Season 3, Episode 1 – An Introspective Coffee Date with Amber Summary – This week I am coming at you with some lessons the Lord has taught my heart so far this year, along with wanting to share the goodness of who He is in all of our lives. I hope you will walk away feeling encouraged and ready to look for His fingerprints throughout your own days, ready to take some time for introspection and perhaps for dreaming some age old dreams. You are valued and have a special role in His Kingdom! Quotes “God gives us all spheres of influence who are tailored to us and then He brings the right people into our lives who need to know Him (and get to know Him) through what we do.” “What are those dreams that God put on your heart and then shaped, like only He can, that you are now able to use to reach other people for His Kingdom?” “We don't have to hold the plan. God had it all figured out before He even breathed the stars out across the night sky.” “The more I bring God into my every day moments, the more I learn His Father heart, but also the more I learn my role as His daughter.” “Nothing is truly mundane.” “Plants are not planted by seed and the next day sprung up to glorious life. They have to grow, to sink their roots down into the ground, do the hard work of pushing up through the soil.” “There is motherhood imagery of God in Scripture, He is described in Isaiah as both a woman in labor and as One who nurtures and comforts their child.”

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Bio- Hillary Bernstein is a wife, a mom of two teens who lives in Northeastern Ohio with her family. She is a women's ministry director and writer. The Tension of Tidy is her first trade chapter book. Summary – The Tension of Tidy is about the tensions we carry as women, maintaining and managing our homes. We all have different pieces of our lives that make our homes a challenge to keep tidy at times (children, full time jobs, pets, etc.). In this episode we chat about this book and how it came about, the ideals Hillary has on her heart with this message and grace to be found in God and His idea for our homes. What we chat about: ~ There are pieces of our hearts that belong to home ~ How do we go about managing the tension in our lives ~ Creation dates back to God creating women in her home (garden home for Eve) ~ Children and their relation to Proverbs 14:4 ~ As homemakers our chores are never truly done ~ Ways to find pockets of rest ~ The aspect of looking forward to chores via having time with God ~ Encouragement to find contentment ~ The equation of John 10:10 in our homes ~ How do inner feelings of not being too much or not enough line up with what is happening in our physical homes? ~ Paying attention to using our homes to celebrate and live into the best things Encouraging quotes -“God created women in her garden home.” “There is freedom in having chores that never end....we don't have to obsess over trying to get everything done, or to be upset with ourselves if we don't. I found a lot of freedom in turning those continual chores over to worship and prayer.” “It can be really tricky to find contentment when we watch other people or when we follow social media at all, if we're checking out Pinterest for these beautiful images for what we think our homes should be, or if we are watching home improvement shows on tv. It can be very easy to start comparing your reality with what we are seeing. It is good to remember that those pictures we see are just snapshots, impossible standards.” “The Lord has placed each of us on our own path, it's unique to each of us. He is doing a very good work in each of our lives, though it is a different work.” “It is so much better when we choose abundance.” “Sometimes when our homes look imperfect, when not absolutely everything is spotless, people will feel more comfortable. You don't have to worry about getting anything on the carpet or anything like that.” “I like to think of our home as a thermometer, I could tell you at any time what is going on in our lives based on what our surroundings look like.” “Unless the Lord builds it, we are doing it in vain.” Find Hillary online

https://hilarybernstein.com/

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Bio- Bella Easterbrook lives in Sydney, Australia. She is married to Daniel and together they have three little boys aged 2, 4 and 6. She attends Hope Anglican church, where she is excitingly watching all God is doing in their congregation! She blogs at Over the Tea Cups which is also her Instagram. She writes about God, the Bible, theology all relating back to everyday life. Summary – This episode takes a slightly different format than our usual interview style guest episodes. Bella and I more or less had a conversation about cultural Christianity and a lot of what that can encompass. What we chat about: ~ Whereas I was looking at it as “American Christianity” versus the rest of the world, Bella helped me to see that really a lot of the western culture is the same in how they approach Christianity, and that maybe it's “the western world” vs other parts of the world. ~ How the physical season relates back to the Church calendar season and how different that can look depending on what side of the equator you find yourself ~ Characteristics of Jesus that line up with differing traits of physical seasons ~ Remembering our call of empathy as Christians ~ The importance of tiers of Christianity ~ Different expressions of Christianity (based on our culture) are important to hold onto, as long as we are also celebrating diversity of our global Christian family ~ Differing cultures worshiping God ~ Rules we have as Christians and their applicability to everyone around the world ~ Motherhood and leading our children into reading the Word ~ Roles of women in America vs Australia ~ God redeems cultures Encouraging quotes -“Jesus is our refuge. Jesus coming into the world is a refuge from the dangers and harshness of our world. You might see that in winter and say He is the refuge and joy and respite of Him coming into the Winter but for me, I see that also in the extreme heat.” “The truth of the gospel is the same always, but the things we value or really notice about God might be different because we are living in different seasons (literally and metaphorically/spiritually).”“God does use all the different seasons, hemispheres and all the different ways that we live and experience things to remind us that He is so much bigger than the little expression of faith that we have.”“If we are not finding unity at the first tier, it is going to be a mess.” “If at all possible, getting involved in experiencing some other (cultural) expressions of Christianity, would be really valuable.” “In Revelation it talks about people of all nations and all tongues. There is this sense that we will get to keep our cultural hertiage in heaven. It's not as if when we are all one in Christ, our culture does not matter. It is still something that is a part of us and we can redeem to bring glory to God.”“When we say Oh listening to your audio Bible isn't really reading the Bible? Well what about all the people throughout history who didn't have access to the Bible like we do today?” “Our own specific way of being a Christian is not the way to be a Christian.” Find Bella on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/overtheteacups_/ Substack

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Bio- Brittany Pennel is a wife of eleven years, mother of a blended family, together they live on a homestead farm in Northeastern Kansas. She is an avid reader, loves Jesus and enjoys using her gifts to bless other people. Summary – In this episode I had the privilege to chat with Brittany all about her ministry goal of “helping women to live a slower life on purpose” (as her Instagram bio reads). What we chat about: ~ We cannot make life slow down and wait for us ~ Physically slowing ourselves down to help us mentally slow down ~ Commercialism during the holidays and other traps the enemy sets for us to take our minds off being intentional ~ There has to be prayer, and intentions and boundaries set ~ Sometimes the rush, rush, rush, go, go, go we experience can boil down to people pleasing ~ Brittany's story of how she learned to slow down ~ Existing as multi-passionate people ~ Setting goals being mindful of our own lives, rather than trying to make our goals match someone else – avoiding the comparison trap ~ The importance of having regular times set up to review your goals and make course corrections if needed ~ We cannot prioritize for anyone else – we have to set the goals that match our unique lives and circumstances ~ The importance of rest and how individualistic it is in all of our livesEncouraging quotes -“This (slowing down and being intentional) is not something that comes naturally or super easy. It is a daily walk and intention we have to be mindful and purposeful of.” “You can go in with the best of intentions and there are going to be times where we end up falling into whatever trap the enemy set for us. … The good news is when we walk by the intentions we have set in prayer God is with us every step of the way and He will help us continue to walk out intentions.” “I feel like there has to be prayer, and intention and boundaries set, otherwise burnout is just inevitable.”“There is a reason we have been given a passion. It might be for today, or it may be for years down the road and He is just planting the seed in our hearts today.” “Me working in my own time and my own strengths is exhausting! If I am not being intentional and walking this out slowly.” “The whole purpose of goal setting is for it to match your life.” “Does this add value to my life and does this serve God the way He asks me to Serve Him?” “If rest was good enough for our Lord, it's good enough for me.” “There are going to be times where we need to rest, no matter how intentional or slow we are living.” “Rest can be a form of worship and spending time with God.” Find Brittany on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/simple.intentional.mama/Resources Mentioned – Cultivate What Matters Power Sheets

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Bio- Lahni is from a rural, “Hallmarkesque” town in Kentucky, where she lives with her husband Clay and their almost 8 year old boy and 5 year old little girl. She is a writer, where she focuses on contemplative faith reflections of what the Lord is doing in her heart and life. She co-runs a ministry with a dear friend of ours, The Accidental Abbey, where they share about Benedictine Spirituality. Summary – In this episode we visit about ecumenical unity in and throughout the Christmas season, where the passion in Lahni's heart came from, ideas for how we can implement this in the communities (Church and family) we are a part of and so much more! I know that you will be blessed by Lahni and the encouragement she brings to this episode. What we chat about: ~ definition of ecumenical (and the Bible verse this vision comes from) ~ the two great implications of the division as Christians (how we view each other, the Churches testament to Christ in the world) ~ Ways in which the Church has been divided in history ~ Division as the greatest weapon ~ Three things which ecumenical unity unites around A professed faith in Jesus, belief that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, receiving Baptism according to trinitarian practices ~ The ways in which we shatter God's image and kill our witness when we cannot get along as brothers and sisters of the Christian faith ~ Celebrating different traditions in the Church ~ Stepping outside our black and white boxes of thinking ~ The tapestry is made when we all come together ~ The beauty of Advent (even in and amid the heaviness advent often is) ~ Facing the darkness ~ The importance of community within the Church Encouraging quotes -“A divided Church does not point to the love of Christ in the world, and if a united Church is a sign that the world might believe that God sent Jesus (John 17), then a divided Church is a sign that the world may not believe that the Creator of the universe sent Christ to save them.” “Division in the Church is the greatest weapon against the world, it goes completely against the vision He gives us in John 17. At the same time, the Church and it's diversity and unity is the greatest gift of Christ to the world. This is when we can really live into this John 17 vision.” “The life and mission of the Church is strengthened when we acknowledge that we belong to one another because we belong to the same Body.”“Unity first starts in our heart. Learning to have a posture in our own hearts and homes as we encounter other traditions...denominations...friends..other people..acquaintances (whoever we come into contact with) who do things differently, that we seek to have unity in our responses with them and let go of our divisive spirit or need to be right or need to hold to such black and white thinking when it comes to traditions.” “The beautiful thing that I have found about Church history is that we each belong to such a beautiful heritage of tradition and faith with all sorts of different practices. If we can remember to keep an open heart, an open perspective in engaging with others, in our personal lives, I think it transforms the ways we see these traditions even if they are different from our own. This might even spark a desire to participate in new traditions.” “Advent is the start of the Church calendar, it's like the Church new year.” “I am going to face the darkness in the world, I am going to face the darkness in myself and at the same time I am going to hold with hope this seed of expectancy - this both and...already not yet – as I move through this season.” “Where two or three are gathered there I am among them. That is not a maybe that is an absolute. If there are two or three gathered in Jesus name, there He is.”“Yes church community is important but when that is not available there are people all around you. There are opportunities all around you.” “There are no denominations in Christ, there is just one body.” Find Lahni on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lahniblair/https://www.instagram.com/theaccidentalabbey/ On Substack - https://cadenceandcanticle.substack.com/Resources Mentioned -Chruch History Titles - *The Great Schism of 1054 * The Reformation BooksAdvent by Flemming Rutledge A Midwinter God by Christine Paintner

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Summary – As with all of our usual solo episodes, this week's podcast is done “coffee date style” where I come to you with whatever it is that is on my mind. This episode touched on a few things the Lord is doing in my life in this particular season, ways I am watching and learning and being present. I hope it'll be an encouragement for you! Things discussed in this episode: ~ Savoring the season ~ Slowing down – walking at the pace of the Spirit and what He is calling us to do rather than stressing ourselves out to the point of panic ~ Just because something did not go “our way” does not mean all hope is lost, does not mean it didn't go exactly as God wanted it to go ~ My testimony of learning to keep the pen in God's hand (rather than my own) ~ delighting in our husbands and children this season ~ Giving our attention to God first and foremost – devoting time to Him this season ~ Pondering on the Enneagram ~ Russian tea (see resources for recipe!) ~ My 2025 word of the year ad the story behind it ~ The importance of learning from each other~ Looking at the genealogy of Jesus ~ The trap of mask wearing ~ Here I am God, use me (and He does) ~ The process of sanctification ~ Pieces of my testimony ~ Being hungry for God – keeping Him first ~ Eating disorder/eating disorder recovery ~ Hallway versus room ideology ~ ministry thoughts ~ How we unintentionally may be hurting the heart of Christ ~ Finding God's fingerprints in the darknessEncouraging quotes -“The enemies job is to steal, kill and destroy. There are times he does it so well, we don't even realize he is doing it.” “It is not wrong to have goals, it is not wrong to have aspirations and things we would like to do. It becomes wrong, when we do it at a breakneck pace. It becomes wrong, when rather than walking by the Spirit (as Galatians 5 teaches), we sprint ahead of the Spirit, because then we are in danger of thinking we know better than God. Then we are in danger of acting like it is our plan and our desires we are trying to attain, when it should be always, ever, only His.” “One can never have enough mugs, or for that matter tea.” “This idea often times found in our churches that we have to have our stuff pulled together and tied up with pretty bow and know exactly why God did that, and know exactly every last answer from God, before God can use us – is absolute utter hogwash.” “We are missing pieces that could bless us from other people's lives if we are waiting to hear from someone who has it all figured out.” “The messiest lives surrendered to Christ, are the ones He can use the most.” “It's the story of Christmas. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever, it does not say: so that those who are tied together, so that those who have their stories pulled together, so that those who have never sinned, so that those the second they came to Christ stopped sinning. It says, so whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” “Let's be those who celebrate the blessing of keeping God first.” “Christianity was not meant to be a solo religion.”

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Bio- Lauren is a wife and mom living in the Northeast, who is passionate about mental health. She is very involved in her church and a ministry she spearheads to help those with mental health challenges. Her “me too” approach of being able to get on the same level with others has helped her walk through the valleys of life with people she ministers to on a consistent basis. Summary – On this episode of the podcast, Lauren Bellows joins me as we talk about the struggles of mental health at this time of year, and every other. Lauren's heart for those struggling with their mental health and her ability to come along side individuals with a “me too” and helping hand is so encouraging! ~ Lauren's own story and how she found her passion for mental health ~ The importance of “me too” ~ The spectrum of different mental health related issues and seasons of struggle ~ Practical ideas on how to help people who may be struggling ~ Grief doesn't magically go away because time has past, Lauren encourages us to reach out to people we know have lost someone and check in no matter how much time has passed ~ When we are not personally walking through hard seasons, we are able to show up for others as the hands and feet of Christ ~ Areas we could improve as a Church ~ Learning to ask people hard questions (moving beyond surface level)~ Being mindful of the “Christian-ese” response and knowing what to do instead ~ Getting rid of Jesus band-aids ~ The right kinds of questions to ask ~ Walking by the Spirit as you decipher reaching out to someone else to get help for someone (and not gossiping) Encouraging quotes -“It is a gift to be able to walk beside people and actually get it.” “A big thing I have noticed is that people who have recently lost someone that they love, that first or second year after, they usually have a lot of people who are like 'oh I am here for you..” and then five, ten years later they don't. I think it's partially because we are human and have more “pressing” matters at hand, but at the same time, the loss doesn't disappear for the people who intimately feel it.” “Has God proven Himself in this before, and if He hasn't how has He provided instead?” “The Church is amazing at a crisis. It is when the crisis ends and we are walking through life and we are not able to drop the crisis, but the crisis doesn't seem like a crisis anymore to everyone else. They really struggle with that.” “I find that it is when you ask those specific questions, people are much more able to say, “you know what thanks, I am actually really not doing well.” “If we're looking for Jesus, if we are looking for answers, entering into people's gaping wounds is where He is going to be found. Not in slapping some pseudo fix, a “Jesus band-aid” on it.” “When we approach spiritual wellness and mental wellness, we have to remember there is a physical component of it.” “Keep reaching out. For people who have struggles, keep reaching out and know that if the first person you reach out to does not handle it well, it's okay to reach out to someone else.” Find Lauren on Instagram @thebellowsbunch Resource - The book Lauren mentioned was Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado

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I am absolutely overjoyed to be able to introduce my dear friend, Rebekah Hargraves, to the show! Bio- Rebekah Hargraves is a wife, homeschooling mom of two, she and her family live on a farm in Tennessee. She is a writer, podcaster, speaker and co-host of our annual conference Women Living Redeemed, all of which she does to Lord willingly encourage and equip women through the truths found in the Gospel. Summary – Being the week before Thanksgiving, this episode is all about gratitude. We aim to take the maybe “abstract” idea of what it means to be grateful and help turn it into something that seems more practical or tangible for our every day lives. Other things we talk about: ~ Ways to inspire our families in practicing gratitude ~ Practicing gratitude in big and small things ~ How to deal when gratitude seems hard to come by ~ Honest, raw conversation about the hard things in life and how it's okay to feel them, to lament them, how we should go to God with them~ Returning to the character and plan of God and the importance of grounding ourselves into it ~ A no from the hand of God is kind ~ Generational impact of God's answers~ The story of Rebekah's year and what the Lord has enabled her to walk through, how she has learned to be grateful through it all ~ The reminder that Jesus felt the pain we do, we are free and welcome to bring our pain to Him ~ When we share our stories we are encouraging others that God is working and that He will work in our lives ~ The Biblical definition of abundance ~ Distinguishing the enemies voice from that of the Lord's and again, returning to God's character ~ The practice of lamenting, writing a lament Encouraging quotes -“To see God's kindness in having them pick up on these things, without me even always being all that intentional has been a comfort to my heart, it reminds me God cares about my kids even more than I do.” “A lot of times we're only happy or content or willing to thank God or to praise Him when we get exactly what we want, but sometimes, what we want that God does give us, ends up leading to some stuff that really isn't all that great. And it's not to say that God wasn't kind to give him those extra fifteen years, but had he died when God originally said he was going to, Manasseh would have never been born, the havoc he wreaked on God's people never would have happened.”“It was eye opening for me to remember that when I am given a no, it's still something to be grateful for. I can't see the big picture, I can't see what a yes would lead to.” “The no is kind. It is not coming from the heart of an vindictive, harsh God, who just wants to steal your joy. It's coming from a God who sees the end from the beginning and knows what a yes could lead to and knows what a no protects you from.” “It is possible to have gratitude in all seasons, God is protecting you or blessing you, or has something big around the corner. That then enables me to be grateful, when otherwise humanly speaking I don't really feel it.” “In those moments we are freely welcome to lament that, because Jesus gets it and He felt that so deeply that He sweat blood. At His core He was so desiring to be able to prevent the pain, to prevent God turning His back on Him when He was on the cross and the sin was on Him. That was the encouragement that I needed...that I am not alone...that Jesus cried too.” “Jesus is a personal God, who weeps with us, who holds us, who longs to get to know us (for us to bring our feelings to Him through these situations).”

“Abundance cannot mean everything is going right, abundant life can't mean I have everything I want at every moment, that is not my lived experienced, there is no way to define it that way. We have third world countries still, we have homelessness, we have all these different things that happen in a broken world. For a while for me, I had to wrestle with that and try to figure out what that actually means . . . Jesus didn't just say it to leave us in the dark to try and figure out what that means. What I feel like the Spirit said to me, is that it's Him, it's His presence, it's the comfort of Romans 8:28, the knowledge that He redeems all things, it's the knowledge that He is bringing good to pass from everything. We never have to go through a situation that rips our hearts out that God does not promise us good in the end.”“That's the abundant life, it is Him and His presence.” “Coming back to the character of God is crucial, whether things are going great or terribly. The enemy is always going to lie to you, whether things are going well or not. He is going to lie and say God is going to take it away tomorrow, or he is going to lie and say you are always going to be in this hard place. Coming back to the character of God and preaching His truth to yourself is so important!” Find Rebekah on Instagram at @rebekahhargraves Her podcast is on Substack as Gospel Shaped-Life Podcast

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We are back for a solo episode this week! In the typical style of solo episodes around here it is very much “coffee date” style discussing things that come to my mind when I am recording. This week that looked a little something like: Ministry notes- specifics on the A Common Cup niche - staying in our own lane- listening to the calling of God - the story behind the new quote images- Substack How to exist in this post-election space- a call to act like Biblical Christians ought to - “Don't stand on issues, walk with people” – Los Whit - An example of walking with people from my own life (as recently as this fall)- The way we really love others - What I hope will come out of the next four years for the Church - Confronting our biases Christmas- My families plans- Upcoming Shop Drop - Giveaway details Baking - A note on being gluten and dairy freeThings I am doing to support myself in this season- Therapy - Tea with Jesus - Exercise This weeks Quote Images: “The beauty of learning to walk with people is that friendship is growing where there once was brokenness, it's that I am learning to love someone outside my own community, is that I am learning to see things from different angles.”“Let's be willing these next four years, and beyond, to take off our glasses we use to see the world, to take apart our biases and to really love like Jesus would.” “We're all sinners. We can love fellow sinners. There is not one sin that is any greater or less than any other.” “If we are not willing to walk with moms who are pregnant and scared and maybe don't know an alternative, if we're not willing to walk with people who love people apart from or different than the Christian ethic, if we're not willing to come along side the less fortunate...are we really loving others?”“I am calling us all to drop our biases, to enter into people's stories with them, to be willing to pick up the broken pieces of peoples stories, to drop this judgmental attitude (beliefs that somehow lead us into thinking we are holier than thou) and to be willing to listen, and to learn and to love.” “If anything comes out of the next four years of our country, I hope and pray it is that we learn to walk with people.” “Seeing the world through the eyes of a child, Christmas or not, is magical.” Things mentioned in the episode you may want to look into: Sacred Refuge book Sharon's Instagram AccountLos Whit Instagram AccountCelia's Instagram AccountGF Jules Gluten Free Flour

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Bio - Lynne Rienstra is a pastor's wife, author, women's event speaker, she serves with Samaritan's Purse. Summary - In this episode with Lynne Rienstra, I had the privilege of interviewing her on her new book Sacred Refuge which is all about finding God as our Shelter in unexpected crisis. God dwells in the midst of brokenness and we as His daughters (and sons) have the ability to hide under the shelter of His wings. We talk about her heart behind the book, pieces of both our personal stories, the process of learning to come to Jesus and more! Resources - Lynne's book: https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Refuge-Finding-Unexpected-Shelter/dp/0825448719/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KXAC1YDBD9XJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.yiLa9Zf91U5iCxPbMLQdtocmrhMEKVYYFqe4y1B1pRV1jr9pQSrWCMuzL-YWRSdOn1mHHVDLrZ1cFBDcpgMaJSef5FoeKDe2INhIV-7tcqFZs60n6pOFzc1xZwMCjpxTBETz2LHk4MYlGKhkw7BR1NN8b9SHxzYNi4OVbU0TwNJ8u73woV0tShsmcPYJhCHAn6OC95_8yqawD_Lsr3c6iwjrLTfDsFrO0dsh8VggaCQ.P-3FQE3OfDztIy77w3aFcf042yTp2Djm6kjRu7wbyvs&dib_tag=se&keywords=Sacred+Refuge&qid=1730998011&sprefix=sacred+refuge%2Caps%2C354&sr=8-1

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