You may know Thomas Rhett from his incredible country music career or Lauren from her beloved Live in Love podcast or book, but I want you to get to know (and hear) their deep faith today.

When they called me and said, “We want to tell the story of what God did in our lives last year,” I knew we had to share it. As we talk about prayer this month, I want you to hear what perseverance and obedience in prayer looked like in their lives through this story. 

Last year, they spent 6 weeks living in Uganda after sensing God telling them that’s what they were supposed to do, and it wasn’t the trip they imagined. At all.

You’re going to hear the entire story along with their journey over the last couple years of trying to figure out if they should grow their family (spoiler alert: Lauren is due any minute with their 5th!). 

In these two episodes, you'll hear the power of prayer, the way God speaks when we make space to listen for His voice, the reminder that we’re never alone, and the reality that obedience to God is never promised to be easy. You’re not going to want to miss part 2 coming your way on Thursday. 

And remember, head over to spirituallystronger.com today where we’re processing what perseverance and obedience in prayer looks like in our lives. 

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NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

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You may remember Pete Greig when he was on our last prayer series here on That Sounds Fun. He’s an author and founder of the 24/7 prayer movement, and y’all have heard me reference the daily devotional Lectio365 so many times- he's the co-host of that! I LOVE it.

Today we’re talking about Pete’s recent 3 month sabbatical, how time with God and prayer shifted for him and his wife during those months, what they learned from it, and how prayer impacts our relationship with God. I also got to ask him what we do when God doesn’t answer our prayers.. and I think Pete’s wisdom in his response is SO helpful. 

I can’t wait for you to hear this, and I would love for you to keep talking to us about this episode over on Substack! You can find today’s post and questions over at spirituallystronger.com!

Find the show notes here

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Thank you to our sponsors!

NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

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Today on the show, I get to keep talking with our buddy Eddie Kaufholz. A new year and new us… we’re talking about mice, the Winter Olympics, The Golden Globes, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Will Arnett...and then a **special announcement** I think you’re absolutely going to love! You don't want to miss this one! 

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On a related note... TheBuddiesTour.com

Find the show notes here

Want to watch this episode? Watch on your Spotify App, or head on over to our YouTube Channel and be sure to like and subscribe! 

We have a Substack now! Find it at spirituallystronger.com.

Sign up to receive the AFD Week In Review email and ask questions to future guests!

. . . . .

Thank you to our sponsors!

NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

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We are going to spend the next 5 weeks talking about prayer, and Christine Caine is here to help us kick off that conversation. If we’re going to be spiritually stronger in a world we cannot control, we have got to get serious about prayer. Chris is going to fire you up today about your prayer life! We talk about her prayer life as an activist, her turning 60 this year and continuing to run her race harder, olive trees, and what Jesus tells the disciples to pray for in Matthew 9. You don't want to miss this one! 

She also has a new book coming out  on February 10th called The Faith to Flourish which is perfect for what we’re talking about right now. You’re going to want to preorder your copy today! 

We want our miniBFFs to learn about prayer today too, so parents, there’s a brand new episode for them today over on the miniBFF podcast.

We also will continue this conversation and I’ll tell you some of my over on our Substack. You can find that at spirituallystronger.com.

Find the show notes here

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Thank you to our sponsors!

NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

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This is Kevin Queen's 10th time on That Sound Fun which basically means he just lapped Hall of Fun status twice!! Today he’s helping pastor us as we get started on this journey to become spiritually stronger. We talk about one of the tensions you might face as we get started talking about spiritual disciples and rhythms. We don’t want any of this to feel like things you need to check off in order to earn something from God, and Kevin has a really helpful way for us to keep that in check.

Then we’re going to talk about journaling. If we’re going to spend 18 months talking about ways to get spiritually stronger, what if we document what God’s doing all the way through?

Kevin’s a big journaler (I am too), so we talk about his process, how he spends his time with God, and the journaling system that works for him. Remember, none of this is meant to be prescriptive. We’re not asking you to adopt the same plan that every guest uses or that I use. These are descriptive, so you get an idea and take it to God to decide how you want to grow with Him.

We also will continue this conversation (and I’ll tell you some of my favorite journaling tips) over on our Substack. We’d love to hear from you in the comments there too.  You can find all of that at spirituallystronger.com!

Find the show notes here

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Thank you to our sponsors!

NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

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Today on the show, I get to talk to my friend—and one of our spiritual mothers and mentors—Beth Moore. We talk about her experience with her surgeries and recoveries last year and learning how to 100% lean on the Lord, and what it looks like to grow with God and sit with Him everyday. Plus, we got to talk about her new study: Walking with God. She’s created this study to help us understand what it looked like to walk with God in different eras of Scripture. It’s fascinating.

I think this conversation is SO helpful as we start talking about the small, daily habits we can lean into this year to increase our spiritual strength.

View the show notes here

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In case you missed it, we have a brand new Substack! If you’re not familiar with what that is, it’s like a blog… so if you’ve been around THAT long, you may remember the ole’ AnnieBlogs days. Over on the substack, after every episode, you’ll find a deeper dive from me and the team where we’re talking more about that episode, offering some encouragement as you process, and giving you questions to go through. There’s also some additional resources that will be suggested if you want to really dive into whatever it is we’re discussing that episode. Our invitation to you is this: give us one hour a week listening to the podcast and 10 minutes a day answering the questions on the Substack. We think this practice will help you kick start a journey of getting spiritually stronger this year. The first post on our substack (from the Epiphany episode) is free to read so you can check it out, but after that, the subscription is $5/month. You can find it at spirituallystronger.com!

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Thank you to our sponsors!

NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

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Last year we spent the entire year talking about the seasons—how they impact us both physically and spiritually—and how our life seasons change so often without warning.

We see it all around us. Things are changing SO quickly. So much feels unpredictable, a little unsteady, often hard to understand. And I just keep coming back to this reality: in a world we can’t control, we can be spiritually stronger.

That’s why our theme on That Sounds Fun for the next 18 months is exactly that—Spiritually Stronger.

We’re going to lean in together. Not with pressure or perfection, just with intention. We’re going to talk about the spiritual disciplines: prayer, fasting, reading scripture, worship, and celebration.

And after you listen to each episode, we’re going to give you a way to go a little bit deeper every single day. We’re launching the Spiritually Stronger Substack, where you’ll be able to find a way to reflect on the topic for the week, things to pray through, and resources to help you apply what you’ve heard.

What if you gave one hour a week and ten minutes a day to getting spiritually stronger this year? To building the kind of spiritual muscles that help you stand steady and stay hopeful in an ever-changing world.

Make sure you’re subscribed to That Sounds Fun so you don’t miss an episode and go subscribe to our brand new Spiritually Stronger Substack. We’re basically taking the fun of a guidebook to a place where we can all do it together!

Head to spirituallystronger.com to subscribe to our brand new substack!
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NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

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If you are new around here, we have a yearly tradition today, January 6th. Epiphany. The tradition of you and I just chatting. The last day of Christmastide. Day 12 of the 12 days of Christmas.

This Epiphany episode is the only time all year that I sit in this podcast studio alone. It matters to me that y’all know this. It matters because, in part, I want today to feel like a one on one conversation, like we’re getting coffee. Except you know me, I’m drinking tea.

In December, Emily P. Freeman joined us on the podcast and gave us a few leading questions for shaping our year. As I thought about this episode today, there are two questions, inspired by Emily, I want to answer for you:

What are we stopping this year? 

What are we starting this year? 

These are not just for That Sounds Fun podcast, this are for all things AFD Inc- from my writing, to speaking, to podcasting. I want to give you a full view of what God might be up in 2026 to through the work my team and I get to do and make.

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Join our NEW Substack Here!

Find the show notes here

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This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp: Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/thatsoundsfun.

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NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

#thatsoundsfunpodcast

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In this final installment of 2025 we get to Keep Talking WITH ALL OF YOU-- ALL OF OUR BUDDIES! We got to do a live call-in show so a bunch of you got to pop in and ask your questions and loved every minute. It went exactly the way you thought it would. Things were unhinged for a bit… And before we started we even had a conversation about toilet seats. And Wicked. You’re in for a treat.

Come tell us your thoughts over on instagram: @thatsoundsfunpodcast

If you’re following along in your TSF Seasons Guidebook, you’ll find your LAST note-taking page on page 133.

Find the show notes here

Have a great week, the New Years, and we’ll see you back here in 2026! We’ll be back on Tuesday (not Monday) but Tuesday, January 6th for our annual Epiphany episode.

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Want to watch this episode? Watch on your Spotify App, or head on over to our YouTube Channel and be sure to like and subscribe! 

. . . . .

Sign up to receive the AFD Week In Review email and ask questions to future guests!

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. . . . .

Thank you to our sponsors!

NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

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Y’all, we have spent an entire year talking about the impact of the seasons on our spiritual, emotional, and physical lives. A whole year working through things in our TSF Seasons Guidebook. Sooo many brilliant friends have joined us to mentor us through the winter, spring, summer, and fall and now we’ve circled all the way back. It’s cold outside again. The snow is on the ground again for some of you. The days are darker outside. And we’ve made it. On December 21st, winter begins and we will have officially finished our lap through all four seasons. 

Today, there was only one person who could help us end what we started and that’s the pastor that made us all so curious about what God does in seasons. If you haven’t heard Episode 851 about the season God has you in with Pastor Banning Liebscher, I would love for you to go back and listen to that. It was the conversation that started this whole year doing a deep dive about seasons.

Today, we’re going to talk about what we’ve seen God do across the world this year and the way He’s worked in seasons in our lives—the ones that passed quickly and the ones that lasted longer than we hoped. And then we’re going to talk about which spiritual discipline Banning thinks we need to lean into in 2026 as he looks at the state of the church right now.

In your TSF Seasons Guidebook, we’re on page 130, so get those note-taking pages ready. 

Find the show notes here

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If you enjoyed this episode, I think you’d also love Episode 973 with Jon Tyson.

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Thank you to our sponsors!

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NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends.

Sign up to receive the AFD Week In Review email and ask questions to future guests!

#thatsoundsfunpodcast

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