[00:00:00] You are listening to episode 241 of the Peaceful Mind Podcast.
Welcome to the Peaceful Mind Podcast, a place for creating the peace of mind you need to be the best mom you were created by God to be. If you want to bring more balance, more joy, and more peace to your motherhood, this is the place for you. I'm your host, Certified Life Coach at Catholic Mom, Danielle Thienel.
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let's get started.
Hello, dear listeners. I am humbled and grateful that you are here today. I just am, sometimes I just think about. The world and how it works now with tech and social media and all the kind of bad raps it gets, but there is a bright side to getting some of this information out to you and being able to connect with people.
Some of you who are listening to this podcast I will never meet and yet I can be on this end knowing that it has [00:01:00] impacted or helped you in some way. And then many of you I do hear from and many of you are by clients or become clients and it, we do get to even meet each other in person sometimes, which is so fun.
And so anyways, I just wanted to start out with that piece of gratefulness. And I also wanted, because of the topic of this episode today, which is spiritual maturity. As a busy mom, I thought, you know, I know this behind the scenes, but maybe my listeners don't know.
And so for anyone who's new or been long time, I just want to let you know that the way that I guide the episodes that I choose on this podcast is that I came up with very early on some pillars, some main subjects that that I always want to be guided that I think are part of the core values of myself wanting to create this podcast and [00:02:00] have it out there.
And so these are the categories that if you go back into all 200 plus episodes and you want, they'll fit into one of these categories and these are the categories, emotional wellbeing, mindset and thoughts, overcoming challenges, personal growth, productivity and organization and spirituality. So whenever I actually finish an episode, I do keep a spreadsheet. So I have them all listed and I have the title listed and then I have a dropdown box where I fill in which pillar does this episode fit under?
And then I have a link to that podcast and it's just a way that helps me keep it organized. But the main thing why I'm bringing this up to you is to let you know that what I try and do, I try and equally balance that I am hitting every so often these categories. So I will know that I don't want to have like three to five [00:03:00] productivity and organization episodes in a row.
I want to sprinkle in and kind of even out. And like I said, balance these main pillars, because I know that if you are getting help on your emotional wellbeing, if we're focusing on your mindset and thoughts, if I'm helping you overcome challenges, if I'm offering you something that's going to allow you to personally grow, if I'm helping you with your productivity and organization of your mind and your life, and if we are interjecting spirituality and faith into this is going to help overall, help you be that calm, in control, confident mom. This is going to bring more peace, more joy, more balance to your life.
And so this podcast, the reason why I brought it up is because I had noticed I hadn't done, I hadn't put out one that was completely on spirituality in a while. I guess it was back if you like, I did one on my [00:04:00] Faith-Focused Finances course, the one that helps you grow and create more money and prosperity in your life that was probably the last one.
Anyways, I just want to let you know. So that's why today we're focusing on spiritual maturity. as a busy mom. So what do I mean by this? What I mean by it is that a lot of us might have this, this belief system that we don't you know, that we're stagnant in our faith or that we're not putting time and attention to it.
Or we might feel guilty that we, there are things that we believe we should be doing or supposed to be doing, and we're not doing enough now. And, you know, I would probably label that as being like a thought system that's like a little bit of immature .And so now we're wanting to come from this place of, of power, this place of ownership to be able to grow in maturity in our spirituality.
And speaking [00:05:00] of grow for this episode. I want to offer an acronym. That's how I'm going to help give you my ideas and my thoughts about how you could grow to become more spiritually mature. If that's in fact something that you want for your life and that word grow, I'm going to say that is the word growth that we're going to work off of.
That's going to give you a pathway of how you can do that. Okay? So it is an acronym and that's how you can remember if I want to grow my spiritual growth maturity as a busy mom, I want to follow this growth acronym.
So let's start with G. That's where we start. This is what the G stands for. It stands for go to God in prayer daily. So prayer is simply talking to God. And it's also listening while he talks. It really is. Prayer is really the most basic [00:06:00] expression of our faith. So it's that, it's that foundation that if you are a spiritual mature person, then you will be regularly and consistently adding prayer into your life. It will breathe life into your spiritual life, and it is our connection.
It's how we tether. It is our lifeline to God. But some of us, we mistakenly think that it's like a formal thing where it's got these and thous inside, right? But it really is nothing more than like a child talking to their parent and a parent talking to their child. You know, sometimes it looks like a cry for help in a time of need.
Sometimes it's this, you know, kind of elation of delight. Maybe after you received a gift, maybe a prayer is a plea in behalf of somebody else. It could be quiet time and adoration. It could be just a period of [00:07:00] listening. It's just also a gentle time for you to visualize that you are receiving God's love because you are when you are in prayer.
It's just basically conversation, right with our Heavenly Father. And for those who are looking to grow in their spiritual maturity, then remember that G the first letter. Word in growth is to go to God in prayer daily.
Okay. So the second way to grow in spiritual maturity is to follow the R in the acronym growth. And that would be to read God's word daily. And I know that the R, like, and read like perfectly line up. But I want to also offer, cause this is what I've been doing a little bit lately is I've been listening to God's word daily. So many of you are very aware of the like Bible in a year. There's the catechesis in a year.
I have mentioned several [00:08:00] times in the podcast that I like the Hallow App that has curated prayers and stuff, including God's word. I also have a book of like just the gospels right now. That's got this beautiful, pretty cover that sits with my devotional. And I've also been reading from the beginning some of the gospels.
But if you're going to grow in spiritual maturity, then for sure we are going to want to be connecting with the Bible and the scripture that it holds and what it tells us. It's just, it's like our food, like what we need for our food to grow. We need God's word in our life in some form or fashion to help us grow as well.
I just want to also as I'm offering this to please mamas, don't use you saying thinking I don't do this at all or I I've never, I used to do it, but I don't, or I was never taught how, or this just wasn't like, I'm not in the habit [00:09:00] of it. I don't want you to use what I'm offering today against yourself.
I just want it to be a beautiful, gentle kind of reminder that. If you ask yourself, do I want to grow spiritually? And if so, then am I open to one of these suggestions or one of these ideas? Do I think personally for my life, this would be beneficial?
And then if the answer is yes, if you're like, yes, reading God's words daily would be beneficial. I'm always as busy moms wanting you to come from a way to ask, okay, well, how can I do that in the most. Easy, simple way that's not overwhelming or doesn't feel like adding something to my to do list, but seems like doable where you feel like capable of trying it out.
Okay. Now we're going to go on to the next step in our acronym of growth and how we grow in spiritual maturity is the O stands for obey God moment by moment. He gave us [00:10:00] the Ten Commandments and that's all I simply want to offer today when we're talking about obeying God. If we simply just are asking ourselves and recommitting to living our life according to the Ten Commandments, this is going to help us grow in spiritual maturity. There are a few, right?
I know this is the way at least I think about the Ten Commandments. Like there's some that I know that, yeah, I'm like I got that one down. Like I am totally not ever breaking that one. And then there are some as simple as you know, the golden one.
Are we doing to others as we want them to do to us? Are we loving one another? Are we not holding other idols in our lives? And what the one about, like, not telling lies. If you've, been a listener to my podcast or have heard me talk at all about people pleasing. I'm on to myself with this one that when I say yes, when I really mean no, I put this [00:11:00] back to the 10 commandments and not lying because.
When you say yes to saying like taking on a lot of things, but really inside your heart says, no, I don't want to do that. I essentially am not really in my spiritual maturity at that point. I'm not really growing in that particular area. It takes for me to say no to something and be honest that I truly don't want to do it. That is taking a step in spiritual maturity. So for this one in the acronym of growth, the step that leads with the, oh, are we obeying moment by moment? And in this case, where are you in the 10 commandments and which one if there's any that you could actually take on to uphold like a little bit more to whatever level of satisfaction it is that you think would be helpful for you to grow in that maturity.
Okay, the next one is w it's a w and this is being a witness for Christ by your life and your words. So what does this mean? This simply means [00:12:00] are you being who you are? It doesn't mean that you're out there preaching or doing something like magnificent, right? For our faith practice necessarily mean that every day you're speaking about it or you know, going door to door and telling people we don't know and inviting them in. Like, it really just means that could somebody tell by the way you act in your life or how you speak, does it reflect in your life that you are Christian?
And if not, I mean, I'm just doing an example here, there is zero judgment, but like, for instance you know, cussing a lot. I'm not saying that I'm not perfect in this realm, but I, it is not something that normally at all comes out of my mouth. And so just, in that realm, someone might say like that. Oh, I choose my words in a way that is [00:13:00] more kind of Christian.
Obviously, if somebody listens to my podcast and hear my words, they can tell that I'm Christian and, even you know, when you look at my actions about how I focused my business to be on faith filled moms and that my process and how I help in coaching directly uses faith based principles. I think that I would say that I'm, you know, definitely doing okay in this section of being a witness for Christ by my life and my words.
And I just am offering this today for you to just kind of do a reflection on that. Is there something, is there a way that you're acting, is there a way that things that you're saying that somebody might say like, Oh, I really, that doesn't kind of line up with somebody who is, you know, faith centered or, you know, puts spirituality at the, you know, as an important kind of center for their life.
So again, what I'm offering you today is literally for you to [00:14:00] take and contemplate for yourself. And maybe it just kind of jogs some things in your life that you might want to focus on or change or, or even feel good about when you're like, yep, I'm there.
So, okay, we're almost there. We are going through the acronym of acronym of growth to help keep us guiding on the path to becoming or being spiritually mature as a busy mom and the T in growth stands for trusting God with the details of your life. I hear this a lot, right? I just had a mom who came on and she was like, I just need to trust God more. And I remember saying like, well, what does that mean to you? And I also am like, well, how would you know if you were doing that more?
Like if at the end of the week you were like, yep, I am trusting God more or I'm trusting him with all the details of my life. What would have to have happened? What would you [00:15:00] have done that would say, Yep, I did that. I did trust him. I know for me, sometimes it's just how many times I acknowledged him, how many times I asked for his help, how many times I said the words, Jesus, I trust in you.
And so, that spiritual immaturity is when we find ourselves wanting to know outcomes, like before we even take action on them. So, if you are somebody who, like, doesn't want to commit or follow through until you know the answer, then you might be lacking in some trust instead of going towards this. I trust that he will be there for me no matter what happens.
I trust that if I ask him for his help, then I will have it right. He wants us to be kind of committed regardless. Like, instead of asking, like, well, what if this, and what if that he's [00:16:00] simply asking us to say, or he's saying, just trust me, because the truth is, he's the one who placed you into his family.
He takes responsibility for your life and for all your problems, and he is going to give you everything you need. Just like Psalms 23 one says, the Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need because our God is a God of unlimited resources. When you trust him, you are then moving beyond like our earthly understanding.
When you are trusting him, you go into this other dimension. You know, mental space where you're willing to relax in your life because you know that there is a great, all powerful, loving God who's watching over you and has those provisions for you. So what is there right to fear? He tells us not to be afraid.
So the opposite of that to me is the trust. And so [00:17:00] when fear arises in your life, which it will. We want to combat that with faith. We want to combat that with trust. And when we do, we are growing in spiritual maturity.
Okay. We're to the last one and the H in the acronym for you to grow in spiritual maturity stands for the Holy Spirit and more so to allow the Holy Spirit to empower your daily life. As I'm sitting here at my desk in front of my monitor, I do have to like remind myself to have my back up nice and straight, but when I do, I can see this framed picture that I have on my back wall that says, Holy Spirit, you are welcome here.
I'd like to have reminders around me just for this, the spiritual maturity for myself is a reminder to be able to ask the Holy Spirit to you're welcome here to come into my heart, to come into my mind our everyday life, it's ups and downs and [00:18:00] it's hard challenges, but it's also exciting adventures.
And in order for us to navigate that the hills of life, we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Right? So we know that we're not here doing this on our own alone. We want to call on our team and the Holy Spirit is like the captain of the team. And when we believe we're filled with the Holy Spirit, you are then operating from and given a surge from a power that is not of this earth.
So it's not something that we can create ourselves, but somebody who welcomes in, knows and acknowledges is there, asks for help from the Holy Spirit, then you are definitely living a life that is growing in spiritual maturity.
Okay. So there you have it. The acronym GROWTH, or as a reminder, you want to follow this if you have any [00:19:00] desire or plans or just wanting to grow in spiritual maturity.
If you're thinking that you're not where you want to be, then we want to follow
G, which is to go to God in daily prayer.
The R, which is to read God's words daily,
the O obey God moment by moment. This is the 10 commandment focus
W be a witness for Christ by your life and your words. Would somebody be able to tell by seeing your, you know, Interactions and hearing you that you are a Christian.
The T stands for trust God for every detail of your life and ask yourself what that would mean for you. What would that look like if you were doing that?
And then H stands for Holy Spirit. This is where we want to allow God to control and empower our daily life. These are the ways that you can grow in spiritual maturity.
[00:20:00] And then as a busy mom, if your brain hears this and tells you that you don't have enough time, that you're so busy, you don't know how you're going to fit it in. I just want you to be onto yourself, that that in itself is the obstacle that you want to face head on. And if that is something that came up for you and you want my insight or help with that, I always am offering for you all to come to a call with me and maybe this is the subject your spiritual life and wellbeing that you want to raise in satisfaction. And I'm happy to help you to do that.
All right, everyone. I hope this acronym was helpful and you enjoyed this podcast. And I, as always, thank you for being here. I'm always looking forward to hearing any feedback and I wish you all a beautiful week in your life and with your families. And until we speak again, may peace be with you always.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the Peaceful [00:21:00] Mind Podcast. If you found value in today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you could subscribe and leave a review. It not only supports the podcast, but ensures you don't miss out on future episodes packed with insights and tools to to create peace of mind in your busy mom life.
And if you're of the Catholic faith like me or any Christian mom seeking to feel better in any area of your life and to show up more calm, connected, and confident, I can help. Become an empowered mom who knows how to bring about the changes you desire, no matter the circumstances, whether you need one on one guidance to get there, prefer a group coaching program with like minded women, or a self-study course I've got you covered.
Explore my private one-on-one packages, join my Busy to Balanced group life coaching program or delve into my signature course Divine Time to find out which path is right for you. Let's meet and see what's the best fit. Schedule a [00:22:00] free call with me at daniellethienel.com or send me a direct message on Facebook or Instagram @daniellethienelcoaching.
And also don't forget to get your copy of my book, The Cyclone Mom Method:How to Call on Your God-Given Power to Remain Calm, In Control, and Confident as a Busy Mom. Dive into the digital and bonus audio version when you go to book.daniellethienel.com/new-book.. You'll find all the details in the show notes too. Until next time, peace be with you always.
