Episode 26: When Life Falls Apart: A Personal Update from the Evergreen Founders

🌿 Discover "enough time" with our Free Crash Course for Homeschool Mamas: evergreenplanner.com/homeschool

In this personal update, Shelby and McCauley reflect on walking through a recent “wildfire season”—a time of deep personal trial and pruning. Drawing parallels to redwood forests, they explain how literal wildfires are necessary for redwoods to thrive, clearing out competing growth and enriching the soil. In the same way, God often uses spiritual wildfire seasons to burn away what’s no longer serving His purposes in our lives—making space for something stronger and more enduring to grow.

They share how they had to lay down their business plans, rhythms, and even personal productivity systems during this season and enter into a period of deep surrender and trust in the Master Gardner.

Now, emerging into a season of rebuilding, they are using the Evergreen Planning Method not as a tool for control, but as a way to faithfully redeem the time and flex with God’s Providence. They discuss the reality that planning isn't about preventing hardship—it's about tenaciously following through on personal responsibility while remaining surrendered to the word God is doing.

The Evergreen Planning Method is designed to support women through all seasons of life—including the messy and unpredictable ones. This episode looks at the EPM from the vantage point of grabbing ahold of a Revival Season after the trials of the Wildfire.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• **Homeschool Mama Mini Crash Course** - Weave wonder, discipleship, and rich learning experiences into your days—without ignoring all of your other responsibilities or burning out.
• The Renew Course – A 6-week deep dive for organizing your schedule and mastering a Christ-honoring approach time-management using the Evergreen Planning Method.
• The Evergreen Planner – Redeem your time with this gorgeous leather-bound system.

📖 Scriptures Referenced: Romans 8:28; James 4:13-15; Psalm 90:12; Genesis 1; 2 Peter 1:3; Matthew 3:12-14; Hebrews 12:29

🤓 Nerd note from Shelby: Since recording this episode, I’ve learned that the National Park Service is now claiming that there are thousands of redwoods between 2,000-3,000 years old and a few possibly as much as 4,000 years old. Using the traditional Biblical chronology, Noah’s flood would have been in 2350 BC—about 4359 years ago. While researching for the kids’ lessons on this topic, I came across an article by the Institute for Creation Resource that connected the planting of the redwood forest to Noah’s flood. We say in this video that the redwood forests are older than all of the wonders of the world, but the National Park Service now says that earlier published ages for the redwoods were exaggerated. Even so, the groves themselves still could technically have been planted before the pyramids were built—even if the oldest original trees do not still remain.

🌿 Related Resources:

• Why Make Plans When Plans Change - blog post
• The Ongoing Ministry of Bringing Order Out of Chaos - blog post
• Why Planning is the Most Underrated Form of Self Care, Part 1 - podcast episode

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🎧 Subscribe on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/make-space-to-thrive/id1588587854

▶️ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mpkcLD2Ej6o

🛒 Shop Planner: evergreenplanner.com

📚 Learn the Method: evergreenplanner.com/renew

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