Welcome to another episode of May is for Mamas, and this is Mother's Day Week! We are approaching Mother's Day and I had the thought, I want to create a podcast episode that is a gift to any mom who is listening. And oftentimes for Mother's Day, we wanna get a massage or we wanna get away, or we want a new bag, or we wanna be served breakfast in bed. And all of these things are good and of of course, of course we want most of all those homemade cards from our kids that is the best. And just the acknowledgement of all the work and love that we pour into our families and all of that is so good and right and wonderful to want and receive those things.

But sometimes, sometimes more than anything, I just want some words of life spoken over me. I need a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit to empower my steps. I want to to hear scripture and words that can speak to me in the dark moments that hold me together when I feel like I'm falling apart. The words that give me patience when I lose my temper, the words that give me wisdom when I need it most.

And so today I am gonna be sharing my favorite scripture verses for mamas. And of course there are endless scriptures that I could share. There are so many more that I could pull from, but these are some of my personal favorites that I just want to read over you and share with you today.

I've had three best friends for over 20 years: Jess, Heather, and Sam. And the four of us are called The Minkies, and I invited them to do a special episode of the podcast, just me and my best friends sharing our story, sharing our favorite memories and what it's taken for us to maintain a long lasting friendship for over two decades.

So it's a very fun, different episode today. There's a lot of laughing and joking and storytelling, and when it comes to work and play, these ladies, they definitely know how to work hard, but when we're together—it is 100% play. They are my idea of fun and having a good time, and they have been for the better part of my life. What a gift it is that I get to share them with you today!

The heart of what I want to talk about today is simply the idea that we can say a lot and we can have a lot of great ideas, but really our lives come down to what we do. My encouragement to you today is simply to let your yes be yes.

Today, we have the privilege of hearing from my friend and mama mentor, Renee Swope, who is a wife and a mama of three and an author and speaker. She's so wise and I love that she is ahead of me in the motherhood journey, she has so much to offer.

Having four small children six and under simply means that over the last six years there has been a lot of sickness in our house. And while there's really no right or wrong way to be sick, because you're just sick. I have learned a few ways to cope with sickness, ways to cling to Jesus, ways to pray over your children during sickness, ways to perhaps make sickness a little less miserable and that's what I'm going to share with you today.

And now for the shortest podcast episode of 2021, I hope this encourages you and is just what you need today.

Today we're going to talk about five ways for you to work through that feeling of overwhelm that honestly overtakes us every once in a while and leaves us feeling so helpless.

I am so excited to replay this episode with Emily Ley. If you’ve listened before or you haven’t, this episode is so good. I think that what I love most about her is how much she values the little things—the moments in between—and finding that kind of balance between work and play and what that looks like.

[Replay] Life is hard, and sometimes it just seems we can't move forward in our lives until someone speaks some words of life to us. So that's what I'm here for today. If you're facing something really hard, I am here to tell you, you were made for hard things.

Well friend, this is my last episode of Work & Play before I take a two month break from the podcast and a six month break from work and social media. I just want to use this time and space to encourage you. And I want to speak life over you. And I want to encourage you to speak life over the people around you.

Welcome to another episode of May is for Mamas! Today, I’m going to be brief and hopefully encouraging. And I don't say this lightly—I believe the secret to getting the most out of motherhood, and life in general, is to simply lean in to your season.

Today we are celebrating two whole years of this podcast, Work and Play with Nancy Ray. I have a really fun, unique episode planed—it’s like a birthday party that I want to celebrate and encourage you with.

Booker T. Washington's life story has impacted me so deeply. I can honestly say, this is one of those books that has changed me. I hope you'll listen in to his inspiring story, my top three takeaways, and I really, really hope that you're going to pick up this book.

I was talking with a friend the other day and she asked me the question, what are you fighting for this year? And it took me a minute to answer her, but after a pause, I finally said, “You know, I think I'm fighting for fun.” I know that might sound trite or silly, but I'm realizing it's—it's not that silly, it's actually necessary.

Today I'm going to be sharing with you seven ways that you can build trust with those around you and how I'm going to be working on that in my own life.

Today, I'm going to talk about how we don't actually know what 2021 is going to hold, but how we can approach it with wisdom.

In today's episode, I want to remind all of us of three things the Lord calls us to, in any and every season of our lives. Three things that, if I'm honest, I feel like they've been pushed to the side. Three things that I believe were part of the founding of this country and three things that we absolutely must maintain if we are to move forward.

Often times, this is the time of year where we go a little off the rails with our eating, our spending, with our planning. We just do too much of all of it.

So, my encouragement to you today is that if you want to finish this year strong, you have to start now.