Hey friends and welcome to the happy hour with Jamie Ivy podcasts. I'm your host Jamie and I'm so glad you're here.

Each week on this show, I invite a friend to join me and we chat about the big things in life, the little things in life, and everything in between.

Hey there friends and welcome to the last Friday of September and boy do we have a good show for you today. In fact, I'm warning you right now, this conversation might bring on the tears.

Today on the show, Andrew Peterson is joining me, Andrew's a recording artist, a songwriter, author, and a really, really, really great storyteller.

Andrew and his wife Jamie have been married for 24 years and they have three big kids and here's where the tears came in for me, you guys.

I got teary eyed when Andrew and I were talking about what it's like to send your kids off to college.

But Andrew in the most beautiful way shares some great nuggets of parenting wisdom with so much authenticity. I know I'm going to have to listen to this story again and again and again.

Before we get to the conversation, there's two fun things I want to tell you. Number one, you guys have you heard our new show that my husband Aaron and I are hosting called on the other side.

Well, today it's releasing its fifth episode in season one and we've had some amazing conversations if you love great stories, if you love redemption, if you love hearing people walk through hard things and point to Jesus, I want you to search this podcast search for on the other side with Jamie Ivey wherever you listen to podcasts.

The second thing I want to tell you before we get to the show today is that my book you be you releases to the world in less than a week. Yes, we are in less than a week countdown over here next Thursday. It will be out into the world.

I hope that you have taken some time to grab you a copy. You can still pre-order the book and it will arrive to your front door on October 1st.

Also, if you do pre-order, don't forget we're having a really fun party next Wednesday night that you will be invited to after you pre-order and you redeem your pre-order goodies.

Guys, I want to do something that feels a little weird because I don't think you should actually read the last two paragraphs of your book because you want people to read the whole book.

But I'm going to read the last two paragraphs of the book and I want to do this because I want you to know why I wrote this book.

Here's what I want to leave you with at the end of this book. This is our challenge to run with endurance, the race that is set before us.

He has a plan for your life, a great plan, a big plan, and he has given you everything you need to help you run your race well.

He's given you the example of his only son and the enabling of his Holy Spirit. There was no reason to try convincing everyone how awesome you are or how much better you can do it.

We're not running on competitive tracks. We're only running to hear the applause of our Lord and King telling us we shown his light and brought him glory.

So my prayer for you as you continue your journey through this lifetime is that you would throw off anything, anything that is holding you down and that you would live freely as a woman who trusts in her maker and believes he can do priceless things through your life.

Run confidently down these paths he has set for you and show everyone inside what your God has done, what your God can do.

Show them he's doing it right here, right now in you.

And those last two paragraphs sum up what I want you to know after you read this book is I want you to believe that God has great things for you and he wants you to be you.

...