Our mid-30's (first of all, how did we get here?!) - we are different than we were and in ten years, we'll be different than we are today. Looking back, what do we know now that we didn't then? What can we say with confidence and what are we still learning?

College years to after college. Dating to marriage. Honeymoon to babies. NOTM favorite, Brooke, sits across from me at her kitchen table, combing through the years gone by and the years to come.

Why do we feel like we have to explain ourselves? Why do we feel like we have to settle? What do we consistently lower our standards? And why do we buy into the narrative that we are, in fact, too much?

What if...we didn't? My friend, Ainsley Britain, she's out to change the story. Addressing shame, self-worth and our ability to create - and keep - boundaries...she's not just changing the story, she's re-writing it.

We didn't know who we would be on the other side of a pandemic. How could we? Most of us are still trying to figure it out. But for all the loss we experienced over the past two years - what have we gained?

A deeper understanding of who we are? Maybe, like my friend Emma, a better view of the role shame plays in your life and a decision to stop living as if you ever had control to begin with. Once we start removing the obstacles to seeing the life God calls us to live...then, and only then, will we have a better view.

Three years in, and these are still some of my favorite episodes. Khari & Kaley grab a mic and sit down to talk about the happenings of March...a week late. But, it still counts right? From the Oscars, to the forgotten/paused New Year Resolutions, to whether or not Millennials have already had their moment - we're checking off your "things to talk about when I don't know what to talk about" box.

It is difficult to know God’s ways if we are trying to make our own way. 

When we push, pull and maneuver ourselves to a better view, the view we’ve decided we deserve, all we end up seeing is less than what we want.

Hey God, if what I’m walking in right now brings you the most glory…then this is where I want to be. Those are hard words to say. Especially when you feel like you’re walking through impossible circumstances. Especially when you’re in a season you don’t want to be on. A season you would’ve never picked for yourself.My friend Lauren, when she said those words a few weeks ago at The Collective, I just about fell out of my chair. When His glory becomes more important than our comfort – something big is happening. Something that could change the whole trajectory of our lives. Lauren speaks about her deepest desires, the wants she lays before God and asks for Him to show up in. And then what she does, the practices she has in place, for the days those desires and wants feel like they’re overwhelming any joy she might find. Deep joy is in loosening your grip. I can’t wait for you to hear more from Lauren.

We wait for a feeling, a sign…a written letter addressed directly to us at “Please Tell Me What To Do, Apt 23”. We want to pray about it. We try to about it. But we wake up, or lay down…and our minds wander. The to-do lists, multiple texts, workload, laundry load…something is always in the wings, inching its way into our thoughts right when we bow our heads to address our Father. In steps Valerie. The phrase “prayer life” feels big – but what if we could break it down? What if we could learn the difference between our feelings and God’s callings? What if…our conversations with God started to feel like more than talking to ceilings?

Those seasons of life you don't know what to do with. The ones that aren't defined by anything specific, you're just on the way to the next specific thing. You know what I mean? These are the seasons we grab at, cling to, run toward anything that feels definitive. And usually? It just slides through our hands because it really was never meant to define us.

When all you want to do is throw it in reverse. When you're looking for a way out - any way out - of where you are right now. When the wilderness feels more like a punishment than a path to the promised land. What then?

Today, we continue our conversation with my friend, Brooke Phillips. She speaks from her pain points, sharing the kind of wisdom and clarity gained only from walking through suffering. And the greatest gift? She pours it back out into our seasons, our pain - pointing us toward what's on the other side: Hope.