My friend, Jennifer Defrates, is no stranger to hardship, trial, and difficulty. Yet through it all, she has found the Lord to be so faithful, loving, and trustworthy as He brings good out of everything and works miracles even in the darkest times. I know you are going to be encouraged through her testimony today!
What we Chat about in this Episode
~The purpose of parenting and what our ultimate goal for our children should be
~Jennifer’s testimony of having experienced rape, chronic health issues, infertility, military life, and marriage to an unbeliever and all the while seen the goodness of God through it all, her faith be built up, and her trust in Him deepened; how the Lord has brought good out of these various trials
~Lessons Jennifer has learned only through adversity
~Some of the issues with “purity culture”
~How Christ is bigger than our sin
~How the Lord is using Jennifer to reach her husband
~How adoption serves as a beautiful picture of the gospel
~And more!
Resources Mentioned
“What it’s Like to be Disabled” article by Jennifer
“When War Comes Home” article by Jennifer
‘When War Comes Home” Bible Study
“Help My Unbelief: Why Doubt is not the Enemy of Faith” by Barnabas Piper
Gourmet Coffee from Salado, Tx
“Compared to Who?: A Proven Path to Improve Your Body Image” by Heather Creekmore
Inspiring Quotes from Jennifer
“God gives us these children not to fulfill some personal dream of ours or to be this “perfect picture” life we all expect, but to refine us and [we’re] to raise these children for His Kingdom and not our own purposes.”
“A lot of our homeschool day revolves around character-building, because you can’t teach an angry little child math. You have to first teach her how to be teachable.”
“Challenges are not in our lives without purpose. Nothing in my life was allowed without purpose.”
“Nothing I’m facing in my life will be wasted. It could impact generations one hundred years from now.”
“No sin is every too messy for Jesus. There is no ‘one and done’. Jesus knew about every sin you would ever commit in your life, and He got up on that cross and stayed there for you. Nothing you’ve ever done can ever disqualify you from salvation.”
“Jesus used the storm to build their faith and prepare them for when they would really need [that faith] after the resurrection.”
Where You Can Find Jennifer Online
Website – Heaven, Not Harvard
Instagram - @heavennotharvard
Facebook - Heaven, Not Harvard
Twitter - @heavenntharvard
To Leave a Rating and Review on iTunes
Have you been encouraged or inspired by today’s episode? If so, could I ask a little favor? If you could leave the podcast a rating and review in iTunes, that would be amazing! The more ratings and reviews a podcast receives, the more iTunes shows that podcast to other folks searching for shows to listen to, so by leaving me a rating and review, you truly are partnering with me in this podcast ministry to encourage and help as many women as we possibly can. Thank you so much for taking the time to do that! Here’s how:
If you’re on your computer:
- Access iTunes on your desktop and type Home and Hearth in the search box on the upper right hand corner.
- Click on the podcast photo when it comes up
- Click on “Ratings and Reviews” beneath the podcast title
- Under “Customer Reviews”, click on “Write a Review”
- Click on how many stars you want to rate the podcast and then write out your review and click submit
- You’re done! Thank you so much!!
If you’re on your phone:
- Open the podcasts app
- Click the search button on the bottom righthand corner (the magnifying glass) and type in Home and Hearth in the search box that will appear at the top of your screen
- Click on the podcast photo when it pops up
- Click on the reviews button near the top middle of the screen
- Scroll down a bit, if needed, until you see “Write a Review” and click on that
- Click on how many starts your want to rate the podcast, write out your review, and click “send” when finished
- You’re done! Thank you so much!!
How You Can Listen to the Podcast
~Here on the blog
~on iTunes
~on Stitcher
~on TuneIn
~on the Podcast Addict App
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