
Brenda L. Yoder is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, speaker, author, school counselor, and life coach. She’s authored Fledge: Launching Your Kids Without Losing Your Mind; and Balance, Busyness & Not Doing It All. She has been featured in The Washington Post, Guidepost books (Whispers from Above Series, 2020; Evenings With Jesus, 2022); and Chicken Soup for the Soul books (Reboot Your Life; Confident and Curvy). She’s the co-host of the Midlife Mom Podcast and the Midlife Mom Facebook Community,
Brenda specializes in faith, life, and family beyond the storybook image. She is on the Board of Directors for Stonecroft Ministries and Menno Clinic, India. She’s a wife, mom of four adult children, and grandma to one. You can connect with Brenda at www.brendayoder.com, on Instagram or Facebook, or at the Life Beyond the Picket Fence podcast.
Writing samples:
Printed articles:
- Jesus with Skin On, Purpose Magazine, October 2015, Menno Media
- A Dirty Kitchen Floor, Purpose Magazine, August 2013, Menno Media
- Finding Home , Summer 2018 edition of Timbrel, Mennonite Women USA
- Changing Faces of Community, Purpose Magazine, Menno Media
For ten years, Brenda has authored a column, Healthy Hearts, Healthy Homes, in a local monthly magazine, The Hometown Treasure, in Shipshewana, Indiana.
Brenda writes quarterly at For the Family with Ruth and Patrick Schwenk.
Featured articles at the Life Beyond the Picket Fence blog include:
- The Naked Mom: Practical Tips for Vulnerable Spaces
- 10 Ways Parents Sin by Idolizing Children
- A Time to Speak and a Time to Go
- 9 Truths about Love you Must Understand
- 10 Lessons from a Desert Dweller
- Giving Yourself Grace
Other articles online:
- When I Feel Like a Writer, Breathe Writer’s Conference
- The Art of Relatability, Speak Up Conference
- Standing on the Sidelines as My Boy Becomes a Man, For Every Mom
- 5 Truths About Home, Kate Motaung
- Ask Brenda: My Daughter’s Changing Body, Whatever Girls
- Teens, Sex Trafficking, and What You Need to Know, Whatever Girls