Episode 8:
Not by Mother Nature but by Mother's Love & Committing to the Beautiful Loss
With Vanessa Heasley
Vanessa Heasley is a married mum of two teenagers. Vanessa grew up in Colombia for 15 years as the daughter of missionary parents and has served in her churches as an administrator, a Youth and Home Group Leader. She loves hiking, running, and camping and is active in encouraging Christian women to extend themselves physically to find endurance and build up their character and confidence for Christ.
In Part 1 of this episode, Vanessa shares her challenging three-year journey with infertility, at the end of which she was blessed with two children conceived naturally. From that point, Vanessa believes nothing else about motherhood has been natural! We discuss the impact of these trials and how seeking God in the spiritual, physical and intellectual challenges of motherhood revealed her daily need for God's support and presence.
Photography by Xavier Mouton
In Part 2 of this episode, we explore the discipline required of a mother as her children mature, not only to guide them but herself into the new people each becomes. Discipline becomes an integral part of how we reach out to God and maintain relationships as who we were, to some extent, begins to fade away.
Special note: We apologise if you become aware of intermittent beeping in the first half of Part 2 of this episode. A fridge door alarm was triggered during the recording and it took an hilarious, undercover family texting network to rectify the issue!
As featured in Feedspot's Best 60 Christian Mom Podcasts in 2022
Scriptural References
All of the scriptures discussed are referenced below using the World English Bible version unless otherwise stated.
John 21:22
Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.”
1 Corinthians 9:24 - 25 (NIV)
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever.
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