Welcome to the Simply Joyful Podcast Episode #008 with Wendy Speake   Life Creative Starts at Home!   Show Notes: KristiClover.com/008   When we become moms it often feels like we lose part of our creative selves. The things we used to enjoy doing become memories. It's easy to start viewing motherhood as a choice that voids all the other things we thought we'd do in life. However, God can use motherhood to refine our gifts and talents and use them right where we are -- at home. Now, by "at home" I'm not just talking to stay-at-home moms. I'm talking to all moms.   God did not make a mistake when He gave you all your incredible creativity and unique gifting. You can still use them. Sometimes it just looks a bit different than we first thought it would look.   On a “Simply” & “Joyful” side note… This whole podcast talks about how to find joy using the creativity that God gives us. Our conversation was so rich and filled with goodness, tips for finding more joy, and how to simplify our big dreams and use our gifting right where God has us -- that we never got to an "official" Simply Joyful moment at the end. So, don't miss this whole episode! It's all in there!   In This Episode In this episode Wendy and I talk about the dreams moms have and how we often feel hindered and burdened with motherhood. We hope you will be encouraged to explore the dreams, talents, and gifts that God has given you -- even while being a mom! I know you are going to be blown away by this encouraging episode with Wendy!   Highlights from This Show… ...(I know I mentioned cake pictures. I'm looking for them. I'll get them on here in a few hours. Sorry for the delay.) Wendy mentions her book Life Creative: Inspiration for Today’s Renaissance Mom, while explaining what a “Renaissance Mom” is.   “I write about about parenting, and I find that it’s still tapping into the same skills of storytelling, but it’s all with the purpose of pointing women to Jesus.” -- Wendy Speake   “God did a good job when He gave you all those other passions and all those other abilities. And so I’m encouraging you to find a way, find a time, find a tribe, find a group of women that can cheer you on in those things that you used to love before you became a mom.” -- Wendy Speake   Wendy shares about her friend, Kristen Schell who used a turquoise table to begin practicing hospitality when she was a mom.   Wendy talks about how the Great Commision starts at home with your kids and that you can use your talents and dreams during your season of motherhood to share God’s love with not only your kids, but with others...even when feeling "Confined, yet unhindered.”   “The dream come true of motherhood intersects every other dream.” — Wendy Speake   “This is the way God planned it, whether it’s jotting down the dreams in your notebook, or pulling out your sewing machine again, or working to invent new recipes, taking pictures, or pulling out the pottery wheel -- or whatever it is, when you’re a mom, all the other dreams start at home, too. It starts here. But it can start." — Wendy Speake   “God made us in His creative image for a reason. And one of those main reasons is because there’s gospel power in creativity. There are so many ways to get creative while 'confined' at home.” — Wendy Speake   “That Great Commission call actually starts at home. The Scripture says first in Jerusalem, and then in Judea and Samaria, and from there, out into the world (Acts 1:8). And Jerusalem is the home for the early church, and then Judea and Samaria are the neighborhoods … and then from there, out into the world.” — Wendy Speake   “It is God’s power that can flow out of our homes.” — Wendy Speake    “I might not want to be auditioning for movies, I might not be throwing extravagant dinner parties, but this is creative me, doing something to show someone they’re loved by God.” — Wendy Speake   “God sometimes uses motherhood to refine us and to show us how else we can be using those gifts to bless ot