Livin' What You're Given

Today, my guest Michelle Rohlf, and I talk about the pain suffered when children estrange themselves from their parents. She wants us to know that this is not a unique situation, and we are not alone if we are in this place.

Talking from her own experience that is chronicled in her book, "Losing Her, Finding me: A Mother's Story of Estrangement and Self-Discovery," she shares a story that is all too familiar to many parents. Her journey includes the ups and downs of trying to reconcile with her daughter, counseling for the two of them, recognizing her own character deficits that contributed to the overall situation.

During her journey she found a Christian-based, twelve-step program to help her cope with and recover from codependency. She defines codependency as putting your identity in something or someone outside yourself and being dependent upon whatever they do to complete you and define your purpose. She tells us we are important apart from others.

Feeling she wished to just die, she turned to an honest assessment of who she is, whose she is, and finding her own worth by God's lens while letting go of the need to please people while sacrificing her own self-worth and God-given purpose. Calling upon her faith she continues to inventory her feelings, reactions and actions in order to maintain emotional balance. Through inventorying her own contribution to problems, making amends, offering and granting grace and forgiveness she and her daughter have managed to reconcile.

She also emphasizes respect and boundaries for yourself and practicing respect and observation of boundaries of others. The tool of detachment has helped her maintain this balance and her emotional sobriety she has achieved in her recovery journey from codependency.

Her advice to other parents in this situation? Honor your need to grieve. Honor boundaries. Be gentle with yourself and know you did the best you could."

To learn more about Michelle, her book, her work with helping parents who are estranged from their children, look for her on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Amazon by typing her name, Michelle Rohlf. Where she is available on these sites will come up. Or you can go to Michellewrites@gmailcom.

To check out some work on codependency, find books by Melody Beattie on Amazon.

To hear more music by Christine Marie, she is available on iTunes. Her email is [email protected]

If you have an interest in the group Celebrate Recovery, this is their website https://www.celebraterecovery.com/

To connect with Laura, go to https://lauralpadgett.com/

In part two of this two-part series about turning to the light, my friend James Early and I explore how we can embrace the mindset of Jesus Christ. In part one we unpacked some myths around who we sometimes think Jesus is in order to support our agendas. But if we really want to know what Jesus was/is all about, we need to try to think in the mindset of Christ, which is as a selfless servant.

In order to do this, we need to study what Jesus said, what He did, how He treated others, how He worshiped and followed God- not according to His own will but that of God. We also need to be willing to put ourselves aside and do the will of the Father. That means humbling ourselves by admitting we cannot do things on our own and yielding ourselves to the plans God has for us. To know the mindset of Christ, we need look to the results of our work to see if those are the fruits of the spirit or not.

James encourages us to embrace the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and in fact we are living in it right now. We have the choice to see our lives as part of participating in the Kingdom right here and right now.

 To reach James Early go to https://thebiblespeakstoyou.com There is a place to sign up for his podcast and you will also be given a prayer guide and other resources. If you go to https://thebiblespeakstoyou.com/livin you will have access to more resources as well. Please listen to these details within the podcast to see exactly what James is offering Laura's listeners and his listeners.

To catch up with Christine Marie, the musical artist performing "Follow the Light," you can go to [email protected] or check out her music on iTunes.

To connect with Laura, go to https://lauralpadgett.com/

My friend James Early, from The Bible Speaks to You Podcast, and I explore who Jesus is from a spiritual lens. James says that we tend to assign human attributes to Jesus to support our own agendas. We project onto Jesus, as well as other people, our own characteristics. Our mind is the lens through which we see Jesus. But if we really do want to follow Jesus, we need to follow His example and not what we "want" to believe about Him.

Through stories of different aspects and truths of the Bible, James challenges us to look at Jesus through what He did and said, what He was trying to teach us and our choices around all of that. We need a bigger perspective of the whole picture of reaching all of mankind and not just those who think like us. He says Christ was not exclusive religiously.

Seeing through a spiritual lens means truths are revealed by what God tells us about Jesus, and that should always take precedence over what other people, including politicians, military leaders, nationalists or religious leaders try to tell us. If we stay in the word and listen, it is very clear who Jesus was/is and what He expects of us when walking this life path. One of the best ways to do this, according to James, is read and study the Sermon on the Mount found in the book of Matthew, chapters 5-7.

To reach James Early go to https://thebiblespeakstoyou.com There is a place to sign up for his podcast and you will also be given a prayer guide and other resources. If you go to https://thebiblespeakstoyou.com/livin you will have access to more resources as well. Please listen to these details within the podcast to see exactly what James is offering Laura's listeners and his listeners.

To catch up with Christine Marie, the musical artist performing "Follow the Light," you can go to [email protected] or check out her music on iTunes.

To connect with Laura, go to https://lauralpadgett.com/

Did you know that antisemitism is not only back in the U.S. and the rest of the world, it is on the rise? Don't believe it? Listen in as my friend, and former broadcast journalist, Dave Segal and I explore this topic on a national and local level.

Born and raised with the idea of religious inclusion, Dave shares stories of growing up in a family where there were Jewish, Christian and even Buddhist faiths practiced. Dave has practiced various faith paths in his life, including a great many years in Judaism. He shares stories of his experience recently of trying to visit a Jewish Synagogue and hearing the precautions that need to be taken due to concerns over antisemitic violence.

As with some of my other episodes on trying to turn the tide on racism, we do not point fingers, shame or blame. Dave and I share the same objective. That is to help educate people on the issues that are threatening our families, countries, churches and world. 

Dave shares some resources for those of us interested in seeing the tide turn on this and all forms of hatred, including Ken Burns' film on America and the Holocaust (Available on PBS and at libraries near you) and the website for the Anti-Defamation League - ADL at https://www.adl.org/


To connect with Gabriel Tafoya, who provided the song, "The Pivot" for this episode, go to [email protected]  

The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com

It's so easy to be praising, peaceful and happy when all things are going well. But how do we react when things are not going well? What about the path we thought was going to be the one we chose to live our life on but ends up being riddled with detours? What happens when questions are asked but the answers are nowhere close to what we desire? What do we do when those questions seem to go unanswered altogether? 

During this interview my guest, Lori Ann Wood, talks openly and honestly about questioning God at the time of a life-threatening diagnosis. She speaks about doubt which asks, "Is God always good?" She explains that sometimes it does not feel like He is there.

Questions were her lifeline to God and not a means of dividing her from Him. In fact, God has told us that our questions are welcomed and we can question and still be faithful. During her illness, she says she learned her faith was strengthened by being honest with God and leaning into Him with her doubts. She talks about learning lament and relinquishment.

You don't have to be living this kind of a detour in order to learn from this woman's journey and the honest, brave work she shares in order to let others know we are not alone in our feelings of betrayal, laments, doubt and questions.

To connect with Lori Ann Wood, please go to https://loriannwood.com  where you can read more of her story, her blog, find out more about how to order her book, "The Divine Detour: The Path You'd Never Choose Can Lead to the Faith You've Always Wanted."

To connect with Gabriel Tafoya, who provided the song, "The Pivot" for this episode, go to [email protected] 

The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com

Lies. A word we have become all too familiar with in the past few years. But what are they? Who tells them? Who believes them? Interesting questions, but perhaps more interesting are these questions. Who doesn't tell lives? Who doesn't believe them?

These and other questions are what my guest, award-winning author, Patricia Raybon and I discuss in this episode of "Livin' What You're Given" in an attempt to try to turn from lies. Through her latest fiction novel, "Double the Lies," Patricia calls us to challenge where the lies we believe, and perhaps tell, come from. Maybe they come from our culture, our traditions, or from lessons passed down based in fear and unchallenged misinformation.

These are all found when we examine the history of Denver, Colorado in the 1920's with regard to racial injustice, inequity and exclusion under the rule of the KKK. Ms. Raybon's work is well-researched and presented through the lens of a young black female amateur detective involved in and trying to solve a murder. She has two days to solve a case where she is the prime suspect, simply because she is not white.

Although it is easy to dismiss this as a story based in facts that no longer apply, that is another lie. Our brothers and sisters of colors still face many of the same injustices and biases today that deny them equity, equality and dignity.

So, what do we do with this history, especially if we want to be advocating for change?  We stop denying and shying away out of our own defensiveness. We educate ourselves to truth and choose to turn from the lies. Patricia gives us several tools to do just that by doing our own internal work and then checking out these voices on Instagram and Facebook. She points us to #readmorewomen, #readmoreblackwomen and #readmorewomenofcolor.

To find out more about this versatile, award-winning, truth-seeking artist, go to https://www.patriciaraybon.com, where you will find her essays, blogs, opportunity to join her writing community, and of course her books including "All that is Secret," and "Double the Lies" - her two latest fiction novels.

To connect with Gabriel Tafoya, who provided the song, "The Pivot" for this episode, go to [email protected]


The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com

As we start the third season of "Livin' What You're Given" and focusing on the theme of "Turning the Tide," I interview Sherry Jones. She is a Certified Christian Life Coach, author, speaker and podcast host of the "Sherry Speaks Life Podcast." Today she shares her passion for "speaking life." As we emerge from so much death, fear and loss during the pandemic, Sherry encourages us to look at ways to now turn that tide by speaking the truth of positivity in the face of massive negativity and being grateful for what we do still have. 

Sherry defines speaking life as taking negative thoughts and examining them through the lens of positive messages based in Scripture, then using that positivity to be who God calls us to be. Talking from her personal experiences as a basis for her mission to help others stop putting themselves down, living in the past and staying stuck in pain and guilt, she explains some ways we can effectively turn self-destructive behaviors around.

She offers some practical tools that may help us dismiss the negative in order to embrace and live the life we have been destined by God to live. She tells us, "The first person you need to speak life to is yourself." 

She has authored two books, one of which "Speak Life Moments: A Transformational Journey" she offers a twenty-one-day devotional designed to help us restore and renew our joy.  Her coaching program is designed to help people find their passion and using that passion to fulfill the purpose for their life.

To connect with Sherry, check out her podcast episodes as well as her books and coaching program, visit her at:  https://sherryspeakslife.com

To connect with Stephen Ray Watts from the band Dotsero Praise Fellowship, the musician playing the song, "Stepping Out of the Boat" on this episode, go to https://dotseroband.com

The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com https://lauralpadgett.com

Episode #22 of season two of Livin' What You're Given rounds out the year of 2022 that primarily addressed choices. It also ends my two-part series on finding, sharing and being grateful for our gifts from God, as well as encouraging others to find and share their gifts too.

In this solo episode I share the road I traveled from trained secular dancer to praise dancer in the world of sacred movement. I reveal the resistance, the discouragement, and self doubt around using dance in the worship setting as praise, prayer, gratitude and even healing. All gifts given to us by God have a time and place He wishes them to be used. But it is not uncommon for those in authority to try and fashion the destiny of our gifting.

Despite all the rough spots, God has given me opportunities to share this gift with and for Him all across the U.S. as well as in Canada. It is my great hope that my story will encourage others, who have or still are facing similar roadblocks on their journey, to stay hopeful and faithful to their calling. Waiting upon the Lord has many rewards, not the least of which are the lessons learned while holding space in our race until the Lord's will is made clear.


To reach out to Stephen Ray Watts, the musician performing "The Perfect Gift" on this episode, go to https://dotseroband.com

The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com

Yes, you are gifted, talented and creative. You are created in the image of the great Creator. Believe that. The gifts you've been given are for the glory of God, the fulfillment of your soul and the benefit to others. 

Today, in one of my rare solo episodes, I explore some of the reasons why we do not see ourselves as creative, or gifted. I talk about why, in my life, I have given real estate in my brain to the reasons that I (for decades) believed I could not offer my gifts because they were not as good as that of others or I could not bring a perfect product to the offering table.

As I share a personal, and hopefully humorous but poignant, story about believing I had to compete and compare myself to another, I hope to shine some light on why we need to focus on what we have been given and not feel bad because we do not have the same gifts as another. We are all uniquely gifted and I want to offer some inspiration to walk into that truth rather than think we must be just like, or better than, someone else. To compete and compare is to dismiss the beauty of our own gifts from God and to relinquish the opportunity to say "Thank You" to the one who gifts us with nothing but good. 

To reach out to Stephen Ray Watts, the musician performing "The Perfect Gift" on this episode, go to https://dotseroband.com

The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com

In the second installment of this two-part interview, Annette (AJ) Spurr shares more gems from her book, "The Simple Joy of Seeing God." Those include some of the following high spots. 

The anecdote for fear is focus on God and not our circumstances, according to AJ. She calling on the story of Peter stepping out of the boat and being able to walk on water until he switched his focus from Jesus to the fact that he was standing on nothing but water. She makes the point that people often refer to Peter as the guy who almost drowned by getting out of the boat. But she points out that maybe we need to look at him as the guy who actually stepped out of the boat. 

We also discussed the importance of practicing transforming or renewing our minds by noticing the little things in life that can foster joy and gratitude. By using a gratitude journal, she was able to start seeing and reflect upon answered prayers - more things to be grateful for. Tracking answered prayers is a great way to practice gratitude. 

She talks about the importance of not only practicing thanksgiving ourselves but training our children to say the secret passwords, "Thank You." She challenges us to remember that in order to be truly grateful we need to express thanks to the gift giver, especially God. This leads us to operating in God's economy and being a joyful giver.

To catch up with Annette, go to her website at https://seeinggod.com.au, where you will also find a link to her book. It also is available on Amazon.
 
To reach out to Stephen Ray Watts, the musician performing "The Perfect Gift" on this episode, go to https://dotseroband.com

The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com