May 9, 2025 • 40 mins
Today, on Karl and Crew, we wrapped up our weekly theme of Chivalry with a conversation about the common disconnects in a marital relationship with Shaunti Feldhahn. Shaunti is a best-selling author, podcaster, blogger, and popular speaker. She was formerly an analyst on Wall Street, and she applies her analytical skills to investigating eye-opening and life-changing truths about personal and work relationships. She has authored several books, including “For Women Only” and “For Men Only.” We also talked with Mandy Arioto about MomCo, the nonprofit organization that encourages and equips Moms of young children. Mandy is the President and CEO of The MomCo, and she is well-known for her unique takes on parenting, relationships, spiritual, and cultural issues. She is a well-known speaker nationally and internationally as well as an author. She has authored several books, including “Have More Fun: How to Be Remarkable, Stop Feeling Stuck, and Start Enjoying Life.” You can hear the highlights of today’s program on Karl and Crew Showcast.
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S1 (00:00):
Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (00:08):
It's Cody Carnes. Take you at your word. Well, when
you were growing up, did you actually ever have one
of those kind of clubhouse treehouse type of things that said, like,
no girls allowed or no boys allowed?
S3 (00:22):
I don't think I put a no girls. Well, the
problem at not not the problem, but at my house
there was only one girl and it was mom. And
so there really wasn't a no girls allowed sign because
there were barely any girls around to begin with.
S2 (00:36):
I feel like always in those movies, like The Little
Rascals or any sort of kid movie, it seems to
perpetuate this idea that this is a regular thing where,
like boys or girls grouped together and create spaces, treehouses, forts, etc.. Yeah.
Where the opposite gender is excluded. Does this happen? Yeah.
S3 (00:57):
I never ran into that. Yeah, it's a real thing. My, my, is.
S2 (01:00):
It a.
S3 (01:00):
Real thing? My niece has a sign on her door
that says no boys allowed. And then in little words
it says, accept, dad. So really? Yeah. Because. Because dad
has to be able to be able to go in there. So.
But her brother can't.
S2 (01:11):
So her brother. Interesting. This is excluding you. One person. Uh,
somebody any any experience with that? No.
S4 (01:21):
See, that doesn't ring a bell for me. I mean,
I know of it, like you said, movies and things
like that, but, yeah, I never, never accounted that at
at all. How about yourself? I mean, now, you had
the three sisters and the one brother.
S2 (01:32):
And we, you know, we happily welcomed him into all
of our shenanigans. There you go. He. And and even
when he didn't want, I think he probably would have
put a sign on his door. Although he never had
his own room as the fourth kid. So he definitely
always had to tag along with his sisters. But I
feel like he was always included. You know, we would
(01:52):
there when he was little. We did try to dress
him up a couple times, and my dad was like,
absolutely not. You can't put a bonnet on him. You
can't treat him like he's a little baby doll. But
as he grew up, I feel like he. He was
okay being the the one boy in the in the
midst of three.
S3 (02:09):
Oh, sure.
S2 (02:10):
Older girls. You know, I I'm asking this because coming up,
we're going to, we're going to feature a conversation that
for women only things that men need to know for
men only things that women would want men to know.
And so I was just thinking about that, that sort of.
Do you like the idea of, of of now I
(02:30):
will say, let me interject here, because in our current climate,
we absolutely need to be protecting spaces that are for
women only.
S3 (02:41):
Oh, goodness.
S2 (02:42):
Definitely.
S3 (02:42):
So, absolutely.
S2 (02:43):
I'm just going to put that out there because that
should honestly that should could should go without saying.
S3 (02:49):
I think.
S2 (02:49):
So there are some spaces that should be absolutely for
women only, but I digress. But you know, there are
Conversations and things that I think happen among women that
may be surprising to men and vice versa. You know,
if you get a bunch of women around talking, I
(03:10):
think men would sometimes be surprised at what we're talking about,
or maybe what we're not talking about.
S4 (03:14):
Yeah, that's why I was thinking.
S2 (03:17):
I don't think they assume.
S4 (03:18):
And it's like, no, no, we don't go down that road.
S2 (03:20):
I at least in my context, I'm not in a
lot of environments where I think people think that women
like to bash men. I actually don't think that happens
nearly as often as men might think.
S3 (03:34):
I think that that's probably fair. I think that the
opposite is probably true, too. I think that, you know,
the the scenario where all the guys just get around
together and complain about their wives. I mean, it's not
good when it happens. And sure, sometimes it happens, but
I don't think it happens as much as people would think.
S2 (03:52):
We might think. Well, you know what's better than speculation?
Cold hard facts, research and expert. Let's talk about that
coming up. Freedom Friday here on Karl and crew.
S1 (04:03):
He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
Karl and crew on Moody Radio.
S5 (04:13):
Well, one thing you know that we love around here
is some good hard data points.
S3 (04:18):
You do love data points.
S5 (04:19):
I love numbers don't lie, baby.
S3 (04:21):
If you can come in with a sheet in front
of you that says, you know, I got the numbers
on this, you are pumped up more than I've ever.
S5 (04:27):
That's why I love you. Young Thunder, not only you.
Great synthesizer of truth. You are stat man.
S3 (04:33):
I do love a good stat. Stats are fun, man.
S5 (04:36):
We got an incredible guest with us right now. Shante
Feldhuhn is a researcher big time. From when she was
a little kid. Obviously she aspired to get to Harvard
and she did it. Formerly an analyst on Wall Street,
she uses these analytical skills in a powerful way. Has
some groundbreaking Breaking research that was uncorked a number of
(04:58):
years ago, and it's still living today. Shanti, how are you?
S6 (05:01):
I'm good. It's great to be with you guys.
S5 (05:03):
Great to have you with us today. Let's break it down.
We're steaming toward Mother's Day. And, I mean, it's in
two days here. And I just want to ask you,
what in the world do we miss? Like, the broad
side of a barn about women that your research proved.
S6 (05:20):
I am so glad you are asking that question. And
can I just tell you that when you talk about
loving numbers, you are speaking my love language?
S5 (05:27):
I knew, I knew it. She's a data girl.
S6 (05:31):
Yep, exactly. I will tell you. And I will tell
especially all the men out there who are listening to this,
that one of the most important things that you miss
about your wife, or perhaps your girlfriend, is that you
think that once you got married that she feels permanently
loved and that is not the case. There is no
(05:51):
switch in her brain that gets flipped to the Ow.
I feel permanently loved now. Sort of position. And instead
we found 82% of women. And by the way, this
is not a Facebook poll. This is a big, expensive,
nationally representative survey of women. We found 82% of women,
even in the best relationships, have that question in the
(06:13):
back of their head that does he really love me?
Kind of question.
S5 (06:17):
So one first question is where did where did we
begin to buy that lie? And number two, how in
the world do we dig out of that and begin
to really get proactive with that information? Because that's good information.
S6 (06:29):
Well, the most important thing I think for men, honestly,
this is this is one of the other things that
we found in the research as well, is there's something
that starts when you're like kids, honestly, or teenagers and
you're talking in the locker room and you kind of
roll your eyes and you laugh about how women are
so mysterious and they're never going to be understood. It's true.
(06:50):
And you kind of have this idea that there's something
in women that's just kind of random. And so, you know,
you can try all you want, but you're never going
to quite understand her. And that is a lie. It's
a lie from the pit. Honestly. Yes. Because what it
does is it sets up every man with this myth that,
(07:12):
you know what, some part of me is never going
to be able to make it, you know, figure her out.
And so if something is confusing, I just kind of
throw up my hands and say, okay, it's that random
part of her. Move along. And so you wouldn't do
that in any other part of your life if something
happened at work and your boss said something and you
didn't understand, let me tell you, you're not going to
(07:34):
just assume he's being random. No, you're going to try
to figure out why it happened, and so you can
figure out how to handle things better and how to
actually sort of become in step into that role that
you've been given and do it well. And it's the
same thing with being a husband. Your wife may seem mysterious,
but I can promise you, when women can be systematized
(07:56):
and understood just like you men can. So that's the
first step.
S5 (08:00):
That's beautiful. You know, Shanti, this has been a phenomenon
that I have lived through. I lived in the locker
room education kind of model. And that's what most men had.
But now we've got this crazy cultural phenomenon where culture
is screaming. Throw men and women into a blender, and
(08:21):
you get this gender amorphous, weird dysfunction thing where there's
no distinction celebrated in everybody's the loser. Shanti, what are
we going to do? You've got not only got data points,
your research leads to the bigger. Yes. How do we
elevate and separate without denigrating man and woman?
S6 (08:44):
Well, one of the most important things for especially men
to recognize is that most people, including most women, know
that there are differences, right? Like, it's only a really
small number of people that have bought that kind of
cultural sort of extreme concept. So let's sort of set
that aside and just say, okay, people are going to
(09:06):
believe what they want to believe. Everybody else knows the truth.
And so for men to not be afraid of saying, okay,
my wife or my girlfriend is different from me, it
doesn't mean that there's any kind of discord that has
to happen. It doesn't mean that there's any kind of defect.
It's just different. And so this is something I can
(09:28):
work with. As long as I understand it, I will
tell you, here's what my my prayer is for all
the men listening to this we found in our research
over the last 20 years, 20 plus years now that
most of the time when you have discord, you've got
a couple who really cares about each other. You've got
(09:50):
a husband and wife who really love one another, and
they are both trying really hard. But because they don't
know some of these differences, these little things that are
going on inside the life of the person that they're
married to, they're trying hard in the wrong areas and
they're missing each other, or even worse, they're trying hard
and they're actually hurting their spouse's feelings, and they would
(10:13):
never intend to know. And so what we find is
that if you learn these little things, you can try
hard in the right areas, and suddenly there is so
much more hope and so much more peace, and everything
just seems to flow.
S5 (10:28):
Dynamite. Shaunti Feldhahn is my guest right now. She. We've
got links coming to you soon with even stories of
hope that are going to fire you up. But coming
up here, let's talk about those little things, because the
one thing that I know as a pastor for many
decades now, or at least several, and being on radio,
we've got empirical data that comes in here and anecdotal stuff,
(10:52):
but the fact is, it's usually not the big things.
Remember when Howard Hendricks used to say, shanty, that there's
never such thing as a blowout? It's always a slow
leak in marriage. It's true. So coming up, let's talk
about the little things so that we aren't building walls
between husband and wife, men and women, one little cinder
block at a time. Hang on.
S1 (11:13):
You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio with me.
S5 (11:23):
Shanti Feldhuhn. She is a best selling author, podcaster, blogger,
great communicator, speaker. I heard her a number of years
ago down at Saint Pete Beach. My goodness. With Family
Life Weekend to Remember Speakers Retreat and what you were
sharing then and even today. So liberating. Let's dig into
the data a little bit. Shanti. What are the little
things that men can do that can reclaim that At
(11:49):
that ongoing courtship really care for the needs of a
woman in the way she's made.
S6 (11:54):
The most important thing. Okay, let's hearken back to what
I said, that 82% of women have this question. This
does he really love me? Kind of question in their head.
So the first thing is to recognize, okay, there's something
in the heart of a woman. And this is. By
the way, I need to say this out loud. Obviously,
this is not 100% right. There's everybody's an individual. If 82%
(12:17):
said one way, that means 18% didn't. So use this,
by the way guys, as a starting point, not an
ending point. This is a starting point for your conversation.
But what that usually means is that most women have
in their heart an am I lovable question. It's not
just do you love me? The reason they're asking that
(12:38):
is because you got to back up. It's because of
the am I lovable question in her heart. And so
if you look for ways to answer that question. Every
day you are going to be her hero. And here
are some of the little things that we found that
answer that question for her every day. Because you're you're
looking to send her that message every day. We found
(13:01):
statistically that things as simple as, like reaching across and
taking her hand. When you're walking across a parking lot
that says all the things her heart is longing to hear, right?
Like that says, I'm so glad I married you. That's
what she's looking for. Things like putting your arm around
her at church, or when you're, like, sitting with a
(13:22):
couple at a, you know, at a dinner out or whatever,
and you put your arm around her or you put
your hand on her knee that says, I would choose
you all over again. That says, I love you so much.
Little things like texting her during the day, even if
it's just this little tiny thought of how grateful you
are for her. If you will take 30s and send
(13:44):
a little text message saying, man, this has been a
really rough day. I can't wait to see you tonight.
I love you so much. I'm so glad you're mine
and you press send. She will screenshot that text message,
I promise you.
S5 (13:56):
Yeah.
S6 (13:57):
That's powerful. These little things we found statistically make a really,
really big difference.
S5 (14:04):
Let's hear a story. You must have a story of
someone that went from, you know, because. Because men, men,
we are great hunters. We are horrible at taking care
of that game. And I'm being very hyperbolic here, but
if you go into the hunting metaphor, we're great at
going out. We can get in disguise. We can, you know,
get that girl, and then we throw her over our
(14:25):
shoulder and think that it's done. It's just begun. You
must have a story of a man that's gotten this right.
S6 (14:30):
Many? Yes. Well, I will tell you. Something happened not
that long ago. Jeff and I were doing a marriage event,
and we, you know, we speak at marriage conferences and
date nights and that kind of thing. And a guy
came up to us who had kind of like, you
had heard us at an event, I don't know, like
a few years back, we had been at his church,
at a different church, and he came up with this
(14:52):
kind of bemused expression on his face, and he was like,
you're not going to believe this, he said. We literally
were shaking towards divorce. Like, that's how hard it was.
He was like I was working to provide. I was
trying so hard and, you know, trying so much to
be the man that she wanted me to be. And
(15:12):
she was always unhappy and saying, you know, that I
never listened to her and, you know, all the things.
And he said, you told us that listening to a
woman means not listen for the problem I want to solve,
but listen to my feelings, listen to my upset and
my hurt about what happened at work today. And he said,
(15:35):
I started doing that, and I started doing what you
told me to, which is to ignore the problem for
a minute, like make that step to. And he said
she started just like would start bawling. She would start crying,
but like in a good way. Like, I'm so grateful that,
you know, you care about me in this way. And
(15:57):
he's like, I always cared about her. He's like, I
just didn't realize that this is like one key shift,
one little thing that could actually show her in the
way she needed to be shown. So anyway, we we
constantly have couples coming up to us with tears in
their eyes, telling us, I had no idea that I
(16:18):
was hurting my spouse's feelings. I would never have wanted to.
And this is basically giving me the tools. It's like
tools in a toolbox to okay, now I know how
to do it right. And it's so simple.
S5 (16:30):
It's power. Shanti Feldon is her name and she has
some phenomenal content. Shanti has authored two books that have
sold over 3 million copies in 25 languages. That's how
good this stuff is. It's called for women only and
for men only. With one link, I'm going to give
you here in just a moment. You're going to be
(16:51):
getting link to those books and or we've got a
powerhouse story of a couple that really did it right
and turned everything around. No cost for this. No paywall.
Just here to help you. This is what you do. Boom. Crew.
Text the word only right now. Just only just that
one word to 800 555, 78, 98. Text only to
(17:14):
800 555 7898.
S1 (17:19):
She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
Super dei is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
on Moody Radio.
S2 (17:29):
Well, some of my best memories when my kids were
little was being a part of a mom's ministry. Our
initial gatherings were very informal, folding chairs in a room
where the kids were right next door. They were trying.
A couple of babysitters were trying to keep them quiet,
but inevitably kids would run in and out or fall
(17:49):
or there'd be crying. But you know what? It was
a lifeline for me as I tried to navigate those
early years of motherhood. We need each other. I know
our special guest would wholeheartedly agree. Mandy Areata joining us
right now, she's the president and CEO of the Mom Co,
formerly Mops or Moms of Preschoolers, but now rebranded moms
(18:11):
absolutely need each other and the stats prove that out, right?
S7 (18:15):
Absolutely. What we're seeing is that moms are experiencing an
epidemic of loneliness, and there's so much better when they
have one another to support and guide and say, yes,
me too. I'm going through the same thing.
S2 (18:26):
You know, one of the I think unique challenges of
motherhood for this generation is the ability to see or
to feel like you're seeing into the lives of so
many different moms through social media. So the mom blogs
and the mom influencers and the mom YouTubers. I feel
like we've never been more inundated with what feels like examples,
(18:48):
sometimes unattainable standard of what it looks like to mom. Well,
how are you seeing that impact the women, Christian women
in general?
S7 (18:58):
Absolutely. I think we get to see a lot of
people from afar, from a distance. And then when we
come together in community and we're actually face to face
and eyeball to eyeball and sharing our real stories, we recognize,
oh my goodness, everybody else is going through the same
things I am. And so there's this camaraderie when we're
in proximity with each other. And the other thing that
we're recognizing is that as moms, we're inundated with so
(19:21):
much information that we are starting to lose our intuition,
our gut feeling and trusting that intuition that we know
what's best for our kids and that we don't have
to constantly be consuming more information, but that we can
trust that God has given us the ability to parent
our kids well.
S2 (19:39):
Tell me a little bit more about the mom co.
It used to be called mops and many will know
it as that. I know you reaches over 10 million
women globally, but tell us for those who are hearing
of it for the first time.
S7 (19:50):
Yeah, we're the mom community mom co for short. And really,
we gather women together because we recognize that moms are
some of the most powerful influencers on the planet. You know,
lots of times as society, we think if we want
to change the world, where do we start? We start
with politics or education or the economy. But what we
forget is that moms are the ones behind the scenes
(20:12):
influencing every single one of those things. And so we
gather moms together. We help remind them that the work
they're doing is significant. We provide practical training and resources
and mentoring, and we work in 109 countries and 30
different languages, because motherhood is this common denominator that bonds
us all together.
S2 (20:31):
Tell me about your own journey as a mom. What
did you feel like you needed most that maybe you
weren't able to grab hold of? I don't know how your.
you're if you still have littles or if you're further
on in your parenting journey.
S7 (20:43):
Yeah, I have three kids and they are all heading
off to college now. And I just recognize, you know,
I thought I needed my mom community when my kids
were little, and I absolutely did. And now, as I'm
parenting teenagers and young adults, I recognize I still need
that mom community just as much now as I did
when they were little. And so I think it just
(21:03):
follows us throughout our whole lives, our whole mothering journey,
that having those friends to support us and, you know,
just speak life and hope and give practical resources is
just a lifeline that we all need at every stage
of our mothering.
S2 (21:19):
What context are you seeing mom co flourish the most?
Is it in the local church? Is it in homeschool groups?
Where are you seeing these groups really thrive?
S7 (21:29):
We have mom co groups in churches and that is
absolutely a phenomenal place where we see moms thriving. But
we also have groups that meet in homes and, you know,
around the world in community centers, libraries all over the place.
And really, it's not the location that matters. It's the
women coming together and being honest and vulnerable and getting
(21:50):
real about their stories and talking about the things that
really matter most, because that's how we help each other
thrive and grow, not only as followers of Jesus, but
as moms and as wives and in every aspect of
our work and relationships. When we're together and honest and vulnerable,
that's what's most important.
S2 (22:08):
You know, at the heart of this is the gospel
of Jesus Christ, because anybody who's you never feel maybe
more vulnerable than when you're tasked with raising a child
and you and you realize how little control you have.
You never had control, but you had the illusion of it.
But then you have a child and you realize, my goodness,
the things that they go through that I can't take away.
(22:28):
And your dependence on God absolutely has to be at
the forefront. The power of the Holy Spirit to even
allow us to be the kind of moms we were
called to be. I know that's your heart as well.
S7 (22:39):
100% what we recognize is motherhood is just this opportunity
that opens us to God in a new way and
helps us recognize, just like you said, our vulnerability and
our reliance on him to raise kids and what we
found at the mom Co and what we see every
day is that moms are some of the most powerful
evangelists on the planet. Like, you want to spread the
message of Jesus far and wide. You start with moms
(23:00):
because it's exponential evangelism, because when she meets Jesus, so
do her kids and her husband and her friends and
her community. And so word of mom is this powerful
thing that it's like latent potential in the church's hands
that when they resource moms, the kingdom grows and multiplies
in exponential ways.
S2 (23:17):
You have a new podcast that just released. It's a
limited edition podcast called Bloodline and Backbone, talking about the
spiritual legacy of motherhood. Give us a thought on that.
S7 (23:27):
Bloodline and backbone is really this unconventional podcast about motherhood.
It's gritty and honest and well researched, and it talks
about the history of motherhood through the ages, and how
moms have influenced medicine and wars and politics and finances.
And it's this fascinating look at the way that moms
have foundationally changed the fabric of society. And so it's fascinating.
(23:50):
And it really points back to the truth that Jesus
has mobilized moms throughout the centuries to be purveyors of
his word, and to pass it down from generation to generation.
S2 (24:01):
I want to make sure that you can get Ahold
of this, that you can get connected to the mom co,
you can see if there's a group in your area
or even about starting one. Just text mom Co to
800 555 7898 mom Co just like it sounds. Mom
Co to 855 five 7898. We'll throw the link for
(24:21):
the podcast in there as well.
S1 (24:24):
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
in the crew. It's Carlin crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (24:32):
You know, God often uses uses moms to help you
find your place in the world.
S3 (24:39):
Oh yeah. Absolutely.
S2 (24:41):
The moms who love and who encourage and who serve.
And oftentimes it's not. If you're privileged to have your
own mom who does that for you. Awesome. You still
need other moms to do it.
S3 (24:55):
No doubt.
S2 (24:56):
And how much more? So if you don't have that right.
And so on this Freedom Friday, I want to ask
you this question. I want to hear your story of
a mom who had a pivotal influence in your coming
to faith in Christ. Tell me about the role a
mom played in your freedom story. Could be your mom
or grandma or aunt. It could be a Sunday school teacher,
(25:19):
a neighbor, a friend. I didn't even think about when
I first was thinking about this question. But sometimes it's
a it's a it can be a peer.
S4 (25:27):
Yes it.
S2 (25:27):
Can. It doesn't even have to be someone older than you.
It could be a mom who was younger than you.
But that woman that mom played a pivotal role in
your coming to faith in Christ, and that's what I
want to hear about on this. Heading into Mother's Day weekend,
they prayed, spoke truth, discipled, shared the gospel. One of
those things. Maybe something else. Maybe all of the above.
(25:48):
855 five 7898 855 five 7898. You know, I was
going to a church at a time, and I there
was a young woman who had a difficult family situation
going on, and there was a mom at the church
who took it upon herself to kind of become a,
(26:14):
a mom figure for this young woman.
S4 (26:16):
I love that.
S2 (26:17):
Brought her into her home, discipled, mentored, walked her through
some really tough stuff. And it wasn't just her, though.
She kind of assembled sort of a mini network of
other of other women who could kind of co-mother this
young girl who had been through some really tough stuff.
S4 (26:39):
That's inspiring.
S2 (26:40):
It. I mean, it was it was pretty remarkable to see.
And and so the growth and the development of this
young woman, because of the love of a mother who
wasn't her own, and then the love of other women
who stepped in to fill in where there were even
more gaps. And she was sort of collectively mothered by
the group.
S4 (27:01):
That is going to cheer me up. That's actually beautiful
and inspiring. And even on this day, going into Mother's Day,
you know, whatever your background may be, maybe take that
into heart, into this weekend. Really look around your church
this Sunday. You can tell by faces. You can tell
by who's there and what's going on. Maybe it's something
within your church that you can take the lead on.
S2 (27:22):
Yeah. And so phone lines open now if you've got
a story. What role did a mom play in your
freedom story. And you're coming to faith in Christ? 800
555 7898. I want to keep reiterating maybe it was
your own mom. Maybe it wasn't. Both are awesome and needed.
800 555 7898.
S8 (27:45):
My coat of many colors that my mama made for
me made only from rage. But I wore it so proudly.
S2 (27:57):
What is this, Jonathan?
S3 (27:58):
Oh, Dolly.
S8 (27:59):
Parton. I had no money. Interesting. I was rich as
I could be in my coat of many colors my
momma made for me.
S2 (28:09):
Yes, this is Moody Radio.
S4 (28:10):
It's a story. When she was younger.
S2 (28:13):
Okay, tell me.
S4 (28:13):
What's the.
S2 (28:14):
Story?
S3 (28:14):
So the whole song is is a progressive story, but it's. They.
She grew up really poor, and her mom took a
bunch of different fabrics of a bunch of different colors
and sewed it all together. And as she was sewing it,
she told Dolly about the story from the Bible, where
Joseph had a coat of many colors. And and then
she made this coat for for her. And although they
(28:36):
had no money and it wasn't worth anything, her mom
made it for her.
S4 (28:40):
And initially she didn't want to wear it. She actually
didn't wear it. At first she was a little embarrassed
because she was getting kind of ridiculed at school, but
then it turned around and was very pivotal. And just
talking her, her father actually spoke into her in like
the love that was behind the patchwork and what was
built within this coat. Wow. So it really was pivotal
for her and her heart and her faith.
S2 (28:58):
Okay. Okay. Wow. How did you both just know that story?
S3 (29:02):
Well, I read the lyrics of the song, and then I.
So I learned it as I'm.
S2 (29:06):
Going to say. Is this just like, commonly a commonly known.
S4 (29:09):
Story or a little of her story? I know a
little of her story. Wow. So. Well.
S2 (29:11):
That's awesome. Well, we're celebrating moms all this week. Um,
I want to take you to second Timothy one five.
This is Paul to Timothy, and he says, I am
reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first
in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And now
I am sure, dwells in you. Timothy had a rich
Spiritual legacy through a grandma and a mom who served
(29:33):
the Lord. Maybe that was the case for you, but
maybe it was another mom who spoke into your life
who was a part of your freedom story. I'm asking you,
what role did a mom play in your journey with Christ?
Sharing the gospel. Praying for you. Discipling you. 800 555 7898.
(29:54):
Let's go to Don calling in this morning from Illinois. Don,
tell me, what role did a mom play in your
freedom story?
S9 (30:04):
My future mother in law. I wanted to date her
daughter in high school and her daughter was a Christian.
I had not been raised in the church, was not
a Christian. And so she would she invited me to church.
She said, why don't you come to church and then
come to our house after church for for dinner every
every Sunday? She'd do that. Wow. And so then I
(30:24):
started to come, come under the hearing of the Word
of God. And by the time I was a college
student at age 22, I came to know Christ because
of the great impact of my mother in law. I
know she was praying for me, and she would talk
to me about the Lord all the time. So I've
always hated mother in law jokes because I had the
(30:45):
best mother in law.
S2 (30:46):
Oh.
S3 (30:47):
That's so.
S4 (30:47):
Sweet.
S2 (30:47):
Wow. I love that story. Thank you so much, dawn
from Illinois. Man, that's what I'm talking about. That's great.
That's incredible. Let's keep it going. John from Illinois, tell me,
what role did a mom play in your faith journey
with the Lord?
S10 (31:05):
Oh, hi. Good morning. Yeah. Um, our mom is. She's
just really was always a blessing. Her name is Barb,
and she raised seven children in Chicago. My parents are
actually still together, been married over 50 years, and just
really lived out the love of Yeshua of Jesus to
all of us, you know, which is, you know, I
believe that's so important. Like like in the Hebrew Shema Israel.
(31:26):
It's like, uh, action. You know, James says, be doers
of the word and just that the love of a mother.
And of course, fathers too, and all.
S2 (31:32):
Absolutely.
S10 (31:34):
It was just really special. I just always kept our
family together and, uh, appreciate it so much.
S2 (31:39):
Thank you. John calling in this morning from Illinois. Yes, we're.
This is definitely not to diminish the role of dads
by any means, but.
S3 (31:48):
It's mom.
S2 (31:49):
It's moms. It's Mother's Day weekend. So we're going to
cheer for the moms and the mom figures who stepped
in and played a pivotal role in your journey of
faith with the Lord. Uh, Aaron calling in from Illinois.
Tell me. It was a it was a woman in
your in college?
S11 (32:05):
Yes. Um. Good morning. I, uh, went to school about
six hours away from home. And, um, in my senior,
junior or senior year of college, I went through what
felt like the biggest thing that had ever happened to me,
just personally. Yeah. Um, I was away from my own
mom and this woman. I had gone on a mission
trip with her. She invited me into her home with
(32:26):
her family almost nightly because of what I was going through,
and she just can vividly remember her opening her Bible
and writing in the margins of her Bible. What we
were praying for, writing the date down. And, um, I
would sit on her bed with her. She had just
been diagnosed with cancer, and just like the ways that
she poured into me, even when she was going through
(32:47):
the darkest time of her life, was just so inspiring
to me.
S2 (32:50):
Wow. Aaron, thank you so much for that story. It's
so incredible. I mean, you think about the impact that
that you can have in a person's life and and
sometimes I wonder if that woman even knows years later that,
that that Aaron would call in this morning because she
had that kind of an impact. What's your story? Who
(33:13):
is the mom in your life? The mom figure in
your life who played a pivotal role in your journey
with the Lord? Uh, maybe coming and helping you come
to faith. Sharing the gospel, discipling you, encouraging you. 800
555 7898. We'll take a couple more phone calls here.
800 555 7898. Freedom Friday here on Carl and crew.
S1 (33:35):
Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (33:42):
Want to get right back to the phones? We've been
asking you this question on this Freedom Friday ahead of
Mother's Day. What role did a mom play the pivotal
role of mom played in your freedom story? Your maybe
coming to faith in Christ. You're being discipled. There was
a mom who prayed for you. You tell me what
that looked like for you. What role did a mom
play in your freedom story? 800 555 7898. Let's go
(34:08):
to Rosa calling in this morning from Chicago. Tell me.
S12 (34:12):
Hi. Um, well, it was my mother in law. I
did not grow up in a Christian home, and she
did invite me once to church. And I did go.
And she told me, you know, if I died right now,
I know I'd go to heaven. I said, well, how?
Just because Jesus lives in me. And she went on
to explain that, and because of that and her taking
(34:32):
me under her wing, I was a single mom when
I met her son. And through her I became a Christian,
my family and even my grandparents.
S2 (34:43):
Wow.
S12 (34:44):
I was blessed.
S2 (34:45):
Wow. Rosa from Chicago. What a spiritual legacy.
S3 (34:49):
And I love the I love the continuing kind of
aftershock impact of that. Yeah. You know where this this
woman who now is her mother in law, invested in her,
brought her to Christ, and now she's bringing people from
her family, her grandparents, to Christ. I mean, that's that's incredible.
S2 (35:07):
Yeah. You know, I never want to miss an opportunity
to tell you what it looks like to follow Jesus.
We we never assume that everyone listening to this radio
station already knows Jesus. You may be listening. And you
hear something like. Or her mention that a mother in
law said, I know I'm going to heaven, and sometimes
that can rattle your cage a little bit because you think, well,
(35:29):
what does that mean for me? If I don't know Jesus,
do I not spend eternity in heaven? That's that. That biblically,
that's absolutely true, that it is those of us who
are in a relationship with Jesus Christ because of the
blood of Jesus Christ, we are made new. We're declared
perfectly righteous in his sight, and therefore we are welcomed
into eternity with the father and the. For those who
(35:54):
do not know Christ, we can't get around the fact
that hell is a real place, and those who are separated,
separated from God will spend eternity separated from God. So
here's what you need to know today. You need to
admit that you are a sinner. It's. Most of us
think of ourselves as good people as those who try
(36:15):
to do the right thing. But the Bible says that
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
So every single person is born into sin. That is
our condition from the very beginning. Once you recognize that
you're a sinner, you need to acknowledge that as sinners,
we deserve death. When you when you stand before a
holy God, sin cannot, has no place with God. So
(36:38):
our sin deserves death. Which sounds really harsh, right? Because
we underestimate the power of sin.
S3 (36:45):
Yes. We think it's just a little thing here or
a little thing there.
S2 (36:49):
Holy God, you think about. I mean, you think about
the fact that you know, how in on the solar
eclipse they're a big deal is made of the fact
that you you cannot look directly at the sun? Yes.
That like there's a physical blinding that can happen if
you were to try to look directly at the sun. Well,
who do you think made the sun? So how much more?
(37:11):
So think about the the holiness of God. Infinitely more
powerful than looking or trying to look directly into a
solar eclipse. We We cannot stand before a holy God
in our sin and live. There had to be a
price that was paid for us to be reconciled to God.
(37:33):
And the good news, the absolute good news is that
Jesus Christ paid that sin, paid that price rather for
our sin. He died. He rose again so that we
could have new life. And so what do you do today?
You put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
You acknowledge that he's not just it's not just that
there's something bigger out there. It's that you say, Jesus,
(37:56):
you are the way and the truth and the life.
And today I put my trust in you as Savior.
I confess that I'm a sinner, I turn, I repent,
I go a new way. Today I follow you. And
if by the power of the Holy Spirit that you
see it now, maybe you've never seen it before. But
today is the day that the Holy Spirit is making
(38:16):
that clear to you. I don't want to miss this
opportunity to tell you that today you can be made
right with God. And if that's you in the quiet
of your house or your car or wherever you happen
to find yourself, maybe you're on the train listening right now.
You can have that quiet moment with God where you say,
I am a sinner. I need a Savior. And today
(38:40):
I turn and I follow Jesus. I confess that I
need you, that I now see that there is no
life apart from you. Jesus, today I want to make
you not just my Lord, my Savior, and my friend.
(39:01):
I want to pray for you, Lord, for the person who.
Maybe there's just one. Maybe there's many who today are
seeing it for the first time. That there's no life
apart from you. Lord, I pray that you would just
flood their soul with such joy in your presence, God,
that as they're being made new Lord, that they would
experience that refreshment. The burden being lifted, the sin that
(39:25):
they've been carrying, being removed, becoming a new creation. Lord,
all of those things we know are happening right now
because of Jesus. So, Lord, would you would you bless
and cover and protect this person? Lord, would you bring
them quickly to a place where they could be connected
with other believers? Lord? Um, this word that's been deposited
(39:45):
in them. God, would you protect it? Lord? Let them
have roots that go down deep in you. Lord, I
thank you, Lord Jesus. I thank you for what you're
doing right now in my brother or sister, in Jesus name, Amen.
And today I can call you a brother or sister,
because now you are welcomed into the family of God.
So if that's you, just text the word new to
(40:08):
800 555 7898. Text new to 805, 55 7898. Want
to send you a resource that's going to give you
some encouragement, some practical next steps?
Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (00:08):
It's Cody Carnes. Take you at your word. Well, when
you were growing up, did you actually ever have one
of those kind of clubhouse treehouse type of things that said, like,
no girls allowed or no boys allowed?
S3 (00:22):
I don't think I put a no girls. Well, the
problem at not not the problem, but at my house
there was only one girl and it was mom. And
so there really wasn't a no girls allowed sign because
there were barely any girls around to begin with.
S2 (00:36):
I feel like always in those movies, like The Little
Rascals or any sort of kid movie, it seems to
perpetuate this idea that this is a regular thing where,
like boys or girls grouped together and create spaces, treehouses, forts, etc.. Yeah.
Where the opposite gender is excluded. Does this happen? Yeah.
S3 (00:57):
I never ran into that. Yeah, it's a real thing. My, my, is.
S2 (01:00):
It a.
S3 (01:00):
Real thing? My niece has a sign on her door
that says no boys allowed. And then in little words
it says, accept, dad. So really? Yeah. Because. Because dad
has to be able to be able to go in there. So.
But her brother can't.
S2 (01:11):
So her brother. Interesting. This is excluding you. One person. Uh,
somebody any any experience with that? No.
S4 (01:21):
See, that doesn't ring a bell for me. I mean,
I know of it, like you said, movies and things
like that, but, yeah, I never, never accounted that at
at all. How about yourself? I mean, now, you had
the three sisters and the one brother.
S2 (01:32):
And we, you know, we happily welcomed him into all
of our shenanigans. There you go. He. And and even
when he didn't want, I think he probably would have
put a sign on his door. Although he never had
his own room as the fourth kid. So he definitely
always had to tag along with his sisters. But I
feel like he was always included. You know, we would
(01:52):
there when he was little. We did try to dress
him up a couple times, and my dad was like,
absolutely not. You can't put a bonnet on him. You
can't treat him like he's a little baby doll. But
as he grew up, I feel like he. He was
okay being the the one boy in the in the
midst of three.
S3 (02:09):
Oh, sure.
S2 (02:10):
Older girls. You know, I I'm asking this because coming up,
we're going to, we're going to feature a conversation that
for women only things that men need to know for
men only things that women would want men to know.
And so I was just thinking about that, that sort of.
Do you like the idea of, of of now I
(02:30):
will say, let me interject here, because in our current climate,
we absolutely need to be protecting spaces that are for
women only.
S3 (02:41):
Oh, goodness.
S2 (02:42):
Definitely.
S3 (02:42):
So, absolutely.
S2 (02:43):
I'm just going to put that out there because that
should honestly that should could should go without saying.
S3 (02:49):
I think.
S2 (02:49):
So there are some spaces that should be absolutely for
women only, but I digress. But you know, there are
Conversations and things that I think happen among women that
may be surprising to men and vice versa. You know,
if you get a bunch of women around talking, I
(03:10):
think men would sometimes be surprised at what we're talking about,
or maybe what we're not talking about.
S4 (03:14):
Yeah, that's why I was thinking.
S2 (03:17):
I don't think they assume.
S4 (03:18):
And it's like, no, no, we don't go down that road.
S2 (03:20):
I at least in my context, I'm not in a
lot of environments where I think people think that women
like to bash men. I actually don't think that happens
nearly as often as men might think.
S3 (03:34):
I think that that's probably fair. I think that the
opposite is probably true, too. I think that, you know,
the the scenario where all the guys just get around
together and complain about their wives. I mean, it's not
good when it happens. And sure, sometimes it happens, but
I don't think it happens as much as people would think.
S2 (03:52):
We might think. Well, you know what's better than speculation?
Cold hard facts, research and expert. Let's talk about that
coming up. Freedom Friday here on Karl and crew.
S1 (04:03):
He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
Karl and crew on Moody Radio.
S5 (04:13):
Well, one thing you know that we love around here
is some good hard data points.
S3 (04:18):
You do love data points.
S5 (04:19):
I love numbers don't lie, baby.
S3 (04:21):
If you can come in with a sheet in front
of you that says, you know, I got the numbers
on this, you are pumped up more than I've ever.
S5 (04:27):
That's why I love you. Young Thunder, not only you.
Great synthesizer of truth. You are stat man.
S3 (04:33):
I do love a good stat. Stats are fun, man.
S5 (04:36):
We got an incredible guest with us right now. Shante
Feldhuhn is a researcher big time. From when she was
a little kid. Obviously she aspired to get to Harvard
and she did it. Formerly an analyst on Wall Street,
she uses these analytical skills in a powerful way. Has
some groundbreaking Breaking research that was uncorked a number of
(04:58):
years ago, and it's still living today. Shanti, how are you?
S6 (05:01):
I'm good. It's great to be with you guys.
S5 (05:03):
Great to have you with us today. Let's break it down.
We're steaming toward Mother's Day. And, I mean, it's in
two days here. And I just want to ask you,
what in the world do we miss? Like, the broad
side of a barn about women that your research proved.
S6 (05:20):
I am so glad you are asking that question. And
can I just tell you that when you talk about
loving numbers, you are speaking my love language?
S5 (05:27):
I knew, I knew it. She's a data girl.
S6 (05:31):
Yep, exactly. I will tell you. And I will tell
especially all the men out there who are listening to this,
that one of the most important things that you miss
about your wife, or perhaps your girlfriend, is that you
think that once you got married that she feels permanently
loved and that is not the case. There is no
(05:51):
switch in her brain that gets flipped to the Ow.
I feel permanently loved now. Sort of position. And instead
we found 82% of women. And by the way, this
is not a Facebook poll. This is a big, expensive,
nationally representative survey of women. We found 82% of women,
even in the best relationships, have that question in the
(06:13):
back of their head that does he really love me?
Kind of question.
S5 (06:17):
So one first question is where did where did we
begin to buy that lie? And number two, how in
the world do we dig out of that and begin
to really get proactive with that information? Because that's good information.
S6 (06:29):
Well, the most important thing I think for men, honestly,
this is this is one of the other things that
we found in the research as well, is there's something
that starts when you're like kids, honestly, or teenagers and
you're talking in the locker room and you kind of
roll your eyes and you laugh about how women are
so mysterious and they're never going to be understood. It's true.
(06:50):
And you kind of have this idea that there's something
in women that's just kind of random. And so, you know,
you can try all you want, but you're never going
to quite understand her. And that is a lie. It's
a lie from the pit. Honestly. Yes. Because what it
does is it sets up every man with this myth that,
(07:12):
you know what, some part of me is never going
to be able to make it, you know, figure her out.
And so if something is confusing, I just kind of
throw up my hands and say, okay, it's that random
part of her. Move along. And so you wouldn't do
that in any other part of your life if something
happened at work and your boss said something and you
didn't understand, let me tell you, you're not going to
(07:34):
just assume he's being random. No, you're going to try
to figure out why it happened, and so you can
figure out how to handle things better and how to
actually sort of become in step into that role that
you've been given and do it well. And it's the
same thing with being a husband. Your wife may seem mysterious,
but I can promise you, when women can be systematized
(07:56):
and understood just like you men can. So that's the
first step.
S5 (08:00):
That's beautiful. You know, Shanti, this has been a phenomenon
that I have lived through. I lived in the locker
room education kind of model. And that's what most men had.
But now we've got this crazy cultural phenomenon where culture
is screaming. Throw men and women into a blender, and
(08:21):
you get this gender amorphous, weird dysfunction thing where there's
no distinction celebrated in everybody's the loser. Shanti, what are
we going to do? You've got not only got data points,
your research leads to the bigger. Yes. How do we
elevate and separate without denigrating man and woman?
S6 (08:44):
Well, one of the most important things for especially men
to recognize is that most people, including most women, know
that there are differences, right? Like, it's only a really
small number of people that have bought that kind of
cultural sort of extreme concept. So let's sort of set
that aside and just say, okay, people are going to
(09:06):
believe what they want to believe. Everybody else knows the truth.
And so for men to not be afraid of saying, okay,
my wife or my girlfriend is different from me, it
doesn't mean that there's any kind of discord that has
to happen. It doesn't mean that there's any kind of defect.
It's just different. And so this is something I can
(09:28):
work with. As long as I understand it, I will
tell you, here's what my my prayer is for all
the men listening to this we found in our research
over the last 20 years, 20 plus years now that
most of the time when you have discord, you've got
a couple who really cares about each other. You've got
(09:50):
a husband and wife who really love one another, and
they are both trying really hard. But because they don't
know some of these differences, these little things that are
going on inside the life of the person that they're
married to, they're trying hard in the wrong areas and
they're missing each other, or even worse, they're trying hard
and they're actually hurting their spouse's feelings, and they would
(10:13):
never intend to know. And so what we find is
that if you learn these little things, you can try
hard in the right areas, and suddenly there is so
much more hope and so much more peace, and everything
just seems to flow.
S5 (10:28):
Dynamite. Shaunti Feldhahn is my guest right now. She. We've
got links coming to you soon with even stories of
hope that are going to fire you up. But coming
up here, let's talk about those little things, because the
one thing that I know as a pastor for many
decades now, or at least several, and being on radio,
we've got empirical data that comes in here and anecdotal stuff,
(10:52):
but the fact is, it's usually not the big things.
Remember when Howard Hendricks used to say, shanty, that there's
never such thing as a blowout? It's always a slow
leak in marriage. It's true. So coming up, let's talk
about the little things so that we aren't building walls
between husband and wife, men and women, one little cinder
block at a time. Hang on.
S1 (11:13):
You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio with me.
S5 (11:23):
Shanti Feldhuhn. She is a best selling author, podcaster, blogger,
great communicator, speaker. I heard her a number of years
ago down at Saint Pete Beach. My goodness. With Family
Life Weekend to Remember Speakers Retreat and what you were
sharing then and even today. So liberating. Let's dig into
the data a little bit. Shanti. What are the little
things that men can do that can reclaim that At
(11:49):
that ongoing courtship really care for the needs of a
woman in the way she's made.
S6 (11:54):
The most important thing. Okay, let's hearken back to what
I said, that 82% of women have this question. This
does he really love me? Kind of question in their head.
So the first thing is to recognize, okay, there's something
in the heart of a woman. And this is. By
the way, I need to say this out loud. Obviously,
this is not 100% right. There's everybody's an individual. If 82%
(12:17):
said one way, that means 18% didn't. So use this,
by the way guys, as a starting point, not an
ending point. This is a starting point for your conversation.
But what that usually means is that most women have
in their heart an am I lovable question. It's not
just do you love me? The reason they're asking that
(12:38):
is because you got to back up. It's because of
the am I lovable question in her heart. And so
if you look for ways to answer that question. Every
day you are going to be her hero. And here
are some of the little things that we found that
answer that question for her every day. Because you're you're
looking to send her that message every day. We found
(13:01):
statistically that things as simple as, like reaching across and
taking her hand. When you're walking across a parking lot
that says all the things her heart is longing to hear, right?
Like that says, I'm so glad I married you. That's
what she's looking for. Things like putting your arm around
her at church, or when you're, like, sitting with a
(13:22):
couple at a, you know, at a dinner out or whatever,
and you put your arm around her or you put
your hand on her knee that says, I would choose
you all over again. That says, I love you so much.
Little things like texting her during the day, even if
it's just this little tiny thought of how grateful you
are for her. If you will take 30s and send
(13:44):
a little text message saying, man, this has been a
really rough day. I can't wait to see you tonight.
I love you so much. I'm so glad you're mine
and you press send. She will screenshot that text message,
I promise you.
S5 (13:56):
Yeah.
S6 (13:57):
That's powerful. These little things we found statistically make a really,
really big difference.
S5 (14:04):
Let's hear a story. You must have a story of
someone that went from, you know, because. Because men, men,
we are great hunters. We are horrible at taking care
of that game. And I'm being very hyperbolic here, but
if you go into the hunting metaphor, we're great at
going out. We can get in disguise. We can, you know,
get that girl, and then we throw her over our
(14:25):
shoulder and think that it's done. It's just begun. You
must have a story of a man that's gotten this right.
S6 (14:30):
Many? Yes. Well, I will tell you. Something happened not
that long ago. Jeff and I were doing a marriage event,
and we, you know, we speak at marriage conferences and
date nights and that kind of thing. And a guy
came up to us who had kind of like, you
had heard us at an event, I don't know, like
a few years back, we had been at his church,
at a different church, and he came up with this
(14:52):
kind of bemused expression on his face, and he was like,
you're not going to believe this, he said. We literally
were shaking towards divorce. Like, that's how hard it was.
He was like I was working to provide. I was
trying so hard and, you know, trying so much to
be the man that she wanted me to be. And
(15:12):
she was always unhappy and saying, you know, that I
never listened to her and, you know, all the things.
And he said, you told us that listening to a
woman means not listen for the problem I want to solve,
but listen to my feelings, listen to my upset and
my hurt about what happened at work today. And he said,
(15:35):
I started doing that, and I started doing what you
told me to, which is to ignore the problem for
a minute, like make that step to. And he said
she started just like would start bawling. She would start crying,
but like in a good way. Like, I'm so grateful that,
you know, you care about me in this way. And
(15:57):
he's like, I always cared about her. He's like, I
just didn't realize that this is like one key shift,
one little thing that could actually show her in the
way she needed to be shown. So anyway, we we
constantly have couples coming up to us with tears in
their eyes, telling us, I had no idea that I
(16:18):
was hurting my spouse's feelings. I would never have wanted to.
And this is basically giving me the tools. It's like
tools in a toolbox to okay, now I know how
to do it right. And it's so simple.
S5 (16:30):
It's power. Shanti Feldon is her name and she has
some phenomenal content. Shanti has authored two books that have
sold over 3 million copies in 25 languages. That's how
good this stuff is. It's called for women only and
for men only. With one link, I'm going to give
you here in just a moment. You're going to be
(16:51):
getting link to those books and or we've got a
powerhouse story of a couple that really did it right
and turned everything around. No cost for this. No paywall.
Just here to help you. This is what you do. Boom. Crew.
Text the word only right now. Just only just that
one word to 800 555, 78, 98. Text only to
(17:14):
800 555 7898.
S1 (17:19):
She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
Super dei is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
on Moody Radio.
S2 (17:29):
Well, some of my best memories when my kids were
little was being a part of a mom's ministry. Our
initial gatherings were very informal, folding chairs in a room
where the kids were right next door. They were trying.
A couple of babysitters were trying to keep them quiet,
but inevitably kids would run in and out or fall
(17:49):
or there'd be crying. But you know what? It was
a lifeline for me as I tried to navigate those
early years of motherhood. We need each other. I know
our special guest would wholeheartedly agree. Mandy Areata joining us
right now, she's the president and CEO of the Mom Co,
formerly Mops or Moms of Preschoolers, but now rebranded moms
(18:11):
absolutely need each other and the stats prove that out, right?
S7 (18:15):
Absolutely. What we're seeing is that moms are experiencing an
epidemic of loneliness, and there's so much better when they
have one another to support and guide and say, yes,
me too. I'm going through the same thing.
S2 (18:26):
You know, one of the I think unique challenges of
motherhood for this generation is the ability to see or
to feel like you're seeing into the lives of so
many different moms through social media. So the mom blogs
and the mom influencers and the mom YouTubers. I feel
like we've never been more inundated with what feels like examples,
(18:48):
sometimes unattainable standard of what it looks like to mom. Well,
how are you seeing that impact the women, Christian women
in general?
S7 (18:58):
Absolutely. I think we get to see a lot of
people from afar, from a distance. And then when we
come together in community and we're actually face to face
and eyeball to eyeball and sharing our real stories, we recognize,
oh my goodness, everybody else is going through the same
things I am. And so there's this camaraderie when we're
in proximity with each other. And the other thing that
we're recognizing is that as moms, we're inundated with so
(19:21):
much information that we are starting to lose our intuition,
our gut feeling and trusting that intuition that we know
what's best for our kids and that we don't have
to constantly be consuming more information, but that we can
trust that God has given us the ability to parent
our kids well.
S2 (19:39):
Tell me a little bit more about the mom co.
It used to be called mops and many will know
it as that. I know you reaches over 10 million
women globally, but tell us for those who are hearing
of it for the first time.
S7 (19:50):
Yeah, we're the mom community mom co for short. And really,
we gather women together because we recognize that moms are
some of the most powerful influencers on the planet. You know,
lots of times as society, we think if we want
to change the world, where do we start? We start
with politics or education or the economy. But what we
forget is that moms are the ones behind the scenes
(20:12):
influencing every single one of those things. And so we
gather moms together. We help remind them that the work
they're doing is significant. We provide practical training and resources
and mentoring, and we work in 109 countries and 30
different languages, because motherhood is this common denominator that bonds
us all together.
S2 (20:31):
Tell me about your own journey as a mom. What
did you feel like you needed most that maybe you
weren't able to grab hold of? I don't know how your.
you're if you still have littles or if you're further
on in your parenting journey.
S7 (20:43):
Yeah, I have three kids and they are all heading
off to college now. And I just recognize, you know,
I thought I needed my mom community when my kids
were little, and I absolutely did. And now, as I'm
parenting teenagers and young adults, I recognize I still need
that mom community just as much now as I did
when they were little. And so I think it just
(21:03):
follows us throughout our whole lives, our whole mothering journey,
that having those friends to support us and, you know,
just speak life and hope and give practical resources is
just a lifeline that we all need at every stage
of our mothering.
S2 (21:19):
What context are you seeing mom co flourish the most?
Is it in the local church? Is it in homeschool groups?
Where are you seeing these groups really thrive?
S7 (21:29):
We have mom co groups in churches and that is
absolutely a phenomenal place where we see moms thriving. But
we also have groups that meet in homes and, you know,
around the world in community centers, libraries all over the place.
And really, it's not the location that matters. It's the
women coming together and being honest and vulnerable and getting
(21:50):
real about their stories and talking about the things that
really matter most, because that's how we help each other
thrive and grow, not only as followers of Jesus, but
as moms and as wives and in every aspect of
our work and relationships. When we're together and honest and vulnerable,
that's what's most important.
S2 (22:08):
You know, at the heart of this is the gospel
of Jesus Christ, because anybody who's you never feel maybe
more vulnerable than when you're tasked with raising a child
and you and you realize how little control you have.
You never had control, but you had the illusion of it.
But then you have a child and you realize, my goodness,
the things that they go through that I can't take away.
(22:28):
And your dependence on God absolutely has to be at
the forefront. The power of the Holy Spirit to even
allow us to be the kind of moms we were
called to be. I know that's your heart as well.
S7 (22:39):
100% what we recognize is motherhood is just this opportunity
that opens us to God in a new way and
helps us recognize, just like you said, our vulnerability and
our reliance on him to raise kids and what we
found at the mom Co and what we see every
day is that moms are some of the most powerful
evangelists on the planet. Like, you want to spread the
message of Jesus far and wide. You start with moms
(23:00):
because it's exponential evangelism, because when she meets Jesus, so
do her kids and her husband and her friends and
her community. And so word of mom is this powerful
thing that it's like latent potential in the church's hands
that when they resource moms, the kingdom grows and multiplies
in exponential ways.
S2 (23:17):
You have a new podcast that just released. It's a
limited edition podcast called Bloodline and Backbone, talking about the
spiritual legacy of motherhood. Give us a thought on that.
S7 (23:27):
Bloodline and backbone is really this unconventional podcast about motherhood.
It's gritty and honest and well researched, and it talks
about the history of motherhood through the ages, and how
moms have influenced medicine and wars and politics and finances.
And it's this fascinating look at the way that moms
have foundationally changed the fabric of society. And so it's fascinating.
(23:50):
And it really points back to the truth that Jesus
has mobilized moms throughout the centuries to be purveyors of
his word, and to pass it down from generation to generation.
S2 (24:01):
I want to make sure that you can get Ahold
of this, that you can get connected to the mom co,
you can see if there's a group in your area
or even about starting one. Just text mom Co to
800 555 7898 mom Co just like it sounds. Mom
Co to 855 five 7898. We'll throw the link for
(24:21):
the podcast in there as well.
S1 (24:24):
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
in the crew. It's Carlin crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (24:32):
You know, God often uses uses moms to help you
find your place in the world.
S3 (24:39):
Oh yeah. Absolutely.
S2 (24:41):
The moms who love and who encourage and who serve.
And oftentimes it's not. If you're privileged to have your
own mom who does that for you. Awesome. You still
need other moms to do it.
S3 (24:55):
No doubt.
S2 (24:56):
And how much more? So if you don't have that right.
And so on this Freedom Friday, I want to ask
you this question. I want to hear your story of
a mom who had a pivotal influence in your coming
to faith in Christ. Tell me about the role a
mom played in your freedom story. Could be your mom
or grandma or aunt. It could be a Sunday school teacher,
(25:19):
a neighbor, a friend. I didn't even think about when
I first was thinking about this question. But sometimes it's
a it's a it can be a peer.
S4 (25:27):
Yes it.
S2 (25:27):
Can. It doesn't even have to be someone older than you.
It could be a mom who was younger than you.
But that woman that mom played a pivotal role in
your coming to faith in Christ, and that's what I
want to hear about on this. Heading into Mother's Day weekend,
they prayed, spoke truth, discipled, shared the gospel. One of
those things. Maybe something else. Maybe all of the above.
(25:48):
855 five 7898 855 five 7898. You know, I was
going to a church at a time, and I there
was a young woman who had a difficult family situation
going on, and there was a mom at the church
who took it upon herself to kind of become a,
(26:14):
a mom figure for this young woman.
S4 (26:16):
I love that.
S2 (26:17):
Brought her into her home, discipled, mentored, walked her through
some really tough stuff. And it wasn't just her, though.
She kind of assembled sort of a mini network of
other of other women who could kind of co-mother this
young girl who had been through some really tough stuff.
S4 (26:39):
That's inspiring.
S2 (26:40):
It. I mean, it was it was pretty remarkable to see.
And and so the growth and the development of this
young woman, because of the love of a mother who
wasn't her own, and then the love of other women
who stepped in to fill in where there were even
more gaps. And she was sort of collectively mothered by
the group.
S4 (27:01):
That is going to cheer me up. That's actually beautiful
and inspiring. And even on this day, going into Mother's Day,
you know, whatever your background may be, maybe take that
into heart, into this weekend. Really look around your church
this Sunday. You can tell by faces. You can tell
by who's there and what's going on. Maybe it's something
within your church that you can take the lead on.
S2 (27:22):
Yeah. And so phone lines open now if you've got
a story. What role did a mom play in your
freedom story. And you're coming to faith in Christ? 800
555 7898. I want to keep reiterating maybe it was
your own mom. Maybe it wasn't. Both are awesome and needed.
800 555 7898.
S8 (27:45):
My coat of many colors that my mama made for
me made only from rage. But I wore it so proudly.
S2 (27:57):
What is this, Jonathan?
S3 (27:58):
Oh, Dolly.
S8 (27:59):
Parton. I had no money. Interesting. I was rich as
I could be in my coat of many colors my
momma made for me.
S2 (28:09):
Yes, this is Moody Radio.
S4 (28:10):
It's a story. When she was younger.
S2 (28:13):
Okay, tell me.
S4 (28:13):
What's the.
S2 (28:14):
Story?
S3 (28:14):
So the whole song is is a progressive story, but it's. They.
She grew up really poor, and her mom took a
bunch of different fabrics of a bunch of different colors
and sewed it all together. And as she was sewing it,
she told Dolly about the story from the Bible, where
Joseph had a coat of many colors. And and then
she made this coat for for her. And although they
(28:36):
had no money and it wasn't worth anything, her mom
made it for her.
S4 (28:40):
And initially she didn't want to wear it. She actually
didn't wear it. At first she was a little embarrassed
because she was getting kind of ridiculed at school, but
then it turned around and was very pivotal. And just
talking her, her father actually spoke into her in like
the love that was behind the patchwork and what was
built within this coat. Wow. So it really was pivotal
for her and her heart and her faith.
S2 (28:58):
Okay. Okay. Wow. How did you both just know that story?
S3 (29:02):
Well, I read the lyrics of the song, and then I.
So I learned it as I'm.
S2 (29:06):
Going to say. Is this just like, commonly a commonly known.
S4 (29:09):
Story or a little of her story? I know a
little of her story. Wow. So. Well.
S2 (29:11):
That's awesome. Well, we're celebrating moms all this week. Um,
I want to take you to second Timothy one five.
This is Paul to Timothy, and he says, I am
reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first
in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And now
I am sure, dwells in you. Timothy had a rich
Spiritual legacy through a grandma and a mom who served
(29:33):
the Lord. Maybe that was the case for you, but
maybe it was another mom who spoke into your life
who was a part of your freedom story. I'm asking you,
what role did a mom play in your journey with Christ?
Sharing the gospel. Praying for you. Discipling you. 800 555 7898.
(29:54):
Let's go to Don calling in this morning from Illinois. Don,
tell me, what role did a mom play in your
freedom story?
S9 (30:04):
My future mother in law. I wanted to date her
daughter in high school and her daughter was a Christian.
I had not been raised in the church, was not
a Christian. And so she would she invited me to church.
She said, why don't you come to church and then
come to our house after church for for dinner every
every Sunday? She'd do that. Wow. And so then I
(30:24):
started to come, come under the hearing of the Word
of God. And by the time I was a college
student at age 22, I came to know Christ because
of the great impact of my mother in law. I
know she was praying for me, and she would talk
to me about the Lord all the time. So I've
always hated mother in law jokes because I had the
(30:45):
best mother in law.
S2 (30:46):
Oh.
S3 (30:47):
That's so.
S4 (30:47):
Sweet.
S2 (30:47):
Wow. I love that story. Thank you so much, dawn
from Illinois. Man, that's what I'm talking about. That's great.
That's incredible. Let's keep it going. John from Illinois, tell me,
what role did a mom play in your faith journey
with the Lord?
S10 (31:05):
Oh, hi. Good morning. Yeah. Um, our mom is. She's
just really was always a blessing. Her name is Barb,
and she raised seven children in Chicago. My parents are
actually still together, been married over 50 years, and just
really lived out the love of Yeshua of Jesus to
all of us, you know, which is, you know, I
believe that's so important. Like like in the Hebrew Shema Israel.
(31:26):
It's like, uh, action. You know, James says, be doers
of the word and just that the love of a mother.
And of course, fathers too, and all.
S2 (31:32):
Absolutely.
S10 (31:34):
It was just really special. I just always kept our
family together and, uh, appreciate it so much.
S2 (31:39):
Thank you. John calling in this morning from Illinois. Yes, we're.
This is definitely not to diminish the role of dads
by any means, but.
S3 (31:48):
It's mom.
S2 (31:49):
It's moms. It's Mother's Day weekend. So we're going to
cheer for the moms and the mom figures who stepped
in and played a pivotal role in your journey of
faith with the Lord. Uh, Aaron calling in from Illinois.
Tell me. It was a it was a woman in
your in college?
S11 (32:05):
Yes. Um. Good morning. I, uh, went to school about
six hours away from home. And, um, in my senior,
junior or senior year of college, I went through what
felt like the biggest thing that had ever happened to me,
just personally. Yeah. Um, I was away from my own
mom and this woman. I had gone on a mission
trip with her. She invited me into her home with
(32:26):
her family almost nightly because of what I was going through,
and she just can vividly remember her opening her Bible
and writing in the margins of her Bible. What we
were praying for, writing the date down. And, um, I
would sit on her bed with her. She had just
been diagnosed with cancer, and just like the ways that
she poured into me, even when she was going through
(32:47):
the darkest time of her life, was just so inspiring
to me.
S2 (32:50):
Wow. Aaron, thank you so much for that story. It's
so incredible. I mean, you think about the impact that
that you can have in a person's life and and
sometimes I wonder if that woman even knows years later that,
that that Aaron would call in this morning because she
had that kind of an impact. What's your story? Who
(33:13):
is the mom in your life? The mom figure in
your life who played a pivotal role in your journey
with the Lord? Uh, maybe coming and helping you come
to faith. Sharing the gospel, discipling you, encouraging you. 800
555 7898. We'll take a couple more phone calls here.
800 555 7898. Freedom Friday here on Carl and crew.
S1 (33:35):
Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (33:42):
Want to get right back to the phones? We've been
asking you this question on this Freedom Friday ahead of
Mother's Day. What role did a mom play the pivotal
role of mom played in your freedom story? Your maybe
coming to faith in Christ. You're being discipled. There was
a mom who prayed for you. You tell me what
that looked like for you. What role did a mom
play in your freedom story? 800 555 7898. Let's go
(34:08):
to Rosa calling in this morning from Chicago. Tell me.
S12 (34:12):
Hi. Um, well, it was my mother in law. I
did not grow up in a Christian home, and she
did invite me once to church. And I did go.
And she told me, you know, if I died right now,
I know I'd go to heaven. I said, well, how?
Just because Jesus lives in me. And she went on
to explain that, and because of that and her taking
(34:32):
me under her wing, I was a single mom when
I met her son. And through her I became a Christian,
my family and even my grandparents.
S2 (34:43):
Wow.
S12 (34:44):
I was blessed.
S2 (34:45):
Wow. Rosa from Chicago. What a spiritual legacy.
S3 (34:49):
And I love the I love the continuing kind of
aftershock impact of that. Yeah. You know where this this
woman who now is her mother in law, invested in her,
brought her to Christ, and now she's bringing people from
her family, her grandparents, to Christ. I mean, that's that's incredible.
S2 (35:07):
Yeah. You know, I never want to miss an opportunity
to tell you what it looks like to follow Jesus.
We we never assume that everyone listening to this radio
station already knows Jesus. You may be listening. And you
hear something like. Or her mention that a mother in
law said, I know I'm going to heaven, and sometimes
that can rattle your cage a little bit because you think, well,
(35:29):
what does that mean for me? If I don't know Jesus,
do I not spend eternity in heaven? That's that. That biblically,
that's absolutely true, that it is those of us who
are in a relationship with Jesus Christ because of the
blood of Jesus Christ, we are made new. We're declared
perfectly righteous in his sight, and therefore we are welcomed
into eternity with the father and the. For those who
(35:54):
do not know Christ, we can't get around the fact
that hell is a real place, and those who are separated,
separated from God will spend eternity separated from God. So
here's what you need to know today. You need to
admit that you are a sinner. It's. Most of us
think of ourselves as good people as those who try
(36:15):
to do the right thing. But the Bible says that
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
So every single person is born into sin. That is
our condition from the very beginning. Once you recognize that
you're a sinner, you need to acknowledge that as sinners,
we deserve death. When you when you stand before a
holy God, sin cannot, has no place with God. So
(36:38):
our sin deserves death. Which sounds really harsh, right? Because
we underestimate the power of sin.
S3 (36:45):
Yes. We think it's just a little thing here or
a little thing there.
S2 (36:49):
Holy God, you think about. I mean, you think about
the fact that you know, how in on the solar
eclipse they're a big deal is made of the fact
that you you cannot look directly at the sun? Yes.
That like there's a physical blinding that can happen if
you were to try to look directly at the sun. Well,
who do you think made the sun? So how much more?
(37:11):
So think about the the holiness of God. Infinitely more
powerful than looking or trying to look directly into a
solar eclipse. We We cannot stand before a holy God
in our sin and live. There had to be a
price that was paid for us to be reconciled to God.
(37:33):
And the good news, the absolute good news is that
Jesus Christ paid that sin, paid that price rather for
our sin. He died. He rose again so that we
could have new life. And so what do you do today?
You put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
You acknowledge that he's not just it's not just that
there's something bigger out there. It's that you say, Jesus,
(37:56):
you are the way and the truth and the life.
And today I put my trust in you as Savior.
I confess that I'm a sinner, I turn, I repent,
I go a new way. Today I follow you. And
if by the power of the Holy Spirit that you
see it now, maybe you've never seen it before. But
today is the day that the Holy Spirit is making
(38:16):
that clear to you. I don't want to miss this
opportunity to tell you that today you can be made
right with God. And if that's you in the quiet
of your house or your car or wherever you happen
to find yourself, maybe you're on the train listening right now.
You can have that quiet moment with God where you say,
I am a sinner. I need a Savior. And today
(38:40):
I turn and I follow Jesus. I confess that I
need you, that I now see that there is no
life apart from you. Jesus, today I want to make
you not just my Lord, my Savior, and my friend.
(39:01):
I want to pray for you, Lord, for the person who.
Maybe there's just one. Maybe there's many who today are
seeing it for the first time. That there's no life
apart from you. Lord, I pray that you would just
flood their soul with such joy in your presence, God,
that as they're being made new Lord, that they would
experience that refreshment. The burden being lifted, the sin that
(39:25):
they've been carrying, being removed, becoming a new creation. Lord,
all of those things we know are happening right now
because of Jesus. So, Lord, would you would you bless
and cover and protect this person? Lord, would you bring
them quickly to a place where they could be connected
with other believers? Lord? Um, this word that's been deposited
(39:45):
in them. God, would you protect it? Lord? Let them
have roots that go down deep in you. Lord, I
thank you, Lord Jesus. I thank you for what you're
doing right now in my brother or sister, in Jesus name, Amen.
And today I can call you a brother or sister,
because now you are welcomed into the family of God.
So if that's you, just text the word new to
(40:08):
800 555 7898. Text new to 805, 55 7898. Want
to send you a resource that's going to give you
some encouragement, some practical next steps?
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In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.