The Purpose Project Podcast

Have you ever given someone a terrible gift? Not because you didn't care, but because you didn't really know them? Understanding how someone is wired isn't just a nice thing to do. It's the starting point for actually loving people well. In this episode, I sit down with Marita Littauer,  bestselling author, speaker, and teacher of the Personalities framework, to mark the 20th anniversary of the publication of her book, Wired That Way. We talk about what it means to know yourself well and what it actually looks like to understand and meet the emotional needs of the people closest to you, so you can live out Romans 12:18.

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

• The surprising origin story of the Personalities framework and how this tool is different. 
• Why Marita's mother, Florence Littauer, first felt "wrong" in her marriage and how one book changed that.
• The tough question a podcast host once asked Marita point-blank: "How is that not manipulation?" And her answer.
• A quick, accessible overview of the four personality types, and why no one is 100% just one. 
• The difference between natural wiring, learned behavior, and a mask.
• The physical warning signs that can show up when someone's been wearing a mask for years.
• Why understanding someone's personality and emotional needs might be the single most practical relationship skill you can learn.
• Why personality differences show up in our spiritual lives too and why that’s ok.

Scripture Referenced: Romans 12:18

Going Deeper: Ephesians 4:22–24, Philippians 2:5, Colossians 3:10 , 2 Corinthians 3:18

Featured Quote: "This is not about labels–it’s about relationships.”  — Marita Littauer

Resources Mentioned:

• Wired That Way by Marita Littauer — Find it here.
• Personality Plus by Florence Littauer — Find it here.
• The Spirit-Controlled Temperament by Tim LaHaye — Find it here.
• Your Personality Tree by Florence Littauer — Find it here.
• Want to take the Personality Profile? Find it here.

Connect with Marita:

• Website: thepersonalities.com
• Socials: Facebook | Instagram

About Marita Littauer: Marita Littauer is a bestselling author of more than twenty books and an international speaker. The daughter of Florence and Fred Littauer, who built the Personalities framework into a movement starting in their living room more than fifty years ago, Marita has spent her life teaching women how to understand their own wiring and the wiring of the people they love. Her book, Wired That Way, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

About Your Host: Valerie Gibson Jones is a board-certified Christian Life Coach, Mental Health Coach, and Grief Educator, and the founder of The Purpose Project. Each episode of this podcast exists to help you navigate the messy middle, the gap between where you are and where God is calling you, with faith, courage, and honesty.

Connect with Valerie online at thepurposeproject.us or on Instagram @purposeprojectcoach.

If you haven’t yet, leave a review so the show can reach the people who need it. Thank you for being here.

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Twelve men stood in the exact same place, looking at the exact same evidence of God's faithfulness and walked away with two completely different stories. In this bonus episode, Valerie shares a message she recently gave live at a ladies' conference, unpacking the account of the twelve spies in Numbers 13–14. Why did ten of them see giants and two of them saw God's faithfulness, standing in the very same moment? Valerie walks through what actually separated Caleb and Joshua from the rest of the camp, what it costs when fear gets to write the story instead of God, and what it looks like to walk into the next part of your own promise with courageous faith instead of self-doubt and fear.

In This Episode, You'll Hear:

• Why two people can stand in the exact same moment and walk away with two entirely different stories.
• The "invisible backpack" every one of us carries throughout our lives and how it quietly shapes what we actually see.
• What happened when the twelve spies returned from exploring the Promised Land (Numbers 13–14).
• Why the problem was never the giants and what Caleb and Joshua saw that the other ten scouts didn't.
• The difference close relationship with God makes in how you interpret what's right in front of you.
• What it means to walk into your next promise with courageous faith instead of waiting for more clarity.
• Why this matters beyond your own story and what's at stake when you opt out of it.

Scripture Referenced

Numbers 13–14 | Numbers 13:32 | Joshua 1:9 | Joshua 21:43-45 | Psalm 33:4 | Exodus 33

Going Deeper

Exodus 33:7-11  | Hebrews 3:16-19 & 4:1-2 | Deuteronomy 1:19-38 

Featured Quote

God doesn't need a list of your credentials. God needs your yes. That is courageous faith.

Connect with Valerie

Website: thepurposeproject.us  Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

Support the Show https://www.thepurposeproject.us/support

About the Podcast The Purpose Project Podcast is for Christian women leaders navigating the messy middle — the space where expectations and reality don't line up, but God is still present. Host Valerie Jones creates thoughtful, faith-rooted conversations where biblical truth, emotional health, and spiritual growth belong together for life and leadership.

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Have you ever noticed how a truly great question can change everything? In this episode, Valerie takes us to one of her favorite scenes in the Gospels, the Pool of Bethesda in John 5, where Jesus asks a man who'd been sick for thirty-eight years a question that still confronts us today: Do you want to get well? Drawing on Scripture, neuroscience, and her own story of learning to answer that question after the loss of her two children, Valerie unpacks why we so often stay stuck in what's familiar, even when it isn't good for us, and what it actually means to choose healing and wholeness when it's offered.

In This Episode, You'll Hear:

• Why a truly great question can change a conversation and why Jesus asked so many of them. 
• The story of the man at the Pool of Bethesda and the question Jesus asked to challenge him.
• Why "Do you want to get well?" isn’t always a simple question to answer.
• What neuroplasticity reveals about why your brain defaults to the familiar, even when familiar is unhealthy.
• Valerie's own story of being confronted with the question, ‘Do you want to get well?’ after losing her children, Tyler and Hailey.
• The three-part command Jesus gives the man that required active participation in the process.
• The difference between agency and control, and why healing is not passive.
• How answering this question means freedom from the places we feel stuck.

Scripture Referenced: John 5:1–9 (CSB, NLT, NIV)

Going Deeper: John 9:1:12 | Philippians 2:12–13 | James 2: 14-26 | Galatians 5: 15, 25

Featured Quote: "You don't have to stay stuck. You get to choose."

Learn More:

• On the power of a good question, drawing on peer-reviewed research, from Association of Psychological Science: "Asking Questions Increases Likability."
• On neuroplasticity and why staying stuck feels safer than change from the Cleveland Clinic: "Brainwork: The Power of Neuroplasticity."
• The Biblical Archeological Society on the history of the Pool of Bethesda: "The Bethesda Pool, Site of One of Jesus' Miracles" 
• Modern day photos of the excavated site of the Pool: HolyLandPhotos.org — Pools of Bethesda

Mentioned in This Episode: The Leading Brave Group Experience is Valerie's 8-week live group coaching experience for Christian women ready to trade overthinking and self-doubt for clarity, courage, and confidence. Doors are open now through September 20th for the Fall cohort. Learn more here. 

Connect with Valerie: Website | Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

Support the Show: https://www.thepurposeproject.us/support

About the Podcast: The Purpose Project Podcast is for Christian women leaders navigating the messy middle — the space where expectations and reality don't line up, but God is still present. Host Valerie Jones creates thoughtful, faith-rooted conversations where biblical truth, emotional health, and spiritual growth belong together for life and leadership.

Support the show

What if the clutter in your home isn’t really about the stuff?

That’s the question at the center of this conversation, and the answer goes deeper than you might expect. In this episode, I sit down with professional organizer and author Melinda Grace to talk about why our physical spaces have a direct impact on our emotional and spiritual wellbeing, why letting go can feel an awful lot like grief, and how her G.R.A.C.E. Method creates room not just in your home, but in your heart and mind for what God has next.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us to strip off every weight that slows us down. Sometimes that weight shows up in our cupboards, closets, and piles in the corner. And sometimes the most faithful thing you can do let go to make room.

“What you needed in the last season won’t always serve you in the next one. And sometimes the most faithful thing that you can do is let it go.” — Valerie Gibson Jones

This is a Bible and brain conversation through and through. Pull up a chair.

In This Episode:

• Why clutter is rarely about the stuff and what’s really underneath it.
• The science of clutter and what elevated cortisol levels have to do with your ability to hear God.
• How our surroundings send millions of tiny subconscious signals for better or worse.
• Why letting go of objects can feel like losing a memory or a person and what to do with that.
• How to invite God into the organizing process.
• A full walkthrough of the G.R.A.C.E. Method: Gather, Release, Acquire, Cultivate, Enjoy.
• Where people most commonly get stuck and how to keep moving.
• Where to start when you’re overwhelmed and don’t know how.

About Melinda Grace
Melinda Grace is a professional organizer and lifelong follower of Christ with over 15 years of experience in business, nonprofit, and the entertainment industries. Realizing that grace, home, and faith were everything to her, she started her organizing business in 2020 to help working moms declutter and reconnect with their calling. She is the author of Reclaim Your Space with G.R.A.C.E., built around her signature G.R.A.C.E. Method.

Resources Mentioned

• Get the book Reclaim Your Space with G.R.A.C.E. by Melinda Grace 
• Get the Freebie Kitchen Hack Guide from Melinda

Scripture Referenced

• Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)
• Psalm 46:10
• Matthew 9:17 / Mark 2:22 / Luke 5:37–38
• Ephesians 3:20

Going Deeper
The themes of this conversation — clutter, release, seasons, and the God who makes all things new — are woven throughout Scripture. If today’s episode stirred something in you, here are a few passages worth sitting with:

• Hebrews 12:1 — “Let us strip off every weight that slows us down.”
• Isaiah 43:19 — “See, I am doing a new thing.”
• Ecclesiastes 3:1 — “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
• Philippians 4:11–13 — On contentment and sufficiency in every season.

Connect with Melinda

• Melinda's Website
• Instagram: @melindagraceorganizing

About Your Host

Valerie Gibson Jones is a board-certified Christian Life Coach, Mental Health Coach, and Grief Educator, and the founder of The Purpose Project. Each episode of this podcast exists to help you navigate the messy middle — the gap between where you are and where God is calling you — with faith, courage, and honest conversation.

Connect with Valerie

• Website
• Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach
• Join the email list. 
• Support the show

If today’s episode encouraged you, would you share it with one woman who needs to hear it? And if you haven’t yet, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps this podcast find the women it was made for. Thank you for being here.

Support the show

When was the last time you felt truly clear? Clarity around what you're doing, why you're doing it, and what's actually yours to carry? Life isn't slowing down. And if you're waiting for a less demanding season before you tend to what matters most, you’ll be waiting indefinitely. In this episode, Valerie has an honest conversation about what happens when self-leadership gets pushed to the bottom of the list and what it looks like to guard what God has entrusted to you. Drawing from 2 Timothy and Proverbs, Valerie introduces the biblical practice of self-leadership, not as a productivity principle, but as Spirit-empowered stewardship of your calling.

In This Episode, You'll Hear:

• Why clarity fades when self-leadership gets overlooked and what it's actually costing you.
• The difference between managing chaos and guarding what God has entrusted to you.
• What Paul's charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6 and 1:14 reveals about calling, purpose, and Spirit-empowered stewardship.
• Why purpose is about how you show up not the role or title you hold.
• Five practical ways to guard what God has entrusted to you.
• Why self-leadership and self-control are inseparable and what Proverbs says about the cost of neglecting both.

Scripture Referenced: 2 Timothy 1:6–7 | 2 Timothy 1:14 | Proverbs 4:23 | Proverbs 25:28 | Psalm 139:13–14 | Galatians 1:10 | Luke 10:38–42 | Ephesians 5:15–17 | Proverbs 13:20 

Going Deeper: 

You can explore the full Westminster Shorter Catechism here. 

Featured Quote: "An untended fire doesn't provide the light or the warmth it was intended to provide. And neither does a neglected calling."

Connect with Valerie: Website: thepurposeproject.us | Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

Support the Show: If this podcast has encouraged you, consider supporting the work at thepurposeproject.us/support. Every contribution helps keep this conversation going.

About the Podcast: The Purpose Project Podcast is for Christian women leaders navigating the messy middle — the space where expectations and reality don't line up, but God is still present. Host Valerie Jones creates thoughtful, faith-rooted conversations where biblical truth, emotional health, and spiritual growth belong together for life and leadership.

Support the show

What does it look like to trust God in the middle of something truly unimaginable? Not a hard season. Not a disappointing season. The kind of season that brings you to your knees in a parking lot, pounding the dashboard, giving God an ultimatum because you simply don't know how to carry it anymore.

Today’s guest has been there. And what she found on the other side of that moment and on the other side of the deepest loss a mother can face is a faith that is anything but passive.

In this episode, I sit down with Jody Hudson, CEO and Founder of the Alex Hudson Lyme Foundation and award-winning author of My Promise to Alex. Jody shares the story of her daughter Alexandra — a decade-long battle with undiagnosed Lyme disease, a faith forged in the fire of unanswered prayers and closed doors, and the sacred moment of surrender that changed everything. This is a conversation about grief, about purpose, about what it means to choose light when everything in you wants to give up.

"Grief is not the end of my story. Love is." — Jody Hudson

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

• How Jody's faith shifted from passive to active through the most painful season of her life.
• What it looked like to wrestle honestly with God — and why she believes those "get down and get ugly" conversations matter.
• The story of the bluebird and how God showed up for Alex in a way Jody almost missed.
• The moment of surrender on a plane that reframed everything Jody thought she knew about healing.
• Why Jody refuses to be defined as a "grief girl" and what she chooses to be defined by instead.
• Jody's beautiful Holy Week reflection on Mary, Alex, and what it means to grieve hard because you loved hard.
• Practical wisdom for anyone who is barely holding it together in the middle of their own devastating season.

Resources Mentioned:

• My Promise to Alex by Jody Hudson — Find it here.
• Fervent by Priscilla Shirer — Find it here.
• War Room – Find it here.
• Alex Hudson Lyme Foundation — Learn More.

Connect with Jody:

• Website
• Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn
• My Promise to Alex is available wherever books are sold. 

Going Deeper:

The themes of this conversation — grief, surrender, purpose from pain, and the God who never leaves — are woven throughout Scripture. If today's episode stirred something in you, here are a few passages worth sitting with:

• Psalm 34:18 — "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
• Romans 8:28 — "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him."
• Matthew 25:21 — "Well done, good and faithful servant."
• Lamentations 3:22–23 — "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning."

About Jody Hudson:

Jody Hudson is an award-winning, highly sought-after speaker on grief, transformation, and creating purpose from pain. She brings over twenty years of nonprofit leadership experience to her work, but it is her role as CEO and Founder of the Alex Hudson Lyme Foundation that she says fuels her purpose. In 2022, she published her memoir My Promise to Alex, which won Best Memoir from the Christian Indie Book Awards in 2023.

About Your Host:

Valerie Gibson Jones is a board-certified Christian Life Coach, Mental Health Coach, and Grief Educator, and the founder of The Purpose Project. Each episode of this podcast exists to help you navigate the messy middle — the gap between where you are and where God is calling you — with faith, courage, and honest conversation.

Connect with Valerie at thepurposeproject.us or on Instagram @purposeprojectcoach.

If today's episode meant something to you, would you share it with one woman who needs to hear it? And if you haven't yet, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps this podcast find the women it was made for. Thank you for being here.

Support the show

Have you ever snapped at someone you love and immediately asked yourself, "What is wrong with me?" In this episode, Valerie explores why that question carries shame, and why shame keeps us stuck. Drawing from neuroscience, Romans 8, and the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, Valerie introduces a better question, “What's happening in me?” and walks through what it looks like to approach your inner life with grace and curiosity instead of criticism and condemnation. This is where real healing begins.

In This Episode:

• Why "What's wrong with me?" is the wrong question and what to ask instead.
• What misalignment is, how it differs from disagreement, and why your body responds to it before your brain catches up.
• How chronic stress activates fight, flight, freeze, and fawn — and why many of the things we call personality traits are actually coping strategies.
• How God's response to Elijah in 1 Kings 19 is one of the most tender pictures of grace in all of Scripture.
• How grace and truth work together to create space for transformation and why you need both.
• A simple three-part framework for healthy inner work: Notice, Get Curious, Respond with wisdom.
• What self-compassion actually looks like for Christian women and why it’s important.

Featured Quote: "When your inner world is well-tended, things start changing around you. You show up differently. You lead differently. You love differently."

Scripture Referenced: Romans 8:1 | 1 Kings 19:1–18

Resources Mentioned

• The Body Keeps Score by Bessel van der Kolk: Grab It Here.
• Hazel + Hunt (yes, the t-shirt from the opening story): Shop Hazel + Hunt

Going Deeper

1 Kings 19:1–18 | Romans 8:1–17 | Psalm 139:23–24 | Matthew 11:28–30

Connect with Valerie 

• Website: thepurposeproject.us
• Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

About the Podcast The Purpose Project Podcast is for Christian women leaders navigating the messy middle, the space where expectations and reality don't line up, but God is still present. Host Valerie Jones creates thoughtful, faith-rooted conversations where biblical truth, emotional health, and spiritual growth belong together for life and leadership.

Support the show

Have you ever started to pray and realized you had no idea what to say? In this episode, Valerie opens up about one of the most honest struggles in the Christian life — what to do when your prayers feel hollow, filtered, or just… not quite true. Drawing from the Book of Psalms, the Book of Lamentations, and the cross itself, Valerie introduces the ancient, biblical practice of lament, and explores why it might be the most courageous, faith-filled thing you can bring to God right now.

In This Episode

• Why we've been trained to filter our prayers — and why that's actually working against us.
• What the Greek word parresia tells us about how God actually wants us to show up.
• How David and Jeremiah modeled raw, unfiltered honesty with God, and how He responded.
• Why Jesus' final cry from the cross changes everything about how we think about lament.
• The three components of biblical lament, and why you need all three together.
• Why lament isn't just for your lowest moments, and how to make it part of your regular rhythm with God.

Featured Quote

"Lament feels the full weight of pain, and yet it still finds its way back to God."

Scripture Referenced

Hebrews 4:16 | Luke 18:9–14 | Isaiah 53:3 | Psalm 22 | Lamentations 3:19–23 | 1 Thessalonians 4:13

Going Deeper

Psalm 13 | Psalm 22 | Psalm 42 | Psalm 88 | Psalm 130

Connect with Valerie

Website: thepurposeproject.us Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

About the Podcast

The Purpose Project Podcast is for Christian women leaders navigating the messy middle — the space where expectations and reality don't line up, but God is still present. Host Valerie Jones creates thoughtful, faith-rooted conversations where biblical truth, emotional health, and spiritual growth belong together for life and leadership.

Support the show

What happens when the life you expected suddenly disappears?

In this episode of The Purpose Project Podcast, Valerie Jones continues exploring the space she introduced in Episode 1 — the messy middle — by stepping into one of the most painful and personal parts of her own story.

Valerie reflects on the story of Lazarus in John 11 and the tension between expectation and reality. Mary and Martha believed Jesus would come immediately when they called for Him, yet when He finally arrived, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 

It’s a story many of us can relate to in our own lives — moments when we pray, trust, and hope for intervention, only to find ourselves waiting and wondering in silence.

In this episode, Valerie shares the devastating loss of two of her children and the grief that followed, a season that forced her to wrestle deeply with questions about faith, suffering, and God’s character. 

Rather than rushing toward answers, this conversation gently explores an often-overlooked truth: faith and grief can exist in the same story.

Even knowing resurrection was coming, Jesus wept. 

And sometimes the most courageous expression of faith is simply choosing to stay.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear:

• Why the story of Lazarus speaks so deeply to seasons of waiting and disappointment.
• Valerie’s personal story of grief and the loss of two of her children.
• Why strong faith does not mean the absence of sorrow.
• How grief and belief can exist together without canceling each other out.
• The honest prayer that  can carry us in difficult seasons: “Lord, I believe… help my unbelief.”

Scripture Referenced:
John 11 (1-3, 17-25, 35)
Mark 9:24

Featured Quote:

“Faith doesn’t eliminate sorrow — but it changes how we carry it.”

Connect with Valerie:

Website: https://thepurposeproject.us
Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

About the Podcast:
The Purpose Project Podcast is for Christian women leaders navigating the messy middle — the space where expectations and reality don’t line up, but God is still present. Host Valerie Jones creates thoughtful, faith-rooted conversations where Biblical truth, emotional health, and spiritual growth belong together for life and leadership. This is not about spiritual bypassing or rushing toward resolution; it’s an invitation to live faithfully in the tender, in-between seasons.

Special Thanks:
This episode of The Purpose Project Podcast is recorded at Merrill & Associates in Louisville, Kentucky.

Support the show

If you love Jesus but feel tired, unsure, or are quietly holding the tension between what you prayed for and what your life actually looks like right now — this episode is for you.

In the very first episode of The Purpose Project Podcast, host Valerie Jones names the space many Christian women leaders find themselves living in: the messy middle. It’s the season where faith is still present, but stretched. Where clarity hasn’t come yet. And where old versions of certainty no longer fit.

This episode isn’t about fixing that space or rushing toward answers. It’s about learning to stay present with God there — and discovering that nothing has gone wrong.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear:

• Why The Purpose Project Podcast exists and the kind of space it’s here to hold
• What the messy middle is (and what it’s not)
• Why a quieter, heavier, or simply different season doesn’t mean you’re behind or that your faith is failing
• A gentle invitation to come as you are, not as who you think you should be by now

Scripture Referenced:
Matthew 11:28–30

Featured Quote:
“You don’t have to have it all together. You can’t rush healing–healing is hard work. And you don’t have to walk this season alone.”

Connect with Valerie:
Website: https://thepurposeproject.us
Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

About the Podcast:
The Purpose Project Podcast is for Christian women leaders navigating the messy middle — the space where expectations and reality don’t line up, but God is still present. Host Valerie Jones creates thoughtful, faith-rooted conversations where Biblical truth, emotional health, and spiritual growth belong together for life and leadership. This is not about spiritual bypassing or rushing toward resolution; it’s an invitation to live faithfully in the tender, in-between seasons.

Support the show