Sean Dietrich, also known as Sean of the South, is my guest today, and you might pick up a little fangirling here and there because he’s just that kind of guy, okay? I can’t help it. I think so highly of him and of his extraordinary wife Jamie, and I’m just so excited for you to hear from him on writing, yes, but on so so many more things that matter deeply. Things like how writing works with grief, how he gets so much done (hint: it matters who you marry), and on how we all need each other, whether on our own familiar roads or on rural roads in Spain. Listen in, friends, to author, musician, and solid human being, Sean Dietrich.

Sean Dietrich is a columnist, humorist, multi-instrumentalist, and stand-up storyteller known for his commentary on life in the American South. His work has appeared in Newsweek, Southern Living, Reader's Digest, Garden and Gun, and his column appears weekly in newspapers throughout the U.S. He has authored eighteen books and over four thousand columns. He makes appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, his work has been featured on the Today Show, and he's a really nice guy. Check him out @seanofthesouth.

Links from the episode:

Sean’s Columns

Sean’s Books

Sean’s Music

Sean’s Instagram Reels

Straighten Up and Fly Right

Song Story by Sean

Over Yonder

Downton Abbey

El Camino de Santiago

Sean’s Hate Mail

Kinfolk

GIVEAWAY! Win a copy of Over Yonder

Sean's book recommendations:

The Story of My Life

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If you are staring down a new year and seriously considering trading in your schedule, your house, your social situation, your entire situation for something new and improved, HOLD ON A SECOND. What if you don’t need a massive overhaul and instead need tiny tweaks? Today we get the chance to learn from the queen of the tweak, the ninja of the simple purposeful life, Erin Port. Erin’s done the work to help us figure out some simple and smart ways to begin, so listen in and learn with me in this conversation with author and entrepreneur and fellow Iowa girl (by way of Switzerland), Erin Port.

Erin Port is a writer, entrepreneur, and mother of four. She founded Simple Purposeful Living in 2018 to help busy women simplify life’s overwhelming tasks, creating space for what truly matters. With master’s-level training in education, Erin hosts The Simple Purposeful Living Podcast. Erin offers a line of products, including meal planners, cookbooks, and notebooks. She lives in Polk City, Iowa, with her family. Follow her @simplepurposefulliving.

Links from the episode:

Tiny Tweaks, Happy Life

Megan Reuther

Kim’s YouTube

Enneagram 3

She Reads Truth

Erin’s Gratitude Journal

GIVEAWAY! Enter to win a free copy of Erin’s book

Erin's book recommendations:

Sarah Adams

Garden City

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For Real isn’t going away! (Just in case long pauses make you nervous.) New episodes will release in early 2026. I know there are treasures waiting for us as we keep asking good questions.

Before we reach the end of 2025, I wanted to take a few moments with just me on the mic to share an update and a hearty thank you for the many ways you reached out after the unexpected loss of my dad last summer. This isn’t the story I wanted for my family or for myself, but I’m grateful to be surrounded by people like you.

In this delightful end to season four (season four! huzzah!), I am joined by my friend Jess Connolly to talk about friendship, legacy, heartbreak, joy, and just for a plot twist, Jess’s current obsession with an obscure but very useful Amazon product. I’m saying we hit it all, and I loved it all. This ep is the perfect way to cap off a season, so lean in and listen to my life-drenched conversation with author, coach, podcaster, exceptional speaker, and dear friend, Jess Connolly.

Jess Connolly is an unlikely leader who is obsessed with helping other women. Her story might surprise you, but here's the gist: God has taken her from defeat, despair, and overwhelmed exhaustion to abundant life. She barely graduated high school, and now she writes books. She went from wild church hurt to church leader, from poverty to coaching other women. Learn more at jessconnolly.com and @jessaconnolly.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Whitney English is a designer, author, entrepreneur, and someone who can help us both declutter and beautify without turning to strong drink. Huzzah! Whitney’s new book is called Organize First, Decorate Second, and I think you’ll love hearing about how she can help you bring order and beauty from nuttiness. I read Whitney’s book on a series of flights, and by about a third of the way through, I was ready to parachute out and get to my house to go through all my drawers and closets and rooms. I so appreciate practical advice and tools of how to make life and spaces more beautiful while human beings still live here. Kudos to Whitney for helping us make that happen.

Whitney English believes that anyone can live a beautiful life. She believes that gratitude is the birthplace of joy, that people matter, that love is the answer, that if you’re real you can’t be ugly, that everyone is creative and some of us have just forgotten, and that it’s worth trying to be a better version of yourself today than you were yesterday. She has boot-strapped two businesses to seven figures, has a degree in interior design, studied management at Parsons in New York City, and has had her work featured in O magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and on the Today Show (twice). She was featured as one of Country Living magazine’s Women Entrepreneurs in 2008. One of her favorite dreams-come-true, though, is her husband David, and their three children. Find her online at whitneyenglish.com and @whitneyenglish.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

I’m so stoked to share this bonus episode! We are celebrating the paperback release of my book, Star For Jesus and Other Jobs I Quit. This book was a long time in the living and the writing, so when it released in hardcover a year ago, I was nervous and thrilled. Nervous because this book is personal (yowza, is it personal!). Thrilled because it’s a book about grace. Real grace, grace stamped paid-in-full, grace that sets us FREE. So! When my publisher released this book in paperback, obviously I danced in my kitchen and obviously my producer Betsy and I thought it the perfect moment to share this conversation from the OG release one year ago.

My very dear friends in San Diego joined me with balloons and ice cream and a chat behind the mic. You’ll hear from them in a sec, but for now, keep your earbuds in OR head to YouTube, where you can see all the faces of all these dear people, and listen in on a really great night, the live release of Star For Jesus and Other Jobs I Quit: Rediscovering the Grace that Sets Us Free.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Today’s episode is for you if you are a college student, a recent grad, or you love anyone who fits in those camps. My guest today is Erica Young Reitz, and she is THE expert in helping folks navigate life after college. I think you are going to absolutely love hearing what she has to say about everything from rooting yourself in a new community, making new friends, and figuring out a budget, to knowing how to give yourself some serious grace as you navigate the gigantic transitions after the graduation gown is packed away.

Erica Young Reitz is the founder of After College Transition, an organization that helps practitioners (higher education professionals, church leaders, and college ministers) equip students to thrive after college. Her experience working with college students includes teaching advanced writing at The Pennsylvania State University and campus ministry with the CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach), directing Senior EXIT. She holds an MA in higher education from Geneva College with a research focus on the senior year transition, and her writing has appeared in publications including Christianity Today and Relevant. Erica serves as a leadership development specialist for Bartell and Bartell, helping individuals and teams uplevel their leadership and unleash their organizational potential. Erica lives in central Pennsylvania with her husband, Craig, and their two children.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Dr. Wesley Hill is a New Testament scholar and seminary professor, and I found him through his new book called, simply, Easter. If you want Easter to be more than a chocolate bunny and the question of how to deal with wearing pastels after a long winter, this is your episode! Dr. Hill helped me remember again the deep and profound joy and hope that Easter brings, not just on that one Sunday each spring but every day before and after. 

Wesley Hill is an Episcopal priest and associate professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary. His PhD in New Testament is from Durham University in the UK. He has spoken and lectured at numerous Christian colleges and seminaries in the U.S. and internationally. A contributing editor for Comment magazine, he writes regularly for Christianity Today, The Living Church, and other publications. Among his books are Washed and Waiting, Paul and the Trinity, Spiritual Friendship, and The Lord’s Prayer. Find him online at wesleyhill.tumblr.com.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

My friend Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez is absolutely tenacious in her belief that the worldwide church is a gift, that God means for it to be healthy and holy, and that though it might appear very bruised, it is NOT broken. I am grateful for her and for her new book, Being a Sanctuary, which is both a loving correction and an invitation for churches to be sacred, soft, and safe. May we all hold fast to that vision and may we work toward it, bit by bit, in the places where we live.

Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez (MSW, MSEd) is a truth-teller and space builder committed to helping the Body of Christ be healthy and holy. She is the founder and CEO of Full Collective, creator of the annual Sowers Summit, and host of the Being a Sanctuary podcast. She has spoken at conferences such as Proverbs 31 and Verity Conference and has written for Chasing Justice and She Reads Truth. She is also a contributor to the devotional The Women We’ve Been Waiting For. Pricelis holds master’s degrees in community-based leadership and social work, and she is currently pursuing a master of arts in biblical and theological studies from Denver Seminary. She is a proud Black Latina (Dominicana) born and raised in New York City, where she resides with her husband and son. You can find her on Instagram @pricelispd.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

My guest today is Tabitha Panariso. Ours was one of those easy connections that started before we pushed record and lasted well after, and I attribute that entirely to Tabitha herself. This woman prizes real words, real stories, real honesty above all, even in the face of rejection or dismissal. I can get behind that kind of bravery, as you know, and I’m excited for you to hear how that courage fleshes out on any given Tuesday. Grab your coffee cup and listen into my conversation with Tabitha Panadiso. Her book, Loyal in His Love offers an even deeper dive on what we can gain when we are rejected, betrayed, or alone. This conversation was full of hope and hard-earned wisdom. I think you’ll love hearing from Tabitha.

Tabitha Panariso is a licensed professional counselor candidate (MA, LPCC), writer, and speaker dedicated to blending Christian faith, theology, and counseling into the fabric of everyday life. Her new book is Loyal in His Love: An Invitation to Be Held by Jesus When Others Let You Go. At the heart of Tabitha’s work is a deep commitment to holding space for life’s darkest moments and guiding others toward wholeness with compassion and clarity. She and her husband live with their three children in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Read more from Tabitha on her Substack, and follow her on Instagram @tabithapanariso.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.