In this episode of Shalomies, Yana and Elizabeth explore the joys and struggles of friendship, confessing the time they've gotten it wrong and what God has taught them along the way. They discuss the pain of friendship loss and share the practices they adopted to avoid it when possible. If you’re in the thick of a relational conflict or grieving friends lost, we pray this conversation will provide you with hope and direction as you consider what’s your next step in cultivating shalom in your friendships.

Key Scriptures:

• Psalm 131
• Psalm 139:23–24
• Ecclesiastes 4:9–12
• John 15:13
• Acts 15:36–41
• Romans 11:36
• Romans 12:18
• Galatians 2:11–14
• Galatians 6:2
• James 4:1–2

Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. Why do you think friendship has become a rising conversation in our culture?
2. How has your understanding about friendship evolved over time?
3. What does Scripture tell us about friendship?
4. How do we maintain and pursue shalom in our friendships?
5. Can you think of a time when shalom was broken in a friendship? What did it look like to repair that relationship?
6. How do we grieve friendship loss?

Recommended Resources:

• Living Beyond Offense: Doing The Hard Work of Forgiveness God's Way
• Made for People: Why We Drift into Loneliness and How to Fight for a Life of Friendship

Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life.

Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast
 and YouTube.

Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.

In this candid and compassionate conversation, Elizabeth Woodson and Yana Conner explore the complexities, beauty, and challenges of Christian singleness. Drawing from their own experiences as single women, they dismantle harmful church messages, unpack common misconceptions, and offer a biblical vision of singleness that is rooted in purpose, dignity, and Shalom. They discuss the emotional realities of longing, grief, and sexual frustration, while emphasizing the spiritual maturity and sanctification that singleness invites—not as a waiting room for marriage, but as a life stage full of God-given agency, calling, and joy.

Elizabeth and Yana also challenge churches to better support single adults through belonging, inclusion, and genuine family, rather than centering marriage as the pinnacle of Christian life. Their message is clear: Shalom—wholeness, peace, and flourishing—is available to singles right now because it flows from connection to Christ, not relationship status. With honesty, humor, and theological depth, this episode offers hope and a fresh imagination for what faithful, flourishing singleness can be.

Key Scriptures:

• Psalm 16:5-8
• Psalm 22:1 
• Psalm 37:4
• John 10:10

Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. What misconceptions or misplaced perspectives about singleness prevent believers from experiencing shalom?
2. How can singles live fully in God’s wholeness without “waiting” for another life stage?
3. How can the church better embody shalom for singles in its community life?
4. Where are you experiencing  longing? 
5. How could your current [single] season be leveraged for unique kingdom impact? 

Recommended Resources:

• Embrace Your Life: How to Find Joy When the Life You Have is Not the Life You Hoped For 
• Living Single with Yana Jenay Podcast

Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life.

Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast
 and YouTube.

Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.

In this episode of Shalomies, Yana and Elizabeth explore forgiveness and shalom through the lens of Yana's new book, Living Beyond Offense.They discuss forgiveness as a merciful decision requiring vulnerability, examine the barriers that keep people stuck in unforgiveness, and clarify the crucial difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. The conversation offers practical wisdom for anyone seeking to navigate the complexities of finding healing in broken relationships.


Key Scriptures:

• Genesis 1-3
• Matthew 18
• Psalm 37

Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. You started your book on forgiveness with a discussion on shalom. Why did you feel like it was important to start a book of forgiveness there?
2. What do you think are our greatest barriers to obeying Jesus’ command to forgive?
3. What are some ways we can move through these barriers to obey Jesus’ command to forgive?
4. After reading your book, it’s clear to me that you spent a lot of time studying and wrestling with Scripture. What was one thing unexpected that you learned during your time in God’s Word?
5. What’s your prayer for this book? 

Recommended Resources:

• Living Beyond Offense: Doing The Hard Work of Forgiveness God's Way

Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life.

Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast
 and YouTube.

Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.

In this episode of Shalomies, Yana and Elizabeth sit down with Kristel Acevedo to talk about finding Shalom in wilderness seasons. We explore how God meets us in hard and uncertain places, the importance of honest lament, and the grounding practices that help us stay rooted when life feels overwhelming. Through Scripture and personal story, we reflect on how the wilderness can become a place of formation, presence, and unexpected peace.

Key Scriptures:

• Psalm 13:1-6

Guest Bio:
To learn more about Kristel Acevedo, please visit www.kristelacevedo.com


Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. How would you define a wilderness season?
2. How have you experienced God’s peace in a wilderness season?
3. In your book, you highlight the story of Hagar. How would you say Hagar experienced shalom in the wilderness?   
4. Why is lament an important part of cultivating shalom?
5. What practices help you stay grounded in God’s presence when life feels uncertain?

Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life.

Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast
 and YouTube.

Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.

In this episode of Shalomies, Yana and Elizabeth unpack how discipleship serves as a pathway to experiencing shalom. Together, they explore what it means to move beyond information toward transformation in discipleship and discuss how real growth happens through reflection, patience, and community. Listeners are encouraged to seek out mentors, invest in discipleship relationships, and remember that becoming whole is a process shaped by both God’s grace and the people He places in our lives.

Key Scriptures:

• Matthew 16:24
• Colossians 1:9-14
• Colossians 1:28-29

Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. What discipleship methods have you seen focus only on knowledge or emotions?
2. What dangers arise when discipleship lacks wholeness?
3. Why must discipleship integrate head, heart, and hands?
4. What holistic discipleship methods have you seen produce shalom? What practices cultivate wholeness?
5. How can leaders help the people they disciple live more integrated lives in Christ?

Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life.

Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast
 and YouTube.

Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.

In this episode, Elizabeth and Yana do a deep dive into the meaning of shalom–a biblical concept that speaks to God’s desire for wholeness, peace, and flourishing in every part of life. They explore what it looks like to experience and cultivate shalom in a broken world, drawing from Scripture, the life of Jesus, and their own personal stories. Together they discuss how God’s vision of wholeness restores what’s fractured in our lives and communities. 

Key Scriptures:

• Genesis 1:26-28
• Luke 4:18-19
• Ephesians 1:9-10

Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. How did we stumble across a theology of  “shalom”, individually and then together?
2. What is a biblical definition for shalom? 
3. How does Scripture’s definition of shalom differ from the world’s definition of peace?
4. Where in your life do you long for God’s wholeness? 
5. How does pursuing shalom change the way we view our life and purpose?

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Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life.

Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast
 and YouTube.

Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.

After two years of dreaming, Elizabeth Woodson and Yana Jenay Conner finally hit record! They talk about what shalom really means—God’s vision of wholeness and peace—and how it shapes everything from singleness to work, friendship, and forgiveness.

🎧 Subscribe and follow @elizabethwoodson & @yanajenay

Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life.

Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast
 and YouTube.

Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.

In this final episode of the first season of Shalomies, Yana and Elizabeth talk about what it really means to pursue shalom in a world that’s constantly forming us to reflect its image. Drawing from Elizabeth’s upcoming book, Habits of Resistance, they talk about suffering, the role of Scripture, and why God’s grace—not striving—is the key to a  faithful and distinctive Christian life.


Recommended Resources:

• Habits of Resistance (Book)
• Bible Recap (Podcast)
• From Beginning To Forever (Book)

Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life.

Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast
 and YouTube.

Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.

In this episode of Shalomies, Yana Jenay sits down with her friend and mentor, LaToya King, Chief Operating Officer of the Triangle Community Foundation, for a rich conversation about what it means to pursue shalom in our everyday work. LaToya shares her story and the experiences that shaped her calling, as well as the Scriptures and beliefs that guide how she leads and serves.

Together, they explore how so much meaningful ministry can happen outside of church walls and why it can be difficult for believers to see their jobs as part of God’s mission to restore wholeness in the world. LaToya speaks candidly about the challenges of living out faith in settings where values aren’t always shared—including how she navigates conflict, maintains integrity, and seeks the good of the communities she serves.

Throughout the episode, LaToya offers wisdom for working with intentionality: approaching our roles not simply as tasks to complete, but as opportunities to seek the welfare of the city through presence, excellence, compassion, and courage.

This conversation is an invitation to see your work—whatever it is—as a place where God is present and active, forming you and using you to bring shalom to the world.

Key Scriptures:

• Jeremiah 29:7
• Matthew 22:36-40
• Romans 12:2

Questions Covered In This Episode:

1. What beliefs or passages of Scripture guide your approach to your work?
2. It’s been said that most ministry happens outside of the walls of the church. Would you agree with this statement? If so, why?
3. Why do we struggle to see work outside of the church’s walls as a part of God’s mission to restore shalom?
4. One of the benefits of working in a church setting is that there is a shared biblical worldview, work ethic, and code of conduct. Even if we people stray, we have the Scriptures as a shared text to draw people back to. The same is not true outside of the walls of the church. What have been some of the challenges you faced when it comes to living out your faith at work?
5. How do you navigate conflict at work?
   
   

Recommended Resources:
Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good by Amy Sherman
A Just Leader: Thriving in a Fractured World by David Spickard
The Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics


Thanks for listening to Shalomies! We’d love to hear how the podcast is helping you pursue peace and wholeness in your own life.

Share your thoughts, questions, or testimonies with us over on Instagram @shalomiespodcast
 and YouTube.

Elizabeth and Yana would love to hear from you! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little more shalom this week.