Transform Your Family Atmosphere: Eileen Noyes' Guide to Intentional Motherhood

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Four Ways to Influence Your Family: The Complete Guide for Christian Mothers

By Eileen Noyes

Sep 24, 2025

What if the secret to transforming your family's entire atmosphere was as simple as changing how you start your morning? What if your daily routines, attitudes, and habits were either building a legacy of peace and purpose or unconsciously creating chaos and stress for the people you love most?

Meet Eileen Noyes, host of The Unsidelined Life podcast and mother of eight children who discovered that maternal influence extends far beyond discipline and daily logistics. After breaking free from an abusive marriage where she was told her only value came from "cooking, cleaning, and having babies," Eileen learned that mothers have tremendous power to shape their family's spiritual, emotional, physical, and environmental well-being through intentional daily choices.

Through her study of Proverbs 31:1 and her personal transformation journey, Eileen identified four specific areas where mothers can maximize their positive influence: spirit, soul, body, and home environment. These aren't overwhelming additions to an already busy schedule - they're strategic shifts in how you approach the things you're already doing that can transform your family's entire experience of life together.

Her approach combines practical wisdom with spiritual foundation, showing busy mothers how to influence their families in ways that honor God while creating the peaceful, purposeful home environment every family needs to thrive.

Influencing Through Your Spirit: Setting the Spiritual Tone

The foundation of family influence begins with your spiritual connection, and for Eileen, this starts at 4:30 AM when God consistently wakes her up for intentional time together. This isn't about following someone else's schedule - it's about recognizing that seeking God first truly does result in everything else falling into place more smoothly.

Eileen's morning routine demonstrates how spiritual influence can permeate a household even when other family members are sleeping. She plays worship music softly through kitchen speakers while making coffee, lights candles to create a peaceful atmosphere, and uses the time while water boils to pray and handle quick household tasks. This multitasking approach allows her to seek God while simultaneously preparing the physical environment her family will wake up to.

The key insight is that spiritual influence isn't just about personal Bible study - it's about creating an atmosphere where God's presence is welcomed and His peace fills the home. When children wake up to the scent of candles, the sound of worship music, and a mother who has already connected with God, they're starting their day in an environment that has been spiritually prepared for them.

Essential Elements of Spiritual Influence:

Seek God before checking phones or engaging with daily stresses
Play worship music that family members can hear and absorb
Pray over your family members by name during your morning routine
Create physical reminders of God's presence (candles, peaceful atmosphere)
Model dependence on God through visible prayer and Bible reading

Transforming Through Your Soul: Managing Mind, Will, and Emotions

Your emotional state and attitude set the tone for your entire family's day, making this perhaps the most immediately visible area of maternal influence. Eileen learned this lesson through recognizing her tendency to become a "crank-o-rama" when she skipped her spiritual connection time, which would then create tension and stress for everyone in the household.

The principle Eileen emphasizes is that "the first words you say or the tone that you set in the morning sets the tone for the whole day." This means mothers have the opportunity - and responsibility - to choose whether they'll start each day with peace, encouragement, and positivity, or with stress, criticism, and urgency. The difference often comes down to whether they've connected with God first.

One of the most valuable lessons Eileen shares is about handling those inevitable moments when you do lose your temper or speak harshly. Instead of letting tension linger, she demonstrates the importance of immediate restoration - apologizing to your children, acknowledging your mistake, and praying together to reset the atmosphere. This teaches children how to handle their own mistakes while preserving relationship harmony.

During car rides, Eileen uses travel time for family prayer, allowing her children to hear her pray for each family member by name. This serves multiple purposes: it puts Scripture and positive declarations into their subconscious minds, models the importance of prayer, and creates opportunities for spiritual connection during routine activities.

Building Influence Through Your Body: Physical Health as Family Legacy

Physical health and fitness represent an often-overlooked area of family influence, but Eileen's background as a strength coach gives her unique insight into how mothers can model healthy living for their children. At 52, she emphasizes that fitness isn't about vanity - it's about stewardship of the body God gave her and ensuring she has the energy and health to fulfill her calling for decades to come.

Eileen's approach to physical influence focuses on strength training, which becomes increasingly important as women age. She recommends starting with 20-30 minute videos that incorporate resistance training, emphasizing that consistency matters more than intensity. Her children see her prioritizing her health and often ask for technique advice, creating natural opportunities for health education.

The broader principle extends beyond exercise to encompass all aspects of physical stewardship - what you eat, how you care for your body, and the health habits you model. When mothers prioritize their physical well-being, they demonstrate to their families that health matters and that taking care of yourself isn't selfish - it's responsible stewardship that enables you to serve others more effectively.

Children absorb these lessons about health and self-care, carrying them into their own adult lives. By modeling healthy choices consistently, mothers influence their family's relationship with food, exercise, and physical wellness for generations.

Creating Influence Through Your Home Environment

Perhaps the most tangible area of maternal influence involves the physical environment you create in your home. Eileen's journey in this area involved breaking generational patterns of disorganization and creating new family standards for cleanliness and order. Her transformation from chaos to peace wasn't about perfectionism - it was about creating an environment that supports family well-being.

Eileen addresses common excuses many mothers use to avoid dealing with home organization: having too many children, lack of decorating skills, waiting for remodeling, or cultural patterns that seem impossible to break. Her breakthrough came when God instructed her to "clean house" and she discovered that maintaining order with eight children was actually achievable when approached systematically.

The key insight is that children respond positively to environments that reflect peace and order. When the home is clean and organized, messes become obvious and easy to address. When there's chaos everywhere, additional messes go unnoticed and problems compound. By creating and maintaining peaceful spaces, mothers give their families a gift of reduced stress and increased functionality.

Practical Home Influence Strategies:

Break the cycle of waiting for "perfect" conditions before creating order
Delegate age-appropriate responsibilities to children
Model taking pride in your living environment
Address messes immediately rather than letting them accumulate
Create systems that make maintenance easier than cleanup

Transform Your Family Starting Today

Understanding your influence as a mother doesn't require perfection - it requires intentionality and recognition that your daily choices in these four areas are either building up or breaking down your family's well-being. Start by choosing one area where you can make immediate improvements and focus on consistency rather than dramatic changes.

Remember that influence works both ways - when you model healthy spiritual habits, emotional regulation, physical stewardship, and home care, your children naturally begin adopting these same patterns. The goal isn't to overwhelm yourself with new responsibilities but to recognize the power you already have and use it more intentionally.

If you've made mistakes in any of these areas, follow Eileen's example of humble restoration. Apologize when necessary, make changes going forward, and trust that healing and positive influence can begin immediately regardless of past patterns. Your children need to see that growth and change are possible at any stage of life.

Most importantly, remember that this influence flows from your identity as a daughter of God who has been entrusted with the privilege of shaping the next generation. You have more power to create positive change in your family than you realize - the question is whether you'll use it intentionally or let it happen by default.

Ready to maximize your influence as a mother? Follow The Unsidelined Life podcast for practical strategies that help you create the family atmosphere you've been longing for.

Four Ways to Influence Your Family: The Complete Guide for Christian Mothers

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