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About author

Janel Breitenstein is a speaker, freelance writer, and author of Permanent Markers: Spiritual Life Skills to Write on Your Kids’ Hearts (Harvest House, 2021) and Deliver Us from Meltdowns: And Other Real-World Prayers for Parents (Andrews McMeel, September 2025). She's also the author of two works releasing in 2026: How to Stop Yelling Up the Stairs: Keeping Your Cool While Raising Your Kids (Kregel, April 21, 2026) and Emotionally Strong(ish) Parenting: 7 Shifts for a Resilient and Jesus-Centered Home (NavPress, September 2026). Her work can be found on Christianity Today, Focus on the Family, and FamilyLife. She graduated summa cum laude from John Brown University and began her career with NavPress, where she worked on The Message Bible. She then moved to FamilyLife Publishing. In January of 2012, Janel and her husband packed up their family of six and moved to Uganda to serve with Engineering Ministries International (EMI), an organization focusing on poverty relief and development, providing structural design and construction management for Christian organizations in the developing world. After five and a half years there in East Africa, she and her family returned to the U.S., where they continue to work on behalf of the poor with EMI. She speaks, writes, and loves on her family from Colorado. Her fresh, authentic, intimate style connects with readers around the globe. You can find her—“The Awkward Mom”—having uncomfortable, important conversations at JanelBreitenstein.com.