Today’s conversation with Jennifer Dukes Lee is all about our mornings. Do you think of yourself as a morning person? Do you even like mornings? What if we could not just love our mornings, but also hear God louder in them?

Jennifer tells us that God is most definitely a morning person. And if we are made in His image, then we, too, are morning people…which means maybe we’ve been thinking about our mornings all wrong!

Friend, whether you jump out of bed every morning or you think you’re allergic to mornings, this episode will help you reimagine your mornings.

We discuss:

• Why our mornings matter.
• The difference between a routine and a ritual – and why that makes a difference in the morning.
• How we handle hard mornings.
• Four morning archetypes for how we may be wired to begin our days.
• How these four archetypes listen for Jesus in the morning.
• How to navigate mornings with someone who starts their day differently than you do.
• How to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength in our mornings.

Jennifer Dukes Lee is a bestselling author, speaker, and morning evangelist from Iowa. She is the author of several books, including How to Love Your Morning, Growing Slow, and It’s All Under Control. She’s a fan of queso, bright lipstick, and singing too loudly to songs with great harmony. She lives on a fifth-generation family farm, where she and her husband have made a life of growing crops, pigs, two beautiful humans, and an enduring faith. You can connect with Jennifer at her Website or over on Instagram and Facebook. 

Take the quiz to learn your morning archetype.

Two ways to get your copy of How to Love Your Morning:

1 | Enter to win a copy of How to Love Your Morning.

2 | Purchase your copy here.

And to help you get into a practice of listening for Jesus in your everyday, Marnie created a FREE resource for you: Find Your Listening Rhythm with Jesus. Marnie would also love to hear from you. You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram.

Today’s episode with Erica Wiggenhorn is about how to learn how to recognize what God is speaking to us. To know His language.

Do you sometimes get confused when you read your Bible? Does it feel muddy sometimes? Erica shares with us that God did a whole work making her a Bible study teacher after years of not understanding the Bible. 

Her story of praying big, audacious prayers and seeing God speak into her story in powerful ways unlocked and jumpstarted her love for scripture and began her journey of listening for His voice.

What if learning God’s language could change how you hear Him? What if you opened your Bible with anticipation? 

Friend, when we meet God in the word, we hear Him louder. He has so much He wants to say.

We discuss:

• What to do if reading the Bible is confusing or hard.
• How praying audacious prayers can reveal God’s character.
• How to learn God’s language.
• That hearing God’s voice is easier when we understand how we’re wired. 
• How to elevate God’s voice over lies.

A later in life Jesus follower, Erica Wiggenhorn felt like you needed a secret decoder ring to be a Christian. Afraid to pray out loud, uncertain how to read the Bible, but wearing the cutest church clothes west of the Rio Grande, Erica spent years of her life trying to figure out what it meant to truly follow Jesus. Attending her very first Bible study at the age of 30, she finally found that missing decoder ring and the Bible began to come alive for her. Today, Erica Wiggenhorn will tell you, “Jesus saved me from my sins and His Word saves me from myself, daily!”

You can connect with Erica at her Website or over on Instagram and Facebook.

Other episodes mentioned today:

Episode 40 with Evelyn Sherwood

Episode 37 with Janet McHenry

Episode 6 with Niki Hardy

To help you get into a practice of listening for Jesus in your everyday, Marnie created a FREE resource for you: Find Your Listening Rhythm with Jesus. You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram.

Today’s conversation with Wendy Speake is about how we can hear Jesus louder when we quiet the noisy places in our lives – and we talk specifically about the noise that food and social media introduce into our everyday.

How often do we think about food? How often do we reach for our phones? Wendy shares how she accidentally discovered the spiritual benefits of a sugar fast, which grew into a journey that hundreds of thousands of women have now participated in. What they learned is that eliminating sugar allowed them to know God more. And hear Him louder.

When we fast from things that crowd out God’s voice, or as Wendy says, when we set down the ordinary, we will discover the extraordinary. 

We discuss:

• What our appetites tell of our attentions and affections.
• How consuming less allows us to experience more.
• What fasting is actually about (hint: it’s not about what we give up). 
• How fasting from food and phone noise leads to hearing God louder.
• How finding connection with Jesus keeps us both satisfied and makes us hungrier.

Friend, if you are longing to hear Jesus, opening up your spiritual hearing might begin with fasting from noisy places in our lives.

Wendy Speake is author and host of The 40-Day Sugar Fast, The 40-Day Social Media Fast, and the companion resource, The 40-Day Feast. She is also co-author of the popular parenting book, Triggers: Exchanging Parents’ Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses. As a trained actress and heartfelt Bible teacher, Wendy ministers to women's hearts through storytelling and Biblical life applications. She utilizes drama, poetry, and the study of God's word. During her career as an actress in Hollywood, Wendy longed to tell stories that would edify and encourage women. Today she does just that.

You can connect with Wendy at her Website or over on Instagram and Facebook. Grab her books here: The 40-Day Sugar Fast, The 40-Day Social Media Fast, The 40-Day Feast, and Triggers. 

And to help you get into a practice of listening for Jesus in your everyday, Marnie created a FREE resource for you: Find Your Listening Rhythm with Jesus. Marnie would also love to hear from you. You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram.

Have you ever wondered how people walk through back-to-back-to-back hard things and still stay standing? Have you wondered how God meets and sustains them? Today’s episode with Evelyn Sherwood will give you a glimpse of how.

We talk about her story of stacked-up-high hardships and how her practice of listening for Jesus sustained her through it all. 

Evelyn shares with us the behind-the-scenes conversations she had with God during a series of difficult circumstances, including COVID and cancer, and how she grieved and lamented – and also listened in the unknowns. God asked her to trust Him in the “messy middle” and live her story openly as it unfolded. And He met her in new, unexpected ways.

As Evelyn says, the more we learn to hear God, the more comfortable we get with trusting Him.

Friend, if you, too, are in the messy middle, this episode will give you hope.

Marnie and Evelyn discuss:

• How Evelyn discovered how present and real God really is.
• Questions to ask God in the middle of grief.
• The (many) hurdles Evelyn encountered and what Jesus spoke into each hard thing.
• An unexpected, beautiful way Jesus began to meet Evelyn as she walked through chemo.
• How noticing beauty helps us find peace.
• The four-step TRIP method (Thank, Read, Invite, Post) for reading and listening while studying scripture.

Evelyn Sherwood is a trusted minister, speaker, and blogger who has served in pastoral ministry for forty years. Nothing puts a smile on her face more than sharing about the faithfulness of God with a friend over a steaming cup of cappuccino or iced peach tea. On a summer evening, you might spot Evelyn and her husband, Steve, driving through Indiana farmlands in a canary yellow ’47 Ford pickup or enjoying an outdoor movie night in the backyard with their eight grandkids.

You can connect with Evelyn at her Website or over on Instagram and Facebook. Her Pocket Full of Hope series is available here.

And to help you get into a practice of listening for Jesus in your everyday, Marnie created a FREE resource for you: Find Your Listening Rhythm with Jesus. Marnie would also love to hear from you. You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram.

In today’s episode, Marnie and Jodi Snowdon talk about how we walk through the hard parts of our stories. We each have stories that hold difficult and painful things that we didn’t and wouldn’t choose. When we face those hard things, we can choose to run to God or run from Him. 

Jodi shares with us today about how to navigate our pain and cautions us that running from God means facing our grief alone. But the grief is there either way. 

Maybe you know someone who has run from God in their pain? Or maybe you understand that yourself? 

Listen to hear Jodi’s eight-step “grief roadmap” that will help us to see what it looks like to grieve with God and how He will meet our pain and redeem our stories.

Friend, if you are carrying grief, this episode will give you hope.

Marnie and Jodi discuss:

• The lies we can hear in our heartbreaks.
• Understanding the choice to run to or from God in our grief.
• How running to God in our pain can move us toward growth. 
• Ten scriptures that meet our heartbreaks.
• An 8-step grief roadmap to help us walk through grief.
• How listening for God’s voice helps us to heal.

Jodi Snowdon is an author, podcaster, and speaker who serves women through her podcast, Depth, and her blog, Heartbreak to Strength. In August 2022, she released her first book, Depth: Growing Through Heartbreak to Strength. Having walked through multiple heartbreaks (divorce, miscarriage, & cancer), Jodi now inspires women to grow deeper in their faith and to find hope, joy, and purpose through their unexpected storms. She is raising two sons (one in college and one adulting) in Southern California where she teaches science to elementary students in the STEM Lab.

You can connect with Jodi at her Website or over on Instagram. Her book is available here.

And to help you get into a practice of listening for Jesus in your everyday, Marnie created a FREE resource for you: Find Your Listening Rhythm with Jesus. Marnie would also love to hear from you. You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram.

We all have emotional stuff and the “stuff” we hold onto can not only impact us, it can impact our relationships and our connection with Jesus. Today, Laurie Davies and I talk about all of it – what weighs us down, how heavy it is, and how to lay it down. Because, as Laurie shares, if we miss addressing our emotional baggage, it can become more. It can become emotional hoarding.

What if giving Jesus our heavy things leads to freedom? What if we can feel lighter?

Friend, if you’ve struggled with worry or anger or bitterness or shame or fear, or another hard emotion, this conversation will point you towards freedom. 

Marnie and Laurie discuss:

• How our emotional baggage can turn into emotional hoarding.
• How to recognize when we’re hoarding our emotions.
• Why we hold onto stuff that weighs us down.
• How to let our emotional baggage go.
• How we can listen for Jesus in our hard emotions. 
• The promise that waits when we listen for Jesus.

A former journalist and women’s ministry director, Laurie Davies knows the burdens that weigh women down. As an author, speaker, and lay counselor, she encourages women to trade their “emotional accumulation” for freedom. Laurie’s book, Emotional Hoarding: Letting Go of the Stuff That Keeps You Stuck, is available from Moody Publishers wherever books are sold. Her writing can also be found in the Proverbs 31 First 5 app and in Guideposts books and magazines. Laurie lives in the Phoenix area with her husband of 30 years, Greg, and two schnockerpoos who run the show. Their adult son lives nearby.

Two ways to get the book:

• Enter here to win a copy of Emotional Hoarding (Deadline to enter is March 11, 2026, at midnight PST)
• Go grab a copy for you or a friend here.

You can connect with Laurie at her Website or over on Instagram, and she invites you to join her Facebook Group, Go Get Your Life.

And to help you get into a practice of listening for Jesus in your everyday, Marnie created a FREE resource for you: Find Your Listening Rhythm with Jesus. Marnie would also love to hear from you. You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram.

Today’s conversation with Janet McHenry is the second episode in our “real talk about prayer” series. Today, we’re examining how we pray differently based on our personalities, and how understanding our praying personality can change how we talk to and how we listen for Jesus. 

What if we can hear Him louder when we’re connecting with Him in ways that feel natural to us – in ways that line up with how He has created us? Janet shares four different praying personality types she finds in scripture that may help us to connect with God more naturally and more deeply. When we learn our praying personality, and meet with God from that understanding, we’ll grow in our connection and relationship with Him. 

Friend, if you want to discover how to better connect with God based on how He created you, this episode is for you.  

Marnie and Janet discuss:

• How we struggle with prayer “comparison.”
• The truth that there is no one-size-fits-all way to pray.
• How we pray differently based on our personalities.
• FOUR different praying personality types.
• How understanding our praying personality can change how we listen for Jesus.
• How prayer is more about access than answers.
• Simple, practical ways to listen for Jesus in prayer.

Janet McHenry is an inspirational speaker and the author of 27 books--eight on prayer, including the bestselling PrayerWalk and her newest, Praying Personalities, which was a Christian Book Award finalist last year. Janet leads the prayer ministries at The Bridge Church in Reno and is part of the leadership team for the National Day of Prayer in California. She and her rancher hubby Craig live in the Sierra Valley in northeast California, where they raised their four kids. Prayer and specifically, prayerwalking, are her passions because they have fostered a Looking Up! perspective in her.

Take the Praying Personalities Quiz here and grab a copy of Praying Personalities here. You can find Janet at her Website or over on Instagram and Facebook.

This is part two in our "Real Talk About Prayer" series. Did you catch Episode 36 with Barb Roose for four principles that will change how you pray? 

And to help you get into a practice of listening for Jesus in your everyday, Marnie created a FREE resource for you: Find Your Listening Rhythm with Jesus. Marnie would also love to hear from you. You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram.

Today's conversation with Barb Roose will change your prayer life. Have you ever had these thoughts: Is prayer worth it? Am I doing it right? Why don’t I feel closer to God? Why isn’t God answering?

If you’re feeling stuck in how you pray and your soul is longing for connection with God, this conversation is for you.

Today we talk about the ways we tend to relate to God (and all the grace, friends!), and four principles and truths that will change and re-shape how we pray. We’ll talk about repetitive versus persistent prayer, five behaviors we might choose over prayer, and how to listen for God in our prayers. Our entire conversation wraps around Barb’s Bible Study, Matthew: Pray Like This. Friend, if you’ve struggled with how to pray, you’ve landed in the right place. 

Marnie and Barb discuss:

• Common prayer hang-ups.
• Three ways we tend to relate to God in prayer.
• Four truths to re-shape and revolutionize our prayer mindset.
• The difference between repetitive and persistent prayers.
• A single sentence prayer that changes our grip on outcomes.
• Five behaviors we can choose instead of praying.
• How to listen for God and receive His truth in prayer.

Barb Roose is a popular speaker, author who is passionate about teaching women to live beautifully strong and courageous so that they experience God’s great adventure of faith and purpose for their lives. Barb speaks in the US and abroad at women’s conferences and events, including national platforms like the Aspire Women’s Events, She Speaks Conference and the UMC Leadership Institute.

She is the author of eight Bible studies such as Matthew: Pray Like This, and five books including Stronger Than Stress: 10 Spiritual Practices to Win the Battle of Overwhelm. Barb is the host of the Bold, Brave & Beautiful podcast. She lives in NW Ohio and is proud mother of three adult children. Whenever possible, Barb prefers to eat dessert first.

Check out these resources from Barb:

• Barb’s Digital Prayer Board 
• Matthew: Pray Like This 

And connect with Barb at her Website, Instagram, and Facebook.

And go grab this from Marnie: To help you get into a practice of listening for Jesus in your everyday, Marnie created a FREE resource for you: Find Your Listening Rhythm with Jesus. You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram.

In today’s episode, we celebrate the one year anniversary of the Hear Him Louder Podcast! And today, the tables are turned! Becky Keife steps into the host role to ask Marnie all the questions.

They discuss Marnie’s own story of how she discovered that Jesus speaks to us, the backstory of this podcast, and how listening for Jesus can help guide us through all of the January things. If your heart is craving encouragement and clarity around listening for Jesus as we make our way through another January, this conversation is for you. Because all of these things matter and listening for His voice and guidance is the starting point for well, everything.

Marnie and Becky discuss:

• How Marnie learned that God still speaks to us today.
• Two key learnings about God's character after one year of Hear Him Louder episodes.
• The one word that is the most important posture in listening for Jesus.
• How to invite Jesus into your January and all of the January things you might be sifting through. 
• How God can speak promises and peace without answering the question we’re asking.
• A story that comes with the promise that God will take us higher.

To help you get into a practice of listening for Jesus in your everyday, Marnie created a FREE resource for you: Find Your Listening Rhythm with Jesus. You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram. 

And a huge thank you to our host today, Becky Keife, who is the author of A Verse A Day For The Anxious Soul, as well as a Bible teacher and speaker who is passionate about helping people hear God’s voice, embrace their true identity, and step into their purpose. A dedicated mental health advocate, Becky equips individuals and churches to understand anxiety biblically and experience Jesus wholly. She loves long naps, puffy clouds, and shady trails. Becky lives in Southern California with her husband and three always-hungry teenage sons. You can connect with Becky at her website or on Instagram. And you can grab a copy of her book here.

In today’s episode, Marnie and Becky Keife talk about how the start of a new year can feel like a loud mix of hope and pressure. Maybe your calendar is already crammed, your mind is racing with goals you “should” accomplish, or anxiety has followed you right into January. 

If your soul is craving calm and clarity, this conversation is for you, as we cover how to establish simple, soul-anchoring rhythms that make space for God’s peace not just for the start of the year, but also for whatever the months ahead may hold. Quieting that "New Year" swirl begins with tuning your heart to the One voice that matters most. God is near and His voice of love can be louder than the anxious noise we feel and hear.

Marnie and Becky discuss:

• How to invite God into daily rhythms that help us to manage anxiety.
• Becky’s own journey with anxiety.
• The gift Becky found inside anxiety. 
• How listening for Jesus can help us to find peace.
• Fourteen practices that center around listening for God and how they can help us calm the chaos.

Becky Keife is the author of A Verse A Day For The Anxious Soul, as well as a Bible teacher and speaker who is passionate about helping people hear God’s voice, embrace their true identity, and step into their purpose. A dedicated mental health advocate, Becky equips individuals and churches to understand anxiety biblically and experience Jesus wholly. She loves long naps, puffy clouds, and shady trails. Becky lives in Southern California with her husband and three always-hungry teenage sons. You can connect with Becky at her website or on Instagram. And you can grab a copy of her book here.

You can connect with Marnie through her Website or on Instagram. Marnie also offers a FREE resource to help you listen for Jesus – get your copy: Three Steps to Finding Quiet: A Guide to Listening for Jesus.