Equip and Encourage Women Podcast with Tracy Lynn Dougherty

Matthew 14:22 says, “Jesus INSISTED that the disciples get in the boat.” God already knows the storms we will face, all the storms of your life - past, present and future. Sometimes He will direct you away from a storm, or around a storm. Sometimes…He’ll send you into the storm.

We want Jesus to hurry up and calm the storms of our lives. But, have you ever considered that maybe He wants to hold your hand, have contact with you, carry you through the storms of life?

Peter was the only one in the storm that called out to Jesus for instructions. Are you asking God for instructions? Are you reaching out to hold His hand?  The thing is, God is more committed to developing our character than to our comfort. Are you in the middle of a storm right now? I would love to hear from you. In the comments below, tell me what you're learning about yourself. What is God showing you about Him?

All my best to you,

Tracy

This sounds like a strong statement, but I am terrible at making friends! Don't get me wrong...I love women. I want friends but anytime I think about finding a friend, every insecurity I have comes boiling up, screaming ugly things about myself to myself. Insecurity is awful – we’ll talk about that in another episode.

Despite the fear I have about making friends, today I want to share with you three reasons why I (and why YOU) need friends. Studies show that many women don’t have any close friends, but I think most of us would agree that is important. So why are so many of us going it alone?

“Friendship," wrote CS Lewis, “is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You, too? I thought I was the only one.’”

In the comments below, share how you push past the fear to make a friend. What's a good way to make friends?

All my best to you,

Tracy

P.S. Does anyone else feel like singing out, "You've got a friend in me!" ?? ;)

Hi friends,

Today I'm going to share a favorite verse of mine that offers me encouragement as an ordinary woman. Acts 4:13 says, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."

If you sometimes feel like an ordinary woman like me, take note: if you choose to spend time with Jesus, He will give you the courage to be bold. You will be anything but ordinary. Check out the podcast below to hear more. In it, I talk about how we can spend time with Jesus and grow in His love.

Once you've listened to the podcast, I'd love to talk with you further in the comments. What have you done lately that took courage? What's your favorite way to read the Bible?

All my best to you,

Tracy

In the third and final segment of our Garden of Your Life series, we’ll talk about the two most important things that our garden needs.

First: the Son, Jesus. We need Jesus. Second: the Word of God, the Bible. This doesn’t mean a Bible sitting on the shelf in your home. This means a Bible that you are reading and engaging with daily.

The Bible is our SOP - our Standing Operating Procedure for life. You must spend time daily reading the Bible to have the healthiest, most productive garden (the healthiest, most productive life). Sometimes we act so surprised by what’s coming up in our lives but we’re not paying attention to the seeds we’ve thrown into our garden of life.

Today we continue with the second part of The Garden of Life series. The next thing we’ll add to our garden are fences. Fences place boundaries in our lives and keep out the small things, the things that look so innocent but can cause significant damage if we aren’t paying attention.

Got any issues in your life? If so, maybe you need to reset your boundaries. It’s okay to set boundaries. In fact, it’s critical to keep our garden protected and our life healthy.

The second thing we’ll add to our Garden of Life are stakes. Stakes help us to hold up, to remain firm during the storms and the challenges of life. We need to intentionally seek out other women to stake ourselves to so they can help us, and we can help them, during difficult times. When we stake ourselves to one another it allows us both to bear more fruit!

Today, I want to talk to you about your life. Let’s look at life like a garden. Does your garden - your life - need some attention? Specifically, do we need to do some weeding and pruning?

We should treat sins like weeds. We all have weeds!! The thing is, we want to quickly snap off our weeds at the surface before anyone can see them. But that’s like playing whack-a-mole. They keep popping up. We need to get to the root, to dig deep, and take care of it once and for all.

What about pruning? Are there things you need to just cut out of your life? They’re not necessarily a sin but they’re keeping you from living the life that God intended for you to live.

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week as we continue to explore The Garden of Your Life!

There’s something about January 1st that excites us, giving us a feeling of hope for a fresh start, a new beginning. Well, now we’re deep into 2017. How are those goals you set on January first coming along? Going well? You’ve lost the weight, your house is more organized, you’re saving more money, you’ve quit smoking?

Unfortunately, according to U.S. News, approximately 80% of resolutions fail by the second week of February, so the odds are against you. But don’t lose hope, it’s not too late! It’s time to get back on track.

The end of 2017 is about six months from now. Imagine what it would LOOK like, what it would FEEL like, to live your priorities for the rest of the year. Don’t wait until January 1st. You don’t even have to wait for Monday. Start today!!

Being in women’s ministry for many years, the concern I hear most often from women boils down to this: the UNKNOWN. We’re not even that concerned about what the plan is. We just want to KNOW what the plan is. We hate the unknown.

When we move there are so many unknowns. Where will we live? Who will be my friend? Who will be my daughter's friends? Finding a hairdresser, babysitter....a trustworthy babysitter. What about the unknown during failing health? There are symptoms. You’ve Googled them and now you’re scared to death, but really it’s still the unknown.

I’m going to share with you what Paul has to say about the Unknown. Grab your Bible and turn to Acts, Chapter 20.

I said one word - “Shark” - and it caused panic and chaos. Our words can cause problems that spiral out of control and do great damage.

So, we need to think before we speak. I should have made my message clearer and thought about what other people were hearing. I thought I was screaming, “Rare opportunity!" What they heard was, “Danger!” Isn’t that the challenge of communication? What we want to communicate and what is heard can be very different.

In the comments below share with me: who do you need to speak words of encouragement to today? There are many opportunities throughout each day to speak positive, powerful words into the lives of others.

Are you an obstacle to someone else knowing Jesus? In this podcast, I'm going to talk about excuses we make that prevent us from carrying people to Jesus.

Many times, we allow fear - things like "I might look stupid" or "What if it gets messy?" - stop us from bringing people to Jesus.

We'll take a look at Mark 2:1-5, so grab your Bible and a cup of tea and join me to see how we can make sure we aren't an obstacle to someone else knowing Jesus.

I challenge you to carry two people to Jesus this month. Maybe a co-worker, a neighbor, or even a stranger. In the comments below, tell me who you are going to Christ and how you plan to do it.