Hole in My Heart Podcast

My friend, author, teacher, and podcaster, Ebie Hepworth, gets suffering.

Her son has a terminal illness. Her life includes infertility and struggle in many areas.

And yet, it’s easy to call Ebie a woman of hope.

What in the world is hope—in real life? Is it this dissociative state of bliss or something else….?

Ebie believes it is “something else” and she unpacks it for us today on the podcast.

Next Steps:

• Find her beautiful book, Midnight Hallelujah here.

I have been WAITING to share this episode with you all. 

Many of you know my story: It includes same-sex attractions and surrendering them to Jesus. I am also married to a guy.

So many of you have asked for more stories of marriages where the guy has my story is married to his wife. Today, Jeff and Jourdan Johnson are just that guy and just that wife.

Together we talk about:

How does their marriage work?

How did it begin?

How can we experience community in the midst of such a story?

How did you tell your kids? (And why did you?)

How did you surrender the whole thing to Jesus and not try to hyper-control the narrative?

How did the other dads treat you, Jeff, after you shared?

Grab an earbud or pull up a chair. This episode is for you, for someone you love, or for someone you will likely meet and care about in the future.

Next Thing:

• Find their podcast here.

• Watch the episode on YouTube.

• Join the HIMH Pod FB Group here.

• Ask Laurie a question on IG here.

• Get a free risk assessment at O’Neill Asset Management here.

Many Christians drink alcohol, but how can we know if we are engaging ”too much”? 

What does “too much” mean?

(Is there a “too much”???)

Author and speaker Ericka Andersen has wisdom for us: There isn’t a clear line, rather a lens to look at drinking from the heart. How can we look in our hearts about alcohol?

And how does Ericka know this?

She learned it the hard way: Through her own secret addiction as a mom. 

Even her closest people didn’t think she had a problem, but as she looked inward at her heart and outward at the actions it led to, she realized something was wrong. She got help.  

How?

Was it in one fell swoop?

Did she ever struggle again?

Let’s talk about it, find encouragement for ourselves, for a friend, or anyone—no matter their struggles.

Welcome back!! This is season TEN of the HIMH Podcast and we are starting with old and new friends of the podcast, Greg Coles and Julia Hedjuk. They wrote the book, Sexuality Beyond Sex. Oh my stars, this conversation helped us understand why God created us as sexual creatures—whether God calls us to marriage or singleness. 

Why did he create us sexual if we don’t have sex?

How do “the rules” for our bodies play into this?

And what does this have to do with…communion???

And how does this relate to our theme of the season: community?

And, how do we pronounce the word “affianced”?? (Thanks @ Greg for making us feel smarter!)

Buckle up! This is a great conversation.

Next Steps:

• Their book, Sexuality Beyond Sex here.

• We talk about An Impossible Marriage here.

• Join the HIMH Pod FB Group here.

• Ask Laurie a Q on IG here.

• Watch here.

What if the solution to our addiction problems is not fighting porn but outgrowing it? 

Author and addiction recovery coach, Drew Boa, thinks so, and he’s got the research and stories of his own and his clients to back it up.

Next Steps:

• His book here.

It’s time for another round of your questions! Today we are responding to:

• “My son talks to me about his prom struggles instead of his dad. Is this okay?”

• “What if we send out kids to a school with a trans teacher?”

• “My kid was inappropriately touched on the playground. What do I do?”

• “How do you talk about your stories with your kids?”

Let’s go!

Next Steps:

• That link I told you about to evaluate if what you are seeing is normal behavior or not? here.

• The Raising Kids curriculum here.

• Ask me a Q on IG here.

• Watch this on YouTube here.

While many people exit the public school system, two women are staying (Laurie’s sisters!). 

Not are not only staying but are shining the light.

How?

Through Bible Clubs.

Toss out any image of old-timey flannel-graphs (bless ‘em) and pop in images of two imperfect moms who love Jesus, love their communities, and are bringing the gospel to the public schools.

But how in the world did they get to do that? How is it going? What are they seeing?

Let’s talk about it.

Next Steps:

• Luke’s art here.

• Names of God here.

• Promises of God here.

• Jesus Storybook Bible here.

• Kingdom of God Bible Storybook here.

• Join the HIMH Pod FB group here.

• Ask Laurie a Q on IG here.

You ever felt stuck in your relationship to God because it felt…just too hard?

The season now doesn’t look like 10 years ago.

Your friend’s faith seems better than yours.

You’re too busy. Too frustrated. Too…disconnected.

What if trying harder wasn’t the goal but trying…less complicated?

Bestselling author and teacher Hosanna Wong is here to help us do exactly that: Uncomplicate our relationship to God so we can reconnect in a new way or connect for the first time.

Next Step:

• Her site here. 

• Her IG here. 

• This book here.

• Join the HIMH Pod FB group here.

• Ask Laurie a Q on IG here.

• Watch it here.

You ever feel like you’re still figuring out how to become a person?

Yeah, us, too.

Bestselling author, therapist, and speaker, Debra Fileta, is here to help us learn some people skills we might not even know we are missing.

Together we talk about many things including:

What are “people skills” and why do we need the more than ever?

What are the levels of relational depth?

How do we confront well?

How do we navigate our own social anxiety?

This conversation was a blessing.

Next Steps:

• Her book here.

It’s time to talk about AI! We sit down with AI expert Christopher Lind and ask:

What even is AI?

• How can we have a gospel lens when it comes to engage it? (Is that possible?)

Next Steps:

• His site here.