Today's Heartlift with Janell
Sometimes the story we tell ourselves is not really true. Sometimes the story others tell about us is not really true. On "Today's Heartlift with Janell," Author, Trauma-informed, board-certified marriage and family specialist, and Professional Heartlifter, Janell Rardon, opens conversations about how emotional health and mental fitness effects absolutely every area of our lives. When we possess and practice healthy, strong, resilient emotional health practices, life is so much better. Read Janell's newest book, "Stronger Every Day: 9 Tools for an Emotionally Healthy You."
Today's Heartlift with Janell
330. The Deep Well of Protective Mama Love
The power of protective maternal love transforms families, communities, and ultimately our world. When Tara Hackney adopted her daughter from India, a transformative realization occurred during a tender moment of singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" to her traumatized toddler. The beloved song's lyrics—"red and yellow, black and white"—suddenly felt exclusionary. Where was brown? This gap inspired Tara to reimagine the lyrics to "every color, every shade, just exactly as He made," creating a beautiful children's board book that celebrates diversity as an intentional part of God's grand design.
Tara's story weaves together adoption, diversity, and spiritual formation in profound ways. After raising three biological sons, she and her husband adopted two Indian girls, creating what she lovingly describes as twins born "not from my body, but in my heart." The adoption process—what she calls a "paper pregnancy"—required intentionality, sacrifice, and family-wide commitment. Rather than diminishing her relationship with her sons, adoption enriched their family dynamic and cultivated compassion and nurturing qualities in her boys.
This conversation offers a refreshing perspective on the transformative power of motherhood, whether through biological, adoptive, or mentoring relationships. As we embrace diversity and nurture faith in the next generation, we participate in God's grand design—creating a world where every child feels represented, valued, and deeply loved. Ready to explore how your maternal influence can change lives? Listen now and discover how to unleash the power of your presence into the world.
Learn more about Tara Hackney's Work: Jesus Loves
Listen to Jesus Loves the Little Children Adaptation: Jesus Loves on Spotify
Read more on Tara's Blog: Tara Hackney
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- Download the "Overcoming Hurtful Words" Study Guide PDF: BECOMING EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY
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As I've listened to the stories of thousands of women of all ages in all kinds of stages through the years, I've kept their stories locked in the vault of my heart. I feel as if they've been walking around with me all through these years. They've bothered me, they've prodded me and sometimes kept me up at night. Ultimately, they've increased my passion to reframe and reimagine the powerful positions of mother and matriarch within the family system. I'm a problem solver, so I set out to find a way to perhaps change the trajectory of this silent and sad scenario about a dynamic yet untapped source of potential and purpose sitting in our homes and churches. It is time to come to the table, heartlifters, and unleash the power of maternal presence into the world. Welcome to Mothering for the Ages, our 2025 theme. Here on today's Heart Lift. I'm Janelle. I am your guide here on this heartlifting journey. I invite you to grab a pen, a journal and a cup of something really delicious. May today's conversation give you clarity, courage and a revived sense of camaraderie. You see, you're not on this journey alone. We are unified as heartlifters and committed to bringing change into the world, one heart at a time.
Speaker 1:Today's guest Tara Hackney, author of Jesus Loves the Little Children, all the Children of the World. Fresh lyrics for a beloved song world. Fresh lyrics for a beloved song. Tara's beautiful little board book just released into the world and it is a vision of loveliness. She writes that diversity is an intentional part of the Creator's grand design. And she wrote this book and rewrote the lyrics of Jesus Loves the Little Children from a deep well of protective mama love. Her story is inspirational and dynamic and I can't wait for you to hear the evolution of the song and why it was so important to Tara of the song and why it was so important to Tara. Okay, heartlifters, welcome Tara Hackney to the show. How did it come to you to adapt this well-beloved song right now, in this point in history?
Speaker 2:My husband and I, after having three biological sons, felt called to adoption after our boys were all quite a bit older, really, and so we actually adopted two little girls from India. Oh, and when we brought our first daughter home in 2018, she was traumatized. She was only two years old. She was very confused. Obviously, she had never heard English, and so the only way I could really soothe her or comfort her was by singing, and so I would rock her and just sing every single song I could think of, but when I got to, jesus Loves the Little Children of the World.
Speaker 1:There it is. Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World. There it is Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World.
Speaker 2:Little Children of the World. When I got to that song, I got to the list of colors, I stopped abruptly because there was no brown. And here I am singing to my little sweet girl and I realized she wasn't included in that little list of red and yellow, black and white, the colors. And as I sort of started pondering on it and sitting there I realized a lot of those colors were kind of outdated and cringeworthy.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't really want to sing that anyway, and so I just thought in that moment this song needs a redo or maybe just tweaking, because the heart of the song is lovely and true.
Speaker 2:And the original writer was trying to give a message during a very controversial time. Jesus loves everybody, all the children of the world, and so the heart of the song is timeless and true and lovely. And so just in that moment, I felt like God gave me a way to include not only my daughter, but everyone, all the children of the world. So now it says every color, every shade, just exactly as he made so beautiful. I have it right here.
Speaker 1:And it's a board book, and so hello new grandmamas like me.
Speaker 2:That's right. Sing it to your baby.
Speaker 1:Don't you worry, I'm going to Every color, every shade, Just exactly as he made. I'm not sure I can sing it without paying a copyright, so I'm not going to sing Tara. How were you allowed to do that copyright-wise? I think that was just the very first. As a writer myself, how were you able to do that with this beloved tune?
Speaker 2:myself. How were you able to do that with this beloved?
Speaker 1:tune.
Speaker 2:Well, the song had actually gone into public domain Because, yeah, after a certain amount of time every song goes into public domain and so I actually was able to file copyright with the Copyright Office. So I do own the copyright. Now for my version, but in that attaining that, I did of course submit that this song is. You know, I submitted the original. Writer submitted the original. The original tune was actually written by George Root and it's actually a Civil War song called Tramp, tramp, tramp.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it was a Civil War, the tune Tramp, Tramp, Tramp. Okay, so it was a civil war, the tune Tramp, Tramp, Tramp.
Speaker 2:George Root had that and it was kind of just a popular. I mean, it was late 1800s and so the song was actually first published in 1913, and it was by Herbert Woolston, who was a children's pastor, which was kind of a new thing at the time.
Speaker 2:And he claimed to speak to over 1 million children during his life and it was written as a three stanza hymn and the refrain is just what we still have now, today. But his heart was really to try after the Civil War, post-civil War. He was trying to pull the nation together and people together through this song, and so it's really quite lovely. I mean, the heart of the song is beautiful, exactly, and things need to be reframed over time to fit where it sits in society and where we are now. This is a better fit and we are just so much. We have so many immigrants, we have so many different colors and shades. And America is beautiful because it isn't. It's just, it's beyond listing an amount of colors, it's everyone.
Speaker 1:Everyone. Yes, you're right, diversity is an intentional part of the creator's grand design.
Speaker 2:And it certainly is.
Speaker 1:I love that sentence. There are two incredible sentences you wrote honestly. Writing this book came from the deep well of protective mama love. I love that. I want you to just write a book called the Deep Well of.
Speaker 2:Protective Mama Love.
Speaker 1:I think that evokes something that is so primal to all of us. And here you are holding your beautiful, traumatized, confused, probably lacking secure attachment, little brown baby, two-year-old, and I just love that so, so much. I wonder if I can just take a little departure from the song for a moment because I am giving this year it might be forever the podcast a strong focus of mothering. Mothering has become very, very important to this third act of my life, because not all of those who care for children have born them from their womb, but they have either adopted them or fought for them or are championing them, like my friend in Thailand I mentioned before we hit record, sure sure, fighting hard on the front lines for those who have been trafficked or perhaps especially sold into trafficking in many, many nations out of a desperate need of their parents to have money. And so you are an adoptive mother. I assume it's a different journey than birthing, but yet I'm not sure I've not adopted a child. I have friends and clients that have, but you know you're her mama.
Speaker 2:So it's been a real honor and a real privilege to have been able to be a biological mom and an adoptive mom, because I feel like I tell the girls you know, your brothers were born out of my body, but you were born in my heart, yes, and I chose, you know, to have you. And, honestly, the amount of paperwork and things you have to go through, financial costs, honestly, the amount of paperwork and things you have to go through, for you know the amount.
Speaker 2:It's like they call it, the paper pregnancy, you know, because it takes about nine months.
Speaker 1:I've not heard that. That's a very interesting term.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, yeah, it's, and it really is. You know it's so intentional and it is a time where you start bonding with your child. I mean it's more thoughtful, I mean you're thinking through a lot more things about it and there are some things that are a little more choice, like we don't have as much as when we have our biological kids Both our daughters, we know God planted into our family. Because I wrote actually today's my daughter's gotcha day, june 18th.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it. Happy gotcha day.
Speaker 2:Thank you I love that, and so I was able to write her a little note on my Instagram this morning of just I am so glad God chose me to be your mama and you to be my daughter, and it's the same as I feel about my sons God chose me to be their mama and for them to be my sons and so-.
Speaker 1:How old was she?
Speaker 2:today, or how old is she now? She's nine, so today's her seventh year home with us.
Speaker 1:Okay, and your other little girl is.
Speaker 2:She's also nine, but she's only her three and a half years home with us.
Speaker 1:It was a miracle.
Speaker 2:They're the same age they're five months apart.
Speaker 1:So it's like having twins.
Speaker 2:That is so cool. We adopted them three and a half years apart. It's amazing. It's amazing Because we kind of wanted twins to begin with and they said that's not gonna happen. But yeah, we ended up.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. I've not heard that, I think that I had twins. So I think. I just turned 35 on Sunday, june 15. And my oldest on yesterday, june 17th.
Speaker 2:Okay so we are like little kindred spirits. Yes, we are.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, we're kindred because we both love Ivy and Cloth beaded earrings. You will see that in Sarah's headshot that I love so much and we love arm candy and we're passionate about children and travel.
Speaker 2:And travel and twinning.
Speaker 1:Twins and twinning. So what a journey you have been on. You write that you've traveled all over the world. You've traveled so much. Was that prior to children or?
Speaker 2:after children, with children, all of the above, I mean. God has given my husband and I a heart for missions and so we actually have been able to take all our children on mission trips. That's very important to us and that actually kind of dovetails into the question you asked about why we adopted.
Speaker 2:My husband was in India on a mission trip and you know the need there. There's such a spread between the rich and the poor there and there's not really a strong middle class like we have here in America, and so when the children on the streets there are in need, it's a desperate need and it just stuck with him. You know it just stuck with him and we had actually tried to adopt before. We had biological children from a country called Azerbaijan, but that adoption was failed, it fell through, it did not work out.
Speaker 1:It's not like a miscarriage, it is a miscarriage.
Speaker 2:It felt. I mean, I have not had a miscarriage, so I don't want to say it felt just like a miscarriage, but it was a loss. I'd already had a nursery, I already had a baby shower.
Speaker 1:I mean, I was ready to bring the baby home and it was a failed adoption.
Speaker 2:But then God gave us our three biological sons and I kind of closed my heart to adoption. I just thought our family's complete, we have our three little boys. It was about, I think my middle son was probably about seven years old and I was putting him to bed at night and I was just rubbing his arm, you know, and kind of talking to him. As I was putting him to bed and he goes, he was like I'm so glad I have a mommy. He was like isn't it sad how not everyone has a mommy?
Speaker 1:I was like that is sad, I have chills everywhere.
Speaker 2:We have a very close friend who does a lot of orphan relief in Romania and we have. He was very aware of the plight of orphans in Romania and he knew that not everyone had a mom. So that's when God kind of reopened that little piece of my heart.
Speaker 1:I bet he did.
Speaker 2:There's something you know there's more. I've got more planned for you, some other. There's some kids out there who need a mama, and that's the sort of beauty of of having an adopted child is. I was able to adopt out of knowing children needed a mama, and that was so deep in my heart from the Lord, and so it really was it was. I had to lay down a lot of myself for that and tell me a little more about that.
Speaker 1:I think there might be some listening that you know are like on the cusp, okay. Do I don't I bring a child into the world? Do I bring a child from another country into this country, into our family?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, I mean, the truth is is I was afraid it would take away time that I was going to be able to devote to my sons. You know, I had these three boys God had given me they were. My youngest son was in third grade, so he was still little whenever.
Speaker 2:I was adopting and I was afraid that I would be just too distracted or have to miss out on some of their life, you know, or being like fully engaged with them, right, and the Lord just really worked with me on that and we kind of talked about it as a family and we talked about you know what he had said. There are children who don't have a mom and dad. We feel like God has equipped us. We have enough love in our hearts, we think, for another child, we have some, you know, enough resources. We have an extra bedroom, like what do y'all think? And really, as a family, we were able to talk to our sons and I think having some of that background and going to some mission trips and stuff they were able to see, you know, this is the right move for our family.
Speaker 1:What a beautiful journey for your boys. How old were your other boys?
Speaker 2:We would have been. They would have been in third grade, fifth grade and eighth grade when our daughter came home. Quite an expanse. So yeah, we were about to jump into that high school world with our oldest sons. We were kind of in this weird little transition anyway, and you know that has been the most beautiful thing is it has made my son such better young men, my oldest son's, 21 now and to see him interact with his little sisters and just the better man he's going to be, because he's going to be a better dad.
Speaker 2:He's going to be a better husband. My son's had to learn about laying down your life and helping someone else not every minute of the day, but many times they would have to. You know, we're going to have to quit what you're doing and we're going to have to focus on our daughter right now.
Speaker 1:Sure, because they, I would say they had special needs. I would think in many ways Both of their daughters do have special needs, yeah.
Speaker 2:They both do have some special needs, but the care and the nurture that I've been able to see come out of them from just having practical hands-on experience has been so beautiful. And even now, like my son's girlfriend, who's the older one, she just says you know, I really wasn't really interested in your son until I saw him playing with his sisters and I thought he's going to be a great dad one day and I thought all right, oh, that's dad.
Speaker 1:One day and I thought, all right, oh, that's so precious. I just think that's so precious. Well done, girlfriend. I know so. God speaks well of her on many accounts as well.
Speaker 2:She kind of knew what she was looking for. So God has a plan, and I've really been able to see that it's always so much bigger than we could think of in our mind. So he wasn't just planning on providing our daughters with a home, he was planning on changing us and making my sons. You know he's molding us to be more like himself, and these kinds of things are what train us up in godliness.
Speaker 2:And I'm not going to say it's been perfect. It's not been easy I'm not going to use the word easy but it's been good and it's been fruitful and it's given our family something to truly bond over.
Speaker 1:We're all in it together, you know. Well, it speaks very highly of your hearts as parents. Obviously, I have definitely had a missions heart and I just love that you took your children with you on missions. So just a shout out to moms you know of little children or middle children. I mean, it's never too late, you know, we can still take a family trip with our grandchildren in the future, so that could be, very cool.
Speaker 1:Another theme you're bringing out is expanding our worldview. You know Jesus loves his little children this incredibly beautiful board book that just has pictures of children from all over the world. So I just love this. Tell me your process of. I just wonder what things you've brought home that might help expand our worldview.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a great question, I think, just first of all, understanding the Lord as the creator. First of all, understanding the Lord is the creator.
Speaker 2:It is so much more. God is too big and too glorious and too amazing, and all the words, things that he's created, all the different types of food, all the different types of clothing and skin and landscapes and snow and rainforest, and all the things it magnifies Him. And so one of the things I think that's helpful about traveling with your children is that you're able to say look how amazing our God is. We would never see something about this at home, but it really broadens His glory and I think if you can teach your children at a young age, he is so glorious. He chose to make you and you are part of His plan. Yeah, he chose to make you and you are part of his plan. You're like you know. If you picture, god is, like you know, seen in a mosaic. We're made in his image and all of us like a little tiny mosaic. You know that's kind of pointing to something grand and glorious.
Speaker 2:You're a part of that, you say this to your child Suddenly they have a purpose, they're made on purpose, for a purpose, they have more self-worth and they're kind of excited about getting to know this God. This God is really cool Look at the giraffe, I know. I know, I know, I love giraffes. I love giraffes too.
Speaker 1:I saw them in the wild, like of course in. Kenya, but driving to a retreat center in Kenya, they were just like, not honest, like just like we would watch dogs run around. All of a sudden I looked and I was like I'm sorry, is that a giraffe?
Speaker 2:So beyond our comprehension. So I think, just starting in that place of we serve an amazing, glorious God who's a grand artisan and he has designed a masterpiece. That's you.
Speaker 1:And what is?
Speaker 2:your like. Let's go discover what God's created you to do, Because a lot of it that's been cool is to see what affects my different children differently.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's interesting Share a bit more.
Speaker 2:So you know, I think they're all uniquely made.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:With a purpose. I always say that you are purposefully made. You are personally known and perfectly loved by Jesus, like that's my message.
Speaker 1:Say that again, really good, love that. I see that on a wall. That's beautiful, thank you.
Speaker 2:I want to teach my children they're purposefully made, they're made on purpose and for a wall. That's beautiful, thank you. I want to teach my children they're purposefully made, they're made on purpose and for a purpose. They're personally known, it says. God knows how many hairs are on their head. He knows he knits them together in their mother's womb. Like he personally knows you, he knows what your blanket looks like, he knows your stuffed animal. He knows everything about you, even all your thoughts. God personally knows you and he perfectly loves you. I think that has come to light in different ways. My oldest son is a storyteller and he has seen missions in a way that he wants to tell that story to other people, and so what he likes to do is make videos of different mission organizations and try to kind of get their message out to support.
Speaker 1:Spread the word.
Speaker 2:He's trying to say like you don't know about this, let me help you make it known like to know God and to make Him known. And so he's kind of more on the make it known side. You know, Is he doing that?
Speaker 1:now professionally. Well, that's his aspiration.
Speaker 2:He has a little drone business that he's doing now and so you know, drone footage is kind of cool because you really can see that 30,000 view up, so cool, and then to just zero down onto like a story. But I think that's sort of heavenly in a way. You know so heavenly up here, but God can zero down into our lives and so I'm really proud of, I really like, you know, to see him doing that.
Speaker 1:So, heartlifter, I thought we would just take a little teeny pause here. Heartlifter, I thought we would just take a little teeny pause here. I love how Tara is talking about each of her children's individuality, giftings and talents, and I love how she expressed the work of a drone, how a drone can go out high and out and give us a real, seemingly eternal viewpoint. And I just thought, take a moment, and if God were to have a drone over your life and pull it way high up, you know, and it became his viewpoint of you what individuality, what special gifts and talents, what might God say about you? Get quiet, think about it.
Speaker 2:Listen for His whispers. I have a son who did a mission trip in El Salvador and he's much more practical, like what he really loved doing is taking water filters to families that weren't didn't have clean water. Yes, and, and taking that to him was like this is a way I can physically help make your life a little bit better. You know, just like a tiny thing, I love that. So he's more about let's pack a lot of water filters in my suitcase, kind of thing, and so that's just two examples of ways.
Speaker 1:Really beautiful.
Speaker 2:One's a big picture, one's more of like a practical Love, that, and so, yeah, I think that God, it opens them up to hearing God's voice in a unique way because, they're out of their comfort zone.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I think they realize, like when you're out of your comfort zone, you're a little more willing to look for, like where are the handrails? Like what am I doing? And you're willing to reach for the Holy Spirit to be those handrails Like can you? Guide me.
Speaker 2:Because I'm a little out of my comfort zone here. For sure, guide me, because I'm a little out of my comfort zone here. So I would say, you know to go with, you know, obviously, teach some lessons to them and bring out things that you're recognizing, but also realize the Holy Spirit's going to probably say something to your child that might be totally different from what he's saying to you Because they're made, you know, I believe all children are made with a unique plan and purpose for their lives. They're not just mini-us you know?
Speaker 1:No, no, and they will uniquely like. My twin daughter was involved with Noonday and Noonday is just an incredible jewelry. Yeah, I've heard of that you know. Of course, you love jewelry.
Speaker 2:I have great earrings, by the way I've heard of it.
Speaker 1:I should have worn mine today, but you know she traveled with Noonday and it was just an extraordinary experience, you know, to meet the artisans that create this beautiful, beautiful jewelry and fashion, and that's a way to help them. And there's so many diverse. You know, diversity is our word. Today, I think of how God creates our hearts and our passions as well.
Speaker 1:Dance is a huge passion of mine and I said to myself next time I go to Kenya, to the beautiful Joy Village where we worked with the mamas, I've got to take some tap shoes.
Speaker 2:You know because.
Speaker 1:I just don't know if they've learned tap. You know, because I just don't know if they've learned tap and I just think that would be most amazing to do a whole suitcase full of different sizes and just do some huffing you know and do some light those children.
Speaker 1:You know it'd be so, so fun. Let's do a little shuffle off to uh kenya. You know, oh, I just think I had an idea, so write that down real quick, quick. We have a great theme going on right now on the podcast of wondering and wonder and awe, and you know creativity. Tara, are you allowed to sing?
Speaker 2:the song.
Speaker 1:Are you singing the song that's available? I can sing the song.
Speaker 2:Well, we had a little children's choir record it. But secret fact is, I am one of the voices, oh.
Speaker 1:I cannot wait. I cannot wait.
Speaker 2:The sound engineer had a software that could make me sound like a kid. It was really weird, but anyway. Oh my goodness, I'm in it because I was doing the vocal guide. Yes, but yeah, are you having way too?
Speaker 1:much fun with this. I think this is so much fun.
Speaker 2:I don't have the copyright, I can sing it. Okay, it is fun. But it is on Spotify too. I mean, it's not like I'll put it all out. Spotify is an Apple podcast, or I'm not podcast All of them. Okay, I will put that out.
Speaker 1:And, of course, on your incredible website. Go ahead and share about that because I had to get off it. I was like, okay, enough time for right now.
Speaker 2:Well, I have a little ministry called Jesus Loves, and it's all about recapturing the wonder, exploring the depth and spreading the good news of the world's greatest love, which, of course, is the love of Jesus.
Speaker 1:I love, the world's greatest love. What?
Speaker 2:on earth, the world's greatest love. And we do a lot of different things. I do a little blog every month and we have a little newsletter, you know. But we have a shop. We have this t-shirt that has Jesus loves you in 33 different languages oh my goodness. We have this t-shirt that has Jesus loves you in 33 different languages. Oh my goodness, that say made in love so perfectly. But this children's book thing is kind of something I'm starting and trying. You know, I've just got this first book out and I've got some more coming down the road. But I've really come to believe, you know, like if you think about the parable of the sower and the different soils in your heart, the soil of a child's heart is the good soil.
Speaker 2:It is, they don't have thorns yet they don't have rocks yet, all those things, and so now's the time.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:Now's the time to plant the seeds of God's word and the message of His love into these hearts of these children. And I feel like in one of the soils it says they fell away because they didn't have a root. But if you plant those seeds early and the children develop those roots in their heart, the roots of God's love, when the storms of life come later they're going to be able to stand firm. And so I've really.
Speaker 1:I feel like.
Speaker 2:I didn't start this ministry really geared towards children. It's not a children's ministry, but it is becoming so in my heart. I'm writing this children's book, and it's more for the parents too, you know, like finding and helping teach parents ways they can incorporate scripture into their daily life. That's fun and exciting, so it's been fun. God's opened some doors with this book that I'm going to kind of walk through and see what happens.
Speaker 1:I believe you just had a really cool door if you wouldn't mind sharing. I saw it on your gram with the Salvation Army.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. So I went to speak last week at the Salvation Army in Chicago and I was able to take me. So this little book gives me some reason to go. So I'm just, you know, I'm speaking to all these kids and they're just precious and they were.
Speaker 2:I mean, I love big cities because you do have so much more diversity than you do in the smaller towns, smaller towns, and I was like this is so beautiful, but I was able to talk to them. You know, jesus made you, jesus knows you, jesus loves you and we went through this. You know whole little thing and I have this cross where I show them. You know how Jesus takes our sins and erases them when he dies on the cross and takes our sins.
Speaker 1:Was that what you were putting in the water? Yeah, yeah so it's really.
Speaker 2:There's a sin jar, you know where you talk about. When sin came in the world, things kind of went awry. And you know we have to have pure hearts to be with God and it's this really cool little image. But you stick the cross in, so the sins makes it murky and yellowish kind of murky. And you stick that cross in there and it just clears.
Speaker 1:Where are you going to have that cross on your for sale? I should do it. Yeah, I should, or something. Or do it on the website.
Speaker 2:maybe I don't know. Yeah, tell me later.
Speaker 1:I have other things I've used before for that but that looked very interesting and simple to carry around. Very interesting and simple to carry around.
Speaker 2:Well, it's great for children because it shows you like when Jesus comes in your heart, all that, like the sin is gone, like he takes it, that's right and it's just a visual aid. You know it. Just they can see that. And it's just been such an honor to really be able to speak to children. You know, I'm just planting those seeds.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I really believe. You know, believe. If you've got a parent or a grandparent or a teacher praying over those seeds and watering those seeds, then watch out, because something beautiful is going to grow. God does not leave His Word untouched. He will work through His Word.
Speaker 1:He will. His Word is truth, and we just had Dr Holly Catterton-Allen on and she has done so much research on spiritual formation, healthy development and resilience and found in her research how when a child has spiritual roots, they are more resilient in the future, and so I think that is something. Well, we know that right, but it was once again a reminder. Now, as a new grandmother, you know how vital it is in my role to be that presence and plant. You know those seeds, or water, the seeds that are being planted by the parents. That's it, so I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, reading the Bible to your child or incorporating the Bible into your child's life is never a waste of time. I feel like we're always doing things that don't really matter, but you are never wasting your time when you're planting seeds of God's word in your child.
Speaker 1:That's the most important seed you will ever plant, but we forget.
Speaker 2:We forget to do that I forget to plant them in my heart. We don't make it the main thing, you know so.
Speaker 1:Well, and we're speaking in a day and age which we've discussed here on the show so often that you know our appendages now has they always have a phone, an iPad. You know we're not really opening the Bible, but I have recently reinstituted that in my own life. You know, carry a Bible to church. I know it's not. You know, travel with a small one. There just is something about it. You know, no guilt, no shame, whatever. It's all. But for me I just think, opening a book, sitting and reading with a child and, as Dr Allen really encouraged us, asking, wondering questions. Where do you see yourself in this?
Speaker 2:book.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful. Where do you see some of your friends in this book? It's just beautiful. You know, you can even point to. You know, is this an Indian child? I don't know. It's just the diversity I always encourage. Put a world map in your house. Now you can get iron signs that say the grand design. I'm going to go to Etsy and get a sign made with your three things that you say to your children, because I am going to make that an intention in my own heart, especially that I am known, personally known and deeply loved. I can't quote it yet, but I will be able to. So thank you so much for just the wealth that you brought us today the wisdom, the encouragement, the wisdom, the encouragement, the directionality of helping us become women with a wider worldview. Perhaps when you see an opportunity to go, yeah, go, go, go, you know, and dig into this deep courage, this courage right, it'll change your life, tara. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:It was so great to hear Tara's story and to learn of this beautiful adaptation of Jesus Loves the Little Children. Hop over to Spotify, amazon Music wherever you find this podcast or music, you will find Tara's adaptation. It is a joy builder. I couldn't stop smiling and singing it the rest of the day. I love the way she transformed it to be completely relative to so many children. If you would be so kind, take a moment and go to JanelleRairdoncom slash podcast, all the way to the bottom of the page, subscribe and leave a review of the podcast. You can also support the work of the podcast by making a tax-deductible donation to Heart Lift International, my 501c3 dedicated to creating mental health resources that bridge the gap between faith and mental health. Meet me over on Substack at HeartLift Central and we will continue this conversation.
