Do you ever feel invisible—unseen behind the pile of laundry or overlooked in the boardroom? In this episode of Living the Grace Life, we’re asking a deeply personal question: what changes when you truly believe He knows your name? If you’ve ever wondered whether you’ve been forgotten, this conversation is a powerful reminder that you are fully seen, known, and loved by God.

Author and speaker Paige Allen joins us to talk about her book He Knows Your Name and what it means to live from a place of belonging instead of striving. With honesty, humor, and depth, Paige invites us to step out of hiding—from behind performance, expectations, or accomplishments—and into the freedom of being God’s beloved.

Together, we explore how identity rooted in grace reshapes the way we live, rest, and relate to others.

In our conversation, we explore:

Paige Allen is a pastor, speaker, and writer whose hilarious yet deeply vulnerable storytelling disarms listeners and creates space for truth to take root in the heart.

If you’ve ever struggled to find your place or questioned your worth, this conversation will gently remind you of what’s always been true: He knows your name.

"There's something profound about the Lord coming to us and saying, 'Hey, who are you?'”

"We still have to do things. But everything comes across differently when it's flowing from a place of security—that I'm his daughter or son."

“God just loves his kids so much that he comes after us, again and again."

Luke 8:43-48 – The Bleeding Woman receives healing

🌿  Chapter One of Paige's book He Knows Your Name

🎶  Paige's go-to grace song Love Note by Abbie Gamboa

Website: paigeallen.net

Ep. 30 Growing Secure Attachment with God with Summer Joy Gross

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👉🏼Living the Grace Life is the place where real grace meets real life. Host Jennifer Sakata explores how God’s grace moves from theological idea to lived practice in everyday moments of faith, encouraging listeners to experience forgiveness, freedom, and trust.

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Where is God in infertility? It’s a question many couples quietly carry as they walk through one of life’s most painful and isolating experiences. With one in six couples facing infertility, the ache is widespread—but often hidden, especially in faith communities. In today’s episode of Living the Grace Life, we gently step into that question: Where is God in infertility, and how do we hold onto faith when answers don’t come?

Author of Difficult to Conceive, Angela Mackey knows this journey intimately. After enduring two tubal pregnancies, one of which nearly cost her life, along with the heartbreak of pregnancy loss and the emotional rollercoaster of IVF, Angela found herself wrestling deeply with God’s goodness. In her most honest moments, she asked the same question so many are afraid to say out loud: Where is God in infertility?

In this grace-filled conversation, Angela shares how God met her not with easy answers, but with His Presence in the middle of grief, confusion, and longing. Together, we talk about how to navigate the tension between hope and heartache, and how faith can remain steady even when circumstances don’t change.

In this episode, we explore:

If you’ve ever wondered where is God in infertility, this conversation will remind you that even in the silence, He is near. And even when the outcome isn’t what you prayed for, His grace is still at work—bringing hope, healing, and deeper intimacy with Him.

"Grace is like manna—enough for the day.”

"I'm bringing you low so that I can bless you, not to harm you. So you can walk out of this changed and closer to me. - God"

“The only way to overcome the darkness is to go to the Lord with our lament and receive His grace."

Genesis 32:22-32 – Jacob wrestles with God

🌿  Angela's book Difficult to Conceive

🎶  Angela's go-to grace song Abide by Aaron Williams

Website: angelamackey.com

Ep. 57 Finding Grace in Miscarriage and Grief with Ashley Opliger

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👉🏼Living the Grace Life is the place where real grace meets real life. Host Jennifer Sakata explores how God’s grace moves from theological idea to lived practice in everyday moments of faith, encouraging listeners to experience forgiveness, freedom, and trust.

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Fear swept through Washington D.C. during the Beltway Sniper attacks—but inside one elementary school hallway, something unexpected happened.

Today on Living the Grace Life, I’m joined by Cara Shine, author of The Hallway Miracle, to talk about the moment when fear and faith collided. And how even the smallest step of faith can change a life. 

Raised in the Jewish faith and bullied by peers, Cara carried deep wounds that made her wary of Jesus. During the 2002 Washington D.C. Beltway Sniper Attacks, she was paralyzed by fear. But inside her school, the teachers seemed unafraid.

A desk calendar.

These small, ordinary items became the unexpected pathway that helped Cara lay down her fear and begin picking up faith.

In this episode, we explore:

Cara’s journey included forgiving those who bullied her and leaving behind thirty-year-old scars and the belief that she wanted nothing to do with Jesus—and that Jesus wanted nothing to do with her.

If you’ve ever felt outside the bounds of God’s love, let Cara’s story guide you to your own Heneni, the Hebrew word meaning “God, here I am.”

Cara Shine’s story in The Hallway Miracle shows how even small acts of courage and faith can ripple outward, changing lives in ways we may never see.

"Because I wasn't seeking God, I was vulnerable and anxiety found me.”

"Rob and Sharon had this peace in the middle of chaos that didn't make any sense to me. I wanted it too."

“Because of their genuine friendship, I was influenced by their faith until it became mine."

Matthew 22:36-40 – The Shema Prayer and the Greatest Commandment

🌿  Cara's book The Hallway Miracle

🎶  Cara's go-to grace song Shout to the Lord by Darlene Zschech

Website: carashine.com

Ep. 61 Walking in Grace & Other People's Shoes with Neil Matthews

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Living the Grace Life is the place where real grace meets real life. Host Jennifer Sakata explores how God’s grace moves from theological idea to lived practice in everyday moments of faith, encouraging listeners to experience forgiveness, freedom, and trust.

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Anxiety can feel like a deep-down soul weariness that convinces us we’re stuck indefinitely. But what if the anxious soul is not only struggling—but also being invited into something deeper with God? In this conversation, author and mental health advocate Becky Keife helps us see how anxiety can become an unexpected doorway to grace, healing, and deeper dependence on Jesus.

Becky, author of A Verse a Day for the Anxious Soul, brings both compassion and biblical wisdom to the topic of anxiety. Together we talk honestly about what anxiety feels like, how it shows up differently in each of us, and how God meets us right in the middle of our messy, overwhelming moments.

If you’ve ever carried the quiet weight of worry or felt like your mind never fully rests, this episode offers practical help and spiritual encouragement for the anxious soul.

In this episode, we explore

We close our conversation with one of Becky’s favorite breath prayers—a simple practice you can return to whenever anxiety rises.

If you’ve ever lived with the persistent weight of an anxious soul, this episode will remind you that Jesus meets you with grace, presence, and peace.

"Grace lifts our eyes up.”

"I can know a lot of truth, but I have to live it for it to make a difference.

“Living in the 'and's' of life is our open hands to receive God's grace."

Matthew 11:28-30 – Jesus invites us to take His yoke and find rest for our souls.

Luke 19:1-10 – The story of Zacchaeus, reminding us Jesus welcomes us before we clean ourselves up.

🌿Becky's book A Verse a Day for the Anxious Soul

🎶 Becky's go-to grace song I Speak Jesus by Charity Gayle

Website: beckykeife.com

Ep. 61 Walking in Grace & Other People's Shoes with Neil Matthews

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What if Sunday God Meets Monday Mom is more than a book title? What if it’s the invitation your soul has been longing for? In this episode of Living the Grace Life, award-winning author Erin Greneaux joins us to talk about how Sunday God meets Monday mom in the messy, ordinary, beautiful chaos of motherhood.

Have you ever gotten a parking ticket on your child’s field trip? Missed “Muffins with Mom”? Snapped when you meant to stay calm? Erin gently reminds us that grace isn’t earned on Sunday and spent by Monday; it’s a gift we receive right in the middle of everyday life.

As a mom of three girls, Erin has learned that grace is often hardest to receive when we think we must deserve it—and just as hard when we think we don’t need it. In Sunday God Meets Monday Mom, she invites mothers to experience God not in grand spiritual moments, but in the small, unseen spaces of daily faithfulness.

🎙In our conversation, we explore:

💛 If you’re feeling depleted, touched out, spiritually dry, or quietly wondering if you’re doing enough…

This episode offers practical, accessible wisdom rooted in the message of Sunday God Meets Monday Mom, that grace meets you in small, ordinary moments.

"God has something He wants to show you about Himself, especially in the crazy moments.”

"Seeking God in everyday moments trains our brain for how to view life."

“When you train your mind and heart to see God in everyday moments, then you'll see him in crises as well."

🌿Erin's book Sunday God Meets Monday Mom

🎶 Erin's go-to grace song O, Lord You're Beautiful

Website: greneauxgardens.com

Ep. 58 When Grace Meets Special Needs Parenting with Becky Beresford

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I Can Only Imagine became one of the highest-grossing music biopics of all time. In this episode, producer Cindy Bond shares the unexpected, grace-filled journey behind the film and the highly anticipated I Can Only Imagine 2.

Before she became a Hollywood producer, Cindy Bond was raised by her grandparents, came to faith at a Billy Graham Crusade at Candlestick Park, and pursued acting alongside actors including George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer. Unexpectedly, she stepped in to produce a theater show when the original producer quit. What she didn’t know then was that God was shaping her into what she now calls a “media missionary.”

Despite hardship, detours, and closed doors, Cindy’s life is a testimony to how struggle creates empathy--and empathy opens the door to grace.

In this powerful conversation, we talk about forgiveness, second chances, staying grounded in a competitive industry, and the debut of I Can Only Imagine 2.

🎙 In This Episode, We Discuss:

This episode will gently challenge your perspective and invite you into grace beyond your limitations. Cindy reminds us that redemption isn’t just cinematic, it’s personal.

"Struggle creates empathy and empathy leads to grace.”

"We're not just playing church anymore. We're being real. We're being authentic. And these moveis are filled with second chances, just like we need."

“Movies are a mission field. For two hours, we get to pour in hope and redemption to a captive audience."

🌿I Can Only Imagine and I Can Only Imagine 2

🎶 Cindy's go-to grace songs I Can Only Imagine, Even If, It is Well with My Soul

Website: ICanOnlyImagine.com

Ep. 61 Walking in Grace and Other People's Shoes with Neil Matthews

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How does grace survive in the face of deep injustice? In this episode, Jennifer Sakata explores Japanese American Incarceration during World War II and the unexpected grace that emerged from unimaginable loss and trauma.

On February 19, 1942, Executive Order 9066 led to the forced removal and incarceration of over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of them American citizens. Jennifer reflects on this history through personal stories that reveal not only what was taken, but what endured: faith, dignity, and grace.

Jennifer closes with a prayer inspired by Psalm 139 and a call to extend unexpected grace, protect civil liberties, and choose forgiveness over bitterness.

Jennifer ends with a prayer inspired by Psalm 139 and a call to:

"Behind these facts stand the lives of people whose families, livelihoods, and futures were completely and sometimes irreparably upended."

"Many people offered pardon in place of finger-pointing. Because grace always takes a different path."

"Grace compels us to extend forgiveness beyond our ability to give it."

Ep. 36 Don't Hoard Your Healing with Nancy Manassero

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Have you ever wondered what’s really going on behind those smiles? On today’s episode of Living the Grace Life, I’m joined by Joe and Tara Buchanan, co-hosts of the Behind Our Smiles podcast, who vulnerably share how God’s grace met them in the middle of a marriage most counselors would have said won't last, and how healing replaced heartbreak.

In our conversation, we explore:

At the end of the day, grace invites us to wrestle with Joe and Tara's question "We all need fixing, and we all need God to transform us, but into whose image, and into what kind of person?"

Whether your marriage feels strong and life-giving or fragile and exhausting, today’s episode is an invitation to real grace for your real life--the kind that meets you behind the smiles and leads you toward deeper healing and hope.

"Grace is not going to flow when I'm still in my head counting.”

"The source of grace is the Vine. Maybe I haven't received grace from my husband recently, but I've received grace from the Lord and that's the starting point."

“It may not get better tomorrow or next week or next month. But in time, as you trust God, He will lay out the plan. He'll give you the next step. Not the next 10. But if we trust Him with one step at a time, He will lead. In time, we begin to see extraordinary advances in our marriage."

John 15

🌿Joe and Tara Buchanan on Behind Our Smiles podcast 

Website: behindoursmiles.com

Ep. 71 How to Live Deeply Loved | Bill and Kristi Gaultiere

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Do you believe you were meant to Live Deeply Loved? According to Bill and Kristi Gaultiere, “empathy is oxygen for the soul.”  Learning how to live deeply loved begins with receiving and offering empathy in our most important relationships--with God, others, and ourselves.

In this episode of Living the Grace Life, Jennifer Sakata sits down with Bill and Kristi Gaultiere, founders of Soul Shepherding and authors of Deeply Loved, to explore how empathy leads to emotional healing, spiritual maturity, and deeper connection. We often settle for shallow relationships but this conversation shows us a better way forward.

Bill and Kristi unpack how empathy transforms the way we love, apologize, listen, and grow. You’ll learn how to move beyond surface-level interactions and experience the safety, belonging, and freedom God intends for your relationships.

In our conversation, we explore:

As Bill and Kristi remind us: “Truth without empathy is harsh, but empathy without truth is inaccurate. Responsibility without empathy is drudgery, while empathy without responsibility is coddling.” Growth happens when empathy, truth, and responsibility work together.

Listen in and discover how to Live Deeply Loved, and extend that love to others in ways that transform your relationships and your soul.

"We need more than willpower. Empathy helps us go deeper.”

"Empathy plus truth plus responsibility equals growth."

“Empathy is oxygen for the soul."

1 Corinthians 15:10

🌿Bill & Kristi's Book Deeply Loved

Website: soulshepherding.org

Ep. 40 Be Still and Be Loved | Michael John Cusick

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“God’s grace is not flashy or loud; it quietly redeems what’s broken.” In this episode of Living the Grace Life, Bible teacher and author Mariel Davenport invites us into the story of Ruth — a tender, powerful picture of God’s pursuit, redemption, and grace when we have nothing to offer Him.

Once an atheist, Mariel shares how Scripture transformed her faith and how Ruth’s story reveals a God who draws near to the disqualified, the weary, and the empty-handed. Together, we explore how God’s grace meets us in ordinary faithfulness, how community shapes spiritual formation, and how Scripture becomes a living encounter with a pursuing God.

If you’ve ever wondered whether God could really be after you — especially in seasons of loss, doubt, or spiritual dryness — this conversation will remind you that grace is already moving toward you.

In this episode, we talk about:

If you’ve ever felt too far gone, empty-handed, or unsure where you belong with God, Mariel offers a gentle, hope-filled reminder: grace does its best work in unlikely places — and God is already moving toward you.

“God is after the heart of each one of us."

"We are all the ones who have nothing to offer God. But He pursues us and under His wings we come to take refuge."

"God's grace is not flashy or loud; it quietly redeems what's broken.”

The Book of Ruth

🌿Mariel Davenport's Bible Study Ruth: Finding Grace in the Unexpected

Website: marieldavenport.com

Ep. 69 How to Love Your Morning | Jennifer Dukes Lee

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