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Do you long to feel more free in your parenting? Free from guilt and pressure and doubts? Join Sissy Goff, David Thomas, and Melissa Trevathan this week as they share encouragement for finding freedom in parenting.

Connect with Sissy, David, and Melissa at raisingboysandgirls.com

Connect with Minno at podcast.gominno.com

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Quotes, Questions, and Helpful Information

When we get caught up in all the things we’re supposed to do it takes away our freedom.

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When you get to the age of 32, you finally become your real self because it’s about that age you figure out—life doesn’t work the way you thought it would and you don’t work the way you thought you would. Richard Rohr

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Freedom creates room for the Gospel to be truer than our efforts.

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Control is an illusion.

Knowing which direction you bend is the first step to freedom.

Do you bend toward control?

Do you bend toward fear?

Do you bend toward anger?

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Palms Out Benediction

A good posture to help when you bend toward these things . . .

Palms open because we need the blessing.

Palms open because that’s what we bring to the blessing—nothing.

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The illusion of control brings requirement. Requirement creates pressure. Pressure leads to slavery—the slavery of having to figure out life to make it work. Those who hold on to the illusion of control lose the enjoyment of freedom. Larry Crabb, The Pressure’s Off

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Statistics on Kids and Anxiety

Five years ago – 1 in 8 kids was suffering from anxiety.

Two years go – 1 in 4

Today – 1 in 3

Girls are twice as likely to deal with anxiety than boys.

If a parent struggles with anxiety, their children are 7 times more likely to have anxiety.

As a parent when you think about anxiety, think about your own life.

Practices to Help Kids with Anxiety

Breathing.

Deep breathing settles the brain and the body. It moves the blood flow back to the prefrontal cortex so we can think rationally and manage emotions.

Grounding Techniques.

This is a cognitive-behavioral therapy term for anything sensory-related that pulls you out of looping thoughts.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Stop and share . . . 

5 things you see

4 things you hear

3 things you feel

2 things you smell

1 thing you taste

 

Count backward from 100 by 7’s

Think of everything you see that’s a certain color.

Name the worry.

Reduce its power by giving it a name and calling it out.

Talkback to it! with truth and Scripture.

3 Intentional Practices:

1. Identify 5 things in your life that keep you from being free.
2. Think of one thing you can give up that gives you the illusion of control.
3. Schedule some free time.

 

Anchoring Truth with Melissa Trevathan

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Control is an illusion but your influence is real. Melissa Trevathan

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Parents often say, “I am going to do all I can to have a Godly child.” What if you said instead, “I am going to do all I can to be a Godly parent.”

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Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Galatians 3:2-3 MSG

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Free is saying: Christ in me, the hope of glory. Melissa Trevathan

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