July 31, 2023 • 37 mins
Today I interview Dr. Marina Hofman, the President of Partners For Family Values, a 501c3 nonprofit.
She’s Empowering her members to stand for faith, family, and freedom through education, action and community.
A survivor of a life-threatening trauma from a horrific car crash, made her question if God really loved her. But she didn’t give up.
She is one who has overcome debilitating limitations of anxiety and depression and daily doubts of even completing the simplest of tasks.
She has inspired millions with her incredible testimony of God’s redemption and the healing and the hope she has in Christ. She had her joy restored.
Women In The Bible, Small Group Bible Study. More info can be found at womeninthebible.info
Partnersforfamilyvalues.com
Instagram @marinahofman
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/maine-source-of-truth-podcast--5501107/support.
She’s Empowering her members to stand for faith, family, and freedom through education, action and community.
A survivor of a life-threatening trauma from a horrific car crash, made her question if God really loved her. But she didn’t give up.
She is one who has overcome debilitating limitations of anxiety and depression and daily doubts of even completing the simplest of tasks.
She has inspired millions with her incredible testimony of God’s redemption and the healing and the hope she has in Christ. She had her joy restored.
Women In The Bible, Small Group Bible Study. More info can be found at womeninthebible.info
Partnersforfamilyvalues.com
Instagram @marinahofman
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/maine-source-of-truth-podcast--5501107/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Today on the main Source of Truthpodcast, I interviewed doctor Marina Hoffman,
the president of Partners for Family Valuesof five oh one Seed three nonprofit.
She's empowering her members to stand forfaith, family and freedom through education,
action and community. She has TurningPoint Action as a partner. And that's
actually how we met on the floora few weeks ago in West Palm Beach.
She's a survivor of a life threateningtrauma from a horrific car crash,
(00:23):
which made her question if God reallyloved her, but she didn't give up.
She's one who's overcome debilitating limitations ofanxiety and depression. In those daily
doubts of even completing the simplest oftasks. She's inspired millions with her incredible
testimony of God's redemption and the healingand the hopes she has in Christ.
She had her joy restored in heryoung five year old daughter, Willow.
(00:44):
This is the main Source of Truthpodcast and very few parents upset anything,
but Sean mcbriarty did. Sean mcbriartyis in the foughtest of this today,
Sean pw pervasive as that in ourschool. Sean mcbriarty joins us now out
he just won this lawsuit and getsforty thousand dollars from the school board.
Good morning Shawn, his most dangerousdad. Apparently, how are you?
(01:07):
Are you being soon or were youdo buy a local distance for exposing the
transgender libraries? It's like, canyou explain to what would happen? Hey?
You are so with everything that's onenot to be disappopted, just like
outphol mail. Yeah, about theover sstralization of books and libraries at the
(01:29):
pool and it looked like you putthe handle on that. That's makes you
you support that? I ask youto support this podcast if you wanted to
continue, and if you want tohelp me with my legal expenses and god
willing illegal offense fund to help othersin need, please consider chipping in at
www dot Gibson, Goo dot com, slash Sean mcbriarty and now onto the
(01:51):
show, all right, folks atseason two, episode seventy one. It
is July thirty first, the lastday of July in twenty twenty three to
Marina Hoffman Partners for Family Values,and I asked her for a Bible verse
today. I do that at thebeginning of our podcasts and she mentioned Ephesians
three twenty now into him that isable to do exceedingly abundantly above all that
(02:15):
we ask or think, according tothe power that worketh in us. And
then I got a second one herebecause I listened to our guest story on
Unshackled about her brain injury, carcrash trauma, and trusting of God,
and she mentioned Philippians four thirteen,I can do all things through Christ,
(02:36):
who strengthened me. So I thoughtthat those are two pretty good, pretty
good Bible verses for today, andhopefully that I'll connect. So the only
update I'm gonna do today, andthis one's pretty I don't know, kind
of mind blowing. But this isthe state of Maine's education. So I
got this sent I think through theYork We've got a Facebook messenger group here
(02:58):
RSU twenty one school Board resignation notice, and I'm gonna try to read the
whole thing for you here, sosays this is the letter of This letter
serves as my Jamison Davis's resignation fromRSU twenty one school Board as a Friday,
July twenty eight, twenty twenty three. The following is a synopsis of
my decision and the reasons behind it. When I decided to run for the
(03:20):
Kenny bunk Port RSU twenty one schoolboard position, it was with my best
intentions. My comments around having thetime and the resources unlike others, are
and we're genuine. My decision toresign now is difficult. However, most
important role I have right now isas mother, and again that's going to
connect a little bit to our guestas well as I familiarize myself with the
(03:44):
current policies and procedures of the district. It has come clear that the priorities
of the RSU twenty one do notalign with our family. This district is
more concerned with di So that's diversity, equity and inclusion. Just as a
side note, I tell people tocall it diversity inclusion in equity because it's
killing our school systems. So shegoes on to say, then the traditional
(04:05):
education I had an optimistic view thatI could change or at least influence rational
discussions around the path or district ison. Unfortunately, this was not to
be the case. The district andadministration appeared to be irreparable. My husband
and I have the intention of sendingmy husband and I have no intention of
(04:26):
sending our children to the districts,so that's a good decision. My resources
were better spent making sure my childrenare supported, educated and loved in the
best way possible. We do notbelieve that this will be going through the
RSU twenty one district. My timeand energy will be focused on creating and
finding alternative learning sources resources for mychildren and then many many other families in
(04:46):
this district who do not agree withthe direction it is going in. I
cannot in good conscience support the extremeistthe extreme policies that have been implemented.
The pervasive d EI agenda in theerosion of parental rights serves only to insert
government where it does not belong.While I understand elections have consequences, it
is every elected officials responsibility to representthe entirety of their constituents at the very
(05:12):
least to foster open discussions and inclusion. This is not the case with the
current board. As a board member, I've been repeatedly berated and degraded by
fellow board members, both past andpresent. Additionally, I have repeatedly witnessed
community members being treated with disdain anddisrespect during public commentary at a recent board
meeting with board members and community membersberated and humiliated a constituent whose voicing concerns
(05:35):
over the current policies in the district. Not only was this out of order,
it was disgraceful behavior, unbecoming ofour elected officials. In so many
words, the community member was toldto sit down and shut up because the
comments represented the minority. How ironicthat the board who feels that we have
the power and authority to decide whichminorities they champion. The hypocrisy of the
(05:58):
board's attitude behavior is appalling. Soit's she says, I wish everybody the
best. I do not plan togo away completely, but my children are
and the core relationship must come first, especially when our district has bent on
creating policies, implementing curriculum and procedures, and encouraging trainings and readings that chip
away at the foundations of our society. For those who are interested, I
(06:20):
will be working to better understand schoolchoice and how we can implement that essential
right in our district. Across thestate. This will allow families to meaningfully
explore other educational options and hopefully helpto check the disgusting power. Our education
system has a massed under the guiseof what's best for the students. So
(06:42):
again, pretty powerful resignation notice there. And again this is from Jamison Davis,
RSU twenty one in Kenny Bunkport,Maine. And it's really multifaceted.
So one she leaves a seat oncekept by her a conservative, I assume
she's conservative to now be open foranother liberal to be placed in that seat.
(07:03):
And then the other thing is shecan no longer throw sand in the
gears. That's one of the thingsI've really been trying to tell school board
members like Jamison, Hey, youmight be the only one, but it's
your job to throw sand in thegears. Slow down the machine, slow
down the school from imposing its radicalizedfar left agenda, and really hope that
(07:24):
other parents can continue to support andreally step up to the plate. Now.
I don't blame her the reasoning sound, but it's too bad for any
hopes of any other parents in theKennybunkport main area. And I just say
to people all the time, Listen, you need to pull your kids now.
You have less than thirty days tomake a plan to pull your kids
(07:46):
before fall or you just keep rollingthe dice and hoping that little Billy is
going to come home one day andnot want to be called Karen. And
when that comes to your door,when that evil knocks on your door,
it's too late. So I wantto welcome our next guest. She's a
professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University andsomeone who knows Hebrew. A survivor of
a life threatening trauma from a horrificcar crash, and it made her question
(08:09):
if God really loved her, butshe didn't give up. She is one
who has overcome debilitating limitations of anxietyand depression in daily doubts of even completing
the simplest tasks. After her accident, She's inspired millions with her incredible testimony
of God's redemption and the healing andhope she has in Christ. She had
her joy restored her five year olddaughter, a miracle in itself inspires her
(08:31):
to stand for truth and champion forwomen and girls. She loves to do
puzzles with her daughter, which Ithink is great. Now an advocate for
freedom, she instills courage by highlightingexamples of women in the Bible. A
media expert providing insightful biblical perspectives ofcurrent issues, women's issues in parenting.
She is a community organizer and evenco owns a publishing company. She is
(08:52):
an award winning author of the bookWomen in the Bible small group Bible Study.
More information on that can be foundat Women in the Bible dot info.
She's the president of Partners for FamilyValues at five oh one c three
nonprofit empowering her members to stand forfaith, family and freedom through education,
action and community. And she hasTurning Point Action as her partner, and
(09:13):
that's our connection. So she's onInstagram at Marina Hoffman with one F.
I welcome doctor Marina Hoffman to theMain Source of Truth podcast. I really
appreciate you joining us today for thelisteners. We met at Turning Point Action
conference a few weeks ago and hada chance to sit down with Partners for
(09:35):
Family Values and you got to heara little to my story about fighting for
parents, education and our First Amendmentrights. So I figured it'd be great
to kind of have a chance tohave our listeners listen to your inspiring story.
And one of the things that wedid talk about a little bit there
in Florida is that you know Mainein America has a crisis in the classroom.
(09:56):
At this point, the K throughtwelve public school system is a mess,
and it's I mean, you know, the pornography being pushed into the
library in the far left, politicalcontent being pushed in the classroom. Things
just aren't looking good for our nextgeneration of students. And I think I'm
going to mention down there in May. And only one in three kids are
proficient in English in the K throughtwelve public schools, and only one in
four kids are proficient in math.And that's kind of what the MBA Teachers
(10:18):
Union, in the Main School ManagementAssociation, and the Department of Education they're
all doing is making our children theleast educated generation in American history. So
you have a five year old daughterto think about. Now, tell me
a little bit about your choice forschooling and kind of, you know,
sort of some of the mental gymnasticsyou and your husband went through to kind
of think about how to make thiswork right. It's so great to be
(10:39):
on here, so Sean, andit was lovely to meet you and interview
you at turning point. It's truemy daughter is five now. And it's
interesting because you said a little bitabout the accent I was in. So
it was really a miracle that Icould get pregnant and that I have the
life of Willow. So I thinkthat started me off on a path that
(11:01):
was very invested from the beginning,and I wanted to raise her very naturally.
I was aware of the impact evenon Wi Fi and all these things.
So from the very get goals,very hands on type of parent.
And when she hit two, Imean, she was so little and innocent
and sweet. I couldn't imagine puttingher in school. I felt the same
as three and at four, andI still feel it at five. And
(11:24):
I think the reason I'm choosing notto put her in public schools because I
really cherished every minute we have togetherand whatever the challenges are, it's well
worth it. So Sean, thatput us on a path of needing to
figure out how to homeschool if Iwas going to have a close relationship with
her. Yeah, I think,you know, homeschool, certainly in Maine
(11:46):
has been on the rise. It'sbeen on the rise across the country.
And it used to be that thehomeschool kids were kind of like the odd
kids, and now it seems likethe odd kids are the ones that are
still trapped in the public school.So tell me a little bit about your
challenges in home schooling, Like,what are some of the things that maybe
you wrestled with initially. I've hearda lot of really positive things from homeschool
(12:07):
moms here in Maine, and acouple of them kind of said, as
a parent, you just have tokind of jump out of the airplane without
a parachute and then they'll catch youon the way down. Is that kind
of how you guys felt, youand your husband about homeschooling. Well,
I was. It's funny because I'ma university professor and I have a post
doctorate in teaching, so you'd thinki'd be confident. I really should have
been, but I wasn't at all. I was so nervous, and I
(12:31):
was nervous about everything. But onethere's one moment where she was you could
say, delayed in walking. Soshe's sixteen months old, she's still not
walking, and everyone is ridiculing meand telling me, you know, strangers
telling me what exercises I need tobe doing with her, and I just
thought it was so ridiculous. Ifigured that she has working leg so the
chance of her learning to walk andher good time is about one hundred percent,
(12:54):
and of course she walks. SoI tried to apply that to homeschooling
and say, what's the chance thatshe will be reading and writing and functioning
by time she's eighteen and ready foruniversity? For pretty much one hundred percent?
And there was a little I feltpressure. But I have a friend
named San Sorbro. I'm sure thatyou know her. A lot of your
(13:16):
audience would know her. She's afriend of mine. She said, you
know what, you don't need acurriculum until they're you know, six or
seven, So just relax and enjoylife, be part in nature. And
that's what I did shown And hereI am saying all this at the same
time. She's brilliant. She doesall kinds of maths, she buys stuff,
counts the change, and she canread out about a grade two three
levels. So the beauty of homeschoolfor me is that I could relax,
(13:41):
and the talent was that I neededto keep remembering that I'm sufficient, that
I'm enough, that we'll make itthrough together, and to remember what's much
more important than memorizing things for schoolis to become a good person, a
kind person. I'm a person offace, so I want to bring her
up to love the Lord. Andwhen I what's my focus, sho,
(14:01):
everything started to fall into place.Well, it's interesting, you know.
I mean, you're a doctor,so you have a doctorate. You know,
you have this this educational background,and it is interesting to see or
hear that even you had some anxietyabout this. But I really think you
know. And my twins. Ithink I told you on the phone.
My twins are almost twenty one,so I'm on a different, you know,
sort of side of parenting. Butif I would have known then what
(14:24):
I know now about what's going onin these schools, I would have quit
my job and figured it out.And you know, parents really go through
this. I don't know this burdenof trying to make these life altering decisions.
But talk a little bit more aboutsome of the rewards. I mean,
you mentioned you don't really use acurriculum, and I think you know
from what I've read at this point, it's really the basics. And I've
(14:46):
also read that in a number ofcases, the homeschooling kids are three or
four grades above their same peer group. And you know that are in public
school, so so maybe focus alittle bit more on the rewards and and
just some of those things. Howdo you kind of make up your day
and given all of the other thingsthat you have working, you know,
how many hours a day do youkind of invest into your daughter's school and
(15:07):
sort of you know, tell usa little bit about the normal day in
your household. Well, it's interestingbecause certainly the challenges are related to the
reward. I'll sit back for aminute and say, one challenge was getting
her to sit down and work,and it just wouldn't happen. She had
no interest in it. But it'samazing, piece by piece we worked it
out her. She's like one ofthe main reasons I figure things out.
(15:30):
She said, Mom, if youput me in the stroller, I'll read.
Now. Sean has to tell you, when she was a baby,
I always held her. So thisstroller was in our attict Dusty unused and
yet knew as when she was threeand a half. But she says to
needs she puts her. So Ijust tried it. I put her in
this stroller and it was amazing becauseI get to do my exercise she's in
the stroller. And she starts toread, she starts struggling through it.
(15:52):
So to this day, we justlive life and incorporate the things she needs
to learn into life. And everyday I go for about a thirty minute
walk and I push her in thisdroll or that she barely fits, and
she loves it, and she'll readthree, four or five books during that
time. So I think something beautifulabout homeschool is that moms, we know
(16:14):
our children, we know what worksfor our children, and we're willing to
learn to adapt to them and tounderstand them, and then we build school
around that instead of the reverse.So I do know any kids that enjoy
sitting for hours still without fidgeting ata death? Of course not. That's
not what the human body is madefor. So how beautiful to have homeschool.
(16:34):
And that's just one example of howit works for us, what our
day is like. And you know, I have a couple of jobs,
I have work to do, soagain that's another challenge we face, but
it's rewarding because I get to domy work, to prepare my lessons to
do writing while she sits beside medoing her activities. Of course, I'm
(16:55):
constantly interrupted that's a talent, butit's also a reward. I mean,
despite working at the same time,I feel like we get to spend every
minute together and we both love itso much. Well, that's so cool.
I mean, so the strollers kindof like her learning pod. She
gets in there and she's able toshut things out and really focus on her
(17:15):
work. And obviously you know thatwon't work forever because she'll get bigger,
But I think that's that's a prettygood idea, just to kind of say,
hey, look, when you're inthere, that's that's your learning time.
And again you get to have thebenefits of being able to walk and
kind of clear your mind is atthe same time. Now, one of
the things UM families have really struggledwith, and really since nineteen sixty two
when the Bible got taken out ofschool, things have kind of gone in
(17:37):
the toilet ever since. But um, you know, religion is not in
the school anymore unless you count thatsort of trans cult practice is happening.
That's you know, in the schoolsnow, But how do parents work to
incorporate faith at home? And maybetell us a little bit what you've done
with Willow and trying to really emulatethat and model that provides some examples to
(17:59):
your daughter. Yeah, that's ahuge challenge and I get it all the
time. I talk to parents whoknow that faith is so important. They
have faith, they want faith fortheir children, but they feel like there's
a big gap. And Sean,we're not helped anymore by the school system
because faith has been cut out fromthe school as if we can raise good
children without having a spiritual element towho they are. So now it's up
(18:22):
to the parents. I think that'sthe starting point saying if whether or not
our kids are in school, publicschool, or homeschool, whatever the setup
is, we as a mom anddad, we are responsible for raising our
children in the way of the Lord. And then second of all, I
think we need to look to ourselves. What do we want our kids to
be like? And are we emulatingthat? Are we the model? Because
(18:45):
our modeling us faith and our lovefor God and our habits, that is
going to teach kids more than we'llever say. So I think that's a
massive challenge we all face for meto day to day challenge saying what kind
of person do I want Willow tobe? And in terms of faith,
I want her to be patient andkind, and good and generous, all
(19:06):
the fruits of the spirit. Sothat means John that I need to constantly
be reflecting those myself, and asI grow in my face, as I
pray myself, as I try totake the situations of challenges that we have
as a family to the Lord,my daughter picks up on that and becomes
part of it. So it's verybeautiful. I can give many stories of
(19:30):
times where we face the challenge inour family and she's the one that says,
let's pray about it. And theabsolute often wonder of seeing God answer
her little prayers and how deeply thatimpacted me. But I think it starts
with acknowledging we need to take thatresponsibility, then creating the values within ourselves
that we want our children to follow. Yeah, no doubt, and I'm
(19:52):
catching up. I started going backto church. It'll be two years ago
Halloween actually, which is kind offunny from a timing perspective. But the
good thing is that my wife hasalways volunteered at church. She'd always brought
the girls in. They did alot of things in the church, and
I think that really gave them afoundation. And you've you know, one
of the things that I think I'ma pretty good, you know, read
of character, and as soon asI met you a turning point, you
(20:15):
seem so genuine, which was reallycool, and that kind of drew me
towards you. But one of thethings that you know, you had went
gone through a really challenging peace inyour life, obviously with a car accident,
and you really were doubting your placein kind of God's universe. So
tell us a little bit about yourbook Women in the Bible, small group
(20:36):
Bible study and sort of how thatties into teaching children examples from the Bible
and sort of those struggles and howGod can help, you know, really
create miracles in these situations. Yeah, the car crash I was in in
my recovery coincided with the shutdown ofCOVID, So I feel like I was
doing pretty good. I was comingback strong, getting better, and then
(20:57):
all of a sudden, COVID hitsand I relive all the trauma, isolated,
alone, depressed, and I thinkI tumbled maybe a bit quicker than
others because it was already threatening methere having gone through a major trauma.
So it was during that time whereI looked around and I lost so many
friends. So that's a whole otherdiscussion. But how sad that so many
(21:18):
people just cut off friendships. AndI looked to the Bible. I reread
these stories that I had studied froman academic perspective, and I read the
stories looking for companionship, for modelsfor friendship and women in the Bible,
and it was powerful how God impactedmy life from just being a reader and
the setting aside a bit of myacademics. So then I came full circle
(21:42):
and created this Bible study where reallyit's not written by me. I feel
like I'm more of a facilitator tohelp other women see how incredible these mothers,
these models of faithfulness are in theBible, and how we can be
challenged by them, that encouraged bythem, inspired by them, and really
(22:03):
to realize that, like us,they were ordinary women who said yes to
God and did something extraordinary. SoI wrote it for women and I can
sahun. So many moms have comeback and said it impacted their daughters because
they were able to pass on thosestories and do the studies with their daughters.
And I think that's so important.Again, we're talking about how can
we incorporate faith into the lives ofour children. Our children need to know
(22:27):
that God used David, Noah,Abraham, all those people, but also
God used women, and women alsohave an important role in models in molding
our children. Yeah, no doubt. And one of the things that really
I've been focused on here in Maineand trying to help other parents across the
country is the really the crisis ofyouth that's going on in our school system
(22:52):
and just this you know, reallyconfusing time. You know, we're seeing
a lot of this, you know, transgenderism proliferate through our school systems,
and it's just horrifying what's going on. But talk a little bit about one
of the things that you know youhad written me was really believing in yourself
and really trying to get filled withthe Holy Spirit and those kind of things.
(23:15):
Talk a little bit about affirming ouryouth and trying to really get them
to understand that the foundational aspects ofthe Bible and the foundational aspects of God
and having a relationship with God issomething that's so important for them to continue
going forward. Yeah, you know, the world tells you to have confidence
in yourself that you can do allthings that you're amazing, and I don't
(23:37):
think that empowers our youth. Ithink much better to take the focus off
of ourselves and to answer our identityin God. So the person God made
our used to be, that's enough. That is something we can confirm in
them, and that they don't needto change anything of who God made them
to be. They don't need tobecome a superstar, they don't need to
(23:59):
follow the way of the influencers intheir life, but just to instead to
the life path of saying, whodid God make me to be? And
how can I fulfill my calling fromthe Lord? How can I be the
best I can be? And Ithink, Sean, you'll really you'll recognize
it. I really try to livethat out myself. And I have to
say it is so much easier forMarina to being myself instead of trying to
(24:22):
be someone else, which I cannever be. So I think it's a
very empowering method. It's one ofconfidence, but not in ourselves, confidence
in the Lord. And the beautyis that if we are strong, that's
wonderful. God will use us ina mighty way. But if we are
weak, then we're even stronger.Because then it's God's strength and God's power
(24:44):
at work within us. Yeah,that makes sense, and I think you
know good points. You know,what I see the schools are pushing today
is more of that individual identity basedalmost narcissism. Really, like we're creating
kids that believe the world revolves aroundthem instead of, you know, their
place within the universe, which isreally disappointing. You know, I believe
in teaching anybody that they can beall they can be kind of you know,
(25:07):
those kind of scenarios, but justthe narcissism, the sexual narcissism really
that's happening is just it's so Idon't know, it's upsetting to me as
a father, and especially as afather of young women. What are some
words of encouragement to parents that youknow you might have again? You know,
I think your story is very inspiring. It's something that I'm so glad
(25:27):
that. What I talk a lotabout is sometimes God puts you in these
situations where just by freak happenstance.You know, we met at that Turning
Point conference and had a really gooddiscussion, and like I said, I
really kind of was drawn to youbecause of just the way that you presented
yourself. But you know, whatare what are those kind of words that
(25:47):
parents maybe that are on the fence, they're not really sure. I mean,
parents in Maine have less than thirtydays to come up with a plan
to pull their kids out of theseschools before the fall semester starts. So
what are things that you'd tell parentsin Maine or maybe parents across the country,
you know, to really, Iguess, get that little nudge or
that gentle word of encouragement that theymight need. You know. I love
(26:11):
this story of as I think ofhow great she was. Story of Esther
is her uncle Mordecai. And ifany of us feel like we are not
good enough, we can't do itall, look a look at Mordecai.
He had to step in because somethinghappened to Esther's parents. So he's not
(26:32):
the mother, he's not the father, He's just the uncle. Right,
he's on the prephrey, and yethe steps up, he empowers her.
Another thing son Mordecai could have done, could have stepped in to save Israel.
And I say that because he wasalready close to the king, but
he decided to humble himself and insteadto elevate Esther and look at the results
(26:52):
of what Esther, what God didthrough Esther's life to save Israel. And
I say that as a word ofencouragement because that's the role we have as
parents. We have these young peoplein our lives who have incredible potential,
and yet they need us. Theyneed wisdom, they need encouragement, they
need words like the power for wordsand Mordecai to call Esther to take a
risk, to do something great thatpeople we are looking to her to be
(27:15):
a leader. So I think thisis what we can model ourselves after as
parents. And for anyone who's doubtingwhether or not they can homeschool, they
can. That was the original plan. You know, this idea of public
school is very recent in humanity.And if you look at them, even
before fathers who started America, doyou know how they learned how to read
(27:38):
their mothers. Their mothers taught themhow to read at home with the old
king James Virgins. Can you imagine? So people have homeschooled for all of
life, and we still homeschool.Every single parent is a homeschool parent.
They're teaching their kids at home.But it's just a case of how much
how much time are you going toinvest in your kids versus put them in
(28:00):
the system and give that responsibility toothers. So whatever role parents have,
use it to the most possible.To take every minute you have with your
child to invest in who they are, to listen to them, to be
present. And in terms of howmuch time you're going to give it to
others, I mean, you knowmy life's choice. I say, keep
them out of the system, findother parents and partner. A lot of
(28:22):
parents can't homeschool, they have tothey need two incomes. But we need
to get back to community, Sean, who are who's in our lives?
Do we have grandparents and uncle's neighbors, other people from the church, get
involved, go to church and talkto they're the little kids pastors and say,
how can we create something at ourchurch to help families that can't go
(28:45):
down to one income? How canwe do it together? How can we
create a community to save these kids? Yeah, no doubt. And I
wanted to make sure again folks knowWomen in the Bible small group Bible study.
It's available at Women in the Bibledot foe. It's available at my
store and if use the code Faiththat'll give you a little bit of a
discount off of that. Can youtell tell listeners here a little bit about
(29:08):
your work with Partners for Family Values? How did that all come into play?
It's Partners for Family Values dot comright, Well, really happened when
they announced monkey Pocks. I thinkit was March a year and a half
ago now, and they said theywere going to shut us down again,
and Sean, I almost had abreakdown. I knew that I could not
(29:30):
go through it again, very seriously, I would have a mental breakdown if
I was in another a lockdown.So I called three friends who loved me,
who I loved, who were happyfor us to stay together. They
all had little kids. I said, let's get together and just sit down
and put together a plan or talkabout how we feel like we need to
get together and just meet. Sowe did, and fifteen people showed up.
(29:52):
Everyone just invited others, these fifteenincredible women, some moms I'm not,
and we formed a community and inno time we grew to two three
hundred families, and through the communityand their sisterhoods that we had supporting each
other, we pulled ourselves out ofthe depression. The loneliness, the anxiety
of those days, and as Ican say, Sean became healed. We
(30:15):
said, what are we going todo now? We have this amazing group,
we're connected, we're doing all theseactivities in our community. We decided
to have an outreach to the youth, and we decided to partner with whoever
was willing to support us to bea voice for family values here in Palm
Beach County. And I can evensay there's cities around us now who are
wanting us to run youth events forthem and to invest in the youth and
(30:40):
to give them the sense of communityso they know they're not alone, even
when they feel like they're the onlyconservative, the only Christian at their school,
or they don't have many friends intheir homeschool, whatever their situations,
we want them to know we supportthem. Yeah. And one of the
pieces on the web page here islooking at the community is essential to us.
It's the foundation for them for usto take action to defend family values
(31:02):
and help us combat the forces thatlead to depression, anxiety, loneliness,
and fear. And as we standtogether and support each other, we are
best suited to take action for ourfamilies now you have an event coming up
with the Christian Business Association of PalmBeaches. I guess it looks like it's
the August Breakfast event on August eleventhat North Palm Beach Country Club. So
that's that's a pretty cool deal,and it looks like you'd be giving kind
(31:26):
of a speech there. Yes,I'm going to be sharing a lot of
the same things I share today,just the real importance of having community and
grounding ourselves in God. If Godis our identity in our mission is from
the Lord, I think that cangive us the boldness in business. But
for our topic to be homeschool parents. If this is God's plan for our
(31:47):
life, then we might have someanxieties and fears, but we still need
to make the choice to move forward. Sean, have you ever spent a
day that you weren't afraid of something? You know, there's this kind of
sense that Christians need to be tonot be afraid. The Bible says in
certain moments, don't be afraid.But God has also given us fear.
Right. It's a warning. It'skind of a caution to get out of
(32:08):
a bad situation, to maybe notgo down a dark street when we're young,
so fear is not bad. Butwe need to face our fears and
that's how we find courage. Yeah, no doubt. It's the choices that
you make from that fear that ultimatelykind of reference the rest of your life.
But and I was going through thewebsite. You've got some great t
shirts at Partners for Family Values dotcom slash store and one of the ones
(32:31):
I saw that really caught my eyefaith Family Freedom with the American flag,
which was which was pretty cool.So I really appreciate your time today.
I think your story is very inspiringto others. I'm hoping that people will
listen to this and say, hey, look if she could do it even
with the anxiety that you had inthe beginning with your little one. And
(32:52):
you know, that's that's something thatI think again all parents need. They
just need a little bit of wordsof encouragement, a little bit of a
push and to take that take thatleap of faith. That's right, John,
I'm so glad that's exactly how Ifeel. And you know what,
we need to take the leap offaith and find a friend to come along
with us if we don't have one, you know, go to the church,
speak out someone from a church thathas a like views as you like
(33:14):
minded, and give it to theLord in prayer. You know, homeschooling
is not about just me and mydaughter Willow, and includes my husband,
the Lord who helps us, ourcommunity, even my neighbor. She's really
supportive, she's a grandmother. Sothere's a whole community out there. God
does not want us to do italone. Yeah, no doubt. Well,
thank you very much, and I'mglad we were able to spend the
(33:36):
time. I'm going to put youon hold here for a second so we
can talk a little bit after,but thanks again for joining us, and
I really appreciate it. Thank youall right, hold on, So in
closing, Marina's story is truly inspiring. I hope folks got some really good
information out of that. You know. It's it's a shame that we only
do these these, you know,twenty five minute interviews. But I was
(33:57):
so happy to have met her atturning Point and just kind of bumped into
each other, uh and uh andher friend as well, and just sort
of started chatting a little bit aboutyou know, some of the things that
we've been doing and the other piecesI think you know, for homeschool parents
to remember, you can accomplish inabout three hours at any time during the
day or night, you know,any time you want to move those times
(34:20):
around, and you don't have todo it all in the same increment.
I mean you could, you coulddo three hours, you know, in
one hour increments. You do thesame thing that that kid trapped in a
brick building for seven hours sitting theretrying to you know, work out all
of the again mental gymnastics that hasto go through with understanding what these these
teachers are just pushing nonsense on thesekids. Nowadays there is nothing really you
(34:45):
know again the basics of education ornot being focused on because it's this just
neo political nonsense from the left,the far left. So again, in
three hours, you can accomplish thingsthat would take you know, seven or
eight hours to do. And thereare you know, some options for sports
and other things. You know.Again, if anybody has any questions,
(35:06):
just reach out to me. I'vegot some great folks here locally in the
Hampton area Hamton bangor Main area thatyou know, we can talk to if
you need any more help to makethat decision. But again, parents,
you've got less than thirty days nowbefore the next semester starts, and I
really hope you start pulling your kidsout, because the problem is is when
evil comes and knocks on your door, it's too late. Your kid has
(35:30):
probably already been taken by the transcultor some of these again far left extremists
that are running these schools. Andagain on the Main Source of Truth Facebook
page, I literally have hundreds andhundreds of examples in main alone about what's
going on. So anyway, Iappreciate, appreciate you listening, and I
hope you're having a good day.I'm gonna take a few days off.
(35:52):
We're gonna take a little side byside four wheeler trip up to the county
for a few days, and I'llprobably still be on social media at night.
But I really appreciate Marina joining us, and I hope you also enjoyed
it too. Round them Round themoff, led School, Round them up.
(36:16):
Let all right. That was ShineDown. This was the Main Source
(36:45):
of Truth podcast. Search for theshow on Facebook and give us a like.
I've been your host. Sean mcbriarty, Follow me on Twitter, Truth
Social and YouTube. We're working hardto keep the truth alive and we'd love
to have you donated. Give usend go slash, Sean mcbriarty, PayPal
or venmo. I hope you enjoyedthe show
Today on the main Source of Truthpodcast, I interviewed doctor Marina Hoffman,
the president of Partners for Family Valuesof five oh one Seed three nonprofit.
She's empowering her members to stand forfaith, family and freedom through education,
action and community. She has TurningPoint Action as a partner. And that's
actually how we met on the floora few weeks ago in West Palm Beach.
She's a survivor of a life threateningtrauma from a horrific car crash,
(00:23):
which made her question if God reallyloved her, but she didn't give up.
She's one who's overcome debilitating limitations ofanxiety and depression. In those daily
doubts of even completing the simplest oftasks. She's inspired millions with her incredible
testimony of God's redemption and the healingand the hopes she has in Christ.
She had her joy restored in heryoung five year old daughter, Willow.
(00:44):
This is the main Source of Truthpodcast and very few parents upset anything,
but Sean mcbriarty did. Sean mcbriartyis in the foughtest of this today,
Sean pw pervasive as that in ourschool. Sean mcbriarty joins us now out
he just won this lawsuit and getsforty thousand dollars from the school board.
Good morning Shawn, his most dangerousdad. Apparently, how are you?
(01:07):
Are you being soon or were youdo buy a local distance for exposing the
transgender libraries? It's like, canyou explain to what would happen? Hey?
You are so with everything that's onenot to be disappopted, just like
outphol mail. Yeah, about theover sstralization of books and libraries at the
(01:29):
pool and it looked like you putthe handle on that. That's makes you
you support that? I ask youto support this podcast if you wanted to
continue, and if you want tohelp me with my legal expenses and god
willing illegal offense fund to help othersin need, please consider chipping in at
www dot Gibson, Goo dot com, slash Sean mcbriarty and now onto the
(01:51):
show, all right, folks atseason two, episode seventy one. It
is July thirty first, the lastday of July in twenty twenty three to
Marina Hoffman Partners for Family Values,and I asked her for a Bible verse
today. I do that at thebeginning of our podcasts and she mentioned Ephesians
three twenty now into him that isable to do exceedingly abundantly above all that
(02:15):
we ask or think, according tothe power that worketh in us. And
then I got a second one herebecause I listened to our guest story on
Unshackled about her brain injury, carcrash trauma, and trusting of God,
and she mentioned Philippians four thirteen,I can do all things through Christ,
(02:36):
who strengthened me. So I thoughtthat those are two pretty good, pretty
good Bible verses for today, andhopefully that I'll connect. So the only
update I'm gonna do today, andthis one's pretty I don't know, kind
of mind blowing. But this isthe state of Maine's education. So I
got this sent I think through theYork We've got a Facebook messenger group here
(02:58):
RSU twenty one school Board resignation notice, and I'm gonna try to read the
whole thing for you here, sosays this is the letter of This letter
serves as my Jamison Davis's resignation fromRSU twenty one school Board as a Friday,
July twenty eight, twenty twenty three. The following is a synopsis of
my decision and the reasons behind it. When I decided to run for the
(03:20):
Kenny bunk Port RSU twenty one schoolboard position, it was with my best
intentions. My comments around having thetime and the resources unlike others, are
and we're genuine. My decision toresign now is difficult. However, most
important role I have right now isas mother, and again that's going to
connect a little bit to our guestas well as I familiarize myself with the
(03:44):
current policies and procedures of the district. It has come clear that the priorities
of the RSU twenty one do notalign with our family. This district is
more concerned with di So that's diversity, equity and inclusion. Just as a
side note, I tell people tocall it diversity inclusion in equity because it's
killing our school systems. So shegoes on to say, then the traditional
(04:05):
education I had an optimistic view thatI could change or at least influence rational
discussions around the path or district ison. Unfortunately, this was not to
be the case. The district andadministration appeared to be irreparable. My husband
and I have the intention of sendingmy husband and I have no intention of
(04:26):
sending our children to the districts,so that's a good decision. My resources
were better spent making sure my childrenare supported, educated and loved in the
best way possible. We do notbelieve that this will be going through the
RSU twenty one district. My timeand energy will be focused on creating and
finding alternative learning sources resources for mychildren and then many many other families in
(04:46):
this district who do not agree withthe direction it is going in. I
cannot in good conscience support the extremeistthe extreme policies that have been implemented.
The pervasive d EI agenda in theerosion of parental rights serves only to insert
government where it does not belong.While I understand elections have consequences, it
is every elected officials responsibility to representthe entirety of their constituents at the very
(05:12):
least to foster open discussions and inclusion. This is not the case with the
current board. As a board member, I've been repeatedly berated and degraded by
fellow board members, both past andpresent. Additionally, I have repeatedly witnessed
community members being treated with disdain anddisrespect during public commentary at a recent board
meeting with board members and community membersberated and humiliated a constituent whose voicing concerns
(05:35):
over the current policies in the district. Not only was this out of order,
it was disgraceful behavior, unbecoming ofour elected officials. In so many
words, the community member was toldto sit down and shut up because the
comments represented the minority. How ironicthat the board who feels that we have
the power and authority to decide whichminorities they champion. The hypocrisy of the
(05:58):
board's attitude behavior is appalling. Soit's she says, I wish everybody the
best. I do not plan togo away completely, but my children are
and the core relationship must come first, especially when our district has bent on
creating policies, implementing curriculum and procedures, and encouraging trainings and readings that chip
away at the foundations of our society. For those who are interested, I
(06:20):
will be working to better understand schoolchoice and how we can implement that essential
right in our district. Across thestate. This will allow families to meaningfully
explore other educational options and hopefully helpto check the disgusting power. Our education
system has a massed under the guiseof what's best for the students. So
(06:42):
again, pretty powerful resignation notice there. And again this is from Jamison Davis,
RSU twenty one in Kenny Bunkport,Maine. And it's really multifaceted.
So one she leaves a seat oncekept by her a conservative, I assume
she's conservative to now be open foranother liberal to be placed in that seat.
(07:03):
And then the other thing is shecan no longer throw sand in the
gears. That's one of the thingsI've really been trying to tell school board
members like Jamison, Hey, youmight be the only one, but it's
your job to throw sand in thegears. Slow down the machine, slow
down the school from imposing its radicalizedfar left agenda, and really hope that
(07:24):
other parents can continue to support andreally step up to the plate. Now.
I don't blame her the reasoning sound, but it's too bad for any
hopes of any other parents in theKennybunkport main area. And I just say
to people all the time, Listen, you need to pull your kids now.
You have less than thirty days tomake a plan to pull your kids
(07:46):
before fall or you just keep rollingthe dice and hoping that little Billy is
going to come home one day andnot want to be called Karen. And
when that comes to your door,when that evil knocks on your door,
it's too late. So I wantto welcome our next guest. She's a
professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University andsomeone who knows Hebrew. A survivor of
a life threatening trauma from a horrificcar crash, and it made her question
(08:09):
if God really loved her, butshe didn't give up. She is one
who has overcome debilitating limitations of anxietyand depression in daily doubts of even completing
the simplest tasks. After her accident, She's inspired millions with her incredible testimony
of God's redemption and the healing andhope she has in Christ. She had
her joy restored her five year olddaughter, a miracle in itself inspires her
(08:31):
to stand for truth and champion forwomen and girls. She loves to do
puzzles with her daughter, which Ithink is great. Now an advocate for
freedom, she instills courage by highlightingexamples of women in the Bible. A
media expert providing insightful biblical perspectives ofcurrent issues, women's issues in parenting.
She is a community organizer and evenco owns a publishing company. She is
(08:52):
an award winning author of the bookWomen in the Bible small group Bible Study.
More information on that can be foundat Women in the Bible dot info.
She's the president of Partners for FamilyValues at five oh one c three
nonprofit empowering her members to stand forfaith, family and freedom through education,
action and community. And she hasTurning Point Action as her partner, and
(09:13):
that's our connection. So she's onInstagram at Marina Hoffman with one F.
I welcome doctor Marina Hoffman to theMain Source of Truth podcast. I really
appreciate you joining us today for thelisteners. We met at Turning Point Action
conference a few weeks ago and hada chance to sit down with Partners for
(09:35):
Family Values and you got to heara little to my story about fighting for
parents, education and our First Amendmentrights. So I figured it'd be great
to kind of have a chance tohave our listeners listen to your inspiring story.
And one of the things that wedid talk about a little bit there
in Florida is that you know Mainein America has a crisis in the classroom.
(09:56):
At this point, the K throughtwelve public school system is a mess,
and it's I mean, you know, the pornography being pushed into the
library in the far left, politicalcontent being pushed in the classroom. Things
just aren't looking good for our nextgeneration of students. And I think I'm
going to mention down there in May. And only one in three kids are
proficient in English in the K throughtwelve public schools, and only one in
four kids are proficient in math.And that's kind of what the MBA Teachers
(10:18):
Union, in the Main School ManagementAssociation, and the Department of Education they're
all doing is making our children theleast educated generation in American history. So
you have a five year old daughterto think about. Now, tell me
a little bit about your choice forschooling and kind of, you know,
sort of some of the mental gymnasticsyou and your husband went through to kind
of think about how to make thiswork right. It's so great to be
(10:39):
on here, so Sean, andit was lovely to meet you and interview
you at turning point. It's truemy daughter is five now. And it's
interesting because you said a little bitabout the accent I was in. So
it was really a miracle that Icould get pregnant and that I have the
life of Willow. So I thinkthat started me off on a path that
(11:01):
was very invested from the beginning,and I wanted to raise her very naturally.
I was aware of the impact evenon Wi Fi and all these things.
So from the very get goals,very hands on type of parent.
And when she hit two, Imean, she was so little and innocent
and sweet. I couldn't imagine puttingher in school. I felt the same
as three and at four, andI still feel it at five. And
(11:24):
I think the reason I'm choosing notto put her in public schools because I
really cherished every minute we have togetherand whatever the challenges are, it's well
worth it. So Sean, thatput us on a path of needing to
figure out how to homeschool if Iwas going to have a close relationship with
her. Yeah, I think,you know, homeschool, certainly in Maine
(11:46):
has been on the rise. It'sbeen on the rise across the country.
And it used to be that thehomeschool kids were kind of like the odd
kids, and now it seems likethe odd kids are the ones that are
still trapped in the public school.So tell me a little bit about your
challenges in home schooling, Like,what are some of the things that maybe
you wrestled with initially. I've hearda lot of really positive things from homeschool
(12:07):
moms here in Maine, and acouple of them kind of said, as
a parent, you just have tokind of jump out of the airplane without
a parachute and then they'll catch youon the way down. Is that kind
of how you guys felt, youand your husband about homeschooling. Well,
I was. It's funny because I'ma university professor and I have a post
doctorate in teaching, so you'd thinki'd be confident. I really should have
been, but I wasn't at all. I was so nervous, and I
(12:31):
was nervous about everything. But onethere's one moment where she was you could
say, delayed in walking. Soshe's sixteen months old, she's still not
walking, and everyone is ridiculing meand telling me, you know, strangers
telling me what exercises I need tobe doing with her, and I just
thought it was so ridiculous. Ifigured that she has working leg so the
chance of her learning to walk andher good time is about one hundred percent,
(12:54):
and of course she walks. SoI tried to apply that to homeschooling
and say, what's the chance thatshe will be reading and writing and functioning
by time she's eighteen and ready foruniversity? For pretty much one hundred percent?
And there was a little I feltpressure. But I have a friend
named San Sorbro. I'm sure thatyou know her. A lot of your
(13:16):
audience would know her. She's afriend of mine. She said, you
know what, you don't need acurriculum until they're you know, six or
seven, So just relax and enjoylife, be part in nature. And
that's what I did shown And hereI am saying all this at the same
time. She's brilliant. She doesall kinds of maths, she buys stuff,
counts the change, and she canread out about a grade two three
levels. So the beauty of homeschoolfor me is that I could relax,
(13:41):
and the talent was that I neededto keep remembering that I'm sufficient, that
I'm enough, that we'll make itthrough together, and to remember what's much
more important than memorizing things for schoolis to become a good person, a
kind person. I'm a person offace, so I want to bring her
up to love the Lord. Andwhen I what's my focus, sho,
(14:01):
everything started to fall into place.Well, it's interesting, you know.
I mean, you're a doctor,so you have a doctorate. You know,
you have this this educational background,and it is interesting to see or
hear that even you had some anxietyabout this. But I really think you
know. And my twins. Ithink I told you on the phone.
My twins are almost twenty one,so I'm on a different, you know,
sort of side of parenting. Butif I would have known then what
(14:24):
I know now about what's going onin these schools, I would have quit
my job and figured it out.And you know, parents really go through
this. I don't know this burdenof trying to make these life altering decisions.
But talk a little bit more aboutsome of the rewards. I mean,
you mentioned you don't really use acurriculum, and I think you know
from what I've read at this point, it's really the basics. And I've
(14:46):
also read that in a number ofcases, the homeschooling kids are three or
four grades above their same peer group. And you know that are in public
school, so so maybe focus alittle bit more on the rewards and and
just some of those things. Howdo you kind of make up your day
and given all of the other thingsthat you have working, you know,
how many hours a day do youkind of invest into your daughter's school and
(15:07):
sort of you know, tell usa little bit about the normal day in
your household. Well, it's interestingbecause certainly the challenges are related to the
reward. I'll sit back for aminute and say, one challenge was getting
her to sit down and work,and it just wouldn't happen. She had
no interest in it. But it'samazing, piece by piece we worked it
out her. She's like one ofthe main reasons I figure things out.
(15:30):
She said, Mom, if youput me in the stroller, I'll read.
Now. Sean has to tell you, when she was a baby,
I always held her. So thisstroller was in our attict Dusty unused and
yet knew as when she was threeand a half. But she says to
needs she puts her. So Ijust tried it. I put her in
this stroller and it was amazing becauseI get to do my exercise she's in
the stroller. And she starts toread, she starts struggling through it.
(15:52):
So to this day, we justlive life and incorporate the things she needs
to learn into life. And everyday I go for about a thirty minute
walk and I push her in thisdroll or that she barely fits, and
she loves it, and she'll readthree, four or five books during that
time. So I think something beautifulabout homeschool is that moms, we know
(16:14):
our children, we know what worksfor our children, and we're willing to
learn to adapt to them and tounderstand them, and then we build school
around that instead of the reverse.So I do know any kids that enjoy
sitting for hours still without fidgeting ata death? Of course not. That's
not what the human body is madefor. So how beautiful to have homeschool.
(16:34):
And that's just one example of howit works for us, what our
day is like. And you know, I have a couple of jobs,
I have work to do, soagain that's another challenge we face, but
it's rewarding because I get to domy work, to prepare my lessons to
do writing while she sits beside medoing her activities. Of course, I'm
(16:55):
constantly interrupted that's a talent, butit's also a reward. I mean,
despite working at the same time,I feel like we get to spend every
minute together and we both love itso much. Well, that's so cool.
I mean, so the strollers kindof like her learning pod. She
gets in there and she's able toshut things out and really focus on her
(17:15):
work. And obviously you know thatwon't work forever because she'll get bigger,
But I think that's that's a prettygood idea, just to kind of say,
hey, look, when you're inthere, that's that's your learning time.
And again you get to have thebenefits of being able to walk and
kind of clear your mind is atthe same time. Now, one of
the things UM families have really struggledwith, and really since nineteen sixty two
when the Bible got taken out ofschool, things have kind of gone in
(17:37):
the toilet ever since. But um, you know, religion is not in
the school anymore unless you count thatsort of trans cult practice is happening.
That's you know, in the schoolsnow, But how do parents work to
incorporate faith at home? And maybetell us a little bit what you've done
with Willow and trying to really emulatethat and model that provides some examples to
(17:59):
your daughter. Yeah, that's ahuge challenge and I get it all the
time. I talk to parents whoknow that faith is so important. They
have faith, they want faith fortheir children, but they feel like there's
a big gap. And Sean,we're not helped anymore by the school system
because faith has been cut out fromthe school as if we can raise good
children without having a spiritual element towho they are. So now it's up
(18:22):
to the parents. I think that'sthe starting point saying if whether or not
our kids are in school, publicschool, or homeschool, whatever the setup
is, we as a mom anddad, we are responsible for raising our
children in the way of the Lord. And then second of all, I
think we need to look to ourselves. What do we want our kids to
be like? And are we emulatingthat? Are we the model? Because
(18:45):
our modeling us faith and our lovefor God and our habits, that is
going to teach kids more than we'llever say. So I think that's a
massive challenge we all face for meto day to day challenge saying what kind
of person do I want Willow tobe? And in terms of faith,
I want her to be patient andkind, and good and generous, all
(19:06):
the fruits of the spirit. Sothat means John that I need to constantly
be reflecting those myself, and asI grow in my face, as I
pray myself, as I try totake the situations of challenges that we have
as a family to the Lord,my daughter picks up on that and becomes
part of it. So it's verybeautiful. I can give many stories of
(19:30):
times where we face the challenge inour family and she's the one that says,
let's pray about it. And theabsolute often wonder of seeing God answer
her little prayers and how deeply thatimpacted me. But I think it starts
with acknowledging we need to take thatresponsibility, then creating the values within ourselves
that we want our children to follow. Yeah, no doubt, and I'm
(19:52):
catching up. I started going backto church. It'll be two years ago
Halloween actually, which is kind offunny from a timing perspective. But the
good thing is that my wife hasalways volunteered at church. She'd always brought
the girls in. They did alot of things in the church, and
I think that really gave them afoundation. And you've you know, one
of the things that I think I'ma pretty good, you know, read
of character, and as soon asI met you a turning point, you
(20:15):
seem so genuine, which was reallycool, and that kind of drew me
towards you. But one of thethings that you know, you had went
gone through a really challenging peace inyour life, obviously with a car accident,
and you really were doubting your placein kind of God's universe. So
tell us a little bit about yourbook Women in the Bible, small group
(20:36):
Bible study and sort of how thatties into teaching children examples from the Bible
and sort of those struggles and howGod can help, you know, really
create miracles in these situations. Yeah, the car crash I was in in
my recovery coincided with the shutdown ofCOVID, So I feel like I was
doing pretty good. I was comingback strong, getting better, and then
(20:57):
all of a sudden, COVID hitsand I relive all the trauma, isolated,
alone, depressed, and I thinkI tumbled maybe a bit quicker than
others because it was already threatening methere having gone through a major trauma.
So it was during that time whereI looked around and I lost so many
friends. So that's a whole otherdiscussion. But how sad that so many
(21:18):
people just cut off friendships. AndI looked to the Bible. I reread
these stories that I had studied froman academic perspective, and I read the
stories looking for companionship, for modelsfor friendship and women in the Bible,
and it was powerful how God impactedmy life from just being a reader and
the setting aside a bit of myacademics. So then I came full circle
(21:42):
and created this Bible study where reallyit's not written by me. I feel
like I'm more of a facilitator tohelp other women see how incredible these mothers,
these models of faithfulness are in theBible, and how we can be
challenged by them, that encouraged bythem, inspired by them, and really
(22:03):
to realize that, like us,they were ordinary women who said yes to
God and did something extraordinary. SoI wrote it for women and I can
sahun. So many moms have comeback and said it impacted their daughters because
they were able to pass on thosestories and do the studies with their daughters.
And I think that's so important.Again, we're talking about how can
we incorporate faith into the lives ofour children. Our children need to know
(22:27):
that God used David, Noah,Abraham, all those people, but also
God used women, and women alsohave an important role in models in molding
our children. Yeah, no doubt. And one of the things that really
I've been focused on here in Maineand trying to help other parents across the
country is the really the crisis ofyouth that's going on in our school system
(22:52):
and just this you know, reallyconfusing time. You know, we're seeing
a lot of this, you know, transgenderism proliferate through our school systems,
and it's just horrifying what's going on. But talk a little bit about one
of the things that you know youhad written me was really believing in yourself
and really trying to get filled withthe Holy Spirit and those kind of things.
(23:15):
Talk a little bit about affirming ouryouth and trying to really get them
to understand that the foundational aspects ofthe Bible and the foundational aspects of God
and having a relationship with God issomething that's so important for them to continue
going forward. Yeah, you know, the world tells you to have confidence
in yourself that you can do allthings that you're amazing, and I don't
(23:37):
think that empowers our youth. Ithink much better to take the focus off
of ourselves and to answer our identityin God. So the person God made
our used to be, that's enough. That is something we can confirm in
them, and that they don't needto change anything of who God made them
to be. They don't need tobecome a superstar, they don't need to
(23:59):
follow the way of the influencers intheir life, but just to instead to
the life path of saying, whodid God make me to be? And
how can I fulfill my calling fromthe Lord? How can I be the
best I can be? And Ithink, Sean, you'll really you'll recognize
it. I really try to livethat out myself. And I have to
say it is so much easier forMarina to being myself instead of trying to
(24:22):
be someone else, which I cannever be. So I think it's a
very empowering method. It's one ofconfidence, but not in ourselves, confidence
in the Lord. And the beautyis that if we are strong, that's
wonderful. God will use us ina mighty way. But if we are
weak, then we're even stronger.Because then it's God's strength and God's power
(24:44):
at work within us. Yeah,that makes sense, and I think you
know good points. You know,what I see the schools are pushing today
is more of that individual identity basedalmost narcissism. Really, like we're creating
kids that believe the world revolves aroundthem instead of, you know, their
place within the universe, which isreally disappointing. You know, I believe
in teaching anybody that they can beall they can be kind of you know,
(25:07):
those kind of scenarios, but justthe narcissism, the sexual narcissism really
that's happening is just it's so Idon't know, it's upsetting to me as
a father, and especially as afather of young women. What are some
words of encouragement to parents that youknow you might have again? You know,
I think your story is very inspiring. It's something that I'm so glad
(25:27):
that. What I talk a lotabout is sometimes God puts you in these
situations where just by freak happenstance.You know, we met at that Turning
Point conference and had a really gooddiscussion, and like I said, I
really kind of was drawn to youbecause of just the way that you presented
yourself. But you know, whatare what are those kind of words that
(25:47):
parents maybe that are on the fence, they're not really sure. I mean,
parents in Maine have less than thirtydays to come up with a plan
to pull their kids out of theseschools before the fall semester starts. So
what are things that you'd tell parentsin Maine or maybe parents across the country,
you know, to really, Iguess, get that little nudge or
that gentle word of encouragement that theymight need. You know. I love
(26:11):
this story of as I think ofhow great she was. Story of Esther
is her uncle Mordecai. And ifany of us feel like we are not
good enough, we can't do itall, look a look at Mordecai.
He had to step in because somethinghappened to Esther's parents. So he's not
(26:32):
the mother, he's not the father, He's just the uncle. Right,
he's on the prephrey, and yethe steps up, he empowers her.
Another thing son Mordecai could have done, could have stepped in to save Israel.
And I say that because he wasalready close to the king, but
he decided to humble himself and insteadto elevate Esther and look at the results
(26:52):
of what Esther, what God didthrough Esther's life to save Israel. And
I say that as a word ofencouragement because that's the role we have as
parents. We have these young peoplein our lives who have incredible potential,
and yet they need us. Theyneed wisdom, they need encouragement, they
need words like the power for wordsand Mordecai to call Esther to take a
risk, to do something great thatpeople we are looking to her to be
(27:15):
a leader. So I think thisis what we can model ourselves after as
parents. And for anyone who's doubtingwhether or not they can homeschool, they
can. That was the original plan. You know, this idea of public
school is very recent in humanity.And if you look at them, even
before fathers who started America, doyou know how they learned how to read
(27:38):
their mothers. Their mothers taught themhow to read at home with the old
king James Virgins. Can you imagine? So people have homeschooled for all of
life, and we still homeschool.Every single parent is a homeschool parent.
They're teaching their kids at home.But it's just a case of how much
how much time are you going toinvest in your kids versus put them in
(28:00):
the system and give that responsibility toothers. So whatever role parents have,
use it to the most possible.To take every minute you have with your
child to invest in who they are, to listen to them, to be
present. And in terms of howmuch time you're going to give it to
others, I mean, you knowmy life's choice. I say, keep
them out of the system, findother parents and partner. A lot of
(28:22):
parents can't homeschool, they have tothey need two incomes. But we need
to get back to community, Sean, who are who's in our lives?
Do we have grandparents and uncle's neighbors, other people from the church, get
involved, go to church and talkto they're the little kids pastors and say,
how can we create something at ourchurch to help families that can't go
(28:45):
down to one income? How canwe do it together? How can we
create a community to save these kids? Yeah, no doubt. And I
wanted to make sure again folks knowWomen in the Bible small group Bible study.
It's available at Women in the Bibledot foe. It's available at my
store and if use the code Faiththat'll give you a little bit of a
discount off of that. Can youtell tell listeners here a little bit about
(29:08):
your work with Partners for Family Values? How did that all come into play?
It's Partners for Family Values dot comright, Well, really happened when
they announced monkey Pocks. I thinkit was March a year and a half
ago now, and they said theywere going to shut us down again,
and Sean, I almost had abreakdown. I knew that I could not
(29:30):
go through it again, very seriously, I would have a mental breakdown if
I was in another a lockdown.So I called three friends who loved me,
who I loved, who were happyfor us to stay together. They
all had little kids. I said, let's get together and just sit down
and put together a plan or talkabout how we feel like we need to
get together and just meet. Sowe did, and fifteen people showed up.
(29:52):
Everyone just invited others, these fifteenincredible women, some moms I'm not,
and we formed a community and inno time we grew to two three
hundred families, and through the communityand their sisterhoods that we had supporting each
other, we pulled ourselves out ofthe depression. The loneliness, the anxiety
of those days, and as Ican say, Sean became healed. We
(30:15):
said, what are we going todo now? We have this amazing group,
we're connected, we're doing all theseactivities in our community. We decided
to have an outreach to the youth, and we decided to partner with whoever
was willing to support us to bea voice for family values here in Palm
Beach County. And I can evensay there's cities around us now who are
wanting us to run youth events forthem and to invest in the youth and
(30:40):
to give them the sense of communityso they know they're not alone, even
when they feel like they're the onlyconservative, the only Christian at their school,
or they don't have many friends intheir homeschool, whatever their situations,
we want them to know we supportthem. Yeah. And one of the
pieces on the web page here islooking at the community is essential to us.
It's the foundation for them for usto take action to defend family values
(31:02):
and help us combat the forces thatlead to depression, anxiety, loneliness,
and fear. And as we standtogether and support each other, we are
best suited to take action for ourfamilies now you have an event coming up
with the Christian Business Association of PalmBeaches. I guess it looks like it's
the August Breakfast event on August eleventhat North Palm Beach Country Club. So
that's that's a pretty cool deal,and it looks like you'd be giving kind
(31:26):
of a speech there. Yes,I'm going to be sharing a lot of
the same things I share today,just the real importance of having community and
grounding ourselves in God. If Godis our identity in our mission is from
the Lord, I think that cangive us the boldness in business. But
for our topic to be homeschool parents. If this is God's plan for our
(31:47):
life, then we might have someanxieties and fears, but we still need
to make the choice to move forward. Sean, have you ever spent a
day that you weren't afraid of something? You know, there's this kind of
sense that Christians need to be tonot be afraid. The Bible says in
certain moments, don't be afraid.But God has also given us fear.
Right. It's a warning. It'skind of a caution to get out of
(32:08):
a bad situation, to maybe notgo down a dark street when we're young,
so fear is not bad. Butwe need to face our fears and
that's how we find courage. Yeah, no doubt. It's the choices that
you make from that fear that ultimatelykind of reference the rest of your life.
But and I was going through thewebsite. You've got some great t
shirts at Partners for Family Values dotcom slash store and one of the ones
(32:31):
I saw that really caught my eyefaith Family Freedom with the American flag,
which was which was pretty cool.So I really appreciate your time today.
I think your story is very inspiringto others. I'm hoping that people will
listen to this and say, hey, look if she could do it even
with the anxiety that you had inthe beginning with your little one. And
(32:52):
you know, that's that's something thatI think again all parents need. They
just need a little bit of wordsof encouragement, a little bit of a
push and to take that take thatleap of faith. That's right, John,
I'm so glad that's exactly how Ifeel. And you know what,
we need to take the leap offaith and find a friend to come along
with us if we don't have one, you know, go to the church,
speak out someone from a church thathas a like views as you like
(33:14):
minded, and give it to theLord in prayer. You know, homeschooling
is not about just me and mydaughter Willow, and includes my husband,
the Lord who helps us, ourcommunity, even my neighbor. She's really
supportive, she's a grandmother. Sothere's a whole community out there. God
does not want us to do italone. Yeah, no doubt. Well,
thank you very much, and I'mglad we were able to spend the
(33:36):
time. I'm going to put youon hold here for a second so we
can talk a little bit after,but thanks again for joining us, and
I really appreciate it. Thank youall right, hold on, So in
closing, Marina's story is truly inspiring. I hope folks got some really good
information out of that. You know. It's it's a shame that we only
do these these, you know,twenty five minute interviews. But I was
(33:57):
so happy to have met her atturning Point and just kind of bumped into
each other, uh and uh andher friend as well, and just sort
of started chatting a little bit aboutyou know, some of the things that
we've been doing and the other piecesI think you know, for homeschool parents
to remember, you can accomplish inabout three hours at any time during the
day or night, you know,any time you want to move those times
(34:20):
around, and you don't have todo it all in the same increment.
I mean you could, you coulddo three hours, you know, in
one hour increments. You do thesame thing that that kid trapped in a
brick building for seven hours sitting theretrying to you know, work out all
of the again mental gymnastics that hasto go through with understanding what these these
teachers are just pushing nonsense on thesekids. Nowadays there is nothing really you
(34:45):
know again the basics of education ornot being focused on because it's this just
neo political nonsense from the left,the far left. So again, in
three hours, you can accomplish thingsthat would take you know, seven or
eight hours to do. And thereare you know, some options for sports
and other things. You know.Again, if anybody has any questions,
(35:06):
just reach out to me. I'vegot some great folks here locally in the
Hampton area Hamton bangor Main area thatyou know, we can talk to if
you need any more help to makethat decision. But again, parents,
you've got less than thirty days nowbefore the next semester starts, and I
really hope you start pulling your kidsout, because the problem is is when
evil comes and knocks on your door, it's too late. Your kid has
(35:30):
probably already been taken by the transcultor some of these again far left extremists
that are running these schools. Andagain on the Main Source of Truth Facebook
page, I literally have hundreds andhundreds of examples in main alone about what's
going on. So anyway, Iappreciate, appreciate you listening, and I
hope you're having a good day.I'm gonna take a few days off.
(35:52):
We're gonna take a little side byside four wheeler trip up to the county
for a few days, and I'llprobably still be on social media at night.
But I really appreciate Marina joining us, and I hope you also enjoyed
it too. Round them Round themoff, led School, Round them up.
(36:16):
Let all right. That was ShineDown. This was the Main Source
(36:45):
of Truth podcast. Search for theshow on Facebook and give us a like.
I've been your host. Sean mcbriarty, Follow me on Twitter, Truth
Social and YouTube. We're working hardto keep the truth alive and we'd love
to have you donated. Give usend go slash, Sean mcbriarty, PayPal
or venmo. I hope you enjoyedthe show
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