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As a mom, you’re not just raising kids, you’re raising disciples. But what does that look like when your kids are still in diapers, asking why the sky is blue, or pushing back at bedtime? In this episode, we walk young Christian mothers through the sacred and practical work of discipling children in the everyday.
From creating daily rhythms of prayer and Bible reading to explaining big theological truths like the Trinity and salvation, this episode offers gentle guidance, real-life stories, and spiritual clarity for moms who want to build a gospel-centered home. Whether you’re new to your faith or just longing for encouragement, you’ll leave this episode with both a plan and a deeper sense of purpose in your motherhood.
Episode Highlights
From creating daily rhythms of prayer and Bible reading to explaining big theological truths like the Trinity and salvation, this episode offers gentle guidance, real-life stories, and spiritual clarity for moms who want to build a gospel-centered home. Whether you’re new to your faith or just longing for encouragement, you’ll leave this episode with both a plan and a deeper sense of purpose in your motherhood.
Episode Highlights
Please send us your questions if you'd like to have them discussed on the podcast: themindofachildpodcast@gmail.com
The Mind of a Child is an early child development podcast that exists to encourage and equip parents to raise their kids to love God and love others. If you're looking for Biblical principles, practical parenting solutions, and science-backed research, our discussions are specifically tailored for you. Our hosts are Leslie Dudley Corbell and Diane Doucet Matthews, who each have a combined 50+ years of experience in the early child parenting space.
Creators and Guests
What is The Mind of a Child?
The Mind of a Child is an early child development podcast that exists to encourage and equip parents to raise their kids to love God and love others. If you're looking for Biblical principles, practical parenting solutions, and science-backed research, our discussions are specifically tailored for you. Our hosts are Leslie Dudley Corbell and Diane Doucet Matthews, who each have a combined 50+ years of experience in the early child parenting space.
The Mind of a Child is produced by Rockwell Productions (www.rockwell-productions.com).
Leslie Corbell: [00:00:00] Hello, I'm Leslie Dudley Corbell. And I'm Diane Doucette Matthews, welcome to the Mind of a Child.
We're so glad you joined us for today's episode. You know, as we start this new year, there's been an awakening. A spiritual hunger across really globally. I think Diane. And you know, who is God? Who is Jesus, you know, what is belief, what is faith? And so we have received so many questions from listeners and from people on Instagram about how do I disciple my children?
And I sense in there too, a desire to be discipled. So we wanted to put some of these questions together. Talk through them, give some ideas what that might look like and how you might do it. So we're gonna talk about some of these things today. Leslie,
Diane Matthews: I think this is a great time and a great idea. I love the questions that have been sent [00:01:00] to us, and I do, I sense just a real spiritual hunger and I love that we've put some of the questions together that we've done, and I'm looking forward to jumping in and answering some of these questions.
Let's go. Let's
Leslie Corbell: go and, and I'm thankful. I'm thankful too for the questions because I think that that. It's an honor. It's to people, for people to reach out and seek that guidance from us. So thank you for sending those questions. Yes. And we're gonna get started on them. Yes. Let's go. How do you find time and develop a routine for personal Bible study and devotionals while caring for two young children?
Diane Matthews: Hmm,
Leslie Corbell: and
Diane Matthews: this is a great question to start with because I think it's a mindset. I think it's what do you put as priority in your life? What is the most important thing in your life? And I think for me. It took me years and years, but to, to set my life on the scripture, Matthew 6 33. And that says, seek first his kingdom and [00:02:00] his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
And so what I hear that saying to me is seek him first. So to seek him first. Your day instead of, you know, putting out fires all day and trying to take care of the kids, or, you know, what else do I have to do? Wash the dishes, make dinner, go grocery shopping. No, the most important thing is to spend time with the, in the word, with the Lord.
I heard this quote that said, the time that you spend in God's word is never a waste of time. It's actually the best use of time. You're really doing what's good for God. With your relationship with God for yourself, for your husband, for your family, for your children. It's the best thing that you can do with your time is spending time in God's word.
So I think to answer that question it, it would just be set your priorities and form a habit.
Leslie Corbell: I hear you saying that about priorities [00:03:00] and that then everything else follows that God will bless that time. Mm-hmm. You will be in a better frame of mind for your day. Mm-hmm. You will be seeking to honor him.
Everything that you do, if you have put that in place.
Diane Matthews: Yeah. And putting it in place and being first priority doesn't mean you have to do it first thing in the morning. Ah, ah, okay. Because I was never like, oh, rise and Sean, and you know, I can think clearly now, but it was going to be the most important thing I did that day.
So in the morning I may just crawl outta bed and, you know. Give God thanks and read a devotional and commit my day to him. But I may not be able to do my Bible study until nap time or when the kids go to sleep at night. But that is the most important part of my day, that I'm not gonna go to bed until that's done.
Leslie Corbell: So would it be, am I hearing you say that it might occur at different times during the day? Yeah. Day to day. Yeah. You found you, you just made sure that you got it done before the end of the day.
Diane Matthews: Just me. Mm-hmm. I always [00:04:00] admired people that could get up before their kids, like at five o'clock in the morning, you know, before all that.
I just had to do everything the night before. We've talked about this on the podcast before. Mm-hmm. But I just couldn't operate that way, and I felt really guilty about it for years. And then finally it was like, you know what? I just can't do that. You know? So I had to rest in. This is my clock and I'm going to get in the word.
I love you Lord, and uh, I commit my day, but this is what it looks like
Leslie Corbell: and I, I think you telling that helps. Maybe relieves a little bit of burden or stress from people. Mm-hmm. Who, who may feel like they failed. If they didn't do it, when they planned to do it, something happened. I think it, it should encourage moms.
Mm. If you didn't do it when you planned to do it, do it. Do it later. Yeah. Just make sure you do it, make it a priority before your days' end. Because I'd surely wanna encourage women mm-hmm. In this and not discourage them. Yeah. Yeah. One thing I think about is. It's easier for me when things are easy to access.
Mm. And so either having [00:05:00] everything in a, in a basket that I can move around with me or having everything in a certain. Place where I'm always going to be, say, at my desk or at my bedside, or next to the couch. Mm-hmm. Where I sit in the evening. Having things accessible has been helpful to me. Not only does it make it easy for me to do it visually reminds me to do it, it's like, oh yeah, sit down.
I love having
Diane Matthews: a, we talked about this. Mm-hmm. We loved having a basket full of things, and so I think it would be helpful just to list what we had in our basket. Mm-hmm. But before we do that, I didn't have. That much room to have a desk. Okay. When we had little bitty kids, you know, each room had a bed in it, or two beds in it.
Mm-hmm. So it helped me to have a basket. So what are some things to include in the basket?
Leslie Corbell: Simple things for me were, I have a favorite pen. Mm-hmm. Type of pen that I like to make notes with, and so having that pen, having my journal. Having a Bible and I'm frequently doing, also reading a book, a supplementary book, whether it's a book [00:06:00] on feelings or a book on parenting.
Just something else. Having that book there too. Mm-hmm. Those would be the, that'd be pretty much
Diane Matthews: it for me. Okay. And I added along the way. Um. A journal and a notebook in my calendar because I got so distracted when I was studying and all of a sudden something would pop in my head. So I would have my to-do and my, my things to do and my things to purchase so I could jot that down and put it away so I wouldn't.
I have to go run, get up and go do it. So I would just have things in there in my calendar. Like if I remembered something, oh, let me go put that on my calendar. I'd have it right there. What do you suggest with the phone?
Leslie Corbell: That's exactly where my head was going. Um. Put it aside.
Diane Matthews: Mm-hmm. Turn it off.
Leslie Corbell: Turn it off.
Yeah. Um, make it where you can't be interrupted. Mm-hmm. Unless it's by people who need to interrupt you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yes. And use a Bible rather than your phone. Yes. For your study.
Diane Matthews: And I would say try to keep it simple. [00:07:00] You know, have a, have a plan, but you know, don't fall into that guilt thing if you don't.
Get the whole thing done. Mm-hmm. You know, you might, oh, well I'm gonna do this chapter. Well, you know, maybe a couple of verses Yeah. Instead of the whole chapter, so
Leslie Corbell: keep
Diane Matthews: it loose.
Leslie Corbell: For me, it's been helpful to incorporate my memory verses into my workout. Oh, so I swim and so lots of times I would have memory verses on an index card that was laminated so the water wouldn't mess it up, and I could swim.
I could read the verse. Work on, meditate on it and work on memorizing it. Yes. During, during a hundred, you know, swim a hundred, memorize the verse, break it up into pieces. That working out was always a good time for me to focus on memory verses
Diane Matthews: yes, I remember, I haven't done this in a while, but I even had it in my shower.
I always had her on my kitchen counter and you know, just even the laundry room or wherever. But you can put it on the changing table. Mm-hmm. You know, and even quote it to [00:08:00] your, to your little one, you know, let's listen to my, my verse. You know, they would love to hear it. They don't. Absolutely. So yeah, anything you can do to have those verses with you along the day.
Leslie Corbell: Our next question I wanna, that a listener has asked is, how do you teach very young children who God is? And how do you teach other hard theological issues? Wow. This is a, um,
Diane Matthews: a big one. I think the first thing that I, I would want to address is who God is. And I think of the very famous and used often quote from a w Tozer that says, what comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
And when I think of that, I think if we're trying to communicate to our children who God is, we need to have that accurate view of [00:09:00] who God is. And the only way to do that is to be saturated in, in God's Word. My piece of advice from this question would be. Get in the word, you know, start, start immediately if you can.
If you haven't already done it, reading the Bible in a year so that you can find out who God really is, not who the world says he is.
Leslie Corbell: There are many read through the year plans, whether they're chronological, whether you're reading through the Bible, whether you're doing one of the plans that have Old Testament, new Testament, and Psalm readings.
Mm-hmm. Just do one of them. Just do one. Yeah, that's right. Just do one.
Diane Matthews: Or definitely be in the word every day. Yes. Even if
Leslie Corbell: you
Diane Matthews: don't do a plan. Yes.
Leslie Corbell: Really think about and teach our children who God is when we think about the attributes of God. Mm-hmm. You know, who, who is God? What are the, what are the names that we have given him?
What do we, what do we praise him for? One thing I think about is, you know, he's our creator. And that is such an easy one to teach to young children. It's, it's such a solid piece, you know? And so you could walk with your [00:10:00] children through this outdoors and just discuss this creation, notice it and describe it, and give thanks for it.
And that's a fun one. That's a very fun, easy, yeah. Easy one, but very important one. Yeah. God created. You, he created this world
Diane Matthews: and you can do that from, you know, start when they're three months old. Just start verbalizing it and go on until whenever, you know, to start early and continue and expand that idea.
I think another one is, uh, he is light. And I remember doing this with, with our kids, having little flashlights and go into a dark room or a closet where you can get the dark feel and you know, oh, it's so dark, but God's the light. So turn on the flashlight. Whoosh. Yeah. He shows us the way we can go. I can't remember the, where the scripture is.
I have it written down here somewhere. Psalm one 19 verse 1 0 5 says, thy word is a light into my path. [00:11:00] If you think about holding a lamp and you're walking outside on a path, the light that it's gonna reflect on the ground is not a big sphere, it's just a small area, and so you don't see too far in front of you.
And I love that picture because it tells us that God's just gonna reveal what he thinks we need to know. And so we just need to trust him for the future and walk with what he reveals to us in that time.
Leslie Corbell: That is a beautiful image. So that verse is that it's a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Diane Matthews: Yeah.
Leslie Corbell: Thank you Leslie.
Diane Matthews: I
Leslie Corbell: should have had the
Diane Matthews: whole thing for us, but No, no, thanks. That's good.
Leslie Corbell: That's good. It says such truth in it. Mm-hmm. It's good.
Another way that I think you can teach who God is that we thought about was, you know, he is our shepherd. And so a really fun way I think. To teach That is Psalm 23. There's several things that you can do [00:12:00] for very young children. You might just be doing a follow me type game. Mm. Do what I do type of game.
And you lead your child around as the shepherd leading the little lamb, doing exactly, showing them what to do. But it can also be fun and to expand that on a beautiful day. Just thinking about going out and, and pretending. Psalm 23 and following along to the pastures, to the water, the feast, the picnic feast at the end, and just really meditating and living what that might look like.
And then you could even go
Diane Matthews: if, if you know somebody that that has sheep, you could even go to them and just have a little field trip and look at the sheep and ask them about it. That's a great idea. Mm-hmm. The attributes of God are, there's just so many, and you can. Explore that. But the other half of that question, they had
Leslie Corbell: asked for help in how do we teach our children hard theological issues?
And they'd even specifically talked about toddlers. Hmm. And so, you know, when Diane and I were talking about that, we weren't really sure if the [00:13:00] question was about hard theological. Issues, things that we hold fast to in the terms of Christianity, or if it was more about challenging doctrine, how do we explain it?
So we're gonna start off with orthodoxy. So go ahead, Diane. Yeah. An orthodoxy
Diane Matthews: is just a. It just means core beliefs. We're going to read the primary issues that our church fathers from the Creed, the Ene Creed, and the Apostle Creed. And so before we dive into answering the questions, we're just gonna say what?
These five core beliefs are So first, the Bible is the inert, infallible, inspired word of God. That's the first one. The second one is just the whole idea of the trinity. God exists in three in one. The third one is Jesus was born of a virgin and existed on Earth as fully man [00:14:00] and fully God. Fourth, Jesus was bodily resurrected from the dead.
And the fifth, that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone. So those are big concepts, but before we jumped into this, we thought we'd just kind of put the foundation down. Those are our foundations for what we believe and what the church, the Christian Church believes is
Leslie Corbell: foundational.
How would you teach these five foundational concept doctrines to your children in ways that they can start understanding them? So first off. The Bible is the inherent, infallible, inspired word of God. You know, we wanna teach them. The Bible is from God. Yes. And so it is God's word and it's true, and it never changes, and that God gave it to us.
And those are simple truths that we can start teaching when they're very young. That are right. Belief. So I, we've talked
Diane Matthews: about this a lot [00:15:00] too, that having the Bible open, you know, I don't know if on the dining room table, but if you have a desk, just have the Bible open all the time so they know that it is a.
Very important to you personally and your, you and your husband, or you and your wife, that it is the, the cornerstone of your home so that they can ask questions freely about it. They see you read in it, they, they hear you talk about it. You know, it is just a part of what y'all do.
Leslie Corbell: Life is centered around the scriptures.
As they see you do that, you'll take your Bible and you'll read them stories. Yeah. I mean, so they're gonna learn basic truths that. Are in theirs. Read creation. Yes. Think God created the world. God created male and female. He created two sexes. Yes, male and female. It's important to begin teaching that, especially before they go to school.
Diane Matthews: That's right. Because we know the different just beliefs that are creeping in, so we need to teach our [00:16:00] kids truth. And so the second one is the trinity and there's a couple of. Illustrations. We know that there's no way that we could, um, explain the Trinity because it's so complex. But I remember the first time I heard or saw an illustration about the Trinity.
With just the simple egg, you know, the white shell, the white of the egg, and then the yellow yolk. It's an egg, but it has three parts to it. So I was like, oh, wow, that that's pretty, you know, simple. But that's a illustration that you can show your children.
Leslie Corbell: Yeah, I've heard about apples. Yeah. You know that you have the, um.
Skin, the flesh and the core. Mm-hmm. Making all of them our apple.
Diane Matthews: Yeah.
Leslie Corbell: How about the third one? That God is eternal and never, never changes. And so a, a fun way to teach that is to look at pictures of the past and, you know, God was present then. [00:17:00] Look at pictures of grandparents. God was present then too.
God was in the past. God is in today. God is in tomorrow. Do we know what's gonna happen tomorrow? No, but God does. God exists eternally. And so it just, there are ways to talk about it that can help children begin to comprehend it. Pictures
Diane Matthews: of. The great grandparents. Mm-hmm. When they were younger. And just to pull those out.
And that gives them a good perspective, wider scope
Leslie Corbell: of
Diane Matthews: what they can see. Mm-hmm. Yes. And
Leslie Corbell: live in. And it's important to share the gospel with them, to teach them who Jesus is. God sent his son Jesus for our sins to restore us and reconcile to him. That he was put on the cross, he died. He rose three days later from the grave, and whoever believes in him will be saved.
And so it's important that we just share that with our children. With that, it's also helpful if we model that. So if, if we become angry or raise our voice, or if something happens, ask forgiveness in those moments and really teach them what [00:18:00] forgiveness is and why. Why we forgive. Because we are forgiven.
That's right. Use every moment as a teaching moment. Live out the gospel for your children.
Diane Matthews: I said this to a young lady that I spend time with. Don't be embarrassed or over conscious about. Talking about the Bible or Jesus and God all the time. She said later on, even a year later that that really spoke to her because she, she did kind of feel, you know, conscientious about talking about it too much, especially as her children got older and she said, I'm so glad you said that to me.
And so that's something to think about. You can't talk about it too much. They may roll their eyes and go, okay, mom, that's enough. But you know what? Keep talking about it, especially if it's sincere and it's from the heart.
Leslie Corbell: Yeah. And you saying that, and you know that is true because I can think about, you know, it may not be everyone's personal past that they've experienced someone talking about Jesus all the time.
So you might feel a little awkward. Right. Or [00:19:00] uncomfortable, or like, maybe it's too much, but I, you know, God will use that.
Diane Matthews: Yeah. Yeah. He will
Leslie Corbell: use every time you've talked about it with your children, for his, for his good, because at different times, different things.
Diane Matthews: Ring, you know? And they go, oh yeah, that's, that's what that means.
So in conclusion, just a few things to just wrap up that question. 'cause that question had a lot in it. We just put together, you know, read the Bible, stay in the word, share what you're learning with your kids daily. Attend a Bible believing church and acknowledge him through the day and all the things that go with them.
Acknowledge them and speak of them. With your children daily.
Leslie Corbell: So our next question is gonna kind of to also go with that previous question 'cause it's asking how can I develop my young child's personal relationship with Jesus? So is there anything that you would add in this question to our answer of the other question?
I think what
Diane Matthews: I would add [00:20:00] is to talk about how the gospel really works in your life daily and share that with your kids because the, the gospel makes should make a difference in your life. And so what, what does that really look like in Converse with your children? Also
Leslie Corbell: is, is gonna be our walk and how are we reflecting mm-hmm.
The gospel to our very, very young children. Mm-hmm. And keeping their heart open mm-hmm. To Jesus.
Diane Matthews: Yeah. Because some of the aspects is, I think the gospel gives us freedom, it gives us grace, it gives us purpose. So like freedom from guilt and shame. Mm-hmm. The grace that, you know, we are forgiven. The grace to forgive others and unconditionally love them.
It just the hope, think of the hope for not only eternity, but just the hope that now, right now we have a purpose and God has a plan for us. I mean, so the gospel just gives us so much. [00:21:00] Right now. And so to not think of the gospel, oh yeah, I'm saved. Boom. And it's over. No, it permeates our daily lives.
That's an ongoing daily experience that you can share with your children as you go. So
Leslie Corbell: that's what I would add. Yeah. So our last question. How can I lead my family to walk in faith? So we trust in God's plan for our family's future.
Diane Matthews: Hmm.
Leslie Corbell: This question,
Diane Matthews: they want, this person wants their family to just trust God.
And I think. We trust in things all the time, every day. Like the chair, we sat in this chair and we trusted that it would hold this up. We go to the grocery store and we buy food and we trust that the food's gonna be healthy for us and it doesn't have toxins in it. But when we trust God, the object of our faith is so strong and reliable, it's, that's what we need to trust in.
Leslie Corbell: Yeah. 'cause the chairs may break. Food's [00:22:00] gonna be recalled. But no, we know that we can trust God. Yeah,
Diane Matthews: and I think the point of this question is, your family's going to have faith in a God.
Leslie Corbell: Oh, I think we're gonna have faith in something. Yeah. So let's put our faith in God and teach our children to. So how do you walk in faith?
Will you choose to believe in the promises of God? Yes. And to see his promises in your life.
Diane Matthews: Yeah, difficulties are just reminders for us to go to God, because you know what? God's the only person that can really help us. It's a call for us to go to him, for us to, uh, go to him because he can help us. The next part of that is leading and God's
Leslie Corbell: plan.
So how, how can we be good leaders? It first requires us to do the things we want others to do. So we wanna make sure we're following God. That's right. So if we're
Diane Matthews: following God, then then we can carry them along with this. Mm-hmm. So we're submitting to God's plan and hopefully they'll come with this to submit [00:23:00] to God's plan.
Leslie Corbell: And I think that's a really important thing to think about here. 'cause what really, you know, if we really think about it, our God's plan for us is to make disciples, mm-hmm. Of all nations, to glorify him and to. Be restored to eternity with him. That's right. In heaven. So that's, that's, we sometimes think too much about, well, what are God's plans?
For me, our stories are just a small part of his bigger story. Mm-hmm. And so for me, it's been helpful to walk in faith when I can look at his story and see that I'm just a piece of it. Mm-hmm. And to know that. He is victorious. Christ is victorious. In the end, keep walking in faith because I know that victory is there.
And really, if you look at it, this entire episode, this entire episode is about how to walk in faith. Mm-hmm. And how to teach your children to walk in faith, because we are giving many examples of how to disciple your children. Mm-hmm. How to teach them about God, how to. Teach them these basic [00:24:00] tenets of Christianity, the doctrine, all of this will help you and your children welcome faith.
And then you can also really look at Hebrews 11, where we hear the stories and where we see the the commended actions of Abraham, Moses, Joseph, I mean, David, Sarah, and many more to see how they walked in faith. There were difficult circumstances for them very. Mm-hmm. But they were able to see the promises of God and to trust in the promises of God and keep walking.
We will wander in that wilderness just like the Israelites did. That wilderness really is our life. We're gonna have joyful circumstances and we're gonna have challenging circumstances, but if we can meet those circumstances with an eye on his promises and what is to come. We can walk in faith.
Diane Matthews: Dear Lord, I do pray for everybody that we would increase in our faith. We thank you so much that we were able to think through [00:25:00] these questions and pray through them. I pray that your Holy Spirit would use what's been said to draw people closer to you, that they would grow into a deeper knowledge of you and trust you more every day.
The children that are. In these families that you would reveal yourself to them as early as possible, that they would come to a full knowledge of you and mature, and to men and women who love you and serve you with their heart, soul, mind, and strength. We pray all this in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ.
Leslie Corbell: Amen. Thanks for listening. Check out our Instagram at the Mind of a Child Pod, or you can email us at the Mind of a Child podcast@gmail.com.