Take These Ashes

When the unexpected rises up, how do we respond?

Mary knew God’s character, she understood His big-picture plan, and she trusted Him with open-handed surrender. Listen to this episode about the Magnificat (Mary's prayer in Luke 1) and hear what we can learn from Mary about trusting God--especially this year. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Luke 1:26-55
• Heartcare at the Holidays (www.heatherlobe.com/heartcare)

Connect with Heather Lobe Johnson on Instagram for prayers and more encouragement @heatherlobejohnson.

Part of the healing process involves grieving, and "going right up to the edge of what you think you can't bear because some of it is so painful to look at." 

Author and speaker Amanda Anderson joins Heather Lobe Johnson for a rich conversation about our emotions, processing past pain, naming the hurts, and ultimately finding comfort for our grief with the God of all comforts.

Show notes:

• 4:11- Amanda's ash story of anxiety, depression, and secondary infertility
• 22:15- On the 12 steps and how Jesus is with us in the pain. "If you don't feel how sick you are, you will never fully appreciate the cure."
• 35:52- Healing from addiction (of any kind) involves naming what hurt us. 
• 38:10- "A buzz is not a boundary." Being fully present and allowing ourselves to feel all of the pain (without numbing).
• 41:00- God calls Himself the God of all comfort, and mourning is the path to comfort.  
• 47:00- What it looks like to feel/examine our emotions as Christians (grief, anger, fear, etc.)

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Amanda's book- All My Friends Have Issues: Building Remarkable Relationships with Imperfect People (Like Me)
• Amanda's website- www.heartintraining.com
• Connect with Amanda on Instagram @AmandaAndersonAuthor
• Follow Amanda on Facebook- Amanda Anderson- Heart in Training
• Heart Care at the Holidays- free guide from Heather Lobe Johnson

When we are bruised and broken, the holidays sometimes accentuate the ache within us.

Our brokenness doesn’t get to take a break at the holidays.

In fact, sometimes these broken parts of ourselves get even louder in comparison to the joy we see around us. Listen to this episode with Heather Lobe Johnson on why it's important to tend to our hurting hearts during the holiday season. 

Show notes:

• 1:40- Heather's own story with grief at the holidays
• 4:08- Why our brokenness doesn’t get to take a break at the holidays
• 7:41- The year Heather decided to finally take care of her own heart
• 8:56- 4 Steps to take care of your heart at the holidays
• 15:14- On grief and gratitude, the paradox of living in this kingdom

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Heart Care at the Holidays- free guide from Heather Lobe Johnson
• Romans 8:18-25
• https://www.divorcecare.org/holidays
• Wheel of Emotions (to help you name your feelings)
• Boundaries Coach- Kerrah Fahbacher
• https://www.celebraterecovery.com/index.php
• Grief and Joy Hold Hands (episode with Thelma Nienhuis)

Rather than pushing grief aside, how can we make space for it? 

This week, Heather Lobe Johnson is joined by Thelma Nienhuis, author of Quiet Assurance: Meditations on Peace for the Grieving Heart. Thelma shares about her own story of lingering grief (in the loss of her mother at a young age, infertility, and spousal caregiving). In this episode, Thelma also:

• helps us find new language to address our grief
• talks about Scripture, lament, and God's heart for our hurt
• shares how grief and joy can coexist
• gives examples of how we can walk alongside those who are hurting (long-term systems of support)

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Quiet Assurance: Meditations on Peace for the Grieving Heart (amazon affiliate link)
• Connect with Thelma on Instagram
• Follow Thelma on Facebook

Connect with host Heather Lobe Johnson for prayer or more daily encouragement on Instagram @heatherlobejohnson.

“We don’t pray because it guarantees a certain outcome. We pray because it ushers us into the presence of God.” –Nicole Zasowski

In this episode, Heather Lobe Johnson and Nicole Zasowski discuss:

• The space between what we thought would be and what actually will be
• Identifying the wounds of our pasts and the ways we try to protect ourselves; restoring love and trust in relationships (including with ourselves)
• Nicole’s struggle with loss and infertility
• How the outcomes of our prayers often look different than what we hope, but how God also knows what we truly need
• The book of Lamentations as a permission-giver to express our grief
• Letting ourselves hope again after disappointment
• And this: no matter how beautiful the gifts are that we long for, our hope is ultimately in the giver and not in the gift itself

Nicole Zasowski is a licensed marriage and family therapist and author of From Lost to Found: Giving up what you think you want for what will set you free. As an old soul who wears her heart proudly on her sleeve, she enjoys writing and speaking on topics that merge her professional knowledge, faith, and personal experience. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two young boys. Nicole would love to connect with you on her website: www.nicolezasowski.com or on Instagram: @nicolezasowski.

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Connect with host Heather Lobe Johnson for prayer or more daily encouragement on Instagram @heatherlobejohnson.

At the end of this week, one of unrest and unknowns, we turn to God as our ever-present help and comfort. Listen as Take These Ashes host, Heather Lobe Johnson, reads Psalm 46 (NKJV and The Message translations) and prays for God to help our hearts be still in Him.

When we’re in the embers, do we run back to the fire, do we stay in the ash, or do we fully surrender to the healing process God has for us?

In this episode, Heather is joined by her husband Ryan who shares his story of how his addiction to prescription pain killers eventually brought Him to the Lord and sobriety. Heather and Ryan discuss the process of true surrender, the need for transparency when we’re struggling, and parallels in Scripture that remind us of how the Lord grows and redeem us through the hardest parts of our stories.

Resources in this episode:

• Teen Challenge Program
• Apologetic books/authors mentioned: The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, Dr. Hugh Ross (Christian physicist), C.S. Lewis
• Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
• Exodus 6 (describing the way God sent Moses to the Promise Land)
• Hebrews 3:19 (“when all the unbelief dies”)
• Joshua 3 (Joshua and Caleb cross the Jordan), Joshua 4 (memorial stones)
• 1 Samuel 7:12 (Ebenezer stones)

Connect with Heather Lobe Johnson for prayer, resources, and daily encouragement on Instagram (@heatherlobejohnson). 

• Genesis 22
• Luke 5
• Prayers of the People (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, intercession)

• Mental Health (OCD, post-partum depression, and suicidal ideation)
• Finding freedom from perfectionism
• Surrender as letting go  
• Learning to see God as tender and as El Roi, the God who sees
• Finding our iron sharpeners, or the safe people who can love us when we're at our lowest and will help point us back to Jesus

• Good Enough book on Amazon; on Barnes and Nobles 
• Wendi's Instagram: @wendinunnery
• Website: www.wendinunnery.com
• Wendi's Podcast: Sooo OCD

Often times when we walk through great loss or change, we cannot go back to how life was before.

So now here in the ashes, we must grieve, forgive, heal, and rebuild.

I hope in sharing more of my story (a continuation here from Episode 1) and the stories of others, you will hear that healing is possible. Rebuilding is possible. And hope is possible again.

In this episode:

Serenity Prayer-

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen." (Reinhold Niebuhr)

Connect with Heather Lobe Johnson for prayer or more daily encouragement on Instagram (@heatherlobejohnson).