Midlife Repurposed

Betty Predmore tells the story of how she reacted in a pivotal moment when she could either blow up or find the humor in it. She says we are able to and worthy of making a change to respond differently from anger.

When a camping trip turned into a seek and find effort to recover their luggage along the highway, Betty turned the experience into life lessons. When things don’t go your way, what triggers you? Life doesn’t always go the way we plan! 

As Betty started a meltdown in the midst of an immensely frustrating situation, she sensed God’s voice, as if he were on her shoulder speaking to her. She heard, “The way you react in this moment is going to make or break your vacation. Choose your response wisely.” 

They had a laughter-filled trip and wonderful memories. But it all hinged on that moment.  

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Sarah Buckland is a Jamaican millennial who is passionately pursuing God and sharing the message he has placed on her heart. But when she pushed herself too hard, she learned how to make rest a priority.

This week’s podcast guest comes to us all the way from Jamaica, and she is a millennial with a ton of ambition and a heart for ministry. I loved hearing about what God has been doing in her life. When we started off, Sarah told me about a couple of dishes that would be delicious to try if I were in Jamaica: Jerked chicken, akee and salt fish. Yum!  

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If you could change something about how your church perceives mental health, what would you change? This week, Robyn Mulder talks about her journey and how she’s helping others find hope for their struggles with depression.

In this week’s podcast, Robyn Mulder shared her vulnerable story of becoming overwhelmed in a new job, having a flare with clinical depression, and how she came to a place where she wanted to harm herself. But what Robyn is known for is helping others process their thoughts in healthy ways. She has learned when to push herself and when to rest. 

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Jenn Uren, the host of This Mom Knows podcast, loves helping women entrepreneurs establish systems. Her goal is to help people get unstuck and move forward with their goals.

Jenn talked about being a perfectionist and also about how she has a fear of succeeding more than a fear of failure. Perhaps you’ve felt that before and wondered, what if I succeed? She talked about something I’ve heard so many people say. It’s that futuristic thinking that once the to-do list is gone, kids are well-behaved, and I have a lot of free time, then I will finally do the things I’ve talked about doing.  

Jenn learned how to shift from the fantasy of  “it’s never going to happen” to the idea of “what can I do?” She started to tack small, measurable things that were within her ability to get done.  

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This week features guest host Phil Rayburn interviewing Michelle for the 100th episode of Life, Repurposed. Enjoy a few laughs as we celebrate!

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She climbed the corporate ladder, but at the top, her heart’s longing was to be at home with her family. Natalie Lavelock tells how she took the leap and left the safety of her job. Now, her message is that your real identity is not in what you do.

Faced with a decision about whether to launch the business she always wanted or staying in her successful nursing career, she learned to rely on God for guidance.   

In our chat, she talked about taking the risk, what was at stake, and how she processed through it when she took the leap. Natalie came to terms with the “even ifs” she says. It was the question of whether she would follow God even if it meant losing everything to follow what he called her to.  

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In my attempt to be “helpful,” I know I sometimes offer solutions when someone else was looking for empathy. If we listen and learn, we might discover the true needs of others and find space for understanding. Will you join me in practicing that skill?

We can’t rescue every hurting person, but what if we practiced noticing the real hurt in someone else? In this episode, we look at how we can be purposeful in our response to others. I give some examples of ways we might heap more stress on each other when we’re trying to help, and then give some examples of ways I’m trying to learn to listen more and fix less.

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In our conversation this week, Susan Macias shares practical wisdom about changing our perspective on mistakes, setting our sights on something other than perfection, and letting God redeem what we thought to be ruin.

Have you ever felt as if God disappeared from your view? This week, my guest Susan Macias and I talked about how the stories of what God has done in the past helps us remember God is there in the present, even if it feels as if he isn’t working. We talked about how to keep our perspective and mindset on God in the difficult times. Susan said sometimes we can make the results into an idol. Isn’t that the truth! She said when results don’t go our way, it can cause us to doubt God’s plan. 

We don’t always know God’s purpose in something, and we might never know. Susan says God isn’t in a hurry. When we’re wondering, when is this going to get fixed? God has it all under control. We can rest in knowing that much. 

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What if you could repurpose family conflicts into personal growth, even if the relationships won’t ever be perfect? This week, Kolleen Lucariello talks about how she learned to see with eyes of grace. She also shares how she’s discovered a secure identity after struggling to find purpose.

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There was a time when Teresa Janzen thought she was disqualified from serving God. Until she realized we’re all flawed people, and God can repurpose our mistakes and set us on a new path when we surrender to him. Now she’s helping others find grace.

eresa talked about how she struggled to restart her life with four small children after going through a divorce. She wondered if God would be able to use her in service to fulfill her lifelong dream to be in ministry. When she realized that we all have sin to deal with, it opened her eyes to see that we wear a false front and aren’t open with others.  

We talked about being honest with one another and not wearing a façade being afraid of being excluded because of sin. We are all broken people, and pretending doesn’t help us move forward.  

“How I began to understand grace was when I encountered other people who were willing to share their story of brokenness and be honest, then I found the courage to share my story of brokenness and then how God restored that.”

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