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Laura L. Smith

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On this episode of Thriving Beyond Belief, Cheryl Scruggs welcomes Laura L. Smith!

How many to-dos, responsibilities, relationships…are you  juggling?
I don’t want this frantic feeling of trying to keep it all together but fearing that at any moment it will all come tumbling down.
Do you?It’s urgent for us to slow down. For our bodies and our souls. We can do this. We need to for our physical, mental, and spiritual health. Jesus promises us the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. But if we’re scrolling or speeding so quickly through our lives, it’s hard to notice any of that richness or fullness, let alone make room for it or tap into it. When we’re running full speed ahead, we don’t feel like we can muster any patience or self-control, and we struggle to recall when we last felt anything resembling peace. We’re zooming around so fast we don’t have time to accept lovely invitations from God to connect with Him through prayer, reading our Bibles, being present, and celebrating the good stuff.But I want to.
Do you?
Are you ready to try?
Dive into the pages of The Urgency of Slowing Down and go on a journey with Laura L. Smith of unpacking what’s in our lives, why it’s there, what we don’t need, what we can let go of, and what we can add in…
so we can step into the unforced rhythms of grace Jesus invites us into.

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Jenny Albers

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Using Scripture and personal narrative, Courageously Expecting empathizes with and empowers women to face a pregnancy after loss with faith and courage, despite inevitable feelings of grief and fear that accompany life after losing a baby.

Pregnancy is widely regarded as the most joyful time in a woman’s life, but for the mother who has experienced pregnancy loss, a subsequent pregnancy can feel like she’s holding her breath and hoping for what she can’t control. In Courageously Expecting, Jenny Albers meets women in this difficult season as someone who has also experienced the worst and cautiously hoped for the best. Through the telling of her own story, Scripture, and heartfelt prayer, she encourages readers to cling to faith in the face of fear and guides them to:

  • cultivate hope when doubt weighs heavy;
  • realize that the past does not dictate the present or the future and that God creates a way in the wilderness of grief and loss;
  • flip the script on the what-if, worst-case-scenario narrative in their minds and learn to take their thoughts captive; and
  • find the courage to humble themselves and ask for and accept help from others.

Regardless of where readers are on their pregnancy after loss journey, Courageously Expecting is a companion to help them through the days when fear overshadows hope.

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Nicole Zasowski

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What If It’s Wonderful?

Author and marriage and family therapist Nicole Zasowski knows that it’s difficult to trust joy and find the courage to celebrate when you have endured seasons of disappointment and despair. When God has been your faithful anchor in the storm, does joy then leave you unmoored? Nicole reminds us that we can stay tethered to the hope of Christ in seasons of celebration, because even joyful days hold the learning, growth, and intimate encounters with Jesus that our hearts crave.

What If It’s Wonderful? offers a new perspective. With a compelling psychological and spiritual case for the importance of embracing joy and celebration, even when it feels scary.

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REPLAY: Nancy Houston

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I am so excited to have Nancy Houston with me today on Thriving Beyond Belief! We talk about a topic that is necessary in our culture today and one that is good for our hearts. We discuss intimacy within marriage!

Nancy shares her story with us and how she has gotten to where she is today. Nancy’s book Love and Sex was released in February, which is the Christian guide to healthy intimacy. She wrote the book for those 18 and older to try and help others find their pathway to healthy intimacy. She is also a certified sex therapist who devotes her time to helping couples restore their relationships, seek healing and help, and to fully enjoy marriage the way God intended it to be.

Nancy had some beautiful things to say regarding her past and dealing with abuse. She reminds us that in Scripture, God shares that He is not ashamed of us or what has happened to us, but He wants to meet us and reconstruct from the ruins of our past. She also shares that we must recognize the need for healing. She discusses coming from a place to self-hatred to seeking outside help that helped reinforce that her past was not her fault and that your past is not your fault. We see that through His Word, the Lord wants to meet us in the midst of our hurt and be our great Healer.

Nancy’s definition of thriving is facing our negative realities and walk through them to experience the LIFE on the other side. We have to leave our Egypt to reach our promised land. It doesn’t mean it is an easy journey, but it is a worthy one. Our God wants us to thrive in this way in all areas of our life- including our sex life with our spouse!

Nancy reminds us that God specifically designed us with a purpose. He is not ashamed of sexuality because He designed us to be sexual beings that gain attachment and closeness within the bond of marriage through intimacy. He desires that your intimate life is enjoyable and strengthens the marriage! We as a Christian culture need to remember to connect our spirituality with our sexuality. Often we don’t believe they are connected. But, in fact, they are stronger when they are connected.

We discuss at length those that are currently dealing with a disconnect in their marriage. Nancy discusses the scientific reasoning behind our need for attachment within marriage, what leads to breaks in the attachment, and how we can work through better communication to repair the disconnect. She encourages couples to learn to tell your spouse what you need instead of keeping score against them. Rather than blame your spouse, ask for what you feel you are lacking. She also encourages those that have tried everything and their spouse is unwilling to change to keep seeking help. Continue to pray over your marriage and tap into resources to find that intimacy again.

We end with talking about how sex in marriage was not created to be an obligation to either party, but to be a beautiful and pleasurable experience. Nancy talks through Scripture that beautifully portrays what intimacy in marriage looks like for both people, male and female.

Join me today as we gain wisdom in being healthy in every way in our marriages.

 

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170: Gary Thomas

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Welcome back everyone! Today on the Thriving Beyond Belief podcast is our guest, Gary Thomas!

Gary’s publisher is updating three of his marriage and dating bestsellers – A Lifelong Love: Discovering How Intimacy with God Breathes Passion Into Your Marriage, Sacred Search: What if It’s Not about Who You Marry, but Why? and 9 Essential Conversations Before You Say I Do – all releasing April 1.

Topics include:

  • I’ve been quarantined in this house with my spouse for the past year and the spark is GONE. How do we get it back?
  • How to have a marriage worthy of your calling in Christ (not just a “happy” marriage)
  • Slow and steady – the key to making lasting change and have a lifelong love
  • I’m sick of dating, but can’t find “the one.” What am I doing wrong?
  • I’m not sure my son/daughter/cousin/mailman is marrying the right person. What should I do?

More info on the books here.

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167: Debra Fileta

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Today on Thriving Beyond Belief, we have Debra Fileta!

According to Fileta, people tend to assume they’re okay—until they’re not. Becoming healthy is an ongoing process that requires stopping, digging deep and asking the hard questions.

In her new book, Fileta challenges readers to get real with who they are and how they’re doing spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically so they can recognize where they need growth and healing. Readers will learn to…

  • Understand and express emotions in healthy and helpful ways
  • Get to the root of what they believe about themselves, others, and God
  • Recognize the influences of past traumas and replace them with God’s truth
  • Honestly assess their own mental health and pursue help when it’s needed
  • Prioritize their physical well-being and see how it affects every other area of their life
  • Combat commonly believed lies about mental illness such as “true believers don’t suffer from
    depression”
  • Say “no” and set up healthy boundaries

Fileta knows firsthand that being a Christian doesn’t automatically make a person healthy. After 10+ years of marriage, 15 years of counseling clients, and four and a half books (she’s currently cowriting one with Gary Thomas), she not only possesses the knowledge and experience to coach readers on their journey to becoming more than okay––she has the heart for it. In Are You Really Okay? Fileta reveals some of her own traumas for the first time in print, including a miscarriage that nearly killed her and her deep struggles with both anxiety and depression––writing to her readers as if she were talking to a close friend and yet counseling them with the professional tools they need.

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166: Crystal Paine

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Today on Thriving Beyond Belief, we have Crystal Paine!

Crystal Paine had it all together—a happy marriage, three healthy children, national bestselling books, a wildly successful business, and a mortgage-free home—until suddenly, she didn’t. Her world turned upside down the day she learned her child was not only being expelled for bullying others, but was also depressed and suicidal. Sitting in an emergency room with her husband and child, her world crumbling around her, Crystal hit her all-time parenting low—but she also heard the voice of God say “I love you.”

“God allowed me to hit rock bottom so that He could help me relearn how to parent,”

writes Paine.

“I realized that most of my parenting had been about me. I was parenting for my own approval and reputation, instead of for my relationship with my kids and for their well-being. I cared more about what others thought than I did about my kids’ hearts. I worried more about producing kids who made good decisions than about kids who knew they were wholeheartedly loved.”

Throughout the book, Paine shares her own parenting stories—the good, the bad, and the ugly—what she’s learned, and how she’s shifted into a love-centered model of raising her children. And because you can’t give what you don’t have, she first had to let God reparent her, relearning to parent from the inside out.

 

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165: Kelsey Chapman

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Today on Thriving Beyond Belief, we have Kelsey Chapman!

Let’s talk mentoring and mentorship!

Meet Kelsey Chapman

Kelsey Chapman is an author, podcaster and personal cheerleader to women building their dream life and business.

When she first launched her own brand in 2015, she felt all the overwhelming feelings, too. It was scary to take such a huge leap and commit to showing up for a dream she didn’t know would pan out.

People are CRAVING investment! Don’t we all just want someone to step in, help us walk the next few steps in front of us, and offer their wisdom so we can shortcut the distance?

  • Your mentor is probably not going to be Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, or Bobbie Houston…
    How to find a mentor, that’s probably already in your inner circle, that will be *equally impactful* as one of those people you have on a pedestal in your mind!
  • How to recognize mentors in your everyday life
    Sometimes our mentors are friends that make us feel at home in our own skin, strong women in our faith circles, or the mother and wife that we look at and think, “I want the life I see you building.”
  • Want to be a mentor? How to get past imposter syndrome…Stop disqualifying yourself! The average mentor is just 3 steps ahead of their mentee. Someone, just a few steps behind you, would be honored for you to step into whatever facet of life they need support in.
  • Standing as a daughter of God in the midst of your fears, I had a lot of fear growing up and even into adulthood – one of my mentors helped me face these with confidence knowing I was safe, loved, and empowered in my identity.
  • Your mentor isn’t going to be perfect…
  • You can learn from anyone. And it will be important to realize that as you get up close and personal with your mentor, they aren’t going to be killing it in every area. While you may be looking for mentorship on how to be an incredible person, you might realize they may not be killing it in the family department – and that’s OKAY! You can learn what you need from them and seek mentorship for another facet of life elsewhere.

 

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164: Tara-Leigh Cobble

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Today on Thriving Beyond Belief, we have Tara-Leigh Cobble!

Despite an early introduction to Christianity, Tara wasted years coasting on the second-hand information she learned from others. In 2008, through the gentle encouragement of a friend, she read all the way through the Bible for the first time. It awakened a recognition of her need to have others walking closely alongside her in my pursuit of God — people to hold her accountable for scripture memory and Bible reading and all the things that were bringing her so much newfound joy!

Out of that need, Tara started D-Group (Discipleship Group) a handful of college students in 2009 and it has grown into 250+ groups around the world. What she’s learned has motivated her to encourage others to pursue relational knowledge of God, because she has found that He is where the joy is! She loves to speak to audiences about God and His Word, and she has written a few books with an aim to point others toward Him through her story as well as their own. She also writes and host a daily podcast called The Bible Recap, which aims to keep people connected to reading the Bible when they’re tempted to quit for lack of understanding, as well as a daily radio show called The God Shot.

Tara lives in a concrete box in the skies of Dallas, TX, where she has no spouse, pets, or children — or anything else that might die if she forget to feed it.

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REPLAY: Louie Giglio

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As you know, I’ve been doing some replays these last couple weeks, and I couldn’t help but rerun my episode with Louie Giglio for this week. And so I’m super excited for you guys to either tune into this for the first time or maybe re-listen to everything he talked about in his recent episode. We spent some time discussing Louie’s new book, Not Forsaken, and we speak on the freedom that comes with finding our identity and being sons or daughters of the perfect father. The relationship of father and child is one that is vastly important in life, so I can’t wait for you to tune into this week’s replay!

Fatherhood. It’s an ever-growing issue of importance in our culture today. And who better to speak about that with than Louie Giglio? He is my guest on today’s episode of Thriving Beyond Belief!

Louie is a well known pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta and is the founder of Passion, a conference that is specifically geared toward 18-25 year olds who are setting up life for themselves for the first time. This conference is to help those in this season put Christ at the center of their lives and turn their focus on what is eternal rather than what is temporary. Louie is also a husband to his beautiful wife, Shelley, a speaker and an author.

We spend our time today talking specifically about the subject of Louie’s new book, Not Forsaken- fatherhood. We speak on the freedom that comes with finding our identity in being sons and daughters of the Perfect Father. This is a complicated subject, as we often project characteristics of our earthly fathers onto our Heavenly Father. That could be that He is absent, angry, distant, apathetic, and the list goes on. Louie talks about us beginning to see that those characteristics don’t exist in Heaven. He was Father first, which means He is perfect in fatherhood. The fall led to a broken view of what fatherhood needs to be.

We discuss the fact that the relationship of father and child is one that is vastly important to our life. It is one of the relationships on earth that effects us in such drastic ways. Our souls long for this relationship to feel whole.

Louie shares with us some amazing Scripture and wisdom on how to restore the relationship with our eternal Father, even when our earthly relationship may have  never been a positive one. Louie shares so vulnerably about his own father, the struggles in their own relationship, and how it led to remind him that nothing here is how it should be. Our souls are longing for the day when all will be restored.

We even speak some on mental health and how important it is to address any issues going on, the power of counseling, and the significance of authenticity.

What a blessing this episode is to me and I hope it is the same for you. May there be peace that comes to you after this episode!

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Highlights:

  • Fatherhood. It’s an ever-growing issue of importance in our culture today.
  • We even speak some on mental health and how important it is to address any issues going on, the power of counseling, and the significance of authenticity.
  • We discuss the fact that the relationship of father and child is one that is vastly important to our life.

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