Lessons from Living

In this solo episode of Lessons from Living, host Beth Graham opens up about life after breast cancer, the mental spiral that can follow “watch and wait” protocols, and how fear can distort what we feel and think. She shares a candid story of scans, sleepless nights, and the inner dialogue that often follows uncertainty.

Beth introduces a simple practice that brought clarity: contemplating mortality to realign daily choices with core values. From faith to family time to cutting distraction, she offers a grounded way to decide what truly matters and to live like it matters today.

If you’ve felt overwhelmed by what-ifs or pulled off-center by noise and busyness, this conversation invites you to reset priorities with wisdom, urgency, and peace.

In this conversation, Beth welcomes artist and entrepreneur Isabel Varela to unpack a candid story of identity, insecurity, and a shopping addiction that spiraled into six figures of debt. Isabel shares the underlying need for validation that fueled her fashion choices, how social pressure amplified the cycle, and the moment a crisis forced her to change.

With grit, accountability, and faith, Isabel rebuilt from the inside out. She found mentors, paid off 100,000 dollars of debt, embraced sustainability, and launched Repurpose Your Life to help others turn pain into purpose. If you have ever chased approval, battled clutter or debt, or wondered how to live more authentically, this episode offers practical hope and perspective.

In this heartfelt conversation, host Beth Graham welcomes writer and podcaster Angee Robertson to talk about cultivating an intimate, everyday relationship with the Holy Spirit. Angee shares how a logic-first faith as a teen later collided with grief, doubt, and infertility, and how honest questions brought her back to a deeper trust in God.

Together they explore practical ways to invite God into business, creativity, and decision making, plus the many ways He speaks to us through Scripture, peace, wise counsel, and even dreams. If you have ever wondered how to discern God’s voice or how to work with Him in daily life, this episode offers grounded encouragement and simple next steps.

What does the most fulfilling retirement look like?  Our guest Chris Marquardt offers an excellent picture of that: he has made an intentional geographical move with his wife of 36 years to a corner of the world that gives him peace and happiness.  He has learned a new skill, bee-keeping, that has helped him through his own PTSD, having served in the military for 24 years.  And he has found a way to share this passion and healing with other veterans.  This is an expansive conversation covering how to stay married for 36 years, deciding to make a move, building a new community, how he entered into bee-keeping, all of the details about keeping hives, how he began sharing this fascinating passion with other veterans, and his suggestions for building a great retirement.  Share this episode with others who seek to shape a meaningful retirement through service!

On Facebook: Marquardt's All-American Honey

Battle Buddy Bees: https://marquardts-all-american-honey.square.site/

What's it like to walk with someone who is dying?  And what lessons can we learn from this experience of witnessing someone passing from this world into the next?  Enjoy an interview with an extraordinary doctor, Reggie Anderson, as he shares these truths with us.  We talk about how a horrific event in his young life separated him from God, despite having grown up in a faith-filled home.  He shares how meeting his future wife and studying medicine played key roles in returning him to a relationship with God.  Dr. Anderson shares what it's like to walk with the dying, including unexpected details, and how he has learned to diagnose through the power of human touch.  We discuss how to press into faith even through challenges, making it to the other side of tragedy, and why he believes God allows calamities to occur in our lives.  He also touches on doing the work God has called you to do, and why we should learn about living and dying from God's word. This episode will surely bring comfort to anyone who has lost a loved one, and assurance to all of us in navigating our final journey.

Appointments with Heaven: The True Story of a Country Doctor's Healing Encounters with the Hereafter, Dr. Reggie Anderson

When Jessica Spencer, her husband, and birth son decided to dip their toes into the waters of fostering children, they had no way to know that within days their little family would morph from 3 to 7!  This is Jessica's story of the often meandering process fostering can take to grow a family.  She touches on the training and evaluation required, getting that fateful call, and how parental rights can impact the possibility of adoption within a fostering relationship.  If you have any interest in growing your own family through fostering, this episode is a must-listen.  If you know someone whose heart is inclined toward growing their family through fostering or is already in the process, this episode will offer a compassionate glimpse into their lives.

If you have ever wondered whether your spouse has been unfaithful, or even had that fear confirmed, this episode about surviving infidelity is for you.  Our guest, Kate Conwell, shares her journey from discovering her husband's infidelity to moving beyond this trauma to an even stronger marriage.  Today, Kate and her husband model this kind of healthy, growth-focused behavior resulting in a renewed relationship and share it with other men and women walking this same path.  There is hope for marriages in crisis, and Kate demonstrates how the necessary work in her own life has led not only to a thriving marriage but a thriving faith life, as well.  Share this episode and share hope!

journeybeyondbetrayal.com

Self-described "nobody," Barbara Demorest, describes how a personal encounter with cancer inspired her to find a solution for a common problem facing breast cancer victims.  She said "Yes," when many others may have taken a pass.  We talk about walking through open doors, not stressing when a door closes, the hazards of putting limits upon ourselves, how impostor syndrome impacts our ability to step forward, beginning with little steps, how to equip and inspire others, dealing with criticism, the symbiotic nature of giving/receiving, why caring is critical, humility and staying on guard against pride, suffering in order to transform, trusting and having faith even in adversity, how encouragement speaks life into people, and how God uses the nobody's.  Barb is certainly not a "nobody" to thousands of women across the globe, and you'll love finding out what a special somebody she is!

knittedknockers.org

David Zach is the lead singer and songwriter of Remedy Drive, a rock band.  He also is an undercover operative for an anti-sex trafficking organization, the Exodus Road.  David talks about how this association came to be, how his past prepared him for this work, and the impact  working undercover has on his family.  David shares his creative process.  We talk about the way sex trafficking is portrayed in the media and entertainment, what this scourge looks like in America, and the connection between trafficking and immigration.  David shares how he maintains joy in the face of darkness, and why everyone is capable of making a difference.  David is counting on "...the righteous to rise up out of their indifference."  Let David inspire you to take that first step!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FZGjTnAQPo

https://remedydrive.com/davidzach

What does one do when faced with the worst kind of choices?  Alvaro Rivas literally found himself with a gun to his head, when the Nicaraguan government claimed he was a spy because of his work with American ministries.  He knew that he risked imprisonment or death if he remained in his native country; the only option was to flee to freedom.  The problem?  His wife and children could not join him in the arduous journey.  They would have to come later, when Alvaro could secure them safer passage.  In the meantime, he would cross forests, rivers, and endure internment in a detention facility, encountering the worst of humanity along the way.  Safer in a free country, Alvaro holds onto faith that his family will ultimately join him, all the while building a life of legacy and service in his newly adopted country.