Stay ConnectedMany women feel overwhelmed with the chaos of life, struggle with the fact that life, relationships and marriage are hard, and lack what they need to truly thrive.
The Thriving Beyond Belief podcast, with host, Cheryl Scruggs, and online community provide women with encouragement & support, to better manage their stress, create healthy relationships, and build a life that thrives beyond belief.
Copyright: © 2018 Thriving Beyond Belief / Hope Matters Marriage Ministries, Inc., a 501c3
Lauren Scruggs Kennedy was born in Redondo Beach and raised in Dallas, so she calls herself a California girl whose roots are deep in the heart of Texas.
Lauren loves Jesus, her hubby, Jason Kennedy, her family, friends and clean living!
And that's what this episode is about! we are going to talk about Lauren's The Clean Sweep program!
Lauren is beyond thrilled to offer this three-month program to you! It is an organized, thorough guidebook to help lead you on a journey toward clean living by diving deeply into food, products, and healthy practices.
She has gathered everything she knows about wellness from her years of extensive research and personal experience and put it into a 90-day informational program of understandable and practical ways to improve your health.
She is a big believer in the importance of proper food choices, products, and practices, but she wants to stress that implementing everything perfectly is unrealistic. It took her quite some time to transition into this lifestyle, and it takes patience, grace and endurance along the way!
This process included swapping out toxic products one by one for clean options that still get the job done, figuring out which foods gave her a healthy gut, glowing skin, mental clarity, and significant energy, and discovering which practices provide physical healing as well as tools against anxiety, stress, and fear.
Oh! And it is important to remember how personal this journey is; what is great for one may not be great for another. She would love for you to enter into this daily resource filled with encouragement, grocery lists, recipes, the ins and outs of celery juice, exclusive interviews with health professionals, a private FB page for you and those around you who are journeying with you (including a monthly FB Live where I will answer your questions), and a shop of all of the products, supplements, and books she recommends to make this process as easy as possible, and so much more!
A willingness to be vulnerable and share a personal story takes courage. Speaker, blogger, and pastor, Ashley Abercrombie knows this first hand. In her new book, Rise of the Truth Teller: Own Your Story, Tell it Like it Is, and Live with Holy Gumption, she writes about her private journey surviving rape, abortion, dysfunctional relationships, and overcoming addictions all while maintaining her gritty, no-nonsense style.
It was in the story telling that allowed Abercrombie to find her strength and her voice. And now she wants to offer readers permission to break the silence on their own pain and shame in order to find healing, encouragement, and ultimately, the gumption to carry on.
She urges Christians to release others to do the same and in turn embrace the truth of the social injustices facing our country today, including rural poverty, race, the criminal justice system, and gender roles. Throughout the book, Abercrombie ruthlessly encourages women to rise up, embrace the truth of who they are, and not hide behind masks anymore.
"Through this book, I hope to inspire others to own their story, tell it like it is, and live with holy gumption," she writes. "I am convinced that we are living in an unprecedented time, when we need the truth tellers to rise. We need space to be our whole selves, and then courage to create safe space for others to do the same."
Ashley Abercrombie wore a mask more than half her life, and considers herself too old and too annoyed to ever put that thing on again. She has fought to overcome addiction, rape, abortion, perfectionism, and dysfunctional relationships to become an honest, whole, and free woman (most days) and has been in multicultural urban ministry and justice work or more than 15 years. During that time, she has taught Bible studies, classes, small groups, and workshops on reconciliation and justice, as well as Sunday services. Ashley is a content creator, and more than 200,000 people have completed her YouVersion Bible App devotional. She's currently doing that work while serving at Liberty Church in downtown Manhattan. A blogger, writer, and speaker, Ashley lives with her husband, Cody, and their two sons in Harlem.
As a marriage and family therapist, one of Nicole Zasowski's greatest joys is helping her clients grow in emotional freedom. What she couldn't see for many years is that she was living her own life outside of that freedom, clinging to behaviors like shame, performance, and control in order to feel valued and safe.
It was only when she was confronted with her own devastating pain and loss that Nicole realized her current way of life was failing her. She then discovered that sometimes God's rescue looks like prying our fingers off what we think we want so that we can receive what we truly need. And often, on the far side of pain we don't prefer, we find transformation we would not trade.
In From Lost to Found, Nicole shares her story as she helps us
God is writing a story of redemption in your life too. Find out for yourself that sometimes the greatest joy is found when we are drained of all misplaced hope and shallow identities. In the midst of pain or transition, discover a surprising path to healing as you lose your grip on comfort and control—and fall right into God's transformative grace.
Highlights:The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
Please welcome John Mark Comer to the Thriving Beyond Belief podcast this week talking about our world of HURRY and how we can eliminate it!!
Author and Former Megachurch Pastor John Mark Comer Advocates a New Practice for Your Spiritual Life: Slowing DownOur worst moments tend to happen when we are in a hurry—late for an appointment, behind on our to-do list, cramming too much in our day. It occurs when we're trying constantly to do more, creating a bone-deep tiredness not just in our minds or bodies but deep in our souls. In short, hurry doesn't just make us weary. It is the great enemy of our spiritual life.
Author and pastor John Mark Comer proposes that the solution to being fully present to God, others, and our own hearts is found simply by following the unhurried way of Jesus. He explains, "Jesus invites all of us to take up the 'easy' yoke. He has—on offer to all—an easy way to shoulder the weight of life with his triumvirate of love, joy, and peace."
Comer's journey to discovering the life-changing remedy of slowing down began while he was pastoring a successful megachurch with six services each Sunday, a marathon lifestyle which left him feeling burnt out and detached from those around him. In a moment of desperation, he asked his mentor, John Ortberg, for advice. The response he received was the same as what philosopher and Christian spiritual formation teacher Dallas Willard had given to Ortberg years before: "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. There is nothing else."
As Comer put this simple truth into practice in his own life, he experienced radical renewal in his mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry describes his transformation and offers hope amidst the toxicity in our fast-paced, modern world.
In a casual, conversational tone, he presents a poignant message: "This is an invitation—for all the tired, the burned out, the stressed, all those stuck in traffic and behind on their to-do list….If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus."
John Mark Comer lives, works, and writes in the urban core of Portland, Oregon. He is the pastor for teaching and vision at Bridgetown Church. Prior to that, he was lead pastor of a suburban megachurch. He has a master's degree from Western Seminary and is the author of Loveology, Garden City, and God Has a Name. John Mark lives in Portland with his wife, Tammy, and their three children.
Please welcome Niki Hardy to the Thriving Beyond Belief podcast this week!!
Niki Hardy is a speaker and writer whose work has appeared in Christian Today and Living by Design Ministries and on Premier Radio. After leaving corporate life in London, she trained as a teacher at Kings College, London, before studying theology at Wycliffe, Oxford. She and her husband moved their family to the United States to plant CityChurch Charlotte, NC, where they now live with their three kids and two crazy Goldendoodles. A rectal (yes, rectal) cancer survivor, pastor's wife, tea drinker, and teller of bad jokes, she'd love to connect with you at www.nikihardy.com if she can't hug you in person.
Niki Hardy watched her mother pass away from cancer, and then her sister a few years later. When she herself was diagnosed just six weeks later it left her reeling, questioning, and merely surviving a life that bore no resemblance to the abundant life Jesus promises in the Bible, so she set out to find it.
In her new book, Breathe Again: How to Live Well When Life Falls Apart, Hardy unpacks seven practices to thrive, not just survive, no matter what life throws at us. Full of grit, humor and unvarnished stories from her own grief and rectal cancer journey, Hardy's story and her Thriver Manifesto will help readers claim truths such as: I believe life doesn't have to be pain-free to be full. I've got this because God's got me, and together we can do more than I could ever do alone. I step into vulnerable spaces with God and others, aware that my strength can be my biggest weakness. I practice gratitude in all things, confident that peace and well-being will follow.
I have learned to breathe again. "We've bought into the myth that a painful season can't be full," writes Hardy, "that a time of abundance isn't challenging—and this, dear reader, gets my goat. I just don't think it's true, and this is exactly what this book is about: smashing this myth and inhaling all God has for us."
The first weekend in October at the Influence Her Conference 2019 near Sacramento, CA, I had the honor to speak alongside my friend Shannon Stewart Ratliff, Cheryl Broderson and Grace Broderson at Metro Calvary Church in Roseville, CA! We loved our time there and the amazing women we were able to speak into and meet!
This week on the Thriving Beyond Belief, I am playing the talk that Shannon did called "Finding Yourself In A Selfie World."
Her name is Shannon and she is head over heels in love with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Without Him she is nothing, but with Him, she is royalty-a King's daughter, and she has a future and a hope. I do like cool, pretty pictures, but her desire when you visit her site is that you smell the love of Christ.
She's a small-town girl, from Franklin, Ohio. Most of her childhood days were filled with her mom taking them to church, playing sports, traveling on vacation, and her trying to become a supermodel. Ha!
Her talk is so inspiring, encouraging, and life-giving! DO NOT MISS IT!
Related Links:Mentoring is something we often talk about on the podcast because we know how critical it is as we grow in Christ, but it can also feel overwhelming. Today we're excited to talk with >Shelley Giglio and Daniele Flickinger about FLOURISH.
FLOURISH is a yearlong mentoring journey based on Scripture and created in partnership with Passion City Church. After 6 years of development and leading more than 3,500 women through this mentoring journey, Passion is excited to release this unique resource to churches worldwide. This study will help you establish strong relationships between both mentors and mentees as they dig into understanding God's truth and love through His Word together.
About Shelley: Shelley Giglio is the Chief Strategist of Passion Conferences and sixstepsrecords and the Visionary Leader of The Grove and Flourish Mentoring Journey at Passion City Church, which she and her husband, Louie Giglio founded and lead in Atlanta, GA.
About Daniele: Daniele Flickinger leads the Flourish Mentoring Team at Passion City Church and has also been a key visionary and contributor to the Flourish Mentoring Journey since its inception in 2015.
Links:
God has a real purpose for your life. All the time, that purpose is greater than ourselves. – @shelleygiglio #MARKEDpodcast
Features:
Benefits:
Find valuable tools, videos and resources to help your churches, small groups, or individuals start their own mentoring journey at flourishmentor.com!
Highlights:Super excited to welcome Alex Seeley back again on the Thriving Beyond Belief podcast this week!
Alex Seeley was born and raised in Australia and spent seventeen years pastoring there. It is also where she met and married her husband, Henry. After relocating to Nashville in 2012, they founded The Belonging Co., a church where they minister together to thousands of people each week. She is a passionate teacher of the Word with the unique ability to reveal how the Word of God is applicable to our everyday lives.
In our constant search for a life filled with abundance, we often follow our human instinct, and then wonder why we come up short. God always has a better idea. And it most often requires us to move in the opposite direction.
We talk at length about Alex's new book: The Opposite Life!
So what does it mean to embrace "The Opposite Life?"
"It means acting in a way that is contrary to what is expected in our world. The Holy Spirit living in us allows us to react positively, which is contrary to the negativity coming our way."
Why is this book relevant now?
There is a desperate longing for goodness in the face of overwhelming anger, pain, and confusion in our society. We all want the blessed life but sometimes go about it in the wrong way. We are reactive, and not proactive. We can eliminate problems before they even become problems by opposite life principles.
Also, as Alex explains, we have become a body known for what we are against instead of what we stand for. The church has it all wrong… we should be talking the Gospel less and living it more. Rather than living an opposite life and changing the world, we've been filling up our time with knowledge from the Bible without going the next step of applying it to our everyday lives.
Summary:
Super excited to welcome Ashley LeMieux to Thriving Beyond Belief this week!
3 Steps to Turn Your Life Right Side Up by Mike LeMieuxOn April 22, 2013, my wife Ashley and I (pictured above) became parents over night to a 4 and 6 year old.
Up to that point we'd never thought about having kids.
We were asked to raise them and felt like it was the right thing to do —so we did.
We picked them up and brought them home to our house — I was now a dad.
A few years into everything, we wanted to make things more permanent and stable for the kids so we filed to adopt them.
It was unexpectedly and heavily contested.
We fought for them in a very heated legal battle for a year and a half.
We spent a large sum of money on attorney's fees, attended a dozen court hearings, were deposed, and were drained of every ounce of mental and spiritual energy we had.
After 4 years of being a dad, my time was over.
Our kids went back to live with their biological family.
My wife and I and our families were devastated.
I stopped caring about life.
Nothing mattered to me anymore — work, what I ate, etc. I didn't care.
For months, I cried every day because I missed them so much.
But several months ago something changed in me.
I realized what was happening to me and wanted to MAKE A CHANGE in my life.
I knew I needed to let myself grieve, but I was sick and tired of not being happy anymore.
I decided to live intentionally, every day.
I decided to work on things that filled me up.
I decided to surround myself with people who are happy.
I DECIDED to take my life back.
FIRSTSet Intentions For The Day, Every Day
Fill out a planner, write on a white board, create a Google calendar… whatever you need to do in order to stay on track with what you want to do.
When you write down what you want to do each day, you're more likely to do it.
If you don't write anything down, you're not going to do anything you want. You'll do what everyone else wants you to do.
You'll be tossed to and fro like a bobber in the water
You'll be aimless and tired all the time, "working", but not getting anything done.
Start your day by writing out, physically or digitally, your intentions for the day and stick to them until your day is done!
SECONDLet Yourself Feel Different Emotions
After we'd lost our kids, I had so many emotions, as you can imagine.
Most of them were anger, grief and sadness. Sometimes I felt despair and loneliness.
When I felt these types of emotions, I wanted to shove them out as fast as possible. They made me feel very uncomfortable.
I realized the more I tried to bury those emotions, the more they resurfaced and the worse I got.
I decided to let myself feel the emotions and just let things happen as they would.
When I did this, miraculous things started happening;
By letting myself just be, I was myself again.
Not my old self, but my new self. It felt good.
THIRDTake things one minute at a time
The pictures you see above are the last things we did inside of the home we lived in when we lost the kids.
The house was empty, new people would be moving in a couple days later and we would be moving to the other side of the country to Nashville, Tennessee.
I had felt so overwhelmed by the emotions I'd been having, I didn't know how to take things even one day at a time.
I started focusing on each minute at a time.
I started recognizing things I still had in my life that brought me joy;
I'd think about how helpful it would be to be able to sell what we owned and move to Nashville to "start fresh".
I'd think about these things, one at a time, until I started to feel happy.
When I paid attention to what I had in my life that made me happy, I was happy.
If I did the opposite and focused ONLY on the difficult things, I was miserable.
My mind frame changed and my life started becoming mine again.
I was making choices about how I wanted to live and I was empowering myself.
Day after day of practicing these three habits has allowed me to go from devastated to determined.
When we stop thinking "We are the product of the things that happen to us" and switch our frame of mind to "I get to decide how I live my life and react to what happens to me", our lives are fixed and we truly thrive
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