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By Stephanie Kostopoulos & Beth Demme
4.8
2626 ratings
The podcast currently has 162 episodes available.
Steph and Beth bring their five-year podcast journey to an end. They’ve shared a lot of honest conversations over the years and invited you to bring that conversation into your own life. This episode is no exception. Steph and Beth have shared the stories of their scars, but what stories do your scars tell?
Questions for Reflection
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Scars can be beautiful. The injuries that cause them might be terrible, but a scar is beautiful because it is proof of healing and growth. In this episode, Steph and Beth listen to and discuss chapter 15 of Steph’s memoir. The chapter is titled, “Beautiful Scars.” Steph’s journey has not been easy and writing and sharing her story brought its own challenges. In the end, the effort was worth it because so much beauty grew out of the process and the final product. The book ends with the question at the heart of this podcast: What stories do your scars tell? Are you willing to hear them? Come back and join us for episode 160 where we explore that question further and bring the podcast to its conclusion.
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Audiobook: https://amzn.to/2XCe9a3
Paperback: https://amzn.to/2O4U5dh
ebook: https://amzn.to/2r8mPsA
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They say “love makes the world go ‘round,” but what is love? What does it mean to love someone? Steph and Beth reflect on their experiences and delve into why love is more than something we feel—it’s something we do.
Show Notes
Steph's day with her foster greyhound video
Questions for Reflection
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More than ten years ago, Steph and her mom were painting a room in Steph’s house when a thought passed through Steph’s mind, “How cool would it be if Home Depot paid us to paint my house?” A few years later, that fleeting thought became a reality. Steph’s DIY hobby converged with her love and talent for video production to become her full-time job. From a college student dealing with life by using unhealthy coping mechanisms, to a self-employed full-time content creator was quite a journey. Steph tells her story in her memoir, Discovering My Scars. In this episode, she and Beth listen to and discuss chapter 14, “Found.”
Questions for Reflection :
Buy Discovering My Scars
Audiobook: https://amzn.to/2XCe9a3
Paperback: https://amzn.to/2O4U5dh
ebook: https://amzn.to/2r8mPsA
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In this episode, special guest Tracy shares her experience as a Christian who happens to be gay. When Tracy “came out,” she struggled to reconcile her sexuality with her belief in Christ. Like many, she was raised to believe that homosexuality and Christianity were incompatible and yet, both existed in her very person. Tracy dove into Bible study and she found that when she was honest about who she was created to be, her relationship with God only grew deeper and stronger. This is an engaging, and deeply personal, testimony about one person’s realization that God made her, accepted her, and loved her, even when the church tried to convince her otherwise.
Show notes:
Questions for Reflection:
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Steph and Beth originally met at work where they did a step study, working through all 12 steps together. In this episode they listen to and discuss chapter 13 of Steph’s memoir, Discovering My Scars, where Steph talks about the revelations of abuse that came from working the fourth step, making a searching and fearless moral inventory.
Use these Questions for Reflection to apply this episode in your own life:
Buy Discovering My Scars
Audiobook: https://amzn.to/2XCe9a3
Paperback: https://amzn.to/2O4U5dh
ebook: https://amzn.to/2r8mPsA
Follow: Steph & Beth
Although we sometimes say that people can’t or don’t change, the truth is, life is all about change. Hopefully, we are always growing and learning so that we can become a better version of ourselves. Beth was recently going through a box of memories and found a bumper sticker declaring her to be a proud member of an organization she would never support in any form these days! She and Steph reflect on all sorts of (mostly) positive changes from the last several years.
Use these Questions for Reflection to apply this episode to your own life:
(1) Do you believe people can change? Have you changed?
(2) Are you the same person you were in high school? Would the high school version of yourself recognize you today?
(3) If you could forecast the next five or ten years of your life, what changes do you think you might see?
(4) Do people hold us back from growing up?
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Steph
Beth
Chances are good that you’ve heard of “The Twelve Steps.” These are often discussed in the context of addiction recovery, but Steph and Beth both learned a lot by walking the steps as part of a step study. Each step helps you address those hurts, habits, and hangups that get in your way. It was a helpful process for them in that season of life. In this episode, Steph and Beth listen to and discuss chapter 12 of Steph’s memoir and share some of their memories beyond what’s captured in the book.
Questions for Reflection:
(1) What are your hurts, habits, or hang-ups?
(2) Who are the people in your life who keep you accountable? Have you been intentional about developing accountability partners?
(3) Is there something you found beneficial in the past that you wouldn’t participate in now?
(4) Reflect on someone who was in your life for only a season. What was the impact that person made on you? Why did that season end?
Show notes:
Episode 14: Invisible Scars, What We Discover in Recovery (with Lori K.)
Buy Discovering My Scars
Audiobook: https://amzn.to/2XCe9a3
Paperback: https://amzn.to/2O4U5dh
ebook: https://amzn.to/2r8mPsA
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At age 36, Steph discovered something important about herself--she is a lesbian. Steph and Beth have an honest conversation about how heteronormativity, especially in the church, delayed Steph’s full awareness of who she is created to be.
Questions for Reflection:
(1) Do you think people are born queer?
(2) How have church and society influenced your understanding of who you are?
(3) Would the you of ten years ago recognize yourself today? What might surprise you?
(4) Do you care what the Bible says about homosexuality? Why or why not?
Show notes:
Episode 139, How PRIDE Became Personal
Dr. Steve Harper’s book, Holy Love
www.1946themovie.com
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Steph
Beth
Steph and Beth continue to listen to the audiobook version of Steph’s memoir, Discovering My Scars, and discuss what is revealed in chapter 11.
At the end of the episode, Steph and Beth offer you these Questions for Reflection:
(1) Have you had the experience of knowing only the next right step? What was that like?
(2) Reflect on the transitions in your life. What is it like when a transition isn’t attached to a life event like graduating from school?
(3) Have you ever had a God-moment (or sense of knowing) like Steph had on the beach?
(4) What does having faith mean to you?
Buy Discovering My Scars
Audiobook: https://amzn.to/2XCe9a3
Paperback: https://amzn.to/2O4U5dh
ebook: https://amzn.to/2r8mPsA
Steph: https://www.stephaniekostopoulos.com
Beth: http://bethdemme.com
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