We are thinking machines. Our minds are constantly, consciously and unconsciously processing information and forming thoughts. The thoughts that we accept begin to shape the way that we live. We know from Matthew 12:34 that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Put simply, what we allow in will affect what comes out. In this episode, we’ll be exploring our thought lives, how much power we have over our thoughts, and how to think about what we’re thinking about. If we really can be transformed by the renewing of our mind, this topic is an important one.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.

Let’s face it: we don’t know what we don’t know. We’ve all had times in our lives when we realized that ignorance isn’t bliss after all. In today’s episode, we’re talking through our spin on the cycle that psychology calls, “The Four Stages of Competence.” Moving through a state of unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, development, and ultimately conscious competence. Each of us are always moving through this process of discovery, awareness, learning, and growth. It isn’t always comfortable, but it’s good for us.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.

We can spend a lot of time and thought and energy focused on the future and what’s to come down the road for us. We can also get tripped up looking backwards to the good ole days, or beating ourselves up with regrets and slip ups of the past. Both the past and the future do have their importance and in fact we’ll touch on that here today. But this episode is especially focused on the space in between them: the value of today. The present is what we have right now and the way that we think about it can determine what we do with it and the current moments that make up the story of our lives.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.

Today we are asking the question: should we care what other people think? and exploring both sides of this paradoxical coin. On one hand, there are times when we need to turn off the opinions of others so that we can live out our own purpose and calling and on the other hand, sometimes we need other people’s thoughts and perspectives to help us to grow in that purpose and calling. That’s what we’re tackling in this episode and we hope it gets you thinking in the best and balanced way.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.

Like many things in the Kingdom of God, authority is a subject that often looks much different to God than it looks to the world. For example, while the disciples argued over greatness, Jesus taught us to be a servant of all. Today we’re tackling the topic of positional authority vs. moral authority. We’ll talk about the differences and explore the upside and downside of both. Moral authority may not come with the status or titles that we sometimes seek after, but we’ll see how it can actually create more influence and impact for good than climbing the world’s ladder of success.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.

We all know that walking in offense is not a healthy way to live. But sometimes we take on the offense of another and it feels like we’re fighting a cause of justice on their behalf. They got hurt and now we step into the position of an emotional vigilante to protect ourselves and others. In actuality, if it isn’t our realm of influence or responsibility, that false sense of justice may just be us walking in secondhand offense. That’s what we’re talking about in today’s episode: what happens when we pick up an offense that was never ours to begin with and how do we make the choice to put it down. So without further ado, here is today’s episode on secondhand offense.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.

Shame is a topic we often like to avoid. That avoidance comes with the territory of shame. But today, we’re going there and we’ll talk about what shame can look like, where it comes from, and ways to walk in freedom from it. None of us were created to remain hidden under a cloud of false identity or to be controlled by a false reality. We were created to be free in who God made us to be. That’s our goal in this episode: that the truth would make us free to embrace our true identity and walk in the abundant life that God has for us.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.

Remember the days of playing Oregon Trail? Today, we’re talking about pioneering. Maybe not the wild west kind of pioneer, but those who chart new courses and forge new paths. Pioneering can look different for different people but no matter what, it does require some key essentials to keep you moving forward when life gets inevitably tough. Whether you are an entrepreneur starting your own business, a creative innovating something new, or a mom wanting to pave a better path for her kids, we hope this episode speaks courage to your heart to keep going and pioneer for the better future that is to come.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.

Disappointments are hard pills to swallow and unfortunately, we all face them in life. Since they are inevitable, the question becomes: what are we going to do with our disappointment? In today’s episode we’ll talk through why this topic is important, how to recognize disappointments when they happen, and how to process through them for peace and growth. We hope you are encouraged and strengthened as we share.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.

All of us have to make decisions every single day, but we don’t all share the same trajectory on how we make those choices. Some of us tend to make decisions based upon an intuitive gut feeling and some of us rely more on facts and processes. So which way is better? This is what we’re tackling today as we talk about our differences in the deciding process and what lends best to certain situations. We hope that by the end of this episode you see the value in your decision making style AND that you would see the value in those who think differently.

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If you're enjoying our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review the show! For more information on us and our ministry: https://www.givinglight.org.