Friend to Friend: Hope for your Heart and Help from His Word

As a new year approaches, I often find myself "spring cleaning" in January. It's "out with the old and in with the new", as I put away Christmas decor and look for new ways to organize new toys that have been added to our home. As I do this though, I see another place in need of attention. A deeper need of my heart that if left unchecked can become a place of chaos and a cluttered mess. A new year causes me to reflect on the year left behind and look forward to the hope of what is to come in the next. Cleaning and organizing my home is good but its the spiritual "spring cleaning" of my heart that is best. And what better place to start than in the heart of my words.

Join me today as my guest, Francie Taylor, shares how she has learned to recognize the powerful influence of the tongue both publicly and privately, at home and in all relationships. She also shares how the most powerful use of our words- sharing the Gospel, brought her to Christ during a job interview! Francie is an author of several books, a frequent speaker at women's conferences and the founder of Keep the Heart Ministries. You will find her transparent about her own short comings and honest about the truth of God. I was both encouraged and convicted by our conversation and know that you will be blessed too! Happy listening, friends!

Resources: Keep the Heart Ministry

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

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If your home is anything like mine, music plays a big role, not only at Christmas but all throughout the year. Music is such a powerful tool with the ability to set the spirit of an environment and even change the attitude of one's heart.

I've asked my guests today to share with us the story of how their ministry began, how they navigate choices as a team and also how many of their songs were born out of both personal tragedies and triumphs.

There's a song to be sung, my friends! May it be a song of praise, worship and thanksgiving to our great Savior, in even the lowest of valleys and the highest of mountain tops.

Resources:

Simply Six Sisters

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

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Join me, your host, Jessica Smallwood and our media director at Friend to Friend, Jennifer Beil, as we share 12 Days of Christmas: A Few of Our Favorite Things. In this episode, we'll share this year's favorite prayer promises, Bible verses and how we've learned to keep our families focused on Christ in our homes at Christmas time. We share lots of favorites from food and music to kid quotes and friends! We hope you have as much fun listening as we did recording! Grab some presents to wrap and something warm to drink! Happy listening friends!

*Keep in mind that we recorded both audio and video during this episode! Starting today, we will release one video at Friend to Friend on FB every day, concluding on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas, listeners!

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

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I've invited Wendy Burks back to the podcast to share more phenomenal stories of women who chose faith over fear. Women who chose to be victorious rather than a victim! Today, you'll hear the story of Rosa Parks - a woman who knew the strength of meekness, that actions truly do speak louder than words. Also of Sarah Edwards - a wife, mother and a Pastor's wife. A woman who found God in dark days of discouragement. Days that propelled her to write of renewed love for her Savior.

Quiet Strength by Rosa Parks

In Love With Christ, the Narrative of Sarah Edwards

Victim or Victorious: Biographical Sketches of Seven Phenomenal Women by Wendy Burks

*These books and online resources are not a ministry of SRBC. Although we may differ with some of the authors standards or convictions, we have found in these books many truths founded on Biblical principles and practical tips that have been a great help. We always encourage listeners to read/listen with discretion through the lens of God's Word.

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

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The Holiday Season is upon us! Thanksgiving! Christmas! It's the most wonderful time of the year…or is it really? Many can attest to the fact that our expectations for picturesque Thanksgiving meals or "White Christmas" Celebrations are often met with the all too familiar enemy of sin. An abrupt reminder that we are all sinful people living in a fallen world.

Sinful people, trying to engage in meaningful relationships, can be especially challenging when a holiday is often found celebrated in our homes with people we are "suppose" to love. The Enemy loves nothing more than to divide and destroy. And what better time to do so than a time when we have opportunity to emphasize gratitude, joy and best of all the birth of our Saviour? So, what's the answer to difficult relationships? Smile and pretend? Painfully endure til the end? Maybe disengage and distance one's self? Thankfully there is hope and it's not in the hope that so and so has made other plans this year. It's a hope rooted in our Saviour and His Word. Join me today to hear my guest, Julie Tarr, share her story of broken relationships, the loss of a parent and how God met her in the hardest moments. Moments of saying goodbye and moments of asking why. She'll share how God has taught her to place healthy boundaries in difficult relationships, not to hurt but to help. And how God has taught her through these relationships the greatest lessons of love and forgiveness.

Dealing With My Family's Divorce by Amy Vassak

Invisible Hurts by Loretta Walker

Comfort for Hurting Hearts by Marlene Evans

Suicide: Prevention and Helps for Those Left Behind by Dr. James Bachman

Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and John Townsend

*These books and online resources are not a ministry of SRBC. Although we may differ with some of the authors standards or convictions, we have found in these books many truths founded on Biblical principles and practical tips that have been a great help. We always encourage listeners to read/listen with discretion through the lens of God's Word.

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

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My guest Anna Romary, shares how at a time when she envisioned herself dating and preparing for married life, God is teaching her that the truest joy is found in His will, even when it looks different from our greatest desires. The simple act of daily counting her blessings has guarded her heart from complaining, bitterness, and settling for less than God's best in a culture that lives counter from God's plan for dating and marriage. Counting her blessings is proving to be a bridge of strength to faith in His perfect plan, timing and a set apart life.

We all experience loss, disappointment and unmet expectations. Our lives play out differently from what we envisioned and we sometimes find ourselves in a space of life that falls short of what we expected. These disappointments can be especially magnified during the holiday season, when giving thanks is expected and joy in Christ is magnified. The Enemy would like nothing more than to use these times to, instead of magnifying our blessings, magnify our lack or less-than idealistic life. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 makes it clear that in every season of life there are both blessings and burdens.

Whatever unmet expectation you're facing today, I pray that today's episode, "When God's Ways Aren't My Way: Finding Contentment In Christ", will be a reminder of hope that in Christ there is nothing we lack, all dreams are fulfilled and our hopes are always satisfied.

1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Not My Will by Francena Arnold

Praying God's Will For Your Life

*These books and online resources are not a ministry of SRBC. Although we may differ with some of the authors standards or convictions, we have found in these books many truths founded on Biblical principles and practical tips that have been a great help. We always encourage listeners to read/listen with discretion through the lens of God's Word.

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

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God calls all Christians to faithfulness, in all roles and areas of life, but we must carefully guard our hearts as we seek to faithfully serve our Savior. Jenn and I discuss how the Enemy seeks to detour us from faithfully following our Savior through distraction, discouragement and doubt.

Mrs. Jenn will share how God called her husband to plant the New Heights Baptist Church in Albuquerque, NM 16 years ago and how God has taught her the importance of keeping Him first.

Having A Mary Spirit in A Martha World by Joanna Weaver

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

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Join me on today's episode of the Friend to Friend podcast, as my friend and fellow church-planter's wife, Krista Marasco, joins me to discuss our topic of "Rooted In Christ: Trusting God With The Harvest".

She shares how they planted their first church on the big island of Hilo, Hawaii and how most recently God has used them to plant Rock Point Baptist Church in Mililani on the island of Oahu.

We discuss how although our expectations for church growth often differ from God's plan, God always exceeds our limited vision of what true growth looks like.

We also discuss the danger of comparison when starting a church and how Krista has learned to guard her heart while trusting God with the Harvest.

We Wrestle Not by Pastor Marvin Smith

The Church Planter's Wife by Christine Hoover

*These books and online resources are not a ministry of SRBC. Although we may differ with some of the author's standards or convictions, we have found in these books many truths founded on Biblical principles and practical tips that have been a great help. We always encourage listeners to read/listen with discretion through the lens of God's Word.

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

Logo Design: Jamie Hurst

Today, my guest, Heather Higgins shares her story of "Rooted In Christ: Reviving a Church and Raising a Family." She shares how the "team effort" mentality has been their theme in serving God as a family and how she's learned to recognize that her attitude has powerful influence over her children in ministry and all areas of life.

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

Logo Design: Jamie Hurst

Join me on today's first of four episodes that we will share in October, as I introduce this month's theme at Friend to Friend. Each week in October we will release an episode all about the role of a pastor's wife and how my guests are carefully and prayerfully navigating this role. Each of the episodes will have the common thread of "Rooted In Christ." I'll start the month off by sharing my own testimony of being a church planter's wife, new to the role of a lead pastor's wife, "Rooted In Christ: Growing In Grace."

It's my prayer that fellow pastor's wives will be encouraged and strengthened by stories that are both relatable and insightful. And for listeners not married to a pastor, this month's episodes are just as much for you as they are for her! I promise that in listening to this month's podcast, you will gain helpful insight in knowing how to better pray for, love and serve alongside your own pastor's wife.

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Media Director: Jennifer Beil

Logo Design: Jamie Hurst