Connection Podcast

Who runs the world? Girls...

We have a special episode for everyone today, where we get kicked out of our podcast and a few of our lady friends take over to discuss women, faith, their own struggles, and the Proverbs 31 woman (she's amazing, by the way, and she's you!). This is a topic that the church at large struggles with sometimes - roles, identities, and security for women in the church. Luckily we had the honor of hosting 3 of some of the most genuine and loving women to talk about these things and to empower and equip everyone listening. 

If you are listening or listened to this episode and you want to reach out directly to Lillian, Tara, or Kenia, their Instagram handles are listed below. Please feel free to contact them and open up a conversation with them! As always, thanks for listening in and being part of the podcast!

Lillian Martin - @lillianm13

Tara Thiele - @thieletara

Kenia Salas - @keniaesalas

It's funny how in the ordinary things we can find God. The seemingly common, mundane, or regular activities are sometimes where God shows up in the greatest ways. Cue this episode. 

We're surrounded by devices, information and smart technology that is constantly listening to us. In fact, there are certain names you can't say sometimes (Alexa, for example), without them perking up and asking you what you said.

In the same way, God is always listening to us and waiting for us to call out to Him. But how often are we listening for His voice when He calls us? Whether it's to our purpose, an assignment, or just to be obedient for a situation, God is waiting for our response. So what shall we say then in response to these things?

Have you ever laid down one Sunday afternoon to just close your eyes for a second, only to wake up 3 hours later and not know what year you're living in? Yeah, we've been there too. 

We live in a world that is full of, "Be on your grind," "Hustle," and "Gotta work to live." But Biblically speaking, we MUST take time to rest - even God took time to rest when He was finished creating the world. And there's a good reason for it; rest is necessary for us to recharge and keep moving forward in a productive way, both physically and spiritually. Many of us get caught up in the daily grind and struggles of life - so how do we find time to rest and what can we do to actually rest? Hint: it's not a what, it's a Who. 

We are still reeling and recovering from what was perhaps one of the craziest months we've had - both individually and as part of a larger community within our church and friend group. It's in these moments that we have realized that community is such a vital part of the church - in fact it's what makes the church a church to begin with.

There are moments where we need to be in community around other believers and around those who will encourage, inspire, challenge, and push us. But there are other times when we need to be more like Jesus and go up to the mountain to spend time with God. Even if you don't have a large community or group to be part of right now, we would encourage everyone to get connected - to God first, and then that community. 

We were joined by some very special guests this week as we decided to do a follow up episode to one of the most popular ones we recorded - Single...Now What? Please help us give a warm welcome to Lillian Martin, Kenia Salas, Matt Ocheita, Oscar Madrid, and Tara Thiele! Since the last episode was just two guys talking about being single, we thought why not bring in some different perspectives from a few of the ladies!

This was a truly special episode as we got to encounter different testimonies about singleness, what to do during that time, how to honor God, and some of the issues that can even occur during our time of singleness. Let's be honest...it's not always easy being single, especially when you've been dating or you've been hurt or all your friends are getting married. Finally, a HUGE thank you to our guests for being on this episode - we know you will all be blessed by joining in on this conversation!

In this 2nd installment of our character studies, we discuss one of the greatest disciples that Jesus had...well he was pretty good...or he was alright...he was fine, we guess. Many of you know stories about this man named Simon Peter - you might remember him from our 3rd episode where we discussed his adventure walking on water. But Peter was more than just a water-walker: he was a rock on which Christ would build His church (maybe that's why he sunk...). 

Peter is a doer - he just does and asks questions later. But most importantly, Peter said "Yes" to Jesus and allowed Him to use his life to transform the world. When God calls you, He wants your "Yes." Will you have the faith to follow even when or if ___?

We sure bit off quite a lot to chew on in this episode! We're diving into some characters in the Bible over the next few episodes and we thought, what better way to start off a character series than with the main character Himself, the One and only, the Alpha and Omega, He who was and is and is to come, God! Understand now - you can't understand. 

God is so much bigger than anything we could ever imagine - imagine the universe in its full capacity, now go bigger, and you're still not even close to knowing how big God truly is. Think about God's unlimited nature and infinite capabilities for too long and you'll burst your brain. Thanks as always for joining us in this episode!

What do you believe about the power of your words? Do you believe that they carry little to no meaning with them, that they don't really mean anything? Or do you believe that they do carry a heavy weight with them and what we say matters? In one of the first times that we've sat through an episode and mostly disagreed, this topic is difficult - which is why we used a lot of scripture in this episode, so make sure you have something to take some notes with!

So what does the Bible have to say about the power of our words and about the things we say sometimes (a lot of times for some of us!)? Surely the very Word of God would know about and have something to say about our words - after all, the very thing God used to create everything in existence was done through His words. Join us as we welcome in a few friends who also weigh in on this topic!

Think for a second about the last decision you made - was it to turn the TV on, brush your teeth, make dinner, open the Bible, lay on the couch, etc.? Now ask yourself, was that a mature decision that I just made? Well how are we even supposed to know when we make mature decisions? We make decisions every single day, some without even thinking. But when it comes to our faith and spiritual lives, how in the world are we supposed to know what to do? We'll give you a hint: it's not about you. 

As Christians, we are called to continually grow and develop our faith and relationship with Christ and ultimately become more and more like Him each day. This requires a lot of focus and involves making the right decisions, but that's not always the easiest thing to do. As we learn in this episode, true maturity comes from a change in your focus: it's not what can God do for me, it's what God can do through me.

Only God can judge me! Well...technically this is true, but how true is it? Are we even supposed to be judging others because Jesus said to "Love our neighbors as ourselves." Is there a right time to judge or a specific kind of person we should be judging?

This is a very challenging and difficult subject to talk about, especially in the context of faith and church. And it's definitely not comfortable to talk about, let alone call people out for doing it! But as we dive into quite a bit of scripture on this episode, we discover that there might actually be times that call for us - as believers - to judge others. But how do we know when we are supposed to do that? Join in with us in the conversation as we discuss and open up about what it means to judge and not judge others!