1KHO 740: Our Lives Go Where Our Eyes Go | Wendy Speake, 40-Day Social Media Fast

Summary

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The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

Episode: "Our Lives Go Where Our Eyes Go"

Guest: Wendy Speake | Author of 40-Day Social Media Fast

Date: March 16, 2026
Host: Ginny Yurich

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Overview:

This episode features a heartfelt and practical conversation between host Ginny Yurich and author Wendy Speake, exploring the intersection of intentional parenting, technology use, and spiritual growth. Drawing on Wendy’s experience with her bestselling books—Triggers, The 40-Day Sugar Fast, and The 40-Day Social Media Fast—the discussion dives deep into how small choices around screens and self-discipline can profoundly change the lives of both parents and children. Listeners are encouraged to reclaim presence and attention, using fasting from both sugar and social media as transformative tools.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Wendy’s Journey: From "Triggers" to Fasting Books

• Early Days and Parenting Challenges:
  • Wendy reflects on co-leading a Facebook group supporting moms struggling with anger. She highlights how community and honesty around parenting difficulties led to practical growth and spiritual breakthroughs.

    “When your kids do wrong, you have to still be able to do right. From your place of maturity, you get to invite your kids up into maturity with you.” (Wendy, 05:12)

• Origins of the Fasts:
  • The 40-Day Sugar Fast began as a casual suggestion in a parenting group and quickly revealed itself to be more than a physical detox—participants realized they were turning to sugar for emotional support.

    “Instead of turning to the next sugar high, we started turning to the most high.” (Wendy, 06:51)

  • The 40-Day Social Media Fast emerged naturally as parents identified another area of overdependence.

2. The Before and After of Technology in Parenting

• Generational Shift:
  • Ginny and Wendy explore the unique experience of parents who straddle the “before” and “after” of smartphone ubiquity.

    “There is a cohort of people who have a before and after in their parenting.” (Ginny, 10:38)

  • This shift altered routines, from waking up with a Bible to waking up with a phone, and affected everything from time at the park to relationships.

3. Impact of Screens on Presence and Attention

• Escapism and Entitlement:

  • Wendy describes the subtle sense of entitlement that arises when personal needs are constantly met through technology, sometimes leaving little margin for the needs of others.

    “We respond offended that they are again interrupting us. What are they interrupting but our escapism?” (Wendy, 22:21)

  • Devices can fracture attention, leading to less joy, weaker relationships, and less dependence on God.

• The Invitation to Rest:

  • Both discuss spiritual rest, drawing on biblical references that invite turning to God for true restoration—contrasted with the false rest of digital distraction.

    “Come to me when you’re weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Wendy paraphrasing scripture, 23:48)

4. Old School Connectivity vs. Modern Distraction

• Comparison to Previous Generations:
  • Ginny recounts how her grandmother’s love for books was never a competing distraction—she was always present.

    “She never had a paperback covering her face when I was in the room ... it was always just her face I saw.” (Ginny, 29:12)

• Modern Parenting Guilt and Conviction:
  • Both hosts acknowledge the challenge without shaming—urging listeners to find productive conviction, not condemnation.

5. Small Changes, Big Blessings

• Physical and Mental Health Benefits:

  • Wendy describes tangible outcomes from her fasts:
    • More time
    • Lower anxiety
    • Improved productivity
    • Unexpectedly, more weight loss from the social media fast than the sugar fast

      “I stopped scrolling and I started strolling.” (Wendy, 56:46)

• Rediscovering Joy in Real Life:

  • Rediscovering the small joys—like walks, nature, and time for creativity and connection—arises naturally when screens are set aside.

    “I delight in seeing God in nature and all the marvelous works and critters and creatures ...” (Wendy, 35:01)

6. Training for the Future: Self-Control and Boundaries

• Preparing for Technological Temptations:
  • The conversation turns to “futurist” trends, predicting a time when phones could be embedded or even obsolete as distinct objects.

    “If we have boundaries now, then whatever happens ... we are a self-controlled people.” (Wendy, 41:44)

  • Practicing temporary fasts now prepares us to resist future temptations and maintain core values.

7. Lifting Our Eyes: From Screens to People

• Real-world Impact:
  • Fasting from social media lifts our eyes to see and respond to real needs—in family, community, and faith.

    “When we put our phone down, we can lift our eyes up. That is a life blessing.” (Wendy, 12:05)

• Memorable Story:
  • Wendy shares an emotional story of comforting a grieving woman in a parking lot, emphasizing the everyday opportunities seen when not distracted.

    “Ode to be looked at and ode to be seen ... our loved ones and neighbors ... need to be seen by us too.” (Wendy, 57:51)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Parenting Presence:

  “We make right choices for us, we invite our kids along. When we make right choices for our kids, it’s like, oh, I like learning this way too.” (Wendy, 09:20)

• On Devices and Divisiveness:

  “As the number of followers increase, my attention on being a follower decreases. Devices can be divisive.” (Wendy, 12:46)

• On Escaping vs. Resting:

  “Is this break helping us? ... When we turn to something, you know, a fork in one hand, our phone in the other, to get our deepest needs met ... it just doesn’t give our souls the rest we need to respond rested to our loved ones.” (Wendy, 23:48)

• On Generational Change:

  “She never had a paperback covering her face when I was in the room ... it was always just her face I saw.” (Ginny, 29:12)

• On Finding Productivity:

  “You become much more productive, and that is surprising ... You get your life back.” (Wendy, 48:44)

• On the Core Message:

  “Our lives go where our eyes go.” (Implied throughout; overtly stated in the theme and reflected in practices)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 03:34 | Wendy shares the evolution of her books and parenting journey | | 08:06 | Ginny & Wendy discuss reciprocal healing in rescuing childhoods | | 09:38 | Escaping through food/screens vs. turning to God | | 11:29 | Discussing life before and after smartphones | | 14:33 | Navigating screen use without shame | | 20:43 | Shifts in how social media and device use changed motherhood | | 22:21 | Escapism, entitlement, and its interruption by children | | 24:45 | Spiritual rest versus technological distraction | | 29:12 | Ginny’s story about her grandmother’s presence vs. modern distraction | | 35:01 | Wendy describes finding joy outdoors without her phone | | 41:44 | Discussing transhumanism and future self-control | | 47:32 | Structure and style of the 40-day fast books | | 49:52 | The unexpected productivity gains from fasting social media | | 54:38 | How letting go of screens leads to increased buoyancy/joy | | 57:37 | Wendy recounts the story of seeing and supporting a grieving stranger | | 63:34 | Wendy shares her favorite outdoor childhood memory |

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Resources & Further Reading

• 40daysugarfast.com – Resources for sugar and social media fasts
• Triggers: Exchanging Parents’ Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses (Wendy Speake & Amber Lia)
• The 40-Day Sugar Fast and The 40-Day Social Media Fast by Wendy Speake

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Final Thoughts & Encouragement

Wendy’s Call to Listeners:

• Fast for 40 days from sugar, social media, or both—not for legalism, but for recentering life, faith, and presence.
• Remember: “You have nothing to prove because you’ve already been approved.” (Ginny, 60:19)
• Seek accountability—consider the 40-day journal for reflection and tracking.

Memorable Closing Memory (63:37): Wendy shares a joyful childhood story: water skiing, singing freely behind the boat, unburdened by screens or worry—a fitting reminder of the lightness and connection available to all when we put distractions aside.

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Tone

Warm, encouraging, practical, and rich with stories—Ginny and Wendy blend honest reflections, practical strategies, and spiritual insights, always inviting listeners to take small, courageous steps toward deeper presence and joy.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

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[Ginny Ayrton]

Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Ginny Ayrton, the founder of 1000 Hours Outside. And I'm so honored. I've been such a fan of this person for a very long time. I've had her book the 40 Day Sugar Fast for years. For years. Years, years. And she has so many other wonderful books. Wendy Speak is here. Welcome, Wendy.

[Wendy Speake]

Thank you, Jenny. And I've got to say I'm. I'm sort of a fan of yours too, because would you remind me, what year did you guys start this?

[Ginny Ayrton]

So I started blogging in 2013.

[Wendy Speake]

Okay, forever ago.

[Ginny Ayrton]

But. But for a long time people were like, that's a really dumb idea.

[Wendy Speake]

No, but when did you really promote the 1000 hours outside?

[Ginny Ayrton]

Well then in two.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah. Okay. Because when in. In 2013. My youngest was five years old, my middle son was seven, and then my oldest was nine. And we were living in Escondido, San Diego area, California. And we had moved there because we needed a bigger property so that these boys could live outside. And so when I came across you, and I think one of the first things I ever saw was you had a. Maybe a wheel that you fill out every hour that you spend outside. Like this is dating me a little bit maybe, right. School, 1000 hours. And I was like, oh, these are my people. And this is our first time connecting. So it's really, it's really fun for me to meet you as well.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah, it's an honor to connect. And your books are very powerful because 40 days can change your life. And so you have a book, the 40 Day Sugar Fast. This one came out first where physical detox meets spiritual transformation. And then there's a 40 day social media fast, which there's a lot of crossover between the two. And so I think if people try one, then they're going to want to try the other. You also have a book called Triggers, which, you know, has got this picture of a mom screaming on the front of it. And it's. The subtitle is Exchanging Parents Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses. And I think that's also a huge tool. Nobody wants to respond in this way. And, and you have your triggers and if you can find them and you know how to deal with them, you can really change how you parent. So these are such valuable resources for parents. I would love for you to share a little bit of your story because you started with the, with this 40 day sugar fast and it just, I mean, it just spread like wildfire.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah, well, actually, let me say this. The story I'm going to share is the story of those three books. And it actually started with Triggers. I was writing for a blog around 2013 and it was a mom for. It was a blog for moms. And the owner of that website had a team of bloggers. But she said, we are getting so many requests for just content for moms who are struggling with anger. I was thinking of opening a private Facebook group so this, this group doesn't exist anymore as it was. But in that season, it was first Amber Leah that said, okay, I come from a home environment that was angry. It shocked me that I can respond in like, I'll, I'll, I'll head it up. And within the first week, there were just thousands of people flooding into it because it was such a very real need. She said, I need help to keep up with it. And I said, well, I wasn't raised in that environment. And then I had my third child and it was like something, something snapped in me and I couldn't keep up with the energy and the noise and the emotion and my lack of sleep. And so I said, as someone who wasn't raised in that environment but is struggling, I'll say yes. And so we just daily left posts of saying, here's what's going on in my home. I'm turning to God's word. Here's what I know about the way God parents us, and it's not lining up with the way I'm parenting them. So I'm asking God, change me first. And then I can invite my children. I can deal with my children's behavior. So one of the things we say is, you know, when your kids do wrong, you have to still be able to do right. And from that place of doing right, from your place of maturity, you get to invite your kids up into maturity with you. So it was in that group one year that I said just so casually. I mean, I didn't. I don't. Maybe you've had this experience. It was. It was definitely the Lord leading it. But I didn't even know what I was doing when I said, hey, what would happen if we set down sugar for 40 days? Would we be calmer, kinder, more consistent with our kids? I think so, because they come home from a. From a birthday party, and they're all jacked up on, you know, lollipops hanging from their hair, and they've got, you know, stains on their face from the highly, you know, colored frosting from the cake. And we can see them, you know, geeking out. And then all of a sudden, they crash and they're crying, and we're just carrying them off to bed. Is it possible I'm having meltdowns? Not just because they're having meltdowns, but maybe I'm having meltdowns, and I'm struggling to make it through my days because I'm turning to something that's doing damage to my body and my psyche and my emotional stability. And so because of that, we started this. But we were only two weeks in the very first year, I think it was 2014. And in Mass, we said, this is not just a physical detox. This is a spiritual fast. Because what we've been doing is we've been going to sugar in our angst, We've been going to sugar when the kids are finally down for naps and we go to our pantry and get a half, you know, that. That. That bag of chocolate chips, you know, the one back behind the olive oil that you hide there and have a handful of those, and then maybe another highly sugared latte to get us through our days. And instead of turning to the next sugar high, we started turning to the most high. So it became a spiritual fast. We were saying, oh, wait a minute, God, you're what I need to parent these kids. You are what I need for energy, not coffee. You are what I need for a reward at the end of the day and the strength to start my day. And then in that same group I said, what else are we turning to? And everybody said, yeah, yeah, social media, social media. And then we did that. And I remember the first message I got back from a mom said, oh my gosh, the social media fast was the best ever. I enjoyed my kids so much. And I remember saying, it's possible you enjoyed your kids more for two reasons. The first is you didn't have here, I'm going to grab my phone. I mean, is this really engaging when you're looking at the screen right now? Not so much. So they had your attention and so you got to enjoy them, but they also didn't have to get your intention attention. So maybe, just maybe they were being more enjoyable because negative attention is attention too.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah, absolutely. Kim John Payne I say this quote all the time, but he wrote this book called Simplicity Parenting and he says that when you rescue your kids childhoods that you remarkably inevitably, day by day, rescue yourself in return. And, and I think that's the point. It's like if the kid has a better childhood, you're going to have a better adulthood experience. A parenthood experience.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah.

[Ginny Ayrton]

So you set your phone down for the sake of making their childhood better and in turn it makes your adult better. So what a thing that you try

[Wendy Speake]

this, and I would say the same thing about the 1000 hours outside is because I was so intentional of getting my kids outside and, and during their young years we were living in Southern California where we didn't have to deal with if the weather was, you know, conducive to play outside. It almost always was. And it, it shaped the way I live as an adult because of the way I was intentional with getting my, my boys outside or letting them go outside when I was inside doing things. There was a lot of freedom in their growing up and it transformed the way I was doing life. So I think it goes both ways, right?

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

We make right choices for us, we invite our kids along when we make right choices for our kids. It's like, oh, I like learning this way too. Oh, I never got to do these read alouds as a kid. I sure am enjoying these and I'm learning and growing and so I really was blessed in the growing up years of my kiddos for sure.

[Ginny Ayrton]

It's like God gives us a second pass through. I think it's such a gift and a Third, pass through. If you're blessed to be around for grandkids. You talk about in both books, escape. And instead of escaping to food or instead of escaping to screens, we're going to God. But you have this really interesting couple sentences that. That really stopped me in my tracks. Wendy, this is from the 40 day social media fast. But. But all of the books are fantastic. You wrote this 10 years ago. I would wake up, stretch, and pick up my Bible from my bedside table, well rested. I spent time with God at the start of each day, at the start of each new day, before seeing to the needs of my three young children. And it was my morning routine. Today, however, the first thing I reach for is my phone. And I thought, Wendy, there really are only. I'm one of them. Our oldest child was born in 2008. The iPhone didn't come out till 2011.

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

There are.

[Ginny Ayrton]

And I've never thought about this for there. There is a cohort of people who have a before and after.

[Wendy Speake]

Absolutely.

[Ginny Ayrton]

In their parenting.

[Wendy Speake]

In their parenting. So.

[Ginny Ayrton]

And I never really thought about that. Can you talk? So. So there are a lot of parents who had kids that were born after 2011 who don't have the before, and there's a lot of parents who had kids up until 2011 who don't have the after. But I think it's actually really poignant. I don't know if I've ever used that word. I don't even know if that's a word I'm kind of.

[Wendy Speake]

No, that's the. It is poignant. It is poignant. Well done.

[Ginny Ayrton]

You maybe came out because I'm not feeling very well to have that sort of ability to reflect on what was my parenting like when I had toddlers, before I had an iPhone and after. Can you talk about that?

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah, I will. And I would say, before the parenting, what was my life like?

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

What was my physical life like? What was my mental life like? What was my sleep life like? What was my joy life like? What was my relational, you know, married life like? What was my parenting life like?

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. Because you even talk about, even at

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

the park, you're like, I acted different at the park there.

[Ginny Ayrton]

I acted different at the grocery store. There actually were a lot of differences.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah. And one of the things that I say regularly during the social media fast is when we put our phone down, we can lift our eyes up.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

And that is a life. That is. That is a life blessing. It's not just a parenting blessing. It is a God blessing. It is a me and A relationship with the Lord. I say that when you say no to social media, you're freed up to say yes to getting social with the Lord. And it's not impossible with your phone, but I'll say it is more complicated. And I would say that as my time online grows, as my time with a screen grows, my time face to face with the Lord shrinks.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Right.

[Wendy Speake]

And my time face to face with my kids shrink.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Right.

[Wendy Speake]

And my spouse and my. And my friends, my real life friends, not just my online friends. As the number of followers increase, my attention on being a follower decreases. So I say devices can be divisive. They can. They can separate us. And that is poignant. Absolutely. And as for having this before and after, I mean, I've never really thought of it that way, but I remember after having my first child screen free, obviously. And I. I've seen on social media, you guys shared a quote, speaking of social media, talking about, back in 1970, the average age of starting to watch TV was four years old. You know, when it was age appropriate to sit down for, you know, half an hour in front of SES street, which I did. And now. Yeah, I mean, I do remember we had the Baby Einstein videos, and that was, you know, a key for having my shower and my quiet time. And then when he was a little bit older, we had Barney. And I was really intentional about not having anything that had those, those quick slices between scenes. You know, they're nice long scenes. That was supposed to be better for child development. So I was trying to use screens in a way that was smarter and intentional. My kids didn't have social media until they were much older or they, they weren't past a phone. I mean, even, even the devices that we have, all the kids have the, you know, the iPads in their laps when they're on a long trip. And just so you know, this is not a conversation for shame's sake. So if we're talking about what you do, like, deep breath, shoulders down.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. I mean, yeah, we put video players in the car when our kids were young. They screened. And so, like, well, I'm done with this. So, I mean, it definitely, these are

[Wendy Speake]

good conversations for us to have for their benefit, for our benefit. So just wanted to be careful if some people are feeling that, that instant shame rise up, you know, conviction's good. Condemnation doesn't help anybody. So I do remember when we would do long trips because we had a lake house we would go to up in Northern California, and It was like 10, 12 hours drive depending on traffic. And so we always had this rule, like an hour of quiet play, an hour of listening to a book on tape before they got any, you know.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

And back in the day they were just these little devices. There weren't iPads and stuff like that at the very beginning. But I do remember when my firstborn was a very young toddler, preschool aged, and he had a baby brother. And during the baby's morning nap, when my firstborn wasn't napping, he would do the afternoon nap. We called it play school. And we would sit down at the table and we did crafts and we had, I mean, we went through more sticker books. And I feel like pre2011, that was the land of sticker books. And now, you know, there was so much, you know, you pick off the stickers and you have to put three of the, of the stars on this page. And on this page you have to find all the bananas and trace the letter B and say a. A B says but. And I mean there was all of that. And that's what we did during the baby's nap. And by the time we had the third one and there was more screen time, I'm asking myself, was I as intentional? I was also probably a little more tired. Was it okay, well, the older kids can watch a show and I can get some work done.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Right.

[Wendy Speake]

So it's just, and it's not that that is altogether wrong, but the more intentional and thoughtful we can be about what using my time for. We're being intentional about getting them outside, obviously. But what's going on when we're inside? Is it just a free for all for TVs and iPads and Game Boys or they're, I don't know, they're not, not even called Game Boys anymore? You know what I mean?

[Ginny Ayrton]

Maybe. I think so.

[Wendy Speake]

I don't know.

[Ginny Ayrton]

I don't know either.

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

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[Ginny Ayrton]

Wow.

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

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[Ginny Ayrton]

Well, in and for us too. And that's the point, like you talked about how like it was so interesting to think about that like within your child rearing years, there was a period of time where you would go to your computer to get on Facebook.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah.

[Ginny Ayrton]

You talked about how you would go to Facebook during nap time because it was on the laptop and then it changed during your child rearing years.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah.

[Ginny Ayrton]

How now it's in your pocket, you say it's at your fingertip. And you said you're like, it didn't make me more able to handle my. The stress of family life. You say, unfortunately when I pull away for these moments, I rarely come back rested and ready to re engage. But you say things change when my phone outsmarted me. Once Facebook had become a permanent place in my pocket, it became a permanent portal able to transport me away from my family. And so it just reminds you that I think a lot of this trying to go back to like this, the way screens were structured in the 80s and the 90s and the early 2000s could really make a big difference. Like you do the 40 day social media fast. But if you say, look, post that I only do social media on the computer or you can just see the freedom in it. Wendy, like when you talk about this 10 years ago, what would it be like to wake up and stretch and to get your bible and to feel well rested and to spend time with God and then to be with your children. And even though during nap time you might have gone and looked on Facebook for a little while, it wasn't as Derailing.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah. As that all day, every day is absolutely right. And, and that, that, that part that you read, I, I think is just, it's so true for us that the rest that we find, the rest that we find for our souls, the rest that we find for our eyes, the rest that we find for our brains, the rest that we find for our ears is usurped. I mean, it's, it's pulled out of our lives because we're now filling every minute with visual stimulation, mental stimulation, emotional stimulation, auditory stimulation. And then what happens? Not only are we not rested, but then we become entitled too. So then a child comes up and says, hey, mom, not doing anything wrong. Just a hey mom, or a look at me, you know, all day long, look at me. And we are, I mean, maybe, maybe we wouldn't use this term, but we act offended, we, we respond offended that they are again interrupting us. What are they interrupting but our escapism. And so I, I do think that there is an entitled element of this for us, but I deserve a break too.

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

Sure.

[Ginny Ayrton]

And we just get sucked in.

[Wendy Speake]

And is this break helping us? And there's a, there's a really kind invitation. And I, I quote this scripture in both of those 40 day fast books where Jesus invites his disciples. He says, come to me when you're weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And when we turn to something, you know, a fork in one hand, our phone in the other to get our deepest needs met, our soul needs met, our rest needs met, our I'm an okay person, I'm gonna make it through this. Our energy needs met, our relational needs met, and we're not going to him outside of the, you know, opening up your Bible app and reading the verse of the day, it just, just doesn't give our souls the rest. We need to respond rested to our loved ones.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Oh, gosh, there are so many beautiful verses about that. I like the one in Isaiah about they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And I learned just from, I guess, being outside and reading different books about being outside, that eagles don't flap their wings. They just use the air current.

[Wendy Speake]

They find the air current and they let it work. I like that term. They let it do the work. I mean, I use that phrase, you know, when your kids get older and you start using more natural consequences than, you know, a timeout or something like that. I say, I don't want to do the work anymore. I already did the training. So now my work is to let natural consequences do the work.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

And so totally different topic. But there is an element of when we're abiding in the Lord rather than abiding in our phones or abiding in the pantry, abiding, you know, scrolling through Amazon and constantly purchasing, abiding at Starbucks and Target and just abiding, abiding, abiding in those things that don't give rest to our soul. We can't let the Lord's lifting do the work.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Right. And so we've never experienced it. And I think, you know, you've got kids that are now, some that are graduated, that are older young adults, and we're right on the cusp of that as well. And you know, there's something to be said about being able to pass on something that you've experienced yourself. And I think that that is a worthy goal, which is to be able to say, look, you know, I have ceased from depending on sugar. I have ceased from depending on social media for 40 days in a row. And I can tell you then what it's like to actually have to depend on God. And this is what it's like. And then you pass those lessons onto your kids that some people don't have at all and won't have because of the day and age when they grew up. You know, you talked about your grandma. This was another really interesting part of the book. So this one is from the 40 day social media fast, but there's also the 40 day sugar fast and the book about triggers. You talked about your grandma and you said like, okay, she loved to read, which I related to this. And actually I have talked about how the poll, like if your kids interrupt you reading a book, if you're not as sucked in, it's easier to look up from a book than it is to look up from your phone for whatever reason. And I, I'm, I hope that people do studies on that someday. Like the phone is more all consuming for whatever reason than a book. You know, you can set your book aside. But even still, I was actually really impressed. Kind of, I don't know if convicted is the right word, but like, like I don't know what the word is. I read it. I was intrigued for sure. You know, your grandma. So, you know, before social media cycle, people had books. Your grandma loved to read. She had like a whole system where she would make little markings in the book, very light. So she would, she would get them

[Wendy Speake]

from the library and so she. On every page, you know, I don't remember what it was. 112.

[Ginny Ayrton]

She.

[Wendy Speake]

She'd make a little mark. So if she went to the library and picked up a book. Oh, this looks good. She'd go to page 112.

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

Oh, I read it.

[Ginny Ayrton]

I mean, that's so smart, because that's, like, long before anything was digital. Now you'll be able to know what book you checked out 10 years ago.

[Wendy Speake]

I'm sure you posted about it. Yeah, exactly.

[Ginny Ayrton]

But, like, then, you know, you're using that. The little checkout system. You don't know if you know. So maybe you read it six years ago. So she loves to read. You say there's books scattered around her house. And I would say that even in this day and age, it's probably good for kids to see reading. But she was so committed to being with you in real per. In, you know, real time and having this time together, that even though there are books everywhere and she loved to read, you never saw her reading.

[Wendy Speake]

Right.

[Ginny Ayrton]

You just saw her face.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah.

[Ginny Ayrton]

So it's interesting that, you know, it's like there's nothing new under the sun, though I do think that the phones are more all consumer.

[Wendy Speake]

The distractions change under the sun. But being distracted and that entitlement, that I can have my distraction. And I'm not saying we forego our needs. I think it's really important to not forego your needs. I think it does damage to you, and it does damage to the family system if mom is forgoing her needs all the time.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Right.

[Wendy Speake]

But this. This dependency on things that we weren't created to depend upon.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

It hurts us and it hurts them.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. And you can picture a life of your grandma. It was probably similar to this. I woke up, rested, I stretched. You know, she probably had time during her day, especially as a grandma, to read, but when grandkids were there, she chose to set the distractions aside. You wrote she never had a paperback covering her face when I was in the room. Not only painted with watercolors at the kitchen table, not while I swam in the pool, and not as we watched a show together. It was always just her face I saw, which made me think, like, how much can we really say that about our own kids or our own grandkids, you know? You know, they're doing their watercolors. That's when you check your phone or, you know, I did such a good

[Wendy Speake]

job as a mom to bring out the watercolors. I deserve this moment.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Right? Right.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. So it Was just a. It was a good reminder. And it felt like it was an important thing for me to read. You know, you want to make sure that when you're there, you're there. So then you also talked about the grocery stories. So 10 years ago, the grocery store was different. Grocery store changed in the childhood as well, didn't it? Like, it went from going to not going, or someone can bring it out to your car. So that was an interesting thing because grocery stores trips for me were like the epitome of hard. You know, you're right.

[Wendy Speake]

You know, I haven't thought about it because when my kids were young, I didn't. I didn't have that opportunity or even if it was. No, I do remember. I do remember. I ordered groceries a couple times when the kids were young, but it was like at the very tail end.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

At the tail end of their younger years.

[Ginny Ayrton]

There was no option at the beginning because I remember sitting in aisles, nursing on the floor, trying to make sure the toddler didn't run away, and people walking around or, like, trying to reach up above you to get their muffin mix or whatever, and you're like, you're right.

[Wendy Speake]

And when you're at the grocery store these days, you don't see as many frazzled moms with three kids hanging off the side, you know? Yeah. I mean, there's still some there, but.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. And that's sort of the promise versus peril. Like, you talk about how obviously there's some good things about not having to. To do that because it is really stressful. I felt like it was one of the hardest parts of the early mothering years.

[Wendy Speake]

Yes. On the other hand, it's also training ground.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. And you could be building community if you're in a small area. So you talked about how you. You gave this. It was a. It was such a beautiful story about.

[Wendy Speake]

It's.

[Ginny Ayrton]

It's a place where you had a bunch of stories, actually, but one that

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

really stuck out with me was just

[Ginny Ayrton]

a woman that was crying, an older woman that was crying in the grocery store parking lot, and you knocked on her window and asked. But you're like, the grocery store is a place where you can meet needs and see people.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah. And model it for your kids. And.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

So like I said that social media fast is really about lifting our eyes. We're lifting our eyes from our screens, and we're seeing the natural world around us. We're lifting our eyes from our screens. We're seeing our children, their needs, their delights, them, you know, Cannonballing off the, off the wall and into the pool. We're lifting our eyes and we're seeing where God's at work around us. We're lifting our eyes and we're seeing the needs of our neighbors and ways to be involved in community. We're lifting our eyes and we're seeing, you know, all the family members within our home and within our circle thinking of calling our mom more and reaching out and inviting people over for dinner. So like I said, of all the, of all the books, this one I think is the most. Just like it's a blessing to the reader and it's a blessing to those in the lives of the reader. If you do this 40 day social media fast the first couple days, I, I wouldn't say it's hard the way that like with the 40 day sugar fast, if you're really addicted to Dr. Pepper and grabbing a Reese's peanut butter cup at checkout and having a nightly bowl of ice cream and you start with more creamer in your coffee than coffee in your coffee, like your body is going to have a physical detox stage that it's like the, we call it the sugar flu where you have a headache, your energy is low, your emotions are all over the, the place. But with the social media fast, you might slip up a few times because you just forget. It's so rote.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

But it's so life giving quickly. Quickly. Life giving. It really, it really is a blessing. One of the things I think I say in the book, or maybe I just say it a lot is I love to walk. I go on walks.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

And so if I don't have my phone on me or I'm just listening, I listen to the Bible when I walk or I listen to praise music sometimes and it'll be in my pocket. But when I walk and I can swing both hands, it just, I don't know, it brings joy to my heart and my limbs and my life.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

But when my phone is still here and I'm, I'm still walking and my thumb's still going, it just isn't as. It's not joyful, it's not enjoyable. And where I walk, I walk out of the neighborhood down the main street a little bit and then I cross the street and then I go on this trail and it's all canopied. And every season is beautiful in the canopied little. My dad, when he visits and goes for the walk with us, he'll. He calls it the forest, you know, so when, when I Go for a walk in the forest. And then I come out of the forest and there's a pond there and there are ducks, geese, herons. But there are turtles and there are tons of turtles. And if it's sunshiny here in the winter, they all come out on the side or on a log and they're all stretching their faces up to the sun. And this is just in this season, me not walking with my kids anymore.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

And I delight in seeing God in nature and all the marvelous works and critters and creatures and, and colors of the leaves that he created. And I was noticing that there were these pink flowers. And it turns out that the trail's called, I think Pink Primrose Trail. So I searched on my phone. I did for when do these bloom? In North Texas, where I'm living now. And so when that season was coming, I was looking for them and I found them. And I mean, these are the things that we're intentional about doing with our kids. Right. My kids are grown. My youngest kid is a senior in high school. He's not geeking out on finding the pink primrose with me these days, but I'm doing those walks. And then when they all died back, I went and walked through the brush and I grabbed some of the dried out flowers and I crushed them and I got some seeds. And so this March, I'm going to propagate. I mean, not propagate, a germinate, so some seeds. And none of that would have happened if I was, you know, getting my steps in.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Looking at your phone.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah, looking at my phone.

[Ginny Ayrton]

So interesting even that you brought up the swinging of the arms because that's that cross body movement. And that's how God made. Yes, that's how God made us to move. And it matters. It matters for how we feel as humans.

[Wendy Speake]

Our rest in our brains again, right?

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

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[Ginny Ayrton]

I am interested in like the futurist people that like this man, Ray Kurzweil who wrote the book called the Singularity is Near and then the Singularity is Near and it's about how. And I don't know enough to like really speak very confidently about it, but I know a little bit which is that it's. At some level there are powers that be that are, that are aiming to sort of merge this transhumanism, merge machine with, with humanity. And you know, that's things like neuralink and you know, the, the Google glasses where you can constantly be videotaping everything. And, and it's made me think because I've seen some different news articles that have come out that say within a certain period of time, maybe it's 10 years, maybe it's 15 years, maybe it's 30 years, that the phone won't actually be a physical thing anymore, that it will be implanted in your brain. You interact with it through your brain. I don't know, you know, well, and

[Wendy Speake]

you know what I'm thinking, Jenny, is like when I think of 2011 was only, yes, 15 years ago, but each generation generate, you know, iPhone One, iPhone Two, you know, they, they have all these, they're, they're baby steps.

[Ginny Ayrton]

They are.

[Wendy Speake]

I mean they're big, but we don't even notice them. It's like, oh, there's an update. Oh look, you can do this on Instagram now. Oh, I can stream Amazon prime to my phone. Oh, I can, I can link this to the house and then I walk

[Ginny Ayrton]

in and I can pay with my phone. Yeah, I don't know, I feel like it's. But they're starting with like different biometric things to get into concerts. And so it's just something that I've always been interested in and aware of and I, I don't know if it's like, if that's propaganda. Is that fear based? So I'm, I Don't know enough.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah. I appreciate that you're, you're cautious of that, but I also think it should, we should be cautious of if we can have boundaries now.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

Around our device use, then whatever happens, whether it stays like this or it becomes more tempting. We are a self controlled people and you know, we focus on developing those virtues in our kids. But it starts with us. I want to be a self controlled person. I want to wake up. I want the first words on my lips to be, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I want to, in the early moments of my day, open up a paper copy of my Bible even though I need, you know, my reading glasses now at this age. You know, they're cute.

[Ginny Ayrton]

I like them.

[Wendy Speake]

Thank you. And I want to have self discipline. It is really hard to be disciplined in the things that matter most when you're so easily swayed to the things that don't matter most. You know, the, the major things become pushed to the side and the minor things take center stage in our hands and in front of our eyes.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. So, yeah, I've thought about. So this is like recent conversations in our home which are surrounding this topic of if it went that way, if it went to the, you know, and everything like you said, is so slight. If in 15 years it was like a phone is not a physical thing. Your only option is to have this implant. And you know how all of those things go. They're sold well. You know, there's people that are, are in wheelchairs and maybe this is going to allow them to walk or there's people that are blind and maybe this is going to allow them to see. So it's always that, you know, there's always going to be the good parts, but the good parts are always highly promoted and the peril parts are often not talked about. And so I've started to think, would I be able to set it, my entire phone experience, including how it works for my business aside, to not have it at all.

[Wendy Speake]

Well, and can we start with putting nice parameters?

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. Can we start with 40 days? Because if we've done 40 days, I think then we could say, look, I, I could do this longer term. And, and I. So from a existential, probably a little overboard, but also maybe not viewpoint, you

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

start to look at these things as,

[Ginny Ayrton]

as more imperative than, than just a

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

nice thing to try.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah, that's how I start to look at. It's like, am I able to do that? And how would our business Adjust. How would our daily life adjust if we just weren't a phone and a phone person? Yeah. What if I didn't have it and people are going back to flip phones completely. We've got a family member that has a flip phone completely, like, and, and I think there's a generation of people that are stepping out, actually, really probably all across age spans that are stepping out from that. And so it's a good trial run, I think, because we don't know what's coming, but we do see the slippery slope.

[Wendy Speake]

Yep. You know, I was saying to one of my sons, his girlfriend last night, I said, if some doctor told me, hey, if you buy these pills and do this regime, it's going to be, you know, a hundred dollars a month, but your anxiety will be gone. Like, would you, would you shell out the money? Yeah, it's a wonder drug. Well, what if drinking water and putting your screens down and moving your body

[Ginny Ayrton]

and walking with two arms swinging.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah, yeah. Actually will do the same thing and it's free and freeing. Yeah, well, yes, but I'd rather pay a hundred dollars and take a pill and, you know, go along with the culture. So I want to want what I do not want for the sake of being healthy and transformed by the renewing of my mind with my eyes on the Lord, not on the things, things of this world as a self disciplined person. You know, there's in Galatians 5, starting I think at 22 is the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control. And I, I think that, I mean, God didn't ask me my opinion when he penned those, that list, but I want to say to him, God, if you started with self control, like if you just gave us the fruit of self control first, then like, if I had self control, how much easier it is to be patient with my children. If I had self control, how easier, much easier it is to be loving and attentive and kind and gentle and joyful. So I think that this is a wonderful opportunity for us to flex the muscle of self control and become a disciplined people. And then whatever happens in technology.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah, yeah, we're more prepared.

[Wendy Speake]

Well, we've already grown our muscle of self control and a value system and so we don't even need to talk about, well, is it right, is it wrong? Yeah, we're, we want to be discerning people, but we have the ability to do something with our discernment. I'M so sorry for the barking dog. I really am.

[Ginny Ayrton]

No, it's so fine. We've got a barking dog and I'm sick. And I still love this conversation.

[Wendy Speake]

It's going to be just the best conversation

[Ginny Ayrton]

you talk about. Like, this is not bad yet perhaps it's not good. And I think that's a huge statement. I'd love for you to talk about time. So, you know, I think this is one of the things that if you set your social media aside for 40 days, I think because it's in such small snippets, you wouldn't expect. And, and the formats of the books are really cool because it really is just a companion for you for 40 days.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Obviously you kind of lay out the premise and you have this whole introduction to it, but. But for the most part, the book is like day one, day two. You know, you'll be like, you're 11 days in. You know, this might be how you're feeling. And I think that's really helpful because 40 days is a long time. And so to have this every morning, you know, something to kind of give you that little pick me up, that little reminder. So this is how the books are set out. But you talk about how that you. You become more productive, and that is surprising. I think someone listening would say, okay, I can see how I would be less anxious. I could see how I would be more present. Even though the phone gives you the time things, I think it's because it's in such small doses. You're like, oh, 15 minutes here. But sometimes you're not accurately assessing. Maybe you think it was 15 minutes, but actually it was 22.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah. I mean, if everyone wants to just open up their phone right now and see how many hours they were on, you know, the various this last week or the last few days, it is a lot of time for most of us.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. But no one is really, like, setting

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

aside two hours at a time.

[Ginny Ayrton]

It's just these small snippets. So you say when you set aside that 40 days, you say you become much more productive.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah, yeah. You get, you get your life back. I think a lot of people have that experience is whether, Whether you can look and say, wow, 45 minutes I spent, or 4 hours and 45 minutes. I mean, regardless of where on the spectrum you are to get that time back. And what is there. I. I think there's a. Is there a chapter in. In social media fast about, I. I actually cleaned closets, you know.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah. You were talking about your mother in Law, which I thought was a really cool thing too. I, that and I thought when we had young kids I was like, I need to write down more like what are the things that are really helpful for me or what are the things that I feel like I really need when I've got like a one year old and a two year old and I'm pregnant or whatever.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah, so you can show up and do that for your brain.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah, exactly. And then I never wrote anything down. But you did talk about your mother in law. She would come to help with a cleaning and she wasn't judgmental. But when you started to do your 40 day social media fast, you're like, oh, I, I don't really need it as much.

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah, I, I actually cleaned the front closet and the junk drawer and, and the, how even that feels like I get some of my life back. I mean there's an anxiety of going to open up the, the junk drawer to grab a pen and it's everything but a pen in there. Right? That's just like, oh, but I just need a pen. So there's just a, I mean it's not going to, it's not going to make everything better in your life, but it's not going to fill every crevice of your life. And so you just, there's, there's, there's too many blessings. There weren't enough chapters to record all the blessings. Yeah, but we tried. But both the sugar fast book and the social media fast book. One of the things that I say over and over is God never asked us for a sugar sacrifice. He asked us to be a living sacrifice. Sugar is just the doorway through which we invite Jesus into the innermost most part of our lives again and say, come on in, you can have my sugar. And he takes a look around, he says, thanks for your sugar, but I want your life, I want your heart, I want your attention. I want you to know that I am sweet. My word is sweet. I will sustain you. I'm what you need to get you through. Not another, you know, leftover brownie and cup of coffee. I'm just, I am good enough. Come to me. And the same is true with our phones. When we're overwhelmed by our kids or we're, we're just, we're, we're having stress and we want to numb out or we don't know what's going on, we're hitting perimenopause. We're just, you know, it's, why am I gaining weight and why am I so annoyed by people. And, well, then there's everything going on in culture and politics and news, and that stresses me out. So I just want to, you know, binge watch Gilmore Girls again. And I stop reading the good news. And all I'm doing is reading my news app, Gap.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

And our lives just end up hurting more than they did before. You had mentioned a quote, a passage from the book of Isaiah. There's another passage in the book of Isaiah that I really love. It talks about false idols, and it says, there's this man, he chops down a tree, he takes some of that wood, and he makes a fire. And he warms himself by the fire. Now, I would say that's a really good use of wood. If it's cold and you've got wood, start a fire. That's what the wood is for. Or make yourself a shelter. That's what it's for. And then he goes, and he's hungry, so he. He warms his food over the fire. And I'd say, again, good job, wood. That's what you're for. But then he takes some of the leftover wood and he carves an idol out of it. And I would say, oh, what a shame. Bad job would. That is not what you were made for. And that's what I feel about our phones is, okay, this is really helpful. I mean, I can stay connected with those I love, and I have my calendar right at my fingertips, and I don't fall behind in, you know, some of the. The meetings that I had planned. And, you know, there are lots of things. Things that are enjoyable. And my pictures, I mean, I've got all these great pictures of my kids throughout the years and videos. Good job, phone. But to be the thing that I wake up and reach for now and say, well, I'm going to open up my Bible app. And I do for five minutes, but then it's 40 minutes later and I'm still in bed, and I haven't started on breakfast, and I haven't moved my body, haven't showered, haven't made my bed, haven't checked on anybody else's needs because I fell down that virtual rabbit hole. I'd say, bad job. Phone Bad job, me. And so, again, this is not a message of condemnation, but hopefully a message of conviction. And I love Romans 2. 4 says, it's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance. Like, repentance just means you're. You're turning away from something that's not good for you or is even less good. For you so that you can turn around and face the thing that is good for you, the one that is good for you. And if you've gotten distracted from the Lord, from your own health, from your loved ones in your home, set it down, repent, turn from it and turn to that. Which is better.

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

Yeah.

[Ginny Ayrton]

And you'll find that you'll be more productive, I think also because you talk about how, you know the phone often you feel down, you know, you're feeling exhausted, you may feel depressed, you're feeling this, all this comparison. And so you're kind of. Maybe you become more productive because you're letting go of the weight of all that as well. So you're kind of just like a more buoyant person in general. Not only do you have more time

[Wendy Speake]

your arms that your, your person. Yeah. Your eyes lift well. And your body is, you know, can grow dependent on the dopamine release of the dings and the pings on your phone and the likes and the comments and connecting in that way. And just like you can get adrenal fatigue. Like if all you're doing is eating sugar and your body is responding to that, you're going to end up having a system that crashes. It's not doing what it was created to do. You've exhausted it by feeding it things that's making your body release adrenaline constantly. So you're just wiped out. Or a stress can do that. But constant dopamine release from your phone can also wear you out so that the natural joys of life. And I mean, I wake up and I check. I've got this massive plant. She's so long.

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

I love her.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yes.

[Wendy Speake]

She's got like crazy hair.

[Ginny Ayrton]

I call her Lamb Lafonda.

[Wendy Speake]

Yes, she's beautiful. And then I've got, I've got my fiddle leaf fig over there and I. I wake up and I go and I see where the new leaves are. And maybe it's a little nerdy, but it brings me so much joy. But I know the days that I don't do is. Are the days that I. I got distracted with things that. I mean, not that this is the most important thing in the world, but

[Ginny Ayrton]

it's God's thing. And, and I, I do love that God supplied all of the things that our brains are looking for, like novelty in his creation. You know, God. God gave you this sweet little plant that's pretty easy to have of, that grows new leaves. And so the, and it's not little.

[Wendy Speake]

It's not a sweet little plant.

[Ginny Ayrton]

That alternative which Was the first choice. Now the phone has sort of taken the place. Like it's all still there and all still available to you. And it's. He made it so that it brings you joy. You had this statement, and I thought this was really interesting, that you lost more weight doing the social media fast.

[Wendy Speake]

Is that funny? Yeah.

[Ginny Ayrton]

But also makes sense with the camera.

[Wendy Speake]

I'm swinging my arms when I walk in. You know, my heart rate's getting up, I'm getting outside. I'm finding joy in living and not just sitting and scrolling. So I say I stopped scrolling and I started strolling. I mean, I really. I got my body moving.

[Ginny Ayrton]

You really have all these little catchphrases there.

[Wendy Speake]

I do, I do, yeah.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Amazing. So as we're wrapping it up, I really do hope you do. The grocery stories book idea. You had all these stories of the grocery story of, you know, helping this person at the grocery store. Yeah. Being available. When your eyes. When you lift your eyes, you can find the good works that God prepared for you to walk in today. And I know you wrote this a while ago, so I don't expect you totally remember, but you did have this beautiful story about the older woman who was crying in the car next to yours. Do you remember that story? Yeah. Can you tell us about that?

[Wendy Speake]

Yeah. I mean, I really. I really love that chapter. It challenges me when I find myself distracted, whether it's from my phone or my own, you know, navel gazing and my own life, my own sadness, my own challenges is, wait a minute. Lift your eyes. There are people all around you. And so I went to the. Gosh, there are so many stories in that chapter. But that one particular. As I was loading up the groceries, trees, and I saw a woman just clinging to her steering wheel, hunched over and crying. And I knocked on the window and I said. I don't even remember what I said. I mean, it's been a while since I read the book, and it's been longer since I. But I. I checked on her and she said that her husband had passed away. And it's hard to go grocery shopping and just shop for one person and. But O. To Be Looked at and Ode to be Seen. Oh, to be, you know, cared about, prayed for, but just to be seen. And I think that that maybe is the best conclusion to this conversation is we all have a desperate desire to be seen. I think that that can be part of why we post so much. You know, subconsciously, maybe, or consciously, but our loved ones and our neighbors and our local church and friend groups and the play groups and they, they need to be seen by us too and touched by us. That means our eyes need to be available, our hands and arms need to be available. So let's do this. And the benefits are for us. It's for our loved ones, it's for our relationship with the Lord, it's for our physical health. Health. It's for our mental rest. And I, I really, really think it will bless you. It'll bless your parenting, it'll bless your faith life. So I, I hope that you'll do it. I'm not sure when you have this scheduled to release, Jenny, but let's see. When does, when does Lent start? Is it around February 18th? I think, I think it's February 18th and that might be a good season.

[Ginny Ayrton]

A lot of people start on January 1st or they start with the seasonal changes. But there are some natural times. So when can you tuck these 40 days into your year? January is a good time. Lent is a great time. Summer is a good time. I like fall. Fall always feels like a new fresh start school year. If you want to kind of add a little bit of seasonality to it, that's a great thing. Do it with a group and you know, it's just a beautiful message of the book. You have nothing to prove because you've already been approved. So I just, I'm such an honor to meet you.

[Wendy Speake]

Oh gosh, I love it. It's been a blessing for me too. And I. One of the things that I've enjoyed about this, I. I confess it sounds a little goofy but is that you read portions of it and it's, it's my story. I believe it. I mean it ministered to me just hearing the words back. So I hope that it did to others. There's also online just two resources. There is a 40 day fast journal. Yes, it is not necessary. I'm not pushing this but I will say that people have told me that it becomes like an accountability partner. You show up what was the verse at the start of that short chapter? You write it out and then you respond to what you learned. And so there's just in the modality of, of writing goes deeper. Same with this book triggers if you struggle with short tempered responses with your kids. And I don't mean like you know, every now and then, but I mean consistently you're really struggling. I would encourage you to get this. And then also on Amazon you can find the study guide has a little more scripture, a couple questions to answer, a space to do some free writing. But this is a really good one to do with an accountability partner. And if you go to Focus on the Family, you can find some interviews for triggers. If you search up Wendy Speak, you'll, you'll find some interviews there. They've been just a wonderful promoting partner of that message at Focus on the Family. Yeah. So those are a couple of extra resources to take the lessons a little bit deeper. And I pray that they bless you, your loved ones there in your home and out into the world.

[Ginny Ayrton]

I love that. And then I think that's a little treasure that you have like your 40 day fast journal or you know, if you have the study guide, it's a, it's something that you have, it's tangible.

[Wendy Speake]

And I host this online every January, the 40 day sugar fast. I think close to 14, 000 women that signed up this year. So I mean it's a, it's a big, it's a big crew. I, I'm sorry, I always say women because it started just as women. We've got a lot of men joining us as well. There are some children doing it with their folks and they're are women in their 70s and their 80s even doing it. You know, it's the sugar fast. Specifically when their doctors say, hey, you need to cut this off. You are feeding disease with all this sugar. But they can't do it. I'll say, hey, for the fast, do what your doctor said, but let's do it as unto the Lord.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Yeah.

[Wendy Speake]

And so it's just, it's such a, it's such a way to do it. But if you go to 40daysugarfast.com, that's the number 40, 40 day sugar fast fast dot com. You can sign up there and there are extra resources to encourage you as you do the sugar fast. And you'll also find links to the social media fast. So yeah, full of.

[Ginny Ayrton]

I got one. I've got one last question you're gonna

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

have to answer real quick.

[Ginny Ayrton]

You talked in the book about a really sad time in your childhood being outside. Your dad had a new wife and he's like so focused on her and he's not really focused on you. So if that's something that you relate to, you're going to find that in this book as well. But you know, so sometimes there can be some really troubling times and troubling memories. We're trying to make memories with our family, but also good ones. So we always end our show with a favorite memory from your childhood.

[Podcast Host (Sponsor Reads)]

That was outside.

[Wendy Speake]

I loved water skiing. Growing up. And so that would be our. Our summer vacation as we would go water skiing and as soon as I would pop up behind the boat, I would start singing and I would start singing, you know, the hills are alive with the sound of music. Or I would make up songs. I think I was about 8 or 9 years old and I wrote my first song and I still remember Said I could be the king of the mountain I could be a fish in the sea I can be whatever I want to, baby All I gotta do

[Ginny Ayrton]

is believe and I.

[Wendy Speake]

That's Wendy behind a boat, you know, singing the song she made up little me.

[Ginny Ayrton]

There's a buoyancy in that, like a. A lightness of just freedom and not tethered to phone, not tethered to food and just outdoors in enjoying God's creation. Wendy, thank you so much for taking.

[Wendy Speake]

I can't believe I just sang on this.

[Ginny Ayrton]

And I love it and love it's. Going to love it. It's a great.

[Wendy Speake]

Jenny, you're a delight. I really pray a blessing on you and the work of your hands, both in your home and through this virtual medium that you would continue to encourage not only parents, but in so doing, be a blessing to their children and future generations.

[Ginny Ayrton]

Thank you for that.

[Wendy Speake]

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