The topic, or the question for today is, can God's plan for your life be ruined, specifically ruined by our own poor choices, or can it be ruined by the choices of other people by way of impacting our life? I wish that question was cut and dry, but the answer is yes and no. That's the best short answer I can provide, but we're going to use Scripture as our basis as we push out this topic. There are tons of truth that will show you, no, God's plan for your life cannot be ruined, no matter the contributing force. However, near the end of this podcast, I talk about the one thing that can indeed block God's plan for your life, and I don't think you'll be surprised when you hear what it is. I do hope that you'll receive a fresh dose of encouragement and that you feel empowered to take the next step. And here's how this topic came up and why I wanted to share it with you. I had the chance to speak at a Christian women's event, and Psalm 23 was the verse that their gathering was based on. I get excited about Psalm 23 (as many of you know this about me). Memorizing that particular Psalm has been such an incredible weapon for me, not only in my every day, ordinary life, but it's my lifeline when things are complicated and painful. When I proclaim Psalm 23 over my life or the life of my loved ones, it infuses me with hope, encouragement, confidence, and it strengthens my faith muscle. Allow me to tie this in really quick as another resource for Psalm 23. After I had a measure of grief healing, I could look back and see how God worked in my life in ways (at the time) that I did not discern, and I wanted to share how God showed up. And so, I did a stand-alone podcast episode titled Here's How Psalm 23 Showed Me God's Faithfulness. In this episode I gave tangible examples of what it meant for God to be faithful in the midst of my grief. Currently it has over seven thousand six hundred downloads (I'll put the link in the show notes). I add that little bit of info because in this episode we're going to specifically build on Psalm 23:3 as our core scripture. With regard to the question, can God's plan for our life be ruined, the verse reads, "He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." The purpose of drawing the focus in on that specific verse is that I want to look at God's heart for restoration, as well as look at other examples of how the heart of God is to restore us to his paths of righteousness, who He created us to be for His name's sake. Think about how invested God is in us. We are His name sake. If you're one of my faithful listeners, many of you know my story of unexpectedly losing my husband in early 2018. It was six years ago as of February 21st, 2024. He left our home at 8AM. Everything seemed fine. However, by lunchtime that same day, he had a massive heart attack and passed away. Something my boys and I never saw coming. Never. Out of that pain a portion of my redemption is to encourage believers in the dark valleys of life, so I spend a lot of my time looking at the good God I profess through the lens of pain and suffering. I have the precious privilege of my guests allowing me into some of the most vulnerable moments they've ever known. It is an intimate space to be allowed into because I get a glimpse of how God enters into our pain and how he works in the privacy of someone's personal devastation. When life no longer resembles anything we once knew, I think it's a fair request we make of God to put things back like they used to be. I too have pleaded with God. I had been with my husband for a little over 33 years. I repeatedly asked the Lord to give me back my normal, return things to how they used to be. Give me back my old life. Struggling under the weight of pain and an internal fight to orient myself and to gain my footing, in my mind, it actually seemed possible that if I could just go back to the way things used to be, everything would be OK. Life would be good again. If you've got some life under your belt, life experiences with some hard things, more than likely you've asked God to put things back like they used to be. And I've shared this with you before, this type of pain, loss, suffering is not exclusive to losing a loved one. Anytime we struggle under an immense weight of pain, (no matter what it personally means to have your world flipped upside down), our brain is grasping at anything familiar. And yet, at the same time, panic is there because we know in the back of our mind, or maybe it's in the back of our heart, knowing that this shaking and shifting is actually exploding our life into tiny little pieces. That's why it's so important to grieve when life takes unexpected twists and turns. After a life changing event, it will not return to how things used to be. It simply can't. And we need time for our head and our heart to catch up. When life goes missing, the good news of the gospel isn't exclusive to our salvation. It is the reason that we can know anything good on this side of heaven. There are times when we'll find ourselves in broken, painful consequences because of our own choices. And then there are times when we'll find ourselves in broken, painful consequences because of someone else's choices or simply because life happens, like with my husband. Either way, we're left with the aftermath of what feels like a head on collision. In any of these situations, something that had been previously tethered to our heart, our life, our identity has been disrupted. And when it's broken, it's broken. Acting like it isn't broken only delays the suffering. Whether we find ourselves in the position of needing God to restore us because of our own choices or the choices of others, we have two perfect biblical examples that are proof that we can know and experience God's hope, healing and restoration. The biblical proof that I'm going to share is something you are more than likely very familiar with but I want to look at these historical accounts, potentially/hopefully through the lens of a fresh new reminder. For those of us who have made poor decisions (and I count myself among these precious people), whether we're living with lifelong consequences, maybe unforgiveness is eating at us, or shame and guilt stab us like a knife. Be encouraged by this beautiful example of God's power and authority to repurpose our poor decisions. God's standard, His rules, His precepts, are for our safety. So, when he told Eve (and he told Adam too) eat from any tree in the garden except that one, the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he did so as a loving father who wanted to protect his children. And as we know, Eve decided to go outside the boundary that God had put in place because she had heard from the serpent that eating the fruit would make her like God so that couldn't be a bad thing, right? Eve loved God. But what Eve didn't bargain for is that while she would indeed know something God knew, Eve did not have the authority and the sovereignty to handle or overcome this new knowledge. The reality of her choice came with consequences, and that's what God was trying to protect her from. He didn't want her to endure the consequences that he knew were attached to her choice. It was going to break his heart as he watched her struggle under the reality of this knowledge with no power against it. I feel sure, because I'm a mama, that what broke his Fatherly heart the most, Eve was now separated from him. And He knew who was coming for her. The enemy and a constant battering on her mind and her heart and her body. Steal, kill, destroy, steal, kill, destroy. Sean Covey said, “We are free to choose our paths, but we can't choose the consequences that come with them." Eve's choice to do things on her own terms resulted in more than a lifelong consequence. We live under a generational curse because of Eve's choices. The language of the culture today gives us so-called encouragement by telling us to handle things on our own. You see all the social media quotes and posts about being independent and strong and how you don't need to rely on anyone. You don't have to ask for help, you can do it yourself, and you're so strong but that my friend, is the world talking. Every single time without exception when I want to handle things in my own understanding and with my own discernment, I will create a coping skill or some sort of self protection method apart from God’s plan to heal and redeem. If I don't take the thing straight to God and expose it, ask for his guidance, input and his wisdom, I end up struggling with something God never intended for me to endure. I end up in the negative, struggling with things that are detrimental to my well-being, less than God's best for me. The result of me doing things independent from God is that fear and anxiety show up. My emotions want to lean into depression. I start feeling disconnected, feeling like no one sees me or no one cares. I have a constant feeling of overwhelm. All these things have Satan's fingerprints on them. These types of steal, kill, destroy feelings. So, Eve bites the apple, introduces sin to the world, and then God threw his hands up and proclaimed that his plan was ruined and that he didn't know what he was going to do now, right? No! Thank God, no! Eve's choice, catastrophic as it was, did not overpower God's authority. God always has a plan of restoration. A plan that overwhelms the broken things of this life. God flips the script on the pain and suffering in this life and brings beauty from our ashes, both for our good and his glory. For those who choose the finished work of the cross, the curse that Eve put on us is broken. Because of Christ's shed blood and resurrection, we have direct access to the heart of the Father. His heart for us that desires to save and restore. And that, my sweet friend, is why your poor choices do not have the power to destroy the calling on your life. Can we temporarily derail the original path? Delay it? Cause added obstacles and complications where we show up with additional baggage than before we went off the rails? Yes, we can. But once we submit ourselves to God, when we repent and bring it into the light, His light, we get to watch him transform our situation and return us to His paths of righteousness. In God's plan of redemption things like regret, shame, guilt, unforgiveness, and the like have been accounted for or planned for. God knew it was coming. He's not surprised by our humanity. He was not caught off guard and had to scramble to figure out how to manage this new revelation that we threw at him. Sweet friend, he's made a way for you and I to lift our heads under the weight of our choices and even better, we don't have to wait for heaven. I think our biggest challenge is comprehending the truth of God's heart for restoration and stepping into it. If we knew how true, how strong God's heart is for restoration, we would grab a hold of it in the here and now. We wouldn't delay for a single second. We don't have to pray for God to have a heart of mercy and restoration. We don't have to look for it, work for it, hope for it. That's who he is, with or without our acknowledgement. All we need to do is engage his heart. And how do we do that? Cultivate a life of intimacy with our Father. Discovering who he really is versus who we want him to be, who we think he is or who we think he should be. Get to know his heart and who he says we are and watch your life be transformed. For those of us who by no choice of our own, find our lives flipped upside down, that which was the atoning sacrifice to correct Eve's selfish decision is also perfect proof that despite the horrific tragedies in this life, abandonment, rejection, innocent blood, being misunderstood, lied about, betrayed, all the different ways that one human being can choose to assault another human being, the list is endless. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing is impossible for God. His plans are bigger, his power is sovereign, and his authority answers to no one. He has no rival and no equal. And allow me to add this example of God's extensive power and authority. Hell, the lake of eternal fire, is the place God has ordained where people will spend eternity if they choose not to allow Jesus to pay their sin debt. Hell is God's real estate. That's why God's word plainly tells us in Philippians 2:10-11, "Whether in, heaven, on the earth, or under the earth, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." From the very pit of hell, God will be acknowledged. In either eternity, (heaven or hell), we're on God's turf and we are on His Kingdom territory. And that is why I can guarantee you that God can bring good despite the devastation of this life. Hell answers to God. With God having no rival and no equal, and because all things are under His authority, He ordained the death of His only Son as the acceptable atoning sacrifice that would break the curse of our sin penalty. Yes, Christ's death was planned, but Jesus would not have the luxury of avoiding the human aspect of that suffering. He would suffer in every way that we do as humans. Jesus's life, his horrific death, the burial, the victory of his resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father would not be without deep pain. A soul aching, bone saturating submission that caused him to cry out to the Father to give him relief from the torment, anguish that brought blood out of Jesus's pores while in the garden of Gethsemane. And not just the physical suffering, but the very core of who God is. Our God, the God of the Holy Bible is the God of relationship, and Father and Son would be separated. God would turn away from his son until our sin penalty was paid in full and the curse was broken. And what result does God bring about with his son's horrific death? Colossians 2:15 tells us in the NIV, "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." And let's not forget Ephesians 6:12 that tells us the importance of disarming the powers and authorities, Ephesians 6:12 in the NIV tells us, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Christ's death publicly put Satan to shame, both in the physical world as well as being acknowledged in the spiritual realm. If you've had no choice about what happened to you, where does this leave you? What does Christ's death, burial, and resurrection mean regarding what you've lost? Ultimately, Jesus offers us hope, healing and restoration but it will take courage to heal. The dark valley you find yourself in…God knows the way through. He’s been there. He put to shame the evil that has been inflicted on you. You do not walk this journey alone. No valley is too dark nor is there one that is too deep for him to bring healing. I do hope it's comforting to know that God fears nothing. Not our anger or our rage, not our ungodly questions, not the evil of this life. There is simply nothing about our existence that God fears because he has the power and authority (the permission and ability) to take the very thing that Satan meant to destroy us with…and not necessarily destroy us, as in our physical death. Satan is content if he can destroy us with our thought life, hold us captive through our emotions, or keep trauma locked in our hearts. It's all the same to him. If it will silence us, make us bitter, isolate us, paralyze us, or separate us from God from his truth in any way, shape, or form, it's a payoff for Satan. God isn't afraid, dismayed, overwhelmed or disconnected because no matter our situation, his solution is redemption for absolutely anything evil that this life can dish out. What we can't do in our own strength, the fact that we have no power or authority to change our circumstances, but God. God repurposes the reality of pain. Not that He immediately takes us out of it, but in His hands, we're guaranteed that our pain is never for no reason. He takes the evil pain inflicted upon you and turns it into purpose. That's a table prepared for you in the presence of your enemies. I feel sure I've shared this with you before but allow me to share once again, something the Lord spoke into my spirit as I processed the death of my husband. I was telling God that I found no comfort in what people were saying to me, that God does not give you more than you can handle. I knew they were trying to be kind, and so I received it with grace, mainly because even I've said that before to people. But now, standing on the receiving side, it's stung every time because I wanted to scream. Oh, yes, he does. I assure you he does. I am undone in every way. I did not choose this, and I don't want to be here. So, I took all of that pain to the Lord. It was probably considered ungodly, and it was raw, but it was honest. And in the midst of my breakdown, the quiet, calm voice of the Holy Spirit downloaded something very precious into my heart, and it changed my perspective. It is something that I will always hold close to my heart, he said Sherrie, I don't allow anything I don't plan to redeem. And that didn't mean that I was going to skip the grieving process or forget my husband. It simply meant that nothing touches his children that he does not have the power to use for our good in his glory. He always has a plan. God always has a plan that overwhelms our limitations, that rewrites the mental, emotional, and spiritual demise that Satan had planned for us. So, my sweet friend, no matter the reason that you're struggling with the evil of this life, my encouragement for you today is rest. Rest your weary heart. Rest your mind and the constant running from one anxiety laden thought and memory to another. Grab a hold of this lifeline Matthew 11:28 "And then Jesus said, come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Your heart can have complete confidence that God will take care of you to the degree that you allow Him. And here's where the Yes, God's plan for your life can be blocked. Because remember, He will never force himself on us. He doesn't push us into anything. He extends His hand and invites us to allow Him into our pain. He will gently, tenderly work in the places that we expose to him. To walk in our full calling is to engage God’s heart on an intimate level. In that intimacy we find healing, meaning, clarity, and our calling. Plenty of people leave this life, never having fulfilled the calling on their life because they did not have the courage to allow God to heal them. And I'm not saying God can't work in your life on your behalf. I'm just saying that if you don't engage him, the benefits of your healing are limited, and you won't perceive what he's doing. In the healing process, you discover things about God that solidifies your value and your worth. If you keep God at arm's length, you'll miss out on the secrets that He has that he only reveals in the darkest, most painful places of life. He responds to our authentic, honest, and transparent pain when we trust Him with it. Whether we're a victim of our own bullying because we won't accept God's forgiveness, nor will we forgive ourselves, or we're a victim to someone else's choices and maybe there's some unforgiveness there that holds us hostage. I want you to remember this. In the fight between good and evil. Forgive, don't forgive. Heal, don’t heal. Rest, don't rest. Trust, don't trust. The push and the pull. Do you know what the prize is? Do you know why the fight is so intense? It's your heart. Your heart is the prize. It’s the place where the fountain of your devotion, affections, love, commitment, are sheltered in. All that God placed in you when He knit you together, creating you in His image. You get to choose who you give your heart to. Either one. Satan or Jesus. Because both are pursuing you, both have a plan for your life. Let this truth settle deep into your heart. Amid such a savage battle for your heart and I say savage because we know that Satan is cruel, ruthless, and full of vile hatred for the things that bear the image of God, you. But God is savage in his extravagant, pure, selfless, uncompromising, unapologetic love for us. In this every day battle for your heart, Satan sees your heart as a trophy with bragging rights. But God sees your heart as a priceless treasure that he longs to restore, right up until the moment you get to see him face to face. Friend, let's embrace God's restoration. Let's have the courage to heal and fulfill God's plan for our lives. Additional Resource: Another Podcast Episode You May Like Episode Title: Here’s How Psalm 23 Showed Me God’s Faithfulness - Website w/audio: https://alifeofthrive.com/2022/08/17/heres-how-psalm-23-showed-me-gods-faithfulness/ Audio Only: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-mqbaw-1295c97

My guest today is the former Clinical Director of Christian Psychotherapy Services where he had been in practice since 1989 but then left that practice to become the Founder of the Meadows Healing Prayer Center. He is a mental health professional and a licensed clinical social worker. My guest is Frank Meadows and he has been counseling and ministering with Theophostic Healing Prayer and seeing countless people being healed and delivered. This episode with Frank Meadows takes a very close look at the benefits of healing and deliverance. You’ll hear me press into this healing and deliverance a few times as I try to dig down for a deeper understanding. Frank takes us back to his roots on why he would even become interested in the healing ministry and how it impacted his life. He does an incredible job of explaining healing and deliverance as he shares his practices, methods and overall goal when he’s working with a client. What excites me the most about the deliverance ministry is that even though we’re Christians the fact remains that we still deal with trauma and with Theophostic Healing Prayer we have the ability to be set free. Which equates to peace for our minds and our hearts.  Ever wonder why a Christian pastor can also be a slave to porn? Why would a Christian wife be unfaithful? Didn’t she make a vow to her husband in the presence of God? Wouldn’t you be shocked to find out that a highly respected Christian is prone to fits or rage and physically abuses his/her spouse and children?  There’s been more than one Christian family dealing with wayward children struggling with drugs, alcohol, identity issues, same sex attraction. Why are believers still using curse words in their every day language? Why are we lying about things, cheating people or the business we work for? Especially if we know God’s word and walk in a deep relationship with him? And yet, that is exactly what can and does happen. Ultimately, we know that becoming a Christian does not mean that we are instantly perfect. We were born into sin and our maturing process with God is done in layers as He washes off the residue of this life, transforming us into His likeness. Could it be that believing what we read in the Bible or hear in church is not enough or more accurately our knowledge needs experience too?  If our living God wants a living breathing relationship with us might He want to take us from believing what we read/hear to knowing by way of experiencing His benefits? I believe so because when we experience God it reinforces what we’ve read/heard/believed with our mind and now our heart has proof because of God’s peace and freedom that floods our life. I’m not knocking traditional therapy, I’ve used it, it’s great but the difference that I have experienced between traditional therapy and Christian deliverance therapy has been hands down a level of sustained peace in my life that I have never known before. At the core of my heart, mind, body I am at peace. I’m not saying that situations/circumstances/people do not challenge that peace but I have a place of rest that I can continually return to or build on whenever I find myself using/trying to create self-protection/coping skills. Because remember, as Christians we don’t need to go looking, begging, praying, wishing, hoping for God’s peace, healing, deliverance. It’s already there. We’re called to engage what is already available to us and live with the benefits in the here and now. Let’s get into this episode because I want you to hear all the good stuff that my guest Frank Meadows has to share, let’s dive in and hear how our lie based thinking is how we stay trapped and how using Theophostic Healing Prayer to dismantle these barriers opens up a floodgate of freedom and peace; living water poured into our hearts, bodies, minds. Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrivie.com   Connect with Frank on his website: https://www.meadowshealingprayercenter.com/about-us/   Bio: Frank is the founder of the Meadows Healing Prayer Center in Chesapeake, Va. For years,he has counseled and ministered healing prayer to many in the Hampton Roads, VA area. He has been utilizing Theophostic Healing Prayer with great results since 1999. Since that time many have come from across the United States to receive Franks’ ministry for extended times of intensive healing prayer. Since that time he has ministered over 17,000 hours using Theophostic Healing Prayer. Frank has taught and facilitated many Theophostic Basic Training Seminars and healing prayer training locally, nationally, and internationally. Frank is a mental health professional and a licensed clinical social worker. He is also the clinical director of Christian Psychotherapy Services in Chesapeake, Virginia. He has been in practice there since 1989 ministering to clients and families with emotional, relational, spiritual and abuse trauma recover issues.

My guest is Mary Beth Powers and we connected over the topic that we’re discussing today, unhealthy soul ties. Mary Beth is a long-time Bible teacher, a certified speaker, she currently serves as a connection Pastor at her church and we’ll be able to call her author as soon as her book is completed and published. Additionally, she leads a healing ministry called Freedom. We talked about the impact that soul ties have on relationships, personal growth, and the importance of recognizing and breaking these ties through self-evaluation, Godly instruction, leaning into the heart of God and professional counseling with regard to trauma associated with some soul ties. Mary Beth defined a soul tie and while it is not a biblical term she connected the dots for us with regard to how the Bible refers to uniting/joining/cleaving to someone as the same result of a soul tie. I had a lot of curiosity about soul ties because it’s not something often spoken about in church and yet when they go undetected they rob us personally in countless ways, some of which are delaying our ability to fulfill the calling on our life, becoming a victim because of a lack of identity, staying stuck in trauma which cripples mentally, emotionally/physically. These are some of the possible results of staying attached to unhealthy soul ties.  I asked some very pointed questions about pornography soul ties, how soul ties created in past sexual relationships impact current ones. We talked about abusive relationship soul ties. I even asked Mary Beth about unwanted soul ties that are forced upon us such as rape and she even included incest in that portion of the discussion. In short, it was a very I interesting topic for me.  You may hear Mary Beth back on my show again because the book that she is in the process of writing is on generational curses and that is something else that I’m very interested in! Let’s jump in and educate ourselves on soul ties, see if they apply to our life and if so, let’s break them off and walk in countless new levels of freedom! Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com Connect with Mary Beth: Website marybethpowers.com FB: https://www.facebook.com/mary.b.powers IG: girl.be.still Bio: Mary Beth is passionate about seeing women experience Jesus in a life-changing way. She speaks authentically as a safe place for women to share their struggles. Whether one-on-one or from a podium in a room full of women, she loves to see women thriving in the fullness of Jesus! Mary Beth is a certified speaker and long-time Bible teacher. She currently serves as a connection Pastor at her church. She is known for her infectious personality and caring for others. She has a deep devotion to her family. She is married to her forever crush, Mike, and they parent three children together. They live in North Alabama in a small but growing town called Hazel Green. They enjoy the empty-nest season, and together, they love to travel and try out new restaurants. She loves exploring new coffee shops, but most days, you will find her curled up next to her Aussie, Hartlee, coffee in one hand and her journal in the other, finishing a book about God’s unfailing love. But she has a new role that she finds her favorite: being a Nana to her 3 new grandsons!

My guest, author Noah Asher has written a book titled Chaos, Overcoming the Overwhelming. Noah uses his personal experience with chaos and leads us through what I believe (after talking to Noah and hearing this examples) is our own journey into, through and out of what Jesus modeled on the cross. Don’t get me wrong our pain and suffering do not fulfill the same purpose and plan as the crucifixion. It will never equate to the work He accomplished. My point in making the connection of the Easter weekend from Friday to Sunday is that Jesus took all of our suffering, anguish, shame, guilt, regret, trauma and nailed it to the cross. This is proof that He has the power to turn our chaos into purpose too! Through the model that Jesus gave us on the cross of overcoming the evil of this life, when we experience heartbreaking seasons we have an example of what processing the pain of this life looks like: Friday can be the pain of the impact, the moment our life changed forever.  Saturday is the waiting season in-between Friday and Sunday. And then Sunday is the season of healing and restoration.  Noah breaks down a season of chaos into 3 phases:  *The Prepare Season - I really liked that Noah equips us to prepare for our own Friday moment.  I was really curious to know, how can someone actually prepare for their life to be interrupted with chaos because we all know it’s not an “if it happens” scenario it’s a “when it happens” reality and yet I don’t consciously prepare for bad things to happen. So his insight is very helpful to first recognize that you probably are preparing yourself you just didn’t recognize it and then to see other ways you can equip yourself.  *The second season is In The Midst - Noah terms it as your Saturday season. You’re between the life changing event and the healing, restoration, redemption phase. Noah talked about how we can make this time as beneficial as possible, what value does this phase even have? What can you learn about God in (what I call the) the struggle season because it can be full of questions as we struggle to understand all that has been impacted. Questions like, "Why did you let this happen God?” "Why did this happen to me?” "What am I supposed to do with my life now?” "Who am I now?"  *And the final season, the Aftermath which I now term as Sunday. This is a time of healing, restoration and redemption - but what does that even mean in an individual life? It means a lot of beautiful things. Discovering your purpose, receiving revelation of God’s heart for you as his son or daughter and Noah talks about several more.  Noah did a fantastic job of making this topic of chaos very relatable and as you’ll hear he adds humor to what can be a very weighty topic. Not only does he back up his revelation and the real examples with Biblical truth, he also adds a little wit with references to characters such as The Lion Kin and Eeyore.  I asked Noah if there was a difference between chaos and trauma, and we talked about grief and grace, perseverance on the journey and we used Joseph’s story (among other biblical examples) to look at how God repurposed everything that was done to Joseph to bring good out of despair, and not just good for Joseph but for many and of course that echos the work of the cross as well. When you think about the good that the cross produced for as many who will accept Jesus’ payment for our sin debt.  Let’s listen in to find out how to navigate the 3 phases of chaos so that we might be prepared when our Friday arrives. If we’re prepared we know Who to turn to so that we can go from pain to purpose! We can have hope in a better tomorrow because we have the promise and the proof that Sunday is coming. Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com   Connect with Noah: Website: www.thenoahasher.com IG: @TheNoahAsher on Instagram  Email: chaosovercomer@gmail.com Bio: Noah Asher is an author, Chaos-survivor, business owner, and communicator. Noah helps people find purpose within their pain and their past. His new book, CHAOS: Overcoming the Overwhelming, is a guide on how to navigate through difficult times and come out stronger on the other side. Noah believes that everyone has a purpose, and he is dedicated to helping people find it.

This conversation is deeply layered and beautifully delivered by my guest Angie Baughman who intimately knows loss and what it means to live with complete uncertainty.  A simple car ride with her family turns their world upside down. She’s in the car with her husband and 2 young sons, a vehicle crosses the line and hits them head on. The crash affects her entire family; immediate, extended, church as well as their friends. Everyone  who was courageous enough to step into roles and take on responsibilities of what it entails to support a family.  The tragic results of the accident put Angie and her oldest son who was 7 years old at the time, in the hospital. Between the two of them they had 8 surgeries. In the blink of an eye she began a journey of loss and total uncertainty at no fault of her own.  And then at a point where she’s gaining some independence, she’s working hard to hit the physical therapy goals with a strong desire to do away with the level of need and personal care she receives, including the desire to be the one making all of the decision for her and her family, but then she’s blind signed by a brain bleed. It was a result of the car crash but yet it doesn’t present itself until 18 months later.  She’s in a great place of improvement, moving forward and now she’s starting all over again.  Because of her extended recovery Angie’s belief system, and not exclusive to her faith, is more than simply challenged or shaken, it’s shattered. Since satan is famous for attaching himself to our traumas, in the midst of Angie questioning everything about her life, satan brings a past trauma to the forefront of her mind/heart.  Satan’s intention, of course, is to destroy Angie with this compounding trauma but she decides to accept God’s invitation and allow Him to heal her. In the intimacy of His invitation, He lets her know, He’s not giving her back the life she had, He’s taking her back to move her forward. Satan may have brought back past trauma but God was going to reveal His heart to healing. He was preparing a table for her in the presence of her enemy. At one point in our conversation I asked her how do we take negative/traumatic/lies/thoughts captive to Christ and she lays out several things we can do to interrupt satan’s intentions and rewrite them with God’s promises.  If you’re living with uncertainty or it’s one of your biggest fears, then you’ll find quotable wisdom that you can hang on to, right down to her parting words as we closed our time together. Listen in to discover what those lifelines are that Angie has to share. Let’s dive in to find God in the painful places of life.  Live Loved and Thrive! @ alifeofthrive.com Connect with Angie: Website: https://livesteadyon.com/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/angiebaughman421/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/livesteadyon YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwl0_Edd8fNHz7y1jLOqj4g Bio: Angie Baughman is a pastor, Bible teacher, author, podcaster, founder of Steady On ministries, and creator of the Step By Step Bible study method. At sixteen, she was groomed into a romantic relationship with a high school teacher and faced community rejection when she went public with her story. Knowing and living by the promises of God helped free her from layers of shame, and she now creates resources that help people cultivate consistent Bible study habits.

My guest today is a grief specialist, she is certified in critical incident stress debriefing, a certified trauma-integrative practitioner, an 8-time award-winning author on grief, and the founder of The Grief & Trauma Healing Network. Anne-Marie Lockmyer has quite a well-rounded education on grief but her passion is to help grieving widows. She’s a widow herself, so my conversation with Anne-Marie is both from her personal experience as well as her professional ability to help widows process and heal. We had a great conversation that I’m excited to share with you! Some of the things we talked about were: what does it mean to be blessed in a Christian context when in fact we’re not exempt from pain and suffering; the complexity of grief (that it does affect the brain and the body); giving yourself permission to grieve, to be angry, to laugh, to have joy. Grief is a roller coaster at best so the focus is to care for yourself as you journey through. We talked about healing and that it is possible. Doesn’t mean you forget about your loved one or that you’re not honoring them anymore if you’re not sad. It doesn’t mean that your life will magically return to what it used to be. Sadly, it will never be the same. It will be different, but it can still be beautiful. As Anne-Marie shares her experience of unexpectedly losing her husband Mark and it happens while she’s out of the country. I add that because I personally think that not being able to get to your loved one at such a critical time adds yet another layer of trauma to the trauma. Her husband passed from a brain aneurysm, this not only leaves her blindsided and numb but they have a special needs son who responded to his father like no one else. When Anne-Marie received word over the phone, in a foreign country that her world had been ripped apart and would never be the same, she asked one thing of God. "God, if I have to go through this, may I glorify you, honor Mark and impact lives?" As you listen to the message on her heart, or visit her website, check out her widows retreat and engage her extensive resources, I think you’ll see that God has honored her request. God has taken the very same thing that evil intended to destroy Anne-Marie with and did something really beautiful. Let’s listen in so that we might find God in the midst of pain and suffering. Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com Connect with Anne-Marie: Email: annemarie@griefandtraumahealing.com Website: Grief & Trauma Healing Network  https://griefandtraumahealing.com Free online grief support site: MyGriefCare.com  https://www.mygriefcare.com Your Grief Guides YouTube Channel  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxXrACWW7qjFlQ1A26onCMQ Anne-Marie’s 8-time award-winning book “When Their World Stops - The Essential Guide to Truly Helping Anyone in Grief”   https://amzn.to/3Sb2T2f Bio: Anne-Marie Lockmyer is a grief specialist, certified in critical incident stress debriefing, a certified trauma-integrative practitioner, 8-time award-winning author on grief, and founder of The Grief & Trauma Healing Network. As a widow herself, Anne-Marie knows the pain and devastation that grief and loss cause and is living proof that you can go from surviving to thriving. Anne-Marie works with people worldwide, and is passionate about advocating for and loving grievers and being an educational catalyst to society on grief and loss.

What do we do when God interrupts our life and turns it in a completely different direction? My guest, Morgan McCarver has an answer to that question. Just when all of her disciplined years of dance training and mastering control of her body was about to pay off in the world of competitive dance, she was forced to submit to a surgery that would avoid severe health complications in the future.  Morgan would endure a spinal fusion surgery that would alter her body’s ability to comply with the demands of dance. With a year long recovery ahead, and without dance, Morgan felt the need to create so she and her mom began to look for various outlets. What could possibly be out of convenience for her mother’s schedule, she enrolls Morgan in a summer camp and her class is a pottery workshop. You’ll hear how God uses this seemingly insignificant enrollment to then open a whole new world for Morgan.  Morgan makes mention of the book of Genesis (in the Bible) reminding us that humanity is first introduced to God through the creation process and it’s that side of His nature that He shares with Morgan as a way of revealing His heart to her. The beauty He brings forth through this form of expression in Morgan can be found in numerous art galleries, her Etsy account and in the pages of the book she’s written, titled, “God the Artist: Revealing God’s Creative Side Through Pottery.” As Morgan creates with her hands, God is creating in her and through her as well and it’s the same for each of us.  Listen in to discover the beauty God has for us in the creative process and how it can be overlayed onto what He’s doing in our lives as the individuals He created us to be. Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com    Connect with Morgan: www.morganmccarver.com (find the link to her book, Etsy shop & if you buy wholesale, her link to Faire.com) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morgan_mccarver_porcelain/?hl=en Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/morgan.mccarver.7/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-mccarver X (formerly Twitter): https://www.sotwe.com/GodTheArtistBk Bio: Morgan McCarver was born and raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Her work is inspired by her female mentors of past and present, as well as her connection to Victorian corsetry through her scoliosis journey. She received an art degree with a ceramics concentration and a double minor in art history and business in 2019 from Anderson University in Anderson, SC. McCarver had the honor of receiving the 2019 Outstanding Art Major Ceramics Award her senior year. As a 2020 701 Center for Contemporary Art prize finalist, she had the honor of being the youngest artist to ever make it that far. She is a multi-award winning artist who recently received an Artist Support Grant to attend a national ceramics conference. She has had the honor of displaying her work in 3 solo exhibitions, “FemininiTEA” 2020, “The Strength of a Wildflower” 2022 and “Postures in Porcelain” 2023. She recently completed a residency at Edgewood Cottage in Blowing Rock Summer 2023 and participated 2022 as well. McCarver has studios in Asheville, NC and Spartanburg, SC. Her art can be found in various galleries around the Carolinas and Tennessee. Her first book, “God the Artist: Revealing God’s Creative Side Through Pottery,” will be released with Morgan James Publishing January 9, 2024.

My guest today is Rose Anne Forte (For-Tay). She is an Alcohol-Free coach, a Positive Intelligence Coach and an International Best-Selling author of the award winning daily devotional titled, “The Plans He Has for Me.” Today’s episode is discovering more about her 12 week devotional and the challenge to purposefully consider the possibility of a transformed life.  Rose Ann was a successful executive, ministry leader in the church, bible teacher, mom, wife and more but when her marriage fell apart she found herself in a place of desiring to be free from the psychological slavery of her alcohol habit. One of the great things I feel that Rose Ann is doing in the program that she’s created (by marrying the secular addiction program she used with the true, lasting hope and change that the God of the Holy Bible offers), is to shift our mindset about labels such as alcoholic, recovery and sober.  In my personal opinion, she’s taken a very practical approach about these 3 words moving them from a secular viewpoint to the transformed reality that God provides.  That made sense to me because of the complete work of Christ on the cross and the fact that by His stripes we are healed. Not partially healed. Not kinda healed. But healed. And I agree that healing takes place in layers but that does not negate the full redemptive restoration accomplished on the cross that is available to us today and every day.  Don’t get me wrong, I think labels are important when it comes to identifying a problem. Labels help  to establish a starting point to work from. Once a problem is identified it helps with taking responsibility for the changes you need to initiate. What does taking responsibility do? It moves you from the victim mentality (another label) to victor, a much better adjective.   Do relapses happen? Sure. Rose Ann and I talk about that aspect of breaking any type of addiction. Relapse is part of being healed in layers.  If you struggle with or have struggled with addiction, it will always be a part of your testimony with regard to the journey you went through. However, that doesn’t mean that you’re tied to that label or this world’s value system. If there’s one thing (among many) that a personal relationship with Christ gives you it’s living above the chaos and limited understanding of this world.  What I’m getting at is, at some point there comes a time when you leave behind the words alcoholic, recovery and sober.  Rose Ann talks about this in more detail. You reach a point where you’re reigning in life, free of addiction and in this case alcohol. The recovery process is complete, you're living a life that no longer resembles addiction. With every layer of healing we step into the progressive story of renewal and redemption that Christ is writing over our life. He’s writing a much bigger love story with us as the unique person He created us to be. His heart is to help you break free from the grip of this life and step into who He created you to be when He knit you together with His own hands. If you feel like something in your life is out of sync, maybe something has a bigger hold on you than you feel comfortable with/it’s nagging you or if you’re clear that you struggle with any type of addiction, Rose Ann’s personal transformation will give your heart encouragement to know that freedom is possible.   If you’d like to consider the possibility of a transformed life, check out Rose Ann’s 12 week program, “The Plans He has for Me.” The link is in the show notes. Also included in the show notes are links to Rose Ann’s free resources which I think they are also on her website. ThePlansHeHasForMe.com  Listen in for a dose of encouragement from Rose Ann Forte! Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com   Connect with Rose Ann: Articles and free resources: Website Podcast: Say Goodbye and Imagine! Podcast Instagram:  @roseannforteplans Bio: Rose Ann is an Alcohol-Free Coach, a Positive Intelligence Coach and International Best-Selling author of an award winning daily devotional called “The Plans He Has For Me”.   She helps people put alcohol to the side for 12 consecutive weeks by educating them with the scientific principles behind alcohol abuse using God’s foundational principles to renewing your mind.   The Plans He Has For Me is a 12 week focused devotional for those who want to rid themselves of the psychological slavery of their alcohol habit.

My guest and friend, Tina Ivey allowed me to ask questions about her personal trauma of domestic and sexual abuse. Tina has not only survived sexual abuse by her father but she’s excelled beyond merely surviving. She is living a life that is full, busy and rewarding. I personally feel that one of the strongest markers for a life of thrive/thriving is to live in peace, contentment and forgiveness. Those qualities describe Tina. In this episode we talk about many aspect of abuse such as what keeps victims from speaking up? What is something that the average person can look for in order to help someone who is experiencing sexual abuse? Additionally, Tina shares her foster care experience that included a neighbor girl who was a bully. Tina also shares how she and that girl (after they had become adults) cross paths and how God challenged Tina’s ability to forgive. I asked Tina about forgiveness in 3 areas: her father, God and herself. Like so many abuse victims, she withheld forgiveness from herself the longest. She shared about her regrets and the healing process that took place as she wrote her book titled, Better Than I Should be: Overcoming Sexual and Domestic Abuse through Forgiveness and Personal Healing. The book became available for purchase on December 20, 2023, so it’s available now. We didn’t get to discuss all that Tina’s book reveals so the purchase link will be in the show notes if you’d like to read more about her journey. She had the proverbial cards of life stacked against her since she was a tiny girl but God does amazing things with simple childlike faith. Real quick before we get started, when I was looking at the transcript there is a part of our conversation where Tina refers to Jaci. I noticed we did not share who that is. Jaci is Tina’s daughter. Let’s get to it. Listen in for a small glimpse into Tina’s journey through sexual abuse and her steadfast faith in believing that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He’ll do. Lived Loved and Thrive! Connect with Tina: IG - christina.w.ivey FB - https://www.facebook.com/christina.w.ivey Resources: Tina’s book: Better Than I Should Be: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Than-Should-Overcoming-Forgiveness/dp/B0CLMVMWBC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YZSKAX6THOO&keywords=better+than+i+should+be%2C+tina+ivy&qid=1703796036&sprefix=%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-1 Safe House Project: safehouseproject.org Amy Watson - Wednesday’s with Watson. Amy has a powerful story of her own and is a strong advocate for hope, healing and restoration. Connect with Amy: WednesdaysWithWatson.com Living Waters - Help for those who are dealing with sexual and relational brokenness- https://www.desertstream.org/who-we-are & https://www.desertstream.org/find-a-group Bio: Christina Warren Ivey Grew up in a small rural town in Martin County, NC. As a young girl, her childlike faith led her to invite Jesus to be her Lord and Savior and she has pursued Him ever since. Growing in her personal and intimate relationship with Christ has given her the keys to find healing and forgiveness after years of abuse. Better Than I Should Be is her first book and will walk you through her journey to emotional wellness.

If you’re dealing with overwhelming pain my guest Darci Steiner has a testimony of amazing resilience as she lives out the debilitating affects of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome or CRPS. In her book, Beauty Beyond the Thorns, Darci reveals how God cares for us in the darkest valleys in life. What she shares can benefit anyone who is dealing with pain that makes it seem like there's no way out. While we didn’t discuss in detail the medical side of self-care I wanted to mention it now. If you’re experiencing a crisis of mental health, emotional health of physical health, consider medical professionals and/or medication (per your doctor) in addition to your faith journey. Unrelenting pain can be a very lonely journey so Darci points us to the One who will never leave nor forsake us. God is always present, always listening and ready to tend to you. CRPS is called the suicide disease because when ranked on a pain scale, CRPS is found to be the highest pain one can feel hence the suicide disease label. People who know this level of unrelenting pain want to escape, permanently. Especially because they’re told there is no cure. But God, right? Twenty years ago a fall down the steps ignited Darci’s first experience with CRPS. The pain was so great that she did not have an appetite and became malnourished and was dying. Darci shares a little bit about her story of being bedridden for 2 years and the healing journey she experienced. What gripped my heart is that 5 years ago on a very special day for her family, the simple need of having to go back into the venue to grab something that she forgot and a chair topples from a stack and strikes her in the ankle. Immediately the pain seared from the injury and Darci knew she was headed back into CRPS. So at the time of this recording she is living with CRPS once again. She talked about the difference in how she engages God’s heart this time. Because of her vulnerability, we get a glimpse of a maturing faith forged in deep pain that produces an intimacy with God that cannot be developed in any other context. One of the ways that Darci’s faith matured is that while in God’s word she received revelation on the distinction between being and doing. Darci’s pain severely limited her ability to engage in some of the most simple things in life…at one point of being bedridden for 2 years, as Darci lay in bed she asked her husband to create a tent over her with the bed sheet because when it touched her skin it caused excruciating pain. As she lay in bed day in and day out she began to question the purpose of living. She couldn’t do anything, she wasn’t of any help, she couldn’t enjoy her young daughters. Life was happening around her but without her. Even today she can only watch her grandchildren with assistance and short intervals. It’s in this quiet place of simply being with God that she discovers a whole new level of intimacy with Him. The revelation that His only request for her, for any of us is to be with Him. A weight was lifted and she began to see the beauty of Christ’s extravagant love for her in the humble posture of being. One last thing and we’ll jump into the conversation with Darci.  I especially loved how Darci shares that in the dark valleys of life God is there. I know we’ve heard that a thousand times but it’s a great reminder that we don’t have to go looking for Him. We don’t have to pray for Him to find us. We don’t have to check off the good Christian checklist for Him to show Himself. He’s already there. We simply need to engage Him in the being. If you’ve been struggling with the thought that a good God would not have you suffer like this I challenge you to reframe that. God is good because despite the reality of the pain in this life, He doesn’t abandon or reject us nor does He leave us to figure it out on our own. He enters into our pain with us, comforts us, leads us into healing, and untangles our fears. In short, He gives us His very presence. Darci was the absolute sweetest because despite her pain and my probing questions she has such a deep desire in her heart to share an encouraging message with others who are experiencing unrelenting pain whether it’s in their mind/mental health, body/physical health, heart/emotional health. Listen in because Darci does a beautiful job of revealing the heart of God in the context of pain and suffering. Lived Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com Connect with Darci: Website: https://www.darcijsteiner.com  Facebook Author: https://www.facebook.com/darcijsteiner Facebook Personal: https://www.facebook.com/darci.andersonsteiner Instagram: https://instagram.com/darcijsteiner.writer/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darcijsteiner/  X (Formerly Twitter):  https://twitter.com/DarciJSteiner  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/darcijsteiner Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/darcijsteiner/ Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/darcijsteiner.com YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8I8Pweui5tUt1DVvpeqEIA WomenSpeakers.com Audible Bio: Darci J. Steiner is the author of the award-winning biblically based book Beauty Beyond the Thorns: Discovering Gifts in Suffering. She is an inspirational speaker, author, writing coach, and nutritionist. Darci began writing to process her pain after a foot injury disabled her due to the nerve-pain disorder Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Darci writes and speaks messages that uplift and inspire audiences to always hold on to hope. She loves spending time with her husband, two adult daughters, and two grandchildren. Please visit www.darcijsteiner.com to subscribe to The Upside of Suffering Newsletter.

Have you ever felt inadequate when trying to express your care and concern to someone who is grieving? If so, my guest Sherrie Dunlevy is going to help us understand how we can genuinely help the brokenhearted. She’ll shed some light on what to say and what not to say as well as what to do and what not to do. Plus along the way, Sherrie gives us additional insight that is going to help if you’re facing a season of loss and uncertainty yourself. Something I always like to point out is that grief is not limited to loosing a loved one. Anything that leaves us brokenhearted which equates to anytime we’re separated from that which we hold near and dear to our hearts. It’s times like that when everything familiar shifts and the pain demands a grieving process. When part of our life is torn away, we’re in need of an honest evaluation of how this tragedy impacts our life and what resources do we need to engage, in order to move toward full healing. Sherrie has a background in television as a news anchor, a radio talk show host, and she is currently a podcast host as well as a grief coach. And we can add author to her list of accomplishments because she’s published a book titled, Can I Help? Sherrie wrote this book because she has a deep compassion for those who are in a season of grief. As a grief coach her focus is to help the grieving process their pain. Based on the knowledge and insight that Sherrie has gained as a grief coach we push out the topic of grief to talk about how we can avoid adding extra stress and demands on our loved ones who are struggling with deep pain and even deeper questions. When someone is faced with the uncertainty of life, the struggle to understand their circumstance is fertile ground for isolation, confusion and to be honest, awkwardness. It’s the awkwardness that causes us to distance ourself from our loved one or to say things that are blanket statements. Blanket statements are the type of cliche comments that when said everyone knows it’s just a substitute for, I don’t know what to say. Sherrie’s book, Can I Help?, will give you the confidence to feel more at ease with the topic of grief and as you implement and practice Sherrie’s advice you become more comfortable to share space someone who is grappling with the reality of their old life vs the life they are now forced to know. There’s power in having confidence for this topic because it removes barriers and lets an aching heart know that they are seen, heard and cared about. When you’re in pain, knowing that you’re not alone is powerful enough to give people hope for a better tomorrow. The bottom line is, neither the brokenhearted nor the people who desperately want to help will have all the answers. Every situation is unique to the person who has experienced a tragedy/trauma. And the truth is, the brokenhearted can’t articulate what they need in the moment. In addition, the one who desires to be there for their loved one, feels helpless. If they both know anything, it’s that neither one can reach the pain because neither one can change the devastating reality of loss. Sherrie makes a clear distinction, which I felt was truly foundational to having the courage to reach out to someone who needs a kind word and that is, to remember it’s not about you. Sherrie and I partnered that portion of the conversation with another key truth that she pointed out: The person who wants to help can’t fix it and it’s not their job to fix it. To me, that takes a huge weight off and it allows the caregiver (not in a medical sense but rather in the context of relationship) to simply show up, sit quietly if necessary and allow their loved one to find their way through the grief. If you’ve ever felt helpless, confused, or awkward when it comes to navigating grief then listen in to see how you can remove typical barriers and create a connection of support that brings peace and invites healing. Live Loved and Thrive! Connect with Sherrie: Website Grief Coaching Services Book and Resources Facebook Bio: Former NBC News Anchor Sherrie Dunlevy served the Wheeling, WV area for nearly 30 years both on television and radio. Today she is a best selling author, Inspirational speaker and the Founder of the Graduating Grief Academy and host of the Graduating Grief podcast.    Her Number one best selling book “How Can I Help?” was written to help people know exactly what to say and do when the people they love and care about are hurting.   Sherrie helps people step out of the pain of their grief, so they can step into living with purpose, passion and JOY.   Transcript

Author Jodi Howe is here to talk about anxiety. More specifically, she’s here to tell us how to do more than simply manage it. She gives us various examples of how we set ourself up for patterns of anxiety. She shares practical steps for not only catching these patterns but she also offers suggestions on evaluating our schedules and practices that we can unknowingly add overwhelm to our typical day.  Jodi’s book, The Air That I Breathe is a resource that she couldn’t find when she so desperately wanted relief from the panic attacks that threatened to overtake her life. She shares the various lessons she’s learned along the way so that you can gain immediate insight vs struggling to figure out the best ways to find freedom. She also shares the countless ways that God steadied her, led her and healed her through this journey.  The current (IYKYK) publishing date for Jodi’s book is November 27, 2023. You will be able to find it on Amazon as well as Jodi’s website (jodihowe.com). Christmas is just around the corner so maybe you want to drop a hint or two to let your peeps know that you’d like a copy for Christmas. Also, if there’s someone in your life who could really use help to get their anxiety under control, consider Jodi’s resource (aka her book, The Air That I Breathe) an excellent tool in seeing that come to fruition.  If you’re like me you’re gonna immediately love Jodi because she’s full of life. While her wit will have you laughing I’m most impressed with her courage to be transparent about real life challenges.  Even when life doesn’t look neat, predictable and pretty she doesn’t side step the hard parts but takes them on knowing that God will see her through. This book is such an incredible tool because Jodi’s personal experience has been so beautifully blended with practical steps of application and the wisdom of God’s word and the fact that He’s already laid out how we can live without anxiety, worry, fear and overwhelm. Let’s listen in to discover how we can find God in the midst of the struggle to quiet our mind and find peace in a world that is anything but peaceful. Live Loved and Thrive! @Alifeofthrive.com  Connect with Jodi: Website Facebook Instagram X (Formerly Twitter) Jodi’s Bio as seen on her website: I grew up in Upstate New York. Raised in Syracuse and even attended Syracuse University. I am still a die-hard fan of everything Orangemen Football and Basketball. I also enjoy the NFL. Go Giants. Oh, and the Bills, too. After all, I am from NY!   I now live in North Carolina. In between life, I have lived in New York City, San Francisco, and Albany, New York. Still, I love the South. Not the heat, but the south. The mountains are 3 hours away—the ocean, 2.  It's the best of both worlds and I get all of my beloved seasons.      At home, I can be found in my comfy chair with my smartphone, writing content and studying through devotionals and the Bible. And sometimes I watch a show or two.     I love to be with people and am highly extroverted. I am in my "happy place" when behind a microphone. This may come as a surprise to some, but I also love to retreat on my own. I am fueled by quiet time with the Lord and peaceful surroundings. Reflecting. Praying. Dreaming. Learning and then Praying some more. Focusing on The Air that I Breathe. Which is Jesus!   I have lived, grieved, and learned hard lessons through a marital break-up and family struggles (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). I also know anxiety very well, and it is my first actual testimony to God, his love, and experiencing the peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:6-7). Apostle Paul tells us we will have thorns in our flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7), but God's grace is sufficient for each day. I am a testimony to that.   I am a mother of 2 girls. I adore them with all of my heart. They are beautifully unique in their ways, and I am genuinely proud of them.    Will you join me in my life-long journey of knowing and loving Jesus? Living in him is the abundant life promised, and yes, it's all good when we shift our perspective toward God's plan for our lives.  And wholeheartedly, I believe we can also have some fun along the way. You are Loved, Jodi

My guest Leslie Davis, is a founder (along with her husband) of HeartCall Ministries and it’s because of the way God has blessed their marriage that makes Leslie passionate about seeing marriages healed and strengthened through the truth of God's Word. Their marriage is proof that you can have a solid, godly, blessed, rewarding marriage.  Leslie and I talked about how marriage is simply two broken people bringing out the brokenness in each other but Leslie said something that I cannot ever remember considering it quite like she shared. Granted, I’ve been a widow now for a little over 5.5 years so maybe I’m just not remembering. She said, “A lot of times God will use the marriage relationship to provide healing for those broken places.” I don’t recall considering conflict in my marriage, as an opportunity to heal. Although, in hindsight it was times of frustration and feeling at my wits end in my marriage that caused me to seek my own personal healing. When I think about it, that’s so like God. He knows marriage is gong to bring our brokenness to the surface. He knows we’re going to challenge each other and it’s going to trigger all the areas where we need healing and He’s fine with that. He’s fine with it because in the process He’s asking us to give that painful place, that brokenness to Him so He can heal it. The sooner we give it to Him the sooner we get to walk in freedom. God’s heart is to heal us in the here and now. To build our trust, to show us His faithfulness and ability to Shepherd us well.  A significant distinction that Leslie made is looking at the difference of what it means to have a strong identity based on who we are IN Christ AND who we are TO Christ. So good. I can’t wait for you to hear that part. We took a look at abuse, submission, obedience and humbling but it’s not the typical conversation that you may be used to hearing. Leslie believes that submission preached without including the importance of biblical leadership is not viable. Additionally, Leslie points to varying levels of trust between spouses and the fact that when the marriage vows (that were spoken between you and your spouse in front of witnesses) are broken then there’s some work that needs to be done. Whether is was submission, obedience, humbleness, or abuse, no matter our topic, Leslie balances it with clarity, hope and God’s heart for us and for marriage. I am confident that her message is going to encourage you to continue pursuing the heart of God and discovering His intention for marriage and the freedom He has for us as the individual He created you to be. We can’t forget, that if we’ve professed the Son of God as our Lord and Savior, then He’s made a vow to us. He’ll never leave us nor forsake us especially in the painful places of life.  I don’t want to delay any longer, let’s listen in so that we might get a glimpse of how to find God in our pain, specifically the broken places in marriage. Live Loved and Thrive! @Alifeofthrive.com Connect with Leslie: Website Counseling Podcast Resources Facebook Instagram   Bio: Leslie is the co-host with her husband, Doug, of The Vision-Driven Marriage podcast. They currently work with couples who are experiencing the overwhelm of the whirlwind of life. She earned a Master of Science degree in counseling from Illinois State University in 2008 and a Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Illinois University in 1991. She has been trained as a certified Suicide Intervention Specialist and is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. Leslie has been married to Doug for 34 years. Together they have four beautiful daughters and three sons-in-law. Four sweet little granddaughters call her Nana.  She likes to write, scrapbook, and has recently taken up watercolor painting.  Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/463bf4a1bbd74ee6b8e335669e679edb/view

My guest Sue Corl is the Founder and Executive Director at Crown of Beauty International. Her childhood and young adult years were very difficult. She was born with a facial birth defect and from birth to 15 years of age most of those formative years were spent living with complications both physical and mental, from back to back corrective surgeries.  But talking with Sue, listening to her life, hearing about her ministry, her husband and family, God has not wasted a single moment of pain and suffering and neither has Sue. In pursuit to rewrite the lies that she believed about herself, she has agreed with God on everything that He has to say about her, and the way that He loves her. Hence the birth of Crown of Beauty International. It is her passion to lead women to find freedom from the defeating lies that they think, feel, and live out in their personal lives.  Sue travels all around the world and walks through every door God opens for her and she points the hearts of women to God’s truth and His deep love for them. Sue is amazing! I want let you know that the thing that was supposed to keep your mouth shut, the thing that has you feeling guilt and shame, give it to God and He’ll transform it into an adventure you would have never thought to ask for nor could you imagine.   We talked about so many things but a few of those that stuck out to me were, talking about how reading God’s word (the Bible), how it transforms you through the work of the Holy Spirit. Not just from a spiritual aspect. She talked about when the word is built upon and it begins to transform us little by little it also affects our posture, the way we walk, how we talk to people, the way we show up in places, roles, responsibilities. It reminded me of this, I’m not sure if you’ve ever experienced it but sometimes when you’re talking to someone you can see joy in their eyes, a light in some people’s eyes. Without fail, every time I dig a little deeper in conversation with them, sometimes asking point blank are you a Christian or a different faith based question I find out that they are indeed Christians. Seeing a light in their eyes makes complete sense to me because we are filled with the Light of the World.   Because of Sue’s international travel she talked about how our negative self-image and negative internal dialog is seen all around the world, even including men. They’ve started a separate program for men. Hearing that, I asked her what is the common dominator. And of course you can always trace it back to the one who steals, kills and destroys us from the inside out.  Ultimately, we believe varying degrees of lies about ourself. Anytime we believe a  lie and it goes unchecked, it is not in our favor. We will not fare well.  It can start out as a good thing but at some point it has the potential to tip into a lie. We can start out confident but then end up prideful, we can start out being kind and caring but we end up being a doormat. So I had to ask her this question, how do we keep our life in balance? Sue’s response? By consistently, exposing our way of thinking to God’s truths. Challenge the triggers in our life by allowing God room to speak into those places. In doing so He’ll expose the lies for us. The best part is that He downloads His truth so that if we choose, we can rewrite what we thought was truth with the real thing, God’s truth AND His love. I saw a quote from Billy Graham “ Most of all let the Word of God fill you and renew your mind every day. When your minds are on Christ, Satan has little room to maneuver.”  If you’ve been listening to several of my past podcast episodes on the healing ministry here’s something that Sue shared that lined right up with how God made us mind, body, soul, spirit, it’s all meshed together. Sue has been studying the brain and unforgiveness. She’s been reading medical materials etc. and she shares that through medical science she discovered that unforgiveness is now considered a disease because it has the same impact on your body as a disease. So, that of course reminds me of the Bible verse Proverbs 14:30 (NLT), A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy (in my opinion a form of unforgiveness) is like cancer (a disease) to the bones. (My emphasis added) Let me wrap up with this and we’ll get started. Our transformation from bondage, and I don’t care what area or form of bondage you’re in, but going from bondage to freedom it’s going to require our participation. An active engagement not only pursuing God for truth but putting it to work in our life. Taking part in our transformation has to do with interrupting negative thoughts or beliefs by using God’s promises, His truths to rewrite the lies we believe, and Sue says, it takes intentional work to create new neuro pathways that change our brain and therefore change the course of our life.  God is inviting us to discover Him in the healing process and He’s created our body to be successful at overcoming the obstacles of this life. So let’s listen in and see how and where we can find God meeting us in our pain with solutions, transformation and redemption. Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com   Bio: Crown of Beauty International founder, Sue Corl, was born with a severe cleft palate, without a nose, upper lip, or palate. During the first 15 years of her life, Sue underwent 26 major operations. As a child, she heard lies about her physical appearance and struggled emotionally with her self-worth. In her late twenties, she began the journey of emotional healing as she opened God’s Word and discovered the truths of who she is: fearfully and wonderfully made and an image bearer of God. Her personal story inspired her to begin Crown of Beauty International to help women around the world to experience the same freedom from lies, shame, and strongholds that God provided for her. Sue is an international women’s conference speaker, author, mentor, and Bible teacher, and served 25 years as a missionary in Asia. Her greatest joy is being a wife and mother of two adult children. She has a passion to see women set free by receiving the love of God and living out their potential in the powerful truth of who they are in Christ. Connect with Sue: https://www.CrownofBeautyInternational.com

I’m so glad you’re here today because it could mean we are a lot alike in that we struggle with letting go of guilt and shame. It does the heart good, or at least it does my heart good to know that I’m not the only one struggling with this. I wanted to share this sweet reminder, that the Lord gave me. I love when the truth of what I know about God sinks in a little bit deeper into my heart. In this case it broke off some pride I had about forgiveness and not the forgiveness we typically think of first, that of forgiving others. This was about forgiving myself. I almost want to ask you to listen to this episode at a time when things are quiet and you’re in a personal space so that you can actively respond to what a share but I know that everyone has a very busy life and therefore that’s a hard request. Whether you listen now or whether you use my suggestion later to process with God, I’m hoping to create an opportunity for you to hear God’s voice because I’m thinking you’re like me in that you already know the truth of God’s forgiveness and yet we still beat ourself up with guilt and shame. This proves there is some value in digging a little deeper, or simply lingering a little longer with focused concentration to discover freedom when it comes to forgiving ourself. Again, the quiet space is not mandatory because I was driving down the road when God spoke into my spirit. The sweetness of the Lord had me in tears. I don’t want anything to happen to you should you be driving. Maybe pull over if the love of the Lord comes over you like it did me. What I have to share today will keep pointing us back to the cross, something you may feel is a bit overdone. Not overdone with the reverence we have for the cross but possibly overdone with regard to how familiar you are with the message of the cross. Stay with me please because I can’t get to where I want to take us without going to the cross. And to be honest, as Christians it is always about the cross. It is the core of our faith. It’s what makes our faith different. The fact that we have a relationship with the Living God. An alive, active, engaged relationship. We can know our God and hear His voice. There is the potential that some parts of what I’m going to delve into might feel a little abrasive because when God revealed my pride to me in the context of forgiving myself I hadn’t thought of it as pride. Additionally, I’m well aware that when people get too close to the things that we are sensitive about it feels judgmental but when God exposes us He does it in love and He’s inviting us into deeper relationship, where trust (in Him) is matured. I want this message to be done in love so that is why I’ll be pointing you to God to have your conversation with Him. I want Him to reveal what He wants to set you free from. My goal is not to add condemnation to this conversation. That is satan’s speciality. God convicts but He never condemns, two different things. I want this conversation to be done in the same gentle, kind way that God did it for me. He didn’t call me out to embarrass me. He gently exposed my pride in order to set me free from it. It’s times like that when He takes us back to the cross, not to harm us, but to heal us. I’m going to prompt you with an exercise and it’s based on the times when the devil tries to drag us back to a place that reminds us of our shame, guilt and regret. I’ve worked through a lot of childhood trauma. I think everybody’s pretty clear on the fact that our family of origin sets the pace for our adult life and so it impacts our decisions. Those experiences help craft the lens through which we see people and the world. We make a lot of assumptions because our experiences do not have a full understanding so now we’re dealing with lies we believe, and it all creates the value system we live by. Because no family, no person, no relationship is perfect and sinless, this gives satan plenty of opportunity to try and take us back to painful memories or experiences. We can all find ourselves in these familiar places of thinking defeating thoughts because satan has his successful patterns that he runs on us. It will always be his goal to to steal the truth of God’s word, because in truth there is freedom. Satan wants to kill our hope, faith, love, our relationships and at the very least destroy us from the inside out. In times when a situation activates one of our coping skills or in any way that we’ve created a self protection method, let it be an instant signal for us that God wants to engage our heart about what we’re feeling. He’d love to hear your heart and be given the opportunity to speak His truth into whatever it is we’re believing to be true. In moments like that, meet Him at the cross. The place where He won the full victory over all of life’s failures and brokenness. The things that primarily cause us guilt and shame are structured around something that we’ve done, that we’re responsible for. Our actions, our decisions, and our choices have brought us shame and regret. If we’ve repented for our sins then we can have assurance that we’re forgiven (because of the cross) and yet we play the shameful memory of our actions over and over in our mind and in our heart. It’s in this context of forgiven yet unable to let go that I want to create an opportunity for you to take a fresh look at the cross and reconsider something about God’s heart for you. And real quick allow me to take a detour because I don’t want to overlook this aspect of guilt and shame. With regard to feeling shame or guilt, I’m not referring to times when someone has violated/victimized you. If you’re living with guilt and shame because you feel that what happened to you is somehow your fault, this message does not apply to your situation. I’ll be talking about choices that we make and are solely responsible. If you find yourself dealing with guilt and shame over something someone did to you, there is a measure of trauma healing that needs to take place because you’re not responsible for the actions of another person. In short, you can’t own another person’s choices. While you are not responsible for what happened to you, if there is any responsibility to be had on your part it would taking responsibility to flip the script on satan. Make every effort to find the healing you need. Make life giving decisions to get what you need and don’t stop until you are free. Just so I don’t drop you off cold in the middle of this episode, if you have a few minutes, disengage from your immediate To Do List and recline in the Lord, rest with Him. Just receive from Him. If you want to engage God, ask Him, Lord what step do you want me to take next so that I can process the guilt and shame I feel? Who do I need to talk to in order to find healing from these thoughts that are eating away at me on the inside. Also, I will put links in the show notes for a few past episodes and in a couple of weeks there is another one coming out on October 20th. These episodes all take a look at the various healing ministries available to believers. My guest Eileen Love and I talked about Emotion Code Healing - it was broken into 2 parts (Part 1 & Part 2). There’s an episode on the Deliverance Ministry Healing with Karen King. Additionally, the episode on October 20th is on the Healing Prayer ministry with Frank Meadows. So remember to come back on or after the 20th to find that one. Coming back to our topic at hand, overcoming the guilt and shame that is based on our decisions and choices. Specifically the situation where we’ve repented for our sins but we are not able to forgive ourselves. Here’s a suggestion, my intended exercise on how to engage the Lord: Find a place where you can be real with God. Intentionally invite him into your space, ask him to protect the conversation that you’ll be having with him. He’ll command His army to position themselves in the atmosphere so that you can say whatever is on your heart. God is going to protect your vulnerability. He never asks for a perfect conversation, He asks for a genuine one. Once you’ve intentionally invited God into your space and He has secured the atmosphere I want you to bring to the forefront of your mind the thing that taunts you with guilt and shame. Expose it by speaking it out loud to the Lord. Father, every time this thing (tell him what the thing is not because He doesn’t know but He will only work on what you’re willing to give Him. He will not force anything from you or on you). Father, every time this comes to mind I block it out. I feel disgusted…whatever it is you feel, think, believe etc., talk to God. Today could possibly be the first time that you’ve actually verbalized it. Maybe your shame and regret keeps you from talking about that thing that has left your heart battered and ragged, and exhausted. But you think about it. Your internal dialog beats you up over it when it surfaces. Maybe you’ve been talking with God about it but you keep returning to it, like you’re still chained to it. Feeling like you have no control over it, no voice about it, no freedom from it? You just feel helpless to change it or make a difference. You did what you did or maybe you didn’t do what you should have done. You said what you said or maybe you said nothing and you feel that you should have said something. Now you’re left with the emotional baggage, potentially physical ailments not to mention the mental battle. The good news? All that has the potential to change if you’re willing to be transparent with the Lord in the safety of the space He’s protecting you in. Remember in Genesis 32 when God asked Jacob, “What is your name?” It was not that God didn’t know Jacob’s name but Jacob had a lot of trauma attached to his name. In Biblical times, a person’s name was part of their identity. Jacob’s name means deceiver and Jacob lived up to that. As a matter of fact, the reason Jacob is struggling with God in this verse is because he was getting ready to cross paths with his twin brother Esau and Jacob was responsible for not only stealing Esau’s birth right but Jacob also stole the final blessing from their father that rightfully belonged to Esau. Jacob initially reaches out to Esau in an attempt to make peace with his brother. In response, he receives word that Esau is headed his way with 400 hundred of his men in tow. So now Jacob has come to God scared to death for his life and God asks Him, What is your name? It might seem like a strange question in such a desperate situation. God wasn’t trying to shame Jacob. God was inviting Jacob into transparency, to be truthful with him. But why, you might ask? Because change only happens when we expose our fear, guilt, and shame. But not to just anyone but rather expose it to the One who defeated it. The One who can make a difference, the One who can turn it of your good. Guilt and shame left in the dark, bouncing off our heart and our mind, it only becomes bigger and bigger in our mind and emotions. I can’t say this enough, when God calls us out of the dark places of our mind, he’s not trying to expose us for the purpose of embarrassment or to beat us down reminding us who the Almighty God is. Without authentic transparency we can’t connect to people. We’ll have a surface relationship at best. And let me just say here, not everyone is trustworthy with our pain so you should guard you heart in this area. But the God of the Holy Bible wants real, life giving, life breathing relationship with us. We can’t change what we don’t acknowledge. Change only happens when we expose our fears to the origin of truth, the fountain head of truth. Nothing stands against God’s truth. Because God will not push Himself on us, He was inviting Jacob into deeper relationship. He was saying, son, will you get real with me about what you’re feeling/experiencing? Will you have the courage to expose your fear to me so that the thing you keep struggling with, that thing you keep running from, we can put on the table and we can talk about it and we can work through it together? And Jesus says to us, my precious daughter, will you give that thing to me? Will you trust me with your pain? Daughter, do you believe that I love you and I have good things to give you in exchange for your nightmares? When we take our pain to God and struggle well to discover His truths in the context of our deep questions He gives us the beauty of His presence and we are transformed by the revelation that accompanies His presence. Truth shows up every time God shows up and we don’t have to wait for the spirit to move we can invite Him in and initiate an intimate exchange. God honors our authentic struggle because He knows that it takes courage to be transparent with Him, to step beyond our human understanding and experiences and accept His invitation into intimacy. So you’ve invited God into your space, and He has taken authority over the atmosphere, you’ve brought that thing into the Light of His presence and you’re letting anxiety flow out of your mouth. As you verbally process this brings a measure of release to your mind and body. The next thing I want you to do is picture God with you. See His kind and caring manner. Maybe He’s holding your hands, looking into your eyes with gentle affection. Maybe He’s sitting at the table with you. I can guarantee you this, if he’s sitting at the table with you He’s sitting next to you and He’s got His arm around you. In the safety and security of God, continue to purge your pain as long as you need to. Let Him know how you feel. What is your worst fear, your worst nightmare about that thing? Tell Him why you feel guilt and shame, or whatever emotion you feel. If you want, ask Him to show you where He was when this or that happened? He’s never left you so He was present. He’s not afraid of anything you share. You won’t scare Him off. He won’t reject you. This space of transparency and pain all tangled together in what can feel like a terrifying mess, this is His speciality and I’ll tell you why. He doesn’t extravagantly attend to us knowing that He WILL heal us, He’s drawing us into the healing He’s ALREADY provided. When we expose our fear and pain to him, healing and restoration begins not because a spontaneous healing happened in that He’s decided to now alleviate your guilt in that moment. But because you pursued Him in this context, it was engaged and therefore applied in that moment. It was already purchased on the cross you just hadn’t made it personal yet. Whatever you admit, confess or reveal, all the emotion, regret, shame, it doesn’t have to be pretty, or nice or even godly. Real pain, deep pain is messy. After you’ve poured it all out and you’ve come to the end of yourself, I want you to hear your Father God’s voice. He’s calm, soft spoken, loving. He’s saying, my precious precious daughter, I’ll take that, and I’ll take that, and that too and give me that one. Give it all to me. Let it go. I’ve already settled these things. Let me show you. Let Jesus lead you to the cross. Envision Christ scooping up all the emotion that you’ve been willing to expose and I want you to watch him lay your actions, choices, sins, onto His heart and then willingly lay on the wooden beams fashioned into a cross. Bear with me, this is the familiar part that may feel a little overdone. But this time, make it personal by seeing it through the eyes of knowing Jesus is taking your place. See the roman soldiers drive an iron peg through his left hand, and an iron peg his right hand, then another iron peg through his feet. Watch as they hoist the pole into the air and drop the foot of the cross down into the hole in the ground. It hits hard and the iron pegs tear His flesh. They’ll pierce his side with a spear and the final drops of His atoning blood along with water, the living water of life, will spill onto the ground. I’m not reminding you of this historical account because I want you to feel sorry for Him. This is not about pity. Jesus was not victimized in the manner of the Romans taking his life, He willingly laid down His life. I’m not telling you this to compound any guilt or shame because the truth is, we have no authority, no input, and no point of reference with regard to God’s plan on what the payment for sin will be and Jesus’ agreement on how it will be settled. I’m reminding you of the cross because it’s always about the cross. It’s the intersection where God’s truth and provision meets man’s sin and human will. This question may still be be lingering in the air, How do we move from the knowledge of forgiveness to embracing this as truth in our life? How do we make this our core belief and understanding so that we operate and do life from the place of being forgiven? How do we make the leap from knowing in our head that we’re forgiven to actually forgiving ourselves? Maybe our inability to forgive ourselves is twisted up with the cross. And it’s the reason why we won’t let ourselves off the hook. Because the truth is, it should have been me. It should have been you. Paying for what we’ve done. That was our debt. Our burden, our guilt, our shame, our choices, our actions. When it comes to realistically applying forgiveness, there is a portion of the process when we apply God’s truth every time guilt and shame comes up in our mind. We interrupt the thought with truth, not allowing our mind to start running wild. While that can seem robotic, God’s truth overwhelms every lie and is very effective. The point of forgiveness that I’m trying to examine are the times where we’re checking all the Christian boxes of what makes a good Christian so that our good outweighs our bad. We’re doing all the right things. We’re praying, we’re fasting, we’re in church every Sunday all with the hope that we’ll get God’s approval and then He will supernaturally change the way we feel. I don’t want to deny the practical part of applying God’s word to our life, but what I want to dig down into is the pride part. Could it be that we’ve put ourself on the cross? Let’s say we have. And yet we’re STILL struggling to extend forgiveness to ourselves. On the one hand, we can’t deny the truth of our guilt and on the other hand, somewhere down to the core of our DNA we also acknowledge that we are grossly under qualified (and that is putting it lightly) to carry the weight of the cross. Whatever the reason is, I do know that pride can blind us. It did me. If we don’t humble our hearts we will find ourselves on the hamster wheel of guilt, shame, forgiveness, guilt, shame, forgiveness. It feels like a rat race but that’s simply the world’s value system. In God’s value system, it’s the intersection where God’s truth and provision meets man’s sin and human will. I’m reminded of a story that’s been around as long as I can remember, I feel sure you’ve heard it. It’s about the man who worked at a bridge with railroad tracks. He was responsible for opening and shutting the bridge for both the boats and the train. He’d taken his little boy to work one day and the youngster was playing on the tracks. To the father’s surprise a train was approaching faster than he could get to his son but if he closed the bridge lowering the train track his son would be crushed. Not sure if it’s a true story or not but it goes on to say that the man made the excruciatingly heart shattering decision to save all the people and their families that were on the train and he lowered the tracks crushing his little boy. The people on that train would go on living their life, never knowing what the father sacrificed nor what the precious son had afforded them. I often overlay that onto God’s Fatherly heart because some believers will never grasp the fullness of freedom that has been paid for them. Surely God’s heart must have broken because in the sin payment transaction God turned His face away from His beloved Son. Full payment for sin, the kind that saves us, translates to God the Father, being separated from His Son, Jesus. Some believers will go on living their life, entangled in shame, regret, never embracing what God ordained and what the blood of the Son afforded them. They’ll maintain a distance between their head knowledge that God had a plan to pay their debt of sin and yet never embrace it in their heart what the precious son afforded them with His blood. This whole message, this episode started when I was in my car, driving down the road, talking with God, the image of Christ on the cross making the just and final payment for my sin came to my mind. I’ve seen this picture countless times in books, and all kinds of preaching material but this time, my heart responded to the immense sacrifice, I made it personal. I saw the intimacy of what Jesus was doing for me and it softened my heart in a different way. The kindness of Jesus overwhelmed me. Kindness can seem like such a weak word in the scale of this particular context. Romans 2:4 says, Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? What had me weeping was being overwhelmed with the goodness and kindness of God even though I was in a place of pride, despising the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience. I wasn’t letting the work of the cross, His Son’s blood be enough. I was making it about me. I would not have made a direct connection with that way of thinking, none-the-less, it was playing out in my life, in my thought life. And when I saw how precious the Lord is to me even though I looked upon the cross with contempt/pride my heart become overwhelmed. If Jesus’ blood satisfied my sovereign, holy God, why was I being prideful still making it about me? God hasn’t abandoned us at Friday on the Cross. He gave us the Sunday resurrection. Our God is alive. Jesus is alive. Living breathing, fresh perspectives, new beginnings, the God of do overs. That’s the power of the blood. I’ve said a lot to bring us to this one point. It’s time to change our vision of the cross, our self imposed definition of what pays our debt. If you’re still in a strangle hold by your past I want to know, when you look up at the cross do you see Jesus on it or is it empty? Do you see Jesus’ work finished or unfinished? If we haven’t allowed the blood to pay our debt we’re as good as a dead (wo)man. We’re physically alive but we’re mentally/emotionally 6 feet under. And we’ll stay stuck in that type of mental grave until we soften our hearts, humbly admit that we’re not capable of paying our debt. Not now, not at our last breath, not at any time in between. Let’s take ourself off the cross. It’s not about us. Face it, we cannot pay for what we’ve have done or not done. We cannot fix what we said or did not say. If you agree with the atoning blood of Jesus and His finished work on the cross, you have been acquitted. The final words of Christ on the cross apply to us. It. Is. Finished. Tell your mind, YOU’RE FREE! Tell your heart, YOU’RE FREE! Tell your body, YOU’RE FREE! We don’t have to wait for heaven to live in peace, joy, and freedom. Give God, give Jesus, your praise and gratitude. Take a moment to let Him embrace you with His presence. Soften your heart toward His love, make Him personal in your heart and mind. And then do Him the best honor of all, let the world see God in you! Get out there and... Live Loved and Thrive! Get Rid of Guilt and Shame: Invite God into a conversation. Ask Him to take control of the atmosphere.Bring to the forefront of your mind the thing that still causes you guilt and shame.Talk with God about how you feel. Give him all of your pain and questions - Purge all your beliefs that surround the pain.Picture God with you, listening in a loving way. Ask Him, who do you want to be for me in this? What do you want me to know about You in this context of my guilt and shame?Trust God with your pain. Tell God you do not despise His Son Jesus and the work of the cross. Lay your guilt and shame at the foot of the cross.Break any agreement you have made with the lies you have believed about your guilt and shame.Give God your praise and thanksgiving. It can be in tears, laughter, songs of worship, outright words of praise etc. in whatever way you want to worship Him and give Him His due honor.RESOURCES: Past Podcast Episodes: Emotion Code with Eileen Love: Part 1 - https://alifeofthrive.com/2023/06/07/emotion-code-therapy-part-1-with-eileen-love/ Part 2 - https://alifeofthrive.com/2023/06/22/emotion-code-therapy-with-eileen-love-part-2/ Deliverance Ministry with Karen King: https://alifeofthrive.com/2023/09/13/finding-freedom-through-the-deliverance-ministry/ October 20, 2023 - I’ll add the link for the podcast on Healing Prayer Ministry with Frank Meadows. In the meantime you can check out his website: https://www.meadowshealingprayercenter.com/

I can’t think of anyone who would intentionally sign away their freedoms to a dangerous sect or a toxic community, so how does one find themselves in this type of environment? After talking with my guest Lauren Hunter, who shares her story of leaving Christian Science, I realized that often, it comes down to a very simple unassuming entry.   Christian Science was the faith of her family so Lauren was born into the teachings, practices and beliefs. Family is key. People find themselves in cults just like people join gangs or enter into relationships that end up being toxic because initially they feel like family and ultimately who doesn’t want to belong? I’ve often said this, when we look at society as a whole, (our worries, fears, anxieties, or motivations to accept less than we are worthy of, when we allow people to violate our bodies and our minds etc.)we can peel away all the different choices that people use to cope and self protect and I personally believe that we can all be boiled down to one thing. We fear being alone. I also think that our fear of being alone has to do with the way we were created. It’s in our DNA to seek relationship and yet nothing in this world will fully satisfy. Ultimately, our desire for relationship is to draw us to the One who created us. We were created for an intimate, real relationship with the living God. It was His original plan for us to dwell face to face with Him but when sin entered the Garden of Eden we were separated from Him. We’re left with the need, a deep desire to find home, to find God. This desire to find the One who fills us is a beautiful gift from the Father because once we pass from here, our soul, the part of us that lives eternally will face one of two realities, heaven or hell. God has created in us the desire to know Him so that we might choose Him and therefore live eternally with Him.  The thought of not spending eternity with God grieves His heart and so He gives us an innate desire to avoid being eternally alone (separated from love, joy, peace, a place where there is no pain, no tears etc.). It is the goodness and kindness of God to give us yet another way to seek Him and choose Him. That’s the heart of a Father, to give His children every opportunity to choose Him, to have another chance at eternity with Him. Being heard, seen, loved, valued, not being alone is an incredibly powerful motivator for people to stay in destructive relationships be that faith based, dating, friendship, marriage, work etc.   Lauren talks about the red flags that we need to be aware of. Granted we may not discern them at first because there is a conditioning, a soft build up to the actual abuse but some of the ones Lauren touched on were things like, the requirement to be obedient to the belief system, don’t question their authority, distrust outsiders, shoulder any burdens you experience, and undermining trust in yourself. After you hear all that Lauren talks about in this conversation you’re going to want to get her book, Leaving Christian Science. She shares more of her personal story and includes 9 other people who share their experiences and why they too left the false faith.  Each chapter addresses the various theological inconsistencies taught by Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science. Lauren and her guests compare Christian Science themes such as matter, Jesus Christ, contagion, prayer, and sin. Examining these inconsistencies provides a deeper understanding of the Christian faith that Lauren now pursues in freedom and truth. Let’s get this conversation started.  Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com Connect with Lauren: Website: laurenhunter.net Amazon Book Page: https://amzn.to/32LKPRk Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/laurenhunter.net/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/mamahunter100 Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenhhunter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenhhunter/ Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/laurenhhunter/ Amazon Author Central: https://amazon.com/author/laurenhunter NetGalley Widget Link to review copy: https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/203967 Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/lauren_hunter BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lauren-hunter Bio: Lauren Hunter is a writer who loves the big picture of God’s journey we are all on together. Raised in a fourth-generation family of Christian Scientists, Lauren left her family’s faith behind at the age of 25 to become an evangelical Christian. She is married to her high school sweetheart, and they live in Northern California with their four children.

My guest Karen King has developed a passion for the deliverance ministry specifically the deliverance from demonic attachment, influence, oppression, all the plans and schemes that Satan has set against us.  It’s no secret, God has a plan for your life and so does Satan but before we jump into finding freedom I do want to pause for one minute and acknowledge that some people do not believe that a Christian should or could have trouble with demonic attachments and influences or oppression, and if that's you, don’t check out.  Allow me to humbly submit to you Job. A man who was tested in every single capacity of life and never sinned against God. As a matter of fact, it was because of Job’s faithfulness that God offered him up to Satan. With restrictions of course, but none the less we see Job go from traumatic emotional pain, to physical illness pain to a place where the pain turned inward on himself as he cried out to the God he believed in.  We have this perspective about Job but we can also acknowledge that we’ve all been through portions of Job’s journey. Our own emotions can become weary unless we isolate ourselves from life and relationship. But isolation is Satan’s playground with regard to our mental thought life. So take the time to talk to Holy Spirit and ask Him to reveal the various ways that your enemy works against you to steal your mental health, kill your peace of mind and ultimately destroy you, even though you remain physically alive. Ask Holy Spirit to give you revelation and then whatever He reveals, take it captive to Christ. Karen is here to let us know that we can find freedom from anguish, confusion, depression and anxiety, all the ways that we suffer when Satan goes undetected and therefore runs rampant in our thought life. Times when we allow negative thoughts and experiences to overwhelm us to the point that we live in fear and cannot find any peace. We’re in constant survival mode, never confident about which way to turn.  Mental health is simply one way Satan works against us and Karen feels that stored emotions in her body (from a 20 year abusive marriage) contributed to the 2 cancer diagnoses that she’s received. But it has only fueled her desire to stand on God’s word and experience what it means when we read in the Holy Bible that, "...by His stripes (His wounds) we are healed." (My emphasis inserted) He paid the price for our healing (be it mental, physical or emotional) with every drop of His Son’s blood so I am confident that the blood He’s invested is a clear indication that healing is for everyone. In other words, God wants a return on His most precious investment.  Not only does Karen participate in the deliverance ministry by assisting people to be set free by the power of Christ but she herself has benefited greatly by also allowing others in the deliverance ministry to break off demonic influences that she has experienced.  Additionally, she’s taken the time to investigate in what ways she has allowed Satan to have access to her and when she finds points of access she exercises the power and authority of Christ’s work on the cross. She shuts down the strongman and his structured kingdom, forbidding any division and casting them all into the pit of hell where they came from.   Another way that Satan finds an access point and then we’ll get to the conversation with Karen, is when the uncertainty of life hits us it creates an environment that is rich with regard to questioning God’s goodness which in turn causes us to question God’s love for us and His intentions. Questioning God in the midst of pain is normal and expected but it’s an opportune time for Satan to attach himself to our pain and flood us with past pain that lines up with our current situation and therefore validating our emotions. All with the purpose of driving a wedge between our heart and God’s heart. Satan wants us to lose our footing on the truths that we already know about God.   Satan wants us to define God based on our pain and fear.  Satan attacks us in our most vulnerable places. Our weakest moments are the perfect time for him to slay us and again, he doesn’t necessarily want to kill us physically but rather slay us emotionally and mentally. I can only imagine the daily celebration we afford him when we are alive yet dead inside. And really what kind of Christian testimony is that to the world especially when we’ve been given authority over our enemy and freedom in the presence of our enemies, despite the existence of evil in his life. Take that Satan! Let’s get started so we can hear all that Karen has to share!  Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com Connect with Karen: https://finding-freedom-ministries.com Resources: Downloads Books Videos Want more information/episodes about other types of deliverance ministry options? Here are some links to past episodes: Emotion Code Therapy Part 1 Emotion Code Therapy Part 2 Bio: Karen King is an ordained minister who has been involved in ministry in Hampton Roads for many years. She is trained in deliverance, inner healing, and counseling. She is also a mother of seven children and has four grandchildren. Karen spent many years raising her large family as a single mom. Because of her perseverance and years walking closely with the Holy Spirit, she experienced deep inner healing from fear and low esteem. In the midst of these trials, she was also diagnosed with multiple myeloma. She has an amazing testimony of walking out her physical and emotional healing that was activated by her amazing faith in the healing power of Christ. Karen’s faith and determination through these trials allowed her to flourish in her spiritual gifts as she sought deliverance and inner healing from the oppression. Karen also has a passion for nutrition and is a certified health coach.  This has played a large role in her physical healing.  Karen spent many years in catering and loves to mentor others in nutrition and wellness.  The Lord has given Karen a vision of one day opening a healing ranch where people can come for health coaching, physical healing, inner healing, and deliverance.  She has a passion to help people from the inside out and shares the love of Christ through her relationships. Karen now serves the Lord by ministering to others who are fighting through the same mental, spiritual, and physical trials that she conquered through the power of Christ.  She has a special calling to mentor young people and woman who are struggling in their spiritual and physical walk.  Karen also specializes in personality assessments using the Disc assessment system to discover a person’s personality type.  These assessments help improve communication, productivity, and conflict management in one’s spiritual walk, job, and ministry.  She also has taught Disc assessment to churches, ministries, and businesses. Karen also actively serves as a deliverance minister and is on staff with Finding Freedom Ministries, helping break ungodly oppression through the power of Christ and counseling others through inner healing.

My precious friend, Alicia Hodges sat down with me to talk about the death of her son, Zane Hodges who was 30 at the time of his passing. We’ve had many of these conversations over the last 3 years. Our time together is full of exploring God in this context of loss and crying. I want to back up just a little bit. Allow me to layout my day before I learned we had lost Zane. I had recently started a 7am Tuesday morning prayer time with a sweet mom of 10. We had to start early because of the demands on her day. On the morning of June 16th 2020, we met and this young momma shared an amazing miracle that she and her family experienced that past weekend. True to the nature of a miracle something horrific presents itself and despite everything saying it should have a tragic ending it turns out completely different and their (then) 4 year old son is perfectly fine with no concerns left about his physical condition or motor skills etc. I can testify to the fact that he is indeed complete, whole, typical little boy. I left our short visit in awe of how God shows Himself faithful. On that same day, twelve hours later I saw my phone ringing with a number I did not recognize so I ignored it. What immediately followed was a text and the caller shared her name saying she was a good friend of Alicia’s.  Alicia, my sweet friend and devoted mx (motocross) mom whose family we had grown close to through many years of traveling together cheering our sons on, praying for their safety and nursing them when they were injured. We shared in tragedy and triumph, good and bad, highs and lows.  I snatched up the phone and dialed the number back. I knew in my spirit I didn’t want to hear what she had to say.  But of course when someone you love is in need you’re propelled to run toward them.  As the woman spoke on behalf of Alicia my heart shattered into a million pieces. It would seem that God did not show Himself faithful for her baby boy. Yes, Zane was 30 but do our children ever stop being our babies?  These two women, my young mom of 10 and Alicia wear many hats in order to fulfill all the roles they are responsible for and they both value that of wife and mother above all the titles they’re known by. They are passionate about God and they each serve Him with their whole heart.  Two moms serving the same God whom they profess to be good, kind, loving and protective. One with a beautiful story of restoration and protection and the other laid her son to rest.  Neither mom did anything wrong. Neither mom was more perfect than the other, more godly and more favored and loved by God.  How do we make sense of the good God who, at times seems cruel and at the very least does not treat us fair or equal. One minute He’s saving the day and the next it seems He’s disinterested, nowhere to be found.  I’m not going to pretend I have the answers to understand what is clearly beyond my ability to grasp or process. A deep wisdom beyond my limited understanding holds the answers to the deepest cry of a shattered heart.  What I can do though is share personal, first hand stories that give real life examples of how God cares for us in the darkest of dark valleys and that’s what Alicia does in this episode. We discuss the sovereignty of God, His authority over life and death and why He is trustworthy with our pain. We touch on the stigma of drug abuse and whether or not it’s a choice. Especially when it’s introduced to a young person because of an injury. Maybe it’s a choice early on but at some point the chemical change in the brain takes over and that’s the reality of the fight, not a simple choice to use or not use.  She briefly talks about what she refers to as “growth edges” and how, not wanting to be stuck in her grief, caused her to step out in faith to new territory in her spiritual growth and personal life.  At one point I ask her a question that I like to ask my guests because I think it’s one of the major ways Satan attempts to separate us from God, His truth, healing, and redemption.  I asked her, in what ways did Satan try to drive a wedge between her and God. Her answer gave me a different perspective. One I hadn’t thought about. Satan was set on destroying relationship but since He couldn’t shake Alicia’s connection with God he came after her personal relationships. Near the end of our conversation I asked her about Psalm 23, specifically  how did God prepare a table for you in the presence of your enemy and what she shared gave revelation, making it clear that what God did in that situation can be applied to everyday life. Where is the good God we profess when things become to much to bear? Listen in and hear Alicia’s testimony on how to find God in our pain.  Connect with Alicia: Email: skinsoreal@gmail.com  IG @aliciahodges7 FB Alicia Williams Hodges  Biz. Website aliciahodges.neora.com Bio: My name is Alicia Williams Hodges and I am originally from Roanoke, VA.  I have been married 37 years and we live right outside Roanoke on Smith Mountain Lake. I have two beautiful children and a 2 year old granddaughter. I am a Founding Member with Neora, a Holistic Anti-Aging Beauty and Wellness Company and celebrated my 11th year in May of 2023. Previously, I had been a stay at home mom for 20 years and my days were filled with ministry, non-profit work and raising my kids. Life happened in “08 and Neora found me! I am a solution provider for your aging needs and concerns. I am very passionate about helping people look, feel and live their BEST life NOW, while building a legacy of faith, hope, love and wealth for families and future generations. Although I have an international business, I love networking, connecting and helping people build their businesses.   Want more encouragement on this topic? Listen to this episode with guest Carole Sluski, a mom who lost her daughter: https://alifeofthrive.com/2023/03/15/surviving-grief-and-the-death-of-her-daughter-with-carol/

My guest, Suzanne Stines has an absolute amazing story. A story that begins with complete and utter uncertainty. Suzanne and I talk about her diagnosis of Choroidal Melanoma, a cancer in the eye that is believed to never go away. Only 6 people in a million get this type of eye cancer.  Even though Suzanne was having trouble with her eyes she felt it had more to do with her new schedule and work environment than anything serious so she didn’t make a doctor’s visit a priority.  What initiated this journey of uncertainty was a simple, but out of character request from her young daughter to see an eye doctor based on the fact that she was having trouble seeing the front of the classroom, the chalkboard.   In the process of diagnosing Suzanne accurately, they look at 3 markers that will tell a patient what their chances are of the cancer spreading to other parts of the body. Suzanne’s test revealed that of the 3 levels, she has the highest marker indicating she is at the highest risk for her cancer to spread. But that initial diagnosis, is just the beginning of her journey as she pressed into the God who has shown Himself faithful in so many other areas of her life.  As you listen to her story, maybe you’ll hear what I heard with regard to Suzanne’s faith. Yes, she struggled with God, yes it was frightening, yes she had questions for God as the heart stopping news continued to  unfold. But God was already in motion, putting things in place. In His perfect timing, He moves Suzanne and her family from rural North Carolina to the hustle and bustle of Richmond, VA. This location would put her much closer to the doctors she would need before she even knows she’ll need them.  Here’s why I ponder how her faith has increased the miracles in her life. 1 Chronicles 5:20, the last part of verse 20 says, “…they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they trusted in Him.” Suzanne’s story is going to encourage your heart in knowing that God is trustworthy and faithful through the dark valleys, especially because she shares two very important updates that I’m sure have the medical field scratching their heads or at the very least rereading previous data. But now they have some hope to share with their other patients.  You know, if someone told me I was one of 6 people, in one million who had received something, I’d be thanking God for the lottery win. It's embarrassing, but I do believe that is where my mind would go first. But listen to the end of this episode and hear Suzanne’s parting words. In her heart she did win. She is discovering the most precious, intimate things about God in the fight for her life.  Let’s jump in to this amazing testimony of finding the God of the Holy Bible in the midst of pain and suffering.  Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com   Connect with Suzanne: Freebie - 6 verses for peace, trust, and healing: https://suzanne-stines.ck.page/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/homebasewithsuz   Bio: When Suzanne was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer in 2018, her world came crashing down. She felt completely overwhelmed and struggled through every stage of grief. She learned how to chase Jesus with her whole heart and has since pursued a deeper and more intimate walk with Him. She will encourage you, make you laugh and bring you to tears with stories of how God has moved in her life before and after the diagnosis. Suzanne resides in Richmond, VA with her husband and daughter. Ladies are invited to join her Facebook group, Home B.A.S.E. with Suz, where she provides weekly Biblical and spiritual encouragement. You can find more info about Suzanne here where you can sign up for her newsletter and contact her for speaking events.

Think about the new level of joy you can have if you'll take the time to identify the joy stealers in your life! So if you want more joy in your life then what my guest has to offer is going to be a great resource for you! Author Doris Swift is here to throw us a life line and what I mean, is the she’s here to help us identify the joy stealers in our life. As many of us know joy is not something we have to cultivate in our own power and it isn’t defined by our circumstances. As believers it is a fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness and self-control). And because it is a fruit of the spirit it is already present and available to us. We need only identify what we’re allowing to get in between us and the joy that is rightfully ours as God’s children’s.  Doris has written a 6 week bible study on joy and this conversation includes the topics covered in the book: Reveal, Respond, Receive, Renew, Rest and Reach.  I believe her bible study provides a full investigation of joy, how we can find the fruit of joy in our life, how we can maintain it, and how we can increase the joy in our life. At the beginning of this episode Doris shares about an exercise she challenged her audience to participate in with regard to laying down their joy stealers as well as agreeing not to take them back.  She said she’d love to know if my podcast listeners take her challenge too and engage in the exercise she talks about. If you do interact with her proposed exercise, I as well would love to hear how you did and especially what action you took afterward to acknowledge your desire to leave your joy stealer(s) with God allowing Him to work them out in your life as you go about your day in His joy.  So leave us a comment associated with this episode.  Let’s listen in to discover the power found in the simplicity of the type of joy that God has provided for us.  Lived Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com  Author Bio: Doris Swift is an author, speaker, founder of Fierce Calling Ministries, and host of the award-winning Fierce Calling podcast. She is passionate about equipping women to dig deeper into God's word, take action where their passion, compassion, and conviction intersect, and walk boldly in their fierce calling. Her new Bible study, Surrender the Joy Stealers: Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You, a six-week Bible study rooted in John 15, is available at dorisswift.com.          She currently resides in Central Florida with her husband Brian, is mom to an amazing son and daughter and their spouses, and Gammy to six awesome grandkids.   Connect With Doris: Website: dorisswift.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DorisSSwift Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dorissusanswift/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DorisSSwift   Transcription: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/621e62d78ba64b39ad5170405c44bc78/view?organization_id=868176