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Brandice Lardner

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In this episode of Thriving Beyond Belief, Cheryl Scruggs welcomes Brandice Lardner for an honest and hope-filled conversation about many of us having been in a war with our own bodies for years.

Even though as Christian women we know that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, many of us have been in a war with our own bodies for years. We tediously track calories, eliminate food groups, jump on the latest exercise trend, and wonder if all this business about balancing hormones is real or just someone trying to sell us something.

Through all the conflicting advice, weight lost and regained, and time spent berating ourselves for failing, we never get to the heart of the matter: why we started overeating in the first place or why our sense of worth has become entangled in what we eat and how we look. We focus on improving the outside, hoping it will make us feel better inside. But true, lasting, life-altering freedom is found by changing from the inside out.

Fully Nourished invites you to step off the exhausting treadmill of dieting and into the freedom Jesus offers. Certified nutrition coach and personal trainer Brandice Lardner gently guides you through sustainable practices grounded in biblical truth, sound nutrition, and habit-building science. You’ll discover how to nourish your body without shame, renew your mind with grace, and build habits that support your health, your peace, and your calling.

 

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.

Cheryl Scruggs – The Lost Art of Resting

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Lost Art of Resting—- I explore the essential yet often overlooked practice of resting, a cornerstone of thriving in all facets of life. Through personal reflection and experiences, I emphasize the multi-dimensional aspects of rest—spiritual, emotional, and physical—that together, support a vibrant and fulfilling existence.

  • Spiritual Rest: I delve into the importance of reconnecting with one’s spiritual roots to find peace and direction. I share how moments of solitude, prayer, and meditation not only rejuvenate the spirit but also fortify us against life’s tumults. It’s about creating spaces to listen and respond to what God might be whispering to our hearts.
  • Emotional Rest: Here, I discuss the necessity of emotional boundaries to maintain balance and health. I talk about the power of saying no and the freedom found in prioritizing personal mental health. Through practices like journaling and engaging in meaningful conversations, I’ve found ways to declutter my emotional world, making room for more authentic joy and less imposed stress.
  • Physical Rest: I emphasize how vital it is to respect our bodies through restorative practices. Whether it’s committing to regular sleep schedules, integrating gentle exercises like yoga, or simply taking time to breathe deeply, I highlight the importance of listening to our physical needs and responding with kindness and care.
  • Integrating Rest into Everyday Life: I conclude the chapter with practical strategies for incorporating rest into a bustling lifestyle. I share how small pockets of rest can be seamlessly woven into the fabric of our daily routines, enhancing overall well-being without compromising our commitments and productivity.

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Cheryl Scruggs – the Lost Art of Thinking

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The Lost Art of Thinking – Chapter 3

Thriving Beyond Belief: Courageous, Rooted, Thriving Women Paperback – October 26, 2022

by Cheryl Scruggs (Author)

Today’s episode – The Lost Art of Thinking

You can thrive and live an abundant life in every area and in every season. You can practice the lost arts of being a vibrant human being. And you can be energized and enjoy more of what matters most spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally, and relationally.

The closer a courageous, rooted, and thriving woman gets to realizing her life’s purpose, the more she understands that abundant living is nothing like what she once thought it was. It’s not perfect circumstances; it’s perfect peace within those circumstances. Thriving Beyond Belief gives women practical tools to improve every relationship they have by doing the hard work of knowing “the real you” and learning to be vulnerable. Deep satisfaction comes from women knowing who they are, overcoming their fears, facing the difficult stuff of life, and making lasting change. And it all starts with the journey of knowing and understanding who God made them to be.

No matter where you’ve come from, what you’ve experienced in the past, or the mistakes you’ve made—you can learn to thrive the rest of your life. This book shows you how.

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Jessica Hurlbut

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Jessica and her husband Greg are herald as adoption advocates across New York State. After adopting a sibling group of two from foster care in 2015, they discovered the massive need for foster and adoptive parents.

They founded All 4 One Adoption Awareness, an organization focused on highlighting the 110,000 children in foster care who are freed to be adopted and need a forever family. For three years straight, Jessica has promoted and organized a 110 mile run across St. Lawrence County which is held on National Adoption Day to raise awareness for this need.

Jessica was a contestant on Season 8 of NBC’s American Ninja Warrior where she shared her story and passion for adoption. She was featured in Runner’s World Magazine in 2018 for attempting to run 110 miles through a snowstorm on National Adoption Day. Jessica has the privilege of presenting a TEDx Talk in November 2020 entitled, “How to Win at the Race Called Life”.

When Jessica is not running marathons or after her children, she also loves reading, Tim Hortons,  and kayaking with her family.

 

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Sarah Bragg

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Sarah’s Story: Finding my voice.

My twenties were categorized as driven and successful. My resume boasted of working for influential organizations. I was a popular communicator traveling across the globe to speak to students. And I became an author at the young age of 27.

But then, I turned 30, had kids, faced some rejection and was felt like I had peaked in life. Where the twenties were driven with confidence, my thirties felt like a lonely space. Having accomplished so much in life to that point, I wondered if this was it. I felt like there was a formula to life, a certainty to things. But my thirties proved that life was more uncertain than I had believed.

In those years, I longed to communicate with women again. I longed to connect with others through conversation. In October of 2015, the podcast, Surviving Sarah, was born. It was to be a place where I could use my voice again to help other women know they aren’t alone. It was a place where I could help women survive right where they are—in their life, their relationships, their work and their faith.

After years of living and learning, I wrote a new book about how motherhood has raised me. A Mother’s Guide to Raising Herself: What Parenting Taught Me About Life, Faith and Myself is a guide that captures that journey of realizing that as I was parenting my girls, I was actually parenting myself.

Now, my forties are categorized as a different confidence—a confidence in the journey of discovering who I am and stepping confidently into that person. It’s a journey defined by curiosity and surrendering to the uncertainty of it all. And as Anne Lamont says, “The opposite of faith is not doubt, it’s certainty.” By embracing the uncertainty with curiosity, my faith has been reconstructed.

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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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121: Courtney DeFeo

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The Thriving Beyond Belief podcast this week featuring: Courtney DeFeo!

The “tween” years are a critical transition period in the life of a young girl. Girls this age are changing in profound ways. Loaded with fun activities and engaging content, Treasured will initiate meaningful conversation between moms and daughters during these critical preteen years.

ABOUT THE TREASURED STUDY

Whether you lead a group of moms and daughters or complete this study one-on-one with your daughter, we equip you digitally with everything you need:

This 6-session faith-based study is designed to connect moms and daughters with engaging content around topics critical to the preteen years: Identity, Body, Emotions, Friendships, Technology, and Faith. It contains a flash drive of digital files that includes everything you need for a small group study with moms and daughters: teaching videos (DVD option included), discussion questions, leader guides, participant guides, and connection ideas and more. This can also be used as a one-on-one study with a mom and her daughter.

To be used on its own, or in conjunction with the Treasured Study, the Treasured Journal is designed to help girls think about the questions they are already asking, and creates opportunities to interact with their moms. There are 6 weeks of topics (the same topics as the study) with 5 days of things for her to think about, doodle, and do. There are things for moms to do, too. Go through it together, and you’ll discover a deeper connection with each other, and in the process, she’ll discover just how Treasured she is. When used alongside the study, it allows moms and daughters to take what they’ve learned in the study one step further.

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020: Dana Crawford

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Dana and I have been friends for many years and I am so excited to have her on the podcast today.

She has spent over half of her life as a wife to her husband Chris, a dermatologist, and a mother to her two children, Chase and Candice!

She is a former teacher, but now loves to cook and entertain in her spare time when she’s not pouring into her three grandsons, age 5 to a newborn!

Her son-in-law is the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo, and her son Chase is best known for his role on Gossip Girl.

We had a great conversation about being humble, vulnerable, and what it means to thrive as a woman, wife, and mom!

We talk about being a “good wife” and how to grow and balance your life.  She feels “you can’t ever pull these things off by yourself and each day must be completely covered by God’s grace.”

Keeping your house in order and spending a little extra to have some help with this can make a huge difference in being a parent and wife; it creates a balance for everyone.

We talk about vulnerability and insecurity; “life is hard and getting older isn’t for sissies.  As we become more vulnerable, we realize this isn’t a personality issue, it’s a trust issue.”

Dana and I had such a meaningful conversation and I am so excited to share that with you.

Here’s my interview with Dana Crawford.