smith Archives - Thriving Beyond Belief

080: Gwen Smith

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April 24, 2019

Gwen Smith’s tagline on her website says her purpose is “helping women know and trust God more”. After today’s episode of Thriving Beyond Belief, you will have no doubt that is what God has intended for her to do! Gwen is a delight, an 8w7 on the enneagram (if you know what that is) :), and has such an amazing story to tell.

Not only is Gwen a follower of Jesus, wife, and mother, she is also an author, speaker, podcaster, and coach. Gwen’s story is one where she is able to personally speak about the goodness, grace, and faithfulness of God. She speaks of young love, heartbreak, and amazingly beautiful redemption.

I don’t want to give away her whole story here, but it’s one that has her cling to the story of the prodigal son from Scripture. She shares what she describes as her “mess-timony”, and the fact that our sin is never going to be bigger than God’s grace in our life. We cannot outdo the power of the cross! Once Gwen returned to the Lord, she spent so much time trying to “earn” her way back into the good graces of the Lord. She volunteered for every role she could in the church, trying to work her way back into the arms of the Lord, until she realized she was already there. Christ then revealed to her that in the midst of trying to earn her salvation, she stopped dreaming about what the Lord was going to do in her life. She felt “disqualified” from the race. How many of us can relate to feeling this way from time to time?

But in His goodness, God showed her the grace that was given to her, the fact that we can never earn our salvation, and that with thriving ALWAYS comes honesty about our story. I love how she reminds us that His arms are never too short to save and His ears are never too dull to hear.

We talk about Gwen’s definition of thriving. One thing that stuck out to me about what she had to share was that she always referred to herself as someone who was “dizzy”. She loved to spin in circles as a girl, and that same mindset carried into adulthood. But she claims that this leads to chaos and it keeps our eyes from ever looking forward. Gwen believes thriving is being able to look straight ahead to eternity and to keep from spinning in mindless directions.

We even cope together as we discuss the season of empty nesting, bond over being fellow podcasters, and discuss how the Lord truly uses all of our mess to create something beautiful and new. I cannot wait for you to take a listen today!

LISTEN ON ITUNES

Highlights:

Gwen’s purpose: to know and trust God more
She shares what she describes as her “mess-timony”
A quote from Gwen: “In every season, we have different opportunities to grow, but then also pave the way for the next season.”

Related Links:

WEBSITE: Gwensmith.net
FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM
FOLLOW ON Facebook
PODCAST GwenSmith.net/Graceologie
EMAIL Gwen@GwenSmith.net
GIG www.GirlfriendsinGod.com

Gwen Smith ?

Speaker / Podcaster / Author / Worship Leader

Helping Women Know and Trust God More

Co-founder of Girlfriends in God

Host of the GRACEOLOGIE with Gwen Smith Podcast

076: Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith

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March 27, 2019

Today’s podcast may be about rest, but the last thing it will do is put you to sleep!

Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith brings such an insightful perspective on what rest truly is. Rest can lead to thriving, restoration, and a greater view of the Lord in your life! A wife, mother, physician, author, and speaker, Saundra knows a thing or two about how to balance your life in a way that is healthy.

I personally learned so much from this week’s episode. It may be one that I revisit over and over, because the themes we discuss today are so opposite of what success looks like in today’s culture. Today, our world is driven by busyness, the “hustle”, fitting too much on our plates, and overbooked calendars. So Dr. Dalton-Smith helps us understand the importance of physical, emotional, and social rest. She reiterates the importance of actual sleep in our lives, and even debunks what true rest is (hint: it’s not actually binging 4 hours of Netflix!).

The balance in these types of rest lead to authenticity in our lives, the power of presence with others, and restoration. She emphasizes that any rest should lead to restoration- that is the point if it. So we should be asking ourselves: what in our lives restores us? What is bringing healing and positivity to our lives?

We then discuss spiritual, sensory, and creative rest. These are ones that I feel are deprived from each us the most. Saundra beautifully describes what spiritual rest is for her and how the time she rests in the Lord leads to a more profound understanding of her relationship with Him. That’s what we all should be experiencing when we rest in who God is!

You do not want to miss this episode. There is so much to learn and understand more about yourself, your Creator, and what you were created to do. To understand more about rest and what area of rest you are most deprived of, please take Dr. Dalton-Smith’s quiz at restquiz.com and let me know what you learned most from this week!