Girls Talking Life

My guest for episode #28 is Kris Camealy. Kris is a sequin-wearing, homeschooling mother of four. She is passionate about Jesus, people and words, and her favorite room in the house is the kitchen. Kris is the author of, Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting and Holey, Wholly, Holy: A Lenten Journey of Refinement. She has contributed to numerous other books and is the Director of Refine {the retreat}.

Today Kris and I are talking about Advent! It's almost here and talking with Kris got me excited to prepare my heart and my home for the things to come this season. Kris shares, not only some practical ideas on observing Advent, but why she ended up writing a book for it and how it was really what she needed at the time. Kris tells us how she struggles with waiting (don't we all!) and we talk about God's timing and how waiting can really be a gift.

Kris also gives us a sneak peek into her new book on surrender. She says surrender seems to be a life theme for her and she talks about walking through the fear, obedience and trust of surrender, how she's leaning into the Lord and what he's teaching her.

Refine {the retreat}

Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle

Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting

"Above all, trust in the slow work of God." – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

Anne Voscamp's Advent Wreath

Light from Distant Stars by Shawn Smucker

Coffee

Out of the Ordinary Podcast and The Next Right Thing Podcast

Autumn

Air Pods

Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson

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Pre-order your copy of From Lost to Found!

https://www.nicolezasowski.com/book

Today we're celebrating the one-year anniversary of Girls Talking Life! It has been my privilege to bring you the stories of some truly amazing women, but today I'm sharing some of my story and how this show came to be.

While I love to help tell other women's stories, I don't enjoy talking about myself, so this was one of the hardest episodes for me. Thankfully my sweet friend Kim Campbell joined me and she was the one asking the questions!

Kim is a wife and the mother of three amazing kiddos. She's held positions such as social worker, wedding planner, pastor's wife and is known for being an expert people-gatherer as well as a tremendous friend.

In our conversation today, Kim and I talk about how my husband Joe and I were called into deeper relationships with God, how we ended up in Central Ohio, and why I felt called to start a podcast. We talk about what I've learned through a year of podcasting and the best parts of producing the show.

AND, of course, I share my Favorite 5. Don't miss it! Cheers to one year!

The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey

Episode #1 with Carly Hager

Episode #3 with Shalla Johnson

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

1 Peter 1:12

The Bible Recap

Orange Theory Fitness

Madewell Jeans

The YES Necklace

PrepDish

If you're married…if you're not married, but want to be…if you're not married, never want to be, but have married friends you want to love well, this show is for YOU!

Amanda Davison is the wife to a Minnesota farmer, mother of three, and President of the nonprofit, A Wife Like Me. She is the co-author of Dear Wife: 10 Minute Invitations to Practice Connection with Your Husband, speaker, and serves on staff at her local church, where she and her husband lead the marriage mentor team. Former psychology professor, Amanda is now relentlessly sharing how her education in counseling and God's word changed her life and marriage.

Amanda starts out by sharing her own story of working toward her degree in counseling, wanting to help others in their marital relationships and realizing that her own was falling apart. She tells us that not until she fully surrendered her heart to Jesus was her marriage able to be transformed.

We continue the conversation talking about how to have strong, healthy communication. Amanda tells us that we have to take a look at our heart issues before we're going to be able to have good communication and she gives some things to look for in ourselves. We also talk about how to address an issue that keeps coming up over and over again in your marriage, and how to have fun together.

Amanda says that we can't love our husbands better on our own. It's not about trying harder. We can't. It's about focusing on Jesus. His love will cause us to love our husbands more. She says, "the more we are making it a priority to be with Jesus, the more our marriages will thrive."

A Wife Like Me

4 Reasons Couples Experience Destructive Communication

Five A's to Healthy Communication

Intimacy Conversation Guide

A Wife Like Me Gathering

Dear Wife Book

All Things Pumpkin

Breakthrough by Red Rocks Worship

Old Things

New Socks

Laughing

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Sarah Tenney is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Family Coach, mom of 3 and owner of Love Well LLC. Sarah enjoys coming alongside women and families to normalize the joys and challenges of daily living and family, while offering encouragement and practical strategies for wanted change. The Love Well community provides counseling, family coaching, workshops, and retreats. Sarah also enjoys speaking to groups where she is known to be vulnerable and relatable while sharing her story and impacting yours.

Today on the show Sarah and I talk about her journey to owning her own counseling practice. We talk what family coaching looks like and Sarah's heart for women and building community.

Sarah and I go on to talk about self-care, how it can be hard to take time for ourselves but how important it is for us and the people around us. Sarah tells us that we have to love ourselves well so we can love others well. She says we need to shed the gilt of taking time for ourselves by reframing self-care as something we're doing so we can be a better mom, better wife, better employee.

We share some examples of things we do to care for ourselves, but Sarah says that self-care is different for everyone and you need to notice the things that are good for your soul.

It was such a pleasure to talk with Sarah. Her gentle, caring spirit really comes through in this conversation and she has such great ideas on loving well.

Young Life

Love Well, LLC

All the Children of the World Academy

Northside Fellowship Church

Love Well Escape Retreat

MOPS International

Well Watered Women (Behold the Lamb Advent Study)

Bullet Journaling

Trader Joe's Apple Cider Jam

Uptown Westerville

The Gemma Shop

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Lori Lara is on a mission to share hope, healing, and real world self-defense instruction. As a third degree black-belt in mixed martial arts and creator of The Strong Girl Self-Defense Program, Lori teaches unique blend of effective fighting skills while also building the mental, emotional, and spiritual foundations of self-protection. She teaches girls and women how to protect themselves from unsafe people, from dangerous predators to boundary-crashing loved ones, so they can live with confidence and peace of mind.

Lori and I talk about how she got into martial arts and why it's so important to her to teach women and girls how to protect themselves. We continue the conversation shifting our focus to keeping our kids safe. We also talk about self-worth. Lori says the most important self-defense technique is knowing you are worth protecting.

She also talks about listening to our intuition, what she calls our God-given super power. Lori talks about being nice vs. being safe and how if our intuition is telling us that something about a situation or person isn't right, it's okay to walk away even if that seems like a rude thing to do.

Lori and I talk about cell phones and how they can be a portal for danger, but she also gives some really good ideas on using a phone as a tool for safety. And she shares conversations we can have with our kids about social media.

We end with Lori talking directly to anyone who finds themselves in depression or with feelings coming to the surface that they're not sure what to do with. Her main message is: you can heal from ANYTHING.

The Gift of Fear

Kirk Cameron's engage – Five practical lessons for raising your kids in a social media generation

EMDR Therapy

The Magic Eraser

Grocery Delivery

Nugo Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookie

AirPods

Podcasts – Cleaning Up the Mental Mess with Dr. Caroline Leaf

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Did you know that self-defense is 90% mental? Are you connected with your self-worth? Do you listen to your intuition?

Lori Lara is on a mission to share hope, healing, and real world self-defense instruction. As a third degree black-belt in mixed martial arts and creator of The Strong Girl Self-Defense Program, Lori teaches unique blend of effective fighting skills while also building the mental, emotional, and spiritual foundations of self-protection. She teaches girls and women how to protect themselves from unsafe people, from dangerous predators to boundary-crashing loved ones, so they can live with confidence and peace of mind.

On today's show Lori and I are talking today about how to keep yourself and your children safe. We start off talking about how she got into martial arts. Lori tells us that it's common for unresolved childhood pain or trauma to come to the surface when you have kids of your own, and that was true for her. She struggled with and overcame major depression, PTSD, and addiction. In the process of healing she learned about self-care. It all started with a kickboxing class. She was simultaneously growing stronger physically while receiving the mental and emotional care she needed.

Next, we shift our focus to keeping our kids safe. Lori says that we can't legislate safety, so the best thing we can do is educate and equip our children to make safe choices. She tells us about the most important conversation you can have with your kids and why opening that channel of communication is exactly what predators don't want.

Lori says the most important self-defense technique is knowing you are worth protecting. She talks about how the trauma she experienced separated her from the love of God and she tell us about her journey to connect with her own self-worth.

Finally, we talk about intuition. Lori calls our intuition our "God-given super power." Trust your gut. If something doesn't feel right, leave the situation. You just might be protecting yourself from something dangerous. Lori tells us to trust our gut even when it's socially expensive or awkward.

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CONNECT WITH LORI

Instagram | Sisterhood Experience

Amanda Anderson joins me to talk friendship on episode #23. Female friendships can be challenging, but Amanda has some great thoughts on being intentional and going after the relationships we want.

Amanda and I talk about authenticity in friendships and what it looks like to go deeper. She explains what self-awareness has to do with friendship, how you can't share yourself authentically if you don't know yourself. We also talk about finding the time for friendship and how sometimes you just have to fit it in where you can. Amanda tells us her best friend calls her on the way to work every day and sometimes she'll do "multi-task friend dating" where she and a girlfriend will run their errands together.

In her book, Amanda quotes Jim Rohm saying "we become the average of the five people we spend the most time with." That's a big deal! We need to be super intentional about who our friends are. Amanda shares some differences between having flawed friends (all of us, right?) verses having foolish people in our lives. We also talk about what to do when your feelings are hurt by a friend or if you've hurt someone else. Amanda tells us about accountability in friendships and how to invite others to hold us accountable for things we're trying to overcome or goals we've set for ourselves.

I loved chatting with Amanda. She is fun and knowledgeable and definitely someone I'd call a friend.

Mentioned in this episode

All My Friends Have Issues

"Walk with wise and become wise. Associate with fools and get in trouble." Proverbs 13:20 (NLT)

Episode #18 with Tilly Dillehay

Boundaries book

Co-Dependents Anonymous

Amanda's Favorite 5

Camo Skinny Jeans

New Girl

Being Married

Embroidery

Her Friends!

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My guest for episode #22 is Leslie Verner. Leslie's time overseas introduced her to cultures where strangers are invited in and guests linger. In her brand new book, Invited: The power of hospitality in an age of loneliness, Leslie shares stories of being invited in and of times where she felt like no one was welcoming her.

Today on the show, Leslie and I talk about how all she ever wanted to do was go. She had planned on a life abroad, getting her Ph.D. and never settling down. During a visit back in the states, Leslie met a man who interrupted her plan. Leslie now lives in Colorado with her husband and three kids and is learning how to stay. We talk about how Jesus asked some of his disciples to stay and what that could mean for us.

Leslie and I talk about the biblical definition of hospitality and the power of an invitation. She shares how simple it can really be and how sometimes it means saying yes to someone else's invitation. She shares about her impromptu driveway party and how hot dogs can make hospitality easier.

Leslie talks about having room in your schedule to invite, and the flexibility to veer from your routine in order to be with people. We also talk about the need to recharge so you're not trying to give from an empty well.

Leslie says the whole bible is an invitation and we should invite because God invited us and continues to invite us in.

Mentioned in this episode

Invited: The power of hospitality in an age of loneliness

Leslie's Favorite 5

Gardening

Stranger Things – Season 3

A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network

Hot Dogs

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23

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