104: Raising Dreamers for the Glory of God with Shelia Erwin

Shelia Erwin is a wife, Bible study teacher, mom to the Erwin Brothers, and author of the brand new book, “Raising Up Dreamers: Find and Grow Your Child’s God-Given Talents”, which is what we are chatting about today.

What We Chat about in Today’s Episode:

~The journey God had Shelia and her husband on which contributed to the life and work her sons now have today

~Shelia’s brand new book, what led her to write it, and what readers can expect

~The reality that God has made each of us – and our children! – unique, and the resulting problem with following formulaic parenting methods

~The problem with expectations

~Allowing God to write the story

~Parenting from a position of rest

~Surrendering to the Lord and claiming His promise of wisdom as we parent

~Engaging with our childrens’ imaginations and how to start

~Entering into our childrens’ worlds and how that speaks volumes to them

~Knowing your children and taking the time to study them

~Being available to and enjoying your kids

~The reality that in order to have good relationships with our children as adults we have to have good relationships with them when they’re little

~The temptation for moms who are physically at home to not be emotionally or mentally at home; rejecting that temptation and making time for and dedicating focus to what really truly matters

~What intentional parenting is and what it is not

~Equipping our children to grow strong in their faith and identity in the midst of a dark culture and challenging influences and hardships

~Teaching our kids how to stand alone through the example of Daniel

~How to have faith and knowing the balance between that and taking unwise risks

~Allowing our kids to fail and the beneficial lessons which come from that

~And more!

Resources Mentioned

Offer for a free audiobook and 30 day trial membership from Audible: www.audibletrial.com/HomeandHearth

Raising Up Dreamers: Find and Grow Your Child’s God-Given Talents by Shelia Erwin

Linda Dillow

The Indwelling Christ: All of Him in All of Me by Major Ian Thomas

Inspiring Quotes to Remember:

“God is Who He says He is, and will do what He says He will do. He is a faithful God in every circumstance.”

“There are no cookie cutter Christians and no cookie cutter children. Every child is different, so no one should look at another mother and think, ‘If I do what she did, then I will end up with children like hers’. No. We are not all alike, God gives us unique gifts, and we are to parent our unique children uniquely.”

“The church is not made up of bricks; it is made up of stones. And every stone is different. We are each given different unique gifts to use for God’s kingdom.”

“Comparison in motherhood puts us in a prison.”

“Expectations will kill you; you have to lay those at the feet of Jesus.”

“He writes the story, and we just get to walk in it.”

“He wants us to parent from a position of rest, not from anxiety, with it really being Him just parenting through us.”

“He’s enough, and His grace is sufficient for whatever I may walk in.”

“It takes spending time with your children, engaging with them, and finding out what they enjoy doing by entering into their world – that is what we are called to as parents.”

“We have to offer our children our availability. Moms today are too often concerned with their own agenda, and when that takes priority over spending time with your children and being available when they need to talk, there is a problem.”

“I didn’t just want compliant children; I wanted to raise dynamic men of God. Think about what you want in your child’s proverbial suitcase when they become adults, and intentionally pack that into it well now.”

“To intentionally parent, write down ten things you want your children to learn before they leave home and pour yourself into teaching them those ten things.”

“Intentional parenting is not stressed-out parenting. We still wanted to have a home that was a place of joy, love, fun, and laughter.”

“Failure is not the worst thing. Sometimes the best and biggest lessons only come through failing at something. So many parents today want to always protect their children from every experience of failure, but that is one of the worst things parents can do to their children. They need to experience failure and learn how to get back up.”

“Jesus Christ adores you, and you are perfect in God’s sight because of Him.”

Where You Can Find Shelia Online:

Website – Raising Up Dreamers

Facebook – Raising Up Dreamers

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
Click on “Ratings and Reviews” beneath the podcast title
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