We often overlook the treasure troves among us—those mothers who have journeyed through adulthood with a steadfast faith, nurturing not just their families but potentially our growth as well. In this heartfelt dialogue, we share the richness that flows from such relationships, emphasizing the transformative power of mentorship. Whether you're a seasoned parent or someone just starting to navigate life's complex waters, there's something to glean from the experience of others. And to our military families, who know the struggles of establishing roots in ever-changing soils, we offer a special dose of encouragement and tips on cultivating lasting connections amidst life's upheavals.
We often overlook the treasure troves among us—those mothers who have journeyed through adulthood with a steadfast faith, nurturing not just their families but potentially our growth as well. In this heartfelt dialogue, we share the richness that flows from such relationships, emphasizing the transformative power of mentorship. Whether you're a seasoned parent or someone just starting to navigate life's complex waters, there's something to glean from the experience of others. And to our military families, who know the struggles of establishing roots in ever-changing soils, we offer a special dose of encouragement and tips on cultivating lasting connections amidst life's upheavals.
Hello and welcome to Simply Edify's podcast. Our goal is to encourage women as we navigate the messiness of life through biblical studies, personal stories and practical tips that bolster our walk with Jesus daily. Thank you for joining us in our episode today.
Speaker 2:Welcome back. We are continuing our series on issues that we see inside of Christian circles, and this one's a little bit less heavy of a topic and less of a serious problem. It's something that we've seen that could be improved on, and people, many people, would benefit if this was something that was improved on. And so it is biblical. We're not just coming up with this out of thin air. This actually comes from Titus, chapter two. Let me go ahead and read the verses and then we'll get into the meat of this.
Speaker 2:But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity and patience. The aged women likewise. That they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, sober to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands. That the word of God be not blasphemed. And then it's a great chapter if you just want to keep continue reading it sometime for yourself. But what we see kind of a lack of is people interacting with those who are older than them, those who are younger than with them, and kind of just forming a comfort zone, circle around themselves of their peers. Or maybe just going into church, turning around and leaving as soon as the service is over and not even creating those relationships.
Speaker 1:What do you think? Yeah, that's I mean it's definitely something. I've been in a few different churches and I mean it's definitely something. I've been in a few different churches and I think it's something that I've seen to some degree in every church and I think it's a society thing, not just a church thing. I think for sure it's like a culture. There's been like a major culture shift from learning just in general, learning things from your parents' generation to now, like you learn everything from schools, and then you know your teachers could be your parents' generation, could be your parents' generation.
Speaker 1:But essentially it's it's more of an overall societal change in which we are so age segregated from the time that we're born that it's hard for us to kind of cross those lines and have those conversations without it being awkward at first, you know, and then there's the whole like I mean I think back to when we started doing anything with Simply Edify. One of the reasons why we did is because there was such a like divisiveness when it came to motherhood in particular. Like this group of women would be like you have to, you know, breastfeed, and then the other group of women would be like well, you know, no, it's battle and formula and whatever, and. But then there was like this this is how it should be, on both sides, and it was so divisive and it was like that, and even in Christianity, like not just about issues of breastfed or not, but just how you were to raise your kids, how were you were to discipline your kids, how you were to, you know, present yourself in church and how you were to dress and how you were to act.
Speaker 1:Like there was all of these um, kind of divisive things amongst the generations, and younger people saw it one way, older people saw it another way, and whatever issue. It kind of became this oh, you know, well, I went to the store and this old lady told me I should do X, y and Z and you know what I mean Like and then I'm writing a blog post about how all the old ladies should just mind their own business, and it just becomes like this Okay, well, now all the old ladies are minding their own business because they don't want to have a blog post written about them, about how, you know, they mentioned from their years of experience that they did that with their kid and it worked. Like you know, there's just been such a a rift, I think, between the generations, and it hasn't really been for for good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I don't think a lot of times we go into it or that people go into it with this mindset of like us against them, as much as they aren't intentionally cultivating the relationships. Because it is easy to hear you know someone in there, someone much older than you, talking about things and you feel like they just really don't even understand where you're coming from because things were so different back in their day or they don't understand where we're coming from at all because you know technology is there's so much has changed and I think that it's just easier to kind of stay in our own little bubbles. So even if you don't have this negative again us against them you still just find the comfort zone and the path of least resistance and kind of stay with the like-minded people. But there's a lot of danger in that. I was just thinking today about the verse in Proverbs that says I'm going to quote it wrong but basically there's a lot of safety to be found with multiple counselors.
Speaker 1:In the multitude of counselors with multiple counselors and the multitude of counselors.
Speaker 2:There is safety, yes, thank you so, and you have to be careful. Counselors are not. Just because you're friends with someone doesn't mean that they're a counselor to you.
Speaker 1:And and also I mean along that same line just too is you can hear advice and not act on that advice.
Speaker 2:There's nothing wrong with hearing advice like at all, it's wise to get multiple opinions, as long as you're careful where that opinions are coming from, because it's our natural instinct is to go where we know we're going to hear what we want to hear, and that's one thing that is a little harder when you are developing relationships with people outside of your age range. Sometimes you are going to hear things that you don't want to hear. I've been on both ends of the spectrum of being like the younger person who's coming in with kind of more fresh ideas, more maybe more like recent research about child development that is, you know, accurate or seems to be pretty accurate, versus like what's the traditional way and I'm not taught. Maybe with like nutrition, for example. That's something I've had to deal with a lot because my kids have food allergies and older people are like, ah, what's this? Food allergies? It's real. And then my child is sick because, you know and so just that as an example.
Speaker 2:So I've been like the younger person on that end of the spectrum, but I've also been the older person. You know I've had my words kind of dismissed because I'm older, right, and what do I know? Or you know, and so so I don't know. You just have to be open-minded to the fact that other people have have. There's a value in what the older generations have to say. They've lived through so much, they have experienced so much of things that we haven't even bridges we haven't even crossed yet. But then the younger people they are looking at things with fresh eyes and it's not even so much that maybe we're learning from them as much as we have like an open heart towards them to be able to build a relationship that does give us the opportunity to do those things in titus 2 right and teach them to to nerd, you know, basically disciple them yeah you have this stand up like I know better, you're just a silly kid.
Speaker 1:That's not gonna foster that relationship no, and a lot of that just comes down to even the way that you phrase what you're saying.
Speaker 1:And that goes for older, younger. Like if you come off, as in your speech, as a know it all, like in that you can't be told anything, nobody's going to want to talk to you, like young or old. You know, I've talked to plenty of, like you know, first time moms and there can be that spirit of, well, I've read it all on the internet, so I know what I'm doing and I've done my research, so I know what I'm doing, so you don't have to let me know, I know. You know it's like, okay, I got, you got it. But then, on the other end too, just how you phrase something, well, what I would have done, what you should do, what you could do, like things like that sometimes just rub the wrong way when you're giving advice, you know, like, just the way that you phrase it, and obviously everyone can take it how they will. But there's some things, some ways in which you can offer suggestions without being like, well, well, you're doing that wrong, so do it like I would.
Speaker 2:I found that the people that have been the most helpful to me, when I was a young mom especially. We are no longer in that category, which is very weird. We're no longer moms of little kids like my youngest is six and I'm just out of that like toddler phase but what's helped me survive that was moms. I just wrote something on Facebook about this. The moms of kids, like college age kids, are like invaluable because they are not so far removed that they don't remember Right, but they're also nostalgic enough because they're watching their babies grow up and kind of leave the nest that they're. They're very compassionate.
Speaker 2:And so it's like this perfect and they're, you know, they have a lot of wisdom. Those relationships have been big blessings to me because they're willing to offer advice but also encouragement, and it's more encouragement than it is advice, um, and I've been looking. I look at it with like, okay, they've made it, they're mostly sane and I can do it too. We have a family in our church that has they have I have two girls and then a boy. They have two girls and a boy and girls and then a boy. They have two girls and a boy and they, um, their, their kids are like just graduating college.
Speaker 2:One's still in college and they are like the perfect example to me because they are just so loving towards me and my kids. Um, but also, if they gave me advice, I would absolutely listen, because it's not because their kids are perfect. I love their kids, they're good kids, but it's it's not so much that they've raised these perfect children, it's that they still have a really good relationship with their kids and with each other and they're still faithful in church and they're just like loving, good people and I'm like what they survive, they make to this point. I can make it to that point too right.
Speaker 1:I think it comes down to like being invested in other people, not just giving words of wisdom, but being invested in other people's lives. And you, you, you can tell the difference. You know, you can. You know when somebody really cares and wants to be there and wants to be helpful and when someone's just giving advice for advice sake. You know, when we go back to that passage, it's shows us two things really one that young people need to learn and two, that you can have an aged woman, but the behavior because it says that they be in behaviors becometh holiness. Not false accusers, not given to much mind, teachers of good things, like there is a criteria other than Just because someone has grown children doesn't necessarily mean that that counsel is going to be great because their children could not have good relationships with them. They could, it doesn't, you don't know. You need to make sure that you're getting the advice from someone who has kind of the fruit to back up what they're saying. And if they do, then yeah, take, be a learner, be a lifelong learner.
Speaker 1:I think that's one of the things that we all, in different areas, need to work on is just being willing to admit that we need to learn.
Speaker 1:I know that's something that I struggle with in different areas. Like it's hard for me to learn new things, like especially in technology oh my goodness, it's so difficult. But it's like I need to open my mind to the fact that I can learn new things, like I can do these difficult things that I just don't get, that I just don't understand. I can learn new ways to communicate with people. I can put myself in different situations than what I am comfortable with so that I can grow. And that's a big part of it is, you're going to be uncomfortable. It's not comfortable to go up to somebody who may be like a widow in your church and be like would you like to come over to my house and have a cup of tea with me while my kids play and we sit and talk. Like that's uncomfortable, right, but maybe that's what needs to happen and maybe that could just be the best thing that you've decided to do all year.
Speaker 2:You know I think that we have to be looking, no matter whether you're maybe listening and you're on that younger end of things, and you know you have to come into all of this with the spirit of humility. Like you were saying, you have to be teachable. You have to realize that you don't have it all figured out, but you know you need to be looking for ways to build those relationships. I have some very introverted friends and I remember talking to one who was moving to a new place and she was just really discouraged and I was like you know you're going to have to be uncomfortable, You're going to have to be the one that goes first. The Bible says that if you're going to have friends, you have to be friendly, and you're.
Speaker 2:You might have to go out of your comfort zone a little bit, but there's other people out there who feel just exactly the same way you do, and there's somebody out there who's even more shy and uncomfortable than you are right now go find that person, because I'm I, she was one of those people and my sister were extroverted and so we kind of like grabbed her and was like come along with us and everything and she was, you know, could remain her introverted self, but once we were around she wasn't you know, went out and did more things, I guess. Um, but I was like you can go do that for somebody else, always somebody out there who's more comfortable than you are and you have to just look outside yourself a little bit being in the military.
Speaker 1:I've had to learn that myself. When you move somewhere new, it's on you Like, yes, you can go to a place that has friendly people and you know that would be great, but you can't rely on that. You can't, you know, just bank on the fact that somebody is going to be there to welcome you and to be, you know, that extroverted person to draw you out and to make friends with you, like that's. You know that you can't bank on that. You have to go out in yourself and you have to be willing to talk to people that you wouldn't even think that you would really get along with people that are just, it is very much indeed, oh man, and see it worked out.
Speaker 2:It worked out. It really can, and it's hard but it's worth it. And, honestly, the people who have been the most encouraging to me are the people who don't pretend that they've got it all figured out, who don't say my kids are perfect and I raised them perfectly. Now here's the formula. Right? That is not the thing that has been encouraging to me. Usually I'm just watching somebody and I'm watching them go through hard things, even if it's with their own children or their husband, you know, like family stuff or and I'm watching how they do it and I'm like that's what I want. I know I'm gonna go through hard stuff. I know my kids are gonna go through these teenage years that I haven't reached yet. No, their kids aren't perfect. Their kids are messing up, but they're handling it with grace. They're handling it well, they're trying to handle it biblically, they're keeping on, keeping on. That's very encouraging. And then when they come to me, I have a handful, but it's enough.
Speaker 2:It's a good amount of ladies in my church who will just message me and be like hey, I just want you to know I'm praying for you. I know you're having a hard time with this. You know a lot of them are teachers of my children so they know when I'm like going through a hard spot with one of them and like I'm praying for you. I just want you to know like I think you're doing a good job. I know the season's hard, I remember it really well, but you know, lean on Jesus Like there's, you know, just giving me wisdom, without saying you're doing it wrong, right or I don't know. They're just encouraging and those people are so precious to me and I want to be that person to other people. That's the idea yeah.
Speaker 2:It's the trickle down effect of like these people pulled me up and pulled me along and now I'm going to reach back and pull others along with me and hopefully they'll do the same.
Speaker 1:I loved your example from the Bible. What was that you want to share with everybody? What was?
Speaker 2:that you want to share with everybody. Oh, ruth and Naomi. We sometimes look at Naomi as kind of a negative person or maybe not a great influence. But Ruth said I want to follow your God and your people will be my people. Your God will her about God. She didn't say I want to follow the God of my husband or the God of your husband, or you know your people. It was you, your God. And I think that Naomi had shared her god with ruth and even in the midst of her heartache, ruth still could see the power of her god. Like I think that's huge. Naomi wasn't perfect and that's not the example that we're given. Like we're not. We're not gonna handle everything perfectly. There's times when bad stuff happens to us that we're gonna react poorly, but hopefully our testimony is so strong that those moments of weakness are not distracting away from the fact that we are.
Speaker 1:We're sharing the light of christ with others right, and I will just side note this and say that you know, naomi was her mother-in-law and I know that a lot of uh, a lot of wives have issues with their mother-in-laws and, um, you know, sometimes, sometimes it's with good reason, whatever.
Speaker 2:Sometimes yeah, I've seen it. I am so grateful I have the, I have such a kind, sweet, sweet mother and all. Yeah, I know she, she loves your kids as much as she loves mine.
Speaker 1:She's so great, but yeah, and my mother-in-law is great too. But I just think that sometimes there's like such a oh yeah, it's there and it's like you know why, why? Why do you need it to be like do the best that you can to make it not be?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, and that's such a good release, like that could be such a good relationship. I am so grateful that my mother-in-law someone I can call. When I need prayer, when I need help, when I need advice, I can call her and and that's like a built in relationship that you could have. That could be a beautiful one If people. But I will say, as a testament to my mother-in-law, she's a very humble person and she didn't come in to my relationship or or our, my relationship with her as, like, I've got it all figured out. This is how you need to be, this is how things need to be. It was more like my son loves you, I love you and we happen to love God together and that's, you know, been just a. Really that's been a blessing, like we were were saying before. I think that humility is a huge key to it and, like you said, you can't go into it saying do it like I did it but how do you think we can take a step in creating this kind of relationship?
Speaker 1:practically a couple things that have been helpful to me in creating relationships with older women have been just in-home Bible studies where it was like legitimately an older woman teaching young moms.
Speaker 1:And then another one is just there's a group of women to join this Bible study group and they were all ages, all backgrounds, all whatever. We got to know each other, we got to have a fellowship but also spiritual encouragement through the word of God, and so I've, at the different places that I've been, that has been one of the big ways that I have been able to get involved with a wide range of women of all ages, places and all of those types of things. Like I said, really just sometimes it comes down to would you like to come over to my house, would you like to have tea, um, coffee, whatever, like it doesn't have to be this huge extravagant thing, especially if the woman is like a widow or doesn't have like a lot of family around or you know that they're more lonely. Don't be afraid to like extend that invitation. Like that would could be honestly the best thing that that woman has had in a long time, I know.
Speaker 2:The worst she can say is no Right.
Speaker 1:Also, I think sometimes just approaching people in church like maybe you sit behind somebody that's older or maybe younger or whatever, like just starting a conversation I think is like the easiest first step, just starting that conversation, even if you've been in church with them for a long time. And it's really awkward because you've been in church with them for a long time but you haven't introduced yourself. Like you're like what are you going to say? Yeah, I've been here for five years, and I know you have too, but I don't know you.
Speaker 2:I can tell you what to say, because this happens to me all the time, because not not for five years, but because I will be like working in church ministries and then come in late and then not really see everybody and then have to leave early for one reason or another, I don't know I will miss people. So I've accidentally introduced myself to people who have been coming for like months and it's very awkward. So, anyway, what I have found the best way to approach this is just to be honest, I am so sorry. I'm not sure if you've been here before I might have just missed you. My name's SD. What's yours?
Speaker 2:Or hey, have you guys been coming here? Sometimes I miss people. Is this your first Sunday, or have you guys been coming for a while, or something like that? But just being very honest and like, like I'm an idiot, I'm sorry, right, it really, people are very kind about that, right? Um, I don't know, I just found that like it's better to be a little bit awkward, right, not say anything at all.
Speaker 1:So yeah, you go to a large church sometimes it's a little harder to because everybody kind of just funnels out the door sometimes, um, and then you do like your small groups or your Bible studies are usually more like people your age, so it can be kind of hard to be like branching out. So you're going to have to be a little bit more intentional with that. Like for sure you're going to maybe have to track some people down Just to not be stalkerish. Might take a little more effort.
Speaker 2:I think another great way to start a conversation with someone that you want to like, maybe know better, or to kind of just start that relationship, is to ask them to pray for you about something specific. If you go up to an older woman maybe, like I said, like that woman who has kids that are in my like, remind me of my kids older. Um, I've gotten her and just like, hey, this is going on, could you pray for this for me? What that does if, first of all, usually when you ask someone to pray for you, especially about something specific, is they they take it as a compliment. Most people aren't like why are you asking me to pray for you?
Speaker 1:I don't want to pray for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like not an inconvenience. They don't look at it as an inconvenience or anything like that, they're just usually. They're like wow, I'm glad you asked me. And then there's usually not always. Sometimes they pray for you but don't ever bring it up again. A lot of times I would say about 50 50.
Speaker 2:They will check in on you and ask how that's going and if they are more of that teacher type person. Often it will come with some words of wisdom that you know oh, here's a verse that has helped me through a similar time or something like that and I mean, that's really. We're not looking for someone that's going to grab you by the shoulders and be like do exactly what I do. Right, we're like we're talking, and I don't think that's what was happening in Titus. I don't think these women come to my love. Your husband class.
Speaker 2:I think they were loving their husbands well, and when they saw someone who was struggling, they offered encouragement and wisdom. I don't think it was like a very a super structured thing happening. I think it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Sometimes those super structured things can almost not always, but can almost squelch the relationship part of it. You know, like going to a whole like church class or something like that or I don't know. It just depends. It depends on the people, it depends on a lot of things, but individual relationships definitely hold more weight.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think that those class like there's we remember we had that, um, we stayed a class for mothers of young children, like a one day we just I brought in a speaker that I knew would really like encourage some young moms and we gave away books and we just like kind of loved on the moms and that was really great. I enjoyed that. But definitely something like that does not replace the actual relationships that we were able to grow with those women, right, right, and so I think, like you, really you can't depend. It's kind of like you can't just send your kids to church and expect them to be good kids right right, you have to raise your children.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like the church to do it. I think that goes for a lot of other areas too. You kind of like jump on all. We just, you know, show up to the church classes, everything's going to be okay, and that's right. Not not the intended design.
Speaker 1:They kind of have to go hand in hand yeah, and I we've kind of focused on the age difference here. But you know, there's there's a lot of women that I've heard in Christianity and not in Christianity that are just like, well, I just can't make friends with other women and it's just so hard to make friends with other women. And how do you make friends with other people? Well, first of all you have to be intentional and you can't just say I can't make friends and just kind of throw up your hands and be like, oh, that's, god has called us to be invested in other people's life. And if you're really having a hard time connecting with other women in your church or something like that, there might be a issue that you need to work on personally. There might be a issue that you need to work on personally.
Speaker 1:I mean, a lot of things get fluffed off as our personality nowadays, but really our personalities can be very simple. So if there's something that's like you have legitimately tried to make friends with somebody but they keep on kind of ignoring you or something like maybe the way you're coming off is kind of off-putting, like proud or arrogant or something like that, like, maybe you need to do a little evaluation on how you are presenting yourself. There's nothing wrong with looking at yourself and saying how do other people view me when I go to approach them in conversation. Am I only talking about myself? Am I only talking about my kids? Am I only talking about things that I want to talk about? Okay, well then, maybe that's why people don't want to listen to me, you know, that's why people don't want to have a relationship with me, because I'm kind of full of myself. Like you have to be able to do those self-evaluations and say, okay, yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1:Like, and if you are conscious of the other person in a in a, I think we've just lost overall the ability to communicate about anything but ourselves in a lot of ways, what we think and what we feel and how, what's going on with us, and it's like well, did you even ask about that other person? Like, did you say how was your day? Like, how was your week? What have you been up to?
Speaker 2:There's just some basic things that I think we're missing in a lot of ways and it's sad it is, and I think, I think you're absolutely right and sometimes we are a problem for sure, and also, and we need to stop and evaluate, like you said, and then sometimes remember that other people just have things going on in their life on in their life like I don't have a lot of outside energy for friendships right now.
Speaker 2:In my life I kind of I have. All of my close friends are low maintenance friends. Yeah, I hear from me when they hear from me and know I love them in the in between, right, so I I've had people that want to be like, want to hang out all the time, want to do stuff together all the time, and it's not that I don't want to at all, it's just there's no time. I don't, yeah, I don't have that time, and so, or just like energy, to be honest, like energy to keep up another relationship that requires a lot of energy. Right, it's not, there's nothing wrong with them, right, and I, I just don't, it's, it's a me thing. And so sometimes you just have to look at relationships realistically. Like what do I expect? Are my expectations for this relationship Realistic?
Speaker 1:Right, and am I being a giver? Like if, if somebody that you want to spend time with is overwhelmed and swamped and like working and and they kind of say, well, I'm just really busy right now, they're, they're telling you I don't have that time or energy. So how could you be a giver in that situation? How could you be a giver in that situation? How could you speak into somebody's life some positive instead of kind of making them feel bad because they can't give you that energy, because they can't give you that time? Well, what could you say that could be like helpful to them? Oh, I, I'm sorry that you know you're really busy. Could I help out by giving you like a dinner, or bringing pizza over sometime, or like just find a way to to be a blessing. You know, expecting, like that friend, energy to be given to you.
Speaker 2:I went to a friend's house and I knew that this friend would not freak out about her house being spotless before I came over. Because that that is like when you invite yourself to someone's home, some people are like we couldn't care less and other people would just be mortified because they cannot have someone walk into their home if it's not spotless. That's a real issue for people. Sure, like you know, you need to think, be thoughtful of that. But sure, um, one of my friends and I were not really able to see each other much. She was kind of overwhelmed and I went to her house and hung out with her and folded her laundry.
Speaker 2:I said save the laundry for me. You know I'm coming over on Tuesday or whatever it was. I'll fold your laundry. We can sit and hang out. It's one less thing that she had to worry about, and it was laundry like I don't mind. I don't mind doing other people's laundry for a day my own laundry. It was no big deal. I enjoyed it and we both walked away without like feeling that we had. We were in both an exhausting times in our lives, but it was mutually beneficial day that we spent.
Speaker 1:I know the Amish will do. You know things like that, where they'll just be like okay, come over, we're washing windows. Today you can help us wash windows. You know, like that's totally fine and like there's just so many things that if we would just put down the what is normal and ask what is better, uh, ask what is biblical, what is helpful. If you're an older woman who's you know children have left and you're kind of empty nester and you don't have like a full-time job or something, maybe ask like, how can I invest in a real, tangible way in younger women's lives? Maybe it doesn't have to be sit down tea, but maybe I can go over and do the dishes or fold some laundry or something like that. Like for these young moms, like, or invite them to your house and, you know, take that pressure of like trying to find babysitters or all the other things that young moms have to do, like to to go somewhere by themselves, like, say, bring your kids, that's okay, you know.
Speaker 2:I've offered times to babysit so someone can go to the grocery store.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I want to hang out with the mom, but I'm like, hey, you know, I know something that is beneficial to me is for my kids to have to play with other kids. So drop your kids off here, go to the grocery store. We'll get to see each other, you know, coming and going.
Speaker 1:We did that for each other too, just random.
Speaker 2:Okay, hey, drop kids off yeah, it's fine, I miss you living 20 minutes away. Yeah, um, another thing I'm glad you brought up the babysitter thing, and I've might have mentioned this one before, but I was in a season where I felt like I just wasn't able to do the discipleship that I felt like I should. But I started thinking about the people that were actually coming into my home, and babysitters were one of them and I was having these young girls come and babysit and I realized that they were walking into my home and I usually had a few minutes before I left, a few minutes after I got home, to talk to them and find out what was going on in their life and I would say 50, 50 man, probably more than that. Our conversations turned into spiritual things. There were some many of them were girls from my church and I was able to kind of build that relationship with them. Sometimes it was right then and there that they would, we would be talking about spiritual stuff. Sometimes it just kind of fostered that relationship as they got older and then they've been in church.
Speaker 2:Like I'm still going to church with them and we have a closer relationship because I took that time as, oh, they're doing me a service and pay them right, but, like you know, just intentionally right, investing in them and also like making sure I was, you know, paid them well, right, appreciated them and, like right, loved on them as much as I could because they were caring for my kids and not taking that for granted. I think that's actually a huge deal, but just taking those little opportunities. It doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be a big formal like a Bible study with me. What's going on in your life? Well, I will be praying about that for you. Let me know how it goes. Hey, you know God says this about that, you know, and that those kinds of conversations organically came up because we had a relationship, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. So these are just some things that we've seen in church culture in our lives. Maybe you don't have that same experience, and I would hope not, but if you kind of see it and or you feel it and you feel like it could be better, try doing some of the things. Try, you know, asking somebody if they need prayer or if they would pray for you or whatever like that's a small step and can go a long ways. Thank you for joining us today and we will catch you next time. We are honored that you chose Simply Edified to be a part of your day. If this episode was a blessing to you, would you consider subscribing to our podcast, as well as writing a review or giving us a rating? This would be such a help to our ministry. We would love for other people to find us, and this is one of the ways that they can. Thank you,