Bridge of the Faithful

Originally Christie was studying science, but God directed her toward children's ministry and helping parents build a firm foundation of faith in their children's lives. Her most recent endeavor has been the Mother-Son Prayer Journal, where she dug deep in understanding God's faithfulness throughout the chronological life of David. Along the way, she learned so much about his life and the trustworthiness of God's promises. As a mom herself, Christie has learned that making God a priority always reaps good fruit. However, she also realizes that as a mother, life will not always look structured and picture-perfect. She has learned to do things in the timing that she's given and to give herself grace, God will always bless her effort!

Yulia Shubina grew up in Central Asia in an area closed to the Gospel. However, through miracles and hard work, she received a Christmas Box at the age of 9 through Samaritans Purse. That gift started a journey where God pursued her and saved her. Now, Yulia lives in the United States and works with Operation Christmas Child. Yulia has a unique perspective as she recounts the story of how a box goes from your house to the utmost corners of the Earth, and how God does amazing things through the sacrifices of His people.

Operation Christmas Child sends millions of boxes to children worldwide to supply needs, fun surprises, and most of all the knowledge of a God who loves them and gives hope. Yulia is one of many who have grown to know Jesus as her personal savior through the wonderful sacrifice of families willing to send them gifts. Yulia has a wonderful story that helps us see an intimate view of what God can do through a Christmas box. "Because when God is involved, there is always more."

One fateful night, Jen was involved in a tragic accident that caused the death of a motorcyclist. This accident sent her down a path of depression and questioning. In one moment all of her relationships, life plans, and faith changed. When trying to find support for this kind of trauma, she found that there were really no support groups for people on her side of the accident. True to God's faithfulness, He proved that He could still use her in big and impactful ways through her ministry and podcast Accidental Hope. Her passion in life is to free people from the bondage of guilt and shame related to their accidents, to remind them that God is still good and did not choose this situation for them, and above all: that there is ALWAYS hope when God is involved, even in the darkest of places.

Former pediatric nurse, Bethany Adkins knew that God was telling her it was time to make a change. Like many...

Some examples of Biblical Mom stories that have inspired Sharon Wilharm are Mephibosheth's nurse (who only has one verse!), Rizpah, and of course Mary. While she doesn't necessarily feel that all of the mothers are "exactly like her," she has been amazed at what we can learn through their experiences. It has become clear that the people and stories of the Bible are intentionally put there by God, no matter how short or obscure they seem, and that we have a lot that we can learn from them, especially the women of the Bible.

Amy Brown, Carrie Holt, and Sara Clime are all special needs moms, and they are no strangers to mom guilt! With diagnoses ranging from behavioral disorders to terminal illness of their children, they've had to learn to find the balance of the everyday family needs, extra therapies, and appointments, to realizing that they just can't do it all. One major point that we all need to learn to believe is that God does not tack guilt on us. Jesus states that he didn't come to condemn us, but Satan tries to keep us from that truth and steal God's redemptive power in our lives. As moms, we tend to tell ourselves our failure stories over and over again. However, when we learn to focus on the truth and our true value and identity as the moms that God chose specifically for our families, we will finally be able to allow God to walk us through our mom guilt and into the peace that God has overcome it all.

Motherhood is hard. Actually, the more I dig deeper into motherhood, the more I realize how much of a battleground it truly is. Satan hates motherhood, and sadly, a lot of times he is successful at getting me to hate it as well. The more I've shared, the more I realize how trapped so many of us mamas are in the lies: that motherhood is too hard; that we are alone; that we've messed up too much for redemption; that we don't deserve rest; that God doesn't care about the unique struggles that we are facing as parents. I felt (and still often do) lost, confused, betrayed, much like the Israelites at the Red Sea and the Disciples during Jesus' nap on the turbulent boat. I found myself, like them, asking "God, don't you care?!" And then I remembered, God never leaves ashes and pain as the ending of the story. He showed me that He is indeed working. The seeds I'm sowing now in tears will be harvested someday with songs of joy.

Jessica Long was adopted from Russia after her young mother couldn't handle the medical needs of her fibular hemimelia. This sent Jessica into a long journey of understanding her identity and God's plan for her life. And then she found swimming. As her success grew, her identity began to be based on her ability to perform in the pool. At the age of 15, just five years after she started swimming, she won her first of many Paralympic gold medals. This began her journey of sponsors, success, and fame. But none of that filled her the way that she hoped, she continued to feel empty. Until the age of 21, where God finally got a hold of her heart, showed her what it truly meant to be adopted into His family, and the peace and safety she can find there.

Julie Parido has always had a passion for learning scripture. Now, that passion includes planting scripture into the heart of her own children. From juggling time as a busy mom to meeting the differing developmental needs of all of her children, Julie has built a list of resources and practices that work for her family. Her own projects include using art to memorize scripture, creating family devotional time, and using specific verses to help with discipline and building moral constructs. While she like all moms is far from perfect, she has worked hard to build the foundation of teaching her children the wisdom and devotion of the beautiful Word of God.

With eight children ranging from teenagers to parents themselves, Meg is no stranger to the bittersweet and beautiful transitions through motherhood. Throughout her entire journey, she has tried to not lose sight of the fact that God gave her these children to prepare them for adulthood, which means eventually they leave (which is a good thing!). She discusses the transitions that range from setting all of the rules and providing everything for your children, all while teaching them to set boundaries and help them set up their own rules as they enter adulthood. The biggest thing she's learned however in her entire motherhood path is that while her job as a mom is important, her most important job is being a child of God.

Merritt Onsa's journey to motherhood was unconventional. After bouts of infertility, she and her husband decided to pursue embryo adoption. Like many mothers who have been through infertility, she entered this part of her life with expectations and hopes of how motherhood would look. Of course, it hasn't quite gone that way. Like all women, and especially moms, she has learned that she needs to work on finding her true identity as well as identify her idols in motherhood. God has been so gracious in that and reminded her that she doesn't have to measure her motherhood by anyone else's. God has His own plan for hers and yours.

It's always easy to get distracted by our motherhood with all of the needs, expectations, and time that our children take. For those of us that are married with children though, we need to make sure that we are keeping our husbands above our children (even though this may not be the easiest or most popular opinion). Glori Winders is no stranger to the struggle of juggling marriage with her motherhood. After the real estate crash in 2008, Glori and Tim Winders went from having everything to almost losing all of it. However, because marriage was always the highest on their priority list, they were able to build tools and a strong foundation for God to work with even in this stressful time. Glori shares some of these tactics as well as her own struggles in her motherhood journey, reminding us that God truly does love us and care about us, and loves to lavish His blessings on us.

Being a special needs mom is one of the absolute hardest and most rewarding jobs in the world. Julie Holmquist and I have a lot in common with our struggles in being moms of special needs sons, ranging from our dreams of cleaner houses to our identity issues in this journey. Remembering that having a special needs child isn't a punishment to either the parents or the child is key to our perspective and changes the way that we see our situations. Special needs moms also struggle with embarrassment/shame and isolation, we want to remind all of you mamas that you are not alone! We don't know about the future of our typical kids any more than we know about our special needs kids. And it is so very clear that God placed them in our families to be a blessing and be blessed by us, and only He can give us the strength to do that.

Expectations as a mom are always hard to navigate. They became even harder for Brianna Heida when she became a stepmom. Even while struggling with identity issues, she found that God's faithfulness never wanes.

Annie had what she thought was a good life: married with two beautiful girls, until one day "a bomb went off" in her soul. After her husband left, Annie struggled with trying to adjust to life as a single mom. After surviving through the teen years, learning how to do things one step at a time, her daughter suggested how she had a lot to give in terms of helping other single moms get through. That conversation ignited her passion to mentor other single moms, to make sure they truly believe that they don't have to do this alone. All of her wisdom comes from the God who gave her the gift of children, and her heart's desire is to honor God with the gifts He gave her.

Michael Card is a Christian Singer-Songwriter whose life goal is to know and understand as much about Jesus as is humanly possible. From his surprise leap into songwriting to his current journey of researching Jesus' life, He's learned that God always gives you the life you should have asked for instead of what you think you want. Throughout his life, he's found that "our creativity is like romance, it's always a response to the beloved, the one who makes your heart resonate."

Cara Harvey is no stranger to struggling in motherhood. From the thought "I just don't know what I enjoy anymore" to burnout from fatigue, she knew she needed a change. After realizing she needed a reset with her expectations and goals, she started Purpose Driven Mom to help other moms find themselves again. She sees it as a mission to help our kids understand what healthy and thriving motherhood can really look like.

Winfree is no stranger to motherhood struggles. She battles internally to lead like Jesus, and she has found immense peace in the fact that we are promised that we don't have to do it alone! She has had to redefine joy as more of a recognition of God and goodness, satisfaction in Him; not on circumstances and met expectations. Even when God's answer to her prayers were the exact opposite of what she asked for, He still proved His faithfulness, and that His answers are never wrong.

Becky Kopitzke is a normal mom, with normal struggles. One day she realized: every mom has struggles, and every mom has flaws. She decided to be brave and share hers. Specifically, we discuss how God is stronger than our mistakes, and how He meets us and loves us there. Sometimes that means God convicts us, which Becky considers an indication that she's near to God. She also considers the conviction and invitation God extends for us to draw near to Him. Other times it includes God's discipline, which can be painful but is always loving. Her advice to help us succeed and grow in motherhood includes intentional presence, an anchored identity, honesty, and above all, GRACE

Does anyone else feel like it's easy to get thrown around emotionally as a mom? Tina Smith from Raising Kids on Your Knees podcast sat down and explained to us ways to anchor our motherhood in Christ instead. This anchoring includes: prayer, Bible time, mentorship, evaluating if your children have become idols, and remembering that God is faithful and loves your kids more than even you do. She gives great tips on how to let go of some things, and how to better cling to Jesus, the one who has plans for you as well as for your children.

When the answers to our prayers don't come as we want or expect, does that mean God isn't faithful? Does it mean that God has forgotten about us and our needs? Does it mean that God doesn't care? Absolutely not! Michelle Watson from the Pantry Podcast is learning that when God's answer to our prayer is "no," it actually means that it's a "yes" to something better! Listen as she discusses situations where God didn't answer prayers the way that she wanted Him to (her conversation about naps changed my whole attitude at home), how she uses emotions as a smoke detector and not a GPS, and how God has directed her path in better and more exciting ways than she could have ever dreamt up herself.

In God' poetic timing, this episode is releasing the week that Ashlee Filby was scheduled for a C-section with her baby girl. Instead of delivering a baby, she is delivering a legacy of hope for those dealing with loss and disappointment. After several miscarriages, a high risk pregnancy, and raising her miracle special needs son Knox, she still declares the love and faithfulness of God. Her closing verse is John 10:10 - The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. Ashlee chooses to focus on the second half: that despite Satan's attempts to disrupt their lives, they have faith that God is giving them an abundant life despite the loss. That is the hope that I am so excited to leave you with at the end of 2020.

While traveling in her second trimester, Elizabeth lost her son Timothy. This was the last straw that led to a lot of anxiety and depression, she began to have a lot of questions: Why would a good God let this happen? Where is God in all of this? Is God even real? Despite her wrestling, Elizabeth decided to "believe anyway," and encourage others to do the same along the way. Through this journey, she's learned that it's ok to be upset with God, He's heard it all before. However, in every situation, God has proven above and beyond how faithful He is and how He blesses our faithfulness in return.

Sarah had a 10-year journey with infertility that included waiting, miscarriages, tubal pregnancies, and failed IVF. These circumstances brought lots of questions like Where are you, God? Are you Good? and What do I do next? Her book Life After Infertility documents her hurting, her humor, and her hope as she learned to see life through God's dreams and not her own. Infertility was painful and hard, but she wouldn't change a thing as she looks back to recognize God's faithfulness and foresight in bringing her three beautiful children: two through adoption and one through surrogacy.

"Wait" has been the response to many of Caroline's prayers. Instead of being discouraged, however, she has used it to grow in her faith and talents. Infertility has taken Caroline on a journey of obedience, trust, and so many gains. Out of her pain has come a blog, a book, a podcast, and a ministry all set to bless and encourage others that are also in the waiting game. Listen as Caroline shares her story, her struggles, and the truth about Jesus that gives her so much hope.

After suffering several miscarriages, Maria Lancaster randomly heard about embryo adoption. As a pioneer in this ministry, Maria became the mother of her beautiful daughter and a legacy was born. She founded Embryo Adoption Services of Cedar Park, where it is her joy to match and join new families in miraculous new ways. Embryo adoption is a beautiful representation of being born again and adopted into God's family. Listen to her story and experience how God truly cares about these families and the children that they bring into this world together.

Infertility is a huge part of my story; it’s the time I can point back to where God took a hold of my heart and really taught me about His character and true love for me (and my children). The Bible is not silent on the pain of infertility; actually quite the opposite. There are SEVERAL stories in the Bible of women facing the shame, pain, and identity crises involved in infertility. Many of those women were used directly in the lineage of Jesus. All of these stories were used by God to show Himself in huge ways. And in every single one, infertility was NEVER the end of the story.

Is there any hope left in the atmosphere of politics these days? With the 2020 election coming up in the next month, it's easy to have anxiety as we wait to see how the world changes through our choice of president. If you find yourself in this place, listen to Glen's wisdom as he discusses the reality of how the world is now compared to history, some of the challenges we face today, and the sovereignty of God over all of it. He was able to summarize his ability to see God's faithfulness in politics through these actions: having God dictate our perspectives, to not focus on the "what ifs" but the "what is," always be thankful for what we do have, and remind ourselves of what God has done in the past.

From an early age Chris Staron has created in many genres. Chris often faces obstacles ranging from financial to emotional, but God has faithfully provided help and direct him through it all. Like in Ezekiel 3, Chris takes it seriously when he feels God is burdening him to say something. That burden is where his beautiful creations are born.

As the title of his new book, Throw off Script, suggests, his life didn't necessarily go the way he expected. From 2009 to 2011, Mike Domeny and his wife traveled the country, living out of suitcases and driving a cargo van to host character-building assemblies in public schools. In 2011 he joined 321 Improv, a hilarious traveling improv comedy ministry (not exactly where he expected to land). Since starting, God has shown him how the tactics of improv can be used in our lives as we face those unexpected moments (*cough* 2020 *cough*). True to form, God showed his sense of humor through Mike by having his book release right in the middle of a global pandemic, where He could bless so many through the wisdom of Mike's words.

Jay Kinsinger was created to build. From an early age, he loved being able to put things together and would much rather build his own toys than buy them. As he grew, he found himself working in a tool shop, and that's exactly where God met him: where he specifically created him to create. After dedicating his life to Jesus in that shop, Jay began his journey in learning how to worship in the way God made him to. Like most creatives, Jay struggles with perfectionism and distraction, but he is ever learning that God faithfully dwells in our midst as we explore His character through our brilliant ability to create.

In this episode, Fiona discusses how being creative gives her the freedom to reflect Him through her own creations. This gives her the ability to be closer to Him, to be more like Him, but also to be more human. To her, art has been a release of emotions as well as an act of worship. If she is being honest, she struggles with separating her identity from her talent, but also finds that it gives her the freedom to truly explore who God created her to be.

Leanor Ortega Till (aka Jeff the Girl from Five Iron Frenzy) inherited her love of music from her father, which grew as she experienced how music and lyrics express so much of our lives. From lyric writing to performing live on stage she has learned that everyone interprets music and worship their own way through their own experiences. Being in a successful band reinforced that while part of her identity lies in how God created her to create, the anchor of who-she-is lies in Christ and His purposes for her. The rest is just an adventure.

As a storyteller, Eric is always looking for what speaks to him. Sometimes that inspiration comes from people he meets in line somewhere, other times it occurs through the conversations he has with close friends. To Eric, being created in God's image means we are following in the steps of the very first Creator, and that is to be taken seriously as those are some very big shoes to fill. Through his multiple mediums and experiences, he has learned that the beauty of art is to see life through other people's eyes. One of the biggest takeaways from his projects is that the freedom to do whatever you want is actually quite limiting; while having guidelines and restrictions actually have brought about his most rewarding work.

Created to create, author Christine Kindberg has been through a journey. From growing up as an American in South America to getting her master's in the US, she has so much to share through her writing, which is exactly what God created her to do.

What does racism look like at a personal level? How does it affect our identity? How can we raise our children to love and respect all ethnicities? Is there hope; is God still faithful in the middle of racial tension? Listen as the amazing women of Faith Mamas discuss their stories of hope as God works in big ways to bring about change.

What do a global pandemic, 2nd century plague, Anna of Arendelle, and Elisabeth Elliot all share? That God wants us to focus only on the next thing. Both as a mom and a nurse, my quarantine renovation was in my heart, where God taught me to give up control, trust Him fully, and only worry about doing the next right thing.

In this time, where does my hope come from? It comes from a God who either creates the waves to rescue me or calms the waves that threaten to destroy me. That is the God who tells my heart to be still, and still it becomes.

Austin Jaquith is a Christian music composer and professor at Cedarville University. He discusses his different genres, how he started in the first place, the struggles he faces as he creates, and what God is teaching him about what it means to be a creative person created in His image.

What do Dobie pads (kitchen sponges) have to do with talents? Do even I have talent? How do we use our talents? Are there consequences of we don't use them? So many questions for a very important topic in our lives. God made us ALL with specific talents on purpose, He knew exactly what He was doing. While we don't have the same ones (which is a good thing!), we all have something God designed us to do. It's time to start figuring out how to use them instead of just hiding them away.

To better her marriage, Jenn decided to understand herself better. After struggling with being mad at God for making her different than her type A friends, she realized that her strengths are unique to her and have purpose. God made her this way with intention. Now her goal is to help others on their quest of studying themselves and finding ways to use the talents God gave them.

Relationships are hard! And in this social media driven world, I feel we've lost the art of making and maintaining them. The holidays especially bring to light old wounds revisited, unrealistic expectations, high emotions of all kinds, or elevate the ache of our loneliness. All of these can bring about pain and friction and make us want to retreat away from all things related to people. That is exactly what Satan wants us to do: be alone and vulnerable. Despite all of that, I'd like to argue that relationships are worth the fight; even how we are created to be. This episode will hopefully help you start to change your perspective on how you view them.

God wants us to take the time to remember His faithfulness. So much so that Leviticus 23 talks about seven different annual Feasts of Remembrance. Why is it so important to do this? Because when we take the time to remember God's faithfulness in the past, it gives us the strength and the courage to trust His faithfulness in the future! This episode is a summary of God's faithfulness in the past seven years in our family. It's a story of how God took the pain of infertility and job loss and turned it into a journey changing our hears and lives forever.

When I ask people how they're doing, the answer is so often "busy" or "tired." In our culture we feel that we need to have so much on our plates, we need to go and go and go. Needing rest seems to have become viewed as weakness, the proverbial "I'll sleep when I'm dead." But that is not what God intended for our lives! He designed us to rest, He put rest in the plan from creation. Even Jesus knew he needed rest and took those breaks. He still managed to save the world! This episode is an encouragement to take a look, see where we are sacrificing parts of ourselves to the gods of busy and tired, and to also see where God provides our rest and strength when we can't get it from anywhere else.

Why is identity such a huge issue? In our culture we are often told through the media to "just be you" or "find yourself." We need to make sure we anchor our identity into something solid: Jesus. We use veils/masks to hide or distract from the identities that we are ashamed of. But Jesus lived and died to take that veil away and replace it with the identity that he created us to have, in His image. The Bible is full of so many promises of what we get to identify with, as new creations in Christ.

In our culture, finding identity is extremely important. We look to find it in relationships, talents, titles, and ideals. This puts us at a high risk for losing our identity instead. We often look at ourselves and think "I'm not enough." But we're looking in the wrong spot. JESUS is enough, and that's what matters. One of the biggest and best parts about finding our identity in Christ is that he is the one thing we just can never lose. If our identity is protected and defined by him, it can never fall into identity theft!

The key to trusting God's faithfulness in our future is by looking at what He's done in the past. When God led the Israelite rescue from Egypt, He also proved His superiority to any other "gods." Even though the road seemed impossible and the Israelites felt betrayed, God still worked to not only rescue them but destroy the very past that was trying to destroy them. All this to prove that God keeps His promises, all we have to do is stay calm and watch Him work.

I am not an expert in this area, however I also feel that the Bible is not silent on the...

An introduction to the next three episodes, which all have a similar theme: Is it OK to Question God? The short answer is yes, but we can't just question, we need to listen for the answers. In this series, we will discuss God's faithfulness through those deep and painful valleys, see a personal story of the journey to find God through trials, and to figure out if God is still good even when the answer is no.

We talked about peace, so why are we talking about war?! Our armor of God is given us to fight in the battle. We are conquerors! The people who prove to the world the victory of Jesus Christ! Through our actions in faith, we are shielded by God personally from any power of Satan as we move forward in that calling. And through those actions, we claim this world (and especially the people in it who God adores) in the triumph that Jesus had over Satan on the cross. Using our peace shoes as our footing and our faith shield as protection, nothing can stop us.