Hello mom who just might feel frustrated and guilty for feeling that way…

Today I’m talking to Jodi Kinasewitz about her story “Peace on Purpose” in our devotional book Unshakable Peace in an Unsteady World. Jodi is one of four co-authors, along with Jess Carey, Michelle Wilbert, and myself.

Jodi lives in Mason, Ohio, with her husband of 20 years Matt, their four children, and their yellow lab, Max. She is a reading specialist and certified yoga instructor, passionate about leading Christian-inspired yoga classes, reading, and writing. She loves to travel with her family, and spends any time she can outdoors. Jodi has had several articles published with various Christian platforms including gritandvirtue.com, mommentor.org, makemeavailable.com, and she was published in Milk & Honey Women Devotional Journal, Volume 1. She started picking up more books and writing during the COVID shutdown.

Find Jodi Kinasewitz on social media. Particularly during May, she is sharing posts that relate to mental health. Her desire is to end the stigma around mental health issues, raise the awareness, start talking about it. Like we pick up our phones. And we Jodi’s hope is by sharing her story of struggle through a season of anxiety and depression her writing will shine a light on the importance of mental health while pointing others to Jesus. Find out more about Jodi on Instagram @jkinasewitz, Facebook – Jodi Kinasewitz, and read more of her writing on her blog Living to Learn (jkinasewitz.wixsite.com/website).

- Encouragement for writers or those thinking about writing - Jodi shares that she came through a pretty significant storm in 2017 and is now on the other side of it. So that was the basis of a lot of her writing. She shared it with friends and in social media posts. People said, “This is really good. Thanks for sharing. You should write a book.” She waved it off, then decided she loved to write and had a passion for it. So she joined Called Creatives with Lisa Whittle and Alli Worthington. That’s how we met. We were meeting regularly on zoom, talking, sharing life stories, and decided to do a devo on peace. She’s really excited about the book and I join her in being grateful for all the support we've gotten.

- Jodi shared her devotional Peace on Purpose – Underscoring Jodi’s encouragement to be intentional about seeking God. The anchor verse is Jeremiah 29:13 – “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” When Jodi greeted her coworker cheerfully, though dripping wet from the pouring rain, the coworker asked, “How are you always so happy? Only you could come bouncing in here on a cold rainy Monday all smiles and chatty.” A little off guard, Jodi reflects, “What do I have working in my favor that my coworker or others I know don't have?” And she realizes, her morning routine benefits her in so many ways, along with exercise, plus giving herself enough time to ease into her day by not hitting the ground running. She has intentional quiet time with God. Prays, meditates, reads her Bible, and journals every single morning. She shares with her coworker the next morning, who mumbles, “Maybe I should give that a try.”

Reflection Questions based on Jodi’ story Peace on Purpose

1. How will you take the time to be present with God?

2. When and where in your day will you plan to pursue Him and His peace with purpose?

4. What kind of peace have you experienced in your life when you have actively sought out Jesus?

5. What are some fears you currently have that need to be displaced with His peace?

Hello mama who just might feel like she's a little sick of not getting help around the house.

I've written the devotional book called Unshakable Peace in an Unsteady Worldwith three other co-authors. Jess Carey, Michelle Wilbert, and Jodi Kinasewitz. Today, Jess is with me.

Jess Carey is an author. The book we co-wrote together is her second book. The first one is Chart a Course - Taking a Journey with God at the Helm. Jess is a wife of almost 16 years and has two middle schoolers - a 14-year-old and almost 13-year-old. She has a Golden Doodle Pearl and her mother-in- law lives with them - a new event. Jess says she has all the interesting things you can pile into one home.

One of the things I love about Jess is her clarity. I find it refreshing the way she talks about anger, which you’ll hear more about in our interview.

Jess chose to share her story Disarming Discontent. As she puts it, “It's a story about sort of disarming a bomb internally in your own mindset. It's like a stick of dynamite has a long fuse. But boy, when you get to it, there's nothing you can do other than deconstruct the bomb or just let it go off. When we let the bomb go off, that actually stands to do some pretty good damage to our marriages, our kids. I have failed at this enough to know there is an alternative. Moms are going to fail. You are going to blow up sometimes. This is a personal story where it did go a different way. It gave me a little bit of a runway to build up until the next time I had to have this conversation.”

- What it feels like as a working mom with kids capable of pitching in who comes home from a long day and everything is just as you left in the morning - dirty dishes in the sink, 1000 pairs of shoes kicked off haphazardly, clean clothes unfolded in their baskets.

- You’re tempted to lash out, but you know you have a choice. Jess calls to mind 2 Corinthians 13:11, “Finally, brothers, rejoice, aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace.”

- Rather than blowing up, Jess wept (don’t we blow up at times when we really want to cry?), “I actually was hurt by my family. It felt like they were so uncaring, entitled, even though that clearly wasn't their intention.” She continued, “Hey, you know, I just worked a really long day, I'm tired. You guys are sitting on the couch, playing video games, having leisure time, but I'm not afforded any of that.”

- Jess chose a sort of confession, transparency. The passage of Scripture came to pass, the God of peace was there, restoration came. My kids agreed to help me, my husband aligned, and encouraged all of us to work as a team.

- It was a beautiful example of that Scripture coming to pass and also making that choice, to say I feel overwhelmed.

- As a family, other members of the family may have a 40-hour work schedule. Mom doesn't,. There's no end date. There's no vacation time. It’s ongoing all the time. “I need more help is essentially what I was telling them. I can't work 24 hours a day. Without assistance.

Disarming Discontent Reflection Questions

1. Is there someone you need to pursue restoration or peace with?
2. How would your situation change if you were able to freely express yourself calmly?
3. What would restoration with them look like?
4. What do you stand to lose if you don’t reconcile?

Hello mama - today I'm going to be talking about our new devotional Unshakable Peace in an Unsteady World with my friend and co-author Michelle Wilbert.

Each story in our devotional journal starts with an anchor verse. Then we have the actual devotional story, reflection questions, a prayer, some journal pages, and some coloring pages, too. 

Michele Wilbert has been married for almost 15 years to Brad. They have one son, live in California, and Michele and her husband run a business together. Michele is a writer and a Bible teacher. She’s really passionate about sharing with moms that you can use your gifts, no matter what season you're in. There's a way to use the gifts that God has given you right where you are. 

Here’s Michele’s story starting with the anchor verse. 

Philippians 4:7

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

were startled out of our pool-floating dreams. The flashing lights and piercing sounds chirped so loud in the store I couldn’t hear the cashier’s instructions.

I looked around and everyone was holding their ears. The manager ran to the panel near the exit to shut it off, only she couldn’t. I looked over and suddenly the watermelon my son held now had become an anchor and weighed him down.

I met his big blue eyes and looked straight in them and said, “You are okay. We are safe.” I waited for the watermelon to drop and shatter. His fingers were tightly clenched around it, his body shaking, and he began to breathe faster with each second. The alarm didn’t stop. I grabbed the tomatoes and chips and guided him out of the store. At last, inside the car, he desperately gasped for more air. As I loosened his fingers from his tight grasp on the watermelon, it only made the breathing worse and full panic set in. He needed something to hold onto to steady his breathing.

What’s Stealing Your Peace?

We placed two red ripe tomatoes, one large watermelon, and a bag of chips on the grocery store conveyor. We had all of our final ingredients for our first-day-of-summer picnic. As the cashier scanned the barcode and we heard the blip, it was music to our ears. The sound of summer beginning.

The cashier handed me the receipt, and said, “Have a great day!” My son shouted, “BEST SUMMER EVER! Right, Mom?”

We were ready to float all our cares away in the pool from the longest Covid, distance-learning, hybrid, back-to-school, part-time school year. All of a sudden, the fire alarm went off in the store.

Have you been ready to celebrate the really good things in your life when all of a sudden something threatens to steal your peace? Christ’s peace is contrary to anything this world offers. However, sometimes fear and lies can rob us of true peace. Oftentimes, the world will get us to believe our peace is at risk.

Philippians 4:7 teaches us that the peace of God surpasses our understanding. It is deeper and richer than anything we can comprehend. This verse assures us that the insurmountable peace of God guards our hearts and minds. Not only is the Lord’s peace a prescription for our worries, fears, and troubled hearts, but it gives us hope that He is with us.

Right there in the back of the car, we asked God for His help. He answered. I slowly began to unpeel the now looser gripped fingers. My boy released the watermelon into my hands and exhaled. He smiled the peaceful smile of a child who knows they are safe.

Reflection Questions

1. What is something stealing your peace currently? 

2. What steps can you take today to guard your heart and mind and remember Christ is with you? 

3. What is something you can hold onto to steady you? 

4. How can you ask God to help you let go of whatever it is that has a grip on you?