I’ve missed you and am so excited to be back for Season 2 of Living in the Light! In today’s episode I share some of my own journey over the past year. From making my Broadway debut in Mean Girls, being uprooted from NYC and coming home to Arkansas to later finding out our show would be closing.

We have all experienced loss in this season. It’s real.  But living in the light of Christ we have purpose and HOPE, no matter the circumstances, because we know the end of the story.  We know that in Him we have everything.

JOIN ME for the first episode of Season 2 this coming Monday with Cozi Zuehlsdorff! 

SUBSCRIBE to the podcast to be the first to hear about new episodes each week!

Join my weekly email newsletter for show notes and an update from Laura Leigh

More about Rise Collective Women: community.risecollectivewomen.com

LAST EPISODE OF SEASON 1 and Mackenzie drops the mic in our conversation today!  Mackenzie shares her personal struggle with depression and anxiety and how the Word of God has sustained her through some of the darkest seasons of her life.

Mackenzie is a South Carolina native who has called New York her home for 10 years. She has had the honor of performing on Broadway and tour in the revivals of Cats, Pippin and Anything Goes. She is actively involved with Church of the City NY and she owns a small graphic design business called KenziScript (check it out HERE!).

Sign up for my weekly newsletter here (insert form sign up HERE!)

Want more information about my Bible Study Community?  Sign up HERE to join us!

From a village in Kenya to New York Fashion Week, this is a story of how one woman’s generosity, boldness, and love for African artistry and design brought women from the streets to sustainability in the name of Jesus.

Today you’ll hear from my friend Anna Taylor who founded and runs the nonprofit James 127 and the fashion company Judith and James.  James127 Foundation brings God's hope to widows and orphans through artistry by providing free sewing training to vulnerable women in Kenya. James127 was founded on the bible verse James 1:27 which states, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Through James 127, the widowed women learn to create beautiful products that lead to a sustainable means to provide for themselves and their families.

Anna is an Arkansan and has given up everything here to bring art made in Kenya and the stories of the women whose hands are at work into the light.

Sponsor a Compassion child HERE

Or you can text YOURLIGHT to 83393.  You’ll get a text back with a link to sponsor!

Shop Judith & James HERE

Why does God give us boundaries?

Dustin tells his personal story of growing up struggling with sexuality, not feeling comfortable in his own skin as a boy and the confusion he experienced when it came to understanding his individual interests, passions, and desires.  He shares his journey of searching and experimentation and how it led him to discover that nothing in this world could satisfy him but Jesus.

We talk about the gift of God’s boundaries.  How they are for our good, our protection, and for the saving of our lives. Be encouraged by the reminder that following Jesus isn’t just abiding by a set of rules, it is leaving everything we thought we loved for a personal relationship with our Savior who loves us more than we can comprehend.

“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”

-Psalm 16:6

Join me at the end of the episode as we open the Word of God to Galatians Chapter 3 and talk about salvation by grace and through faith in Jesus.

Want to join my Bible Study Community?  Sign up HERE!

Sponsor a child through Compassion International today!  Just text YOURLIGHT to 83393.  You’ll get a text back with a picture of a child and a link.  Click that link and follow the steps to start sponsoring.

This time has been tough on all of us, but it has and is devastating the poor.  In today’s episode, Keewani-Cook shares her story of growing up in poverty in the Philippines and the hopelessness she lived through as a child. When she was 7 years old Keewani was invited to participate in Compassion International’s child development program at a local church. Through the love, support, encouragement and care she received from her sponsors and program staff, her life began to change drastically.  Compassion was the door to the light of Jesus for her and her family and sponsorship made it possible for Keewani to receive an education, a university degree and an entirely new life.

How can you sponsor?

Two ways:

-Go to compassion.com/lauraleigh and sponsor a child today.  Choose a child and be a part of transforming their life—releasing them from poverty in Jesus name.

-Text YOURLIGHT to 83393.  You’ll get a text back with a picture of a child and a link.  Click that link and follow the steps to start sponsoring.

Join the college girls community HERE

In today’s episode I have the honor of talking to Kate Battistelli - former Broadway performer, author of The God Dare: Will You Choose to Believe the Impossible, and mother to internationally praised and GRAMMY award winning worship artist, Francesca Battistelli.

If you need a fresh drink of faith today, this conversation will remind you that God is a God of the impossible! In today’s episode she tells her story of when she first met the light of Jesus and how the Lord and His Word has and continues to change her life. We talk about God’s patience, developing the gifts He’s given us and having faith and believing that God is who He says He is.

I pray that you leave this episode remembering that God has called you for such a time as this to walk in the light and to rise up and shine!

Check out Kate’s Book HERE

Join my Online Bible Study community HERE

Beth Moore’s Book - Believing God HERE

Today we get to the heart of things.  I am so excited for you to meet my friend and award winning filmmaker, writer, and producer, Alexandra Boylan! 

Listen in as Alexandra tells her story of moving to LA at 19 to become an actress, being homeless and living out of a car, and her journey to giving up everything to the Lord and feeling called to found and create her own production company, MirrorTree Productions, where she has produced numerous feature films. Alexandra is passionate about producing women-led, faith-based films and we talk about her new teen-girl film, Switched, and the heart behind the project - sharing the love of Jesus and encouraging people to lead with love.

“There isn’t anybody you couldn’t love if you knew their story” -Mary Lou Kownacki

Lead with Love Resources

Check out more of Alexandra’s films HERE! 

Sign-up for my weekly newsletter HERE! 

Join the Bible Study community HERE!

At the end of the episode we open the Word of God and learn about the greatest commandment in the whole Bible:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” -Luke 10:27

You are going to love this conversation with artist, author, musician, and internationally loved poet, Morgan Harper Nichols. Morgan’s popular Instagram feed has garnered a loyal online community, and she is the author of All Along You Were Blooming, a book of poems and art she created in response to the personal stories submitted by her friends and followers. 

In today’s episode we talk about the Wisdom of Jesus and the joy found in walking in the light of the divinely creative and loving life He lived. Morgan shares her journey in artistry and the place from which she creates all her work- the grace and hope we’ve been given in this world as followers of Christ.

This conversation will give you permission to create with courage and to let yourself feel and process your deepest aches in the presence of God.

Morgan has also performed as a vocalist on several GRAMMY-nominated projects and written for various artists, including a Billboard #1 single performed by her sister, Jamie-Grace.

Be inspired by Morgan’s art here!

Shop Morgan’s online store here!

Want to join the Bible study community? Sign up HERE

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter HERE

Such a joy to have Kennedy Caughell, my friend and star of the Broadway National Tour of Beautiful the Carole King Musical, on the show today!

Listen in as we talk about the beauty of imperfection and the power and freedom found in having a perfect heavenly Father.  We dive into the topic of prayer and how we, as followers of Christ, are given the gift of communicating with God and being fully known and loved by Him. 

Do you ever wonder -

How do I talk to God?

What is prayer? Why pray?

At the end of the episode I am opening up my Bible to the passage of scripture, Matthew 6:9-13 and breaking down what Jesus taught His disciples about how to pray.

College Girls for Christ Community - SIGN UP HERE 

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter! 

Source Material Referenced: If Gathering - If Collective - {Lesson 3}

We have a Broadway legend on the show today, friends! In today’s episode Quentin Earl Darrington shares his story of being loved by God and carrying that into everything he does and every story he tells. He shares how he has experienced the Lord through developing and bringing new characters to life in some of his most iconic Broadway roles. 

Quentin brings truth and wisdom about what it means to humbly live out the love of Jesus - picking up your cross, dying to yourself, and following Christ. 

Quentin Earl Darrington was most recently seen on Broadway as Agwe in the Tony Award winning revival of Once On This Island for which he earned a Grammy nomination. He made his Broadway debut in the Tony nominated revival of Ragtime, starring as Coalhouse Walker Jr. and was also seen as Old Deuteronomy in the Broadway revival of CATS, among many other roles! 

At the end of the episode I dive into the humility of Jesus as we open the Word and walk through Philippians 2:3-11. 

Subscribe to my newsletter HERE for weekly show notes!