In this episode, Tilly and Abigail talk about fashion vs. substance. They spend the first 20 minutes or so talking theory, jumping off from an article by Clint Manley on our desires being mediated by the sight of another person enjoying something. Then they move into the idea of trends, as they relate to clothing, food, worship styles, and culture building. Are trends good, bad, or neutral? How do they work in the church? Are we imitating Christ when we set trends? Who are we looking to ultimate...
Jun 24, 2025•58 min
In this episode, Abigail visits with Rachel in Moscow, Idaho. They talk about common temptations for young women, sentimentalism, and facing difficult times as a mother with courage and faithfulness. Check out more from Abigail, Tilly, and other Christian women on Canon+: https://canonplus.com/
Jun 10, 2025•50 min
In this episode, Tilly interviews Janet Aucoin, a pastor's wife, mother, and grandmother who has many years of experience in Biblical counseling. They talk about the Biblical counseling movement, discipleship in the church, being the "taste" to others without trying to be the "feast" for them, and living the Christian life with unfulfilled longings. Check out more from Abigail, Tilly, and other Christian women on Canon+: https://canonplus.com/
Jun 03, 2025•56 min
In this episode, Abigail and Tilly discuss self-care and connect it all back to (again) marriage. What does self care even mean? What are some principles of sabbath rest and body stewardship that are worth discussing, if we reject worldly claims about self care? What does all this have to do with marriage? They also discussed the very subtle ways we try to control our husband's behavior, and the fears that might lie behind those attempts. How do you build relational capital in a marriage so that...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 1 min
In this episode, Tilly and Abigail do another deep dive on marriage. They talk about ways of being a genuine helper, bringing ideas and concerns up in truly helpful ways. They talk about ways of talking about your husband that are helpful to both you and to other women, and matching that honor in the way you speak TO him in private. Why are men drawn to kind women of all ages? When you live in the fullness of Christ's goodness to you, how does that affect your marriage? Check out more from Abiga...
May 13, 2025•58 min
In this episode, Tilly and Abigail are joined by Dr. Joe Rigney to talk about Lewis's essay The Inner Ring. What is the inner ring and how does it affect our friendships and relationships in the church? How does it manifest differently between men and women? What are the dangers of becoming an "inner ringer"? How should women conduct themselves in the many circles of influence they are a part of? Check out more from Abigail, Tilly, and other Christian women on Canon+: https://canonplus.com/...
Apr 29, 2025•56 min
In this episode, Tilly and Abigail talk about ways that a wife can improve her marriage. A wife has immense power in the Spirit to change the atmosphere of her marriage. But how? How specific should we be in asking for what we want? Should we offer input in the form of "helpful" questions? What is the role of thanks and gratitude in the atmosphere of a marriage? What is the role of the marriage bed? What words can we use to let our husbands know we believe he is capable of making decisions and g...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Abigail introduces her friend, Katie Semple, to the Home Fires listeners. They talk about being faithful during a season of unwanted singleness (even when navigating awkward and insensitive comments) and also how married women and unmarried women can serve alongside each other in the family of God with great fruitfulness. Check out more from Abigail, Tilly, and other Christian women on Canon+: https://canonplus.com/
Apr 16, 2025•59 min
In this episode, Tilly and Abigail talk about self-worth and women. When people repeat the message "you are worthy" to women, citing this as the reason why Christ came and died for them, what are they trying to do? What is the proper kind of self-worth, self-esteem, self-regard? Is that even the right question? What is it about women that make us feel like we need to tell them about their worth? Bonus: Abigail gives an honest review of the Bosch oven, which may lock itself and refuse to talk to ...
Apr 08, 2025•45 min
In this episode, Abigail and Tilly talk about social media. How do we steward social media, with all its opportunities and challenges? How do we steward our time and attention? What are the blessings that social media have brought to our lives? (Abigail and Tilly's real-life friendship is one.) How do we protect our kids from the harmful effects of early use? Is Tilly right and should we all just opt out and also move our TVs to the garage? Or is Abigail right and we should learn to use these ap...
Apr 01, 2025•54 min
In this episode, Abigail and Tilly talk continue and round out the conversation about raising creative kids. They talk about the three essential ways we set our kids up to make good art in God's name. Then they bring everything back to the domestic arts. What are the ways we foster excellence and creative skill in our homemaking, and how do we pass these skills on to daughters? Check out more from Abigail, Tilly, and other Christian women on Canon+: https://canonplus.com/...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr
In this episode, opening with a mini "poncert" (podcast+concert?) Tilly chats with her sisters, Callie Pittman and Phoebe Deffenbaugh, on the creatively oriented home they grew up in. Their father Morgan Cryar was a CCM artist who encouraged entrepreneurial thinking. Callie and Phoebe discuss their path into the music business, and they begin a discussion on how young people develop natural ability into real skill. Expect more on this topic in future episodes! Check out more from Abigail, Tilly,...
Mar 18, 2025•51 min
In this conversation the ladies talked about marrying off children without becoming Mrs. Bennett and maintaining standards without adopting worldly attitudes about marriage prospects. Also, why you should not enter pageants or give your friends homemade wine. Check out more from Abigail, Tilly, and other Christian women on Canon+: https://canonplus.com/
Mar 04, 2025•55 min
This week, the Home Fires ladies talked shop about the writing process, why demons would want you to "diversify your pleasures," the temptations of aging as a woman, and fearing God as the ultimate guard against becoming the foolish older woman described in Titus 2. Check out more from Abigail, Tilly, and other Christian women on Canon+: https://canonplus.com/
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr
In this episode, Abigail and Tilly get re-acquainted after two years of not podcasting together and leading very full lives, five states apart.
Feb 12, 2025•55 min
On this final episode of Season 4, Jenni and Abigail do their best to tackle your poignant questions about a myriad of topics. We really needed another hour or two! On a personal note from me (Abigail), thank you for listening this season and bearing with the change of host and having only me on for interviews! Thank you for being gracious and rolling with the changes, despite missing Tilly. And many thanks to Jenni for stepping in so cheerfully. God has been kind! I hope this season blessed and...
Jan 02, 2024•199 hr 54 min
Abigail welcomes Rosaria Butterfield back to Home Fires to discuss her new book, Five Lies of our Anti-Christian Age. Rather than begin at the beginning of her book, we begin at the end, starting with the Lie #5: Modesty Is an Outdated Burden That Serves Male Dominance and Holds Women Back, then work our way backwards. As you would expect, Rosaria pulls no punches--she is as clear, direct, and forthright as anyone I've ever met, and I love her for it. I hope you will, too. Listening to Rosaria s...
Dec 26, 2023•194 hr 34 min
One question that has come up several times this season from listeners is some variation of: do you have any advice for parenting teens? Another frequent question is: do you have any advice for moms of young children? The good news is that being a godly and faithful mother of teens starts when your children are little. The two questions really can't be pulled apart. In this episode Abigail and Jenni work through a recent talk Abigail gave alongside Tom on parenting teens. They talk about the sig...
Dec 19, 2023•185 hr 21 min
Abigail welcomes Joe Rigney back to Home Fires to talk about his recent online course called Leadership in An Age of Anxiety. We particularly zoom in on the role of women both for good or for ill in how different communities function, such as the home, the church, friend groups, and more. How do we respond when other people are offended? What do we do with our own reactive feelings when the temperature is rising? Joe points us to the Scriptures for wisdom on how to be women with clarity of mind,...
Dec 12, 2023•212 hr 28 min
Christmastime presents a lot of opportunities for shopping! But what's the point of shopping, really? How can we take what is often a wordly grab at materialism and instead shop as Christians--in a way that glorifies God? We explore the heart of generosity that should motivate our shopping and how to avoid the pitfalls of worldliness, asceticism, and buying the false ideologies that some stores sell alongside their products. We hope this episode encourages you in this Advent season! Whether you ...
Dec 05, 2023•174 hr 8 min
There are few authors who so regularly produce content that has its pulse on what normal Christians need to here--either by way of encouragement or rebuke or topic. Kevin DeYoung is one of those writers. In his new book, Impossible Christianity, he again finds a way to address a common problem among Christians--the problem of making Christianity impossible in ways that God never intended it to be. Without in any way lessening the clarion call of Christ to lose everything for his sake, Kevin remi...
Nov 28, 2023•189 hr 51 min
Jenni and Abigail talk all things "education." What is education? Is education even the right word to describe what Christians are supposed to be doing with our children while they're under our instruction and care? What are our duties as mothers when it comes to educating and discipling our children? Join us as we lean on God's word, God's truth, God's grace, and God Himself as the foundation for all real "education." And discover with us that this duty to educate our children in the Lord is no...
Nov 21, 2023•189 hr 18 min
How do we know if something is ugly? How do we know if something is beautiful? Is it all just in the eye of the beholder? Why does it matter? Bekah Merkle helps us think about beauty by turning our thoughts to God's thoughts. And very happily for us, we discover that God has given us a vast and wide array of beauty in his created world to observe and imitate. So, while beauty is objective, it is also wonderfully expressed in in more ways than we have yet to uncover. If you avoid decorating or te...
Nov 14, 2023•179 hr 54 min
I’m eager to share this interview with author and pastor Michael Clary about his new book, God’s Good Design. Michael shares some of his personal story, his love for the local church, and what prompted him to write this book (spoiler: struggling young women). He also helps us connect how we’re made to the Scriptures and to our God-given purpose in life. Join us as we consider what worldly ideas masquerade as enlightenment, when in fact we need to unlearn those false ideas about men and women and...
Nov 07, 2023•202 hr 48 min
Today we're mulling over the hurdles and roadblocks to Christian hospitality. What is it that really keeps people from welcoming others in? Is the problem with our homes or with our hearts? Do some people just have the hospitality gene and others don’t? We take a close look––not just at the hurdles––but the great reward of hospitality. It is such a wonderful inheritance from the Lord to get to spend and be spent for others. Don’t miss the huge blessing hospitality is—not just for those receiving...
Oct 31, 2023•173 hr 38 min
With Tilly away caring for a new baby, homeschooling littles, working behind the scenes for a new coffee shop endeavor, and generally tending her actual home fires, Jenni Naselli graciously joins Abigail and agrees to be put in the hot seat for an interview. Jenni shares how she came to trust Christ as well as the story of how she met and married her husband, Andy. Get ready to absorb some helpful wisdom as you hear how Jenni's parents carefully and tenderly shepherded her through her young adul...
Oct 24, 2023•156 hr 24 min
Tilly and Abigail team up to answer the great questions you all sent in. They talk about raising girls (friendships, dating, reading, and more), friendships with other couples, hospitality practices, dealing with spousal conflict, and pass right over your questions about head coverings and Christian Nationalism. Fun cap to the season!
Feb 22, 2023•218 hr 18 min
This week, Megan Basham joins us to talk about the widely supported claim that inside and outside the church, we should "believe all women." Where did this phrase come from? What does it mean? What does it mean for the local church, the local university, the family, and the justice system?
Feb 14, 2023•201 hr 1 min
Abigail and Tilly talk about the kinds of people we want our children to marry. How did our own experiences shape our desires for the kids? What kind of advice does a mother have to offer her son or daughter as they grow up? How can we help prepare them to be and to choose a godly spouse?
Feb 07, 2023•141 hr 54 min
This week, Greg Morse joins the podcast to talk about the "hard words" of scripture. We read and discuss challenging statements that ask us to make hard choices: to repent or remain in sin, to worship God or worship false gods. Greg's own testimony is an illustration of how the Lord often uses "hard words" to move our hearts and change our lives.
Jan 31, 2023•172 hr 51 min
