The Heartlifter Way

What if the wilderness is not a sign of God's absence—but an invitation to encounter Him in a deeper way?

In this thoughtful and soul-stirring conversation, Janell sits down with Old Testament scholar, spiritual director, and author Noel Forlini Burt to explore the sacred role of the desert throughout Scripture and our own lives. Drawing from her book, God in the Desert: A Spiritual Theology of Wilderness in the Old Testament, Noel invites us to reconsider seasons of uncertainty, silence, waiting, and spiritual disorientation.

Together, they discuss the difference between wilderness and punishment, how God meets us in places of vulnerability, and why the desert may be a place of transformation rather than something to escape. They also explore a powerful question many of us are asking:

How do we discern the difference between being in a season of wilderness formation and simply being chronically exhausted or living in survival mode?

If you've ever felt like God has gone quiet, wondered whether your difficult season has a purpose, or longed to find meaning without rushing the process, this conversation offers a gentle invitation to slow down, listen deeply, and discover the gifts hidden within the wilderness.

• Why wilderness is often a place of formation, not punishment
• How to recognize God's presence in seasons of uncertainty
• The spiritual gifts of silence, solitude, and waiting
• Hagar's wilderness story and what it reveals about the heart of God
• Wilderness formation versus survival mode
• Why we don't need to rush healing or force meaning from our pain
• How the desert invites us into deeper trust, presence, and becoming

Whether you're walking through a season of grief, transition, unanswered questions, or spiritual dryness, this conversation reminds us that God is often doing His deepest work in places we least

In this episode, we explore: Why wilderness is often a place of formation, not punishment
• How to recognize God's presence in seasons of uncertainty
• The spiritual gifts of silence, solitude, and waiting
• Hagar's wilderness story and what it reveals about the heart of God
• Wilderness formation versus survival mode
• Why we don't need to rush healing or force meaning from our pain
• How the desert invites us into deeper trust, presence, and becoming

Whether you're walking through a season of grief, transition, unanswered questions, or spiritual dryness, this conversation reminds us that God is often doing His deepest work in places we least expect.

Because sometimes the wilderness is not where we lose our way.

Sometimes it's where we find God.

🌿 Connect with Noel Forlini Burt

• Website: Noel Forlini Burt Website
• Substack: Noel Forlini Burt on Substack
• Book: God in the Desert: A Spiritual Theology of Wilderness in the Old Testament (IVP Academic)
• Author Page: God in the Desert (IVP Academic)

🌿 Connect with Janell Rardon & Heartlift Wellness

• Website: janellrardon.com
• Instagram: @janellrardon
• Substack: Heartlift Wellness
• YouTube: Heartlift Wellness

Part 2 of Janell's conversation with Mary Van Geffen, author of "Parenting a Spicy One," invites you into a deeply healing and empowering conversation on what it means to embody your royal stance.

So many women move through life disconnected from their inherent worth, shrinking themselves beneath the weight of comparison, fear, people-pleasing, or emotional exhaustion. But what if reclaiming your voice, posture, and presence is part of your healing journey?

In this soul-stirring episode, Janell and Mary explore:


• reclaiming your God-given identity


• healing the inner narratives that diminish your confidence
• learning to stand with grounded feminine strength


• embodying emotional maturity, courage, and self-trust


• what “royal stance” truly means in everyday life.

Together, they unpack how healing is not simply something we think about — it’s something we embody.

This conversation is an invitation to awaken, heal, and remember the woman you truly are.

You were never meant to live small.

You were created to stand tall in grace, wisdom, and wholehearted presence.

Listen now and begin embodying your royal stance.

Mary Van Geffen is an international parenting coach, author of Parenting a Spicy One, and creator of Moms of Spicy Ones®. She helps parents stay calm, kind, and firm while raising strong-willed, deep-feeling children through connection-based parenting and nervous system awareness.

• Website: ⁠Mary Van Geffen Website⁠
• Contact Page: ⁠Contact Mary Van Geffen⁠
• Instagram: @maryvangeffen
• Linktree (newsletter, programs, quizzes, resources): ⁠Mary Van Geffen⁠
• Book Page: ⁠Parenting a Spicy One Book Page⁠

Grab hold of all Janell's resources:

• Website: ⁠JanellRardon.com⁠
• Substack: ⁠Heartlift Wellness on Substack⁠
• YouTube Channel: ⁠Heartlift Wellness YouTube⁠
• Podcast: ⁠The Heartlifter Way with Janell on Apple Podcasts⁠
• Instagram: @janellrardon

What if your strong-willed child isn’t a problem to fix—but a person to deeply understand?

In this compassionate and honest conversation, Janell sits down with parenting coach and author Mary Van Geffen to talk about raising “Spicy Ones”—deep-feeling, wonderfully strong-willed children who often challenge traditional parenting approaches.

Together, they explore why parenting these children can feel so emotionally intense, how nervous system regulation changes the atmosphere of the home, and why connection matters more than control. Mary shares gentle wisdom for mothers who feel exhausted, reactive, or discouraged, offering a more compassionate and grounded way to parent without dimming a child’s light.

This episode is for the mother who feels overwhelmed by power struggles, weary from trying to “get it right,” or longing for a gentler way to love and lead her family.

In this episode, we discuss:
• What it means to parent a “Spicy One”
• Gentle parenting and nervous system regulation
• Connection over control
• Parenting strong-willed and deep-feeling kids
• Healing while parenting differently than you were parented
• How motherhood reveals our own need for grace and gentleness

You are not failing because your child is intense.
You may simply be invited into a different kind of parenting.

Mary Van Geffen is an international parenting coach, author of Parenting a Spicy One, and creator of Moms of Spicy Ones®. She helps parents stay calm, kind, and firm while raising strong-willed, deep-feeling children through connection-based parenting and nervous system awareness.

• Website: Mary Van Geffen Website
• Contact Page: Contact Mary Van Geffen
• Instagram: @maryvangeffen
• Linktree (newsletter, programs, quizzes, resources): Mary Van Geffen
• Book Page: Parenting a Spicy One Book Page

Grab hold of all Janell's resources:

• Website: JanellRardon.com
• Substack: Heartlift Wellness on Substack
• YouTube Channel: Heartlift Wellness YouTube
• Podcast: The Heartlifter Way with Janell on Apple Podcasts
• Instagram: @janellrardon

In this gentle conversation with Elizabeth Berget, author of "Love Like a Mother: How the Sacred Work of Motherhood Reveals the Maternal Heart of God," we continue exploring how enlarging our understanding of God’s maternal tenderness can transform the way emotionally weary women experience faith, healing, and belonging.

Together, we reflect on the sacred work of nurturing, caregiving, carrying, comforting, and remaining present through suffering—and how these deeply human experiences mirror the compassionate heart of God.

This conversation invites us to move beyond harsh or striving images of spirituality and rediscover a God who gathers, comforts, nourishes, and stays near to the weary.

If you have ever longed to experience God as safe, gentle, emotionally present, and compassionate, this episode offers a healing invitation into a more embodied and tender faith.

Because perhaps divine love has always been more nurturing, attentive, and compassionate than we realized.

🤍 The Heartlifter Way

Visit Elizabeth's website and order her powerful book: ⁠Elizabeth Berget⁠

Visit Janell's revised and revitalized website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness⁠⁠⁠⁠

Join a community of thoughtful women on The Heartlifter Way: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness on Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠

Order Janell's most recent book:⁠⁠⁠⁠ Stronger Every Day

"All of us are born with a deep need of mothering."

-Elizabeth Berget

In this tender and deeply meaningful conversation, Janell sits down with Elizabeth Berget to explore the sacred, unseen work of motherhood and how it reflects the nurturing, compassionate heart of God.

Together, they talk about the beauty and exhaustion of caring for others, the quiet sacrifices mothers make, and the ways motherhood shapes us spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.

Whether you are a mother, have been mothered, or are longing for deeper healing and connection, this episode offers a gentle invitation to see love, presence, and caregiving through a sacred lens—and to discover the maternal heart of God woven through it all.

🤍 The Heartlifter Way

Visit Elizabeth's website and order her powerful book: Elizabeth Berget

Visit Janell's revised and revitalized website: ⁠⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness⁠⁠⁠

Join a community of thoughtful women on The Heartlifter Way: ⁠⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness on Substack⁠⁠⁠

Order Janell's most recent book:⁠⁠⁠ Stronger Every Day

What if your body has been trying to tell you something?

In this gentle Mental Health Awareness Week conversation, Janell explores the quiet connection between emotional health, the nervous system, and the body’s wisdom.

Through her personal cardiac healing journey and reflections on somatic awareness, “Listen to the Quiet Language of Your Body” invites emotionally weary women to slow down, notice their limits, and begin listening with compassion instead of shame.

Your body is not your enemy.

It may be carrying stories that need tenderness, rest, and healing.

🤍 The Heartlifter Way

Visit Janell's revised and revitalized website: ⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness⁠⁠

Join a community of thoughtful women on The Heartlifter Way: ⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness on Substack⁠⁠

Order Janell's most recent book:⁠⁠ Stronger Every Day

What does it mean to surrender during a healing journey?

In this gentle Mental Health Awareness Week conversation, Janell shares how her cardiac event became an invitation to stop striving, slow down, and listen to what her body and soul truly needed. “Healing Requires Surrender” explores the courage to release pressure, honor limits, and allow healing to happen slowly, honestly, and gently.

If you are emotionally exhausted from trying to hold everything together, this episode is a reminder:
You do not have to carry life alone.

🤍 The Heartlifter Way

Visit Janell's revised and revitalized website: ⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness⁠⁠

Join a community of thoughtful women on The Heartlifter Way: ⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness on Substack⁠⁠

Order Janell's most recent book:⁠⁠ Stronger Every Day

"Rest is anything that connects your mind and body" (Tricia Hersey, The Nap Ministry

In this tender Mental Health Awareness Week conversation, Janell shares the hard-earned lesson her cardiac healing journey taught her: rest is not weakness. “Napping is Holy Work” explores the guilt many women carry around slowing down, the wisdom of listening to our bodies, and the sacred invitation to heal gently. If you are emotionally weary, exhausted, or struggling to give yourself permission to rest, this episode offers compassion, hope, and a softer way forward.

🤍 The Heartlifter Way

Visit Janell's revised and revitalized website: ⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness⁠⁠

Join a community of thoughtful women on The Heartlifter Way: ⁠⁠Heartlift Wellness on Substack⁠⁠

Order Janell's most recent book:⁠⁠ Stronger Every Day

Strong women need rest, too.

Rest is not weakness.

Rest is wisdom.

Your body was never designed to carry endless pressure without care, restoration, and gentleness.

This Mental Health Awareness Week, may we release the guilt around slowing down and remember: healing often begins with rest.

Visit Janell's revised and revitalized website: ⁠Heartlift Wellness⁠

Join a community of thoughtful women on The Heartlifter Way: ⁠Heartlift Wellness on Substack⁠

Order Janell's most recent book:⁠ Stronger Every Day

In this opening episode of our Mental Health Week Series, Janell invites emotionally weary women into a gentler way of carrying life. Together, we explore the quiet exhaustion so many women hold beneath the surface while trying to stay strong enough for everyone else.

This conversation offers compassionate encouragement, emotional honesty, and spiritually grounded hope for women longing to be seen, supported, and less alone.

If your heart feels heavy, overwhelmed, or tired from carrying too much in silence, this episode is a reminder that healing begins when we stop pretending we have to carry life alone.

Visit Janell's revised and revitalized website: Heartlift Wellness

Join a community of thoughtful women on The Heartlifter Way: Heartlift Wellness on Substack

Order Janell's most recent book: Stronger Every Day