This Devoted Life
What started as a Saturday morning coffee date turned into a podcast where we discuss our faith, family, finances and so much more!
In a world that is encouraging you to “live your truth” and to “follow your heart,” we want to encourage you to live Devoted to THE Truth. The Bible has a lot to say about how to live a victorious Christian life, and we want to share practical insight in how to apply those truths to your life as we endeavor to apply them to our own lives as well.
We are passionate about building and growing the nuclear family, as well as sharing our expertise and experience with finances, homeschooling, and over 70 years of combined biblical knowledge.
Join us as we live… This Devoted Life!
James and Shanda
This Devoted Life
39. Don't Let Your Faith Take a Vacation this Summer/Practical Tips & Resources for Family Discipleship
Faith doesn't have to take a summer vacation. When our four-year-old surprised us by announcing the summer solstice meant "the days are getting shorter," it sparked an important realization: summer presents both challenges and opportunities for keeping our children's faith formation active.
Summer spirituality doesn't require complicated systems or rigid schedules. Simple family worship nights happen organically in our home when my husband grabs his guitar and the kids collect makeshift instruments – from upside-down pans to plastic cups. These spontaneous moments often create the most meaningful spiritual memories.
Morning devotionals provide another anchor point during unstructured summer days. Resources like "The Treasure: Ancient Story Ever New," "I Am: 40 Reasons to Trust God," or children's Picture Bibles offer accessible entry points to Scripture. The goal isn't completing every page but establishing the habit of turning to God's Word together daily.
Scripture memorization becomes more natural during summer's relaxed pace. Whether choosing Psalm 19:14, the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, or longer passages like Romans 12:1-2, consistency is key. As one beloved poem reminds us: "Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land."
Family read-alouds – from church history to The Green Ember series or even The Lord of the Rings – create opportunities for meaningful discussions that naturally reinforce biblical values without forced spiritualization. Meanwhile, intentional acts of kindness teach children that faith extends beyond Sunday mornings into practical expressions of Christ's love.
What matters most isn't perfection but intentionality. If you miss a day or only complete half your planned devotional, simply begin again tomorrow. These small, consistent moments – "humble though they be" – accumulate into a lifetime of faith that will sustain your children long after summer ends.
How are you keeping Christ at the center of your family's summer? Share your ideas with us at podcast@thisdevotedlife.com or message us on Instagram @devoted_motherhood. And don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use some summer faith encouragement!
Links : (may contain affiliate links)
The Treasure: Ancient Story Ever New of Jesus and His Church by Marty Machowski
WonderFull: Ancient Psalms Ever New by Marty Machowski
I Am: 40 Bible Stories, Devotions, and Prayers About the Names of God by Diane Stortz
Complete Illustrated Children’s Bible
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
The Daily Grace Devotionals (use code SHANDA10 at checkout)
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Website: This Devoted Life
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Email: podcast@thisdevotedlife.com
What started as a Saturday morning coffee date turned into a podcast where we chat about things like faith, family finances and so much more.
Speaker 2:In a world that is encouraging you to live your truth and to follow your heart. We want to encourage you to live devoted to the truth.
Speaker 1:The Bible has a lot to say about how to live a victorious Christian life, and we want to share practical insight in how to apply those truths to your life, as we endeavor to apply them to our own lives as well.
Speaker 2:If you enjoy this podcast, please leave us a review and share these episodes with your friends so that you can help them live this devoted life too. Welcome to another episode of this Devoted Life podcast. Today we are going to talk about how to keep the fun in summer while also keeping our faith at the center of the summer as well. So our four-year-old it was really cute she came up to me this week and she was like Mommy, did you realize that today is the summer solstice? And I was kind of like I said what does that even mean? She said well, the days are going to get shorter from here on out. Does that even mean? She said, well, the days are going to get shorter from here on out. And I'm like, first of all, I wasn't sure whether to be impressed that our four-year-old knew what the summer solstice was, and I also got really depressed because I thought, oh my goodness like the days are starting to get shorter again and I said, well, who told you that?
Speaker 2:And she said daddy did. And it just like it just made me chuckle because I was like I did not expect our four-year-old to know anything about the summer solstice. But it also reminded me that we need to redeem the time, because summer is here officially and the days are going to be getting shorter. And if I'm not being proactive with what I am doing with my children, especially when it comes to continuing to form their faith over the summer, then it's really easy to let those things slide.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And again, it's not that you have to have every second of every day planned out and you know, just jam-packed full of things, but I do think we need to be intentional with our time and not just, you know, let the time pass. But yeah, she, it was just cute. I can't even remember what sparked it, but I think I just said, yeah, tomorrow's going to be the longest day of the year. And so then she asked a couple of questions and I thought, well, let's talk about it for a few minutes.
Speaker 2:Apparently she remembered it, though it just like cracked me up because she's my one that I'm not really sure how much she's catching usually.
Speaker 2:Because, she is kind of our feral child. She's just kind of in and out of all the chaos all the time and I'm like I have no idea what she's picking up and not sometimes I, you know, as I was thinking about this podcast, I thought you know, in previous summers I know what it is like to let things kind of drift and to set it aside. You know, I always start with the greatest intentions but then we just get busy, life kind of keeps moving and it's just easier to let it go.
Speaker 2:You know, and so, as I was thinking about this, I wanted to maybe offer some resources, some things that would be simple.
Speaker 2:I wanted to keep this very simple because, you know, it doesn't have to be overly complicated in order for it to be effective. Like I have a huge stack of books sitting here in front of me on the desk and I'm going to kind of go through some resources that we personally have used as a family in the past and just some simple tips and things that we do as a family to make sure that we're keeping Christ the center of our summer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and again, like you just said, we're not trying to add complexity, and just intentionality. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So one thing, you know that is really simple that you can do is just like maybe have like a family worship night. We do not have a set night of the week that we do this. It's usually one of those more sporadic moments where you know we have, you know, a down evening and James will just like reach up and he'll grab the guitar off the wall Because we have ours hanging on a wall just for moments like that and he'll just start playing through some worship songs. It's really cute because as soon as he pulls it down, the kids all run to get instruments. Sometimes they'll grab a pan and flip it upside down and they'll be banging on that or they'll grab, like the other day it was solo cups.
Speaker 2:They had them upside, down down and they were using those as little drums. We have some wooden spoons. Facebook got me one year because there was this ad for this guy playing wooden spoons, and so I literally asked for them for Christmas because I thought it was the coolest thing.
Speaker 2:And so the kids run and they grab instruments and they'll sing and they'll dance around the living room and it is just precious. And it's one of those things where we intentionally do that. We reach for those moments when they're available to us and you can set a night of the week where you're like you know, every Tuesday night we're going to sit down as a family and just have some family worship. It can be singing, it can be scripture reading, just whatever, or it can be kind of like how we're doing it and it's just. You know, as the moment presents itself, we take advantage of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it doesn't have to be super long either. You know it can be 5, 10, 15 minutes, or you know an hour plus or whatever. Just you know, kind of go with the flow. You know, like you said, at this time in our life right now, with all the different practices and games and all the different things you know, sometimes it's hard to plan around that. So just be intentional. But you know, let it kind of happen and be kind of more organic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, less forced and just more being intentional when you do have those moments, like you said, to do these things. But one thing that I am really intentional with the kids over the summer is just making sure that we are sitting down and doing a Bible reading or a devotional or something in the morning together. So I do have several resources sitting here and this is why I'm saying like, don't put so much pressure on stuff that you're like I have to get through this. So the one that we are currently doing as a family it's called the Treasure Ancient Story Ever New of Jesus and His Church. So it's going through the book of Luke and then it goes through the book of Acts as well.
Speaker 2:It's by Marty Makowski and we started this actually last summer and we got about halfway through and now that it's a new summer we just picked up right where we left off. But it's really fun because there's kind of like a story woven through it, with a boy and a girl who discover an old treasure map and in it is the scrolls of Luke and Acts, and so you go through and you read a portion of scripture from the Bible and then there's just a really short devotional on it, but throughout you're looking for clues and you're trying to decipher this code to find out what the true treasure is in the end. And so the kids have really enjoyed that one. Super short and simple, but the illustrations in it really are great and impactful. In fact, there's been times where we've read a short passage of scripture and then they have just a little devotional on it and I was like, oh, I've never thought of that that way. There's really good word pictures with it.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh, I've never thought of that that way. There's really good word pictures with it. Another one that we've done in the past is called I Am 40 Reasons to Trust God, by Diane Stortz. This basically walks through different names of God, and so I've really enjoyed doing that one with the kids, and it just gives deeper meanings to the names in the Bible or the Bible used for God and just what do they mean. So this is a really great devotional as well if you're looking for something really simple to do.
Speaker 2:And another one that I really like is called Wonderful. This one, again, is by Marty Makowski, but it's ancient Psalms, ever new, and so it goes through the book of Psalms and has just like little daily readings that you do through the book of Psalms. So those are some devotionals that I've done with the kids in the past over summers that we've really enjoyed. To be totally honest, I don't think we ever finished Wonderful, but once again it just was that intentionality and just being faithful in reading God's word over the summer, and when I have a resource like this at my fingertips, it's easy for me to just be like all right, what do we read today? I'm going to pick this up. We're going to read through this as a family before breakfast or during breakfast, and then you know we've read God's word and just made him a priority in our day. Before moving on to some of the you know, the summer fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then you don't have to have your own inspiration. You can, just like you said, have a resource there at your fingertips and then once you read something, maybe build off of that or it might spark some interest or some good questions by your kids and things like that. And yeah, it just helps carry the torch, if you will, Yep exactly, and if you have really young kids too.
Speaker 2:I also have a couple of favorite picture Bibles that we use, like this. One's literally falling apart because we've used it so much, but it's the Complete Illustrated Children's Bible. I really liked this resource, but I think my other favorite one is the Children's Bible Storybook by Anne de Graaff. This is one this is once again falling apart, but this was literally James's picture Bible from when he was a little boy, and so those are ones that we've read through with the kids just over the past 12 years. We've read, you know, pictures or book stories from those. So yeah, those are great. I do have one more resource, I guess, since we're on to books, I just kind of talk about it. But as much as I love sitting down and reading my Bible or reading the Bible with the kids, I also want to make sure that I am being intentional with my time in the Word, because I need to be able to, you know, lead from a place of being filled with the Word of God myself.
Speaker 1:You need to be well fed as well. Exactly.
Speaker 2:So just something like really short and sweet. Um, I've really enjoyed um morning and evening by Charles Spurgeon. Um, these are. They're literally one page long, but if you've ever read anything by Spurgeon, like you know, you're going to get a lot of meat with it, and so this was one of meet with it, and so this was one I also do several devotionals from, like the Daily Grace. I've done the Well-Watered Women devotionals. So just having something that gives me a place to like a jumping point it is never, I mean, obviously the best point is to like just pick up the Bible and start reading God's word, but having a devotional that gives me like a place to start every morning, I really like having that as well, yeah, exactly, I agree.
Speaker 1:I don't think I can add any more to that. It's good.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 2:So when I talk about these books, one thing that I've been convicted a little bit more lately and I know that we've talked about this, maybe even in a past podcast, but it's just being more intentional with praying with my children.
Speaker 2:And so this summer, and even over the course of the last school year, when we sit down to read these, I ask the kids what prayer requests do you have? And I just want to make sure that we're being more intentional with not just you know, thank you, lord, for this food, amen, and moving on. I want to make sure that we are actually being intentional with praying for others. And so it's given our kids an opportunity to really pay attention to what other people are saying. And they'll be like oh, you know, don't forget to pray for pastor because he's been having knee pain. Or don't forget to pray for, you know so-and-so, she's pregnant right now and just like, pray for her and the health of the baby. And you know, she or I shouldn't say she, but the kids have been really sweet, like seeing. I wanted to model prayer better for them and let them see like, what does it really mean to intercede for others?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and not be selfish with prayer, you know, because, like you said, it's pretty easy to know our own desires, our own wants, our own needs and not necessarily pay attention to those around us.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's just something that we can, you know, go to God in prayer and, you know, in sympathy and empathy, you know for others and you know, again it just we can become consumed with ourselves and not pay attention to those things and you know, maybe even not necessarily pay attention, but also you know, like I said, act out in compassion and try to go to the Lord in prayer for other people.
Speaker 2:Absolutely in compassion and try to go to the Lord in prayer for other people, absolutely. Yeah, you know, I feel it's kind of funny because now that we're like kind of talking through this podcast, I've been laughing because I'm like, really these are just the spiritual disciplines and I'm just hoping to give you know some tips and tools for continuing to practice the spiritual disciplines throughout the summer with your children.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we need reminders. And sometimes it's easy to get caught up in just the daily grind and you know, these are just good reminders for all of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I, you know. We read our Bibles. We need to pray, but we also need to hide God's word in our heart, and so that was another thing that I was thinking about is just choose a scripture for your summer, and I've had people ask you know, like, how do you teach your kids Bible verses? Honestly, it's as simple as just read them every day. Repetition is how kids memorize scripture, whether it's a single verse or it's an entire passage. If it's a single verse, maybe spend a week or two on it, or if it's an entire passage, spend the entire summer on it and just read it, you know, five days a week. I do have a couple ones that I was thinking would be good verses for the summer.
Speaker 2:Psalm 1914 was one that, as a high schooler and college student, was one that I would have considered like a life verse during those moments. Let the words in my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, o Lord, my strength and my redeemer. I love that verse, thought that that would be a good one. Galatians 5, 22 and 23,. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law. That one would be a wonderful one to teach your children, because then it's so easy to be like. Are you exuding the fruit of the spirit?
Speaker 1:right now.
Speaker 2:As you know, as you're parenting throughout the day, it's pretty easy to drop back to that. Um, I actually do have a resource for the fruits of the spirit as well. Um, there are nine fruits of the spirit, and so there's a poster that has nine verses, or is it eight verses on each poster that actually support each fruit from throughout the Bible? So there's 72, I believe it's 72 scripture cards, like flashcards for you to teach your children the different fruits of the spirit. So if you're interested in something like that, I'll put that in the description as well.
Speaker 2:Another one is Romans 12, 1 and 2. Well, another one is Romans 12, 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So those are just verses that I mean. Maybe you've already memorized them. Pick something different for your family over the summer. I love psalms, like a psalm over the summer is always really great too.
Speaker 2:Like Psalm 100 is a wonderful one you can memorize. You know Psalm 24 or 23. And yeah, there's really many psalms.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you could have like quizzed me on those three different passages because, I think I still remember them from being a child and they're, like you said, so good and useful, just portions of scripture and, like you said earlier when you kind of started this part of the conversation, there's really, you know, a lot of people, I think, think look for hacks in life and, like you know, different tools and things like that, and sometimes it's just as simple as just starting and just just try and see what works for your kids, see what works for your family, and this is something that you know it's.
Speaker 1:It's a free, you know. Like you know, you just open God's word and you just start, and if you do it wrong quote, unquote, wrong that just means that you have another opportunity to try a different method to you know, help your kids learn scripture and hide it in their heart, and you know so again. Just you got to put in the work eventually anyways. So you know, this is something that you know. Just just start with that repetition and do it.
Speaker 1:you know day in and day out, for you know a few days, a few weeks, even you know all summer, and you'll be shocked at how much your children will retain, and you as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I think I've said this many times on this podcast, but my favorite poem is Little Drops of Water.
Speaker 2:It's like little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. So the little moments, humble though they be, make the mighty ages of eternity. And it's like these little, consistent drops of water that you're doing with your children really do impact for eternity. And as I was thinking about summer, I'm like it's really easy to miss several days of doing any of these things, whether you just read God's word, or maybe you just prayed, or maybe you just went over the verse that you are memorizing for that week or that month, or that the whole summer.
Speaker 2:Even if you miss those days, just do the next right thing, like jump back in tomorrow. You know like, don't think, oh man, I might as well just quit, because you know I only got through half the devotional this summer. Like that was kind of pointless, I didn't check that box. No, you can pick it right back up where you left off, whether you've missed a day or two. Or maybe you know like, like I'm doing, we only got through half the devotional last summer and now we're jumping back into it again and the kids remembered it, you know. Um, so just continuing to be intentional.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if they can read, you know, I mean again, like you mentioned, your flashcards and things like that, those are great things to leave around the house, put up on the mirror, you know, on the refrigerator, the counter or whatever. But you know, even if you don't have that or whatever, I mean just writing it out on a piece of paper or a sticky note or whatever. I mean it, just you know. It's yeah, just try, just start.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. So one thing that we love to do as a family is to read aloud, um, and so you know, this summer, maybe you can be intentional with the types of books that you're reading aloud to your family. Um, one thing that we're continuing to do is continuing to read some church history. We had a couple of books that we did not get to through school, so we're continuing to read about some of the men and the women from church history. You could read, you know, like the Hiding Place or a biography, something like that, something that will inspire your children to continue to live out their faith. Or you could just literally pick some fun, good books that actually just present biblical values without it necessarily being biblical. You know we had SD Smith on the podcast and so, like, the Green Ember series is a really great series that you could read through with your children, not necessarily Christian, but it has good biblical values in it.
Speaker 2:We're reading the Lord of the Rings this summer, and so we've already read the Hobbit and now we're into the Fellowship of the Rings and the kids have been, you know, really enjoying that and, once again, those are just really good reads and they create a family bond and just maybe reinforce some of your family values.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean I still remember, like some of my kind of teenage friends, their dad was a pastor and he, we, you know, we watched all those you know movies, and I might've said this before on the podcast, but you know, just, you know, through the years and they were, you know, I mean stuff as simple as you know, just the Hobbit and um, you know the Lord of the Rings and I mean I want to say even like the Matrix, you know trilogy or whatever.
Speaker 1:You know, I don't even remember exactly everything that's in there, but like, clearly not Christian movies. And yet I still remember, like you know, after we would get done, he, and it wasn't like forced either, like we would sit down and like kind of just chat about it and you know, talk about good versus evil and some biblical principles. Or you know, if it was a movie, that something happened unexpected in there and you know it's like, hey, that's something that you know, maybe we need to be mindful of or whatever. So I'm not talking about you know. Just, you know, like, depending on the age of your children and things like that, your children and things like that. But if you have young children, you know, like you said you can always pull biblical principles out of things or apply biblical principles to things. And yeah, it's just. I think it's good, practical and it's useful right.
Speaker 1:You know it's not something that you know. It's like oh just you know, I guess maybe that's good for eternity only, or whatever, and something I need to worry about at a later time in life or whatever. It's like no suffer the little children that come unto me. They're very important things right now, and if we can hide God's word in their heart, like I said earlier, at this age, they will always have that to fall back on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we're not saying to over-spiritualize everything.
Speaker 1:Like I'm just saying, read the book.
Speaker 2:And it just happens to support the things that you're talking about when you are reading God's word and whatnot. Because, you don't have to pull like oh, did you pick up on the fact that this is a parallel with such and such? I don't think you necessarily need to do that. Allow children to pull that themselves. It'll probably making the connections for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think exactly what you just said is what I was getting after, where it isn't an over-spiritualization, it's literally just like this is part of life and this is how we apply the Bible at times. And you know, again, it's not like a forced thing, it's like, hey, that sparked a thought in my mind. Hey, maybe that's something that they're either thinking about or could think about in the future.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I know like I mean cause we've got little girls so like watching all of like, if we watch Disney movies or whatever, and it's like they say follow your heart. And it's like if you ask my girls like, oh, should we follow our heart, they'll be like no, you know little conversations that we have, you know like as we encounter things in the stuff that we, you know, watch or the books that we read or whatnot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you can. I mean, really it's kind of the tricks of the world that you know can kind of weave their way or weave their way in, and yeah, I think it's good, just little things.
Speaker 2:So I guess moving on acts of kindness was another thing that I was thinking about for the summer is just being intentional, because it does feel like we have, you know, sometimes. Well, sometimes it feels like we have less time in the summer, but, you know, more time during the summer technically with free time, and just being intentional with our acts of kindness, and so like even this week, tomorrow actually, I'm going to be going to a lady's house. She is like eight months pregnant and she is going to. They're moving, and so they have just gotten the whole house emptied out of all of their stuff, and so I'm going to go over there and help her just completely deep clean the house so that they can take pictures and have it ready to go for listing. And so it's just making sure that we're paying attention and taking the opportunity to help others when we see the needs arise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm glad that you were able to. I mean, that one's pretty obvious, you know, but sometimes you have to look harder than others. But yeah no, I think those are just things that you know to be mindful of, no matter where we're at, or whether it's someone in the church or out of the church, or you know whatever you're dealing with.
Speaker 2:So yeah, your kids could, you know, make cards and send them to people that they're thinking about. They could, you know, offer to go and weed someone's garden or, you know, help out. But we do have to pay attention because, like, like this gal that I'm going to help out with, she just was literally just, she never asked for help.
Speaker 2:You know, she just had been talking and I said do you want help? I said I'm glad, I'll gladly come this week. And, um, it actually spurred because this was during our book club. And then another gal was like yeah, like I would love to help out too, and so we're all going to go over and just help her clean the house.
Speaker 2:But it would have been really easy for me to be like just not say anything you know because now it's going to be something added to the schedule, so just take the opportunity to pay attention to those that are around you and make sure that you're being intentional with. You, know your acts of kindness and let your kids see that modeled out. So, yeah, anything to add to that.
Speaker 1:No, I think that's good. Yeah, I know that I am challenged, you know, to try to be more mindful of, you know, the needs of others. You know, because, again, I think with me and you know, in general, it's less that I have.
Speaker 1:you know, don't have compassion or empathy towards people, it's more like I'm so driven on, you know, like schedules and things like that, that I don't leave enough time for others in my schedule, and so you know, that's something that I think about often and I'm trying to be more mindful of you know, and it's difficult right.
Speaker 1:You know I mean I think you know just, we all have things you know, whether you, whether it's work, school, play, you know like just all the different phases of life, you know your children and sports and extracurriculars, things like that, and it's just. You know we all have challenges at every phase of life. And again, that intentionality I know we've used that word a lot in this conversation, but you know we I sometimes am so intentional on the other things that I can't be intentional for helping others or things like that. So again, just good reminders for all of us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, this is by far not a comprehensive list of how to keep crisis center of your summer. So if any of you who are listening have ideas that you would like to share with our community like send us an email it's podcast at this devoted lifecom, or you can, you know, go over to Instagram it's devoted, underscore motherhood and just send me a message and be like hey, this is what we're doing this summer to, you know, keep crisis center, and I would love to hear your ideas. I love, you know, hearing others so that I can glean what's going to work for our family, which is why I'm sharing this, because you do not have to do everything that we do as a family. But if one of these things makes you go, oh, that's a great idea, I'd love to implement that Then this was worth doing. You know this podcast, so definitely let me know if you have any other ideas of how to keep Christ the center of your summer. Like I said, this is not a comprehensive list, but hopefully it was one that was helpful to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think you know those of us who live in the North. Let's say you know there's where I went to school. They kind of had a little saying that said there was nine months of winter and three months of bad sledding you know, because it was like so cold so snowy, whatever, and you know.
Speaker 1:so I think in the summer it's like these nice days, we want to just make the most of them and things like that. So it's just really easy, you know, whether you're camping, getting outside more, whatever, maybe in the South it's a little different, you know, and there's not as much quote unquote pressure to make the most of summer and, like I said, there's just so many different circumstances. We're just we like to, you know, try to, even if we're camping or whatever.
Speaker 1:if we go to, you know, let's say we you know, spend a few weeks somewhere you know we'll actually find a church that's close by and go to church on a Sunday morning, especially while we're camping. And we get to meet new people and, you know, just fellowship with them. Sometimes, you know, I think we're an encouragement to them you know, because you know wherever our family goes, we kind of make a big impact.
Speaker 2:Six people walking in yeah for good or for bad.
Speaker 1:You know the four little kids and things like that. So yeah, just like you said, you don't have to feel stressed out about you know adding another thing, or you know I'm failing my children because I'm not doing you know X, y or Z. It's the opposite. It's the encouragement, the energy that we would love to you know, just be a reminder of in your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, anyways, we hope that this was an encouragement to you, and we want to encourage you to seek God, love your spouse, hug your kids and stay devoted. Thank you for tuning in to this Devoted Life podcast with James and Shanda. We appreciate your support in sharing biblical, uplifting truths with the world. If you found value in this episode, please leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us to improve the show and we'd love to hear from you. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. To learn more about how to live a life devoted to God and family, head over to thisdevotedlifecom. You can also follow me, shanda, on Instagram at devoted underscore motherhood. Thank you again for listening and we look forward to seeing you next time on this Devoted Life Podcast.