Kara-Kae James is wife to Brook, mama to four, founder of the ministry Thrive Moms, and now new author of the book Mom Up: Thriving with Grace in the Chaos of Motherhood. She shares with us today how we can go from merely surviving in motherhood to truly thriving in the abundant life Christ came to give us. I know you will walk away from this chat encouraged and built up in your role as a mom!
What we Chat about in This Episode:
~What led Kara-Kae to write her book
~Kara-Kae’s journey of having three babies in under three years
~Going from surviving and barely getting by to actually thriving in motherhood
~Striking a balance between motherhood being portrayed as nothing but awful and hard and keeping you from ever having time alone with your husband, and portraying it as always being a dreamy breeze all the time
~Thriving in motherhood in the midst of the hard days
~God’s “enoughness” and the lie that we are enough on our own
~Rising up out of the struggle of surviving into living the abundant life in Christ
~Mothering each unique child in unique ways
~Making time to be in the Word as a busy mom; the importance of being in the Word in front of our kids – not just reserving our Bible-reading time for when the kids aren’t around
~Embracing the season you’re in
~Being free of mommy guilt and how our missteps with our kids can become special moments of tangibly showing them the truths of the gospel
~Thriving personally as a woman; tackling the myth that self-care is selfish
~The importance of prioritizing your marriage in the midst of motherhood; what that looks like for Kara-Kae and Brook
~Suiting up in the armor of God as a mom
~The ministry of Thrive Moms
~And more!
Resources Mentioned
Offer for a free audiobook and 30 day trial membership from Audible: www.audibletrial.com/HomeandHearth
Free 7 day email course on Mothering by the Book
First Part of “Lies Moms Believe” – Free!
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Inspiring Quotes from Kara-Kae:
“I knew God had more for me than just surviving every day of motherhood.”
“Thriving is not about things being easy. It’s about finding abundant life in Christ.”
“My being able to admit I don’t have it all together led to my actually being able to thrive as I allowed Christ to come in and fill all the gaps for me.”
“If we are telling ourselves that we are enough, then where does that leave Christ, the One who came to die because we were not enough?”
“We need Christ to rescue us from ourselves.”
“Part of living in abundance is rejoicing in God’s grace and living free of shame.”
“Motherhood can be a battle, but God has already given us the armor we need. We just need to suit up.”
“You can thrive and find abundant life where you are right now.”
Where You Can Find Kara-Kae Online:
Website – Thrive Moms
Instagram – @karakae.james, @thrivemoms
Facebook – Kara-Kae James, Thrive Moms
Twitter – @karakaejames
To Leave a Rating and Review on iTunes
Have you been encouraged or inspired by today’s episode? If so, could I ask a little favor? If you could leave the podcast a rating and review in iTunes, that would be amazing! The more ratings and reviews a podcast receives, the more iTunes shows that podcast to other folks searching for shows to listen to, so by leaving me a rating and review, you truly are partnering with me in this podcast ministry to encourage and help as many women as we possibly can. Thank you so much for taking the time to do that! Here’s how:
If you’re on your computer:
- Access iTunes on your desktop and type Home and Hearth in the search box on the upper right hand corner.
- Click on the podcast photo when it comes up
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- Under “Customer Reviews”, click on “Write a Review”
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