Sweet Grace For Your Journey

Episode 170-Managing Disappointment

What disappoints you? Is it yourself? Is it circumstances you think you shouldn’t have to go through? Is what you think God should have done for you think He didn’t? Is it other people giving up on fulfilling their potential? How do you manage disappointments? How do you hang on to God in the midst of some of life’s worst times?

We answer these questions and more by looking at how David, Joseph and Job handled theirs. We also talk about the spiritual truth to help you manage disappointments on this episode. 

Sweet Excuses Book Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/books/

Episode 169-Why Am I Discouraged?

In Psalms 42, King David asked God a question I’ve asked myself many times. “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again— my Savior and my God!” (Psalms‬ 42‬:11‬ NLT‬‬). That’s what we should do, but many times we don’t.‬‬‬‬‬‬

On this episode we will talk about five truths that keep us out of discouragement and allow us to once again SOAR with God. 

Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/

One-on-One Coaching Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/one-on-one-coaching/

Episode 168-Bitter or Better?

What is bitterness anyway? It’s a word we all know, but one that is very hard to define. When we add fuel to our negative feelings, it only exasperates us. We have officially passed anger and have fallen into bitterness. Harbor that feeling long enough and it will become a root of bitterness which can morph into a stronghold.

This issue is a step beyond anger. We feel stuck because we can’t convince the person who wronged us that what they did is wrong and we don’t want to admit we did anything wrong. We are stuck in bitterness. 

All along, God is telling us that He wants the best for us. However, bitterness will keep us from experiencing all the great things God has for us. It keeps us stuck in a recording that plays over and over in our minds. 

On this episode you will learn more about what bitterness is, steps to get rid of it, and how to step into your best life that God has waiting for you.

Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/

One-on-One coaching link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching/

Episode 167-From Stuck to Unstuck

Where are you stuck and what’s causing you to be stuck? I frequently ask my coaching clients that question. Many don’t know, so we have to drill down to figure it out. The big question is why don’t we know where we are stuck or what the cause is?

The simple answer to that is that the enemy of our souls is sneaky. His goal is to put us in a place where we are not living up to the purpose for which God put us here. He’s always watching to find ways to take us down. He knows everything about us because he’s got demons assigned to us that report back to him. So he gets us stuck before we know it.He knows exactly what will put us in situations where we can’t make a move forward. We can’t do anything positive for God because we feel rejected, afraid, discouraged, ashamed, weak, worried, guilty, stressed, frustrated, angry, and alone. He wants us stuck in a pit of despair or a revolving door we can’t escape from.

On this episode we talk about how God takes us the process of becoming free from whatever we have allowed to be our master instead of God. At the end, don’t miss Teresa reading The Place That Grace Built.

Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/

The Place that Grace Built link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/the-place-that-grace-built/

Episode 166-2023 Strong

Every year God gives me a word to define my year. This year that word for 2023 is strong. Weak is the opposite of strong. When we feel weak and ineffective it is because we have given in to the enemy of our souls. We are looking for a quick fix to make us feel better. We are weak and growing weaker.

God’s spiritual truth to combat our weakness is for us to trust Him to give us His dynamic, passionate, persistent strength to stand up to the evil one’s temptations. We are weak, but thank God, He is strong. 

When we submit our weakness to Him and trust Him to work through us, only then are we strong, truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength as 2 Corinthians 12:10 AMP says. With, in, and through Christ and by His strength, we can do all things. We become His conduit of power when we surrender everything, even the foods we eat, to Him.

Sweet Excuses: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/books/

Why God Hates Excuses: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/why-God-hates-excuses/

Overcomers Academy: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/

Episode 165-Coming Out of Shame

This is my coming out party! I’ve come out of the shame I lived in for 30 years, but I realize I never celebrated it. So I’m celebrating by remembering how God brought me out of shame and into the fullness of Christ, how He brought me from death to life. 

With Jan 1, 2023 closing in, I’m reminded that it was  10 years ago on January 1, 2013 when God tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to write my weight loss memoir. I’d been on a transformation journey, being thrilled about losing the next pound, and getting down to the next size. I hadn’t calculated how much I’d lost from my highest weight of 430 pounds. That’s when I figured out I had lost 250 pounds! 

God reminded me that one of the biggest issues I faced back then was shame. Shame followed me everywhere. Others didn’t have to shame me, I did a really good job of that myself. Shame constantly sat on my shoulder berating me, but in the same voice it also told me to eat whatever I wanted because I deserved it. 

I was sure God was also ashamed of me. But, He wasn’t ashamed of me and did not condemn me. He was right there with me in my deep times of despair because I was His. I was in Christ. “Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power[ of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 12:1-2 NLT).

FREE Gift Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/why-god-hates-excuses/

Sweet Excuses Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/books/

Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/

Episode 164-Loneliness 

When we have certain emotions that are negative and bring us down, God has a spiritual truth to combat that. For loneliness that truth is if we are God’s, we belong to Him. We also belong to each other as His family. God designed us to be in relationship with each other.

Christmas is a very special time of the year when we are usually around lots of family and friends. For many, though, it can be lonely especially if we can’t be with family or friends. Loneliness is something we all face at one time or another. We can be lonely because we remember someone who is no longer in our lives. We can be lonely because we feel like we have no friends because no one likes us. We can be lonely because we are hiding from people because of our size. 

We can even be lonely in a crowd because we feel like we don’t fit in, no one talks to us, or no one likes us. Those who are self-conscious about their weight are the ones I’ve heard share about this the most. 

There are many reasons why people might be lonely and feel like we have a huge empty spot in our lives. God doesn’t want us to feel lonely. He wants us to feel like we belong to Him and to others who worship Him. He wants us to know that if we are His, we are never alone. He is with us always. We only need to call on Him and He will answer. “I call on You, my God, for You will answer me;    turn Your ear to me and hear my prayer” (Psalms 17:6 NIV).

Sweet Excuses Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Excuses-Yourself-Losing-Weight-ebook/dp/B0BNWVGPPK/

Episode 163-From Rejected to Accepted

Do you ever feel rejected? Do you long to feel accepted for who you are?

Feeling rejected is a real emotional disturber. It can make you feel like quitting. Why go on when everything you do seems to be criticized and pointed out as wrong?  Rejection, like all the negative emotions we feel, is instigated and encouraged by the enemy of our souls. 

Many times, rejection comes from a person who feels the need to be in control. They feel inadequate themselves. So, when they put you down, it makes them feel like they are better than you are. It comes from this need for many to constantly compare themselves to others.

Rejection really means we aren’t approved or accepted. And guess what accepted means? It means that we are seen favorably and are approved. One is the opposite of the other. The spiritual truth that will help us overcome rejection is all based around feeling accepted. As long as we are His, God will never reject us even if we’ve sinned. His acceptance of us is based on whether or not we have put our faith in His Son, and not in what we have or haven’t done. 

Sweet Excuses Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0986159255/

Why God Hates Excuses Free Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/why-god-hates-excuses/

Episode 162-Why Are You Afraid?

We’ve all met people who seem fearless. They don’t seem afraid of anything. Then there are those of us who are afraid of certain things more than others and those who are afraid of everything. God doesn’t want you to be afraid. He didn’t create you to be afraid because fear keeps us from God’s best. He has a cure for fear.

There are many common fears such as: fear of spiders, snakes, mice, dogs, germs, dirt, contaminants, injections, flying in an airplane, elevators, heights, enclosed rooms or spaces, caves, crowded public places, social interaction, embarrassment, death, disasters, abuse, and many others. We call these phobias, like claustrophobia and agoraphobia. There are also fears like fear of not having enough which causes us to hoard items like toilet paper! Fear of uncertainty and fear of the future.

The things we are afraid is usually because we have had an encounter of some kind with the various things we are afraid of. In other words, they are learned behaviors, but we think they are just a part of our personalities so we don’t really try to get rid of them. God, though, can help us get rid of our fears even though they don’t come from Him.

II Timothy 1:7 AMP tells us, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but He has given us a spirit of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline, abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control.” 

We need every part of this verse to overcome what is holding us back. FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. It’s one of the devil’s most powerful tools. If he can get us to be afraid of even trying to lose weight, he has us stuck. We will stay stuck until we understand what God wants for us.

Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/

Episode 161- Driven by Anxiety

It all begins with a problem for which we can’t find a solution. Instead of handing that problem to God and trusting Him to deal with it, we worry about it. That steals our peace and feeds the anxiety we can literally feel building within us. 

We think about the problem, mistake we made, situation or relationship over and over examining it from every possible angle. We become compulsive about the issue, but we still have no solution. So, we do it over and over again getting absolutely nowhere. Instead of stopping there, we do it again and again and again and again. 

Unless we trust God with the issue, our anxiousness results in nothing being solved or fixed. This repetitive action results in us being driven by anxiety. It makes us feel stuck or caged in to the point that we see things we want to do, but our anxiety keeps us from even trying.

What is God’s cure for those who are driven by anxiety? We must trust God.

Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/