Parent Forward: Where Parenting Meets Spiritual Formation
with Julie Ann Luse
Parenting is more than managing behavior, it’s sacred, formative work.
Parent Forward invites you to see raising kids through a new lens: as a holy journey of becoming, both for your children and for you. Join longtime ministry leader, mother of three, and spiritual formation guide Julie Ann Luse as she explores the everyday moments of parenting through the lens of faith, neuroscience, and soul-deep connection.
Through personal stories, research-backed insights, and biblical wisdom, Julie Ann helps parents move beyond quick fixes and behavior charts to embrace the slow, beautiful work of forming souls, including their own. Every episode offers gentle encouragement, honest reflections, and practical steps to help you cultivate a spiritually nurturing home where love, grace, and presence shape the next generation.
If you’re longing for deeper connection, tired of parenting tips that miss the heart, and hungry to weave your faith naturally into daily family life, Parent Forward is for you.
It’s not about perfection.
It’s not about performance.
It’s about becoming — one faithful step at a time.
Subscribe and begin moving forward today.
Ep 17 Defensiveness : Who Gets The Final Word On You | The Parenting Apocalypse: Defensiveness
We name defensiveness as the second “horseman” that quietly breaks down connection at home, and we get honest about how reasonable it can sound when our kids come at us with big feelings. We learn to treat defensiveness like a dashboard light, staying rooted in what God knows about us so we can take responsibility, repair quickly, and keep vulnerability safe in our families. • how Gottman defines defensiveness and why it hides in parenting • the difference between correcting fact...
4 May 2026
Ep. 16 When Correction Becomes Identity | The Parenting Apocalypse: Criticism
Got a question or a future episode idea? Email me: julie@parentforward.com Criticism often sounds reasonable, but it can quietly teach our kids a story about who they are. I explore how timing, labels, and a critical spirit can break connection and how we can begin again with grace. • the moment where correction pulls in history and becomes personal • how repeated criticism forms identity rather than growth • Dr Gary Chapman’s story about affirmation first • why timi...
27 Apr 2026
Episode 15 - The Parenting Apocalypse (new series)
We name the “Parenting Apocalypse” as an unveiling of the small communication patterns that quietly shape our homes over time. We connect Gottman’s Four Horsemen with parenting and spiritual formation so we can notice what is happening beneath the surface and choose a better way with our kids. • defining “apocalypse” as an unveiling that brings hidden patterns into the light • introducing Gottman’s Four Horsemen as predictors of relationship breakdown • translating criticis...
2 Apr 2026
Episode 14: Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been | The Stories Behind My Voice and Why I See Parenting the Way I Do
This episode is a little different. Instead of teaching or offering a framework, I’m inviting you into the story behind the voice you’ve been listening to. Because what you’re hearing on this podcast isn’t just ideas or strategies. It’s a lens. A way of seeing parenting, formation, and people that has been shaped over time through real experiences, questions, loss, and growth. And the truth is, if you’re going to trust me to walk with you in your parenting, you deserve to know where that len...
23 Dec 2025
God is not quite like that | Advent Series Episode 4
Episode Summary In this episode, we sit with one of the most tender and often misunderstood names of God: Emmanuel, God with us. For many of us, “God with us” sounds beautiful… but feels far away, especially when grief, loneliness, shame, or exhaustion are pressing in. Instead of offering explanations or tidy theology, this episode makes space for honesty, lament, and presence. We explore how Emmanuel did not begin in the manger, but in the cry of an enslaved people where God first revealed ...
18 Dec 2025
Treasuring What We Never Expected | Advent Series Episode 3
The moment my hand met the cold stone in Nazareth, the story shifted from stained glass to skin. We meet Mary not as a distant icon but as a teenage girl in a small, ordinary room whose life was interrupted by impossible news and who chose to treasure and ponder rather than shut down. That posture becomes our guide for Advent, a way of holding confusion without losing the thread of hope. I share the journey from jet lag to the Church of the Annunciation, down into the grotto that tradition ...
10 Dec 2025
The God Who Draws Near | Advent Series Episode 2
The holidays can feel like life on fast-forward: bright, loud, and strangely thin. We’re told to be present and grateful, yet our minds race and our senses pull inward to cope. This conversation slows the moment down and shows a kinder way forward—how quiet noticing interrupts overwhelm and makes room for gratitude that actually sticks. We begin by naming what’s real: December pressures the nervous system to scan for problems, not beauty. From there we explore a gentler practice of attentio...
6 Dec 2025
Light in the Low Places | Advent Series Episode 1
Light in the Low Places | Advent Series Episode 1 Scripture: Isaiah 9:2, 6–7 Advent is beautiful, but it can also feel heavy. If you’re stepping into December already tired, carrying invisible weight, or feeling like wonder is out of reach, this episode is a gentle place to land. In this first week of the Advent series Light in the Low Places, Julie invites you into a slower, more honest kind of preparation, one that welcomes your grief, exhaustion, longing, and hope. Together we explore wh...
3 Jul 2025
Episode 9: SACRED PLAY SERIES pt 4 | Why Growing Up Doesn't Mean Giving Up Wonder
This episode examines how parents can rediscover and maintain a sense of wonder and playfulness as their children grow older, despite the challenges of synaptic pruning.
12 Jun 2025
Episode 8: SACRED PLAY SERIES pt 3 | Play as Sacred Space: Meeting God in Imagination
SHOW NOTES: https://parentforward.com/sacredplayseries-sacredimagination/ The spiritual life of children doesn't look like adult faith—it's wilder, more embodied, and deeply imaginative. When my daughter gathered her stuffed animals and announced "Jesus is here and we're going to listen with our hearts," I realized she wasn't just playing—she was creating sacred space in her own intuitive way. Decades of research by experts like Catherine Stonehouse and Scotty May confirm what many parents ...
4 Jun 2025
Episode 7: SACRED PLAY SERIES pt2 | The Playful Parent - Why kids need you to be silly again
Host Lori Getz explores how parents can foster deeper connections with their children through embracing silliness and playful interactions, creating moments of shared joy and belonging.
28 May 2025
Episode 6: SACRED PLAY SERIES | Play Is Holy — Rediscovering Joy in a World That Worships Work
The host explores the importance of rediscovering play and joy as a sacred pathway to spiritual formation, reflecting on personal experiences and the challenges of prioritizing imagination over efficiency.
21 May 2025
Episode 1: The Forming Power of Parenthood
Have a question or parenting idea? Send me a text right here! Parenting isn't just about raising kids; it's about being spiritually formed through the mess, beauty, and everyday moments of family life. We explore how shifting our focus from behavior management to spiritual formation can transform both our parenting approach and our own relationship with God. • Many parents today feel pressure to parent perfectly while maintaining their identity, marriage, and sanity • We often parent from f...
21 May 2025
Episode 3: Raising Spiritually Resilient Kids in an Age of Questions
Have a question or parenting idea? Send me a text right here! Raising spiritually resilient kids isn't about having all the right answers or preventing doubt. It's about creating relationships where questions are welcome and faith feels real, not forced. • Nearly two-thirds of young people leave church after high school, often returning after a season of questioning • Research shows the strongest predictor of lasting faith is having adults who walk with them through doubt • Parental faith t...
21 May 2025
Episode 4: Forgiveness Rewires Both Parent and Child
Have a question or parenting idea? Send me a text right here! Forgiveness in parenting isn't just about cleaning up after mistakes – it's where transformation begins for both parent and child. When we mess up and repair with our children, we're creating holy moments that reshape relationships and model God's grace. • Perfectionism isn't the goal – being a "formed parent" willing to repair connection is what matters • Research shows rupture and repair cycles actually strengthen emotional bon...
21 May 2025
Episode 5: When your kid lies - What's really going on?
Have a question or parenting idea? Send me a text right here! Lying often reveals what our children are trying to protect through fear, confusion, or attempts to preserve connection. This episode explores how to create a family culture where truth is safe to tell and honesty is consistently invited. • All kids lie at some point, regardless of their character • Children's dishonesty usually grows from fear or self-protection • Approaching lies with curiosity instead of control opens doors fo...
21 May 2025
Episode 2: Presence Over Perfection
Have a question or parenting idea? Send me a text right here! Parenting doesn't have to be about getting everything right—it can be about being present in the moment with our children. Julianne Luce explores how shifting from perfection to presence can transform our parenting approach and build stronger neurological connections with our kids. • The overwhelming pressure parents feel to get everything right • How fixating on control often disconnects us from our children • A personal story a...
7 May 2025
Trailer - Beyond Tips and Tricks: Parenting as Spiritual Formation
Have a question or parenting idea? Send me a text right here! Parent Forward reimagines parenting through spiritual formation, creating space where your soul and your child's are truly seen. This podcast moves beyond tips and formulas, offering a place to slow down and listen deeply to your child, yourself, and God who is forming you through this journey. • Invitation to move beyond behavior management to soul formation • Weekly exploration of topics like responding to lying, repairing afte...
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
18 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 47 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
74
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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