Introducing Our Guest

Connie Albers has spent much of her adult life as a homeschool mom and mom-preneur with an outreach and ministry to homeschool parents through her leadership and as a speaker. She is a respected leader and trusted homeschool mom who understands the challenges of balancing the demands of life. Connie is a wife and mother of five homeschool graduates. Her children continued their studies at the University of Central Florida on scholarship. Four have graduated and one is a senior. She is a speaker and writer, a spokesperson, and owns ConnieAlbers.com. Her latest venture is fulfilling her desire to equip women in their calling through her Equipped To Be ministry and with her site. The Albers family lives in Winter Garden, Florida.

Related Podcasts and Posts from The Busy Mom

A Friendship that Lasts (short podcast and post) – “They last because we choose to believe the best about each other, rather than the worst. We believe the best for each other, too. If you’re struggling with a friendship today, I want to encourage you to ask the Lord to give you His eyes for your friend.”

A Little Grace Can Go a Long Way (post) – We will all do well to stop putting our desires on others and extend grace to one another. Our only audience we aim to please is God, so we need to let the rest go. 

Scriptures for Further Study

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Proverbs 27:17
Job 16:20-21
Philippians 2:3-4

Related Resources

Friendship Redeemed: How the Gospel Changes Friendships to Something Greater by Adam Holland -Friendship Redeemed is an examination of how the gospel influenced and shaped Paul’s understanding of friendship. Pastors, students, and teachers alike—and anyone who desires to grow in their understanding of biblical friendship—will find this work to be a helpful resource, both in regards to readability and substance. Friendship Redeemed examines the topic of friendship through the lens of the metanarrative of scripture. The conclusion is that the gospel calls the Christian to a unique and counter-cultural view of friendship. This book will serve as a tool for helping believers to learn to live and think with a biblical worldview concerning the topic of friendship.

Friendship: Cultivating Relationships that Enrich Our Lives: A Study Guide by Women of Faith that uses Scripture to address issues such as: how to have fulfilling friendships with some humor and fun, building lasting and fulfilling friendships, choosing the right kinds of friends, learning to be vulnerable and honest to maximize intimacy, and how to move past the superficial to spiritually bonded friendships.

Resources Mentioned in Podcast

Psalm 119:13-16 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Luke 14:12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

Luke 14 Website – This website displays one church’s Luke 14 Party – just one way they celebrate those we might think of as “the least of these.” They started out with 55 guests their first year and now host over 500 people with special needs over a two night event each spring.

Joni and Friends – This ministry is dedicated to extending the love and message of Jesus Christ to people who are affected by disability around the world.  Learn about all the ministries they have to offer here at their website.

Joni and Friends TV Episode Showing all About Family Retreats – Katherine’s Smile “Melissa has volunteered to serve as a Short Term Missionary (STM) at a Joni and Friends Family Retreat. At this Christ-centered camp for families who have a member with a disability, an STM is paired with each disabled camper, to assist them throughout the week. Melissa has no formal disability training – just a heart of compassion and the desire to share the love of Christ. When she is paired with nineteen year old Katherine, who is severely autistic and non-verbal, Melissa is faced with unexpected challenges. But God is at work, and hearts connect. You’ll see how His love breaks the barriers of disability. And you’ll see it best in Katherine’s smile!”

More from The Busy Mom

3 Ways to Love on a Mom of a Special Needs Child – In this podcast Melissa shares 3 very practical tips for ways you can love on a friend of yours if she’s a mom of a special needs child.

Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Special Needs Child – “Looking back, I can see that I wasn’t making myself clear. My family and friends simply thought I needed reassurance and encouragement. They didn’t realize I was warning them that I literally. could. not. keep. going. any. longer. I tried to explain to them in words what I needed, but I couldn’t. I really couldn’t quite admit it to myself, and I certainly couldn’t figure out how to put it into words for someone else to hear. So I gave up. I quit trying to explain it to them. I hung in there…”

Things Not to Say to Moms of Special Needs Kids – “In my almost 20 years as the mom of a severely autistic daughter, I’ve been questioned, judged, accepted, ignored, loved, rejected, and just about everything in between! I’ve also learned a lot. One of the things I like to do whenever possible is help and support other moms of special needs kids. But lately, I’ve realized that a great way to help special needs moms is to share some of my own experiences with moms who don’t…”

Scriptures mentioned in Podcast

1 Corinthians 13: 4-6 Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Psalm 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!

Homework for this Podcast 😉

Matthew 18: 15-17

Philippians 2: 5-11

Matthew 7: 1-3
(Note: This verse in context is telling us to not have a judgmental heart towards others.  This is not telling us not to use good judgement when we view behavior that is obviously contrary to Scripture, which we are told to do in other places in Scripture.)

More Like This From The Busy Mom

A Little Grace Can Go a Long Way – “She was right as usual, and I think her point was that we need to extend grace to each other.  Just because I don’t parent like you do doesn’t mean I’m right, you’re wrong or vice versa.  If it’s not a sin issue, I think there’s a lot of latitude we can give each other!  It’s amazing what a little encouragement can…”

Are you a gracious friend? – “DRAMA! Who needs it? It can be self perpetuating and so hard to pull ourselves away from. Sometimes it’s our drama, sometimes it’s other people’s.  It needs to be said: we moms can be the most guilty. Maybe it’s the mother bear in us that seems to make itself clearly present once we have given birth or experienced even a short stint in the season of motherhood? It can be tempting to think that we have it all figured out and sometimes we are insecure and somehow feel threatened by someone else’s…”

Connie Albers has spent much of her adult life as a homeschool mom and mom-preneur with an outreach and ministry to homeschool parents through her leadership and as a speaker. She is a respected leader and trusted homeschool mom who understands the challenges of balancing the demands of life. Connie is a wife and mother of five homeschool graduates. Her children continued their studies at the University of Central Florida on scholarship. Four have graduated and one is a senior. She is a speaker and writer, a spokesperson, and owns ConnieAlbers.com. Her latest venture is fulfilling her desire to equip women in their calling through her Equipped To Be ministry and with her site. The Albers family lives in Winter Garden, Florida.

More from The Busy Mom on Meditating on the Word – “As mothers, isn’t that what we want for our children?  That they would be like those trees that are planted by streams of water. The Bible says that this person is a person who walks in step with the Holy Spirit, who delights in the law of the Lord and who meditates on it day and night.  In our culture, the word “meditate” has taken on a bad rap.  When we think of this word, if often conjures up images of “super Christians” or someone who is involved in New Age or eastern religions.  However, the Bible talks a lot about meditating on the Word. In Psalm 2, we read about delighting in the Word and meditating on it day and night…”

And here’s some encouragement on Finding Balance in a Busy Season – something you may need to do in order to be able to prioritize some time with the Lord.

Meet guest, Sherri Seligson at Just Extraordinary.  Sherri is a homeschool mom and the author of Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Marine Biology high school curriculum, Interning for High School Credit and a few other books and media. She loves to cook, read, write, do science experiments (she keeps her microscope in her china cabinet), but most importantly, she loves to encourage moms in their walk with the Lord and as they train and educate their children.  justEXTRAordinary is her way of reminding us that it is the ordinary things, done day-by-day, moment-by-moment, faithfully and lovingly, that amazingly make us EXTRAordinary.

A Related Post and Podcast from The Busy Mom

Having a Creator Changes Everything (post) – Have you ever looked up into the sky and stopped to marvel at what you see? I can’t look up at the stars in the night sky or study ocean creatures here in the pacific northwest or gaze upon the intricately formed fingers of my newborn children and believe that all this wonder, all these miracles … just happened.  For me, it takes a whole lot more faith to try and believe in evolution than it does to believe that I have a Creator.

In the Beginning… What Are You Teaching Your Children?  (podcast)- Heidi hosts author  Sherri Seligson and discusses how to teach your children about creation from a Biblical worldview.

Resources Mentioned in Podcast

Creation, the Better Explanation – An article on Creation.com –  Why the Bible is the best starting point when conducting origins science

Apologia Exploring Creation Series

Apologia Educational Ministries – Apologia is a family-owned corporation with the mission to help homeschooling families learn, live, and defend the Christian faith.

Answers in Genesis – Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus on providing answers to questions about the Bible—particularly the book of Genesis—regarding key issues such as creation, evolution, science, and the age of the earth.