Even when we follow God’s direction, the path to success is rarely smooth. Bethany Rose knows this truth all too well. But in this episode of The Beacon Show, she shares her strategy for navigating life’s twists and turns with unwavering faith and contagious joy.
Bethany Rose is a wife, homeschooling mom of five, and the soul behind Waves and Lilacs, an online ministry dedicated to encouraging and equipping women in their roles as wives and mothers. With her husband Jake, she’s currently living out a lifelong dream of traveling the country in an RV while growing their business and deepening their family bond along the way.
But this incredible adventure almost didn’t happen. For years, Bethany and Jake wrestled with whether or not to take the leap into full-time entrepreneurship and travel. It wasn’t until they encountered an unexpected job loss that they knew without a doubt it was time to trust God and hit the road.
Now Bethany uses her platform to share hard-earned wisdom on marriage, parenting, and walking with God through seasons of uncertainty. She’s passionate about creating community and empowering women to embrace the gift of motherhood and marriage — even on the hardest days.
In this candid conversation, Bethany opens up about the challenges of building a business while nurturing a thriving family, the importance of partnership and communication in marriage, and the daily disciplines that keep her anchored in her faith.
Whether you’re in the trenches of motherhood, dreaming of a new adventure, or simply seeking to deepen your trust in God’s plan, Bethany’s story will inspire you to navigate your journey with grit, grace, and a whole lot of Jesus. So buckle up and get ready for a joy-filled, wisdom-packed ride with the one and only Bethany Rose!
Watch or listen to Bethany’s full interview on YouTube and Apple Podcasts!
From Youth Group to Motherhood Mentoring
Bethany Rose got her first taste of being involved in Christian leadership as a teenager in her church’s youth group. Although that early experience was very different from the type of ministry she operates today, it laid the foundation for her future leadership endeavors.
Bethany had dreamed of becoming a teacher, but after the birth of her first child, she discovered a new desire to be a stay-at-home mom instead. As Bethany shared about her motherhood journey on social media, other women started coming to her for advice and encouragement.
“I’m able to just walk alongside other women and encourage them, and to say, ‘I’m there right now, or I’ve been there before; here’s what I’ve learned. Let’s learn together,’” she explains.
As Bethany has learned, there is no manual about how to be a perfect mother or wife. By sharing candidly about her own joys, hardships, and everything in between, however, Bethany is able to uplift the members of her online community and offer the help and guidance they need.
Running a Business on the Road
Finding support and community can be extremely difficult in today’s fast-paced world. For Bethany and her family, who currently live on the road in an RV, isolation can be especially difficult to navigate.
In this challenging and exciting season of their lives, a few things have helped Bethany and her family stay connected while traveling and running a business full-time.
- Finding community online and among other travelers has helped them battle isolation and also serve others who struggle to find support.
- They have had to build routines and schedules around their life on the road that allow them to care for their family’s needs without neglecting their business.
- Self-discipline has been an essential practice for juggling multiple responsibilities at once.
“It’s been amazing to see a business begin to grow,” Bethany says. “To see this dream that we talked about for so many years, and to be living it out now. That’s the biggest reward of it all.”
Waiting for God’s Perfect Timing
Although building their business and traveling full-time had been a longtime dream for Bethany and her husband, they kept putting the idea off, hesitating to take the plunge. Their dream would require Bethany’s husband to quit his job, and both felt like the time just wasn’t right.
Then Bethany’s husband unexpectedly lost his job. Having prayed for months that God would clearly confirm the right path for them to take, they knew this was it: it was time to make their dream a reality.
In hindsight, Bethany is thankful that they waited for that confirmation. If they hadn’t, it would be easy to blame themselves on difficult days and assume they had gone against God’s will. Instead, they can rest in the knowledge that they are doing exactly what God has called them to do.
“You’re going to have hard days, no matter what you do,” Bethany says. “The important thing is just how you do it, and making sure that you’re walking with God in it and seeking His face on all of those decisions.”
Navigating Challenges in Family Life and Business
Even with God’s clear guidance, raising a family and building a business are not easy undertakings. Over time, Bethany and her husband have developed several practical strategies to navigate the personal and professional challenges that come their way.
- Keep an open line of communication. By sharing all of their struggles with each other, Bethany and her husband are able to encourage each other and help each other find solutions.
- Set a date to re-evaluate. When Bethany and her husband are working toward a challenging goal, they often commit to reexamining that goal at a later date. Then they can decide if they need to make adjustments or change course entirely.
- Pray constantly. Especially when things don’t seem to be working out, Bethany and her husband make a point of placing it in God’s hands and asking Him to show them the right path — even if it’s not what they think is best in that moment.
- Provide value, but remember you’re running a business. Bethany tries to give the women she ministers to as many free resources as she can. At the same time, she has to ensure that her work brings in enough funds to support her family — otherwise, she won’t be able to continue her ministry.
- Quality work takes time. Running a business and creating valuable social media content isn’t as quick and easy as it might appear. For Bethany, it’s very important that she sets aside enough time to deliver value and biblical accuracy in every piece of content she creates.
- Create space for community. By creating weekly threads in her Facebook group where members can ask for prayer or share the books they’re reading, Bethany has facilitated an active community of women who support, encourage, and stay connected with each other no matter where they are or what they’re going through.
Imperfect Parents Raising Christ-Followers
Bethany and her family have a “loose map” of ideal locations they’d like to travel to, and eventually, they plan to settle down in a permanent residence again. But they’re also open to changing those plans if God leads them to do so.
Ultimately, however, Bethany says her hope and prayer is simply that her children will grow to seek God’s will in their own lives. To ensure she is setting a positive example, Bethany does her best to model Christ in every aspect of her life, especially when she makes mistakes.
“I’m not perfect,” she says. “I’m messing up, and my kids are seeing that. But they’re also seeing me admit that and apologize to them and say, ‘You’re struggling with this, I’m struggling with this. Let’s pray about this. And God is going to be our strength in this as we walk out our life every single day.’”
By setting a godly example for her children, fostering community online and off, and looking to God for guidance when life gets hard, Bethany and her family are able to weather any storm that comes their way and model Christian leadership in their everyday lives.
About Bethany Rose
Meet Bethany, the soul behind Waves and Lilacs. With a heart full of dreams and a spirit that craves adventure, Bethany is an adventurer, creator, and dreamer. Bethany has been married for 12 years to Jake and they are parents to five beautiful children. Living in Pittsburgh, PA where Bethany homeschools and runs her online business at Waves + Lilacs and Jake is a robotics technician. On the side they are podcasters and owners of this shop, Whatever Is True Co. They are currently traveling full time across America in an RV. Bethany’s social presence is known for sharing Biblical Marriage and parenting tips.
Whatever Is True Company’s desire is to help guide and bring families together as they learn about God’s Word. Too often parents leave the Bible and theological teachings to the church and people outside the home. Instead, we want to equip and encourage parents to stand up and take the lead in raising the next God-fearing generation.
Bethany has a private Facebook group with 1.4k members that is dedicated to women looking for the truth and wanting to spread it with Grace.
Bethany has been featured on Good Morning America, discussing biblical marriage and parenting tips.
Visit the Whatever Is True Company and Waves and Lilacs websites here. Connect with Bethany on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
