Blog

Amy Breitmann joins me today for the Finding Joy Podcast’s 50th episode! Amy is a wife, mother, writer and lover of all things creative (and she will also be speaking at the Woodstock, Georgia Finding Joy Ladies Night Out event on Oct. 7!) Her life and faith were forever changed when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer as a 29-year-old mama-to-be.

As you’ll hear in our conversation today, God has taken Amy’s broken road and weaved it into a beautiful ministry. Today The Lydia Project serves thousands of women and their families each year, providing spiritual, emotional, and financial support to women facing any kind of cancer. Amy firmly believes that while God doesn’t cause suffering to happen in our lives, He uses every valley to help us learn how to minister to others in their time of need.

“When we find ourselves in a valley, we have a choice to make. We can be bitter or fearful … or we can look around and say, ‘How can I serve and be Jesus to the people who are in this same valley?'” Amy says.

We are beautifully broken to be a blessing.

In addition to talking about her experience with cancer and The Lydia Project, Amy and I talk about the importance of living our passions and staying true to who God made us to be — cracks, scars, flaws and all.

A few more takeaways from the show:

• Don’t be afraid to just be you! Show up and say, this is me! People want to be inspired. They want to come alongside you and cheer you on. We think they don’t but they do. Believe in who God made you to be and walk in that freedom.
• God gives us stories and passions for a reason and He uses them to inspire others and touch others’ hearts.
• We should live our passions simply because we know we’re supposed to … not because we need something in return.
• Your gifting is not about you. Stop caring about shares, likes and other validation. Your gifting is just that — a gift to the world.
• Oh, and watch The Greatest Showman, or at least listen to the hit song, “This Is Me.”

Links from the Show

“A God of All Seasons” book
The Lydia Project
“When the New Year Looks Like a Broken Road” blog post

Connect With Amy

Facebook | Twitter

Tweet the Podcast

Read More

Christen Price joins me today for Finding Joy #49. Christen and her husband live in the countryside of lower Alabama, where they raise their three precious children. As a writer, artist, and party planner, Christen’s heart is to lead women in celebrating their people, place, and purpose. Her first book, Invited: Live a Life of Connection Not Perfection, released in spring 2016.

As you’ll hear in our conversation today, Christen is a big proponent of embracing imperfect hospitality — biblical hospitality that focuses not on perfection but on on why we celebrate: to be with and love on people. We might not always plan the perfect party, but we can always choose to be God’s hand and feet and love others well.

In addition to talking about how to be a “hallelujah hostess,” Christen and I also talk about the importance of saying yes to community, especially when we’d rather stay at home in our PJs and watch Netflix. This doesn’t mean we say yes to everything, but rather we keep an open heart and mind. In other words, while the cultural trend is to say no and create margin in our lives (which is good), we should be careful not to shut everyone and everything out.

While we talked about the importance of community, Christen and I came up with a quote that I think you’ll get a kick out of: Forget Netflix and chill. It’s time to connect and eat cake.

I don’t know about you, but while I love a good Netflix and chill session, nothing beats authentic, heartfelt connection with a side of cake.

 

Christen challenges us to extend ourselves beyond our current people and needs to say, “What can I do to show God’s love to others today in a tangible, real way?”

Links from the Show

Invited Book

Connect With Christen

Facebook | Twitter

Tweet the Podcast

Read More

What do you spend most of your time thinking about? Do your thoughts toward yourself and the world tend to be negative? The truth is, if we don’t take time to fill ourselves up with TRUTH, nothing and no one else will. That is what makes the practice of daily faith confessions so important — we have to get God’s truth in if we are going to get the enemy’s lies out.

Next time you’re tempted to start thinking negatively about yourself or your situation, pull out this list of 25 faith confessions and declare them over your life. God’s Word always accomplishes its purpose (Isaiah 55:11) and if we let it, it can truly transform us from the inside out. ///

OK, now onto today’s podcast guest!

Hanha Hobson joins me today for Finding Joy #48. Hanha is the founder of the Transparency Blog, which encourages women to be confident in who God made them to be and what He has called them to do. Her interactive 31-day devotional, Jesus Is Bae, just came out last week, and it’s a wonderful tool for anyone looking to learn more about what it means to be in a relationship with Christ.

As you’ll hear in our conversation today, Hanha struggled with shame for years before finding freedom in Jesus. The enemy tried to tell her she wasn’t loved, and for awhile, Hanha wondered if he was right. Everything changed when her mom challenged her to read the Bible with her from the start of Genesis to the end of Revelation.

The transformation didn’t happen overnight, but as she began practicing daily faith confessions, God’s truth began to replace the lies she’d grown to believe. Today on the podcast, Hanha shares practical tips for combating shame with daily faith confessions. She and I also talk about how to respond when other people try to shame us and drag us into the pit.

You can learn more about Hanha’s #TheConfessionsProject here (the faith confessions graphic above was inspired by our conversation, and you are free to print that out as well by clicking on the photo!).

Hanha encourages us to ask God to help move Scripture from our heads to our hearts, so we can grasp His love and experience freedom on a deeper level.

Links from the Show

Daily Confessions Homework / Sign Up

Connect With Hanha

Twitter | Instagram

Tweet the Podcast

Read More

Jami Amerine joins me today for Finding Joy #47. Jami is a wife, mom, author, speaker, artist and entrepreneur who loves helping other discover Jesus for who He really is. Her latest book, Stolen Jesus: An Unconventional Search for the Real Savior, just came out a few months ago, and it will rock your world and what you think you know about Jesus.

As you’ll hear in our conversation today, Jami didn’t discover the real Savior until she decided to write a book about Him. But when she found Him, oh, what freedom, joy and peace He brought to her heart.

Jami also shares about her experience as a foster mom and how she is learning to embrace the benefits of daughterhood and grace in Christ each and every day. She also talks about the process of wrestling with the world’s conflicting representations of Jesus in order to get to know the Savior for who He really is — full of never-ending love and grace.

Jami encourages us all to ask ourselves the question, “What do I think is required to be in a relationship with Jesus?” then consider this answer — nothing. Oh, what grace.

Links from the Show

Stolen Jesus Book

Connect With Jami

Facebook | Instagram

Tweet the Podcast

Read More

My guest for Finding Joy Podcast #46 is Lynn Cowell, an author and national conference speaker who is passionate about helping women of all ages understand the importance of Christ confidence. Her latest book, Make Your Move: Finding Unshakable Confidence Despite Your Fears and Failures, just came out a few months ago, and you can actually join Lynn here starting February 26th as she launches an online study component of the book.

Finding Joy is a podcast dedicated to bringing you encouragement and inspiration in all of life’s moments — the good, bad and everything in-between.

In this episode Lynn and I talk about:

• The importance of building our confidence in Christ.
• How to combat society’s unrealistic expectations to do and be it all.
• How to let go of past fears and failures in exchange for the confidence that comes from surrendering our lives to the One who never fails.
• Her family’s experience with mental illness and why having a treatment plan is important.
• Freebies for developing an unshakable confidence.

Lynn encourages us to think about the inner dialogues we have with ourselves on a daily basis. Are we building ourselves up with the truth found in God’s word, or are we tearing ourselves down with the enemy’s lies?

Links from the Show

NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness
Make Your Move Book

Connect With Lynn

Facebook | Instagram

Tweet the Podcast

Read More

My guest for Finding Joy Podcast #45 is Jackie Drew, wife, mom and owner of RAD JOY. RAD JOY makes beautiful wooden crosses that allow you to physically nail your burdens to the cross, and I’m so excited to have them as a partner for the Finding Joy Ladies Night Out National Tour coming this fall. (Jackie will actually be speaking on the panel at our Southlake, Texas Finding Joy Ladies Night Out venue!)

Finding Joy is a podcast dedicated to bringing you encouragement and inspiration in all of life’s moments — the good, bad and everything in-between.

In this episode Jackie and I talk about:

• The power of daily prayer.
• How surrendering our lives to Jesus can change our lives for the better.
• Ways to remember God’s faithfulness in hard times.
• Learning to discern the will of God.
• What to do when God calls us to step out in faith.

Jackie encourages us to be intentional in our prayer lives so that we can grow closer to Jesus and experience the radical, life-changing joy that comes from a life surrendered.

Links from the Show

RAD JOY

Connect With Jackie

Facebook | Instagram

Tweet the Podcast

Read More