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Amy Hauser

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In this episode of Thriving Beyond Belief, Cheryl Scruggs welcomes Amy Hauser for an honest and hope-filled conversation about faith, resilience, redemption, and learning to thrive through life’s highs and lows.

Amy wears many hats — wife, mom, friend, ministry leader, wellness enthusiast, and encourager — and she brings a beautiful mix of Southern warmth, humor, grit, and deep faith into everything she does.

Born and raised in Thomasville, Georgia, Amy’s life has taken her through places like Tallahassee, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles before bringing her back home to Georgia. Through every season, smooth or difficult, she has seen God’s faithfulness remain steady.

In this conversation, Amy shares about navigating motherhood, raising two boys, including one with additional needs, and finding joy in the everyday moments. She also opens up about her passion for health, wholeness, community, and living with open hands as she trusts God to bring beauty from ashes.

Amy co-founded Project Backyard, a service organization, and 61 Exchange, a women’s ministry created to encourage and uplift women. Alongside her husband, Paul, she has also shared their powerful story of marriage, divorce, and remarriage through I Am Second, offering a beautiful reminder that no one is ever too far gone for God’s grace.

Before this season of life, Amy also served as a teacher, movie producer, nonprofit leader, and communicator. Each chapter has shaped her passion for truth, health, faith, and helping others discover a life rooted in purpose.

090: Anne Neilson

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Today I am super excited to welcome Anne Neilson as my hand-picked guest!

PAINTING WITH A PURPOSE

A lifelong artist, Anne Neilson began painting with oils in 2003 and quickly became nationally renown for her ethereal Angel Series. A favorite among individuals and private art collectors, Neilson’s paintings are inspiring reflections of her faith and recognized for their flair and use of color.

In 2012, Neilson self-published Angels In Our Midst and has sold over 30,000 copies. This coffee table book follows her journey through the Angel Series, sharing inspirational and personal stories behind her paintings and the organizations she supports. Following its success and the demand for more access to her acclaimed Angels, Neilson released a follow up book, Strokes of Compassion, and launched Anne Neilson Home – a growing collection of luxury home products including candles, note cards, scripture cards, prints, and journals. Most recently, Neilson released Angels: The Collector’s Edition, her largest coffee table book to date, showcasing the most-loved content from Angels In Our Midst as well as brand new stories of faith from Steven Curtis Chapman, Amy Grant and more.

A wife, a mother of four, and an artist, Neilson paints with both passion and purpose, giving back to those less fortunate through sales of her products and original paintings.

LISTEN ON ITUNES

Highlights:

  • Her riveting story
  • Her artwork is a reflection of her faith

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REPLAY: Courtney Pray Duke

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Hi everyone and welcome to the Thriving Beyond Belief podcast today! And as you know, if you’re a regular listener, I’ve taken a couple of weeks off and one of the main reasons is because we were welcoming our new baby granddaughter into the world. This week, we’re replaying an episode from Courtney Pray Duke. If you have not listened to her episode yet from about a year ago, you’ll definitely want to tune into this episode — she has some great stuff to say!

Courtney has such an incredible story of God working through incredible tragedy to show His faithfulness. With three young children at home, Courtney received a call that forever changed the trajectory of her life. Finding out that her husband was in an accident, she rushed to the hospital, only to find out on the way that he didn’t make it.

From this story of incredible loss and hurt, Courtney talks about how God was revealed to her through this loss and helped her treasure each day. From pain He brings so much purpose. She remarks that in the economy of God, nothing is wasted.

She discusses walking through widowhood and who she now can share in the loss with. She talks about the journey of healing and how time brings hope. This loss gave Courtney a new lens on life and she talks about the fact that we have an eternity to live for. It’s remarkable how God uses unbelievable circumstances to show us how to full trust Him.

Courtney talks about what has helped her walk through this journey. Some helpful tools are being able to speak out loud about the circumstances. She also emphasizes her need for Scripture day to day.

We really focus on the change from surviving to thriving. Courtney can talk about knowing what it is like to thrive because she has walked through that journey of being in the place where she didn’t know how to put one foot in front of the other, wondering if she would make it to the next day. When she leaned into the Lord through Scripture and church community, she has slowly been able to see the bright days begin to appear again.

From the darkest of days with loss to now being remarried and having a new baby, Courtney’s story is one of constant redemption and God’s grace and love. She talks about the phase of being content with the Lord and His plans and then felt she was finally able to open her heart to love another in this life. We discuss the trust of the Lord in the valley so that we see His plans and goodness fulfilled on the mountain top.

We end discussing how the call on God’s life and the roles we play in our lives aren’t mutually exclusive.

We should begin embracing our complexities and many facets the Lord created us as so that we can confidently go forward in the Lord’s purpose for our life.

I believe this episode will touch so many lives. It will bring hope to those hurting and encouragement that God is there with us in every single season. I hope this episode comforts you today.

 

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089: Eryn Eddy

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There are fewer things that bring me more joy than seeing people share their story with authenticity and vulnerability. That is why this week’s episode of Thriving Beyond Belief has brought me so much joy- and I hope it does the same for you. I am so excited for you to hear Eryn Eddy’s story. It is one of overcoming, being true to what God has called you to be, and finding passions in unexpected places.

Eryn shares with us her story of how she has come to where she is. Eryn talks with us about being raised in a Christian home, finding herself working for a ministry, deciding not to go to college, and marrying young. She walks us through this relationship she had with her husband and what ultimately led to their divorce. Eryn is so vulnerable in her story-telling, sharing with us such wise words on truly coming to terms with the fact that nothing can fill the void in our lives other than Jesus. She talks about what voids she was trying to fill through her marriage and how her husband was trying to do the same in different capacities. Trying to fill the void of the Lord in your life with a person, a hobby, a career, children will only leave those voids being manifested in unhealthy ways in your relationships with others and with Jesus.

Eryn shares some life-giving wisdom on her journey and how the Lord taught her to only be satisfied with Him. What came from this broken relationship actually led her to the ministry she runs today- So Worth Loving. It is an apparel brand that prints life-giving and encouraging messages on apparel. She emphasizes that nothing will fulfill like Jesus and no one will champion who you were created to be like Jesus.

Eryn closes with some amazing and practical steps to healing. She shares some amazing ways you can begin to climb out of the pit that you are in and how to lean into the Lord in real ways during that time of heartache, loss, or emptiness.

I want to close with So Worth Loving’s manifesto, in that I hope it beings encouragement to your story and that the Lord wastes nothing. He uses each of our stories to glorify Him and help others in healing.

No matter my history, past mistakes, relationship status, or career choice, I am worthy of love. I am not defined by my past. I am prepared because of it. While my own voice and others may tell me different, I will lean into the safe people that affirm this way of thinking. When I encourage others to love themselves I am encouraging them to treat themselves with kindness, patience, respect, and all that embodies love. We live our life knowing we have worth.  So Worth Loving. It’s a lifestyle.”

LISTEN ON ITUNES

Highlights:

  • Coming soon…

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