Depth Podcast

Have you ever wondered if it is okay to question God? Is it okay to have doubts and ask why God? Where are you God? Is your plan good? Sometimes it does not feel good right now, so can I trust You? All of these are honest questions that we can bring to God. And it is okay to ask these hard questions.

I love that we dive deeper into this on the podcast today when I talk with Lori Ann Wood about her new book, *Divine Detour: The Path You'd Never Choose Can Lead to the Faith You've Always Wanted. I have to say that if I am honest, I have asked these hard questions along the detours of my life. Maybe you have too. I am excited for us to talk about this because I think sometimes we assume if we have these questions then maybe our faith is not as strong as we thought it was. I am hear to tell you that is not true. I love the wisdom that Lori Ann brings as she shares about her detour and how God used these questions to grow her faith deeper. I promised you do not want to miss the truths shared in this episode.

Also, I am so excited for someone to win a copy of Lori Ann's book: *Divine Detour. All the details of the book giveaway are on my website at jodirosser.com or you can click this direct link: https://kingsumo.com/g/fxqi3u/divine-detour-book-giveaway

Book Recommendation:

• *Walking through Twilight by Douglas Groothuis

I share a quote from Lori Ann's Brave Women post. Here is a link to the entire article.

After discovering a serious heart condition almost too late, Lori Ann Wood became an award-winning author who encourages deep faith questions along the detours of life. Lori Ann's first book, *Divine Detour: The Path You'd Never Choose Can Lead to the Faith You've Always Wanted, is available at https://loriannwood.com/books/.

Get her free gift, When You Can't Talk to God, at https://loriannwood.com/hope/.

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support the podcast. Thank you!

If someone was going to ask you what your best parenting advice was, what would you say? Maybe you would talk about being intentional with the time you have with your kids. Perhaps you would talk about some of the traditions you did in your home. For me, I would talk about empathy and what a gift it is for our kids.

Well you are in for such a treat because this week on the podcast I have Mary DeMuth and she is going to give her parenting advice and wisdom that she wants to pass along to us parents. Her book is called *Love, Pray, Listen which is such great parenting advice.

Some of my favorite things that she shares this week on the podcast is settling our identity and where do we find our worth: is it in our role of parenting or is it because we are a child of God? I just love the wisdom she brings. She also talks about surrender and how important that is in our parenting and the gift of empathy which is one of my favorite things to talk about. She also has some great wisdom for parents of adult kids as well as those in the teenage years getting ready to launch a child. You are going to love all the truth she shares on this episode!

Also, I am so excited for someone to win a copy of Mary's book: *Love, Pray, Listen. All the details of the book giveaway are on my website at jodirosser.com or you can click this direct link: https://kingsumo.com/g/kdau5t/love-pray-listen-book-giveaway

Book Recommendations:

• *The Calvary Road by Roy Hession
• *The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan
• *My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
• Biography of Oswald Chambers: *Abandoned to God by David McCasland

Mary DeMuth is an international speaker, a podcaster, and the author of over forty books, fiction and nonfiction, including *The Day I Met Jesus. Through God's healing, Mary has overcome a difficult past to become an authentic example of what it means to live a brand-new story. She loves to help others "re-story" their lives through the books she writes. Mary lives in Texas with her husband of 30 years and is Mom to three adult children. Learn more at marydemuth.com.

Free Resource from Mary: 52 Prayers for your Adult Children

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support the podcast. Thank you!

Do you ever struggle going to the extremes? Either all good or all bad? Do ever say words like you never, you always or I never, I always? These are extremes- right? I love that we can see an example of this in the Bible.

This week, I am so excited for my very first episode of Bible Shoes. If you missed my introduction a couple weeks ago, I am going to be picking one person in the Bible and I am going to try to put myself in their shoes. I am going to ask myself, what are they thinking? What are they feeling? How does this relate to us in present day?

For the very first episode, I wanted to start with someone that I could relate to right now in my season of life. So I prayed a lot to God over who should I highlight first. So today, I am going to be talking about Elijah! He first appears in the Bible in 1 Kings 17, but we are going to focus in on 1 Kings 18 and 19.

Hope you enjoyed this first episode of the new series, Bible Shoes! I would love to hear from you about who I should highlight next. Head on over to my Depth Podcast Facebook Group and share your feedback with me.

Have you ever wished you could have a conversation about grief and get really practical? How did you overcome this? How did you deal with hard emotions? How did you walk through your grief?

This week on the podcast, I have this honest conversation with Clarissa Moll about her new book, *Beyond the Darkness: A Gentle Guide for Living With Grief and Thriving after Loss. We talk about the myths of grief and just some practical tools that really helped Clarissa after her husband passed away in a tragic accident. One of my favorite parts is when we talk about emotions and I love this classroom setting illustration that Clarissa gave me. It really resonated with me and I hope it does with you too. You do not want to miss her wisdom.

Also, I am so excited for someone to win a copy of Clarissa's book: *Beyond the Darkness. All the details of the book giveaway are on my website at jodirosser.com or you can click this direct link: https://kingsumo.com/g/ukymgg/beyond-the-darkness-book-giveaway

Book Recommendations:

• *Lament for a Son by Nicolas Wolterstorff
• *Seasons of Sorrow by Tim Challies

Clarissa Moll (MA, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is an author, a podcaster, and the young widow of author Rob Moll. Clarissa's writing has appeared in Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, RELEVANT, Modern Loss, Grief Digest and more. Her husband's first book, The Art of Dying, was released in April 2021 with Clarissa's new afterword. Clarissa's debut book, *Beyond the Darkness: A Gentle Guide for Living With Grief and Thriving after Loss releases with Tyndale in 2022. Clarissa co-hosts Christianity Today's "Surprised by Grief" podcast and hosts the weekly Hope*Writers podcast. She lives a joyful life with her four children and rescue pups and proudly calls both New England and the Pacific Northwest home.

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support the podcast. Thank you!

What if you were the one? What if you were "the Rodney" in your teenager's life? Let me explain.

Back in 2018, I read a book called *The Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans by Josh Shipp. Well Josh shares his story about growing up as a foster kid who had been in and out homes for years. His goal when he arrived at a new home was to see how quickly he could get kicked out. He even kept a journal in which he would write the date he arrived, the date he was kicked out and what strategy he used to get the boot. Each time, he tried to beat his record.

All of this changed when he arrived at Rodney's house at age 14. After 3 years of being disrespectful and mischievous, Rodney still did not kick him out. Josh decided to try one final reckless choice in which he ended up in jail. He thought to himself, this was it; Rodney will finally kick me to the curb. After spending the night in jail, Rodney picked him up and said the following to him, "Josh, you keep causing trouble, keep pushing us away, keep acting out but you gotta get it through your thick head son. We don't see you as a problem. We see you as an opportunity." Rodney changed Josh's life forever and these words were the turning point.

What if you are the Rodney in your son's or daughter's life. Maybe you are wondering why I am sharing about this book, but I am so excited to tell you about the book recommendations I am going to be doing in between the podcast interview episodes. I love to talk about books, but with my new schedule, I am not able to interview every week, so in the weeks in between, I am going to be sharing about books that have made an impact on my life.

I also have another exciting announcement that I share at the end of the episode about another new series to the podcast. I will wait and let you listen for that special addition!

If you are parenting a child nine or older, then you do not want to miss the wisdom from Josh's book!

Also, I am so excited for someone to win a copy of Josh's book: *The Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans. All the details of the book giveaway are on my website at jodirosser.com or you can click this direct link: https://kingsumo.com/g/npe7zi/parenting-book-giveaway

Another Teenage Parenting Book Recommendation:

Depth Podcast Episode 14: Mark Oestreicher's *Understanding Your Young Teen

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support the podcast. Thank you!

Happy New Year! I cannot believe it is 2023.

Let me ask you a question: Do you struggle with what to pray? Maybe even how to pray?

I am so excited about this first episode in 2023. I talk with Suzie Eller about her newest book, *Prayer Starters: Talking with God About Hard Times. This book has been changing my life; it is so phenomenal. I love the wisdom Suzie brings to this episode. We recorded back in December, and it is one of my favorite episodes. She cries, I cry… there are just some tender, vulnerable moments and lots of wisdom from Suzie. You are going to walk away with so much truth to start your year.

Also, I am so excited for someone to win a copy of Suzie's book: *Prayer Starters. All the details of the book giveaway are on my website at jodirosser.com or you can click this direct link: https://kingsumo.com/g/9hmsey/prayer-starters-giveaway

It is fun to have Suzie back on the Podcast! If you missed my first conversation with Suzie about her book, *The Mended Heart, please check out Episode #7 on the Depth podcast. I love what she shares about brokenness.

Her second time on the podcast we talked about her book,*JoyKeeper: 6 Truths That Change Everything You Thought You Know about Joy. You can check out our conversation on the Depth Podcast Episode #46. I cannot wait for you to hear all the wisdom she shares as well as some of our favorite Joy Keeper vs. Joy Stealer statements.

Suzanne (Suzie) Eller is a bestselling author, Bible teacher, speaker, and cohost of the More Than Small Talk podcast with Holley Gerth and Jennifer Watson. She is also the host of Prayer Starters on the KLRC podcast network. Suzie and her husband live in beautiful northwest Arkansas, where her favorite things to do are hiking and kayaking. Learn more at tsuzanneeller.com.

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support the podcast. Thank you!

As you get to the end of 2022, what are you going to do to prepare for 2023? Do you make New Years Resolutions? Do you set goals, or do you pick one word for the year that you will focus on?

Not sure if you will listen to this before or after Christmas, so first of all, let me wish you a Merry Christmas. I hope you and your family have a wonderful celebration. I hope you eat lots of Christmas cookies and enjoy time with loved ones. Most of all, I hope you remember the true meaning of Christmas- Jesus coming to earth, His birth, and Immanuel, God is with us!

For this last episode in 2022, I wanted us to start to look forward to 2023. One of things I do is I pick a word for each year. So I thought it would be really fun for me to share some of my past words, what they meant to me, and how I came up with them. Then, I also want to share with you a resource—a book called *My One Word by Mike Ashcroft and Rachel Olsen. It is a great tool if you want something to read to help you choose your word or a book to help guide you along the way.

Christmas Episodes on the Depth Podcast:

• Holiday Family Traditions with my mom- Depth Podcast Episode 60
• Advent Blocks- Depth Podcast Episode 109

Blog Posts on the Holidays:

• 5 Favorite Books and Traditions to Keep the Focus on Jesus
• Grieving Through the Holidays
• Encouragement for your Hurting Heart on Holidays

One Word Blog Posts

• 2022- Bold
• 2021- Cultivate
• 2020- Timing
• To read all my past words, go to my website and click the blog and the category, One Word Challenge.

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support the podcast. Thank you!

Do you ever wonder if your life is making an impact? Do you ever ask yourself: Does this matter what I am doing? Your work? Your ministry? Is it Significant?

If you have asked those hard questions, then I know you are going to benefit from this episode. I talk with Rachael Adams today about her new book, *A Little Goes A Long Way: 52 Days to a Significant Life. I love that the key verse in her book is Zechariah 4:10, "Do not despise the small beginnings." I think a lot of times we think that in order to have an impact, it has to be something big we have done and accomplished. But I love that Rachael's book reminds us that a little can go a long way and God loves to take our little and multiply it. I think you are going to learn so much from our conversation.

Also, I am so excited for someone to win a copy of Rachael's book: *A Little Goes A Long Way. All the details of the book giveaway are on my website at jodirosser.com or you can click this direct link: https://kingsumo.com/g/gzmqbl/a-little-goes-a-long-way-devotional

It is fun to have Rachael back on the Podcast! If you missed my first conversation with Rachael about Lessons from Biblical Mothers, please check out Episode 128 on the Depth podcast. I loved the truth I learned about Rahab.

Book Recommendations:

• *The Gospel on the Ground by Kristi Mc Lelland
• *Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

Writer and podcaster Rachael Adams started her ministry to help women realize their God-given purpose and significance. She and her husband, Bryan, run a family business and farm in Kentucky with their two children, Will and Kate, and two doodle dogs. Connect with her through her website, rachaelkadams.com, social media (@rachaeladamsauthor), or podcast (The Love Offering).

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support the podcast. Thank you!

What do you do when God seems to have vanished? Maybe you feel alone in your decision making, your parenting, in your life?

This is the question on the back of the book that we are going to highlight today. It is called *Esther: Seeing Our Invisible God in an Uncertain World. I don't know if you know this, but Esther is one of the two books of the Bible where God's name is not mentioned once. We are going to dive deeper into this today in our study. But I think it is amazing, because God's fingerprints are all over the book of Esther, but His name is not mentioned. Maybe that is where you feel like you are in your life. You are like where are you God, I don't see you or feel you. Are you even working? So I love that we can study the life of Esther, and we can see that God still is present. He is still working!

I am so excited to have Lynn Cowell and Amy Carroll on the podcast to talk about their Bible Study. It is phenomenal, and we are going to dive deeper into their 6-week study with these words: Listen, Feel, Do, Speak. Also, both Lynn and Amy are writers for Proverbs 31 Ministries, and I am so excited to share about this amazing ministry for Giving Tuesday. I cannot wait to tell you more about that at the end of the episode. Again, you are going to learn so much from Amy and Lynn.

Also, I am so excited for someone to win a copy of Lynn and Amy's new book: *Esther. All the details of the book giveaway are on my website at jodirosser.com or you can click this direct link: https://kingsumo.com/g/r8k3tr/esther-bible-study-giveaway

It is fun to have Lynn back on the Podcast! If you missed my first conversation with Lynn and Michelle about their book, *Loved & Cherished, please check out Episode 51 on the Depth podcast. I love this devotional for young girls.

Giving Tuesday Episodes

• Water Wells- A Way To Help (Episode 61)
• Joy Jars- Jessie Rees Foundation (Episode 111)

Proverbs 31 Ministries:

• Home Page for the Proverbs 31 Website
• Giving to Proverbs 31- my conversation with Danya (Episode 39)
• First 5 from Proverbs 31- growing deeper in my faith (Episode 115)

Book Recommendations:

• *Highs Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
• *Forgiving What You Can't Forget Bible Study by Lysa TerKeurst
• *Forgiving What You Can't Forget Book by Lysa TerKeurst

Lynn Cowell is a national conference speaker who passionately empowers women of all ages to understand the importance of Christ confidence. She is the author of several books including *Make Your Move: Finding Unshakable Confidence Despite Your Fears and Failures for women, and *Brave Beauty: Finding the Fearless You just for girls ages 8 - 12. She also serves on the speaking and writing team for Proverbs 31 Ministries. Learn more about Lynn Cowell and her writing at lynncowell.com.

Amy Carroll delights in gathering a community of women with tender hearts and strong voices. She's a speaker and writer for Proverbs 31 Ministries, a speaker coach, and the author of *Breaking Up with Perfect: Kiss Perfection Goodbye and Embrace the Joy God Has in Store for You and *Exhale: Lose Who You're Not. Love Who You Are. Live Your One Live Well. Learn more about Amy Carroll and her writing at amycarroll.org.

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support the podcast. Thank you!

Do you ever feel like you are hidden? Like the work you are doing is unseen? Maybe overlooked by others?

I want to encourage you today with a book called *Anonymous: Jesus Hidden Years and Yours by Dr. Alicia Britt Chole. Actually, back in March, I highlighted one of her other books called 40 Days of Decrease during Lent. But she was not able to come on the podcast then, so I am so excited to have her in person this time to highlight this book because I think sometimes the most significant times of our life and our ministry and what God has called you to do happens in those hidden years. The time with God when it is just you and Him doing that deep rooted growth. You know how much I love talking about deep roots, so I think you are going to love what Dr. Alicia shares on the podcast today. She truly has so much wisdom!

Also, I am so excited for someone to win a copy of Dr. Alicia's book: *Anonymous. All the details of the book giveaway are on my website at jodirosser.com or you can click this direct link: https://kingsumo.com/g/icpdag/anonymous-book-giveaway

Book Recommendations:

• *Practicing His Presence by Brother Lawrence and Frank LauBach
• *Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster
• *Ordering Your Private World by Gordon McDonald
• *Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God by David McCasland
• *Oswald Chambers An Unbribed Soul by M.A.D.W. Lambert
• *Leagues of Light: Diary of Oswald Chambers by Oswald Chambers
• *Search for Nothing: The Life of John of the Cross by Richard P. Hardy

Check out Depth Podcast Episode 120 where I share about Dr. Alicia's Lent Book: *40 Days of Decrease.

An award-winning writer, Dr. Alicia Britt Chole's messages address both head and heart and are often described as grace-filled surgeries. Alicia is a speaker, author, and leadership mentor who enjoys thunderstorms, jalapenos, and honest questions. To explore Alicia's other books or learn more about her ministry, visit her website.

*Note: If you are interested in purchasing this book or the books recommended, I would love for you to use the Amazon Affiliate link above to help support the podcast. Thank you!