Leading Your Family When You Feel Far From God

Important Links: Host A Dad Tired Conference at your churchJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gearYou want your wife and kids to grow closer to Jesus. But what happens when you don’t feel close to him yourself?With a cup of coffee on the back patio, Jerrad wrestles with a question that came up twice at men’s events this week—and one he’s faced in his own life. He shares how shame, exhaustion, and the quiet belief that we can handle life without God can leave us feeling spiritually distant.Through a story about hiking with his kids, Jerrad offers a picture of spiritual leadership that makes room for a dad who’s still figuring things out: a guide who helps his family notice what God is already doing.If you’re carrying the weight of everyone’s faith while struggling with your own, this conversation offers encouragement and one simple step you can take with your kids today.

Important Links: Host A Dad Tired Conference at your churchJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gearYou love your kids. But when they’re struggling, it’s hard to know what to do. Come down harder? Give them space? Make another rule?In this honest ramble, Jerrad shares what he’s learning while navigating a challenging season of parenting four kids. From praying with his wife to laughing over Mario Kart, he explores what it looks like to move toward your kids relationally while still addressing the things that need correction.We talk about:• Why feeling out of control can lead to heavy-handed parenting• Paying attention to what each child needs• Making prayer your first response• How your phone can pull you away from the family you want to be present with• Receiving God’s love and forgiveness as you learn to reflect his heart to your kidsIf you’ve ever sat in the driveway wondering whether you have anything left to give, this conversation is for you.This week’s invitation: Choose one child and take one small, intentional step toward connection.

Important Links: Host A Dad Tired Conference at your churchLearn more about Adventures in MissionsJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gearDoes your family know what to expect when you walk through the door—or do they have to figure out which version of you showed up?After a stomach bug leaves Jerrad and his son stranded at a Mississippi airport, an unexpected road trip sparks a conversation about protecting your family, showing up with intention, and becoming a consistent man.In this honest, back-to-the-basics episode, Jerrad shares what he’s learning about the pressure to look impressive, resting in being known and loved by God, and processing big emotions without taking your wife and kids on a roller coaster. Plus, a look ahead at the upcoming Dad Tired family mission trip to Guatemala.An encouragement for the dad who’s still stumbling toward Jesus—and wants to help his family do the same.

Important Links: Host A Dad Tired Conference at your churchJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gearWhat are you carrying that you’ve quietly decided to take to the grave?Maybe it’s sin. Maybe it’s shame, pain, resentment, addiction, or something that happened to you. You’ve convinced yourself that keeping it hidden protects the people you love—but hidden pain never stays contained. Eventually, it leaks into your marriage, your parenting, and the way you see yourself.In this deeply personal episode, Jerrad shares stories of men who risked being fully known, his own experience of God redeeming an old wound, and why the Lord lovingly reaches into every hidden nook and cranny of our lives.This isn’t a call to recklessly confess everything without wisdom. It’s an invitation to stop carrying it alone. Find a trusted counselor, pastor, or mature brother in Christ who can walk with you toward healing.You are already fully known by God—and fully loved.

Important Links: Dad Tired Annual RetreatHost A Dad Tired Conference at your churchJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gearJonathan Almonte grew up in extreme poverty in the Dominican Republic, without a father in the home and believing that joining a gang might be his best path to a better life.But God began changing his story through a local church, a childhood friend, and a Compassion International sponsor who faithfully wrote him letters from Michigan. Years later, when Jonathan’s father told him he was a mistake, those relationships helped him understand that his identity was not defined by rejection, poverty, or his past.In this episode, Jerrad and Jonathan talk about father wounds, growing up fatherless, forgiveness, poverty, faith, spiritual darkness, Christian fatherhood, and the way God can redeem the most painful parts of our story.Today, Jonathan is a husband, father, and serves tens of thousands of children in the Dominican Republic through Compassion International.If you’ve struggled with rejection, an absent father, forgiveness, or questions about your identity in Christ, this conversation is for you.

Important Links: Dad Tired Annual RetreatHost A Dad Tired Conference at your churchJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gearDonate to Dad Tired.When was the last time you felt genuinely excited about your future?For a lot of men, life slowly becomes survival mode—work, bills, marriage, kids, responsibilities, repeat. Somewhere along the way, we stop dreaming.In this off-the-cuff episode, Jerrad shares three dreams that have been stirring in his heart for the future of Dad Tired, including serving military families, creating deeper healing experiences for men, and making space for more meaningful conversations.But underneath all of it is a bigger realization: sometimes you have to heal before you can dream again.Jerrad reflects on the last few years of confronting sin, pain, brokenness, and unhealthy patterns—and how God has used that healing to give him the capacity to look forward with hope again.If you’ve felt stuck, exhausted, or like you’re simply trying to make it through the week, this episode is an invitation to lift your head, let God deal with what’s underneath the surface, and begin asking what He might still want to do with your life.

Important Links: Dad Tired Annual RetreatHost A Dad Tired Conference at your churchJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gearSin rarely destroys a man’s life all at once. More often, it slowly kills his joy, peace, intimacy, trust, focus, and spiritual health—and eventually, he gets used to living around the damage.In this episode, Jerrad asks a difficult question: What has died in your life as a result of sin? Through an honest personal confession, the story of a refrigerator filled with spoiled milk, and the hope of the gospel, he challenges men to stop minimizing the “small” compromises they’ve grown comfortable with.You don’t have to keep living surrounded by dead things. Jesus is not intimidated by the broken, hidden, or lifeless places in your story. Bring them into the light, confess them, and trust the God who makes dead things alive again.

Important Links: Dad Tired Annual RetreatHost A Dad Tired Conference at your churchJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gearWhat if sleep isn’t wasted time, weakness, or something to squeeze in after everything else is done? What if it is actually one of God’s most practical invitations to trust Him?In this episode, Jerrad sits down with Brett McCracken, senior editor and director of communications at The Gospel Coalition and author of The Wisdom of Sleep: How Rest Reveals God’s Truth and Revives Weary Souls.Together, they explore why God designed us to spend nearly a third of our lives asleep, how sleep reminds us that we are the creation—not the Creator—and why closing our eyes each night can become an act of surrender.A Prayer Before SleepFather,As I close my eyes tonight, I remember that I am not God.I have limits.You have none.I need rest.You neither slumber nor sleep.There are things I did not finish, problems I could not solve, and people I cannot protect on my own. I release them all into Your hands.Forgive me for believing that everything depends on me.Thank You for the gift of sleep; a grace I receive, not something I earn. As I lie down, remind me that Christ has finished the work I could never finish.Protect my home.Watch over my family.Quiet my mind.Restore my body and soul.As sleep resembles death, remind me that I have died with Christ. And if You wake me in the morning, let the rising sun remind me that I have also been raised with Him into new life.Tonight, I surrender control.You are awake, so I can sleep. You are sovereign, so I can rest. You are faithful, so I do not have to be afraid.Into Your hands I place this night.Amen.

Important Links: Dad Tired Annual RetreatHost A Dad Tired Conference at your churchJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gearWhat is really happening when anger, discouragement, anxiety, or apathy suddenly takes over?In this raw solo episode, Jerrad processes his own battle with comparison and insecurity after watching other successful men in ministry. What initially felt like simple discouragement revealed something much deeper: an old wound had been touched, and the enemy was using it to whisper familiar lies.Jerrad also shares a surprising example from UFC fighters Sean Strickland and Dustin Poirier that demonstrates what can happen when a man has the courage to stop numbing and ask, “Why am I actually feeling this?”Whether your emotions come out through anger and impatience or disappear inward through silence, withdrawal, and apathy, they may be pointing toward a wound that needs attention.You’ll learn how to:Recognize emotions as warning lights on the dashboard of your soulIdentify the wound underneath your reactionNotice the lies being whispered in moments of painStop using anger, alcohol, pornography, entertainment, work, or your phone to numbSlow down and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal what is really happeningReplace the enemy’s lies with the truth of God’s WordBefore you react, withdraw, or numb yourself, pause and ask:Where is the wound?What is the lie I’m believing?God, what truth do You want to speak over me?Mature men are not men who never experience strong emotions. They are men who learn to recognize what they are feeling, bring it honestly before God, and allow His truth to lead them.Scriptures MentionedJohn 8:44Psalm 139:23–24Matthew 6:25–34Romans 8:28

Important Links: Dad Tired Annual RetreatHost A Dad Tired Conference at your churchJoin the FREE Family Leadership ProgramShop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear__In this deeply moving episode of Dad Tired, Jerrad sits down with former country music star Granger Smith for a raw and hope-filled conversation about grief, faith, and true conversion.Granger opens up about the tragic loss of his three-year-old son, River, the darkness that followed, and the moment on a tour bus when he cried out for Jesus to save him. He shares how that moment began to unravel everything he thought he knew about himself, his identity, and even his faith.Together, Jerrad and Granger talk about what it means to move from simply knowing Christian language to truly tasting the goodness of God, why “I’ve always been a Christian” may be a warning sign, and how God sometimes strips away the very things we use to feel secure so that we can finally see Him clearly.Granger also shares why he eventually walked away from country music, what it looks like to serve in ministry now, and the heart behind his book Poison in the Well, written for those stuck in nominal Christianity.CONTENT NOTEThis episode includes discussion of child loss, drowning, grief, suicidal thoughts, and spiritual darkness. Please listen with care, especially if children are present.IN THIS EPISODE• Granger’s life as a husband, father, former country artist, and pastor• The loss of his son River and the grief that followed• The tour bus moment when Granger cried out to Jesus• Why grief, shame, and despair exposed the emptiness of surface-level faith• The difference between knowing about God and truly knowing God• Why Scripture became food instead of a religious obligation• What led Granger to walk away from country music• The warning signs of nominal Christianity• Why every man should examine whether he has truly been born againRESOURCESPre-Order Granger Smith’s book: Poison in the WellDad Tired Retreat: dadtired.com