Lauren Gaskill Inspires

She Found Joy #4: Stephanie May Wilson: Living Your Best Life Now

August 6, 2018 • 2 Comments

Stephanie May Wilson joins me today for She Found Joy #4. Stephanie is an author, blogger and speaker who is passionate about helping others have awesome relationships with God, friends, significant others, work and themselves.

In this episode, Stephanie and I chat about:

How to live every season of life to the fullest, whether you’re single or married.
The joy that comes with serving others.
Where true contentment comes from.
How to make and keep friends as an adult.
Ways to minister to one another during hard times.

My favorite quote from our conversation? “The grass isn’t always greener on the other side … it’s just different. Our job is to water our own grass on our own side of the fence … Feel the grass underneath us, walk around barefoot. Lay down and look at the sky. Experience the season God has you in and see what you can learn from it.”

I truly hope this episode touches your heart in some way! Enjoy the show.

P.S. If you’ve been blessed by the She Found Joy Podcast, or if this episode blesses you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review on iTunes. This will help more people find the show and learn more about the joy of Jesus.

Let’s Dive Into the Deep {+ A Sneak Peek of My First Book Cover!}

July 25, 2018 • 7 Comments

Living by faith can feel scary. Sometimes it feels like we’re treading water out in the ocean, with no sight of land and no place to secure our feet. Sometimes the deep waters of life can leave us feeling worn out, battered and bruised. Sometimes the waves make us feel like we’re going under. Have you ever felt that way? I found myself feeling this way in high school, after battling panic attacks, and again in my early 20s, after being handed a debilitating health diagnosis.

In these moments of distress, when the deep waters around me started churning with an untamable force, I knew I had two options. I could sink. Or I could learn how to swim with Jesus as I put my faith in Him and trusted His Word for my life.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many questions I grappled with during these seasons of life: How can I trust a God that is allowing all these bad things to happen to me? Is God really good? Can God really be trusted? Is the Bible really truth I can rely on? How can I exchange fear for faith? The answers to these questions and the lessons I learned saved my life — and they also became a book!

After working toward becoming a published author for the last five years, I could not be more excited to unveil the cover of my first book, Into the Deep: Diving Into a Life of Courageous Faith (which releases November 6!!!)

This book is an invitation to dive headfirst into a life of courageous faith and, in the process, exchange fear and frustration for holy confidence and joy. Together, we will discover that we do not have to drown in the deep waters of life. With Jesus by our side, we can learn how to overcome and see that we are warriors of the deep:

We are more than conquerors.
In Him, we are strong.
In Him, we are courageous.
In Him, we are victorious.
And because Jesus lives in us, we will overcome the waves.

This is my hope and prayer for all of us — that we would learn to be warriors of the deep who overcome every high and stormy gale by clinging to our faith in Jesus!

PREORDER YOURS NOW

If you’re interested in reading Into the Deep, I’d be incredibly grateful if you preordered your copy today. Preorders are kind of a huge deal for authors. Not only do they ensure booksellers will have the book stocked properly when it releases, but it also helps spread this powerful message of faith to others who are browsing for books.

You can preorder at any of the following retailers:

Make sure to save your online receipts because I’ll be offering a few lovely preorder bonuses soon! (Bonus: If you watch the trailer video below, you’ll be the very first to hear more about the book!)

If you’ve ever wanted a deeper faith that circumstances cannot shake, will you please join me on this journey? Together, we can truly learn to be the warriors of the deep God made us to be.

All my love,
Lauren

With Jesus by our side, we can learn how to overcome and see that we are warriors of the deep.

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*Links in this post may be affiliate links. If you purchase using one of these links, I will receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting this ministry!

She Found Joy #3: Amy Elaine: Becoming a Victory Girl

July 23, 2018 • Leave a Comment

Amy Elaine Martinez joins me today for She Found Joy #3. Amy Elaine is an inspirational speaker, radio show host and Bible teacher. Her ministry is devoted to helping women with heart-shattered lives become whole again in Christ.

In this episode, Amy Elaine encourages us to feel empowered in our faith by living from the place of victory Jesus so graciously gave us through His work on the cross.

I love the way Amy Elaine describes victorious living, “The victorious part of walking with Jesus is that we aren’t who we were yesterday.” Amen! Victory in Jesus is what we experience when we allow God to work and move in and transform our hearts and mind through the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us!

In addition to talking about victorious living, we also talk about: how to help others live victoriously in Christ; the importance of prayer when we are in the middle of a battle; and how saying yes to God in the little things can lead to bigger things for His glory.

A challenge from today’s podcast — Look in the mirror and repeat after me: I AM VICTORIOUS IN CHRIST! Yes, I, (name), am victorious because He lives. Today, I renounce the lies the enemy is throwing at me to try and make me feel defeated. Instead, I am clinging to the promise of victory I know Jesus died to give me. God, help me live from a place of victory and triumph over the enemy!

Enjoy the show!

Links from the Show

Becoming a Victory Girl book

Connect With Amy Elaine

Facebook | Instagram

Connect With Lauren

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“Victorious living is not being who I was yesterday, because of the transforming work of the Holy…

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She Found Joy #2: Katie Reid: There’s No Shame in Being Made Like Martha

July 11, 2018 • 8 Comments

Katie Reid joins me today for She Found Joy #2. Katie is a dear friend, author, speaker, wife and mom (AND, she’s speaking at the Nashville, Tennessee and Elkhart, Indiana She Found Joy events this fall!) Her book, Made Like Martha: Good News for the Woman Who Gets Things Done released yesterday, July 10, which also happened to be my birthday … so, you know, it was basically one of the best days of the year!

In this episode, Katie invites modern Marthas everywhere to exchange try-hard striving for hope-filled freedom without abandoning our doer’s hearts in the process.

As a child and young adult Katie knew she was saved by grace, but regardless of that head knowledge, she spent years living like it was her works that make her worthy. Over time however, God began to show her that she didn’t have to earn the love she already had from Jesus. In this time of spiritual growth, she realized was enough regardless of how many things she crossed off of her to-do list. She was enough because of what Christ did on the cross. And guess what? So are you. You are enough in Christ.

In addition to talking about living like we’re enough, we also talk about: learning to serve within the strength God given us, not the strength we wish we had; how to rest while we work; the importance of praying bold and unedited prayers; and the power of faith.

Katie tells Marthas, “God isn’t asking us to shed our efficiency or put down our to-do lists forever. He wants us to get things done, but He wants us to do those things as a response to His love … not as a means to try and earn the love that we actually already have in Him.”

I pray this show encourages you to live in the present as you embrace your identity as a beloved daughter of Christ. Enjoy!

P.P.S. We are giving away a copy of Katie’s book to one lucky listener! Simply comment below with your favorite takes away from the podcast to enter!!!

Links from the Show

She Found Joy tour information
Unafraid Book

Connect With Katie

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Connect With Lauren

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Tweet the Podcast

We are enough because Christ is enough. #SheFoundJoyPodcast

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The Promise of Peace, a Promise He Keeps

July 9, 2018 • 4 Comments

I am a woman with an affinity for turbulence. When a thunderstorm comes rolling in, I pop a bag of popcorn and sit back and watch. When the plane I’m traveling on goes through a series of dark and ominous clouds, I grin, waiting eagerly for the first bump. When the ocean rages and the waves start to crash wildly on the shore, I run to meet them. I love a good thrill or plot twist. Put a predictable, slow-moving book or movie in front of me and I’ll leave to find a new adventure.

But there’s a catch. You see, I’m fine with observing exterior turbulence, but when commotion and agitation touch down in my own personal life, well, that’s a different story.

Sitting here on the eve of my twenty-sixth birthday, I crave a calmer and more predictable life — one with fewer health problems, deadlines, doctor’s appointments and unknowns and more peaceful, sure and solid moments. To put it simply, if my life could mirror that of someone who went on a permanent beach vacation, I’d be happy as a clam.

But life is not a permanent beach vacation. If anything, it’s more like a shipwreck from which we have to swim for our lives, and half the time we feel like we are navigating blind.

For the love of peanut butter cups, could someone please tell the sea to calm the heck down?

Some of us, by God’s grace, are fortunate enough to experience smooth sailing for a good number of our days. But if you’re like most people, including me, eventually the waves will pick up and something will cause your ship to wreck.Read More

She Found Joy #1: Carey Scott: Living Unafraid and Authentic

July 2, 2018 • Leave a Comment

Today is a super exciting day, 1) because my sweet friend Carey Scott is joining me on the podcast and 2) this is the first episode since rebranding my ministry from “Finding Joy” to “She Found Joy!”

One of the reasons I love Carey is because she’s devoted to honesty and authenticity, and she’s all about helping other women live untangled, uncommon and unafraid lives. (Those adjectives also happen to be the names of her bestselling books, with her most recent book Unafraid: Be You. Be Authentic. Find the Grit and Grace to Shine releasing July 1.)

In this episode, Carey and and I talk about what it means to live authentic — to live a life that’s deeply rooted in Christ and the identity He gave us through His work on the cross.

I love what Carey had to say about learning how to filter the messages the world sends us about ourselves through God’s Word. “We have to settle in us the biblical truths of “This is who I am in this very moment … This is what God says about me.” Now, this is a tall order because the world tells us that we aren’t good enough … but I encourage women to ask themselves, “What is the lie I am believing about my identity?” and then filter it through what God’s Word says about us. For example, let’s say the world says you’re a failure but God says you’re blank.”

Carey challenges us all to take 24 hours and write down all the negative things we say or think about ourselves and then ask God to tell us the truth of who we really are in Him. Y’all. This is a powerful exercise, and I highly recommend you join us in doing this! Enjoy the show.