Honoring the Heroes in Our Lives with Tara McClary Reeves

I’m so excited to introduce you to my new friend Tara McClary Reeves. Many times an interview will get going and I’ll end up ditching my notes and just chat with my guest—and that’s exactly what happened in this interview. And oh my goodness did we talk! We covered just about every topic! We started off chatting about her brand new book, Is Your Dad a Pirate?, a children’s story based on her life story. Her father is a Vietnam vet, and this is the story of her family’s journey after he came home with a patch and an artificial arm. This book made me so misty-eyed!

Tara is so sweet and so authentic you are really truly going to love her.

Just a quick warning If you have kids in the car, or around, while you are listening to this episode, we do chat a little about why it’s important to wait for sex until marriage. We don’t go into any nitty-gritty details, but we do talk about that.

* Please tell me about your Simply Joyful Podcast moment! I love to hear when and where you listen to the podcast!

I cannot wait for you to hear this episode!

On a “Simply” & “Joyful” side note…

Tara says when she is asked to volunteer to do something she doesn’t say yes or no, until she has the chance to pray about it with her husband.

When asked to volunteer, don’t say yes or no until first praying about it. Hear more from Tara McClaryReeves on #SJP (CLICK TO TWEET)

Get ready for a great interview — get your own Simply Joyful Podcast mug HERE!

Highlights from This Show…

Tara shares about her family—her husband is an attorney and they have twin teens and a toddler. She also shares about when her son was six and was diagnosed with Leukemia.

God never allows suffering without a purpose. —Tara McClary Reeves

Both Tara and I chat about our homeschooling journeys, and Tara shares the story of her Balaam’s donkey (Numbers 22:23).

As moms, we scratch for the normal times. — Tara McClary Reeves

You don’t have any masks in homeschooling. — Tara McClary Reeves

Tara shares about her book, how it is based on her personal experience, and where the title “Is Your Dad a Pirate?” came from.

This book is an encouragement to marriages everywhere. It highlights what the commitment of love really is.— Tara McClary Reeves

Children need to know what the commitment of marriage really is. — Tara McClary Reeves

Marriage is a covenant and not to be taken lightly. — Tara McClary Reeves

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)

Tara shares the story of why her dad started wearing a patch instead of his glass eye.

You’ve never lived until you nearly die. — Tara McClary Reeves

Tara shares about the stash of love letters that her parents wrote back and forth when her father was over seas.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. (1 Corinthians 13:4-5)

We chat about saving yourself for marriage.

God blesses obedience. — Tara McClary Reeves

Tara shares about how her parents love talking to children when they ask about her father’s patch—even though the parents are mortified. Her parents see it as a ministry.

You are not put on this earth to keep His story from people. —Tara McClary Reeves

Every heart is a hurting heart. —Tara McClary Reeves

I ask Tara to share about the way that some people in our society spit at the freedom that her father so passionately fought for.

There are many who died so that you can still breathe. — Tara McClary Reeves

Tara shares about her father’s team and the plaque that they gave her father and the importance behind it.

There is no cookie-cutter God story. —Kristi Clover

He never wastes our history. — Tara McClary Reeves

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

If Satan can’t make you bad he makes you busy. — Tara McClary Reeves

Please Note…

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of my book, Sanity Savers for Moms, by joining our Simply Joyful community. It’s a great way to keep in touch…and get subscriber only freebies like my book. Click HERE to get the book and join!

Connect with Tara McClary Reeves…

Tara McClary Reeves is a passionate teacher of the joys and challenges that come from being a committed follower of Jesus Christ. She is also a wife, mother, and children’s book author.

A graduate of Furman University with a degree in political science, Tara later pursued a Master’s in Biblical counseling from Birmingham Theological Seminary while she was the Director of the Singles Ministry for Women at Briarwood Church. In 1998, Tara began dating her husband-to-be, Lee Reeves. Tara believes the two greatest decisions in her life were declaring “I do” when asked whether she wanted to invite Jesus Christ into her heart and announcing “I do” at her South Carolina wedding twenty-three years later.

Today, Tara lives in North Carolina where she teaches a weekly Bible study for women and is the doting mother to teenage twins, Caroline and Daniel, and toddler Harrison. She counts it a joy and privilege to daily point her children to the Lord.

Tara’s book, Don’t Tell That to Beasley, was released by WaterBrook Press in 2005. Her 2014 collaboration with Amanda Jenkins and B&H Kids produced The Knight and the Firefly and The Pirate and the Firefly. In August 2016, Tara’s devotional for families, Point Me to Jesus, hit bookstores. This August 2017, the highly anticipated Is Your Dad a Pirate? makes its literary debut.

You can check out Tara’s books HERE on Amazon! Be sure to visit her site as well at www.isyourdadapirate.com.

Thank you, Rend Collective for allowing me to use your incredible song “The Joy of the Lord is My Strength”! This song has so much special meaning to me and it highlights the theme verse for my podcast — Nehemiah 8:10. Be sure to check out their music! They are such a fun band to listen to…and to see live.

(This podcast is by Kristi Clover. Discovered by Christian Podcast Central and our community — copyright is owned by the publisher, not Christian Podcast Central, and audio is streamed directly from their servers.)