Are you ever tempted to give into self-pity, bitterness, or blaming God? In today’s episode of the Christian Habits Podcast we’ll learn how to navigate life’s hardships with God’s help.

I’ll be interviewing Joy Schroeder, a delightful and wise woman of God who was tempted by these things when she was paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident 29 years ago.

Joy was a young wife and mother of two small children at the time of her accident, and she talks about how God helped her in the midst of the struggle.

Through God’s grace, she continued active involvement in Chi Alpha campus ministry, home schooled her kids, and developed Tools for Mentoring, a wonderful book that is useful in discipling and personal Bible study.

Joy devotes her life to empowering people to run life’s race unencumbered by needless baggage. She is a voracious learner, loves truth, and loves to laugh. She believes that following Jesus is best done together in authentic community.

After the interview I got to experience firsthand what a wonderful coach Joy is as she helped me out with a problem I was having.

She does do some coaching during the school year, so if you’re interested in that, contact Joy through her website to see if she has any time available.

I know you’ll be encouraged by Joy’s story no matter what you’re going through right now.

I ordered Joy’s book, Tools for Mentoring, and it looks like it has all kinds of helpful resources in it.

The book is over 700 pages long and contains 19 modules you can use for mentoring or personal growth. You can also order the modules individually.

Click on the following links for a sampling of Joy’s material:

The easiest way to listen is to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. If you’re reading this post early in the morning and haven’t subscribed, it may not be available until later today. You can also listen to it on the website by clicking on the little arrow at the end of this post.

To listen and/or subscribe on iTunes: click here.

To listen and/or subscribe on Stitcher: click here.

To see past episodes of the Christian Habits Podcast: click here or check it out on iTunes or Stitcher.

Also wanted to let you know there will be another Taste for Truth online weight loss Bible study starting May 9th. Click here for more info.

The post 25: Navigating Life’s Hardships – Joy’s Story appeared first on Barb Raveling.

Are you ever tempted to give into self-pity, bitterness, or blaming God? If so, today's episode of the Christian Habits Podcast will help. I'll be interviewing Joy Schroeder, a delightful and wise woman of God who was tempted by these things when she was paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident 29 years ago.

Today on the Christian Habits Podcast I’m excited to share an interview I did with Keri Greenaway. Keri lost 45 pounds by going to God for help with weight loss. If you could use a little help with weight loss, this interview will be encouraging!

Here are just a few of the things we talk about on the podcast:

Here are the resources Keri talked about using for her project:

I also thought it would be fun to include some before and after pictures!

Before

After

It was really fun to visit with Keri and hear about her journey. If any of you would like to share how God has helped you in some area of your life, please email me through the contact info at the top of my blog. I’d love to hear your story.

To see a list of other podcast episodes click here.

The post 24: Going to God for Help with Weight Loss appeared first on Barb Raveling.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed because your time, house, desk, and/or life in general is unorganized? Today on the Christian Habits Podcast, Dr. Melanie Wilson will help us get organized.

I asked Melanie if she was a naturally organized person and she said, “No, definitely not!” Instead, she’s had to learn how to get organized and we can learn right along with her. She’s even written a book to help us: The Organized Homeschool Life.

Although the book is directed towards homeschoolers, I bought a copy myself because I noticed that most of the challenges will be helpful whether you’re a homeschooler or not.

The book is 52 chapters long and each week focuses on a different area of our lives that we might need to get organized.

Melanie gives 4 specific steps to take to get that area under control, just the right amount of steps to focus on the what we need to do without being overwhelmed.

You can either do the book in order or pick and choose your chapters according to the areas you need to work on. That’s what I’ll be doing.

Here are a few of the weekly challenges in her book:

On the podcast, Melanie gives us a few tips to get us started. Here are links to some of the things she mentioned in the podcast:

The post 23: How to Get Organized appeared first on Barb Raveling.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed because your time, house, desk, and/or life in general is unorganized? Today on the Christian Habits Podcast, Dr. Melanie Wilson will help us get organized.

An interview with Matt Rial

A recent survey of Christian men showed that 77% of Christian men age 18-30 view porn once a month and 36% view it on a daily basis. It’s a little more difficult to find out how many women struggle with porn, but in 2007, Nielsen/NetRatings found that approximately 13 million American women click on pornographic sites each month.

This is one of those habits that people hate to admit to because it’s kind of embarrassing. But if you look at the statistics above, you can feel safe in knowing you’re not the only one if this is something you struggle with!

My guest on today’s episode of the Christian Habits Podcast has struggled with a porn habit and broken free. Here are some of the topics we’ll be discussing on the podcast:

To listen and subscribe on iTunes: click here

Here are some links to the resources we discussed in the podcast:

Here are some resources I found that we didn’t mention:

Here are some links to blog posts we mentioned on the podcast:

Here are a few of the Bible verses we discussed on the podcast:

I also want to thank Matt for doing the interview. If you’d like to get in touch with him, click here.

The post 22: Breaking Free from Pornography with God’s Help appeared first on Barb Raveling.

It’s that time of year again–the time when we throw caution to the wind, ignore all of our boundaries, and eat, eat, eat! It comes right before the New Year’s resolutions season–when we vow to lose weight, get back on the wagon, and then suffer, suffer, suffer, trying to get those pounds off again.

Here’s my question: is it really worth all that eating when you think of the consequences? Or would it be better to avoid holiday weight gain and stick to our boundaries?

That’s what we’ll be talking about in this episode of the Christian Habits Podcast!

In today’s episode, we’ll be renewing our minds with the Holiday/Vacation Eating questions and a couple of the Bible verses from the I Deserve a Donut app. I’ve included the questions and an example of how I might answer them below as well.

1. Do you want to gain, lose, or maintain your weight on this vacation/holiday?

I don’t know about you, but I’m usually thinking about what I’d like to eat over the holidays, not what I’d like to weigh! This is an important question to ask, though, because it reminds us: Oh, that’s right. If I eat what I want, I won’t end up weighing what I want. Maybe I better be a little careful.

2. What will you need to do to accomplish your goal?

This will be different for each of us, depending on our boundaries. One of my current boundaries (thinking of making it a lifelong boundary) is no sweets unless it’s a social occasion or a holiday.

I was thinking of adding sweets for the holidays since I love Christmas cookies. Then I did this podcast, answered the questions and thought, Wait a minute. If I start adding in cookies, I’ll get out of the “no sweets” mindset and it will be really hard to get back into it. 

So I’ve decided to stick to my regular boundaries. Taking the time to renew my mind (while working on the podcast) made me see the logic of following my boundaries, and now I actually want to follow them.

3. Will eating as much as you want make the holiday more fun? Explain, taking all factors into consideration.

No. It may be fun in the moment, but it’s not fun to a) gain weight, b) dread losing it, c) not fit into clothes, d) feel crummy from all that food, e) be tired all the time, and f) feel discouraged about ever being able to lose weight and keep it off.

4. What usually happens when you eat as much as you want on holidays and vacations?

All of the above, right? When we adopt an “it’s the holidays–let’s eat!!!” mindset, we don’t usually stop at moderate. Instead we eat far more than is good for us and end up discouraged and five or ten pounds heavier than when we began.

5. Do you want that to happen?

No. I don’t think we do. Do you?

6. Will you need to modify your boundaries during this vacation/holiday to make them easier to follow?

This will also be different for each of us. I’m not planning on modifying mine much, although I may have more friends over so I can eat more Christmas cookies. :) (If you’re my friend and I invite you over, don’t worry, I’m not just inviting you over so I can eat cookies.)

7. What do you think would be the most effective boundaries to use?

Again, think about this. You know your personality. You know if you do better sticking to a schedule without changes, or if you would be better modifying your boundaries a bit. Try to decide ahead of time, and not when that leftover pumpkin pie is staring you in the face!

8. Are boundaries easy to follow, or do you usually have to give up something to follow them?

We almost always have to give up something to follow our boundaries. That’s why we have them–because we know we tend to be out of control in that area of our life. Because of that, we should expect that at times it will be difficult to follow them. It’s inevitable.

9. What will have to give up to follow your boundaries this time?

I will have to give up my normal two or three cookie a day Christmas habit and my eggnog and whip cream for lunch most days habit. But it will be worth it! Can you think of any things you might need to give up?

10. What will you gain if you follow your boundaries?

Lots! We won’t gain weight. We’ll feel more energetic. We’ll be one step closer to lifelong maintenance with food. And we’ll feel hopeful. Come January 1st, we’ll be happy we stuck to those boundaries!

11. When you think of what you’ll gain, is it worth the sacrifice?

Yes.

If you struggle with holiday eating, it might be helpful to go through these questions every few days over the holidays. I give a little more info on the podcast but wanted to include the basics here in case you don’t have time to listen to podcasts.

If you’d like more help, click here to read a post I wrote for my friend Melanie’s blog that includes a lie/truth chart with lies, truths, and Bible verses that will help you avoid holiday weight gain.

Discussion: Do you have any other tips for avoiding holiday weight gain?

The post 21: Avoid Holiday Weight Gain: 11 Questions That Will Help appeared first on Barb Raveling.

Questions and Bible verses that will help you avoid holiday weight gain during the holidays.