When Dad has to work late (again) and the kids’ bedtimes are still hours away, is there a gracious response to give? Although long days might leave a wife stuck in cycles of comparison with other families and even anger, God hasn't left her without hope and help. No matter the income-producing work balance between mom and dad, it can feel challenging to navigate family life alongside work responsibilities. In this episode, Emily and Laura look at the ways we can honor our husbands through busy work seasons, inflexible schedules, travel, and missed expectations. When our hope is rooted in Christ, we can trust that even when our husband’s meeting runs long or he’s called into work on a Saturday morning, God is our sure foundation and our greatest help.

*This show is intended to address the typical strains of balancing work and parenting within the context of healthy Christian marriages. If you’re in a marriage that is experiencing these tensions within the context of unconfessed sin or neglect, we encourage you to reach out to a trusted mentor, pastor, or counselor for help.

Whenever we ask the R|M community for questions, they range from lighthearted and practical to thought-provoking and theological, which makes the AUA show something special. In this one-hour conversation, Emily and Laura discuss how they’ve applied the gospel to their own lives as they answer listeners’ questions. In this episode, you’ll hear what they’ve learned in marriage and motherhood over the years, how they deal with mom jealousy and comparison, how they disciple their children with disabilities, their favorite life hacks, and more. As you listen, we hope you don’t feel pressure to do life just like them, but that you see the beauty of the gospel in motherhood as we grow and gain the perspective of time.

Summer break is over, and the weekly show is back! In this episode, Emily and Laura discuss how the gospel applies to snack time. It may seem like a “lighter” topic, but our opinions, preferences, and rules about snack time reveal a lot about our hearts. Whether you’re guilt-ridden about “giving in” or glued to your snack standards, the gospel reminds us to identify with Christ as we love our littlest neighbors.

It’s natural to prefer spending time with moms who share similar parenting values, lifestyle choices, and special interests with us. Conversely, most of us can instantly think of a mom we avoid, because she makes us uncomfortable with her more-extreme views in a gray-area of motherhood. These feelings beg the question, “How should we love and interact with those who do motherhood differently than us, especially when those differences breed difficulties?” In this episode, Emily and Laura bring the gospel to bear on these challenging relationships, remembering that the cross levels all of us. Because of the extravagant grace shown to us, we can now love others who are different, even when it’s hard.

Moms hear a lot of messages when they scroll through their news feeds; "You are doing enough. If you just love your kids, you're doing a good job. It's okay to be falling apart, we all are." While those messages might offer some temporary help, are they the whole truth? In this episode, Emily and Laura discuss what it looks like to give moms an injection of lasting hope and how to discern messages that are contrary to the gospel. Moms need more than just sips from the water-bucket of mom culture, they need help and encouragement from the eternal, life-giving well of Jesus.

As moms, we love practical help. Tips, checklists, and "how-to" articles seem to promise that we're finally going to get something right. But when we bypass dependence on God and decide to just model our lives after the mom down the street, we've missed the point. We weren't created to reflect each other, but to reflect Christ in ways that are unique to the skills, abilities and life circumstances he's given us. In this episode, Emily and Laura encourage moms to understand how the gospel frees us from adopting one style of "perfect" mothering. God wants our whole lives to be a living sacrifice, so we can be free to glorify him in all we do (even when that looks different from our friends).

Momma, do you regularly feel burdened by what you see on social media?  If so, this episode is for you.  As we let our news feeds take over our time and our hearts, we can sink into despair or be puffed up with pride.  Emily and Laura discuss the major pitfalls of social media and comparison, how we can speak truth to ourselves in the midst of it, and how to use our favorite apps redemptively.