Ready to Thrive

Jon Acuff is a New York Times Best Selling Author, an INC Magazine top 100 speaker, and his latest book Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking. Maybe you don’t consider yourself an overthinking but have you ever considered whether your thoughts are true, or helpful? What if some of your thoughts are actually holding you back, keeping you stuck, and unkind?

In this episode Jon and I discuss the ways the soundtracks we hear in our minds may not in fact be telling us the truth, how to flip the script on what we hear and begin to get un-stuck from the thoughts that are holding us back.

If you want to start identifying the lies from the truth in your life, grab my free Lies vs Truth download! And if you want a deep dive into uncovering what some of your soundtracks might be and begin to walk in the truth, check out my 6-week course Tangled. It will help you identify where you are stuck and begin to walk in freedom!

Have you ever felt disconnected from God? I know I have. Have you ever felt weary in your soul? Yep, also me. Can I share something with you? We all have. Even the most spiritually mature, Christ follower that we look up to on a platform has their moments. It’s not necessarily that we don’t have these seasons of dryness in our lives, it's what do we do in them? What do we reach for?

The world is go, go, go and oh so noisy, but do we take the time to cultivate an intimate relationship with our creator? That in and of itself will breath life into our weary souls.

I loved this conversation with Mo (Isom) Aiken, unpacking her latest book Fully Known: An Invitation to True Intimacy with God. I trust that if you start this conversation dry and weary, you will end it with hope and direction towards the source of living water.

If you want to take some practical steps towards cultivating intimacy with God, grab my course Tangled!

Nicki Koziarz is a first generation farmer, a mom to 3 girls, an author, a speaker, and someone who has walked through incredibly difficult seasons. Her latest book Flooded: The 5 Best Decisions To Make When Life is Hard and Doubt is Rising was written during one of those very difficult seasons of her life.

If you have found yourself feeling like you are drowning in doubt, or life just feels incredibly difficult right now, this conversation will encourage you right where you are at and remind you where you can continue to turn with your questions, your disappointment, and your pain.

If you want to take a closer look at where Doubt has been planted in the soil of your heart, grab my course Tangled!

If you don’t already listen to Ginny Owens music you are missing out! It is like a breath of fresh air. I loved listening to Ginny in some deeply formative years as I graduated from high school and embarked on the process of stepping out into the world and becoming an adult. And recently I have re-discovered her music and realized that she has been writing the songs that my heart needs to hear ever since then. Alongside her beautiful music, I have loved diving into her new book Singing in the Dark: Finding Hope in the Songs of Scriptures.

Ginny knows what it's like to sing in the dark, she has been blind since the age of 3. But darkness for most of us comes through difficult seasons, loss, discouragement, and disappointment. Ginny has had many of those seasons as well. She unpacks what it looks like to choose praise in those seasons of our life and how that has the power to transform us, even in the lowest valleys. This conversation is a must listen for anyone who feels like they are walking through a hard place. I trust it will encourage you right where you’re at.

If you want to take a deeper dive into learning to stay anchored to Christ through life’s storms - grab my course Tangled!

Do you pay attention to the words you’re saying over yourself? Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Yet so often we just let words slip out of our mouth subconsciously, and habitually. Are we aware of what we’re declaring over ourselves? Are we aware of how we are limiting ourselves and what God wants to do in our lives? How are the words we use keeping us stuck and limited?

If you want to take a deeper dive in getting to the heart of where these words are coming from, grab my Tangled course or my free Lies vs Truth download!

Offence seems to be the new normal. (And yes that’s how we spell offence in Canada in case I offended you ;) All joking aside, offence is so commonplace it doesn’t even seem wrong most of the time. We accept it as a normal way of living. And when we are offended in a situation we think nothing of repeating that offence to others.

But have you ever stopped to think about what that is doing to your heart? I think we long for peace, we long for joy, we long for a settledness in our heart instead of a low lying hum of anxiety. But what are we planting there?

If you want a deeper dive into getting un-offended, check out my 6-week course, Tangled, to help you get to the root of what is really going on in your heart and begin to live freely and lightly!

Do you ever feel like you’re not exactly where you want to be in your life? Do you ever feel stuck or behind? Me too! Let’s throw off some mindsets that aren’t helping us move forward in life and renew our mind! One of the theme verses for Ready to Thrive is Romans 12:2 which says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

We can’t change everything in our lives, but we can make some decisions today to move forward in places we feel stuck.

And if life has you feeling Tangled - check out my online course to break free in 6 weeks! Here’s what women are saying - “I wish I had done this course years ago. I strongly urge you to take this course if you feel weary and need rest for your soul!”

And if you feel like you are itching to run in your life, you know there’s something more you want to be doing with your life - check out my new course Ready to Rise!

What do you do when life throws you a curveball? What do you do when things don’t go the way you planned? Are you sick of hearing the word pivot yet? 2020 was the year of the “pivot” and I don’t think it’s over anytime soon! And as uncomfortable as the pivot can be when we’re walking through it, sometimes it is the very best thing for us. (Of course we often only notice that in hindsight!)

I loved sitting down with my new friend Jen to discuss how her life has pivoted over the last 10 years. If you’re feeling discouraged by the curveballs that life has thrown you in this past season, listen in and be inspired and encouraged! This may not be where you planned to be friend, but maybe its an uncomfortable stepping stone leading to somewhere significant! And speaking of significant, Jen is also launching her podcast, The Significant Life, along with her husband Marcus. If you were encouraged by hearing her story today, this is a great place to hear more from Jen!

Jen Jones is an author, a speaker, a course creator, a podcaster and a health coach. Not to mention a busy mom of 4, wife and cheerleader of women! She has a deep heart for helping women overcome the places in their lives where they are stuck and I have a feeling this podcast will help shift something in your own life.

And I want to help you get unstuck! I created a 6-week course to help you move from surviving to thriving! Check out my Tangled course that helps you get to the root of what is really going on in your heart. (psst, its on sale this week!)

Jennifer and I first met over email when she rejected my first book proposal. And then we met over zoom where she rejected my second book proposal. Talk about growing slow! I gave her a hard time about that during our conversation. She is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. And, she has learned a lot about what is looks like to burnout despite great boundaries.

She has learned firsthand what it looks like to slowly watch your dreams become reality. She is the author of multiple books, including her latest, Growing Slow: Lessons on Un-hurrying Your Heart From an Accidental Farm Girl. I don’t know about you but I always want to grow fast. I want instant everything. But sometimes the pursuit of the fast and furious lifestyle leaves us empty, and just, well, tired.

This conversation is about so much more than parenting! It’s about the heart. It’s about finding freedom from the swirl of lies going on in your heart and your mind. It’s about replacing those lies with truth and finding clarity in who God is and how He sees you.

Crystal Paine is a mom of 4, a foster mom, a New York Times Best Selling Author, and the successful business woman behind themoneysavingmom! Phew! But a few years ago she found herself in a parenting crisis when one of her kids nearly got expelled from school and became suicidal. Something had to change. Something had to get fixed. Crystal wanted the 3-step plan and instead, she found that she was the one being healed. She had been parenting from a place of performance, not love. Her own heart needed to be loved by God before she could begin to love her kids in a way that would heal them.

If this deeply resonated with you, check out my free Lies vs Truth download. Or for a deeper dive, why not start the healing journey of your own heart through my course Tangled. It’s a 6-week program to take you through the healing of your heart. And if you want some ready-for-you bedtime prayers to begin speaking life and truth over your kids at bedtime, grab my free Bedtime Prayers Resource!