In this live Q&A session, Chrystal Hurst hosts her father, Dr. Tony Evans, to address audience questions about practical Christian living for women. The conversation covers three main areas: (1) single mothers raising sons, offering encouragement to be the best mother possible, to expose boys to godly male role models through church, family, and mentoring programs like Raising Kingdom Kids, and to rely on prayer for gaps a mother cannot fill; (2) women married to husbands who are not yet embodying the "kingdom dad" role, emphasizing prioritization, encouraging the husband, partnering with him through respectful dialogue, and focusing on what the wife can control while leaving the rest to God; (3) women feeling pressure from the lofty expectations of the "Kingdom Woman" concept, reassuring them that faithful, day‑to‑day obedience and consistency in ordinary life are valuable, and that big blessings will come in God’s timing. The session ends with invitations to follow Chrystal’s blog and Dr. Evans’ site for further support.
Chapters
Okay, so here we are. It's our last Kingdom Woman Wednesday, and as promised, I have Dad here, Dr. Evans, to answer a few of your questions. Um, the first question that I wanted to present to you is single parents, um, what to do when you're supposed to be mom and dad, and especially single parents of boys that feel like without a man in the home, you know, they're really not equipped then to turn their boys into men. What are your comments and encouragement on that line?
Well, I'd say two things. First of all, be the best mom you can be so that you don't let your discouragement about not being mom and dad keep you from being the best mom you can be. Secondly, use every avenue to expose your sons to, to kingdom men or potential kingdom men, whether it's at church or maybe you have some men in your family who are committed Christian men and who have high standards. Expose your men to that. Get your kids involved with those men as best you can. The youth group at church, the coach with the church team, some male that they can look up to. You do those two things well and you'll do better than a lot of folks even with two parents.
What about specifically, I know one of the questions was with regard to when you have sons, even when you're doing all those things that still fill the gap, they're feeling like they're missing something. I mean, is there anything that you can do to help those feelings where a boy is missing the fact that maybe he doesn't have a father in the home?
Well, I think you can, you can, you can read books to your son that reinforce certain values. There are mentoring materials. I know we're going to be working on Raising Kingdom Kids, and we're going to be talking about some of the things that parents can reinforce, even as mothers to sons. So I think you can reinforce things, things that, that they see and talk about you can bring a Christian worldview or perspective on in the natural communication. So I think just taking advantage of those teachable moments is very important.
But do you think it's okay for a woman to know that there are some holes she just can't fill? I mean, that some of that stuff is a matter of prayer, maybe, or a matter of things that God will do in his life later to fill?
Absolutely. That's why I said the best she can do is be the best mother she can be. She can't be the father. She can't do everything. And put a little weight on Heavenly Father to do what you can't do.
Okay, good deal. Okay, so women in marriage, we have a lot of questions about women in marriage and specifically when you are reading Kingdom Woman and you have an idea of, okay, I want my house to be a kingdom house and I'm going to be the kingdom mom. What if my husband's not being the kingdom dad? What if he's not being the leader? Or what if things in my house are just kind of chaotic overall and I feel powerless to really have an impact as one person in a house with other people? So kind of speak to the, my husband's not a kingdom leader man kind of question and specifically just how one woman can change the tone of her household.
Well, one of the things we pointed out when we talked about the excellent wife in Proverbs 31 is that she couldn't do everything all the time at the same time. And so you have to prioritize. You have to say, in this season that I'm now in, what are the priorities? What can I do and should I do that ought to come first so that you— the main things don't get lacking because you're trying to do too many things. So you have to make some decisions about priorities. If the husband is not being all he can be, make sure that you're not adding to that. Make sure you're encouraging him.
It couldn't be our fault, right?
Well, you could contribute though. You could be a contributing partner to it. I would expose him to King of the Man. I mean, that's why we wrote that as well, and ask him for his feedback. Ask him what you can do from his point of view to help strengthen his hand as head of the home. Because that means number one, you're recognizing it. Number two, you want to help. And number three, you're asking and not just telling or demanding. So I think that creates an atmosphere that makes it easier for him to respond. But in the meantime, while you're waiting for him to catch up with all this, maximize what you can do and leave to God what you can't.
Okay. So asking a question, even when it doesn't look like The question may or may not change anything. Start with that and start with that. Do what you can do and do what you can do.
Okay.
The last thing is, are you holding the camera straight? You're on live. I'm on live. My son is videoing us and the camera looks a little crooked to me. So anyway, no, no, no, no.
Hi.
Don't turn it around.
Okay.
We're back to us. Okay. So, um, women who are in a situation where they're reading the book and Kingdom Woman sounds big and it sounds like major things are supposed to be happening and maybe there's nothing wrong in their life. It just doesn't seem like anything major is happening. They're just doing their regular everyday life, going to work, raising kids, being involved in their church, and maybe feeling a little let down because this is kind of big. It sounds big. And women are going, "I just don't know if there's more. What if— is there supposed to be more?" So what encouragement or hope do you have for women who— there's not anything really wrong, they're just trying to figure out if they're really achieving all that God has asked them to be because of how big we've made the concept sound in the book.
Well, I think it is a big concept, and because it's a God concept. But I think God's process is faithfulness, is day-to-day obedience. Big things come and go, you know. So yeah, there may be something big not yet, but that may be coming. But you don't live for the big. You live for the consistency of the normal and enjoy the big when you get them. Hmm.
You live for the consistency of the normal and enjoy the big things when you get them.
I even like that.
I like that.
That's good. I'm going to tweet it.
All right. Well, ladies, we hope you've enjoyed the journey. Those are our questions for today. You can continue to find me on my blog at chrystalhurst.com or dad on his site at tonyevans.org. Um, we'd love to continue to hear from you anyway. Hope you enjoyed the journey and we'll see you soon. Bye.
