Actress, producer and mother of three Candace Cameron Bure said the years she spent home with her children deepened her relationship with God and prepared her to share Jesus when she returned to work.
“I see all the growth that happened over that time that prepared me for going back to work eventually,” Bure said in a recent episode of her podcast.
Bure was talking with author, speaker and podcast host Annie F. Downs about what happens after someone has taken every practical step toward a dream and still has to wait. For Bure, the example was a period when she chose to stay home with her children rather than keep working.
Looking back, she described those years as a time of growth in her relationship with God. She said she did not know whether continuing straight through her career would have left her with the same desire to treat work as an opportunity to share the Gospel and help people move closer to Jesus.
“I still was very fulfilled in what I was wanting to do,” she said.
That distinction mattered to the conversation: Bure could still have hopes for her career while enjoying the life she had at home. Downs responded by asking about gratitude for what someone already has, even when another desire remains unmet.
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“Can you be grateful for the basket you’re holding while you’re wishing there was more fruit in it?” Downs asked.
The discussion grew out of Downs’ book, Don’t Let That Hold You Back: A Bold Guide to Finding the Life You’re Longing For, which WaterBrook released September 15, 2026. But Downs cautioned that taking action does not give someone control over the outcome.
“You can do everything we talk about doing in the book and there are no promises,” Downs said of the book’s advice.
Later, a young mother’s question about finding friends brought Bure back to a practical memory from her own parenting years. In a new city with little children, she said, she had to look for community rather than assume it would find her.
Bure started a neighborhood Bible study and posted a note on a community board inviting people to join. About eight women began coming to her house, she recalled, and some of the friendships that surprised her most were with women decades older than she was.
Bure suggested a local coffee shop’s community board or an online neighborhood app as places to put out an invitation. She encouraged the mother to ask people to go for a walk or meet at a playground, leaving room for a friendship or mentoring relationship with someone she might not have expected.
“And I became friends with unexpected people, but there was a commonality and that commonality really was Jesus,” Bure said.
She encouraged the mother to keep inviting people, consider friendships across age groups and keep praying for community. Bure also acknowledged that a close, trusted friendship might not arrive right away; those relationships need time to develop.
No matter where you are in life, God is always working.
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