Life is hard, but you don't have to wait until it's better to be happy.  God promises to trade our sorrows for joy and give us "a garment of praise INSTEAD of a spirit of despair." (among other "insteads")  

Verses quoted in this podcast: Psalm 30:11, Isaiah 61:3, Job 8:21, Psalm 30:5, Acts 2:28

Last episode I said the fastest path to peace and out of stress is to "give up" control - aka "surrender."  So why is surrendering things into God's hands so hard?  Could it be a trust issue? 

Verses referenced: Isaiah 55:9,  Ephesians 3:20, Deuteronomy 31:8

We often feel like giving up, throwing in the towel, running away.  We feel like we've tried everything.  I don't advocate that kind of giving up.  But - when we give up trying to fix it ourselves, that's when we often see forward progress.  God can make a way but we need to get out of the way.   

The Story of King Jehoshaphat mentioned in this episode can be found in 2 Chronicles 20.

I struggle with stress and guess that many women do too. I want to share what God has been sharing about stress with me. It's not from the Father. Also, what does his word say about stress? It says He gives us peace!

Recently God showed me a vision of a treasure chest of the heart and that sometimes we are treasuring the wrong things there. But - there is hope. We can exchange negative things for positive ones with God's help!   

Verses quoted in this episode: Matthew 6:20-21, Luke 2:19, 1 Corinthians 13:5, James 3:17-18

As busy women we don't feel we have time to rest but the consequence of not resting is harm to ourselves and our relationships. God commands us to rest because he knows we need it.  He also offers to carry our burdens and give us rest and refreshment for our souls.   

Take time for this episode, give yourself permission to rest and have fun, and see what a difference it can make.  

I recorded this episode outside for fun and a restful ambiance, but the crickets and cicadas were quite vocal! :)  Hopefully your yard is quieter than mine.

This is about my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day when the enemy hijacked my mind and send me down a path of negativity. We must always guard our minds, but be especially viligant when we are weak (stressed, sick, overwhelmed, etc.)  The path that our mind is on determines how we process what's coming at us.  Our mindset affects how we feel and how we relate with those around us, so we must guard our minds!

Feel free to contact me with questions or episode ideas at [email protected]

Shaunti Feldhahn graciously gave me a few minutes of her time to discuss her book and the impact it has made. She shares a few things she has learned since publishing this book.

Keep listening for a preview of some of her new resources you can check out at the end.

Resentment is like the pesky weeds in our gardens. It pops up everywhere and then takes over.  I learned about keeping short accounts in my relationships and the dangers of resentment this summer.  This could be the answer you're looking for to fix that broken relationship.

I learned a lot of lessons throughout my crazy 2022 summer of caring for my elderly parents and moving them to assisted living and out of their home. For the next few weeks, I'm going to share what I learned.  

This week - it's the lesson that true freedom is found in dependence rather than independence. Wait, what?!  That sounds backwards, but God's ways often are.