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I remember the days well, when I'd sit in front of the television set feasting on hot buttered popcorn while I argued with my sister about who was way cooler--the level-headed Jo or the bubble-headed Blair. Before landing the famed role as Blair Warner, on NBC's hit series, "The Facts of Life," Lisa began her professional acting career as a Mouseketeer for “The New Mickey Mouse Club,” at the age of 13. Turns out that Lisa was a smart girl all along--unlike the shallow bubble-headed blonde she once played in her starring role on TV. According to her bio., Lisa's first book, “Creative Correction” published by Tyndale House, was released in October of 2000. The book has sold over 170,000 copies and received a Gold Medallion Nomination in the Family and Parenting Category. She is also the author of “The Facts of Life and Other Lessons My Father Taught Me,” “So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling,” “The ADVENTure of Christmas,” “The Busy Mom’s Guide to Prayer,” The Busy Mom’s Guide to Wisdom,” “Speaking Mom-ese,” “Creative Correction--The Bible Study” and “Taking Care of the ‘Me’ in Mommy.” Lisa is a homeschooling mother of three, who says that her current role, as a wife and mother, is her greatest and most challenging role yet. With a goal to refresh and equip other mothers, she is the founder of MomTime Ministries, MomTime Get-A-Ways and “Personal Mom Coaching.” When I heard that Lisa agreed to do the interview with me, the first thing I did was to call my level-headed sister, and with the flip of my hair, and the flash of a smile, I hyperventilated before telling her the good news. Lisa was every bit as charming and sincere as I thought she would be. It was an honor to chat with her for a while about her newest book “Taking Care of the ‘Me’ in Mommy.” So without further ado, here's my interview with the beautiful and talented Lisa Whelchel... For the women who are on the edge of burnout, what hope would you offer them today? I guess I would just offer the hope that there are many different seasons in our lives as wives and as good moms. And that’s a really good thing because if you’re in the middle of a hard one, then hopefully a really good one is around the corner. And if you are in the middle of an easy one, then you can anticipate one that will require you to really lean on the Lord more and grow deeper, and develop character. That’s always a good thing too, but if your readers are like me, they enjoy those seasons that are not so challenging.
Well, I think if we can find ways to incorporate things that will benefit ourselves as moms in the middle of the things that we’re already doing to benefit others, then we get a dual benefit. If you’re trying to figure out a way to fit prayer into an otherwise busy day, then tie it into things that you’re already doing. When you’re folding your boys pants then pray for their health and safety; when you’re folding your girls shirts, pray for purity and protection. Perhaps when you’re cleaning the kitchen, pray for good health for your family. When you are doing the laundry, you know, when you’re putting in the softener, let that be a trigger to remind you to pray that your children would have soft hearts—beautiful spirits. And when you’re sorting out those clothes, just pray for yourself, that the Lord would help you sort through your life—if there are any priorities that are out of whack, that He’d help you reorder them. So, as many things that you can find that you’re already doing as a mom that you can also tag something on there for yourself at the same time to either benefit your body soul or spirit, the better. Oh, I like that, because I see that what you are doing is weaving God into our everyday lives rather than having them be two separate things. Right, I think that so many moms feel guilty if they don’t have that quiet time, or you hear Jesus saying, can you not tarry with me for just one hour? And you’re going, well, I can’t get up before the kids do, and when it comes to nap time I’ve got so many chores I need to take care of, and when I finally have time to read my Bible and pray at night, I fall asleep. So we just end up with a cycle of guilt when we try to make it one more additional thing on our to do list. You have a writing career, three children, you homeschool, and you’re a pastor’s wife. I can imagine that your tank must run out more often than not. During those times, how do you take care of the “Me” in “Mommy?” One thing I do--and I just finished it 25 minutes ago--is I have a moms group that meets at my house about once a week, and I hosted it over a dozen years ago—my mom time group. Like today, we had six girls come over, we played a game, one of the girls brought lunch, we laughed, we drank diet Dr. Pepper, we ate cookies. We just enjoyed good conversation, catching up with one another. It’s a highlight of each of our week and it’s something of course that none of us really had time for, at the same time none of us would miss it for the world. Because we know that after being together and pulling away from our responsibilities and the stress and just laughing and enjoying one another and building good relationships and having good conversations where we discover that their children are as bad as my children and their house is as messy as mine is. It builds you up, and makes you feel better, it’s refreshing, so we can kinda go back to the rest of the week and give out as we’ve been filled up by being together. So, that’s a huge place that I go to get filled up. Mmmmmm…that sounds good. I like the diet Dr. Pepper part too. Sounds pretty good to me :) Laughs Can you explain what you consider the “Personal mom coach ministry?” Well, you know as I was writing the book, I thought, you know, if I were to read this book, I think I would probably agree with just about everything in there. Yeah, I do need to take better care of my body, yeah my mind is getting a little bit flabby I should exercise it, yes, I do need to take that date time with my husband, yes I do need to get more organized. All those things I would agree with but I would probably feel overwhelmed and think, oh my goodness there is no way I can do that all, why would I even try? And I would probably also agree with it and just set the book down, and just really not even know where to get started. And I didn’t want that to happen. So I created personal mom coaching on my website so that a mom could decide, ok, what is the one area that I really want to focus on first, and what is one thing that I can do? And then as she signs up for that topic on my website, then for the next 21 days I send her an email with just a word of encouragement, a practical tip and a prayer. Just kinda come alongside her as an accountability partner because it always helps to have somebody walk through the journey with you. And to focus on just that one thing and then hopefully by the end of the three weeks, she’s created a habit in her life so that it isn’t overwhelming. And is ready to tackle one more area. Oh, I love that. That sounds good. Okay here’s another question, What “Facts of Life” would you like to instill in the hearts of mothers? Well, I guess the fact of life that I like to instill in mothers is that Jesus refers to Himself as the way the truth and the life and that ultimately everything that we want to be--long to be as wives, mothers, daughters, children of God, that the only way we can is by staying connected to Jesus. And that if we abide in Him, and spend time in Him and let his word abide in us, just let His word fill our hearts, it’s by His supernatural power that we’re more likely to be all that we want to be. There’s nobody that can do it all on their own strength, and so the sooner we realize that on our own we’re probably going to blow it or come up short, the quicker we’ll run to him and say I can’t do this, but I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Go to Him first to find the light for yourself and the light to pour out to your family. Lastly, Can you leave our readers with a favorite quote from scripture? My life verse is Proverbs 3:5 and 6, "Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths." Lisa as always, I'm on the edge of the couch taking in all that you have to offer, and as a fellow mom, you're offering so much to women like me. Thank you for taking a break from your busy schedule to chat with Christian Women Online. We fondly watch where God has lead you, and we look forward to watching where He continues to lead. Blessings,
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Bonnie Hooley
Sure, most girls played it safe, taking the side of the good girl, but I lived life on the edge of the couch taking in every flip of the hair and every flash of a smile that Lisa Whelchel had to offer her fans. 
