Mentoring the Daily Melanie Hardacker

Madeline and I chat about the difference in how Gen x, millennials and Gen z all perceive the world and how we can understand and embrace our differences.

This month Amy and I chat about Grief and its biblical companion Lament. We talk about the importance of allowing yourself to feel the feelings even as we acknowledge God is good in all things. And we talk about creating rituals or having something tangible to hold onto inside that grief. We both feel like we could have been more creative about the ritual conversation but hopefully it sparked some ideas of your own.

Rachel started a new app called "Mom Badge". The purpose is to encourage moms along the journey seeing and affirming all the big and small moments in parenting. While this episode is very mom heavy, encouragement is something important for all of us at every season and stage of life. I don't just need to be seen on the day I survive getting pooped on in public, or survived swim lessons, I also need to survive the day I pumped my gas in a snowstorm, hung a picture on the wall straight, found a pair of cheaters I feel cute in, etc.

Searching the internet I found this quote which I did not write down the source but it wasn't me...

"Encouragement leads to confidence, which leads to action, which leads to accomplishment, which branches off to more encouragement."

How can we as women of various ages and stages and seasons encourage one another in both the big and the mundane of life?

In Joshua 1 the Lord commanded him to be strong and courageous, to not be discouraged, and reminded him that he would be with him wherever he went.

That is the sort of courage Becky and I talk about today.



Some questions to consider:

What areas of your life do you think "who am I?" instead of "Who is God?" when making decisions.

When is the last time you were couragous about something?

What community do you have for discerning? Who iare your courage mentors?


I am getting over a cold so appologies for a few coughs. Thought about asking my daughter to help me edit out the one at the end but decided to just keep it real.

If I was a professional podcaster I might have edited this a bit as we start to conclude and then keep talking I think 3 times here. However, this, instead, is the authenticity of conversation.

We had fun talking about creativity, Pam and I always have fun. She shares a broader understanding of how all of us, regardless of artistic talent, use creativity in our day to day life. We were all created in God's image and the first thing he did was...Create! So it is part of all of us as well.

Some questions for discussion:

How are you creative in your life?

How/where do you see creativity in your life?

What are some creativity killers in your life?

This episode I am talking with Andene O'Neil. We are exploring the 2 extremes of studying the word, simply for theological/academic purposes or only for relational purposes. How to we find our way to the middle, what are the pros and cons of each side.  We had fun talking about it and hope you do as well. Here are a couple questions to get the conversation started in your groups:

Which side of the spectrum of study do you tend to fall?

What resources do you like for digging deeper into a passage?

What triggers do you use to refocus on the Lord throughout the day?