Anita Lustrea

Beth Slevcove joins me on the podcast this week. She’s written a helpful book titled Broken Hallelujahs, which deals with the grief we experience due to the big and small losses of life. Who hasn’t experienced loss on some level, right?

This has been a season of loss for me. Unexpected loss. Loss of a job, loss of a group of people I used to see everyday in the workplace. And in some ways, loss of an identity. How many conversations have you been a part of that eventually make their way to the question, “So, what do you do?” Until I lost my job, I didn’t see how it resembled other greater losses. Wrong! And, I’m here to say, and Beth echoes this in her book and in the podcast, that loss is loss is loss is loss. There is no rating our loss and grief on a scale of 1 – 10. It feels how it feels to us. We can’t compare our loss to someone else’s. That’s not how it works. That discounts our loss and, really, others as well.

I think we sometimes block our emotions, even sweep losses under the carpet and don’t name them. We think we don’t really have anything to grieve, or that we can somehow skip the sadness.  The reality is that eventually it will bubble to the surface. It will slide right out from under the carpet and will sit there staring us in the face until we are willing to engage with it.

I know you’ll appreciate what Beth has to say. I have cried multiple times while reading her book and I’ve underlined a boatload of passages in the book.

Happy listening!

This week on the podcast my husband, Mike Murphy, joins me. He is a pastor at Christ Church of Oak Brook, in Oak Brook, IL. One of the topics that occupies a lot of our conversational time in our home these days is the presidential race. Mike has watched almost every debate. I can’t bring myself to do that, but I poke my head in and out, and I certainly overhear his groaning and laughter as I sit in the other room to escape having the same reactions.

While there may be some humorous moments at a debate, there are sadly too many moments available for groaning. What Mike has thought through is a grid to run the presidential candidates through. There are still primaries to go, and certainly when they are done, the election itself. As followers of Christ we need to be thoughtful about this process and we need to pay attention to who we might back as the best candidate. We aren’t always going to agree, but that’s not the issue. We are called to be thoughtful and to think about who might best live out the values of Christ if elected to office. Guaranteed we will come up with different candidates that we believe fit that description. That doesn’t matter as much as really thinking through the process and voting our conscience, not someone else conscience.

Here is the grid Mike gives on the podcast.

These are the things a candidate should embody according to Mike:

You might have other criteria to add to your grid. This, at least, give us a starting point.

Mike also talks about his weekly top 10 lists he posts on Facebook on Fridays. Those are always thought provoking, sometimes aggravating, and at times humorous. You can friend him on Facebook here.

I mention on the podcast that I’m thinking of doing more than one podcast a week and wondered what people thought of that. You can email your thoughts to [email protected]. And, you can support the podcast by assigning a monetary value to it. Is one episode worth .25 or 1.00? At the bottom of the home page there are a series of icons. Click on the first one, it’s a P, and it isn’t for Pinterest. It’s for Patreon, and it’s a way to support Faith Conversations.

Lastly, I’d appreciate it as you listen each week to the podcast, if you would consider sharing the link on your Facebook page and letting others know. Podcasts grow slowly, one “SHARE” at a time.

Thanks!

Dan Allender has always been at the forefront when it comes to healing sexual abuse and talking honestly about it in the context of the Church and Christian community. 25 years ago he wrote The Wounded Heart. You can imagine that much has changed in the last 25 years as it relates to this important and difficult issue. So much so that Dan has recently penned Healing the Wounded Heart.

One of the things that makes Dan such a relevant speaker and writer on this topic, besides his education and expertise in this area, is the fact that Dan is, himself, a survivor of sexual abuse.

One of the things I want to know from someone writing on this topic, especially, is do they really understand–do they really know what they are talking about. Dan Allender does, and he has developed a whole ministry focused on helping people heal from sexual abuse and the trauma that surrounds it.

I hope you will take the time to listen to the podcast as well as forward a link to a friend or family member that you know is struggling deeply because of sexual abuse in their past. Dan Allender is exactly who I want to introduce to such a person.

I’m praying for deep healing to begin as this important topic is raised on this week’s Faith Conversations.

I haven’t spent much time thinking about how I’ll die let alone the last words I would utter. This is Holy Week and I thought it appropriate to invite Father James Martin, a favorite author of mine, to join me on the podcast to talk about the Seven Last Words of Christ on the cross. Seven Last Words is the name of his recent book and it is a great meditation for Holy Week and beyond, actually. The subtitle is worth noting as it is definitely a point of conversation on the podcast. It is subtitled: an invitation to a deeper friendship with Jesus.

Father Martin has written a number of books, but my husband and I find ourselves recommending over and over again his book titled, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. The title makes me laugh, but the content is beautiful and thoughtful and challenging, and I highly recommend it along with his book, Jesus: A Pilgrimage. 

James offers some beautiful insights about Jesus’ final words before He breathes his last breath. Our conversation also takes an interesting turn as we talk about one of Father Martin’s favorite gospel stories, which also happens to be one of mine—the story of Lazarus.

Happy listening!

Marilyn Gardner is an adult third-culture kid who was raised in Pakistan. She is a public health nurse and is married to Cliff. She birthed 5 kids on 3 continents and then she and Cliff raised them in Pakistan and Egypt. Living now in Cambridge, Mass., she makes trips to Pakistan and the Middle East as often as possible.

To say that Marilyn is thoughtful and a good communicator is an understatement. She has recently made several trips to Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan to work with refugees. She writes regularly on her blog, communicatingacrossboundariesblog.com. Her first book is a worthy read and I commend it to you. It is titled, Between Worlds.

Marilyn lays some pithy quotes on us during the podcast, so you might want to grab a pen and paper as you listen this week. Also, just a reminder to please tell a friend about the podcast. I’m not spending anything on marketing. And so if you Share the link when the podcast is released on Mondays, that would be wonderful.

If you have a question or comment, please let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

Happy listening!

Janet Davis is one of my all time favorite people on the planet. In 2007 she rocked my world with her book The Feminine Soul. Currently, in my season of grief, her book Sacred Healing is touching me deeply.

This week on the podcast Janet talks about Tiny, Giant Choices. As usual, Janet takes us to scripture, specifically to the gospels and some amazing stories about women. Often I think I need to make a BIG change, or make a BIG difference. In reality, it’s the tiny choices that end up being giant in our lives.

If you find yourself in a season of struggle, which might look like illness, or job loss, or a marriage break up, or long days of care giving, I think this podcast has your name written all over it. Janet speaks the language of a spiritual director, which she is. She speaks right to the heart in a way we can all hear.

I’ve been getting great feedback from so many of you. If you’ve not noticed the contact tab on the menu bar, then here is the email address if you have a question, or a guest suggestion, or just want to let me know how you were touched by a specific episode of Faith Conversations: [email protected].

I hope to hear from you soon, and I hope you have some great faith conversations this week!

Natasha Robinson is passionate about many things, but at the top of her list is mentoring. She has been actively involved in what she calls intentional discipleship for years. Thankfully for us, she’s committed the ‘how’ of all that into a book called Mentor for Life.

Some of the things you’ll learn about Natasha as you listen to the podcast is that she is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and has a history as a former Marine Corps officer. She also spent time serving in the Department of Homeland Security. On top of that, she is an anti-human trafficking advocate. Her heart and soul, though, revolve around intentional discipleship.

You are going to want to connect with Natasha, since she talks about a couple of perks available at her website. Find her here. Natasha also has an interesting blog called asistasjourney which you can find here. You can also follow her on Twitter @asistasjourney.

I’ve always been skeptical about near death experiences. I’ve never given any of those movies the time of day that tell the story of someone who has gone to heaven and come back. I roll my eyes at those things and think, “Seriously, you expect me to believe that?”

Enter John Burke. A guy I respect. Pastor of Gateway Church in Austin, Texas. Someone I’ve interviewed many times on a variety of books he’s written talking about sensical things. When his book, Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You, crossed my desk, I did a double-take. Spotting John as the author was a shocker! My immediate thought was, “John doesn’t write books like this.” It’s not his style. That’s what I thought. But in the words of Gomer Pyle, “Surprise, surprise!”

I agree with John that most of us long to know what life after death will be like. What I learned in this week’s podcast is that over the years John interviewed approximately 1,000 people who claimed to have near death experiences (NDEs) and that their recounting of what happened to them surprisingly lines up with the scriptural view of heaven. In his book he compares more than 100 stores of NDEs to what Scripture says about our biggest questions of heaven. I think you’ll be encouraged and challenged as you listen to John tell some of these stories, as well as his own story of reading his book manuscript to his dying mother before she passed from this life to the next.

John thinks that the more we hear about NDEs it will change the way we view heaven and change the way we live. Take a listen to his enthusiasm as he works to convince me of the veracity of the claims in his book.

I love a good conversation. I like sticking to singular topics, but I also enjoy when a variety of topics are raised and the dialog meanders over the river and through the woods and back again. I have no expectation to arrive at grandmother’s house!

My husband Mike Murphy and my son John Lustrea joined me again this week as we talked about our view of time vs. God’s reality of transcending time. We look at why many of us struggle against time, whether that’s looking forward or looking back. Our consensus was that most of us have trouble living in the present.

We also looked at the role of faith and how we can actually waste time creating incredibly lengthy faith statements when we have some terrific creeds available to us already that might make life a bit easier. I’m sure not everyone will agree with all we said on this podcast, but I hope you’ll enjoy the dialog and I hope it will spark some of your own conversations with friends.

Recently, especially because I’ve missed the Millrose Club, though Lori Neff and Mark Breta are recording a Millrose Podcast, I started a conversation group that meets in my house once a month. You might want to consider doing the same. If you are interested in how to structure it, how many people to invite, or general questions about forming your own conversation group, feel free to email me with your questions. Email me at [email protected].

I also want to draw your attention to the books in the right hand margin of the website. It is the season of Lent and many, including my husband and me, are going through the book 40 Days of Decrease. If you haven’t picked a Lenten resource yet, you might want to consider this one.

Parenting is nothing like I expected it to be and yet everything I’d hoped it would be. My son is now 23 years of age and a thoughtful young man. Maybe even an old soul. I enjoy a good conversation with him about once a week. He lives in South Carolina now, pursuing a graduate degree in 19th century American history.

While he was home over the Christmas holidays he had a couple of topics he wanted to discuss for release on Faith Conversations. So my son John, my husband Mike, and I sat down and let John take the lead in the conversation. He wanted to talk about music for one topic. For another, he wanted to talk about what it’s like to be a person who feels deeply, or a deep feeler as he says on the podcast. It’s a blessing sometimes and sometimes not so much.

I grew up in a musical family, everyone sings, two play the guitar, one plays piano and ukulele, and the last two of us mostly sing, though I tinker at playing the piano. As John was growing up I would play music and sing around the house often. I would bring CD’s home from work from when I was a music director for Moody Radio Network. He had zero interest. As John got closer to his teenage years I became increasingly concerned that I was raising a child with no interest in music. To be fair, that’s not exactly true. He played the French horn in the school band, but truth be told, he rarely practiced. Then one day he just started listening to music. He went from not caring, to listening all the time. I was overjoyed.

But then he settled in on his music of choice. Yep! Metal music…..heavy metal music, even screamo music. Lest you pass judgment right now, I urge you to listen to the podcast and see what you think.

Don’t be afraid. We don’t play any metal music, we just talk about it.