Val Harrison
Jun 29, 20205 min
Each week I desperately seek God's heart for how He wants HIS podcast to go - what He wants me to say, what resources He wants me to bring to you. And I seek, through all of it, to be as real and authentic as possible. Sometimes, God tells me to change the plan and that's what happened this week!
God interrupted our scheduled podcast to add in THIS SPECIAL EDITION episode about FATHERHOOD! It includes a tribute to my husband, Rich, from our kids. (Update: The very cool part of this story is that God knew that Rich's mom was going to pass away this week and that Rich would need the week off from everything in life so he could travel to go be with his dad and make arrangements. God had impressed on me to make this surprise podcast in honor of Rich,, making it without him so that this week he would have the week off from producing a podcast because he thought he was working on this weeks when he actually was working on the following week's episode. God is so awesome to orchestrate this break for him. I am in awe. That being said, please pray for Rich, his dad, and siblings this week).
We were all ready to publish the first week of a mini-series on Stress for Moms & Kids (coming soon!) In this three-week series, I'm joined by Marriage and Family Therapist, Amanda Colliatie. This is the second time she's been on our podcast. The first time Amanda was on the Practically Speaking MOM podcast, my episode with her became one of our most popular, so I'm totally anticipating bringing this next mini-series to all of you! Click here to listen to the earlier episode where we had Amanda on the podcast, episode 13, Mom's Mental Health, Our Drive for Perfection, Joy in the Valley - Val interviews Marriage & Family Therapist Amanda Colliatie with a LIVE studio audience. Amanda and I had a great time recording the upcoming mini-series about different types of stress and how we can create some buffers in our life to deal with stress for both moms and kids. It will now publish July 2020!)
You've met Rich on the show several times. He edits and produces the Practically Speaking MOM podcast and often will come on to give an intro, segue, or conclusion. AND, our episodes on marriage, where Rich and I present together, are among our most popular with our listeners.
Here's some of the marriage episodes that we have led together:
Episode 23: Overcoming Negative Communication Habits in your Family & Marriage
Episode 17: Goal Setting for Kids. Plus, Dreaming & Goal-Setting in Marriage
Episode 8: Intentional Marriage: Val & Rich on Redeeming Your Marriage
Rich is the Quiet Difference-Maker, the gentle hero of our family. He leads by serving, and that's the best kind leader of all!
Rich and I will be the first to tell you that our marriage hasn't been perfect, but we were committed to identifying the problems and fixing them with God's help. We are so thankful that God mended our mess!
There are a lot of things about marriage that I believe are absolute miracles! One of those marriage miracles that I mention on this episode is that God helps Rich see my best and my potential rather than just all the many flaws. I mention this miracle in the prayer below as well.
Here is the prayer that I shared on this podcast episode. It may sound like a selfish prayer because it is about our marriage, but it's not selfish to pray about your marriage! Instead, this represents that
1. God is our source for a healthy marriage, so it is Him we should run to for everything about our marriage.
2. :Marriage deserves and requires our attention and effort and time. Prayer is the place to start for improving our marriage - give time and effort to praying for your marriage.
A few more pics of the imperfect, loving dad that lives at our house (and then the RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST EPISODE are at the end of this blog post).
We bought a house that needed pretty much everything remodeled. In this picture, we had already finished the kitchen except the tile floor, which he was prepping to remove.He works hard to give us a nice home.
Focus on the Family Help line - 1-855-771-HELP (4357)
Book: Different Children, Different Needs by Charles Boyd
Val's workshop audio: Help! My Home is Full of Difficult Personalities, and One of Them is Mine!
Episode 26: Root Parenting: Digging Deeper into the Four Root Areas Behind Your Child's Behavior
Episode 25: Root Parenting vs. Surface Parenting
Andrew Peterson's music and products: andrew-peterson.com