Freely & Lightly Podcast

The twists and turns of life can challenge our faith.  Mark and David talk with Amy Fletcher, who shares how she has encountered God’s love for her throughout her life and circumstances. Her experience of trusting in the character of God in the midst of darkness is encouraging and full of hope. She also shares how the practice of gratitude has shaped her.

Beginning a new practice is difficult and feels like hard work, while engaging a familiar practice can feel effortless. Mark and David share their experiences of the many ways practice can feel - from bumpy starts to experiencing ease and joy over time.  Find encouragement for wherever you are in your experience of spiritual practices - and however practice feels to you right now.

Spiritual disciplines - training exercises for life in the Kingdom of God - are essential for the follower of Jesus. But why is practicing so hard? This episode dives into the ways our perceptions or expectations can detract from the benefit of engaging in spiritual practices in our lives. Join Mark and David as they offer helpful encouragement for learning to embrace beginning to practice.

This episode continues last week’s conversation about the difficulty of hearing from God and keeping company with Jesus in a cultural landscape of distraction, as well as the challenges that accompany the practice of silence. Join Mark and David as they share their personal experiences with the practice, as well as offer helpful encouragement for beginning to practice to silence.

Keeping company with Jesus and hearing from God can be difficult because of the “noise” and distraction readily found in daily life, or the challenge of not knowing where to begin. Yet the practice of silence can be equally difficult and very uncomfortable.  Join Mark and David as they share their experiences of learning to practice silence, and offer practical encouragement for how to begin to incorporate this practice into your life.

Our perceptions of solitude can create many obstacles to practicing it. Maybe being alone feels like punishment, or removing daily “noise” seems scary. Perhaps it is an inviting practice, but finding time for it feels impossible. How can this spiritual practice be experienced as a gift? Join Mark and David for this conversation about learning to make space to pull away from others for the express purpose of being alone with God.

The rhythms in creation and life can help us know God in deeper ways. Mark and David talk with Stephanie Jenkins, co-creator of Field Guides for the Way, who shares her experience of meeting God through her weekly wanders, as well as the power of soul friends in her life.

Reading the Bible produces transformation and real change in your life. By learning to spend time with scripture in an unhurried way, you can make space for the Lord’s leading in that interaction. Mark and David share their experiences with Bible meditation and unpack the importance of quality over quantity in approaching scripture.

Because “all Scripture is God-breathed” there is great value in spending time with it. Join Mark and David as they share about some of their experiences of learning to spend time meditating on Scripture, and talk about what Biblical meditation is and how to incorporate it into your daily life with Jesus.

Perhaps you know a lot about the Bible or have studied it. Has your experience been one of duty? Or perhaps an exercise in gaining knowledge? In this episode, Mark and David talk about their early experiences of scripture that were more perfunctory, and explore the experience of Scripture as part of conversation with God, as well as God’s invitation to know him more through spending time in scripture.