right? Yeah. And we just brought up some really easy examples of how that’s happening in society today. But we dug into scripture regarding some End-Time stuff. So even though these are two different podcasts, I feel like they are both like full of encouragement.

And we got so much feedback that people love that last podcast. And it actually did better than a lot of our podcasts, probably one of the best ever so far. Wow. And so just really telling and we’re always a little behind the scenes real quick. We’re always listening to the Holy Spirit. We’re paying attention to what people message us and kind of what’s going on in the world and what we think people need and what we’re reading in scripture and what we’re reading in scripture and and also what we’re dealing with in our own lives. Yeah, at times. But I want you guys to know this is a real raw conversation.

We don’t have any content out of the podcast itself. So our son, Austin, he has his own business, creative business, and he does all the behind the scenes work for the podcast.

Yeah, but I’ve always instructed him, never take anything out of the middle, definitely make the audio better. Definitely put the bumpers on the front and back, definitely put the parenting program commercial or whatever else in the middle, because that’s how it supports these things.

But don’t take any content out. And what that means is it would be literally the same is if you were sitting in our living room and we were talking to you because you wouldn’t be missing anything. There wouldn’t be anything changed.

Right. Which is oftentimes actually can be very different from other podcasts. Right. Where they will go back and edit things out and different things like that. It’s just very different. We do things in a much more simple fashion over here.

So one of the things, you know, feedback is always good. And every once in a while we’ll get somebody that says you guys kind of talk over each other a little bit or interrupt each other a little bit. And while we appreciate that, we appreciate all feedback. Our goal is to have no pauses because we don’t edit them out. And so sometimes we do do that and we’re aware of that and we’re working on that. But at the same time, we don’t want any pauses because we made a commitment not to edit anything out, either. Or even edit out pauses. So none of that ever happens.

And sometimes when we are doing that, too, we’re setting each other up for the next train of thought or trying to keep each other on track because some of us need that a little bit more than others.

if you’re watching the YouTube. I’m raising my hand. Yeah. A lot of times I’d be like, Ang, we’ve got to keep going.

So we’re talking about how to stay motivated parenting in an uncertain world because there are real challenges today. But you know what? You made a good point earlier Ang as we’re just briefly talking about this, is that a lot of these challenges have always been there.

Yeah. So when we were talking about just the different challenges that parents are facing for the first time, maybe or or maybe they’re acknowledging the problem for the first time, but the is actually always been there. Yeah. Or not. I wouldn’t say problem, challenge is a better term for it. Right. And I’ll give you one example, like just parenting. Parenting can be a hard thing in general. This is a parenting podcast. How many of us knew when we had our first baby how to parent No. One right before and even in the midst of parenting your kids, don’t you go, OK, I’ve never encountered this before. What am I going to do? And so there are constant times in our lives as parents where we are faced with something new and we have to figure out what is the wisest, most biblical answer or approach to handling the situation. Right. And that alone is a challenge. But why would this be relevant to today? Because most people have their kids at home a whole lot more often than they normally do. Right. I’ll give you an example. Our boys play sports and all of the sports games are currently canceled due to covid.

And so so dad has to rise to the occasion. All right. A mountain biking. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, there’s seriously, like you are faced with your kids being home more often. So then there’s more relational communication challenges potentially if you haven’t been proactive in developing good communication with your kids and you have to deal with that. And so my point is, is that the challenge is not new. Yeah. It’s just more in our face now because we’re with people and you can.

Look at that as a blessing in disguise, because you’re actually seeing what a lot of parents just weren’t aware of until it reached the wrong fruit later. Right.

Another really good example, that is this concept of what we can do for school. Everybody is trying to decide right now based upon what are the county and state covid mask wearing requirements, what are what are the different requirements that they’re going to be imposing upon children. And so a lot of people are trying to figure out alternative situations to the public education right now. And so a lot of people are homeschooling, a lot of people trying to find co-ops or they call pandemic pods around the place. Yeah. And so, like little little situations where people are teaming up and doing school together, school. And it is cool, except now for the first time, a lot of parents who may have just gone. Yeah, I just don’t want to deal with that situation. I turned out OK. I’ll put my kids in public school and it was just something that they always did. Now they’re realizing, like, OK, wearing a mask may not be healthiest for my kid. My child has asthma. I don’t want them breathing their own CO2 all day long, like I have to make a decision.

And I never wanted to have to do this. Right. But the reality is, is we should have been evaluating what our kids were learning, who our kids were spending time with, what they were being taught, no matter what, because that’s what a responsible parent should be doing. Right. So the challenge was always there is just now more in their face because there are all these extra side things and we get it.

It can be hard, you know, two people working sometimes and all the challenges of life.

And this is what everybody around you is doing. And so, you know, it’s just easy to be unaware of what you should be aware of. And now we’re becoming more aware of the things we should be aware of. And now that can become a little bit daunting. And so hopefully this is an encouraging episode for you with practical insights. I actually have five keys listed here that we’re going to give you for how to stay motivated, for staying motivated, because there are real challenges and there’s a lot of challenges in the world and we can get bogged down by that and discouraged by that. And there’s some some people that are used to two incomes and right now are going to one income. And so as a marriage, you’re navigating how do we do with less or how do we get a side entrepreneurial thing going or, you know, these kinds of things while still pouring even more time into our kids? Because maybe you’re homeschooling for the first time or things like that.

So and by the way, we do talk about homeschooling from time to time when he gets to know that courageous parenting isn’t about homeschooling, it just so happens that we’ve done it for 20 years.

So. Well, I mean, I wasn’t I mean, I guess I was homeschooling when Kelsey was baby I doing baby sign language with her, but she did go to first grade.

But you can listen to another episode for that.

Yeah, we’ll go into the five keys real quick, but we do want to thank you for helping us with the one million Legacy’s mission, helping God. Do I believe that he put that passion and vision in our hearts and it’s exciting to be on the road. It’s not easy to do this, but we’re happy to do it. We’re delighted to serve and help and do this. And we plan on continuing. Yeah. And if you’ve received a lot of benefit from this and you are trying to figure out where to give, it definitely helps. There’s a donate button at CourageousParenting.com hit the menu. If you are looking for resources, you can also go to CourageousParenting.com and find resources that will help you, that help us, too, or CourageousMom.com. So it’s really exciting to be part of this. So should we dive in?

Yeah, let’s do it. So we were talking about the challenges that people face today. Yeah. And how that can be discouraging.

How that can be demotivating potentially. I mean, how many of you guys have felt like you just want to crawl underneath a blanket and not come out because you’re just overwhelmed? Right. Like, I don’t necessarily feel that way at times. However, I do get overwhelmed at times if I’m honest, real, raw, transparent, I’m just like everybody. And even though I’ve been homeschooling for a long time, every single year, regardless of if we’re using the same curriculum or not, I’m I’m like overwhelmed by the thought that I might screw my kids up.

I got to tell you a secret story real quick. one time Angie was like, Isaac, I need to look at every book we own.

I’m like, OK, well, that involves a big project because we live in a smaller house than we used to, although it’s a great blessing, it’s an awesome house. And so we have all kinds of we have all kinds of stuff in the garage. And to get every book, you have to look through every tub. And I can tell you how many tubs there are. Tubs are labeled. And so we had to pull everything out and look through the tubs. And then I left her I mean, a dozen full tubs of books and things.

And then we have our stainless steel pantries and all the lockers because she’s trying to figure out the adjustments she’s even making to homeschool right now. So.

Yeah, yeah. So I have a. Big job ahead of me this week that could potentially be overwhelming, I’m talking hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of books at least, and that’s not an exaggeration. I know that might seem overwhelming to you, but currently right now I have about 120 books sitting on my kitchen table and I have to go through those after this podcast.

So you’re not alone. I just wanted to bring that reality that she is not just this super mom that’s always got everything dialed. She is amazing. She’s a wonderful person.

I love her as my wife and she’s an amazing mom that I still have to make decisions to make. Does she have to it’s not like I just automatically know at a at a nowhere does it just go, oh, use this curriculum for this child. like that just doesn’t happen. I have to take the time to do the research. I get it. And that can be overwhelming. And you know what else is overwhelming is everyone’s opinions. And and that goes into the first point. Yes, exactly. So stop seeking approval is point number one on how to stay motivated in your parenting in in an uncertain world. But also, I’m just going to say in end times, because it’s been ten times since Jesus. Yeah. You know, resurrected things are happening even more rapidly. Yeah. Right now it’s just kind of crazy, right? I mean, a lot of things are up in the air. We don’t know what the government is going to expect of people regarding vaccinations, for example. Right. There’s a lot of unknowns. There’s a lot of uncertain variables that are going to be being revealed over the next year. Yeah, over the next two years. We have an election coming up that also is going to massively impact school and all decisions and rights that parents have right now. I think. I mean, this is there’s so many things. So can I just say that you have to stop seeking approval from people and only seek approval from God. Yeah. Because he alone is the one who knows the best path for you and your family. He alone knows that. And he will guide you if you are seeking him. But sometimes we can get other people’s voices stuck in our head and it can be a discouragement or a detour. Actually, it can lead us down a detour to what God’s will might be.

So maybe I’ll just give you an example. Maybe you already made a decision that created a little bit of a negative ripple amongst some social circles. You know, that’s more of a conservative decision. I don’t know what it is, but you can just think of whatever that is for you. And now you’re thinking about doing this other new decision. That’s another conservative thing. You’re like, well, if I just do one more, that might be the thing that ostracizes me from this from these people I need to show up to and see a certain thing or whatever the case may be.

And I just remember those situations of Angie dealing with some of that stuff and it really swaying, almost preventing at moments making the best decision for the benefit of being approved in social circles.

I’ll give you an example. Just before our oldest was going into high school. Now, I’ve shared this before. I every time with our oldest, she’s now in college. So I’m obviously no longer homeschooling her. She is in her third year. And I remember every year that I homeschooled her thinking I was inadequate. I wasn’t able to do it. Feeling overwhelmed, not knowing what the right decisions were going to be for her still had to make a decision. I actually had to literally say yes or no to certain things. I had to purchase certain curriculums. You have to make a decision and just do it, OK? And so I would well, just before she was going into high school, we were about to move and four hours away and some of my closest friends that I had been doing homeschool co-ops with and so forth decided to put their kids in schools. Some of them were full time schools. Some of them were private schools. Some of them were like a one day a week school. It is fine, but I’m just sharing what my experience was, which was I started doubting that I was making the right decision because I was fearful that by continuing to homeschool, they wouldn’t want to hang out anymore, wouldn’t have time to, because they’d have different circles.

Yeah. And so that fear of being left out, that fear of not doing the same thing as other people almost prevented me from doing what God wanted for my child. Yeah. Does that make sense? And so I had to reach out to an older woman who was actually mentoring me at the time. And we were meeting every week, every Tuesday. And I just told her what was going on. Yeah. And she just said, Angie, homeschooling during the high school years is where you see the fruit. It’s not the hardest. It’s the easiest and the most fun. And I just was like, that was what I, I she just said, don’t don’t stop now. And I and and I, you know, at that time. So here I am saying don’t seek the approval of other people and I’m at. The same time sharing with you that I sought wisdom from someone older who had homeschooled their kids and and she just she gave me the encouragement that I needed to be me. Yeah, right. And for her to go, you have fruit, right? You have fruit. Why would you change it now? Yeah.

And so I needed someone to speak that truth into my life because all of my friends, potentially, if I would have sought their approval, they would have gone, oh, do what we’re doing. It’ll be so fun.

Do you know what I mean? And so I, I, I just want to tell you guys the story because. Yes, sometimes you need someone to remind you and that’s OK. But I wasn’t going to this older person to get approval from her or even what to do. I was just sharing and she reminded me of the fruit. There already was. She reminded me of the truth. I already knew and pointed me back to the word.

Sometimes you’re going to have less beaten path moments. So you got the two paths. You know, Robert Frost, I think you did this poem. Oh, yeah. Right. To pass paths. Diversion would get it up. Right. So you have the I always picture that and there’s there’s the beaten path and there’s a there’s the cement, the less beaten path. Right. And there’s those less beaten path moments where you might be going against the grain a little bit.

But you feel like that’s the right thing to do. And how do you stay motivated continuing to do the things God’s convicted. Your marriage relationship is you know, you guys are talking to each other about doing together and even when it’s different than the people around you and you just have to embrace those, sometimes you’re in those were in a less beaten path mode right now. And we were just talking about that last night on a date. And so stop seeking approval. But what you do need to do is work strongly together as a married couple.

I think that’s so huge. I know that in the times when I would get overwhelmed and I shared with Isaac, he was always there to not just back me up and like encourage me, which was super, super important because he did. But he also would remind me of the vision that we had committed to together that we had dreamt of together as far as like our legacy and things like that. And that he motivated me is my point.

And so in your marriage, your marriage needs to be you don’t seek approval from one another, but you are one and being one, you remind each other to stop seeking approval from outside people. While you’re one, you’re able to see one. The other person’s being weak and you can exhort them to turn more towards God. You can even pray for them. You can you just you see things that other people don’t necessarily see. And so I know that for us, our marriage has always grown stronger and the harder times versus apart. And and I just want to encourage you guys, this time more than ever, is a time when you need to be investing in the communication in your marriage. You need to be honest with your spouse about the things that are overwhelming you. And that goes for the guys, too. I mean, summer. Oh, yeah. You know, I mean, there’s like if you’re talking about business and stress, financial stresses, all that kind of stuff, like you guys need to be a team together.

I remember so many times, like whether it’s business or not. And you just remind me to go, you know, I married you. I didn’t, you know, marry some picture of how much money we had or, you know, something like that and just encouraging things to help me around the house. But just hearing from her, what really was most important to her relieved that pressure enabled me to do better at certain certain challenging times.

So if that’s you guys right now, where there’s financial challenge, job challenge, business challenges, you know, we’ve been there many times and we understand stick together and stay strong and don’t let anyone come in between you because the devil will try and he will use the most the the most opportunity that he can, the best opportunity I can to try to create that. So you guys got to stay in alignment and you got to strengthen one another.

Stephen, I realized that we were getting too comfortable with the world’s vision of how to raise our children, but Angie and Isaac have done and creating this is literally phenomenal.

This program provided awesome scripture based teachings and just some really great practical applications. This class has just really rocked my world.

It has given me a vision for not just the different things that we might focus on as parents who are trying to raise our kids basically like our kids are behaving or what we’re doing with discipline, but also the things at the heart.

We now have a game plan to how we want to raise our children. We have so many answers to the questions that have been in our mind.

It’s not just these hypothetical situations or it’s not just this. Here’s what I think you should do. It’s let me show you where in scripture this is.

Do your legacy a favor and yourself a favor and just do it.

One of the best things that we’ve done this year, one of the best investments we’ve made this year, and I could not recommend it more.

We’re no longer fearing dark days ahead, but we’re so excited to raise the lights to be leaders for the next general.

So another aspect to this stop seeking approval is persecution, persecution happens today as believers, obviously, we are not OK with walking in sin and hurting people or being mean to people. We pursue peace at all costs. We want to love people well, we want to be a light for Jesus because our lives are not about us. They’re about glorifying God. And when your vision and your mission is about evangelism, when your mission and your vision for your life is to glorify God, to, then you’re going to be smiling at people in the grocery store. You’re not going to be frowning at them and yelling at them for not wearing a mask or for wearing a mask. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, it’s your approach towards people is one of love and care, not of judgment, condemnation and accusation. And so you’re going to receive persecution. And how we handle that is actually an opportunity for us to be able to bring glory to God. And I think that that’s an important thing. But we also have to be confident enough in who we are in Christ that we can handle it when persecution comes. And it’s I’ll tell you guys persecution super hard. Yeah, I have dealt with you have dealt with it. We we together have dealt with it. And it’s it’s not a fun thing to be persecuted because of how you love the Lord and how you’re choosing to live. Right. Yeah. And I think that a lot of people take advantage of Christians. Can I just say that I think there’s an element where people especially who know what some of what the Bible says, they know that Christians are going to try to be more loving in that way and they abuse that. Yeah. And so what I want to encourage you in is that persecution will come expect it stand strong and firm in the truth and do what God wants you to do regardless.

Yeah, God tells us not to fear anything in this world. And we don’t we literally don’t. Are there moments where we slip into it.

Yes. And then we remind each other and Bible, look, in their mind, we are not to fear anything in this world. We’re only to revere God. The more you revere God bless you fear anything in this world, the more you fear things in the world, the less you’re likely revering God.

And in the word of God, let’s read the word of God. In fact, John. Seventeen fourteenth through nineteen. I have given them your word. And the world has hated them because they’re not of the world. Just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. So isn’t that so cool? We’re sanctified by God’s truth. The Word of God.

You guys, we chose this particular scripture because the reality is, is we’re all in this world and our kids are in this world. And there are times where it’s hard and we can become discouraged and we can go, I don’t want to be in this world. Right. I don’t want to have to be doing whatever it is. Right. There’s so many things that are being imposed upon everyone, everywhere right now. Right. And so it would be easy to just I mean, we’ve said it. Jesus, will you come back, please, if you are eager for him to come back.

But he says here that he’s given us his word and that the world hates us because we are not looking like them. We are not a question. We stand up for truth and justice and living righteously.

Yeah, we do make mistakes at times. That’s why we need a savior. We do believe in sin. If we didn’t believe in sin, there’d be no need for a savior. So you need to teach your kids what sin is so that they have an inherent need for Jesus for their whole life.

And that is a word that our world is against. That is a word that does not get approval from people out in in la, la land out there.

And if we’re trying to fit in and nothing about our family, the way we do things in the world looks different than you might need to audit what’s going on, because maybe they are different, but then you’re kind of massaging things. So the world you see where you look the same as the world, so you’re accepted.

A lot of times people will. I know that I’ve I you know, let’s just take clothes, for example, wanting to stay trendy so that were more relevant. Right. Like we’re starting to get older.

Are you saying I’m not trendy? I have I have ten different t shirts.

I mean, I think jeans and t shirt, parents. But you know what? Sometimes I’ll say, like when I’m having, like, a low self-esteem kind of day, I look at my closet and I go. I want a new wardrobe or whatever. Right.

But the reality is, is why is that would I be trying to fulfill a feeling of being valued or or more trendy or more accepted based upon what I wear? Right. Like, that would be an example that maybe a teenage kid could relate to. Right. And the reality is, is we need to search our hearts and go, whoa, hold up a second. That’s seeking approval from the world.

But it is OK to be trendy if you want to.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I wear I’m trendy for Bend.

I got my Birkenstocks people all over the world are like. That’s trendy there? It is.

We got all the Olympians, the rock climbers and outdoorsy people here. Anyways, I would just say, though, guys, that we just got to be aware that persecution is going to come and it’s going to come on harder and harder as time goes on until Jesus comes back again. And if we aren’t prepared mentally for that, then we’re going to hurt. It’s going to be hard. And so stop seeking approval. Yes, but the only way to do that, the only way to do that is to be so into the word so strong in your relationship with God that you don’t need other people to say good job. Yeah, right. That’s right. And so, yeah. So number two.

Number two is long term vision is important.

We kind of alluded to that briefly, how we remind each other of the vision, which is important. But the question is, is your marriage even centered on a common vision? You know, you might have a general vision, but is it concrete? Do you have really concrete things that you can put things in the short term against the vision and go, OK, do we need to say yes or no to this?

And if we don’t, then we’ll fall to how we feel, will fall to the approval of others, will fall to overwhelm and frustration.

But really what we need to fall to is what is in alignment to the longer term vision. And that’s the only way things tend to work out in the way you really want them to, is if you look way down the road and you go, how do I want things to be? But for a second, for an exercise, just look back 10 years from now in your life, 10 years back, you go, wow, what are some decisions that you wish you would have made better?

Yeah, I’m sure that all of us can say that there are things that we wish we were.

And then if you think back and go, wow, what if I had just an improved perspective on how I wanted things to be today? Yeah. Ten years ago, what better decisions would have made in the moment when I was frustrated, tired, hungry, whatever. Right. And so now if you can agree to that, that there is opportunities, we for sure can, then you know how important that vision is. OK, so we need to be legacy focused. And but you know what? Some people have a hard time seeing way, way out there. This is a good thing to stretch your even your kids and and seeing long term making decisions today, how they affect the long term.

But really, what do we want? We are hopeful that our kids are believers. Right. We’re hopeful that they have a great marriage. One day. We’re hopeful that they become dedicated parents, biblical parents. Now, there’s probably other things you hope for, but aren’t those like the core? Those are core three awesome things.

Really love Jesus and love Jesus. Yeah. So, you know, it’s not a lot to think about, but if you have a crystallized vision of that, at least then help you make good decisions today because we need to be improved the level of decision making we make today above what parents and past have made because a lot of things are different.

Yeah, I also want to share from Second Timothy three twelve because I think it ties these first two points in together nicely. We talked briefly about persecution and the reality is, is we need to have long term vision, which you were just saying, understanding that that’s going to come right. We need to have long term vision going, OK, how I handle it actually will be an example for my kids. Yeah, either a good one or a bad one on how they should handle persecution. Right. That would be like having long term vision for that, right? Yeah. We if we seek approval of others, guess what our kids are probably potentially going to struggle with? Right. So we need to be really careful to be focused on what God wants us to be focused on. So we’re going to read from Second Timothy, chapter three. So you guys, if you were encouraged by last week’s podcast, we were talking about end times. I just want to encourage you to go and read Second Timothy, specifically chapters three and four. They’re the last two chapters in the book of Second Timothy, and they are talking about perilous times. We are in perilous times talking about perilous men. It’s warning about false teachers, wicked people, and that it says from such people. Turn away, so there you’ve got to have long term vision, understanding that this is just going to continue to get it’s going to get worse, right. So that means that we really have to prepare our kids today for the truth, that it’s going to be worse when they’re our age. Yeah, it’s going to be worse for our grandkids. It’s going to be worse for our great grandkids. Now, some of you might be this isn’t very encouraging and but this is what is encouraging you guys, is what God’s word says, because it’s profitable for all things, including rebuke, exhortation, encouragement.

So chapter three, verse 10 says, But you have carefully followed my doctrine. God is saying follow my doctrine. Yeah, right. That’s his word. We don’t need to guess what that is. You have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life. So your manner of life is following God, right purpose, your purpose in life is following God, faith is godly, right. Long suffering. So you have long suffering with people, loving people, biblically perseverence. That means not stopping. You have continued to do this. So but you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions which are different, which have happened to me at Antioch and at Iconium and lystra what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes. And all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. So they will be deceived. Yeah, actually, yeah. OK, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of knowing from whom you have learned them. You need to, you need to not stop.

So you guys, if you’ve been on this road of biblical parenting and then all of a sudden you’re going, oh man, I’m just so discouraged what’s happening with politics, maybe, you know, I’m scared. Or maybe you’re in a state and homeschool laws are potentially on the docket to be taken away because that could happen in a few years. That could happen, you guys. That is when we stand up.

Mm hmm. That is not OK. But listen, it says but you must continue. And the things which you have learned and been assured of knowing from whom you have learned them.

You know how to parent biblically, don’t stop what a God saying don’t stop, and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures.

This if this is not you, it is the story of your kids. If you are faithful to teach them the scriptures, that they are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in crisis.

I just want to point out, this is there’s so many places in the Bible that affirm and encourage women and the strength of women and how amazing they are. And this is one of those incredible places.

So this is in Timothy Timothy and it’s talking about don’t forget where you learn these things from childhood, from childhood, from your your actually says later from your grandma and your and your mom and that you learned all these incredible things. It’s not bragging about the dad right there. Not that maybe his dad wasn’t president, I don’t know. But it’s really bragging about the women in his life. And I thought that was pretty cool.

Yeah, that’s in a different part of the Book of Timothy. But I just think that this is an incredible encouragement to us who might potentially get frustrated and go, oh, I don’t know if I’ve been doing things right. I don’t know. But that whole time, maybe you were following Scripture and you go, oh, I don’t know. Remember this.

This is saying you must continue. And the things which you have learned and been assured of knowing from whom you’ve learned them and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. These are able to make you wise. Yeah, that is what the word of God does. It makes you wise. Other people do not make you wise, although the Bible does encourage us to seek wise counsel. But that’s a whole nother episode in which you really got to look at the fruit in someone’s life before you go and get any kind of counsel from them.

So, hey, we’ve gone over two of the five keys to how to stay motivated parenting an uncertain world in this two part series. And so in the next part, we’re going to go over the importance of growing. And we have some great examples of how we had to grow in resources we’ve used and we’ll mention some of those. Respecting the challenge ahead, certainly in uncertain times and the importance of persevering and how to do that.

And I just want to also tell you guys, you know, if you’re in that position where you’re trying to figure out what you’re doing for school and stuff and you need some biblical encouragement, you have to check out. If you haven’t heard of the homeschooling blueprint, course it is a six video course that Isaac helped me to create for you guys that teach all of the most foundational aspects to getting going in homeschooling. It’s also good for the seasoned mom who needs encouragement. And a reminder, as far as like what is her vision behind homeschooling. Yeah, we talk about learning styles, approaches to homeschooling. I even have a video that took me 16 hours to go through all of my curriculum and I actually show you the different curriculums. We also collaborated with a lot of different companies and we have coupons in the Blueprint Roadmap, which is a huge downloadable that you get when you get the course. So you can find out about that.

Yeah, and it’s good for the new homeschooler, the one thinking about it short term because of covid to the most seasoned. And we’ve gotten testimonials from all of the like that are raving about it. And it’s really motivational, practical and gives you the resources you need to make decisions, which is pretty cool.

Yeah. So just if you go to a CourageousParenting.com and you hit the little what did you call that, a hamburger button. The menu button. You on the top left corner. Right. Yeah. You will see a link that says home school blueprint and you can just click on that and watch our video that tells you more about that. If that’s something that would be an encouragement to you, I hope you take advantage of.

Well, we hope you like this and share it. And it helps when you give a five star review on iTunes to just tapping it simply. And join us for next week’s second part to this series. We look forward to see you next time.

Hey, thanks for listening to this episode. We wanted to quickly tell you about our six week online parenting program.

Isaac and I created a powerful biblical curriculum. Here’s how it works. Each week, Isaac and I release a video with a downloadable parenting packet to make it easy for you and your spouse to incorporate those teachings directly into your parenting.

It’s an incredible program where we cover everything from obedience training to overcoming mistakes most Christians are making. But more than that, it’s an incredible community. You’ll have access to a private online group, live webcast and the courageous parenting text message line where Angie and I can send you weekly encouragement straight to your phone.

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