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 : and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing Hope for healthy families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there friends and welcome to my favorite time of day, getting to spend time with you for sure. Hope for Healthy Families.

We are talking all about mornings today on our show.

And listen, I'm going to start the show today by telling you good morning. I know that sounds crazy. This is the afternoon. It is the afternoon. We're on in the afternoon. Sometimes I am on the morning shows and that throws everybody off. But I am going to tell you good morning because that's what I want you to have. We are talking all about mornings today. Now, this is already going to be convicting because my regular listeners know I do not profess to be a morning person at all in any way, shape or form. But we're really living in a culture that wakes up already overwhelmed before our feet even hit the floor. We are flooded. It's like you open your eyes and you just start to think. The scroll in your brain starts. You've got notifications, responsibilities. You may have little feet already running in the room. You may have anxiety. You may just have noise in your house, just all of that emotional noise, psychological noise and physical noise that fills our home. Mornings have become something we survive rather than something that we receive as a gift from God. It is a blessing to open your eyes in the morning and to have the gift of a new day. And for families especially, mornings just feel like a race. Like I am one of those people who has never seen the Hunger Games. I know, I know. I just haven't seen it. But it seems like this is what it feels like. Like what am I imagining it is? It's like you're trying to get everybody out the door, praying. They all have shoes, they all have backpacks. They all have lunches. If you're in that busy stage of life with kids. But it doesn' matter where you are. It just feels like mornings are really hectic. But what if we have misunderstood the very purpose of mornings and why God gave them to us because mornings are where our rhythms take root. If you've been listening into our Healthy habit series, that's every Friday. We've been moving through healthy habits, stackable habits for families. We talked about spiritual disciplines. Our second segment, our second six week segment was rhythms and morning routines we spent a whole week talking about. So you can go back and listen to that too. Listen to any Friday show, find that Friday show on mornings. That would be great to hear.

How we begin our morning sets the tone for everything that follows

And the way we begin our morning sets the tone for everything that follows. So scripture tells us that God's mercies are new every morning and many of us still wake up feeling depleted instead of renewed. So today we're going to have a conversation that invites you to rethink your mornings, the very beginning of your day. Now I know some of you are, are already like texting your spouse saying hey, this is about morning people and you're texting them because you know they're not morning people already. Yeah, I know that. That's okay. That's all right. We all need to, we all need some help there. This is not pressure though. This is a really a sacred possibility because how we begin our day shapes who we are becoming throughout our day.

Jessica talks with Jennifer Dukes Lee about how to love your morning

So today we're joined by Jennifer Dukes Lee. She is a best selling author, she's a speaker and what she calls a morning evangelist. And her newest book, how to love your morning Faith filled habits to build a life of joy and purpose. One day at a time explores over 200 mornings in scripture and helps readers develop rhythms that lead to peace and purpose and spiritual connection. Don't we all want that? Jennifer brings both wisdom and vulnerability. Writing from real life, seasons of hardship and faith and growth. Like we know so many authors have to give us a message that they have walked through some stuff and she is no different from that. Her work has helped countless women move from striving to surrender, from chaos to clarity. But it doesn't matter man, woman or child, we all can do better on our mornings. Jennifer, welcome to the show. I'm so glad to have you here.

Jennifer Dukes Lee: Thank you. And wow, what a tee up. You did great, Jessica. Thank you.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I am a firstborn and I may not be a morning person, but I am a do your homework kind of person. And so you know, I, I'm hoping, Jennifer, I'm hoping you'll be gentle with me as we walk through I, that that this isn't going to be too convicting because I already feel like my kids are going to start texting me mom, this is you. But it is true. We live in a world that really glorifies the hustle and kind of that late night culture. And mornings are just really kind of treated as optional unless you're like a coffee person. And you're going to put that on social media. But we are going to talk about morning. So before we do, introduce yourself to our listeners, tell them a little bit about you. How you grew up, how you came to know the Lord, and how he has put you in front of us today with this message about mourn.

Jennifer Dukes Lee: Oh, thank you. So my name is Jennifer Dukes Lee and I live on a farm, a fifth generation farm in far northwest Iowa. And this is the place where my husband and I have been growing crops, pigs and two beautiful humans. Our kids are out of the house now. We're empty nesters. And, all my life I have been a newspaper reporter and then a book writer. Now I always like to say I'm just, I'm just writing about the good news. Not all the news, just the good news. The good news, good news of Jesus Christ. Which is kind of wild because you asked a bit about my testimony, and I actually didn't know what I believed about the Lord. I was like this stuff that we, the stuff that Christians believe is just off the wall, you know, parting seas, people wrecking their own funerals, all kinds of stuff that just seemed really unbelievable. And I grew up in the church, but intellectually I just wasn't sure what I believed. And people would say, well, Jennifer, you just need to read the Bible. And I'm like, that's all. That's yalls propaganda piece. I don't know what to say about that. But ultimately I did dig into the scriptures and in young, adulthood came to know the Lord as my, my savior. And as a part of that, I've written a lot of books and Bible studies and journals. And now I wrote a book about mornings because it turns out that God has a soft spot for mornings. And God is a morning person.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Ooh, okay, that's really tough. All right. I said be gentle, but that's already convicting. And Jennifer, I know that people like following you along on farm life on social media. And so you can find Jennifer on social media and see some of her adventures that she's having there. But the biggest adventure you've had recently is studying mornings in the Bible. Now, I will tell you, I interview a lot of people. I have done a lot of Bible studies myself. I am a bookworm. I've read a lot of Books I've never read about someone specifically studying mornings in the Bible. How did you get inspired with this idea to do and what did you learn?

Jennifer Dukes Lee: I was on vacation with my husband and our two then college age daughters in Mexico. We were that morning, the first morning there, talking about all the things that we wanted to do to enjoy our first day on vacation. Get, our favorite espresso, go to our favorite breakfast buffet, sunrise walk, a, little exercise class time in the Bible together as a family. And I said to the girls, I'm like, oh, I wish that I could stretch out mornings. I just love mornings. My daughter Lydia slapped her hands down on the table and said, mom, you need to write a book about mornings. And I'm like, I didn't even know what that meant. Yeah. And so I was like, what does that mean? Like, because when I look at morning routines and morning rituals online, it's like you get up at 5am and you run a half marathon and have a gourmet breakfast, exegete the entire book of Leviticus, iron your bed sheets all before 8am and I'm like, what do I have to say about mornings when I get up, you know, like at a normal time and my hair is sticking out in 10 different directions. But what I decided to do that very morning is I opened the scriptures and I'm like, I wonder what God has to say about mornings. Because I have no idea what this would even look like to write a book about mornings. And what I discovered was so fascinating on the very first page of Scripture, the book of Genesis, God. The very first thing that God created on this earth was a morning when he said, let there be light. And from there on out, all through Scriptures, so many opportunities where people early in the morning or sometime in the morning were directed by God to get up and go. Whether that was Moses taking tablets up Mount Sinai, whether that was Abraham taking his son early in the morning, Isaac, to be sacrificed, I mean, really hard things that people were facing in the morning. But out of obedience, they didn't procrastinate, they didn't push, snooze five times. They just got to the business that God had called them to do. And then there were these metaphorical mornings, Mornings you already referenced one Jessica from Lamentations 3 that says that his mercies never fail. They are new every morning. Well, what does that mean for us? What does it mean for us in Psalm 30, verse 5 when it says, weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning, then you move on to the NewSong Testament. And you see Jesus getting up in the morning to pray to his Father. You see the hardest morning in all of, history happening at 9am on a Friday morning when Jesus was crucified and when all hope seemed lost. Three days later, on a morning in a garden, Jesus rolled the stone away and life is forever changed. I mean that is like Jesus, the ultimate morning person, right? And then we get to revelation and we get a glimpse at what the new earth will be with the whole world lit up in a morning that lasts forever and Jesus as our bright morning star. And a whole bunch of dozens and dozens and dozens of other mornings all in between those.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Okay, I'm already hooked because I have never thought about it like this before, but you laid it out so beautifully. From Genesis to Revelation, from the first morning that God created on the first page of Scripture to the bright morning star. That is absolutely incredible. And I have to say, Jennifer, I'm an old school church girl and every Easter, it's my tradition, I always play Morning like this by Sandy Patty because I just think about this morning like when people woke up and, and they were thinking they were going to be so sad and then it changed. It's really fascinating to think about. God obviously created mornings and he created it for a purpose. And how do you think that we have subverted that purpose? Why are we waking up in the morning so grumpy, so disconnected? Why have mornings become such a hassle rather than a blessing?

Jennifer Dukes Lee: I think you one reason is, a physical reason that you sort of alluded to at the very beginning of this conversation, Jessica, when you talked, talked about how people stay up so late. M. That's a huge problem. We are, not getting the sleep that we need and it's wrecking our mornings. And there's two, a couple different reasons for that. One is the Industrial Revolution and another is artificial light. Not to even mention the, the mobile phone that comes later.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Screens.

Jennifer Dukes Lee: Yeah, screens. But man, even well before that, the Industrial Revolution advanced this idea that sleeping was a waste of time and a sign of Laziness and gaslighting on the streets. In about the 1800s, it meant that people could stay out later. So you could stay out for work, you could stay out for play. And then came the light bulb. And so no longer was our activity just restricted to daytime hours. We could keep going well into the night. There's some studies that show that we're getting three hours less of sleep per night than we used to pre Industrial Revolution. So it's no wonder we're tired, Our bodies still need sleep. God gave us the gift of sleep. It's not a sign of laziness. And then on top of all that, now we wake up to the demands that are immediately pinging on our phones. And, these devices that are supposed to make our lives easier, that we can get more things done, are actually making us feel really pressed and entering into kind of a fight or flight mode before our feet even hit the floor. And I mean, and just on top of that, the things that are happening in the world, the things that are happening in our lives, that feels so heavy and we feel like ill equipped to start our day with God because we just need to get running as soon as our feet hit the floor.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You're so right. I have actually studied this from a health lens and looked at how it is impacting families. Because now you're right. With all of those pings that were sold, we were sold, a bill of goods here. You know, really like this is going to make your life so much easier, so much more convenient. But that digital overload that we feel before we're even awake is really real. And I read some research that shows something like 80% of people when the last thing they touch before their eyes close is their phone and the first thing they touch in the morning when their eyes wake up is their phone. And I know everybody says at this point it's my alarm, but there are these things that are sold that are really novel and old fashioned called alarm clocks. So we know we used to wake up and have an alarm without a smartphone, but we do have this digital overload and already our calendar is loading and the notifications are there and you're tempted to check your email because it's so, it's so tempting. So your work day is even creeping in. It's starting earlier than it does because your workday started when you got to the office. Now it starts as soon as you wake up. And you're so right, Jennifer, about hustle culture. Setting the tone. It is just like a badge of honor to be busy. This chronic busyness. You can do more and it is disrupting our sleep. We are losing sacred rhythms and that is not the way that God designed us to be. And so when we come back, we're going to talk about how we can change this. How do we build life giving rhythms? And Jennifer says she makes a pretty bold claim that every person is actually a morning person. I cannot wait to hear about this because I'm going to need to be convinced. But I Kind of feel like I will be. I hope you will be too. Join us. Right after the break,

 : Candace talks about finding out she was pregnant. Thankfully, an ultrasound provided by preborn allowed her to hear her baby's heartbeat. The sonogram sealed the deal for me. My baby was like this tiny little spectrum of hope and I saw his heart beating on the screen and knowing that there's life growing inside, I mean, that sonogram changed my life. I went from just Candace to mom. Thank you. To everybody that has given these gifts. You guys are giving more than money. You guys are giving love.

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No Fear by Jon Reddick: got enemies at every side it ain't looking good I ain't gonna lie Arrows flying devil's trying to make me think I'm going down this time you might think that I'd be afraid Running scared with the shaking faith with the God I know says it ain't over the God I know is going to make a way yeah, though I walk through the valley I, will have no fear, no fear. The mighty power of Jesus is fighting for me here. No fear. No fear. No fear.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is no Fear by Jon Reddick. And hey, we're talking about something this morning that or this afternoon that I'm deeply afraid of. And that's mornings. Look, it's already making me mess up my words. I am notoriously not a morning person, but I'm trying to change that. And really I have discovered that developing a morning routine. And for me, that's really simple. That is coffee and Jesus. I know it's very cliche, but I get up first thing and I realized I needed to start my day with scripture. I needed to start my day spending time with God because I would get to the end of my day and think, oh, I'm a night owl. I'll do my devotional at night. I'll read it before I go to bed and I'll think, I really wish I had read this before I met the day. This would have been really helpful and maybe change the trajectory. Trajectory of my day. And we're talking about that this, this afternoon. Look, I am just stuck on mornings. We're gonna pretend it's morning for the rest of the day, it doesn't matter. Morning, night. We're talking about mornings and the book is called how to Love your Morning. Faith Filled Habits to Build a Life of Joy and Purpose One Day at a time. We're talking to Jennifer Dukes Lee, who wakes up and spends her mornings on an Iowa farm and is talking about the way that she studied the Bible. Her daughter inspired her to write this book. I love it when God works through seeds that we planted in our children to bear this kind of fruit.

You make a bold claim that really every person is a morning person

And Jennifer, I just want to jump right back in because as I promised before the break, I said that you've made a bold claim that really every person is a morning person. So I give you the floor. Convince me.

Jennifer Dukes Lee: Yeah. So I first just want to acknowledge that that is hard to believe because we have an idea of what a morning person is. And I described that kind of a person a little bit ago. It's the person that we see waking up early and having like a perfectly curated home and having color coded commentaries and hour long quiet times. And, you know, they didn't have children materializing at the side of their bed at 3:00am making you wonder, is this parenting or is this like a nightmare that I'm having? It just, you know, it doesn't. It. There's this Instagram aesthetic idea of what a morning person is. And not only that, I think a cultural idea of what a morning person is because we mix up from a biblical perspective what a morning person is because we make it about our chronotypes. So a chronotype is if you are, it's what time do you go to bed and what time do you wake up? Are you a night owl or are you an early bird? But I want to pitch out that, even if you are a night owl, you are also a morning person. If you are in Christ, if you are hoping to wake up to his joy, his peace, his guidance for your day, it is not about the time you wake up. It's about how you wake up and who you want to be when you wake up to face your day. It is not a clock thing. It is a God thing. Because God is a morning person and I am made in his image and you are made in his image. That means that we are mourning people too. We are reflecting the mourningness of God as outlined in the scriptures. I think, Jessica, that we do a disservice to ourselves if we let our chronotypes alone drive our mornings. Because how you name yourself shapes how you live. So if you see yourself as like, I'm just not a morning person. I don't do mornings. Well, you're going to always enter the day defeated before you even begin. But when you begin to believe, yeah, I'm a morning person because of God. You're doing more than claiming a label. You're setting, like the way you want to go. You're deciding, I'm going to step into the rhythm of God's creation. I'm going to align my life with his renewing work. And that really can change things.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Jennifer, it's been nice having you. You have just. I mean, what else can I say after that? That was incredible. I mean, what am I supposed to say? No, I'm not in Christ? No, I want to be defeated? No, I'm going to continue to, you know, live in this cycle of hustle. That is a really compelling case. I love how you frame that with a chronotype. And actually, you have in your book some morning archetypes that you propose. So let's continue to shift that mindset because I love where you're going. I'm still running right after you.

We essentially have four morning archetypes, Jennifer says

What are the morning archetypes?

Jennifer Dukes Lee: When I was writing this book, I wanted to find a one size fits all, tried and true routine that would fit everybody because there are secular books like that in the marketplace. But it became really clear, clear to me early on that my book wasn't going to be that way because that's not where people are. I ended up up interviewing hundreds of people about their morning routines. And I studied the morning routines of a lot of famous people in history and discovered that we essentially have four morning archetypes. And I'll list them for you quickly. one is do it. One is the daybreak doer. And this is a person who really wants to get their day, started by, like, having a clear sense of what's ahead. So maybe they're the kind of person who needs to tidy the kitchen or have a list of just going immediately like, these are the things that I'm going to accomplish in this day. Now, that doesn't mean you just jump right into doing, but you frame your day around the things that God has asked you to do. Set that list aside and spend time with God. Another is the morning mover. A morning mover is somebody that needs to get their body moving before anything else. They want to go to the hiit workout, maybe a stretch routine, walk the dog around the block, something that really boosts the metabolism and the mood. Then the third type is the Meditative mind. And this is the person that fits that kind of traditional Christian quiet time profile. And they really need to do that before anything else. They need to be in the word, they need to journal, to pray, all those kinds of things right off the bat before they jump into the day. And then the fourth type is a social seeker. So a social seeker is somebody that really craves connection. They really crave, maybe conversation. I know a lot of children who are so social seekers. they're the kind of kids that come out of their rooms and they've had stories stored up within them for an intolerable number of hours, and they want to talk to you about it. They're the kind of kids that want to be held. They want to know, they want to have some physical touch. I also know a lot of widows and widowers who are social seekers, but they didn't realize it until their person was gone. And so, so now they are trying to figure out intentional ways of having touch points with real human beings because their person isn't there anymore. All of these are reflections of who God is, who he is a doer man. He is a daybreak doer above all daybreak doers. He is moving. And I think about Jesus moving through his region of the world a lot. Walking, moving his body. I think about, how that, God is the med. Ultimate meditative mind and also a social seeker. That even when, you know, he wants to have time with us, he seeks social time with us. And that's a really beautiful thing. When you know what your type is, what your archetype is, you begin to shape your morning ritual around that. That should be the top thing on your list. If you're a morning mover and that gets you going, go out for a walk first thing. It doesn't mean you're excluding God or making him wait. He can go with you. You can, you can ponder the goodness of God as you walk under a blue sky. You can listen to worship music as you're walking along the way, or, you know, you're in community with people at your workout class. And it's like, thank you, Lord, that I have these people. Thank you, Lord, that I have this body that you have given me to take care of. So there's no one type that is superior to the other. They're all ways to enter into an encounter. God at the front end of your day.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I love how you've called these out. And I can see this. I've already called myself out before I even say, said it Clearly, I am the meditative mind. Because when I get up, I need to center myself. I need to prepare myself for the day. I need to think and organize. My husband, Jennifer, is the social seeker by his own admission. He's like, He's like a puppy, you know, when he wakes up in the morning, just like, who's gonna play with me?

Jennifer Dukes Lee: And.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And he run everybody's room to see who's awake, who can play, who can connect. Because he has all those stories, you know, that he may want to say. And I can even see in my children, you know, these different kinds of mornings. And I think you hit something really, really, really important. Jennifer, when you talked about these idealized mornings. And we would say in our thinking brains and. And in our rational voices and conversation, like, oh, I know that mornings aren't perfect. I know that. But somehow we look around at our houses and maybe there's a pile of laundry, the dishes that nobody took care of last night, or just in the morning, you know, the kid that can't find their homework, that's always lost their shoes, or, you know, the one that's grumpy, the one that's happy. And. And I think we start to look around and we can get this little bit of discontent, you know, And m thinking, my morning doesn't look perfect. And then, so when we want to make a step into the right intention, if we're not saying it that way, we wouldn't say it that way. But it's almost like we think, okay, how can I change my morning so they look like social media? How can I do, you know, the ice bath for my face or whatever kind of, you know, trend is going there. How can we create. And you. You use the term ritual instead of rhythm. How do we model that morning ritual? Just seeking the Lord and seeking us, our archetype, our chronotype, and also through our spiritual lens without falling to the pressure of feeling like it has to look like a magazine.

Jennifer Dukes Lee: Yeah. So I think the most important thing is to know this isn't about a perfect routine. That's not the message of the book. And I don't believe that that's the message of God. The message is God wants to meet him in the middle of our mess. And no matter what our archetype is, whether we're a daybreak doer, social seeker, or whatever it is, we do need to carve out moments to meet with God at the front of our day. Because the rest of our day, when we do that has to automatically level up with God. God. So that is to say that every morning for the rest of your life is an incredible opportunity to set your daily intentions and expectations around the heart of God. And, and then for the remainder of your day, the best things that are, are the best things you go through are made even better just simply by you having developed a morning awareness of the blessings that come in your day. And the worst things are made more bearable because that very morning you assured yourself of God, God's present presence. You've assured yourself of his provision, his promises. And that has nothing to do with perfection. It has nothing to do with a fancy routine or latte art or harp music. It is just saying, God, I need you to help me, you know, shape my intentions and expectations around your heart.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I think that that is such good encouragement. And I think there's a lot of moms, I have been this mom in this stage. Some families that their morning just feels unroutine, like I'm a nurse. I worked nights for 20 years. I did that so I could be home at day, in the day with my kids. And that was a choice that I made. But it was unpredictable because, you know, just we didn't know like what time I would get off or what time, you know, just what was going to happen in the morning. And then we have different seasons of sports where my kids may have been in sports and you have morning practice and you don't. There's a lot of people whose mornings just feel really unpredictable. And so when we talk about ritual, rhythm, routine, it doesn't matter anything like that. They just think, oh, that just seems like impossible. How do you move forward in managing your mornings when your mornings really aren't the same?

Jennifer Dukes Lee: Yeah. So I think first of all to acknowledge that everybody has a morning routine, but it might not be, be that healthy. So for example, your morning routine might be that you wake up with worry or that you're weighed down by work or a family crisis. Maybe you routinely wake up tired. So this isn't really about yeah, it's like, it's just, it's, it's about taking those unhealthy routines and turning them into healthier rituals. It's not adding a bunch of new to do's on which none of us really needs. We're replacing bad habits with good ones. We're replacing routines which to me sounds routine. It sounds boring, it sounds performative. We're replacing that with a ritual, a way of saying this is sacred. Just like when you think of the ancient church, you think of rituals you think of, you know, just even like a simple candle being lit with your quiet time. When I go to my coffee maker in the morning, Jessica, this might sound a little wacko, but, but I'm like, this is my coffee ritual. And it, it creates a sacredness, a holiness to this moment that I start my day with my coffee in my special little cup. And while I am, I am praying and having my coffee ritual, I have a list of people that I pray for every single morning on the back of a bulletin. Do people even know what a bulletin is anymore? I go to an old country church.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I do.

Jennifer Dukes Lee: So I've got, and I have it right there by my coffee maker. So every single morning part of my coffee ritual is thanking God for coffee and thanking God and bringing these people before him that are posted right by my coffee maker. Little things that are rituals that are sacred.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It is. And it's about that consistency and that's what I love about habit stacking, where you can integrate those rituals. Like for me, I've got a post it note on my bathroom mirror. So while I'm brushing my teeth, I'm working on memorizing a new scripture and I just, I have to brush my teeth for two minutes because, you know, I'm a nurse and I care about oral hygiene and so I brush my teeth and I memorize the scripture and that's just a sacred moment to me. And that is, that is really, really helpful. And by the way, Jennifer, I, I know about church bulletins. It used to be, you know, the drama and it was open up, who's singing the special today. Now we don't have anybody singing the special maybe, but I am an old school church girl. I love it. I love church all the time. And I am starting, starting to think maybe I can love mornings. You have really renewed my enthusiasm for them, Jennifer. When we come back, I want to talk about mornings that are in tough seasons when maybe morning is really, really tough because you're waking up and you think it's another day of grief, another day of trial, another day of really hard stuff. And sometimes it's really hard to find hope in the darkness of the hours of the morning. But I know the scripture has a lot to say about this and I know that Jennifer will too. When we come back, we'll continue our conversation and tell you how to love your morning faith filled habits to build a life of joy and purpose one day at a time. Jennifer Dukes Lee see you on the other side of this break.

The war against biblical principles rages on numerous fronts

Buddy Smith Jeff Chamblee: We live in a day when America's families are under attack like never before. Buddy Smith, Senior vice president of the American Family Association. The war against biblical principles rages on numerous fronts. The Internet, Hollywood, Washington, D.C. america's corporate boardrooms, and the list goes on. At American Family association, we're committed to standing against the enemies of God, the enemies of your family, and we recognize it's an impossible task without God's favor and your partnership. Thank you for being faithful to pray for this ministry, to give financially and to respond to our calls for activism. What you do on the home front is crucial to what we do on the battlefront. We praise God for your faithfulness and may he give us many victories in the battles ahead as we work together to restore our nation's biblical foundation.

One Thing Remains by Kristian Stanfill and Passion: Your love never fails? And never gives up? It never runs out on me? Your love never fails? It never gives up? It never runs out on me? Your love. And on and on and on and on it goes? Yes, it overwhelms and satisfies my soul? And I'll never ever have to be afraid? Cause this M1 fade remake? Your love now gives up? It never runs out on me? Your love never fails? It never gives up? It never runs out on me? Your love never m fails? It never gives up? Never runs out on me.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is one thing remains by Kristian Stanfill and Passion So hard to cut it off right before that bridge. That is I. I'll tell you, I'll rock out to that every single time. I just felt my kids collectively cringe because I said rock out. But I will tell you that on one of the scariest mornings of my entire life when my husband had to have emergency surgery while we were traveling in the middle of nowhere going into a, clinic at the surgeon that, that we did not know and not knowing what was going to happen in a really scary situation, I walked into that clinic on that scary morning and what song was blaring over the loudspeakers? The surgeon was a believer and was playing that one thing remains. And so to walk in and say here the Lord giving that message to me. Your love never fails. That God's love never fails and his mercies are new every morning. We. I've already talked about that from Lamentation 3, which is one of my favorite scriptures. We're talking today to Jennifer Dukes Lee, who has written the book how to love your morning Faith filled habits to build a life of joy and purpose one day at a time. I have already been very deeply convicted and I really believe, Jennifer, that this Is one of those conversations that is really going to stick with me and continue to transform and remold the ways that I look at mornings. Before the break, we were talking about sometimes, and I just described one morning that was really hard for me. I remember another morning, actually a came up on my time hop this week of spending, my grandfather was in his last hours, and I caught a flight home from Miami. I got home about one in the morning and went and spent from about one till six in the morning those hours with him. And then mornings were hard for a while after that. And I know you have walked through some tough times too. How does that impact our mornings?

Jennifer Dukes Lee: Yeah. So, by way of a story, it was a few years ago when my dad was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and was placed on hospice. So if you know anything about hospice for congestive heart failure, you're on. You can be on hospice for a really long time. It's not like hospice for cancer. And mom and dad were really determined to keep him at home, which meant that us as kids were there quite often. I was not only dad, Dad's daughter, but I was one of his caregivers. The mornings there were chaotic. as soon as I woke up, dad needed immediate attention with meds, with breakfast, with other care. Mornings were often interrupted by visits with nurses and social workers. And then when I was back home, I was overwhelmed because, I had fallen behind in every area of my life with, with my kids, with my family here. So I was constantly scrambling to catch up. And I don't say those things to complain. I wouldn't have it any other way. But during that time, I learned the inherent value of morning rituals. Even if you have to shrink them down. In seasons of chaos, rituals help you frame your attitudes, help you see each day as a gift. Even the hardest days, especially the hardest days, they help us be compassionate to the people around us, Whether it's our parents, our neighbors, our kids, our spouses. Morning rituals also create these touch points when everything else turns upside down. I have this moment during, seasons of grief or seasons of chaos. Sometimes you can think, well, a morning routine is dispensable, but it's, it's. It's just not that important. It's just a few things, like, I need, I have got to get things done. But actually, they are indispensable. You need a morning routine. Most of all, when it feels like life is really, really hard, it's when you cannot afford to skip the steady presence of God inviting his unwavering presence into your heart. And in those moments, I mean, it wasn't. It was even less Instagrammable. But I. I took care of my body. I made sure I was taking my meds. I make sure I was hydrating myself, eating simple breakfast, taking short walks. I carved out time with God, even if it was just a little bit, even if it was breath, prayers, even if it was, as you said, a memorized scripture on the mirror, even if it was, was listening to worship music with dad, whatever. It was like, I'm going to get creative because I need to meet with God. I cannot put him on the back burner. I cannot wait for perfect conditions to decide that a morning ritual matters. And when you do that, it changes everything. You don't have to do it perfect. You're going to dread mornings. We're all going to go through moments and times and even maybe long seasons of suffering. But for my part, I was like, do I want to go through this with God or do I want to try to muscle through and go it, go at it without him? And I decided that I wanted to go with God. And that's my encouragement to anybody who is going through a hard season right now. Figure out what it looks like. It doesn't have to be big. Shrink it down if you have to, but carve out time with him.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That is exactly what I said when I talked about morning rituals and morning routines and rhythms that you set with your family. Because it can be something as simple as waking up to the same, same song on the. On your alarm. If you're going to use, you know, a smart device in your home, choose a song for the season. I can remember, you know, my daughter being in high school and going through a tough time, and she and her friends, they set the same wake up song. And that was their, the, the mantra that was sung over their day that set the tone for their day to remind them that they are victorious, you know, through Christ and that they're going to have a good day, you know, good day by. By force. Frank would be a great one to start with. You and I were just talking during the break, Jennifer, about how this is not rocket science. And every time I say that, I have to laugh because my husband's a rocket scientist. And that's all the jokes in my house. And it's great when we have things that aren't rocket science, because I have a front row seat to see how hard rocket science actually is. And as we've been all following the miraculous return of the Astronauts from Artemis. This is not that. This is the grace of God. This goes back to lamentations that his mercies are new every morning. And those mercies come and praying for people on your church bulletin while you're drinking coffee and memorizing a scripture while you're brushing your teeth and waking up to the same M song every morning and speaking the same blessing over your family as they walk out the door just saying the same thing. And you're right, Jennifer, that there's a lot of people who think, yeah, it's hard, it's hard to do that. But I would ask you, if you don't prioritize that, if you don't prioritize your own spiritual health, emotional health, relational health, physical health, health in the morning, how's, that working for you? You know, how is that going? That's hard too. So we just get to choose. One path leads to fruitfulness and one path leads to fruitlessness. And so I'd love for you just to give some more encouragement. What we were talking about, what you're sharing even with your family, that these things are simple, but they, God honors those small steps of obedience.

Jennifer Dukes Lee: M. Yeah, I'll absolutely share about my family. But Jessica, I have to mention Artemis, they had a morning ritual. They, they did that. NASA wakes them up every morning with a wake up song you can find if you guys Google, the Spotify

Dr. Jessica Peck: Mandisa they woke up to Mandisa.

Jennifer Dukes Lee: Yeah, Good Morning was one of their songs by Mandisa and Toby Mac They moved their bodies. They, they were taking care. They couldn't take like full on showers. So we're doing, you know, like the, the small cares that we can do. Like, and they were waking up with joy and excitement and on top of it, taking time to look out the window and see what a beautiful world we're in in and how small we really are. If they have time to have a healthy morning ritual, we can too. So in space, we could do it right here. But I think, you know, those kinds of the things are the things that we did here in our home. You know, when the girls said, mommy need to write a book about mornings that morning, we talked about the mornings growing up here on the farm and they were just simple things that we did. And sometimes I'm like, does this even matter? Is this taking root? Will this M. You know, like, I remember trying to do quiet time and thinking this is anything but quiet. When, you know, I basically, I'm trying to go to the bathroom.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Worst name ever.

Jennifer Dukes Lee: I know there's like little Darth Vader's breathing under the doorway when I'm trying to just go to the bathroom. but we did simple things. Like before they were school age, they had little, notebooks, spiral bound, that they wrote their prayers in before they wrote their prayers in those little book books. They drew them in. it began to develop a routine that the girls tell me all these years later they remember from a young age doing that together with mom. Sometimes it didn't end pretty. They were, you know, poking each other with their colored pencils, and somebody'd end up crying, breaking each other's crayons, all those kinds of things. But at the same time, we just kept to this. We ate a good breakfast. We prayed every single morning, morning all the way through high school, every morning we prayed together. When we were driving to carpool lane, when we were driving to the school bus over breakfast, it didn't matter. We were just always gonna pray. It was a part of our morning routine. We always ate something that was nutritious, that was really, really important. There were times when the girls were young and I was trying to do my Bible study when they were doing their little notepads, their little, spiral bound notebooks. And I think, God, I don't know if any of this is settling in. Like, is this making any difference in my life, life? Like, what is the point of me even trying to go through this Bible study workbook? But all these years later, some of those, many of those lessons, those were the moments when, you know, now I can look back and I see I was feeding my faith bank with all kinds of resources, even in a non quiet, non beautiful quiet time that is not going to make anybody's Pinterest mood board, but it worked. It worked. And now I see the fruit of it in my life and in my girl's life.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And isn't that such a joy? I mean, that should be an encouragement. You and I are both in kind of the same stage of parenting. You shared your empty nester. I'm, right on the horizon there. And it is so good. It is so. It is such a good stage. It's not a perfect stage. There's a no perfect family. But it is so good to see the, the roots of some of those things. And I think whoever decided to call quiet time quiet time, like, I really want to meet that person and have some conversation because really should be called Bible time or something like that, or maybe even romper room time like it is. It can be rowdy but it, that, but pushing through that and having those seeds of faithfulness and seeing the fruit of that now is just absolutely beautiful. And and Jennifer, you shared, you know, you are an empty nester now and your mornings have changed a little bit. You don't have those, you know, school drop offs and those things that, you know, may have seemed like a chore at the time but they're gone too, too quickly and there's a different kind of rhythm that sets in. How have you, how have you managed and navigated that transition?

Jennifer Dukes Lee: of note, there is an empty nester morning guide in the back of how to Love youe Morning. There's also a college girls guide. Stay at home mom, single working, professional, working office mom. Like all like retirees, widows. It's and this is an acknowledge that these guys were so needed in the back of the book because it's an acknowledgment that as our seasons do change we need some people to tell us like how, how do we do that? What does that look like? When so much of my mornings were structured around the girls routines and getting them out the door and making sure that I was helping them to you know, seek God and seek joy and seek hope and then all of a sudden, poof, that's, that's gone. And on the one hand it can feel really unmooring because that's the way mornings looked like for so long. But on the other hand, each new season brings us another opportunity to decide, you know, try on new habits. Habits decide. What can this look like? Now I have the luxury of having longer Bible times. I go to work out rather early in the morning, earlier than probably I want to get up. then when I get home I have my coffee and I have, I do now have lengthy Bible times quite often. And then I go into my work. Energize. I didn't have that before. I had that now. depending on different things that may happen in my life that may change. But for right now I'm settling into the new habit habits that I am afforded in this new season.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well Jennifer, I just thank you so much for the encouragement that you've provided today. The book how to Love your Morning. Faith filled habits to build a life of Joy and purpose one day at a time. This book is written for women. But listen, I don't want to forget about the guys out there because men, husbands, fathers, you have such a significant presence in your home. And I think sometimes men, husbands, father, they underestimate the power they have have to set the tone of their family in the morning to set the tone for a good day. So dads, you know, really, that can be a way that you can really set the tone for the rest of your day and set yourself up for a good dinner, a good evening. It's just waking up. Good morning. How can I support you? Another thing I talked about is evening routines and how evening routines set you up for good morning routines. I'm so grateful that you've joined us this afternoon, and I pray that your morning tomorrow might be changed. Maybe tomorrow will be the day that you say, all right, I'm gonna tackle this morning thing, and maybe you'll have Jennifer and her sweet voice in her book walking alongside you. But wherever you are, night person, morning person, whatever your archetype, whatever your chronotype, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you and make you his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you and give you peace. Don't forget the steadfast love of the Lord. His mercies are new every morning. And I will see you tomorrow.

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Jeff Chamblee : The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Author and speaker Jennifer Dukes Lee talks with Jessica about how to design a morning that fits your real life so that you can experience God's hope, peace and new mercies whether you love mornings or are allergic to them.

https://jenniferdukeslee.com/