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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 Isaac from Resolute Man Together pursuing the mission to impact 10 million families and their legacies for the Kingdom of God.

We’ve been married for 23 years and are seeing the fruit from raising our nine children biblically. Based on the raw truth found in the Bible.

We can no longer let the culture win the hearts of children, as too many from Christian families are walking away from their faith by the age of 18. And it doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way.

We’re praising the Lord. That ministry continues to expand and impact more legacies. We couldn’t do this without you. Whether you pray for us, give us five star reviews, or share on social.

Or even if you purchase courses and merch or join the Be Courageous app community, enjoy the coffee or support financially. We’re so thankful you are a big part of the 10 Million Legacies movement.

If you want access to all the episodes, show notes, and other biblically based resources, go to Be Courageous Ministry.

Org. Join us as we start another important conversation about effective parenting in a fallen world. Welcome to the podcast. We’re talking about a pretty important episode about the times we’re living in, regarding having a family and leading our families. There are things we have to think about that sometimes are not so comfortable to think about.

Like moving. Yes.

Hi guys know today we’re going to talk about.

Four reasons why you might want to move. Um, and this is obviously a conversation that I think people have on a regular basis from what we hear out there. Um, and so we just wanted to really, um, encourage some of you who maybe are in this situation where you’re thinking about that and trying to discern what the Lord’s will is for you. We’re praying for you guys. We know it’s a hard decision. Um, and and just that I want you guys to know that even though we’re going to talk about some hard things today, our heart is that you would be, um, really seeking the Lord for his wisdom for your life. Um, God’s will is not the same for every single person. Um, but it is important that as people who love God, we are going to him with this very big kind of decision right along as the small decisions and recognizing that sometimes God stirs our heart for, for seasons, for, for specific journeys. Um, and they’re also there. Sometimes we feel a calling and we really need to ask ourselves a question. But is this God’s will for my kids? That’s a big question.

Yeah, we might have a calling that we feel prompted on, but then is that going to be best when the children get older, they start having children and so forth. And we’re going to talk about why proximity is so important in a second. You know, sometimes it takes actually re-orientating your life to have the most fruitful, thriving future possible for your legacy. So these are all things we’re going to be talking about. Everybody has a unique situation, so you can take some of it with a grain of salt. Maybe it doesn’t have to do with you, but some of it might be like, oh, that is relevant to our situation. And that’s our hope. Our hope is that this stirs a good critical thinking, good marriage conversations to really not just be thinking in the short terms, but be thinking about the long terme. Otherwise you will never break out of your comfort zone for the in the short terme unless you’re thinking long terme. So that’s really important. Yeah.

You know, I also think about this topic of moving right. And obviously there are certain seasons that are easier to move with kids than others. It’s just the truth. Um, there’s a lot to navigate, a lot to evaluate and think about for sure. Um, but right now, our world is in an interesting place. Um, we’ve done a podcast just last month on, what, 2024 predictions we’re going to be. That was an interesting podcast. We did 1 in 2023. Obviously in the 2024 one, we mentioned that this is an election year. And so obviously we’re anticipating some chaos here in the United States because it’s an election year. Um, and I think that there’s there’s some aftershocks, if you will, or vibrations that other nations experience whenever the US is having an election year as well, because they all impact each other. We’re all part of a world. And so how one administration is making decisions for different things like climate control, even, for example, right, that affects the whole world. And so, um, there’s it’s an important conversation. We’re not going to dive into a whole lot on what’s happening in the world. But but what is happening in the world right now is the reason why we are having this conversation with you guys today.

And, you know, us. We never, uh, have been people that parent in fear or fear based in any way. We do have the emotion of fear like we all do. It’s what we do after we start having that emotion of fear, do we funnel into trusting God or dwelling in fear? And we don’t prescribe to that at all? We’ve never preached that in any shape or form, but we are to operate in wisdom. We are to look at what’s around us. We are to look at circumstances. We are to look at what’s wise and trust in the Lord in those things. In fact, we have a Scripture in Ephesians, Ephesians 515. It’s in 16. It says, look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And you know, we get that sometimes the will of the Lord is to stay right where you are for all kinds of reasons. And sometimes, if we really are drawing close to the Lord and we’re keeping our will at bay listening to his will, sometimes we’re going to be prompted. You know what? Even though it’s tough, even though we have to reorientate our life, even though maybe provision needs to change how that happens, even though we have some really good friends. We need to move and we need to do.

What’s best for our families. We need to obey God, whatever that is. Right? Yeah. And so, um, obviously, I’m as I’m thinking about this, I really hope that people who are not considering moving do listen to today’s podcast as well, because we’re going to talk about a really important conversation regarding proximity. This is our first point that we’re going to start talking about here. Um, but proximity, wherever you are during I mean, God in his word, Jesus, what does he say? The second most important commandment is it’s to love your neighbor. So clearly, God Himself is aware of proximity and wants us to be aware of proximity of people, of hearts, of understanding that wherever he has placed us, we are on a mission for him, and that we’re supposed to be lights to be loving. And that takes intentionality. That takes being stirred up and going, hey, wait a second, do I even know my neighbors? Okay, it’s kind of a big deal. And in today’s conversation.

So we’ll dive into that in just a second. But first, I want to thank you for being part of the 10 Million Legacies movement. There’s lots of ways. There’s lots of free resources. The ministry offers tons, actually. Free workshops, free downloads, um, you know, uh, blog posts. I think we have 300 Christian Mama blog posts that Angie wrote, and they’re very, very practical and awesome. Uh, we have two podcasts, this one and the Resolute Man podcast, which now has guests on it, uh, that are getting raw and real about the issues of, of manhood, biblical manhood in a world that increasingly hates masculinity. So there’s so many things. And the only way we’re able to do that, because it’s more than full time work, is that we have people buying things, that we have people giving, that we have people subscribing to the coffee or the Be Courageous app, and getting the far more value than it costs with like the heart of the home and these kinds of things. So would you consider that? And if you can’t, it’s no big deal. Would you pray for us then? Because that really makes a huge difference. It makes it all work and we’re just completely committed. We’re thrilled about the Double Impact mission this year, but we do need to get on track a little bit. And so would you help us get on track by giving us a five star review, or liking something or sharing something on social media, maybe sharing the Parenting Mentor program, for example, with your church? Uh, that could be a massive impact. There’s a few churches right now, uh, experiencing the experiencing the fruit of having access to that.

All right. So let’s dive in in the day that we’re in today because obviously, like we’re all living in this generation. Yeah. If we were living 50 years earlier and had the ability to do a podcast, we’d be speaking to that generation. But right now, let’s be realists about what’s happening and recognize that the gospel hasn’t changed. Yeah. Where to go out and make disciples of all nations. But we do that first through loving the Lord our God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourself starts first in our marriage and our family overflows to neighbors and then into the church in different places. Right. Okay. Yeah. All right. So that being said, let’s talk about where you’re living right now. And we just want to stir up good works with where you are right now. This is not something to hold on to for once you’ve moved. This is about the proximity of where God has actually placed you. Are you loving your neighbor? Do you know who your neighbor is? Does your neighbor know who you are? If something crazy was to happen in this world and let’s say the the EMP hit or something like that, and there was no electricity and you needed something from from somewhere that you could walk. Okay. Are your neighbors going to actually recognize you as you’re walking to your home, or are they going to go stranger get the gun because they’re scared to I yeah, I just said that because this is a deal. Like if there was ever a wise statement or exhortation, if you knew something was potentially going to happen in the future, and you don’t necessarily have to even know when, none of us need to know when. The truth is, is that it would be wise, even non-believers, like if somebody’s not a believer, and listening to this, it would be wise and behoove you to introduce yourself to people who live in your general area so that they recognize you if there is a time of need.

That’s the practical aspect. Maybe ask yourself a question why did God place me where I am? I know God placed us where we are. It was kind of a radical thing, actually. Yeah, and it was beautiful.

Kind of. It was totally radical.

That whole story is amazing and it’s beautiful and we love it here, but we also love it here because we know God has placed us here. That helps us love it even more. And so as we’re thinking about these things, proximity, where you can walk to, um, you know, your local community becomes really. Really important. And in addition to proximity matters, it is more important than ever. We used to believe that, hey, you know. Our children will probably, you know, live all different places because they’ll get married and they’ll married people that live in different places and things like that. And that’s completely okay. And while it is okay, we now believe it is a preference that we live close near by each other because the most important people that can help each other are relatives, our family.

The deep trust.

It’s the deep trust is there with siblings. And if you’re cultivating that right, and these kinds of things, and in these times we really believe that’s more important than ever. We are instilling the value of living near each other with our children. And I think you should too. But then the question becomes, ah, would you recommend your children raise their kids where you live, in the state you live in, with the laws and all the things? Right. So these are things you as you start thinking longer terms and you start if you do believe the same thing we do, that it would be ideal if we did live in proximity with each other. I’m not saying on the same piece of property, I’m just saying in the same vicinity so we can get to each other and help each other when needed.

Yeah, it’s an interesting concept. This is something that definitely has to be, um, talked about, vision shared, if you will, with your kids. And that’s something that we’ve done for many, many years. It’s just even dreaming with our kids about things, whether that’s, um, dreaming with the girls, about them being at each other’s births or being able to support each other during postpartum. Um, me trying to share with them like, that’s my heart. That’s what I do. I love to do this for other people. Right? And like modeling that help for one another is incredibly important as well as far as setting culture. But this is the thing. Like a lot of people want their kids to be best friends with each other. I know that’s a desire that we have had over the years, and we’ve talked to our kids about investing in relationships with one another, um, building a relationship so that you have someone to rely on when you’re older. Right? And that takes time, actually. But here’s the thing. The reality is, is no matter how hard you try as a parent to try to do that, it’s not always going to look perfect. Mhm. It’s not. And your kids may not end up being actually best friends with each other forever, all the time in every season of life. Mhm. That’s just the truth. Think about your own life journey for a second. Was it harder for you to be best friends with your brother or sister that you might have been best friends with when you got married and they weren’t married? You were in totally different seasons of life.

There was an element of not being able to fully understand one another. Then there’s like, if you had kids and they still weren’t married or didn’t have kids, there’s there’s different seasons where God brings other people who are more relatable and you might feel a closeness to them. That’s true. But here’s the deal. When it comes to what we’re talking about today, which is when push comes to shove and you need someone to be there to help you. Family should be there for each other, for sure. But here’s the other deal is that when when it talks about proximity, when we’re talking about proximity, you could be as close as possible in a spiritual sense, in a mind sense with a sibling. But if you live states away from each other, then the practical elements of being able to be there for each other are definitely going to be hindered. That’s just a reality. Expectations of being able to help one another are also going to be different. So we need to understand that like this, like vision of like wanting to help one another is a it can be a beautiful thing, but it’s not always realistic in every relationship, in every family. And we get that. But it does start by having a vision and sharing that with your kids when they’re little and model trying to model it as much as you can, right? Yeah. Of being for each other.

And the other aspect is church, you know, it is really ideal that you’re going and committed to a church in close proximity to where you live. And so the question then becomes, if there isn’t a church in close proximity where you live, then maybe you need to consider actually moving near a good church, or you need to be part of creating a new church. Right? And I think that’s really important. And God hears our prayers. And do you think God wants new churches planted? Absolutely. So maybe you are not the person that would be the pastor or an elder or these kinds of things, but you could be praying for a biblical church to be in your community. And I think that’s good. If there isn’t one, you should do that. And maybe you’re looking for a perfect church, though, and there is no perfect church. Literally, they’re made up of humans who are imperfect. So how would we ever expect a church to be perfect? But it is the Bride of Christ, and God looks at the church with absolute admiration and importance. It is so important. And even the imperfect church in Corinthians, for example, just go back to Corinthians and and look at.

Or Romans.

The situation happening and God’s Bride of Christ just unbelievably horrible things happening. And still it’s the bride of Christ. So I’m not saying go to a bad church, I’m just saying that maybe we need to be a solution in the church near us. And if there isn’t, we need to we need to help plant one. And I would say this, these are things we’re thinking through right now because it’s so important and really, you know, so what are you going to do about church? Because when let’s say, you know, an EMP goes off or something like that, the blackout everybody’s talking about and so forth, the capabilities of other countries being able to do that from space. And I’m not trying to create fear at all. This is just a reality. Um, that is being talked about. Okay. So with those things in mind, maybe we’ll talk about that in the next podcast in more detail. But with these things in mind, how important then, is church in proximity? It’s everything because it can’t be just the thing you go to on Sunday. It’s got to be truly running the race with people. And if you’re not and if it’s not near you, it could cause some challenges when real challenge strikes.

It’s interesting because we were just talking about family. And when you talk about church, church is also always been family for us. Right. And I think a lot of people would probably agree with that, where they even would describe it as their church family. Right. And I think that that element of when you’re committed to other people and you’re in regular fellowship with other people and you’re in a community and you’re seeing one another at, um, the grocery store or at the post office or at the local restaurant or at the gas station, and you’re like, recognizing people and you’re being stopped and, and, and praying for somebody, or you have a neighbor that’s sick and you know that. And so you take them a meal or like there there is a need for people to be connected in the name of Jesus. There is a trust that goes deeper than even blood, right? Because it’s the blood of the lamb, the blood of Jesus that brings you to unity and in a way that is like what people experience as family. And we’ve experienced this and been so blessed by this throughout our entire marriage. We’ve experienced this. I remember experiencing this when I was growing up. And there is there is a need, people that we recognize that God has placed us where we are for a reason. Yes, that is true. Like think about your actual physical location in your neighborhood. Think about who your neighbors are that he’s placed you in your family, right? We don’t choose family, right? No more than we don’t choose who’s a part of the family of God.

Mhm. No human doesn’t get to do that. God, God. God’s the one who calls people and does that amazing work in someone’s life okay. And so here’s the deal. Where has God put you and who is that family that is around you? Who are those people that we are supposed to be linking arms with and being actually intentional in building relationships with? And that is really one of the most important things that you could ever figure out in life. It is one of the most important things. You know why? Because it’s in relationship with other people, where you experience rubbing up against each other and challenging each other to grow. And sometimes there’s opposition and there’s offense, and then you’re challenged to have to forgive and grow and grace. And then sometimes there’s challenges of where you need help, and you get challenged to grow in humility and receive help from someone, and that grows you also spiritually. Do you see all this good that comes from hard things at times? And then there’s the beauty of like when you experience something hard, or when you experience something joyful and a brother and sister rejoices with you, you guys listen. This is literally people who run the race alone, who are being independent in their spirit and thinking and in trying to build their own kingdom and pursuing so much, working so hard to pursue wealth and independence and safety for themselves, they’re missing out on one of the most important things of one of the most important reasons why we were even created, which is relationship with other people.

To be member of the body of Christ, to know people, to meet needs, to have needs met, to walk together and encourage one another and lift one another up. It is one of the main reasons why we are here as social beings. And so when you’re going through stuff in life and you’re looking at all the things that are potentially happening in the world, we should have no fear. Because if we’re living the way God has actually told us to live in the Bible, there’s not going to be fear for the future. You know why? Because you know that you’re experiencing the body of Christ on earth, within your family, within your marriage, within your neighborhood, within your church. Yeah. And there isn’t anything to fear when we have our self, when we understand that we have salvation in Jesus Christ, that we’re only here for a vapor, but we’re here. We’re here for a vapor for a reason. We are here. And part of that reason is the impact that we get to make on other people’s lives through Jesus Christ. That is an amazing, beautiful thing. So we need to consider our proximity and in in regards to all our relationships.

Absolutely.

You know, it’s interesting, I, Isaac and I were talking about the different verses that maybe we would want to share in this. And at first I was thinking, really, is there is there really any verses we’re going to talk about, like when you’re moving and stuff? Yeah. And I thought a two stories. I thought of Ruth and Naomi and the faithfulness that we see in Ruth to her mother in law, in going with her mother in law, to her mother in law’s land and to her mother in law’s people, and how faithful she was and the connection of family that was there. And the loyalty, even though it wasn’t her real mother. Right. It was her husband’s mother. And so I just want to challenge you on that for a second. That’s kind of a big one. And the other thing, you’re going to laugh when I tell you this is Proverbs 31. And I’m not going to read the entire thing. I’m going to challenge you to go read that. But this is actually something I think we’re going to reference in today’s podcast, but as well as next week’s, because we’re going to be talking about something even more, and we’re going to be talking more about this kind of stuff next week, too.

But listen to this for a second. I’m going to read a couple verses. Verse 15 of Proverbs 31 says, she rises while it’s yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. So she’s taking care of the people that are working for her. Verse 20 she opens her hand to the poor, and she reaches out her hands to the needy. So can you do that if you don’t know the poor in your community, know. So clearly she knows who the poor is in her community, and she’s generous and she’s investing in them and she’s helping them. Okay, then. Then let’s move on. Her husband knows is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. So let me just ask you, from that statement alone, I’m literally thinking to myself, there are elders, there is a community, and he is known, and he’s known because of her, actually is what Proverbs 31 says. And so there is a proximity there. There’s a closeness, and people know them. Then if you skip, probably.

Because she’s so social.

Right? I mean, she’s helping the needy and she’s taking care of her servants and but she’s doing a lot strength and dignity or her clothing and she laughs at the time to come. Guys, there is a time to come. Tomorrow is a time to come. Two years from now is a time to come. Can you rejoice and not have fear, but be excited and laugh at the time to come? Another translation says she rejoices in the time to come. Why would someone rejoice in the time to come?

Because they’re prepared.

They are prepared. But this verse also talks about having the fear of the Lord. So it’s both having a confidence in who God is, and that she has nothing to fear because she understands that this life is like a vapor. Mhm. And she knows where she’s going. So she doesn’t have fear. But there’s also this I’ve been investing in my community and all the people around me to where they have honored my husband. Mhm. And she knows that when times get tough people are going to also reciprocate because she’s been investing in them.

Yeah.

She can laugh at the time to come. She looks well at the ways of her household and doesn’t eat the bread of idleness. She is a worker. Even her children rise up and call her blessed. Can her children rise up and call her blessed if they’re not in that community? I mean, they could, but there was no social media. Mhm. So clearly her children were even in the near community. There was proximity in her family. Her husband also, he praises her. And then the very last one, give her the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates. This is God’s word, people. Mhm. It is what she does that gets her the praise and the the knowing and the help and the it. You can’t deny it. That’s literally what the Bible is saying.

What if someone’s really overwhelmed right now. They’re like Ange, that’s beautiful. But I’ve got four little kids. Yeah right now. And I’m just trying to keep all this together. I’ve been listening to your podcasts. It’s been super helpful. Yeah, but this one’s a little weighty and it’s causing me some, some anxiety. Anxiety? Like, I just I’m trying to just take care of my jurisdiction here. Yes. And raise these four kids. Well, that’s why you’re married.

I mean, I do, and I say that with love and kindness. I think that that clearly a marriage couple should probably listen to this podcast episode together. Because you together as are one, okay? And you’re not going to be able to do this all on your own.

And there’s also seasons and.

There is seasons. And that’s the beautiful thing about Proverbs 31, right? Like she wasn’t nursing a baby while she was doing all this stuff. Mhm. Um, but there is a time in a place where you are you have to be humble to receive help from other people. Right. And so I just even think about our son and daughter in love. They just had our grandson.

So for those of.

You listening we have another grandbaby. We’re so.

Excited little.

Riggs.

And I was just messaging them and I said, hey guys, did your church make you a meal train? And they were like, yeah, mom, here’s the link. And I looked and it was all filled up. And I just love that. So great. I just love that. And that’s how it should be. But you know what it took it took a little bit of humility. It took a little bit of, yeah, we’d receive meals because that’s actually how it goes. Church, someone from the church is kind of assigned with the task of setting up the meal train, but they got to go, hey, when would you like those meals to start? And are you willing to receive meals from people? It takes humility to say, yeah, sure, sure.

And people stopping by all of that. Yes. Regardless, even if the house is messy because you’re in postpartum and these kinds of things, it does. We’ve gone through this many times and you’ve had to be in a humble posture. Yep.

Of receiving, of receiving. And and I think that there’s a time where you receive and you grow in that humility, and then your heart actually grows in more compassion for the other women when you’re not in that season and you have a more willingness to actually step in the gap and help. But it’s when you’ve been independent in your spirit and you’ve been doing it on your own, and it’s all about just you and your family that those are the women, that they try to do life on their own, and they don’t actually have a heart for reaching out to other women. And that’s super sad.

One thing that hit me about her is she’s got things shored up. She’s not perfect, but.

Oh, Proverbs 31.

Woman. She’s got things shored up, meaning she’s not letting neglect exist in areas of her life. She’s a diligent learning and then doing. And I think there’s a lot of learning in this world because we’re in the information age, right? There’s information at our fingertips about anything. But I think so much information can actually limit doing. We get so overwhelmed with information we do less. And I would and sometimes there’s people doing so well that we see out there that it causes us to be frustrated and not do at all. And I think it’s really, really important that we’re doers. She is a doer. She learns and she does. And so I want to encourage you to to shore things up. Does parenting need to be shored up? Does your marriage need to be shored up? If your marriage needs to be shored up, you need to be in the Be Courageous app and go through the marriage series. There’s free series right there. Six hours worth of content right there in the app. And so there’s so much resource. You can get resources elsewhere, too. It doesn’t just need to be through the be courageous ministry, but if you want your parenting shored up, then the Parenting Mentor program actually is one of the very best answers for that. I can say that not because I believe it, it’s because over 3000 parents believe it. It’s because of what God is doing with that program that is so incredible, even beyond what we could imagine. And so the impact is delightful to see. And I would encourage you to go to Courageous Parenting.com and go see that, because you need to shore things up. You need to get confident in areas so that more is possible. So your capacity grows and you can handle more things. Because we’re not in easy times, we are in uncertain times we are in, I would call unprecedented times in these modern times. And it’s exciting on one hand. But we also need to be more prepared, more intentional, more diligent than.

Than ever.

You know, it’s interesting because I think that today’s world has, um, you know, and of course, I’m speaking as an American here, but I think that technology and the advancements and all of the things, like I even think of the supply chain, right. Grocery stores. Life is so much easier than it was even just 102 hundred years ago where, like, we were talking about little House on the Prairie and it’s like, did those women like they still even if they just had a baby, they still were planting their gardens, like they were still having to, um, get smoke food and, and bake bread and all of those things. And their life was harder. And I think that for us women in today’s in the 21st century, you get to this place where life has been so easy as a kid. And there’s this lie out there of like, oh, let kids be kids. And oh, they’re playing Nintendo. They’re not actually being kids and being creative outside with sticks and mud and rocks. In fact, if your kid is bored outside. Then there’s a problem. Like there is a problem. They have become accustomed to being entertained. They’ve become accustomed to having to have things that play music or do noise or whatever, to be able to have fun and play. And that’s a problem. They’ve actually been indoctrinated by the Industrial Revolution.

It reminds me of this book called Rhinoceros Success. You probably can’t even buy the book anymore. It’s like more like a pamphlet. It’s a really old book, and it talks about how you need to have thick skin like a rhinoceros. And it has this whole analogy through the book. And I just think back in those days, they had thick skin. They were able to handle things. They were able they they were so reliant on the Lord. Life was tough. And with the modern age, life, as you’re saying, has become easy and it has made our skin not as thick, potentially.

Kind of reminds me.

Of that cartoon Wall-E or whatever that came out a long, long time ago. And they’re all.

Like, they’re all.

Cartoon circuit.

They’re literally like blubbery sitting there sitting in chairs all the time. So they lost all of their muscle mass and they do nothing.

It’s just like.

I is going to make our minds go mushy because they don’t write.

Anymore. That’s what this was about. So.

So these things are happening. You see it happening and you go, no, we’re not going to be that way. We’re going to be we’re going to have an unbreakable marriage. We’re going to work on it because it’s not about what’s happening now. It’s about being ready for the things coming and the attack on marriage. It’s I’m going to be more intentional than any parents have ever seen, even if I had great ones, because I don’t have to have seen it to do it. I can learn, right. And so you’re going to dive in and learn, and you’re going to implement and you’re going to have a you’re you’re going to be more unbreakable in terms of how you handle your parenting and preparing and equipping your kids. So they stand firm in an uncertain world. We can’t just have our heads under the pillow and go as normal, go a little bit better than past. That’s just not going to work. That’s like when the iPhone came out and everybody’s like, whoa, no buttons. And and Samsung or this other company was like, oh, we’re going to keep our buttons. And pretty soon they just had to copy Apple. But they were way behind in the game. Blackberry. That’s it. Right. So it’s so important. They’re like, oh no, we’re going to create we’re going to be proactive and create what people don’t even realize they need yet. Right? We need to be proactive as parents in marriages and start listening to the spirit and reading our word. So we’re proactive, not because it’s necessary today, but because it’s necessary maybe six months from now and we’re in an election year, it is important to be thinking with a sober mind. It is important to be in the word. It is important to get uncomfortable because in our discomfort, we’re more willing to do hard things that are best, things that help us to thrive and our families to thrive down the road. And I’m not even going to say way down the road. I’m talking about six months from now. When is November? It’s like six months from now.

I think it’s a little longer, but yeah, like eight months maybe. Yeah. I mean, guys, this is the thing. Disruption is their goal. We know that distraction is their goal. We know that compliance is their goal. We know that we all saw the the warm up run. We all saw the the the first thing that happened in 2020. Right. And we saw a hijacking of sorts I’m just going to say it. Yeah. And we’re going to see some really crazy stuff happening because they’ve let 7.2 million. Right. Is that the number that I saw. Yeah. Immigrants in and during the Biden administration. And don’t even get me started about how this is going to affect the election.

Well, this has happened.

In all your other countries too, or most of them, you know, especially in Europe. It’s happened all throughout Europe, too.

You’ve got people out there warning you against terrorist attacks and all kinds of things. Why? Because of what they’ve been allowing to cross the border. All of the money that we spent during the Trump administration to put up walls. Did you know Biden was selling portions of the wall? You guys, this is a ridiculous like, I literally look at the tax money at work right there.

So we need to go.

Into these last three tips. We’ll be shorter. But I think we should jump into them.

Yes okay. So number two number two this is one I’m really passionate about. You’re gonna have to watch me here. So don’t go too long. But laws and rights when you’re evaluating where you’re living and what your legacy, what legacy you want for your kids right now, you have a choice. Yeah, I just said that you have a choice right now, but your choice needs to be surrendered to what God’s will is for your life. And you need to be praying not just in in terms of like, what you’re excited about, what you think you’re called to, but you need to humbly come before the Lord and ask him, Lord, what is your will for my children? What is your will for their upbringing in their season of life right now? What influences do you want in their life? And then you look around you. You look at the school system. You look at the church. You look at your neighborhood, you look at the friends, you look at the peers. I’m not saying that you necessarily need to move out of state. Maybe it’s even. In a neighborhood over. I have no clue. My point is, evaluate people. We need to have our eyes open and hold where we are open handed to God, because he may be calling some people to be missionaries, but he also may go, actually, it’s for you in a different season of your life right now, you’re a missionary and you’re home with your kids, and you need to make decisions based upon what’s going to be best for them so that they are walking with the Lord later on. We don’t sacrifice our kids for any other relationship. God doesn’t call us to something at the sacrifice of the first mission that he gave us. That would be so. That’s paradoxical. Listen, we need to evaluate the laws of the land that we live in, the rights that we have as parents. What are the parental rights? What are going to be the first threats in in this next year? Because it’s an election year?

You said the right thing, parental rights. That really is the main thing. There’s other things for sure, like, you know.

But gun laws, parental.

Rights is is so important. We’re seeing that, you know, the story maybe in Montana recently where because of, uh, the parents not allowing the the gender change of a 14 year old, they’re losing custody of the 14 year old.

To the government.

To the government. Right.

And you probably saw.

You’re seeing these things in places you would never imagine. And then you’re like, why is it kannonji? Well, then if it’s happening everywhere, where should I move? Well, that is also kind of a scheme when people say that it.

Is not not happening everywhere.

Everywhere there are better places to be. And we should live in the very best place where we have parental rights. And if we’re going to, uh, want our kids to raise their kids, your grandkids somewhere, you should be thinking about that now. Will it erode everywhere? Absolutely. But don’t we think we should be in a place that’s going to enable us to have freedoms for as long as possible, when it comes to parental rights?

I mean, that was.

Why we moved. We wanted to preserve our child’s childhood for as long as possible. Regarding compliance. That was one of the biggest things, right? Like if they were to listen to strategic relocation, the other podcast we did a few years ago, it’s an important, important thing.

It is one of the.

Most popular episodes we always top five episodes we’ve ever done is strategic relocation. Definitely look at that. That’s what prompted us to move away from dear friends, uh, a church we helped plant and and to, to come to a new place where we didn’t know anybody. And it.

Was for our.

I guess we knew one one, one family. And so, um, yeah, it was for a legacy. It was a legacy move. It was short tum pain for long time gain. And God blessed it. It was unbelievable. And something I had been praying about for many, many years. A unique situation to be able to have land in a house that fits a large family and all these things, even.

Even though our.

Finances wouldn’t warrant it. And boom, uh, it happens. And I just we have to go by faith. Sometimes we have to have everything crossed and I’s dotted. We were willing to just rent as long as we needed to, uh, but to be in a place that we could establish, uh, more freedoms and to pursue a faithful legacy so.

Well.

And that’s the thing, too, is if you’re if you’re talking about wanting to have proximity long terme even with your family and different things, then you need to live somewhere where they would potentially want to live, and you need to teach them why you would want to live there in the first place. So that means you do need to actually talk about current events that are happening at a state level, at a local level, with your kids, so that they’re aware and they’re grateful. They’re actually thankful for what they have, but they also become activated when a threat happens near where they live. And they stand up and they fight when they are older. Right. Like this is an important, important thing. When I think of parental rights, I think of the Second Amendment also, because God made you as a family, especially men. I’m just going to exhort you men for a minute. God called you to be a protector of your family. Yeah he did. He called you to be a protector of your family. And it wouldn’t be the first time that war has happened in our country. And it’s the last war was certainly not going to be the last war. If you think it’s going to be the last, then you’re very gravely deceived.

I mean, the.

Democrats right now are talking about a group of them not approving, uh, Trump if he wins the presidential election and to rescind it based on January 6th. And so what would happen if that happened? I’m not going to say the words, but you just think about it. I think that it’s important. I hope for peace, I hope for unity, I hope for good things to happen. But I also know that, you know, we’re in the end times and there’s challenging things that are going to happen. So I think it’s important to really think through those with a sober mind.

Yeah. So what are the laws. Right. Like what are.

Your rights.

To say no to vaccinations. Do you have the right to or are you going to be forced to? I mean, I just mentioned Second Amendment for a second, and we saw we’ve been seeing all the stuff that’s going on in Hawaii, right, that they don’t allow people to have to bear and carry guns around. Right.

New York.

City is the same.

Way. Yeah.

I mean, it’s literally so obviously there is something that is been happening for a while here where there is an influence and that’s an important thing. Can are you. Actually being prevented because of laws to do what God called you to do to protect your family.

I love our.

Little town because there’s actually an ordinance. It’s very old, but to live here, you actually have to own a gun.

Yeah, it’s funny, we found that out the second.

Week we were here.

Nobody’s enforcing it, but I think everybody lives by it.

Yeah, it’s super awesome.

But, you know, I think that it’s important that we look at the rights, we look at the laws, we look at what is happening in our area, parental right wise, and we wise up. And if we’re going to stay there, we need to have support. Look, if you’re a homeschooler, look into Hslda, the Home School Legal Defense Association. You need to look at freedom fighters for homeschool advocacy. This is important. You need to be connected to them. Because if you especially if you live in one of the most dangerous states. I recently was listening to a podcast that was talking about the ten most dangerous states to live in parental right wise. You should know what those are. And guess what? If you’re an American, you should go. Oh, so there are at least 40 other states that are safer, so don’t live in the ten. Like if you’re a homeschool, I don’t know.

It’s James one five says if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given warning. But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. We need to have such a strong faith that when we pray, when we ask God, we believe he can do it. We believe he loves us and loves our family. We believe he’s going to give us wisdom on the issue, and we pray with an absolute faith that otherwise, maybe your belief in who God is, the attributes of God. Maybe you don’t have that quite right in your mind. Maybe you are not feeling worthy for some reason. But you know what? Maybe you do need to repent in some area. Do that if that’s the case. But you know what? He looks at you as a saint. He looks what Jesus did on the cross did it all.

Yeah.

You know, and it’s not our works. He loves you. He views you as a saint. So now let’s pray with that in mind.

Um.

I love that. Let’s go into point three, resourcefulness. You know, as you’re evaluating where you’re at, I’m going to ask you some really hard questions here for a second. And I get Isaac asked me a question and then I think we got off track. You asked me about moms and feeling overwhelmed. Well, this one right here, this point, it could potentially overwhelm some people. And so I want to encourage you because it doesn’t have to it does not have to overwhelm you. That is actually a mindset. And I want to encourage you if you do get overwhelmed. One to do what Isaac just said in James one five, to go to God and ask for wisdom. Ask for God. Give God your cares. Give God your fears. Walk in power. Be honest and wise. You can’t be wise. If you have your eyes shut, you can’t. You can’t see a threat coming. You can’t see if you’re driving in a car and a and a semi truck starts crossing over that yellow line and it’s coming at you to hit you. You don’t close your eyes. You keep your eyes open, your hands on that steering wheel.

You start praying for. Yeah, for Jesus to take the wheel. But you keep praying, but you are trying your best to make the wisest maneuver that’s going to protect you and your family, am I right? That is life. That’s what we’re supposed to do as parents. I know that being a parent, being an adult is hard at times, but we need to get tougher. Rhino skin, as you put it earlier. So here’s point three resourcefulness where you live. How resourceful are you allowed to be where you live? You know, and this is not move to the country talk. I mean for some people they probably want to move to the country. And that’s great if you can do that. But the realistic point I’m trying to make is that probably 95% of people are not going to be able to move to country in order to be resourceful in a homesteading sense, which is what they probably think I’m talking about. But it’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is, are you going to be proactively resourceful? Are you allowed by your HOA to plant a garden in your backyard.

Or to have chickens or to.

Yeah, like this is the thing. Like if, if push comes to shove and you need to be growing some food and stuff. Can you?

Now, you might be going. Well, Isaac, we can do that. And we are doing that. But that’s not going to suffice for our family. And I would say 100% not going to. But now you have a contribution to make. You can now barter with other people if things happen because you’re doing chickens and you have carrots and you have these things, someone else might have some meat over here and these.

Some potatoes.

You can bring value and you have proof, proof that you can do things. And maybe you jump over to your parents property somewhere and you help guard them because you’ve already been working that muscle.

I just have to say something. I think that it would behoove people to know their neighbors and to be proactive in conversations about what’s going on in the world and talking about the things that they’re going to plant, if you will. For example, we do this with our neighbors. It’s not a crazy thing to do. We all help each other in our neighborhood. You know, we’re getting cows with the neighbor right in front of us. Yeah, yeah. That’s true. We’re getting meat cows with the neighbor right in front of us. They’re going to be on his land, and we’re going to be doing some of the labor and most of the labor. And there’s just like they’re you work together. Another thing is that I was talking to some older ladies who love to can, hey, I love canning, but I have a lot of kids. I have a busy life. Last year practically killed me during preserving season. I was burnt out. So I’m talking to this older, these older ladies at the Christmas party. And I tell them this and they go, well, let’s just do it together this next year. So guess what we’re doing? We’re canning together. We are going to get so much more done because there’s going to be three of us doing it instead of me doing it on my own, and them each doing it on their own. Nope, nope. I’m not into doing that anymore. It’s time to start acting like a community. It’s time to, like, truly get to know your neighbors and go, hey, I grew, um, £900 of potatoes last year. That’s actually the number of potatoes we grew last year. And to go, what did you grow last year? I’m thinking of cutting back. Yeah, but not on quantity. I’m thinking if I can grow some potatoes, maybe some of the ladies over there will grow the green beans and we can swap.

How much easier.

Is it to focus on 1 or 2 crops versus.

Every crop? Yeah.

Okay. So now I’m talking grand scale I get that. But what about if you live in a neighborhood and you were to start doing what Isaac’s been doing and hosting little meetings with some of the the neighbors to talk about this kind of stuff, what if you did that and you got some of the ladies together, or the guys got the guys together and you all decided, like, one person is doing onions, next neighbor’s doing carrots, the next neighbor’s doing lettuce, next neighbor’s doing a whole bunch of strawberries. And you come together and you swap. How much easier is that?

I think people go, wow, I just wish I didn’t have to think about all this because I’ve already so much to think about.

Oh, but this is way better.

This is I’m saying, you know, let’s rise up. Let’s rise to the occasion because there is an occasion. The world is changing. There’s some good aspects to it. There’s some challenging aspects to it. Our children are watching. Part of equipping your children is them seeing you do these harder things that even more so, they will likely have to do in their futures.

Okay, I also want to say something that is such a beautiful vision. Imagine getting together every once in a while with some of your neighbor ladies, and let’s say two of five of them are believers. And the other ones think they are, but maybe they’re not. And you’re all helping each other and you’re having conversations and you’re building relationship. Imagine what Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit can do in those women’s lives. And if he gets those women, or he gets those men through them, connecting with your husband, imagine what can happen to the entire household. We’re talking acts here, people. This is so exciting. Like I when I think of crisis, I think of revival. Yeah. Because that’s really when you get to see the Spirit of God move, you see him answer prayers, you see him move among his people. You see people come together in times when they never would have before and actually be in relationship with each other, which was what God’s design was from the beginning. In the first place. We all just got too busy with the non-important things.

The neighborhood revival.

That’s neighborhood revival.

I love it.

I love it so much. Okay, so the last thing we’ve kind of already mentioned it, the last point we want to talk to you guys about is legacy. Now obviously like legacy when you think of legacy you’re think faith first. Right. And there’s something so beautiful about being able to go to church together. There’s something so beautiful about being able to learn and worship and be like a one sound mind, and that’s a really beautiful thing. But there’s so there’s there’s other aspects of legacy too, right? It’s like relationships come by spending time together. It’s not just having the same blood run through your veins. Mhm. It’s time and it’s hard to spend time together when you don’t live in close proximity. I remember my grandparents lived in Colorado and I grew up in Oregon. I only remember a handful of times actually seeing them in my childhood, my entire first 20 years of my life. Yeah. And then. Then my grandpa died when Kelsey was nine months old. And so it just was like like I look at it and I, I love learning about him, but I didn’t know him.

So you’re either going to live where your children would want to live, and you’d want them to raise their grandchildren or way down the road. You’re probably going to move and follow your children, because they’re going to be wise and live where they can be more fruitful with young kids.

Or.

You’re going to be where you are and your kids are going to be in totally different places because they didn’t want to live where you lived. And then you’re feeling like, well, now where do I go? Do I go over here? Do I go over there? I love that family just as much as I love that family.

And, well, God’s got a plan.

He’s got it all. But we have decisions and free will to make. And I think that hard decisions, but good decisions need to be made. The best decisions are rarely easy. That’s usually the.

Hardest.

But I do want to encourage you guys that listen like I get that the thought of like, no electricity and and having to grow things. I’m tired right now. I’m going to be honest, I am tired. I and I think to myself, do I have the energy to do all we’ve done the last few years again? And but I also there’s this element of like really continuing to grow in my love for what we do on this land, and seeing that it was a blessing that God gave us to steward. And you need to remind yourself of your why. So what is your why? It could be as simple as I like providing nourishing food for my family, and I know where it came from because I grew the stuff. Like it could be that I love being able to be a place where kids come. Like when we were hosting Home Church, there were so many kids going through my garden and asking if they could eat strawberries or take their mama cucumber, or I love that. I loved blessing other people and like, there’s we need as people, we need to be more generous.

We need to be thinking bigger about our crops so that we have an avenue to be able to bless our neighbors and bless those who need things. And so during this time, if you have more property than somebody else, don’t just like, not plant it. Offer for somebody to come and work part of your land. We’ve done that so many years. When we lived in Damascus, we had families fully planting huge CSA gardens and making money off of it because they were in seminary and I was pregnant with Ethan and couldn’t work as hard in the garden, and I let a whole family take it over. And then they blessed us for letting us use the land, and then they were able to bless other families and get creative. It’s a blessing when you give God back the land that he’s given you. Even if it’s 5000ft², you can still have pots on your back porch and teach your kids how to grow so that for them, they’re getting connected with this process of creation and what God can grow, and that you can eat what you grow. And our kids need to see that.

Well, hey, thanks.

For joining us.

Hey, thanks for listening. And being a part of the 10 Million Legacies movement, go to be Courageous Ministry. Org for more biblically based resources, ways to switch where you spend your money that support the mission and information about the incredible Be Courageous app community for believers.

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