Jo and Steph have been doing the 'hello, goodbye' process for years. In this podcast they vulnerably and candidly share their personal goodbyes and hellos from last year and for the coming year.

Steph shares about how last year's word 'threshold' worked out, and the new words God has given to her for this year: 'priority shift' and 'redefine'. She shares about how she is trying to intentionally embrace the changes with what her work-life looks like and redefining herself as gets married this year.

Jo shares how she struggled to truly embrace God's word for last year 'favor', and made the word for the year 'driven' instead. Listen in to hear how she is trying to readdress that (this time recognizing more of her need for God!) as she embraces the word 'flourish' for 2017.

Check out the mentioned resources:

Grayshot www.grayshot.net

Woman - The Full Story: A Dynamic Celebration of Freedoms - Michele Guinness

Lost Women of the Bible: The Women We Thought We Knew - Carolyn Custis James

Check out and come join us at: www.leadstoriesmedia.com/community

Discussion questions:

1) How do you feel about the 'unknowns' and 'abstracts' of this coming year? Where and how are you tempted to 'white-knuckle' hold-on rather than to step out in faith and trust God will meet you there?

2) Luke 17:33 says 'If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.' - how does this make you feel?

3) Do you struggle more with suffering or blessing? How is that manifested in your life? Do you believe that God wants to bless you, or do you feel you have to earn His blessing?

4) Read the following C.S. Lewis quote from Screwtape Letters that Jo mentioned:

The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring two pence what other people say about it, is by that very fact forearmed against some of our subtlest modes of attack. You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favor of the "best" people, the "right" food, the "important" books. I have known a human defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions.

Where are you tempted to choose what society says is "best" and "right" and "important" over the personal things that make you come alive in your relationship with God? Where do you need to give yourself permission to flourish in those areas this year?

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Connect with Jo at: www.josaxton.com @josaxton

Connect with Steph at: www.pastorsteph.com @pastorsteph

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