Everyone knows what the 12 Steps are. Whether you're in recovery, someone you love is, or if the idea seems like a life-time and a church-basement away from you, Ian Cron has some news for us. We're all addicted to something. We're all victim to trying white-knuckled, self-reformation rather than surrendered, God-worked transformation. And these steps are the way to fix all of that.

I've been a fan of Ian's work for a long time. And this conversation has somehow left me with even greater respect, gratitude, and joy for his both his depth of wisdom and wit. Ian calls us all like we are: broken humans incapable of fixing ourselves. He also calls the 12-steps what they are: practicle rhythms to "put wheels on the gospel." 

What we already believe theologically as Christians, he says, is taken from the doctrinal to the transformational when we use these steps as a trellis for surrenduring to the God we claim can heal us but are so seldom willing to hand the reigns over to.

Ian's new book, The Fix: How the Twelve Steps Offer a Surprising Path of Transformation for the Well-Adjusted, the Down-and-Out, and Everyone In Between, is for anyone and everyone who is ready to admit they can't white-knuckle the lives they want. Don't miss Ian's hard-won truths and his on-going invitation to live honest, joyful, beautiful lives.

Today's guest is bringing some hard-won, much needed wisdom for all the parents out there -- especially moms of girls -- but also for the kid in all of us still carrying wounds left open.

Melanie Shankle is a three-time New York Times Best-Selling author, and for the first time, she's opening up not just about parenting her daughter, but about how becoming a parent was an unforeseen catalyst to facing a lifetime of trauma with her own mother.

With her trademark humor, candor and vulnerability, Shankle encourages readers to explore their own existing wounds and trust God to not only heal, but break generational cycles of trauma with the goal of handing a legacy of triumph over to our children. 

To every mom who’s ever felt overwhelmed, ill-equipped and fearful she’s not “enough” for her daughter, Shankle’s Here Be Dragons offers hope, encouragement, and empowerment. When we achieve healing and wholeness in Him, there’s no dragon we can’t slay, and no parenting battle we won’t call victory.”

Follow Melanie Listen to Big Boo Podcast Pre-Order Here Be Dragons: Treading the Deep Waters of Motherhood, Mean Girls, and Generation Trauma

As you come to the end of another year and the start of a fresh one, where are you on energy? Focus? Gratitude? JOY? If like so many of us, you're screeching to the finish line on fumes, today's guest is here FOR YOU!

Cleere Cherry Reaves is a true lover of God and people. And her powerfully evident desire with her newest devotional, Revive, is to help us learn to do exactly that. And not just revive our lives in the New Years resolution, emotionally-charged major moments. But rather how can we start reviving the monontony and grind of our daily lives? How do we create margin to plug back in to the God of abunance and let him start reviving us one day at a time?

Follow Cleere @ Cleerely Stated Get REVIVE: Declarations of God's Truth to Revew Your Spirit 

As we approach holidays and the end of 2024, here's a quick solo chat with Mattie on life updates, new book, and another special announcement! 

New devotional BOOK New Through the Valley of Grief 6-week COURSE

There are not adequate words to describe how much I adore this woman and what she is offering the world.

SC Perot, Texas native turned Nashville resident, has become my new personal guru on joy. Her first book, releasing February 25, 2025 and entitled Styles of Joy, is everything I dream of for this podcast and then some! 

In the wake of her life-shattering divorce, SC embarked on a wildly unexpected quest for joy in places and with people she never expected. With a career as a corporate lawyer and a family background in serious politics, she never expected her head-first venture into Harry Style's fandom would save her life.

SC is as wise as she is witty, and her rich, hilarious, no holds barred approach to chasing a new life defined by joy will truly change the way you live yours.

Are you tired of the constant noise, hustle, and angst of culture? Does the pace you've been keeping feel like it's robbing all your joy and peace? Stephen Proctor is here to direct our eyes, ears, and minds back to one of the most powerful and accessible sources of revitalization -- NATURE!

Stephen Proctor is a visual artist who specializes in landscape cinematography and aerial photography to curate calming, imaginative experiences. And in his new book, Wild Wonders: What Nature Tells Us About Slowing Down and Living Well, Stephen is lovingly calling us out back outdoors to the place where restoration is available and waiting. 

Stephen encourages readers to recognize how being outside offers us a renewed sense of awe and wonder for the Creator, draws us back into a more holistic and contemplative way of life, and restores a deeper awareness of the beautiful world around us.

Think you’ve never experienced a miracle? The New York Times bestselling author Mark Batterson reminds us of the millions of miracles God performs every day and inspires us to live with a clearer sense of identity, purpose, and childlike wonder.

To live fully and joyfully, he explains why we need to cultivate a holy curiosity. For what? For everything! Too many of us are so wrapped up in our own worlds and as a result are living with an impoverished view of God. We are only living at half capacity, so we let anxiety keep us from pursuing our dreams because we can't see that God is far bigger than our biggest problems, close enough to help us triumph, and gooder than even our worst seasons.

His newest book, A Million Little Miracles, invites you reawaken your sense of wonder about God and His world. 

GRAMMY Award-winning singer and songwriter Tasha Cobbs Leonard is one of the most iconic artists in gospel music history. But her success did not come without her own profound seasons of brokenness. Her message?

Show up anyway. Worship anyway. Believe and trust God boldly anyway.

And as the title of her newest book calls us to: Do It Anyway: Don't Give Up Before It Gets Good.

In this deeply personal account of Tasha's greatest trials and victories, she proves that the moments when we’ve got nothing more to give are precisely the moments to press on and do the hard thing anyway. Because waiting on the other side of that decision is our breakthrough and transformation. From Googling how to upload an album to iTunes to later releasing a Billboard Top 10 album to depression so heavy it held her in bed, Tasha has seen God meet her after every resilient step of faith.

In his decade-long work as a hospice chaplain, Bryan Crum has spent endless hours sitting with individuals as they reflect on their lives and confront their mortality. His biggest takeaway from those bedside hours? 

Too many of us don't really love the stories of our lives. 

Too many of us accept regret, doubt, and fear as the status quo.

And Bryan is on a mission to help us start to love our stories -- and ourselves -- NOW, rather than waiting until the end of our lives. In his new book, Neighbor, Love Yourself: Discover Your Value, Live Your Worth, Bryan is calling us all into better, fuller living RIGHT NOW as we realign our self-worth with who God says we are; rediscover purpose; and recapture the little rhythms that lead to greater joy in our daily lives.

What's on your "one day" list? One day, I'll finally try this. One day, I'll do that thing again. One day, maybe I'll have time to... (fill in the blank!).

We've all walked through seasons where we feel like we've lost our purpose or, in Jena's words, have left "our gifts sit on the shelf." And as an artist, illustrator, wife and mom, Jena Holliday is calling us all back into Sacred Creativity!

Her new book, Sacred Creativity: Inspiration to Reclaim the Joy of Your God-Given Gifts, is exactly that. It is a call back into places that have always made you tick, made you who you are. It is inspiriation and practices to re-learn your own voice and start doing the things God created you to do. It's chock-full of affirmations to speak over yourself and back to your doubt.

Jena calls not just those who consider themselves creatives or artists but all of us who are longing for more; all of us who are created by the Creator on purpose, for purpose.