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
I am thrilled to have Judy Pogue on this week's episode of Thriving Beyond Belief! From thriving at any age to princesses to world missions, we discuss a gamut of amazing topics today.
Judy Pogue is a wife, mother, international missionary, and now an author. She has such a deep love for the Lord and amazing wisdom to share. She presses deep into who God has created her to be and feels blessed to be in the season she is in.
I love the way Judy describes thriving: she says it is "running with arms open to the future". I think this perfectly encompasses Psalm 31 when the psalmist describes a Godly woman as someone "who laughs at the fear of the future". Thriving is running wildly toward the future because you know it is in the Lord's hands. And the Lord wants us to thrive at every stage of our lives. He is not surprised by the season we are in, whether that is motherhood, singleness, a job that seems so difficult, the loss of a parent, etc. Because He is not surprised by our season, He has fully equipped us and is walking with us through those seasons. Judy speaks on a young woman who feels called to being missional, but is in the middle of raising young children. Judy reminded and encouraged this woman that she IS being missional! She is right where the Lord wants her and is being missional in her home with her children. She referred to Scripture that states we go in and out of seasons, and this woman's time of being missional outside of her home will come. But we are to see where we are at as our mission.
We speak for a while on the importance of mentorship and how different generations help others walk along life. This is what community is. Those that are older have such an opportunity to meet with the younger to let them know they are not alone in what they are walking through. And the younger generation has an opportunity to see what a Godly woman looks like as she walks through certain stages of life.
I am so thrilled that we were able to discuss Judy's book, Awaken Sleeping Beauty. I could not love this book more and what it entails. Judy expands on her inspiration for this book, who she hopes to reach with its message, and all of the different angles this story takes.
Judy has such wisdom on discussing what all the Lord has taught her through marriage and motherhood. She discusses real issues that happen in marriage and learning to find value in the titles "wife" and "mother" in a world telling us those titles are not enough. We discuss believing in who your spouse is. Lay the groundwork of prayer in the difficult years that will yield fruit in the good years.
This is an episode you won't want to miss. So grab a comfy chair or put in your earbuds on a walk and enjoy this week of Thriving Beyond Belief!
Today I have two very special people with me on Thriving Beyond Belief- Gerard and Jeannie Long! The Longs have an incredible story of walking through the highest of mountain tops and the lowest of valleys. They speak so authentically about knowing the Lord in the good times and learning to lean into faithfulness during the hardest times.
We discuss suffering and what comes from the redemption of the most difficult situations. We learn to be heavenly-minded when walking through things that seem unbearable. Gerard speaks about how God's plan for each of us is to redeem us, restore us, and have us triumph. We also speak about coming back from the darkness into the light in terms of our faith after incredible hardship.
One of the main themes of this episode is the power of God in a Christ-centered marriage. We see Gerard being a covering for Jeannie and truly leaning on the Lord so Jeannie could lean on Gerard. We talk about the supernatural strength of the Lord to help glorify the marriage to get through and THRIVE in every season.
The Longs could not emphasize more the power the prayer, the incredible presence of God in unusual places, and glimmers of hope that lead to rays of light in your life. We talk about how in the deepest sorrow, God embraced them and they felt that God was truly enough.
From hardship leads to true community. There is blessing in that we are never alone, and that what we walk through will one day comfort and encourage others. Also, the path He has set before us is what He has equipped us to handle. We may not ever understand the "why", but that is when we look at the Lord and trust that He does understand the "why".
This episode will have you clinging more to the Lord. It will challenge and embolden your faith. You will be blessed by these few moments today.
Welcome to this week's episode of Thriving Beyond Belief! With me today is Alex Seeley, author of the book Taylor Made, wife and mother, minister, and native Australian who calls Nashville her home!
Being in full time ministry since she was 22 was a calling Alex had on her life ever since she called Jesus her Savior at age 11.
Thriving is God's promise to us if we know Him personally. Alex talks about the difference between being saved and being freed. Salvation is our justification, but our walk with the Lord is our sanctification. Alex shares such wisdom on the expectation we have of our Christian life without working out our faith. There is such negativity, gossip, hatred, judgement, comparison, and anxiety in our minds, yet we do nothing to transform our minds. It is one thing to know in your mind that Jesus loves you, but it is a whole other thing to let that fact resonate who you are.
Alex shares her amazing story, which begins with her life being considered an "accident", continues through broken parents raising broken children, and led to thoughts of rejection and a sense that she would never measure up. These thoughts and the need for some control in her life led Alex to developing an eating disorder. Even though she knew the Lord at the time of her disorder, she didn't believe the Lord could handle this aspect of her life and heart, which is something so many believers deal with now. We believe that the deep, dark hard places of our lives are something God cannot handle, which is precisely what the enemy wants us to think. But Alex talks about the journey from that and the wrestles she had with the Lord about speaking the truth out loud and receiving help.
Alex speaks on becoming free of so many burdens, such as insecurity. There is a difference between having insecurity about something and being bound by insecurity. She speaks so beautifully about the struggle and some steps to take to overcome the self-doubt you have about yourself. Once you focus on your Creator and what He did so that you could be His, the fears and doubts and insecurities will dissipate. We change our focus from ourselves to the Lord.
There are so many pressures on women today, so many expectations we put on ourselves of what we have to be all the time. We discuss the shift from that mindset to simply being obedient. We should cancel the noise from other people telling us we are and focus on the voice of God telling us who we are.
I am thrilled to have Lysa Terkeurst with me on this episode of Thriving Beyond Belief!
And why am I thrilled.......let me count the ways: 1. We have a similar stories and the same Redemptive God 2. We both have had serious marriage struggles, but God still Reconciled 3. Both marriages have hurts, pains, resentments and anger, but God still Restored 4. Trust has to be rebuilt with time and consistency, and God never leaves us or forsakes us 5. Vulnerability happened for both of us, & God desires intimacy with all of us! He wants our heart! Lysa just published a new book "It's Not Supposed to Be This Way" and it has resonated so deeply with me and I hope you each receive an opportunity to read it. One of Lysa's goals with this book is to make sure others don't feel alone in their journey, which so closely correlates with the ministry Jeff and I have given our life to. The amazing thing is how Lysa has seen how the circumstances in her life have led to deep and painful times before the Lord, which leads further to deeper understanding of the Word of God and to be an even more reliable teacher of the Word. We talk about the deep, difficult questions of who God is and how He could allow life-altering painful situations happen to His children. Lysa dives into her own journey of emotional healing through the church and Christian counseling and how that led so much to the content in her book. We also discuss the redemption and restoration of the hard times, mainly with the Lord and then with others in our lives. From Lysa sharing her story, the Gospel is being shared and there has been so much healing for so many just by knowing that they are not alone, even in the valley. And what joins each of us in the valley is the truth of God's Word and His character. Lysa shares with vulnerability what she now has to work through because of what has happened in life, and beautifully clarifies the healthy difference between vulnerability in sharing and the importance of privacy. We even talk about no longer taking things for granted, but taking every situation to the Lord. We take our situation out of the center of our lives and replace that with the Lord. He is the only one that can bring peace and remove fear. "God loves us too much to answer our prayer in any other time than the right time and in any other way than the right way." This is one episode you will not want to miss. I hope you join me!I have Christa Black Gifford with me on this episode of Thriving Beyond Belief, and I could not be more thrilled!
Christa is an author, wife, and mother who shows true vulnerability in all areas of her life.
On this episode, we talk through trauma, performance, loss, reconciliation, hope, and who God is in the midst of all of those things.
Going through trauma at an early age, Christa discusses constant coping from that as she grew up. She tried to find identity in what she could control, and how that manifested itself in her life.
We talk about pain and how our natural inclination is to avoid pain at all costs. We have confused God's peace with being comfortable. We discuss wounds and the roots of our pasts that affect our actions. But we talk about how God's goodness is not that we have an easy life, but rather it is that our lives are reconciled to Him.
Christa talks about walking through some difficult life issues and how she has shifted her thinking from "this is happening to me" to "this is happening for me". It is that shift to see every story can be used and redeemed by the Lord. We discuss what trauma even does to us physically and when you come face-to-face with the trials in your life, it leads to healing.
It was amazing to hear Christa speak of the hope of Jesus in her life. How He has revealed Himself to her in several ways. She discusses those methods of seeing Christ and restoring herself back to His purpose.
I hope you take a listen to this woman's amazing journey, and how God is redeeming all of us.
Welcome to this week's episode of Thriving Beyond Belief! Today, I have Donna Pisani on and I can't wait for you to hear all that she has to share!
Donna lives with her family in the heart of Washington D.C. and has written a book, The Power of Not Yet. She has an incredible story and shares it with us today of how the Lord radically met her in the middle of her life and fulfilled the love she was so desperately looking for.
Donna shares that she truly knows what thriving is because she knows what not thriving feels like. She talks about the difference between going to church and having a true and intimate relationship with Jesus. She is so encouraging when discussing that her passion is for young women to truly get who Christ can be in this life. There is so much to discover about who the Lord is and what He is doing, but we so often miss out on knowing His love and grace because we are so task oriented, fixated on behavior modification. That was never what the Lord intended our relationship with Him to be!
We talk about the power of vulnerability and how that it is directly linked with thriving. Donna discusses that perfection, for her, is somewhat having control over a situation. But as long as we as humans are involved in a situation, it will never be perfect! Perfection is a story of the Lord's redemption in our lives. God does not long for perfection, but for sanctification.
Speaking on Donna's book, The Power of Not Yet, is so fascinating about the fact that our lives with the Lord are ever changing. We are hit with circumstances in our lives that we couldn't prepare for, but how we process and move forward means more than the end result sometimes. She writes on how the Lord is telling us "not yet" in different capacities, and what we can learn in the process of our waiting.
With her book, we also talk about identifying fear rather than running from it, how to begin digging into Scripture, and the power of the process.
"Whatever you are walking through is developing you for leadership and influence." This podcast went by so fast and there is so much wisdom within it. I hope you take some time to listen today!
I am so excited to have Kathie Lee Gifford back with me on Thriving Beyond Belief! This episode, we focus on Kathie's new book, The Gift that I can Give, that was written for children. With the holidays around the corner, this would be a perfect gift for Christmas. With the "me" culture surrounding us, this book is a breath of fresh air that focuses on seeing and doing for others, just as Christ leads us.
Kathie's new book focuses on the story of David and Goliath, and particularly David's stone. She shares something special about what that stone represented in David's life and how we each have a "stone" in our lives.
We spend some time talking about changing our perspective from being entitled to being so thankful. There is far richer joy from living a Christ-centered life than having ourselves at the center. We change the conversation from feeling pressure to be perfect to finding freedom in Jesus to be vulnerable and authentic.
Fear is something that is all around us today and we talk about how to not be fearful of the world, but run to our Savior and be in awe of His power to take anything and make is beautiful. There is nothing to fear when our God can redeem anything.
We finish this amazing time together really focusing on what we can do for our children that will develop them into Jesus-loving individuals.
Kathie has some fun projects just around the corner, and I can't wait for you to hear about them, along with the rest of the episode. Enjoy!
Are y'all ready for this episode?? We have THE Bob Goff on today's episode of Thriving Beyond Belief! I am so so excited to have you hear this episode- it is one for the books!
Bob Goff is an incredible speaker and author. He is a husband and father, and one of his many passions is building schools all around the world.
We discuss the different books that Bob has written and his particular focus on love in these books, for both adults and younger people. He gives such great insight on how we need to engage the very people that are the hardest for us to love through knowing what true love is: sacrifice and commitment.
We model love for the unloved by how Jesus first loved us. He also focuses on what true love instead of what the world tells us it is. We need to simplify and bring the main focus back on the Lord. Bob talks about loud voices versus true voices and discerning what we are going to listen to in our lives.
Bob has such wisdom on what is truly meaningful in our life. We need to prioritize what is most important and learning that it is ok to fail while trying rather than fail by watching. There is so much growth in the failure of trying.
We talk deeply about marriage and how to make your marriage such an important aspect of your life. You need to show up to make an impact. Sometimes we confuse oneness with sameness because although we are one, our spouse can be so different than us.
"God isn't dazzled when we go across the ocean. He's amazed when we walk across the street." I am reminded to engage with those that are around us and be intentional with others, and the love of Jesus will radiate from you.
This is one of the jolliest podcasts so far on Thriving Beyond Belief, so grab a cup of coffee and listen in today!
Becky Herrick joins me on this episode of Thriving Beyond Belief and I could not be more excited!
A wife, a mother of triplets, and a full-time recruiter are just a few roles Becky plays in her life. She balances all of these things as well as ministering, speaking, and writing when she can.
Becky's story is one of choosing joy in the midst of tragedies that have happened in her story. She describes miracles that happened along the way as well, seeing the hand of God throughout the times of sorrow.
We talk about walking through tragedy, how to cope and lean on the Lord in those times, and how to do normal life in the midst of the struggle.
Becky talks about her and her husband's fertility journey that led to triplets as well as walking through all that comes with the loss of a child.
She discusses in-depth walking in guilt and learning that guilt is not from the Lord. It was a long road of handing the burdens of her loss over to the Lord and investing in counseling and community for healing.
Through the suffering, you see God's grace through it, showing you what life is truly about. Becky talks about the freedom that always comes with facing the struggle and tackling it rather than running from it.
In the moments of the desperation for the Lord, the beauty of the Lord truly shines in only a way that can be seen after loss or abuse or trials, etc. It is the choice of choosing to go through the process and knowing the situation in itself isn't good, but what can come from it can be good.
Becky encourages us all to be better, not bitter. She is so honest with her story and I hope you all have tissues handy when you listen. It will be an episode you'll forever be impacted by.
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