We’re tackling one of the most requested and often misunderstood topics—friendship. In this Courageous Girls episode, Terra Mattson shares powerful insights from Chapter 6 of Courageous Girls: Being Daughters Rooted in Grace, unpacking the deeper struggles moms face with friendship and how that shapes what our daughters learn.

As a licensed therapist, executive coach, and founder of Courageous Girls, Terra brings both wisdom and vulnerability as she explores codependency, Christian culture, and the need to model healthy, grace-filled relationships. Together, we reflect on how Jesus sets a better example—one with boundaries, truth, and wholehearted love.

We were never meant to do life alone. In this episode, we unpack Chapter 5 of Courageous: Being Daughters Rooted in Grace and dive into the power of true, intentional community. Whether we’ve been burned by friendships in the past or find ourselves longing for deeper connection, God designed us to be known and loved—by Him and by others.

🔹 Why community matters – We heal in relationships, just as we’re wounded in them.

🔹 Breaking the cycle – Overcoming comparison, insecurity, and the fear of being truly seen.

🔹 Leading by example – How to create safe, lasting friendships for ourselves and our daughters.

Terra Mattson shares wisdom from years of counseling, personal stories, and practical encouragement to help us step into the kind of relationships we were made for. Let’s stop settling for surface-level friendships and start building the kind of community that transforms lives!

Our words hold incredible power—shaping the way our daughters see themselves, their worth, and their relationship with God. In this episode, we explore Chapter 4 of Courageous: Being Daughters Rooted in Grace with Terra Mattson, unpacking the ways we can speak life and truth into the next generation.

🔹 The power of words – How the messages we receive (and repeat) impact our identity.

🔹 Breaking free from lies – Recognizing and replacing the cultural and personal narratives that distort God’s truth.

🔹 Equipping the next generation – Practical ways to guide our daughters in speaking and believing what is good, true, and beautiful.

Terra shares personal experiences, biblical insights, and tangible tools to help us use our voices to bring healing and confidence—not just for our daughters, but for ourselves. Let’s learn how to speak life and raise a generation of girls rooted in grace!

We all experience emotions, but how often do we truly understand them? In this episode, we dive into Chapter 3 of Courageous: Being Daughters Rooted in Grace with Terra Mattson as she unpacks the importance of emotional regulation—for ourselves and the girls we mentor.

🔹 Why it matters – Our emotions are God-given signals, yet many of us were taught to ignore or suppress them.

🔹 What we’ll learn – Practical tools to help us and our daughters name, process, and care for emotions in a healthy way.

🔹 How it changes us – When we learn to engage our emotions with wisdom, we grow in wholeness, deepen our relationships, and become more present, grace-filled guides for the next generation.

As a trauma therapist and mother, Terra shares personal stories, biblical insights, and real-life strategies to help us embrace the truth: we have to feel it to heal it. Let’s step into this journey together, learning how to love God with our whole hearts—mind, body, and soul.

Have you ever felt like you're the only one knee-deep in the mess, wondering if you’re doing it all wrong? We sure have—and in this episode, we get real about what we’ve all quietly named “holy crap.”

We’re walking through Chapter Two of Courageous: Being Daughters Rooted in Grace, and this one hits home. Together, we unpack the theology of suffering, the lie of perfectionism, and the messy, manure-like moments of life that God can use as fertilizer for something sacred. From lost friendships and mom guilt to real grief and unanswered prayers, we talk about what it means to raise strong daughters not by shielding them from pain—but by modeling how to walk through it with grace, honesty, and faith.

Tara reminds us that hard doesn’t mean wrong—and it certainly doesn’t mean God is absent. He meets us in the crap, transforms it, and walks with us through the “Saturday” seasons before resurrection comes. We also reflect on how we can give grace to ourselves and one another, even in the chaos of littles, work, and the feeling that we’re not doing enough.

💬 This episode is for every mom and mentor who’s asked:

-Why is this so hard?

-Am I the only one struggling?

-What do I do when my daughter faces disappointment or pain?

-How can we reframe suffering in a way that builds resilience and faith?

✨ Challenge of the week: Be honest about your story. Share something real with a trusted friend, mentor, or your daughter. Maybe it’s finally time to open the book, start a Courageous Girls group, or simply admit: “This is hard. And I don’t want to do it alone anymore.”

🔗 Ready to begin? Visit mycourageousgirls.com or download the Courageous Girls app to access free resources, curriculum, and coaching designed to help you walk and talk with your daughter through every season.

What would it look like if we stopped letting the world tell our daughters who they are—and taught them to listen to the One who made them? That’s exactly what we’re unpacking in this episode as we dig into Chapter One of Courageous: Being Daughters Rooted in Grace—a chapter titled She Walks with Confidence.

Together, we’re exploring what it means to raise girls (and grow as women) who don’t chase stars or shrink under dots. Using the story of You Are Special by Max Lucado, we reflect on how easy it is to let praise define us and criticism undo us—and how different life looks when we know we are deeply, unshakably loved by God.

We talk identity, self-worth, and the dangerous hustle for approval, not just in our daughters' lives but in our own hearts too. Walking in confidence isn’t about performance—it’s about living from a place of being seen, known, and delighted in by the Father. And when we, as moms and mentors, live from that place? We become Lucia—the ones whose stickers don’t stick, and whose peace speaks louder than performance.

💬 This episode is for the woman asking:

-Why do I care so much what others think of me?

-How do I help my daughter build real confidence?

-Am I parenting from approval or from identity?

✨ Challenge for the week: Make a list of the “dots” and “stars” you’ve been carrying. Which ones come from the world—and which come from God? Then, spend some time with your Creator, just like Ella did with Eli. Because the more we know His love, the less the stickers stick.

🔗 Ready to start your own Courageous Girls group? Visit mycourageousgirls.com or download the app to access curriculum, coaching, and community for every stage of your daughter’s growing years.

What if we could mother our daughters in the way many of us never experienced?

In this first episode of the Courageous Girls Podcast, we (Tara Matson and the Courageous Girls community) invite you into the heart of why this movement began. As women, mothers, and mentors, we’ve seen firsthand the pressure, confusion, and pain girls are navigating in today’s world—and we know we’re not alone in wanting to do something about it.

Together, we explore the roots of Courageous: Being Daughters Rooted in Grace, a book written to help women uncover the beliefs, emotions, and experiences that shape us—and how those, in turn, impact the way we guide the next generation. We share the heavy realities girls are facing, from early exposure to sexuality and social media pressures, to the silence that often surrounds their struggles.

Through clinical insight, biblical wisdom, and real-life stories, we ask: how can we become safe, attuned, grace-filled women for the girls in our lives? This episode is a call to reflect, connect, and take courageous steps forward—starting with our own healing.

💬 Key topics we unpack:

-Why we started Courageous Girls

-The real stories girls are living today—and how we respond

-The impact of purity culture and modern overcorrection

-Why moms matter more than we often realize

-What it looks like to lead from a place of grace, not perfection

Ready to walk this journey with us? Visit mycourageousgirls.com or download the Courageous Girls app to get started. We’re not meant to do this alone—and now, we don’t have to.