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Explore every episode of the podcast God Hears Her Podcast

Dive into the complete episode list for God Hears Her Podcast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
173. The Full Life (with Pricelis Dominguez)28 Oct 202400:32:36

Guest Bio: Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez (MSW, MSEd) is a truth-teller and space builder committed to helping the Body of Christ be healthy and holy. She is the founder of Full Collective, creator of the annual Sowers Summit, and host of the Being a Sanctuary podcast. She has spoken at conferences such as Proverbs 31 and Verity Conference and has written for Chasing Justice and She Reads Truth. She recently published a book with Brazos Press (An Imprint of Baker Publishing Group) titled Being a Sanctuary: The Radical Way for the Body of Christ to be Sacred, Soft, and Safe. Pricelis is currently pursuing a master of arts in biblical and theological studies from Denver Seminary and is a proud Black Latina born and raised in New York City, where she currently resides with her husband and son. 

 

Show Summary: Do you ever feel like you’re running on empty? Maybe your schedule is filled and you feel like you have no time to do the things you want to do or spend time with people you miss. Sometimes we feel empty because we’re lacking a community that can help fulfill our needs or lend a hand. Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez realized that women were running themselves dry while simultaneously missing out on a devoted community to spend time with. She founded The Full Collective with the hope of bringing women together to experience the fullness that God wants us to have through Him in our lives. Join hosts Elisa Morgan and Vivian Mabuni as they learn more about The Full Collective and how we can find fullness through Christ and community during this episode of God Hears Her.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “No matter what the battle that has come forth is, no matter what has tried to be stolen, destroyed, or killed in their life, that does not change the fullness that God has for us.” —Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez 

  • “I was very much in search of God, but I was looking for Him in a lot of things, a lot of different people, and a lot of different places. . . . I was filled with remembering that I am loved and seen by God, and that He’s actually been pursuing me and running after me all these years I’ve been running away from Him.” —Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez 

  • “We have to bring our questions to the feet of Jesus.” —Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez 

  • “We need to remember that our faith is not individualized. Although our salvation is individual, the work that the body of Christ is called to do on Earth is a collective work.” —Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez  

  • “What is absolute truth is that Jesus came to give us life, and life to the full.” —Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez  

 

Verses: 

 

Links: 

 

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172. A Guide Through Emotional and Spiritual Abuse (with Natalie Hoffman)21 Oct 202400:38:32

Guest Bio: Natalie Hoffman is the author of Is it Me? Making Sense of Your Confusing Marriage: A Christian Woman’s Guide to Hidden Emotional and Spiritual Abuse and All the Scary Little Gods: a Memoir, as well as the host of the Flying Free podcast. She is a mother, grandmother, educator, and passionate advocate for Christian women experiencing emotional and spiritual abuse. Through the Flying Free Sisterhood program, Natalie empowers Christian women to discover and use their God-given voices, gifts, and freedom to make healthy choices for their spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. 

 

Show Summary: Sometimes an unhealthy relationship may be hard to recognize while we’re in the beginning stages or rationalizing things that hurt us. It can be hard to recognize or make sense of a confusing or hurtful relationship. Natalie Hoffman was in an emotionally and spiritually abusive marriage for 25 years. After trying everything she could to work on her marriage, she decided to get a divorce. Now Natalie teaches women the covert signs of emotional and spiritual abuse. Join hosts, Elisa Morgan and Vivian Mabuni, as they are guided through the signs and symptoms of emotional and spiritual abuse during this very informative episode of God Hears Her. If you or someone you know is in an abusive situation, please call 1-800-799-7233 or visit this website.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “Are you safely allowed to just be yourself in the relationship? Without being afraid that there will be repercussions if you show up?” —Natalie Hoffman 

  • “The egregious nature of spiritual abuse is that it drives a wedge between the survivor and God—her lifeline.” —Natalie Hoffman

  • “My religious beliefs are what kept me in that [abusive] relationship for so many years, but my relationship with God is what got me out.” —Natalie Hoffman 

  • “God was my rescuer—not the church, not my friends, and not my family of origin.” —Natalie Hoffman

  • “I listen to my former self—that younger version of myself—and I decided that I was going to be a witness to her pain.” —Natalie Hoffman   

 

Verses: 

 

Links: 

 

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163. Mindful Creativity (with Anh Lin)12 Aug 202400:31:40

Guest Bio: Anh Lin is an interior stylist and the founder of the cozy online shop, TheHoogaShop.com. She is a debut author with her new book, Forever Home, and she is now living with her husband and corgi in a renovated fixer-upper.

 

Show Summary: Have you ever looked at a space and felt excited by all of the work that needs to be done on it? Maybe you renovated your home, decorated an apartment, or even organized your car trunk in a cute way for all of the running around you do. What if we looked at our hearts as rooms with potential? What if we saw healing as internally renovating? Anh Lin was in the midst of renovating and designing a new home when the Lord opened her eyes to see how the process was similar to our internal healing process. Join hosts, Eryn Eddy Adkins and Vivian Mabuni as they talk with Anh about seeing the possibilities for our healing during this God Hears Her conversation.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “You don’t have to go big to feel the impact of a changed environment.” —Anh Lee

  • “Surround ourselves with people that are for us, that support us, that are trauma-informed, walk through it with us, and most importantly show us that there is a reality outside of what we think is possible for us.” —Anh Lee

  • “Find community—it’s more healing than you think.” —Anh Lee

  • “It was as if God was saying, ‘You can leave this memory because I’m staying here with her. I’m going to save her one day.’” —Anh Lee

  • “There’s no shame being where [you] are at mentally, and God can handle [your] timing, [your] pacing because He’s a very patient God. He’s a gentle Father.” —Anh Lee 

  • “For the woman who is feeling so isolated, so misunderstood, know that God is going to continue being active in your life, loving you in ways you might not see now, but will eventually see His fingerprints on all the times you’ve been hurting.”  —Anh Lee

 

Links: 

 

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EP. 74: Purpose in Waiting (with Heather Thompson Day)17 Jan 202200:30:42

What is something you’re waiting for? A career? A significant other? A good friend? In every season of life, we feel like we’re waiting for something. On this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn Eddy and Elisa Morgan talk to Dr. Heather Thompson Day about what we can do while we’re waiting. They also learn more about Heather and her experiences with waiting.

 

About Our Guest:

Dr. Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University, and an interdenominational speaker and contributor for Religion News Service, Newsweek, and the Barna Group. She runs an online community called I’m That Wife and is the author of seven books, including It’s Not Your Turn. She currently lives in Michigan with her husband and their three children.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “I think we’ve lost the beauty of resting in our purpose.”
  • “We are the answer to other people’s prayers.”
  • “I think we miss out because we’re waiting for some big sign and sometimes, I think almost all the time, it’s these little stirrings from the Holy Spirit saying, ‘Go talk to them. Go sit down. Go see how you can be helpful.’”
  • “I think I thought faith was something I built, but it’s really something God gives us, because our faith is actually us acknowledging the answers to the prayers and the experiences that He gives us. So I say all the time, ‘God, build my faith.’”
  • “When you feel like you have nothing, that’s actually the perfect place to start.”
  • “God says that the way to the kingdom of heaven is to realize that this relationship was never about what you will give Him. It has always been about what He will give you.”
  • “Any Christian worth his [or her] salt will read their Bible cover to cover every single year.” —J. I. Packer
  • “God answers a bitter woman’s prayer. You can show up however you feel.”

 

Links: 

 

Verses: 

  • Matthew 5–7: Sermon on the Mount by Jesus 
  • Matthew 28:18: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’”
  • 1 Samuel 2: Hannah’s Prayer
  • Ruth 1:20: Naomi changing her name to Mara

 

EP. 73: Women Who Are Often Overlooked (with Dr. Amanda Benckhuysen)10 Jan 202200:30:28

Sometimes women are treated as second-class citizens within the church. If they aren’t encouraged to study Scripture, teach about it, or go to seminary, they often feel overlooked in comparison to the men. On this episode of God Hears Her, Dr. Amanda Benckhysen shares about her journey from feeling like an overlooked woman to becoming a woman who learned she was seen and valued by a God who loves us all.

 

About Our Guest:

Dr. Amanda Benckhuysen is the author of The Gospel According to Eve and Immigrants, the Bible, and You. She is also a scholar, speaker, teacher, wife, mother, and follower of Jesus. She currently serves as the director of Safe Church Ministry for the Christian Reformed Church in North America after having taught the Old Testament while mentoring seminary students for more than 15 years.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “All of who I was and what I had to bring to the table was pleasing and acceptable to God.”
  • “I thought going to seminary would help me represent the gospel well, it will help me represent Jesus well.”
  • “I wanted to share with those that didn’t know Jesus that Jesus loves them.”
  • “It expanded my understanding of texts to read what others thought.”
  • “It set her on a trajectory of recovering women’s voices in history in terms of how they interpreted Scripture.”
  • “Women did not have access to education. So by and large, we don’t tend to think of women when we think of interpretation of Scripture.”
  • Women interpreters mentioned: Anna Maria Venturemen and Christine de Pizan
  • “They [women] are reading the texts differently because they are reading it through their lived experiences.”
  • “There is a complete devaluation of their [women] personhood.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

EP. 72: Connecting Faith and Real Life (with Daniel Ryan Day)03 Jan 202200:37:13

Do you feel a disconnect between your faith and your everyday life? Does it sometimes feel like there is no purpose in the mundane things we do over and over again like folding clothes or washing dishes? On this episode of God Hears Her, Daniel Ryan Day shares how to connect our faith with our everyday real life, including the mundane activities we may sometimes feel are purposeless. 

 

About Our Guest:

Daniel Ryan Day is the author of What’s Next: Your Dream Job, God’s Call, and a Life That Sets You Free. He’s also a content producer and writer for Reclaim Today, a cohost for Our Daily Bread Ministries’ Discover the Word podcast, and a producer for the Where Ya From? and God Hears Her podcasts. Daniel holds a master’s degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, and is an ordained minister in the Anglican Church in North America. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three kiddos.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “My story can be boiled down to growing up in a very tight Christian bubble but then having experiences that made me realize that a tight Christian bubble was not relating to the world in a way that made sense for the world that we live in.”
  • “This faith in Jesus, if it’s real, has gotta impact how we interact with orphans, it’s got to make a difference in these bigger issues.”
  • “How does this faith impact real life?”
  • “So many things I learned in that experience [of giving up things], so hence the ten days without speech to represent those who don’t have a voice, or who have a voice but that it’s not listened to. Ten days without legs for those affected by disabilities that live in our world and who are often overlooked. Ten days without furniture for those who live in homeless settings and don’t have a home or don’t have furniture.”
  • “I was still struggling with those questions of how does faith work in real life? Where do they meet? And specifically, as it relates to my calling and my job in the world.”
  • “The use of the word ‘calling’ in the Scriptures, most often refers to callings like seeking justice, love mercy, walking humbly with God. So humility or giving thanks in all circumstances.”
  • “The decade of the 20s and 30s are the real transformational decades for us really being shaped from how we grew up, what we thought we were going to be, who we thought we were going to be, into discovering the reality of us.”
  • [On the topic of a Rwandan Pastor who walked the hills of his village to meet with people] “He’s just visiting with people. So meeting needs, his sermons, all of that comes from real relationships with people.”
  • “It’s with people that real ministry happens.”
  • “In the biblical story we get a picture of being colaborers with God. We’re not His servants, we’re not His slaves, we’re in relationship with Him. Invited into everything that we do being a part of this relationship with Him. And so, I think first and foremost above anything else, that is our purpose, that’s our identity, that’s our calling.”
  • “God is at work. And God is going to accomplish His work, regardless of what role we play in it. So for us, where it actually begins is in quiet solitude time.”
  • “Even in those mundane moments we can realize that God has us where He wants us to be.”
  • Prayer for Today: “Creator God, who took what was formless and void and gave it shape and meaning, the One who filled emptiness with beauty and gave all creatures their purpose [including us]. Reclaim today in these small, seemingly insignificant moments. Help me discover meaning in the mundane. Ordain the very ordinariness of these tasks or my current lack of them for your glory, the good of the world, and my good. Amen.”

 

Links: 

 

Verses: 

  • The Lord’s callings to everyday people and people like Moses, Paul/Saul
  • Genesis 1
  • Acts 17:28: “For in Him we live and move and have our being.”
EP. 71: Christ as a Baby13 Dec 202100:33:55

At Christmastime, we bring out the nativity sets to decorate our homes and we talk about Jesus as a baby . . . but do we really grasp the idea of what that looked like in that time and culture? Not to mention the fact that God humbled Himself to become human. On this episode of God Hears Her, Elisa and Eryn talk about the story of Jesus, focusing on the reality of His conception, birth, and being a baby. They also focus on what it meant for His mother Mary and how this birth changed everything then, just like it does today. Join us.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “The God of the universe scrunched Himself into the womb of a woman and began to grow.”
  • “He’s my protector. He’s my guide, my guardian . . . and so for me to imagine Him in a fragile state is just kind of a weird concept in my mind.”
  • The purpose of women during the New Testament period was to have babies.
  • “30–35% of newborns didn’t survive their first month [in New Testament times].” 
  • “Why are we so uncomfortable imagining God to be weak, or being fragile as a child?”
  • “We are so black and white that we only see God as a baby, or as the resurrected Christ.”
  • “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:17 NIV
  • “We have the tendency to be so self-aware, but not Christ-aware.”
  • “His expression of vulnerability begins in the womb and at birth and as baby Jesus. And then we watch His public ministry when truly He is God and He could speak a word and blow fire over all of the naysayers. But He instead humbles Himself to death on a cross.”

 

Scripture: 

John 1:14

Matthew 1:23

Luke 1:39-45

Philippians 2:5

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

EP. 70: Awkward Joy (with Mary Jo Clark)06 Dec 202100:37:39

We often talk about the topic of joy with an emphasis that we “choose joy” or “find joy.” But what does that actually mean? Are those phrases true? Or do phrases like “choose joy” put pressure on people to somehow become happy in the midst of rather unjoyful circumstances? On this episode of God Hears Her, Elisa and Eryn talk with Mary Jo Clark about what life looks like when “choosing joy” feels impossible.

 

About Our Guest:

After years of working in bakeries, coffee shops, and food trucks, Mary Jo Clark returned to her love of audio production and sharing stories. She is now a podcast producer and engineer for Our Daily Bread Ministries. Outside of her passion for creating podcasts to encourage women, she is a talented baker. Her cookies and cupcakes are described by many as “legendary.” She and her husband, Russ, are expecting their first child.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “As someone that struggles with depression and anxiety, I am not someone who is an innately happy person.”
  • “What if I struggle with depression . . . am I supposed to suppress those feelings down and pretend I am happy?”
  • “It wasn’t a pity party. You were grieving very real things.”
  • “I couldn’t find a way out of it until I was broken enough to find the point of being done. It’s time to be okay.”
  • “Our job or status are not our identity.”
  • “I can’t feel it [joy] because it’s down in my heart and I’ve buried it because I’m not content and I’m not focusing on the gifts I know God has given me, but I know it’s there.”
  • “I was discovering this feeling of joy while I was crying.”
  • “Through every single one of those trials, God grew me and He developed the joy that was growing already.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 69: Finding Inner Peace (with Kay Wills Wyma)29 Nov 202100:33:52

How often do you feel stressed? Frustrated? Overwhelmed? Do you feel those ways more often than you feel at peace? This world is filled with events and people that can make us feel far from peaceful. On this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa talk to Kay Wills Wyma about feeling the real, full peace that God grants us when we lean into Him.

 

About Our Guest:

Kay Wills Wyma is a blogger, speaker, video podcaster, and mother of five. Kay writes on cultural and societal issues that impact family and friends. She is an author of four books, including The Peace Project: A 30-Day Experiment Practicing Thankfulness, Kindness, and Mercy where she leads readers through 30-days of finding and feeling peace. She’s also a former White House aide, International Capital Markets banker, and entrepreneur.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “To just slow down for a second and really enjoy the people that walk beside you is such a gift.”
  • “Friendships are giving relationships also.”
  • “I grew up in the South, so there became this strange relationship with Jesus because I had to ‘do and be’ to be okay.”
  • “It’s easier in the hard times than the good times. In the hard times you’ve got nothing.”
  • Soul30: Practice finding moments of peace every day for 30 days.
  • “Why does being thankful feel good? Because it is literally firing parts of your brain that deliver dopamine and endorphins.”
  • “You have neural pathways in your brain that are highly traveled pathways, and they tend to go along the lines of fear, anxiety, worry. What if you can change the routes?”
  • “You can actually change the pathways in your brain so that peace is where you are going instead of anxiety.”
  • “He says: ‘I keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on me.’”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

EP. 68: Hope that Overcomes (with Joyce Dinkins)22 Nov 202100:38:03

How do you experience hope? Maybe you’re hopeful for something? Or you have a strong hope in who God says He is? Or maybe you feel hopeless and are starting to wonder what hope even is! On this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa talk to Joyce Dinkins, a woman that comes from a generation of people hoping for better circumstances. Joyce exemplifies this godly attribute of hope and talks about it with a wisdom that comes from God’s Spirit.

 

About Our Guest:

Joyce Dinkins is the executive editor for the Our Daily Bread Voices Collection. She has an incredible passion for inclusion and equity. Her career emphasis is amplifying the voices of diverse authors, African American and others, in the literary world. She has invested several decades as an editor serving at several Christian publishers across the United States.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “My dad’s dad was born a slave, and that affected everything.”
  • “I had access to freedom in my home; but I never forgot, and I still don’t forget where my parents came from, where my grandparents came from.”
  • “People seeing me weren’t necessarily seeing what they were looking at.”
  • “Hope to me is the truth.”
  • “My parents taught me at an early age to not take abuse from anyone.”
  • “They were capable, after all they had been through, to love their enemies.”
  • “Love will allow us to overcome.”
  • “Literacy is the right to vote, fair housing, the right to pursue education, etcetera.”
  • “See us, hear us, express our stories.”
  • “Go open that book [the Bible].”
  • “Cry out to God.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

 

EP. 67: Pursuing a Courageous Faith (Best of 2021 with Dr. Debbye Turner Bell)15 Nov 202100:32:23

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you needed to give something fully to God? The word surrender may feel a little overwhelming, but Dr. Debbye Turner Bell is a great example of what can happen when we fully submit ourselves to God’s best and accomplish something we didn’t feel we were capable of doing. Join Eryn and Elisa on this episode of God Hears Her as they revisit their conversation with Debbye Turner Bell and her journey of pursuing a courageous faith.

 

About Our Guest:

Dr. Debbye Turner Bell is a veterinarian, broadcast journalist, motivational speaker, workshop facilitator, corporate trainer, and Miss America 1990. For more than two decades, she has addressed audiences in the corporate, academic, and community service arenas. In addition to her speaking and media work, she is also the Founder and CEO of Debbye Turner Bell Consulting, a faculty member of the Institute for Management Studies, and an Affiliate Trainer for the TransPorter Group Inc. Dr. Debbye Turner Bell lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband, Gerald, and daughter Lynlee.

 

Notes and Quotes: All Quotes by Debbye

  • “That [prayer of surrender] is when my goals became subservient to God’s goals, will, and His purpose for my life.”
  • “It is a matter of deciding, ‘God, I believe you no matter what the circumstances look like.’”
  • “That is what I seek to get to: that if God Himself smite me, it won’t shake my faith in Him.”
  • “God proves Himself to us every day. And if we will just take the time to notice His faithfulness in our lives, then it creates in us a reservoir of His work in our life.”
  • “Every time that God performed a miracle in the Old Testament, an altar was built. The whole purpose of the altar was to remember what God had done.”
  • “What I know about God and what I feel in the moment can be such a disconnect with me.”
  • “When we don’t know what God’s Word says about who we are and our identity and our authority, then we live below our privileges.” 
  • “Faith is a decision, not a feeling.”
  • “Surrender is a choice, not a default.”
  • “Surrender takes strength.”
  • “Our identity is not what happened to us. Our identity is who we were created to be.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

EP. 66: Dreams and Fears (with Jade Gustafson)08 Nov 202100:34:12

When we look back on our lives, do we see the times that our dreams evolved into something we never thought they would be? What are the dreams that never worked out? What are the dreams that changed when we learned more about what we loved? On this episode of God Hears Her, Elisa and Eryn talk to a young woman named Jade Gustafson about the dreams and fears that she has in her own life. Jade talks about how her dreams are in the process of changing and how surrendering her fears to God has led to some unexpected life changes.

 

About Our Guest:

Jade Gustafson is currently a senior at Grand Valley State University studying English and writing. She is a blog post writer and small group leader for GVSU’s Delight Ministries. While she is figuring out her future she continues to work at Our Daily Bread Ministries in the podcast department.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “We can have so many standards and goals set, but it does not matter when it comes to the purpose that God has for your life.”
  • “If things don’t work out the way that I want them to, it’s not a reason to be anxious or upset because God has a better plan.” 
  • “I am not to find my self-worth and my identity in these narratives or dreams or stories that we tell ourselves, but in the truth of who God is and what He wants to do in me and through me.”
  • “All of a sudden I wasn’t unique. All of a sudden my dream wasn’t special.”
  • “Your life is your life, and the things that you do are what God wants you to do (most of the time).”
  • “Even doing something small is a reason to be celebrated.” 
  • “That’s when we know He sees us in those little godly moments, and He uses community to do that too. That’s when He uses people that push us to do things we wouldn’t normally do. He uses people to see us, to show us that He sees us.”
  • “We need to end something in order to begin something.” 

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

  • “Cast all of your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.” —1 Peter 5:7
EP. 65: Building a Co-Missional Relationship (with Beth and Todd Guckenberger)01 Nov 202100:36:45

Have you ever felt disconnected from your partner, spouse, or someone you love? Maybe your schedules are getting busier everyday? Or do your kids distract you from paying attention to the other person? On this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa talk with Beth and Todd Guckenberger, a married couple who decided years ago to set aside two hours a night to work on growing their marriage.

 

About Our Guests:

Beth and Todd met at the age of seventeen in a Young Life Bible study.  They experienced several international short-term mission trips together, and in the mid-nineties they were deeply moved by orphaned children they met in Mexico. In 1997, with a dream, a savings account, and each other, they packed and drove to Monterrey, Mexico, where they lived for fifteen years. Beth and Todd are the parents of eleven children—a family they’ve formed through biological, foster, and adoptive children, and a family who reminds them everyday to stay in the fight until every child is known and loved.

They lead Back2Back Ministries, an international orphan care organization with nine locations around the world. The combined 350 staff work relentlessly to find new and creative solutions to the challenges facing vulnerable children and their families.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “Anyone can have a co-missional marriage.”
  • “Sometimes you can make your family life be your exclusive mission.”
  • “We are going to spend two hours a day only wearing that hat of spouse.”
  • “It [the two hours] became the deepest breath of our day.”
  • “The calling felt like a magnet, you could feel the resistance.”
  • “Expectations are like premeditated resentments.”
  • “Set aside time (any amount) where you are going to put away phones, don’t do the dishes, don’t help the kids, and spend time just the two of you.”
  • “When you go through hard things together, it creates an intimate connection.”
  • “Part of being co-missional is understanding that my agenda is not the most important.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show : 

 

162. Promise Keeper (with Shannon Popkin)24 Jun 202400:29:16

Guest Bio: Shannon Popkin is the author of  Comparison Girl, Control Girl, and (forthcoming) Shaped by God’s Promises (Our Daily Bread Publishing, 2024). Shannon is a speaker and hosts the Live Like It’s True Bible podcast. For more from Shannon, visit shannonpopkin.com, or connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. 

 

Show Summary: What are some promises God gives in His Word that you hold on to? God is a Promise Keeper, but all through Scripture we see examples of His people taking things into their own hands. Author and speaker Shannon Popkin has spent some time looking into how Sarah and Abraham immediately discounted the promises God gave them. Shannon realized that even when God makes His ways known, we tend to want things in our timing. Join hosts Elisa Morgan and Vivian Mabuni as they talk with Shannon about how God is a promise keeper on this episode of God Hears Her. 

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “I like to think of God’s promises as a set of parentheses, you never have one parenthesis without the other. The first is God makes the promise, the second is God keeps the promise.” —Shannon Popkin 

  • “Most of our [life is spent] living in the parentheses and waiting in the parentheses for the promises to come about.” —Elisa Morgan

  • “We don’t learn God’s faithfulness in a minute. We see His faithfulness over time.” —Shannon Popkin 

  • “God will be faithful, He is a faithful God. He is a God who makes promises and keeps promises, and He invites us to live like it’s true that He will keep these promises to us.” —Shannon Popkin

 

Verses: 

 

Links: 

 

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EP. 64: What We Get Wrong About Modesty25 Oct 202100:30:56

Modesty is an important and tricky topic within our church today, and as women, we are told so many different things. Most importantly, we should all remember that we are made in the image of God and that He made us beautiful. In this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa talk through what we get wrong about modesty, while providing thoughtful insights on celebrating our femininity and positive ways to express ourselves. 

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • Self-expression vs. being-accepted-expression.
  • “I can’t look a certain way because I am responsible for how people respond to how I look.”
  • “When we are immodest, shame creeps up.”
  • “What is the motivation in your heart for why you wear what you wear?”
  • “I don't need to worry about everyone else’s response. How am I responding to those less presentable parts of myself?”
  • “How am I seeing myself in God’s image?”
  • “Our femininity is something to celebrate.”
  • “That is what modesty is: both appreciation and care.”
  • “The desire to be seen and accepted is very normal.”
  • “We were made to be seen.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 63: The Truth About Human Trafficking (with Heather McGannon)18 Oct 202100:31:40

(Warning: Sensitive and potentially triggering content) On this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa talk about a topic that most people don’t want to believe exists, even if they know it does: human trafficking. While we don’t want to believe that it’s happening around us, we need to recognize that it is and do whatever we can to spread awareness and protect the most vulnerable. Heather McGannon, who is the West Michigan Program Coordinator at the Michigan Abolitionist Project, joins Eryn and Elisa to discuss the truth about human trafficking.

 

About Our Guest:

Heather McGannon is the West Michigan Program Coordinator at the Michigan Abolitionist Project (MAP), an organization passionate about working to prevent and end human trafficking in Michigan and beyond through education and collaboration. Before her time at MAP, she mentored college students, helping them navigate big questions to prepare them for life. Heather’s never met a stranger, and her smile and laugh make anyone feel at home. She’s been married to Geoff for over a decade and has two boys.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “Human trafficking is essentially modern-day slavery: labor or sex trafficking.”
  • “1 in 4 women have been abused.” 
  • “Just believe them. Most abuse survivors are telling the truth.”
  • “It takes relationship for any of these stories. They are blinded. It is all they have ever known.”
  • “Trafficking happens through force, fraud, or coercion.”
  • “In the United States, we see it as women who are selling themselves. And many times they were being groomed and forced into it.”
  • “One of the biggest things we can do as human beings is to become aware.”
  • What to look for: an older boyfriend or father figure, brandings (tattoo of a barcode), evidence of someone being controlled, distancing/isolating themselves, notice a lot of absences/kids are gone for the weekends.
  • “Ask the question,  ‘Are you okay?’”
  • “It thrives in the darkness, so we need to bring it more into the light.”



Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

EP. 62: Clinging to God (with Kim Cash Tate)11 Oct 202100:34:39

Have you ever read the phrase “cling to God” in the Bible? Did you ever pause on that verse and wonder what that would look like? In this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa talk to Kim Cash Tate, a woman who was deeply impacted by what the phrase “cling to God” means.

 

About Our Guest:

Kim Cash Tate is the founder of Cling Ministries and the author of Cling: Choosing a Lifestyle of Intimacy with God. Kim has a YouTube channel where she shares her Bible teachings and YouTube series Cling. She’s also a singer/songwriter, wife, and mother of two children.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “God got me to a state of discontentment so I would cry out to Him.”
  • “We’re never too old to come to know God.”
  • “It’s funny how you can hope that you don't want to do something, and then God gives you the grace to do it.”
  • “He transformed me to view my identity as a ‘person in Christ.’”
  • “My name is not my job title, not my skin color, not who my relationships are; my name is ‘I belong to Jesus.’”
  • “God stirred up their (Ezra) spirit.” 
  • “You begin to see God working more in your life because you’re looking and you’re watching for Him.”
  • “Sometimes God says ‘listen for me to move.’”
  • “The only way to become more like Him is to spend time in the Word.”
  • “There is strength in dependency on Christ.”



Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 61: Loneliness04 Oct 202100:32:15

We’ve all felt lonely at one point or another in our lives. In many different situations or areas of our lives we may feel an overwhelming sense of loneliness. On this episode of God Hears Her, hosts Eryn Eddy and Elisa Morgan talk about different types of loneliness and even share their own stories of feeling lonely. 

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “I think you can be surrounded by people and affirmation and celebration and all of that and still feel lonely.” 
  • “A recent survey found that almost half of Americans feel alone. Nearly 50% feel lonely, left-out, isolated, or lack companionship. The number of friends people report today is one or none, whereas 20 years ago people could name on average four close relationships.”
  • Six Types of Loneliness according to Elisa:
    • Emotional: feeling like nobody really loves you
    • Relational: feeling like nobody really knows the real you
    • Vocational: feeling like life has no meaning and no one really cares if you’re here or not
    • Spiritual: feeling literally alone and/or apart or cut off from God
    • Physical: no one to share the “alone” with; having to do things alone
    • Situational: experience of not being included
  • “God gives an affirmation towards each of those kinds of loneliness.”
  • Affirmations:
    • Emotional: God gives a promise that He loves us.
    • Relational: God gives His perception. He says, “I know you because I made you.”
    • Vocational: God gives a purpose. He says, “I know the plans I have for you.”
    • Spiritual: God gives His presence. He says, “I will be with you.”
    • Physical: God gives His provision. He says, “I will provide for you.”
    • Situational: God gives His perspective. He says, “I’ll use all things for your good and My purposes.”
  • “Lament your loneliness, feel it.”
  • “In feeling lonely, we have an opportunity to experience vulnerability in something we would not normally do.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

  • Genesis 1, 2, and 3--Story of Hannah, Moses, Jeremiah, Elijah, Jesus, David, and Esther
EP. 60: Becoming a Woman with Moxie (with Julie Richardson)27 Sep 202100:39:38

Who do you think of when you hear the word moxie? Who do you know that is courageous and determined? A close friend? Your mom? A mentor? On this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa talk with Julie Richardson, a woman who learned courage and determination from her mom and from facing unforeseen personal struggles.

 

About Our Guest:

Julie Richardson has experienced God’s faithfulness through many life challenges including divorce, infertility, and the loss of loved ones. She has led women’s ministries in a variety of churches and parachurch ministries over the last 25 years, and one of her greatest joys is to mentor women, helping them discover the vibrant life that Christ offers. Julie has been a part of Our Daily Bread Ministries for the last 20 years working in a variety of capacities and most recently as a visual media producer who tells stories of how God works in the lives of His people. She is passionate about prayer and leads the growing prayer ministry at Our Daily Bread Ministries.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “I was seeking the world’s happiness, and as I was doing those things I started to not hear God’s voice as much; His voice got softer and softer.”
  • “I really got everything I was hoping for with the happiness factor. And I wasn’t happy. I didn’t feel fulfilled.”
  • “God placed a couple people in my path. And they were ‘Jesus’ to me.”
  • “You can look at your life as if it’s a home, and have you given God every room of your life?” (Anne Graham Lotz)
  • “You have 100% of the Holy Spirit in your life, but does the Holy Spirit have 100% of you?”
  • Moxie means determination and courage.
  • “Your grief and joy can coexist at the same time.”
  • “Following God, surrendering, doesn’t always mean we get what we want.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 59: How to Live a Tech-Wise Life (with Amy Crouch)20 Sep 202100:34:32

Have you ever thought about how much time you spend on technology? How often do you pick up your phone throughout the day? Do you find yourself using it as a constant escape? On this episode of God Hears Her, Elisa and Eryn talk to Amy Crouch about being wise with how much time we spend on technology. Listen for some great practical advice from Amy.

About Our Guest:

Amy Crouch is the author of My Tech-Wise Life and attends Cornell University studying linguistics, English, and anything else she can fit into her schedule. Her book is a follow-up to her father’s book, The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch, and she describes what it’s like to grow up in a family that takes a disciplined approach to technology as well as offers helpful hints for others. Amy loves to cook, climb mountains, and chat about books.

Notes and Quotes:

  • “We took a sabbath once a week from work, but also screens.”
  • “My parents were always really intentional in saying to me, ‘This is why we have made these shared commitments.’”
  • “Real life has to be difficult. If it is not difficult, it’s not real life.”
  • “Another question to ask ourselves is ‘What am I escaping, and why?’”
  • “Ask yourself, Is social media making it harder for you to be content?”
  • “Every time I survive distraction, I am reminded that it doesn’t have power over me.”
  • “Technology is really good at shaping our habits.”
  • Baby steps: Don’t beat yourself up, start and end your days without screens, leave your phone out of the bedroom, find something to take the place of technology.

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 58: Big, Bold and Beautiful (with Kierra Sheard)13 Sep 202100:29:23

How does our culture define the perfect woman? When you picture her, what does she look like? How does she act? And the question we all ask ourselves: how do we measure up? Today on God Hears Her, we’re talking with gospel singer, fashion designer, and author Kierra Sheard about what it means to embrace and love yourself as you are. Join Eryn and Elisa as they ask Kierra about the inspiration behind her book Big, Bold, and Beautiful: Owning the Woman God Created You to Be.

About Our Guest:

Kierra Sheard is an American gospel singer, songwriter, fashion designer, actress, entrepreneur, author, and creative director. Based in Detroit, Michigan, Kierra Sheard is no stranger to breaking new ground. This young dynamo grew up with two gospel music barrier-breakers as role models: mother Karen Clark Sheard,  a member of legendary group the Clark Sisters, and grandmother Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, a gospel music legend. Now the GRAMMY® and Stellar Award-winning artist is back with her first musical project in five years, Kierra.

Notes and Quotes:

  • “I accept heaven’s way of beauty, because the world’s view of beauty keeps changing.”
  • “I was still chasing what the other woman had. She has that. That ain’t for you to have!”
  • “Not every seat or every ride is for you.”
  • “I may not be their cup of tea, but I am a cup of tea.”
  • “Self-care is you being selective with your squad/village.”
  • “God didn’t design us on the earth to do it all alone.”
  • “God doesn’t always make the old go away. He transforms who we have been into who we already are in Him.”
  • “If you see the truth, acknowledge and accept the truth. Don’t try to make [something else] work.”
  • “What the world sees as a negative, God turns into a positive.”

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 57: Living with Depression (with Sarah J. Robinson)06 Sep 202100:50:10

How many of us deal with depression, anxiety, or intrusive thoughts, but don’t ever talk about it? In places where we should feel safe, we often fear judgment or diagnosing where our thoughts may be coming from. Not to mention the stigma that comes when we begin discussing mental health. On this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa talk with Sarah J. Robinson about mental health and her journey of understanding her own depression.

About Our Guest:

Sarah J. Robinson once believed her lifelong battle with depression made her a bad Christian. And yet, through her years of shame, self-harm, and suicide attempts, Sarah learned that God is present in our deepest darkness. Sarah is now an author and speaker who helps others discover that mental illness doesn’t disqualify them from living rich, beautiful lives in Christ. Drawing from a decade of ministry experience and the mental health field, Sarah helps readers fight for wholeness and cultivate joy. She lives in Nashville with her husband.

Notes and Quotes:

  • “I didn’t know my thoughts were not what everyone else was thinking.”
  • “The common misconception is that depression is sadness.”
  • There is a difference between intrusive thoughts and suicidal thoughts/tendencies.
  • “We sort of overlooked passages in Scripture where God walked through suffering with people.”
  • “There is that honeymoon phase of faith where everything is new and awesome, but I quickly learned that I couldn’t just ‘choose joy.’”
  • “Nothing helped because I had an illness that needed to be treated, not a lack of prayer or a lack of faith.”
  • “I remember journaling and thinking, You deserve more than this, God. You are perfect and deserve more than this mess.”
  • “People mean well, but they are ill-informed or ill-equipped.” 
  • “People who really wanted to love me well are the people that said the most hurtful things.”
  • “God choosing to take the long road with me has revealed His kindness and His character in a way I would not trade for anything.”
  • Discovering joy vs. choosing joy.
  • “You are worth everything it takes to get better.” 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 56: The Adventure of Faith (with Leslie Leyland Fields)30 Aug 202100:34:03

How adventurous is your spirit? Do you desire to move to a faraway land? Maybe you’d love to sail the seas and raise your family on an island? Or live off-the-grid like a pioneer in a remote part of a mountainous wilderness? Or maybe you prefer to live vicariously through other people’s adventures? This episode of God Hears Her is a blessing to all adventurous souls. Leslie Leyland Fields joins Elisa and Eryn to talk all about faith, the wonder years, and adventure.

About Our Guest:

In addition to being a fisherwoman in Alaska, Leslie Leyland Fields is also a teacher, speaker, and author. One of her passions is to teach the craft and art of spiritual memoir, and many of her students have gone on to publish their own manuscripts. She leads The Harvester Island Writers’ Workshop and Food and Faith workshops on her family’s island in Alaska. Leslie has also helped create The Wonder Years, gatherings that bring women together to equip them to make the second half of life the best half.

Notes and Quotes:

  • “I can turn back and bless some of those moments, because I can look back and see how God used it for good.”
  • “Our value is not based on our physical capabilities or our mental capabilities. Our value is simply based on who we are: loved by God.”
  • “God has just made it so clear that He is always with us.”
  • “In these moments when we come face to face with death, Jesus is there.”
  • “I think God calls us to something bigger and so much more than that [the constant need to be safe].”
  • “Do hard things with your kids. Live a wild adventure with your kids and Jesus.”
  • “I think God has an incredible chapter for women who are at this point in their lives [40+].”
  • “God wants you to use this life experience. He doesn’t want you to retire it.”
  • “Letting go is letting go of what we think we should do next and living in that wonder.”
  • “It is the Word of God that has kept me alive.”

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 55: Truth and Grit (Best of 2021 with Ellie Holcomb)23 Aug 202100:41:35

How many times do we feel ragged and burned out? Broken and basically just a hot mess? Yet we believe we need to suck it up and show up in front of God with a smile plastered on our faces like everything is hunky-dory? In this “best of” episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa revisit their conversation with Ellie Holcomb. Ellie walks us through her take on grit, grounding ourselves in God’s truth, and showing up as we are.

About our guest: 

Ellie Holcomb, a Nashville native, began her musical career by touring the country with her husband. After eight years, and with the birth of their daughter, Ellie opted to step out of the role of heavy touring. From that space came her debut solo album, As Sure As The Sun, which charted at no. 1 on the iTunes Christian chart and helped deem Holcomb the “Best New Artist” at the 2014 Dove Awards. She has released multiple albums since then and also a best-selling book. Ellie, her husband, and their three children live and make music in Nashville.

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “Even growing up in this amazing, vibrant community, I gathered that the gospel was all about me being good enough and loving God and loving people enough. And that is all good and well, but that’s not really the gospel.”
  • “The gospel is not about making bad people good people. It’s about making dead people alive people.”
  • “I didn’t know it was okay to not be okay.”
  • “The church isn’t meant to be a trophy room. It’s supposed to be a hospital and a table that everyone is welcome to.”
  • “I know that God is a healer . . . but I was too scared to give Him my broken heart.”
  • “God’s Word gave us solid ground to stand on when the shame storm starts to roll in.”
  • “He started changing us, and it didn’t change our circumstances, but it started changing us from the inside out.”
  • “I know God is real from the sorrow in my life.”
  • “God is with you. He can handle your anger, and He can handle your hurt. He can hold it all.”
  • “He walked out of a grave. And the suffering you are experiencing does not have the final word.”

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

161. Tenderly Waiting (with Rochelle Traub)17 Jun 202400:31:06

Guest Bio: Rochelle Traub loves interacting with people whether it’s connecting with friends over a relaxing dinner, creating memories with family in the funny moments of life, or communicating through words and voice in her marketing job at Our Daily Bread Ministries. She’s been married to her best friend, Kevin, for 31 years and together they have three children, including their youngest daughter who was adopted from China. Rochelle looks forward to her morning “walk and talk” sessions with her exercise buddy, skiing in Colorado with family, reading a good book while sipping steaming hot coffee, and traveling pretty much anywhere. She is thankful for God’s grace and goodness in her life, and her life goal is to share the gift of Jesus. 

 

Show Summary: When was a moment you felt God was calling you to something? Have you had any clear moments like that? Did you face obstacles while trying to make that calling a reality? Rochelle Traub felt called to adopt, but for a long time her husband did not. As they prayed together through that season they both eventually felt the call. However, the adoption process led them through more years of waiting. Join hosts Eryn Adkins and Vivian Mabuni as they learn more about Rochelle’s story during the years of her waiting season during this God Hears Her conversation.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “Watching my children be their own people, and letting them be their own people, that God has provided a journey for each one of us.” —Rochelle Traub

  • “They are all so different, and God has gifted them with what they are supposed to be doing.” —Rochelle Traub

  • “My job as a mom is to know, what I had in hope for you, is not necessarily what God has in mind for you.” —Rochelle Traub

  • “God has that child picked out for you, but He will bring His plan to fruition.” —Rochelle Traub 

  • “However we think it’s going to go, or want it to go, you have to trust Jesus and hold His hand because His plan is best.” —Rochelle Traub

 

Verses: 

 

Links: 

 

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EP. 54: When We Feel We Aren't Enough (Best of 2020 with Laura Smith)16 Aug 202100:28:32

We all experience life-defining moments. Some of those moments can be good and life-changing while other moments are not so good. What happens when we allow those not-so-good moments to negatively define our identities? In this “best of” episode of God Hears Her, Elisa and Eryn revisit their conversation with speaker and best-selling author Laura Smith as she shares ways in which we can learn to overcome the lies that we’ve believed and focus on God’s life-changing and freeing truth.

About our guest: 

Laura Smith is an avid storyteller through her books, blog posts, and public speaking. Her recent book How Sweet the Sound focuses on the beauty and truth that come from Scripture-inspired hymns. Along with being a wife and mom, Laura’s hope is to use her writing and public speaking to help others discover the identity that God has instilled in each of us.

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “I think it’s so interesting how, you know, you can grow up thinking one way about your family life, and then you step into this awareness of what it really is.”
  • “He loves us for exactly who we are, because He created us in His image—because He created us!”          
  • “In college, I had my Bible. I would read it every day, then I would put it under my pillow and go do whatever the heck I wanted. I believed in God, and I loved him, but I didn’t live like it.”
  • “It was some sort of lie that I started to believe when I was younger, that if I do these things, then ‘this’ will make ‘this’ true.”
  • “I am trying to honor the fact that forgiveness and trust are not the same thing.”
  • “I can forgive [my dad] and be kind to him, but I don’t have to trust him and let him into my safe spaces.”
  • “We tend to think that when we come to know Jesus that everything is just ‘BING’ and resolved and wrapped up in this box with a pretty bow on it. And real life is often: God promises and does meet the desires of our hearts. Sometimes it’s now, sometimes it’s  later, sometimes it’s not really in this lifetime.”
  • Three resounding themes: God is almighty. He loves us unconditionally. He will never leave us.
  • “So many of us want to throw out the pain in our lives; the hardness of our lives; the embarrassing, depleting, revealing in our lives; and think, ‘Okay, now God can come in, and now He can do something with me.’”
  • “God planted good in the soil of your pain.”
  • “We have to really focus on who we are listening to for our identity.”
  • Three ways to stay in the truth that God created me as a masterpiece: Read the Bible every day; pray every day “Who do you see me as?”; hang out with core people you can trust and confide in.

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

EP. 53: Pursuing a Courageous Faith (with Debbye Turner Bell)09 Aug 202100:32:03

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you needed to give something fully to God? The word surrender may feel a little overwhelming, but Dr. Debbye Turner Bell is a great example of what can happen when we fully submit ourselves to God’s best and accomplish something we didn’t feel we were capable of doing. Join Eryn and Elisa on this episode of God Hears Her as they speak with Debbye Turner Bell about her journey of pursuing a courageous faith.

 

About our Guest:

Dr. Debbye Turner Bell is a veterinarian, broadcast journalist, motivational speaker, workshop facilitator, corporate trainer, and Miss America 1990. For more than two decades, she has addressed audiences in the corporate, academic, and community service arenas. In addition to her speaking and media work, she is also the Founder and CEO of Debbye Turner Bell Consulting, a faculty member of the Institute for Management Studies, and an Affiliate Trainer for the TransPorter Group Inc. Dr. Turner Bell lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband, Gerald, and daughter Lynlee.

 

Notes and Quotes: All Quotes by Debbye

  • “That [prayer of surrender] is when my goals became subservient to God’s goals, will, and His purpose for my life.”
  • “It is a matter of deciding, ‘God, I believe you no matter what the circumstances look like.’”
  • “That is what I seek to get to: that if God Himself smite me, it won’t shake my faith in Him.”
  • “God proves Himself to us every day. And if we will just take the time to notice His faithfulness in our lives, then it creates in us a reservoir of His work in our life.”
  • “Every time that God performed a miracle in the Old Testament, an altar was built. The whole purpose of the altar was to remember what God had done.”
  • “What I know about God and what I feel in the moment can be such a disconnect with me.”
  • “When we don’t know what God’s Word says about who we are and our identity and our authority, then we live below our privileges.” 
  • “Faith is a decision, not a feeling.”
  • “Surrender is a choice, not a default.”
  • “Surrender takes strength.”
  • “Our identity is not what happened to us. Our identity is who we were created to be.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 52: No Longer Defined by My Past (Best of 2020 with Liz Curtis Higgs)02 Aug 202100:26:00

We’ve all made bad decisions. Some of those bad decisions come back to haunt us, and some decisions we thought were good at the time end up having nasty consequences. Oftentimes, those moments lead to regret, and many of us struggle to move past our big mistakes. In this “best of” episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa revisit a conversation with humorist Liz Curtis Higgs as she shares how we can find freedom from the past and hope for the future.

 

About our guest: 

Liz Curtis Higgs describes herself as a former “bad girl” who met Jesus and is no longer defined by her mistakes. She’s a best-selling author and well-known speaker, and she wrote the foreword for the best-selling devotional from Our Daily Bread Ministries titled God Sees Her. Liz currently lives with her husband, Bill, in their Kentucky home.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “I have no comfort zone. I will tell anybody anything if it will point them to the grace of God.”
  • “They saw past all the ick and said, ‘At the heart, she is a woman that needs to know Jesus,’ and so they just loved me right into the kingdom.”
  • “God and His faithfulness waited.”
  • “We all found ways to numb the pain of not being part of the right crowd and created our own crowd.”
  • “For me, I am a girl who likes community, and I wanted that above all.”
  • “When it says in Scripture, ‘He gives you the desires of your heart,’ it doesn’t mean He gives you every little thing your heart desires; it means He places in your heart the desires He would have for you.”
  • “Some of it He dealt with honestly very quickly. . . . That is what I needed. Everybody is different. Some of us are weaned off the old life, and that doesn’t mean that you didn’t hear the Lord correctly or you’re disobedient.” 
  • “The path for each of us is so unique; the Savior, though, is one and the same.”
  • “We all share a kind of badness, and we all struggle with shame around badness. And my badness may not look like your badness, and yours may not look like mine. But we share it; and if we could just love each other in our badness and accept and not judge . . . wow, what a world that could be.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 51: How God Redeems Brokenness (Best of 2020 with Toni Collier)26 Jul 202100:26:03

We all have moments in our past that lead to brokenness. For some, this is a recent past, and for others, childhood trauma continues to shape present reality. What brokenness—or broken people—have you experienced in your life? On this “best of” episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa revisit a conversation with Toni Collier as she reminds all of us that our past doesn’t have to define us. Instead, even our brokenness can be redeemed by God and used for His glory and our good.

 

About our guest: 

Toni Collier is a communicator, host, and consultant. She’s also a voice of Our Daily Bread, and the creator of the blog “Broken Crayons Still Color”—a place for women to be reminded that our past doesn’t define us. Toni is “Texas proud” of her Houston, Texas roots, but currently resides with her family in Atlanta, Georgia where she and her husband Sam are lead pastors at Hillsong Atlanta.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “There is a balance between being imperfect and striving for perfection, and I think the middle is hard to sit in.”
  • “I went through a mindset shift that God wasn’t up there with His finger pointing down at me, but instead was like ‘put me in coach.’”
  • Counseling is not a weakness, it is needed. 
  • “Our lives are like bookshelves.”
  • “It is not the brokenness we are lifting up and celebrating, but it is God’s presence and redemption in the brokenness.”
  • “The world has lied to us, and told us we had to be perfect to be used.”
  • “The truth is, God wants to use us in the middle of our mess.”
  • This is the time to walk boldly in our brokenness.
  • “What people don’t know is what comes with exposing those traumas . . . anxiety.”
  • When we discover our brokenness, it takes time to heal. 
  • “You are more than enough.”



Links/Books/Resources Mentioned In Show: 

 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

EP. 50: Mentorship19 Jul 202100:35:55

Mentorship can show up in our lives in all sorts of ways. The truth is, we’re all being advised and led throughout our lives by many different people. But how do we know who our mentors should be? On this episode of God Hears Her, Elisa and Eryn focus on the definition of mentorship, how to pursue someone worth following, and some red flags you may experience in unhealthy mentoring relationships.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “To be always a student, we’re always being mentored.”
  • Mentorship can be across generations, genders and industry. There are many ways we can be mentored in life. 
  • “There is a preparation in my heart to be mentored, and there is a preparation in your heart to be a mentor.”
  • “When we are the mentee, we need to be humble, we need to be vulnerable, and we may need to ask another person to mentor us.”
  • “When we are in the mentor role, we need to be careful that we‘re not abusing our authority toward the one who has yielded and is learning.”
  • “Mentors are the ones who are supposed to enact who God is in our lives, but they are not God.”
  • “God has never used a random stranger to correct my behavior. He’s used the people closest to me that walk life with me.”
  • “We can be mentored by a lot of people. It doesn't have to be just one person.”
  • “God uses the waiting to prepare your heart for the right person to pour into.”



Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 49: Finding Freedom from Toxic People (Best of 2020 with Gary Thomas)12 Jul 202100:30:16

When you read the term “toxic people,” who comes to mind? A coworker? A family member? Someone at church? Maybe it’s a group of people who feed off of one another in the worst of ways. What makes someone toxic? What’s the difference between a toxic person and someone who’s broken and needs extra love? How do you know when it’s time to walk away from a toxic person? In this “best of” episode of God Hears Her, Elisa and Eryn take us through a previous conversation with Gary Thomas who will be leading us in a discussion of how to recognize and when to walk away from toxic people.

 

About our guest: 

Gary Thomas is the best-selling author of over 20 books including the topic of today’s show: When to Walk Away: Finding Freedom from Toxic People. Gary serves on the teaching team at Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, and has been married to his wife, Lisa, for 35 years. They have three adult children and a granddaughter.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “Walking away isn’t always a statement of failure; it’s a statement of strategy.”
  • If we let toxic people control our thoughts and focus, then we lose sight of the purpose God has for us.
  • “Here’s my voice, here’s my mission” . . .  and don’t let a toxic person distract you from that mission.
  • Women in their fifties will look back at the toxic people from their twenties and laugh at how insignificant those people have become in their lives.
  • “Gaslighting is when somebody makes you feel like you’re crazy when you are speaking the truth.”
  • “When you question your own sanity, they are destroying your foundation.”
  • “All toxic people are difficult, but not all difficult people are toxic.”
  • “Toxic people love to act in a toxic manner. Healthy people will occasionally act in a toxic way.”
  • “Toxic people often use toxic language. . . . They don’t want you to act like a Christian to please God, they are using your desire to please God as a weapon to control you.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned In Show: 

 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

EP. 48: Navigating Difficult Relationships (Best of 2020 with Patricia Raybon)05 Jul 202100:23:10

How do you navigate difficult relationships? How do you handle deep disagreements with people you love? What does it look like to deal with conflict when the person you’re at odds with is a family member or a close friend? On this “best of”  episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa revisit a previous conversation with Patricia Raybon as she shares her story of navigating a complicated relationship and offers practical wisdom for those of us who may find ourselves in a similar situation.

 

About our guest: 

Patricia Raybon is an award-winning author and journalist and a writer for both Our Daily Bread Ministries and DaySpring’s (in)courage Blog. She guides people into conversations on faith, race, and grace, and lives out her practical wisdom through relationships with people from different ethnic and faith backgrounds. Her most recent book is titled Undivided: A Muslim Daughter, Her Christian Mother, Their Path to Peace.  

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “[The topic of] race relations still confuses, worries, angers, and surprises people . . . But as I look at history, there has never been a time where people were not divided by race or ethnicity.”
  • “Our stories are not our own . . . What I discovered is that these personal stories are not mine. They give the people that read them permission to reflect on their own lives.”
  • “Every mother has a dream of what her family is going to look like, and when that dream is rejected, there is a grieving period.”
  • “The Lord encouraged me to love her [my daughter], and trust Him.”
  • “We are still able to be a family even though the details of our conflict have not been resolved.”
  • “We agreed to respect our differences, and I agreed to respect the choice she had made. Not to accept the choice, but to respect [her].”
  • “People love the stories when people find their way back to the faith, but that is not always the end of the story . . . Know that sometimes God is still writing.”
  • “When you model that respect, it invites it back.”
  • In the digital world today, we can almost always find people being hateful.
  • “Tolerance allows my family to keep going.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned In Show: 

 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

EP. 47: Jesus, Justice, and Women (with Tiffany Bluhm)28 Jun 202100:40:39

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you felt convicted to stand up for someone being oppressed? Or maybe you’ve felt a strong desire to be an advocate for them but you couldn’t seem to find your voice? On this episode of God Hears Her, Tiffany Bluhm joins us to explore the path of finding our voice when we find ourselves in a place of injustice. She’ll also share her own journey of how she found her place in Jesus, justice, and women.

 

About our guest: 

Tiffany Bluhm is the author of She Dreams and Never Alone and their companion Bible studies, as well as her latest book, Prey Tell. She is cohost of the Why Tho podcast and leads an engaged audience of followers online. Tiffany is committed to encouraging people of faith to live with conviction, substance, and grace. As a minority, immigrant woman with an interracial family, Bluhm is passionate about inviting all to the table of faith, equality, justice, and dignity.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “I always felt welcome in the kingdom. I always felt like I had found my place.”
  • “As my faith grew and as my grip on justice tightened, there was this intersection and I found my place. It’s Jesus and it’s justice and it’s women.”
  • “In my work I critique how we have messaged Jesus, how we have weaponized Scripture against women. Because the honest truth is the imbalance of power we see in our world is one of the leading factors to derail a woman’s faith, career, financial standing, and her reputation.” 
  • “It came to understanding that loyalty to conviction had to override my loyalty to an institution.”
  • “If you see something that is inherently wrong, and you stay silent, you become complicit in that action.”
  • “Think of the opportunity, especially among women, to lock arms and to serve and listen and to lament with one another. And to bring change.”
  • “Change in gender inequality has only come when women have locked arms together.”
  • “How did we, from the first century to this modern day, twist Jesus’ words and weaponize Scripture to make women feel small? And how can we right that cultural wrong through a biblical lens?”
  • “This idea of ‘don’t touch the Lord’s anointed’ has been taken out of context to mean that ‘those who are anointed or appointed are immune from dissent.’”
  • “If Jesus held up one woman’s testimony, so must we.”
  • “Fear is a flashing red light of a lack of love.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

 

EP. 46: Feeling Out of Place (Best of 2020 Amy Boucher Pye)21 Jun 202100:23:25

Whether it’s a big move, the end of an important relationship, or a child going off to school, we have all experienced transition. On this “best of” episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa share a previous conversation with author Amy Boucher Pye when Amy discusses how God led her through a major life transition of her own.

 

About our guest: 

Amy Boucher Pye is a writer and speaker and an American living in London. She writes devotional thoughts for several publications including Our Daily Bread and is the author of the award-winning Finding Myself in Britain and The Living Cross.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

 

  • “We as Americans are so isolated about the reality of our global church.”
  •  
  • “I knew that my calling was not my work. But, oh boy, when you’re not working you’re like ‘who am I, and where is God?’”
  • “As women . . . we mistake roles for identity, and it gets really confusing. You have to remember who you are, and how God sees you. Realize that my identity is not the role, the role was a place I was invited to serve. ”
  • “During the tender times when stresses and insecurities are high, make sure your relationship with God is very solid.” 
  • “Pray and ask God for friends, but then also do your part in that. Sometimes it’s making a plan or joining a crafting group.”
  • “One of the best pieces of advice I have been given is to ‘invest by owing.’ Instead of being the answer woman, invite somebody else to help you. Then somebody else is going to feel valued and necessary; and you will have a beautiful, mutual exchange. ”
  • “Sometimes we have to relinquish something so God can give it back in another way.”
  • Note: Though I walk through _____, God is with me.
  • “All of us are in transition, where things we depend on are stripped away. So look for the green.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned In Show: 

 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

  • Psalm 23:4 NIV Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
  • Psalm 23:2 NIV  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.
EP. 45: When We Feel Invisible (Best of 2020 with Robert Gelinas)14 Jun 202100:26:06

Feeling unseen, unheard, and invisible is something many of us struggle with. In this week’s “best of” episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa revisit their conversation with Robert Gelinas as he describes overcoming feelings of being invisible and introduces us to Hagar and the God who sees and hears her and us.

 

About our guest: 

Robert Gelinas deeply desires to see the body of Christ united and empowered to serve the poor and the poor in spirit; the miserable and the marginalized; the disabled and those deemed unimportant. Robert is the pastor of Colorado Community Church and the author of several books including his most recent, Discipled by Jesus. He and his wife, Barbara, live with their six children in the Denver area.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “I felt loved, but I did not feel seen or heard in my family. I felt invisible.”
  • “The pastor says, ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,’ and when I went under water it was like time stopped because I didn’t know who my dad was, and this man said Father.”
  • Sometimes we don’t realize there is a big gap in our heart that desires to be known or noticed, until we are. 
  • “The people we interact with on this planet can mirror how He views us.”
  • “I don’t think the first woman wondered if she was seen and heard. I don’t think Eve ever woke up before the fall and said, ‘Does God see me, and does my husband see me?’” 
  • “Are you really there if nobody sees you?”
  • “We would rather be invisible than be exposed.”
  • Our fear of being vulnerable, or being exposed, gets in the way of us being seen or being known.
  • “Is it a right? It is more than a right, it’s what you were created for.” –Referring to a woman questioning if it is her right to be seen and heard.
  • When you feel invisible, you think it’s possibly your fault. But when you have that moment where God reveals to you that He sees you, then at least you know: I am not invisible. I am real. I exist.

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned In Show: 

 

Verses Mentioned In Show: 

 

160. Intentional Fatherhood (with Matt Adkins)10 Jun 202400:31:15

Guest Bio: Matt Adkins, with over 25 years of music experience, is a seasoned musician, worship pastor, and service programming director at Gwinnett Church. From picking up his first guitar at 8 and growing up surrounded by the sounds of bluegrass, Matt’s journey in music has been nothing short of remarkable. Transitioning from a touring musician at 17 to a worship pastor at 30, he has dedicated his life to shaping the purpose of musicians within the local church. Matt’s passion is to create transformative worship experiences and empower others to express their faith through music. Matt lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Eryn and their three daughters.

 

Show Summary: Father’s Day is coming up and that can bring out a variety of feelings in us. Some of us come from broken families with absent fathers or divorced families where we’ve seen a parent only part time. Today’s guest is learning how to parent three daughters in the aftermath of divorce and remarriage. Despite that, Matt Adkins does everything he can to be an intentional father. Join Elisa Morgan and Eryn Adkins as they talk with Matt about his different seasons of fatherhood and parenting teenage daughters during this God Hears Her conversation. 

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “When it’s from the Holy Spirit, it just flows. You don’t have to force it.” —Matt Adkins

  • “If you’re not intentional with the time you have, the time goes fast.” —Eryn Adkins 

  • “They [little girls] don’t want to be fixed, they want to be heard.” —Matt Adkins

  • “The relationship between me and my heavenly Father, and my relationship with my 3 girls as a father, the thing that I desire most with my girls, is the thing that my Father desires with me—time.” —Matt Adkins

 

Links: 

 

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EP. 44: The Comparison Trap (with Bree Rostic)07 Jun 202100:34:25

You may have heard it said, “You become what you think.” So what happens when all of our thoughts are focused on comparing ourselves with others? Join Eryn and Elisa on this episode of God Hears Her as they talk to Bree Rostic about the dangers of comparison and how God uniquely created each one of us.

 

About our guest: 

Breonna Rostic is a writer, speaker, spoken word artist, and communication specialist with Our Daily Bread Ministries. Affectionately known as Bree, she is a ball of joy and love. Her passion is sharing God’s love for women to bring healing and restoration. She gained her admiration for the Word of God through serving as a teacher in her local ministry. Bree is married to Daryle and together they raise their three kids in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “I wanted to tuck away that part of my life because it wasn’t clean, it wasn’t beautiful. But when you have time to reflect on a part of your life where you are running in an opposite direction, it is a beautiful testimony of His grace.”
  • “You can trace Him [God] when you can’t see Him.”
  • “The more time we spend with our Father and acknowledging Him, the more we can sense His presence.”
  • “Comparison has become so normal in our culture. It is what we do in every aspect of our lives.”
  • “When we think of the root of comparison, it comes down to thinking ‘what God gave me is not enough for me, and I need what He gave them.’”
  • “When comparison is unchecked, it becomes like a cancer to your soul.”
  • “We have to be our own doctors and say ‘how am I right now?’ and then not just pushing that thought off to the side.”
  • “There is this freedom we can feel when we extend compassion to the acknowledgment.”
  • “When we expose our shame, our insecurities, we are glorifying God. Because we know in our weakness, His strength is perfected.”
  • Bree’s advice: 1. Don’t feel guilty. 2. Spend some time with your Father.

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show:

 

EP. 43: Faith and Feelings (Best of 2020)31 May 202100:24:50

Have you ever had one of those days? Or even one of those weeks? We’ve all been there. Join us this week on this “best of” episode of God Hears Her as Eryn and Elisa discuss emotions and a way to process hard feelings with God. 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • Feelings are neither right or wrong, feelings inform us. —Ann Voskamp
  • “I can come to Him, or I can’t. I get to choose that, right? But grace is always there. It is always present. It is not forced upon us, but it is always there.”
  • “Jesus doesn’t do life alone. He is in relationship with the Father and Spirit.”
  • “Sometimes I struggle with feeling like I have to be put together in order to come to Him.”
  • “Write down those ugly, shameful feelings and look at them. Not as an Instagram caption, but as a sacred moment, alone. Then admit and accept where you are, and surrender that to God. Evaluate your life choices: Are they bringing you closer to or farther away from God? And then set reminders to live in God’s truth.”
  • “I think that’s the biggest thing with feelings and faith: Sometimes we think they can’t be in tandem. They can’t live together.”
  • “Breathe Prayer: Lord, guide me to the wise path that protects my heart for the purposes you have for me. Use me to honor what you want me to know: that I am loved, that I need work, that I am called to a greater purpose you have for me, and that I don’t need to be scared of my ‘messy.’ But help me to recognize the messy and give it over to you. I love you, Jesus. Amen.”
  • When our feelings are messy, it’s so important to tell someone, because we can lean in on their faith when our faith isn’t there.

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned In Show: 

Verses Mentioned In Show: 

  • Matthew 11:28–29 NIV Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
  • Psalm 116:6 NIV The LORD protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me.

 

EP. 41: Beauty in the Midst of Despair (with Ruth Naomi Floyd)17 May 202100:35:34

It’s probably safe to say that we’ve all experienced “the blues” at different times in our lives. But as Christians, how are we supposed to walk through those seasons of sadness, discouragement, or worse? Our guest for this episode, jazz singer Ruth Naomi Floyd, shares both the practical and the artistic ways we can find beauty in the midst of despair.

About our guest: 

As a vocalist and composer, Ruth Naomi Floyd has been at the forefront of creating vocal jazz settings that express theology and justice for over 25 years. Also a committed music educator, Ms. Floyd is Director of Jazz Studies at Cairn University in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and an Adjunct and Artist in Residence at Temple University. Before that, Ms. Floyd taught music for 20 years at The City School.


In addition to her musical talent, Ruth Naomi is also an award-winning fine art photographer specializing in black and white portrait images. She continues to make the city of Philadelphia her home, where for over 25 years she has been devoted and active in providing compassionate care and spiritual support  to people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.

Notes and Quotes:

  • “We don’t get where we are without those before us and surrounding us pushing us onward.”
  • “There is beauty in the midst of darkness. There is light.”
  • “In the beginning of Genesis 1:1, God presents Himself as an artist: ‘God created.’”
  • “Jesus is the greatest blues singer.”
  • “What kind of God can I not believe in? For me, I cannot believe in a God that hasn’t suffered.”
  • “Sometimes continually showing up is activism.”
  • “Each generation has a responsibility to take what’s best from the generations that preceded them and to build on it.”
  • “On her way back to her cabin [after being dehumanized], she would search for beauty.”
  • “Lean on our biblical sisters, and in each example we can find a way to reflect light.”
  • “Sometimes, really, a radical act is committing to pray, committing to lament . . . remembering your sisters.”
  • “It starts inward. So if we as sisters would value each other, if we would see beauty, if we would empower the kind words, if the world could see Christian women come together and be united and speaking over them with truth and love, they [the world] would be knocking our church doors down.”

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show:

 

EP. 40: Out of the Dust (with Chris and Stephanie Teague)10 May 202100:42:08

On this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa speak with Chris and Stephanie Teague about their personal experience with God’s restoration. They walk us through their entire journey of marrying young, the downfall of their marriage, and then its unexpected restoration. They also speak directly to the woman who is in the midst of the unknown and searching for hope and restoration in her own story.

About our guests: 

The husband-and-wife duo “Out of the Dust” is comprised of Chris and Stephanie Teague whose story of downfall, heartbreak, and miraculous redemption is woven deep into the fabric of their music. After growing up in church and marrying young, Chris slowly and quietly lost all faith in God during college. Slipping into the grips of alcohol, drugs, and every other whim of his heart, he secretly managed an alter ego for years around church friends, family, and even Stephanie. Their young marriage quickly collapsed in divorce as Chris walked away from everything he knew. What happened next can’t be called anything other than a miracle. His independence very rapidly found him in the darkest and most desperate place of his life, and it was there that he was shown the depth of his selfishness and pride. Incredibly, in just over a year, God mended their hearts, restored their marriage, and still continues to breathe new life into their story today.  

Chris and Stephanie have what they consider a “dream life” opportunity to travel the country as full-time “musicianaries,” telling the story of God’s grace in their lives that saved and transformed them individually as well as their marriage.

Notes and Quotes:

  • “You don’t know what you don’t know when you’re young.”
  • “It is okay to struggle; it is okay to fail.”
  • “I didn’t know there were other Christians that asked the same questions I did.”
  • “I had to accept the reality and believe that ‘Lord, I do believe you restore in different ways, maybe just not in the way that I want restoration.’”
  • “I felt security in controlling my life, and I just got thrown into something where I could not control anything around me.”
  • “I found my identity in being that good Christan girl and being that wife. That is where I found my worth. But my worth is in being a daughter of the King.”
  • “We live in a broken world, sin breaks things, and we don’t always get the redemption we want. That grieves the Lord as much as it does us.”
  • “I think we play a part in our own transformation simply by being willing to be transformed.”
  • “We are all called to forgive, but trust takes time.”
  • Principles: Do your own work, participate in your own transformation, respect boundaries, trust takes time, involve your community, confess that you don’t know what you don’t know.

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show:

 

EP. 39: How to Share Your Story03 May 202100:30:19

We all have a story to share—whether you’re writing a book, sharing with a friend, or being vulnerable in front of a large group of people. On this episode of God Hears Her, Eryn and Elisa talk about the importance of sharing your story with others. Plus, fresh off her recent book release, Eryn gives us insight into her personal experience of telling her story.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “When we share our story, we give away a piece of ourselves that we can never get back.” (Elisa quoting Jackie Kennedy.)
  • “When we put our story out, we have to let go of it and let God use it.”
  • “This is Your [God’s] story, this is not mine to manufacture. You know my story better than I know my story.”
  • “It is easy to hijack someone who is sharing. They start to open up and you are like, ‘Yes, let me share my entire journey!’”
  • “Unless there is a prompting to do it, don’t feel like you always have to share your story.”
  • “Scripture is an example of how to make someone else feel less alone in their story.”
  • “There is a place to tell your story, where it’s all you and centered around you. It’s before God!”
  • Imposter syndrome: Feeling unqualified or like an imposter. Afraid of being exposed.
  • “Is this comment reflective of what God would say?”
  • “Ego wants to only hear positive things, but we can grow from constructive criticism.”
  • “Lord, when I look in, you speak up.” (Eryn’s prayer.)

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show:

 

EP. 38: Practicing Courage (with Dr. Alma Zaragoza-Petty)26 Apr 202100:32:38

Eryn and Elisa discuss  a variety of topics with Dr. Alma Zaragoza-Petty including imposter syndrome, how to cope with failure, and how to deal with the pressure of expectations. Plus, Dr. Alma hones in on ways in which we can practice courage so that we’re better prepared for those unexpected moments in life when bravery is needed.

 

About our guest: 

Dr. Alma Zaragoza-Petty was born in Los Angeles but was raised in Acapulco, Mexico, for most of her early childhood. She’s the daughter of immigrant parents and a first-generation high school and college graduate, and she also completed a Master’s in Counseling and a Ph.D. in Education Policy and Social Context. She is led by her desire to inspire others in her community to move past their own fears and barriers and to achieve their own life goals. 

Alma is the cofounder of Prickly Pear Collective, a faith-based, trauma-informed collective at the intersections of community, church, and therapy, bringing people together to move toward healing. She’s also the cohost of The Red Couch Podcast with her husband who most people know as the rapper Propaganda.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “The higher I go [in education] the less like ‘me’ there are. Less Latina, less people that are low-income, first-gen background.”
  • “As I have stepped into these spaces, it has always been with some sort of fear and trembling.”
  • “As professional and accomplished as we become, there is always this idea of ‘Am I really this worthy?’”
  • Imposter Syndrome is this feeling of “I’m pretending and someone is going to find out.”
  • “If I fall flat on my face, let that be a learning lesson for others, not a recoiling that needs to happen of myself that I have for the rest of my life because I failed that one time.”
  • “Courage is practiced. It’s like I am courageous or I’m not.”
  • “There is always room for forgiving ourselves but still doing better and holding ourselves accountable.”
  • “The more you face it [past trauma] the less scary it becomes and the less power it holds over you.”
  • An exercise to try: Look back at a situation that may have been painful and look for God in it.

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

EP. 37: Truth and Grit (with Ellie Holcomb)19 Apr 202100:43:30

How many times do we feel ragged and burned out? Broken and basically just a hot mess? Yet we believe we need to suck it up and show up in front of God with a smile plastered on our faces like everything is hunky-dory? Our next guest, Ellie Holcomb, has a conversation with us about taking on grit, grounding ourselves in God’s truth, and showing up as we are.

 

About our guest: 

Ellie Holcomb, a Nashville native, began her musical career by touring the country with her husband. After eight years, and with the birth of their daughter, Ellie opted to step out of the role of heavy touring. From that space came her debut solo album, As Sure As The Sun, which charted at no. 1 on the iTunes Christian chart and helped deem Holcomb the “Best New Artist” at the 2014 Dove Awards. She has released multiple albums since then and also a best-selling book. Ellie, her husband, and their three children live and make music in Nashville.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “Even growing up in this amazing, vibrant community, I gathered that the gospel was all about me being good enough and loving God and loving people enough. And that is all good and well, but that’s not really the gospel.”
  • “The gospel is not about making bad people good people. It’s about making dead people alive people.”
  • “I didn’t know it was okay to not be okay.”
  • “The church isn’t meant to be a trophy room. It’s supposed to be a hospital and a table that everyone is welcome to.”
  • “I know that God is a healer . . . but I was too scared to give Him my broken heart.”
  • “God’s Word gave us solid ground to stand on when the shame storm starts to roll in.”
  • “He started changing us, and it didn’t change our circumstances, but it started changing us from the inside out.”
  • “I know God is real from the sorrow in my life.”
  • “God is with you. He can handle your anger, and He can handle your hurt. He can hold it all.”
  • “He walked out of a grave. And the suffering you are experiencing does not have the final word.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show:

 

EP. 36: Becoming a Trailblazer (with Ambassador Sujay Cook)12 Apr 202100:40:01

What do you think of when you hear the word trailblazer? Maybe a pioneer or innovator? A person who takes risks in order to brave a new path? In this episode of God Hears Her, Ambassador Sujay shares her story about following God’s lead. Much of her story involves trailblazing, and she will help us understand ways to open the door to new things and how to hold that door open for the next woman to walk through.

 

About our guest: 

Rev. Dr. Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook, or Ambassador Sujay, is a lady of many firsts. A national and international influencer, Ambassador Sujay was the first female and African-American to hold the position of US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom. She was the first female chaplain for the NYC Police Department, has been the faith advisor to two presidents, and is an author of 15 books. Additionally, she’s often in demand as a preacher, motivator, and keynote speaker.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “Every road leads to the next road that God would want you to have, but it’s about ‘What have you done that I have given you?’”
  • When going into a profession that is male-dominated, deal with men as if they are friends rather than foes, as colleagues rather than competition.
  • “Trailblazing can have its tolls, but it can also have its triumphs.”
  • “When you compile the blessings, and you look at the time where you felt not blessed, the list [of blessings] is so long.”
  • The P’s to know: politics, policies, pumps (shoes), purse, protectors, principles, positioning, polish.
  • A lot of women self-reject: “I haven’t been invited like she has been invited.” God has already invited you.
  • “COVID is a selah moment. He has given the whole world a pause”
  • “Pivot to prepare.”
  • “Not every invitation is for you. That is called discernment.”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show:

 

EP. 35: Are You There God? (with Sally Lloyd Jones)05 Apr 202100:28:14

All of us know what it feels like to be alone. Even when surrounded by people, we can experience loneliness, isolation, and disconnection. In those moments, our aloneness can make us wonder if God is truly near. In this episode of God Hears Her, Sally Lloyd-Jones, the author of The Jesus Storybook Bible, joins us to share how God is near, even when we don’t feel His presence or recognize His nearness. The show then takes a surprising turn when she helps us see how God’s nearness opens the door to experiencing childlike wonder.

About our guest: 

Sally Lloyd-Jones is a New York Times bestselling children’s author, blogger, and child-at-heart. Her book The Jesus Storybook Bible is beloved by both children and adults and has sold over three million copies and been translated into 46 languages.

Notes and Quotes: All quotes by Sally

  • “Wherever you are, you can’t ever go anywhere that God isn’t with you.”
  • “In a time when we are all isolated and socially distant, we have a God that is not socially distant.”
  • “When you’re in a storm in life, God is just as close as He would be on a sunny day in a meadow.”
  • “Love is at the center of creation. God is a loving Creator.”
  • How to find the wonder: Go outside and take a beauty walk. List three things you are grateful for. Start to choose your thoughts.
  • “We have to decide if we are going to listen to ourselves or talk to ourselves.”
  • “Get out of the courtroom. God isn’t about punishing, because if that was the case we would be making nonsense of the fact that we needed a rescuer (Jesus).”
  • “Why would I doubt that my heavenly Father is not even as good as a human parent?”
  • Amy Carmichael: Our feelings are not God’s facts.

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

  • Psalm 139 - The Lord knows us
EP. 34: The Women of Easter29 Mar 202100:33:17

Join Eryn and Elisa for a special episode of God Hears Her where they focus on the women of Easter, such as Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, as well as others who experienced Jesus’ compassion. They look back in time and consider what the female disciples who walked with Jesus would have felt when He was killed on a cross.

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “He turns around and calls her out in the crowd—and she would have been seen as unclean and rejected—but Jesus sees her, and He heals her.”
  • “Women didn’t count in New Testament culture or Old Testament culture either. The only thing that gave women value in biblical times was if they were married and if they had children.”
  • “Jesus comes against that cultural standard and sees and hears and values women for who they are: humans.”
  • “The Lord sees and loves you. Your value is not found in what society or what Christianity sees in you that way.”
  • The women of Easter: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them.
  • “Jesus goes from calling her woman to calling her Mary. He sees her, He knows her. He knows her name.”
  • “We do it so quickly. We can have so many experiences and yet still wonder if that [God experience] was real.”
  • “On the Monday after Easter, we’re pretty much back to looking for the living among the dead. If Jesus is alive, let’s not go back to our past crazy patterns and look for Him as if He’s in a tomb. Let’s act like He’s alive.”
  • “What would it mean for all of us to live like Jesus is alive?”
  • “How many times have I not been expectant that He would show up; instead I have been doubtful of who He is.”

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

Verses Mentioned in Show: 

  • John 8 - The adulterous woman
  • John 4 - The woman at the well
  • Mark 5 - The women bleeding for 12 years
  • Luke 8:1–3 - Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna
  • John 20 - The empty tomb
159. A Deeper Look at Rahab (with Shadia Hrichi)03 Jun 202400:21:39

Guest Bio: Shadia Hrichi is a passionate Bible teacher and award-winning author who loves seeing lives transformed by the power of God’s Word. Having experienced many heartbreaks, including abortion, date rape, divorce, and more, Shadia captures the hearts of her audience as she illustrates, through personal experience, God’s love, faithfulness, and power of redemption. She holds a master’s in biblical and theological studies as well as a master’s in criminal justice. Shadia is the author of several Bible studies, including Tamar, Hagar, Legion, and Worthy of Love and the recipient of several awards, including the 2022 WCCW God’s Word is Alive award. Shadia is often invited to speak at retreats, conferences, and other events and has served on faculty for a number of christian writers conferences. Her bible studies have been endorsed by Bible Study Magazine (Faithlife/Logos Bible Software), Liz Curtis-Higgs, Francine Rivers, and many others. Currently residing in northern California, Shadia loves to visit the ocean each week for “a date with Jesus.”

 

Show Summary: When you read the beginning of Joshua. . . .does the name Rahab ever catch your eye? Have you ever wondered more about this woman who is briefly mentioned in the Old Testament and then again in the lineage of Jesus? Today, hosts Elisa Morgan and Eryn Adkins are taking a deep dive into looking at Rahab with writer and Bible teacher Shadia Hrichi. Shadia brings great insight and even some ways that we can relate to Rahab during this God Hears Her conversation.

 

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “I didn’t know I was hungry until I was fed.” —Shadia Hrichi 

  • “In our dark moments, our God meets us and says He sees us.” —Elisa Morgan

  • “God cares about her [Rahab] enough to recognize her, and her longing for Him, that He’s going to step in.” —Shadia Hrichi 

  • “It really doesn’t matter what we’ve done, do we have a heart for God?” —Shadia Hrichi 

 

Verses: 

 

Links: 

 

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EP. 33: Adventurous Obedience (with Kari Jobe)22 Mar 202100:35:38

We’ve all heard it said that adventure is out there and that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. But how do we know the difference between recklessness and adventure? And how do we recognize when it’s God who is calling us out of the comfortable into something new He has for us? Kari Jobe has been there, and on this episode of God Hears Her, Kari joins Eryn and Elisa and discusses what she describes as the adventure of following God. Plus, Kari also shares the inspiration behind three of her hit songs.

About our guest: 

For more than two decades, Kari Jobe has been using her gifts to lead people into the presence of God as a well-respected worship leader. When she began leading worship at 13 years old, she never imagined she would be nominated for a GRAMMY®, win multiple Dove Awards, have a RIAA Gold Certified single, or be praised by the New York Times. She has sold more than 1.3 million albums (TEA) in her career and has more than one billion career streams. Originally from Texas and now residing in Nashville, TN, she tours the country with her husband, Cody Carnes, and their two boys, Canyon and Kingston, and they both serve at their home church.

Notes and Quotes: 

  • “I thought everything I prayed would happen just like that. Just give it time.”
  • “I have always just wanted to live radically for the Lord and obey what He’s asking. When you walk that out, you realize God is faithful.”
  • “There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors.”
  • “It’s okay to fail Him too. I have ‘missed’ Him plenty of times, and there is grace for that.”
  • “With God nothing is ever a loss. It may have been a really expensive lesson that you learned, but most often the important things we learn are an investment of our time and money.”
  • “If the heart is right, and you’re submitted to the Lord . . . it’s not a miss; it just might be a different way of looking at it.”
  • “I unleashed on the enemy and I said, ‘How dare you! You will not attack my family. You better back off.’”
  • “I take authority over my mind, I take authority over my family, and I take authority over you [the enemy].”

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show:

Verses Mentioned in Show:

Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)  “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.”

 

EP. 32: Mental Health and Faith (with Dr. Christina Edmondson)15 Mar 202100:44:11

All of us struggle with emotional, psychological, and physical circumstances that impact the way we experience our lives, others, and the world around us. And even though our society has come a long way, the conversation of mental health is oftentimes still stigmatized. But we believe that an important way to disprove that stigma is to talk about it. Just as we need to take care of our physical health, our guest Dr. Christina Edmondson encourages us to take care of our brain health.

Bio of guest: 

Christina Edmondson holds a PhD in counseling psychology from Tennessee State University, an MS degree from the University of Rochester in family systems, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Hampton University with an emphasis in race, class, and gender. For over a decade, Christina has served in a variety of roles including most recently as the Dean for Intercultural Student Development at Calvin University. A certified cultural intelligence facilitator, public speaker, and former mental health therapist, Christina is often contacted by churches to consult about leadership development, antiracism, and mental health issues. She is also one of the co-hosts of the Truth’s Table podcast.

Notes and Quotes:

  • “God has given us emotions, feelings, thoughts, and experiences and invited us to process those things. And so, I do think there is a lot of stigma and shame attached to, obviously, issues of mental illness in our culture and in our society. But the truth is, our brains are just as fallen as everything else, and so, to the extent that we would have physical issues like high blood pressure and heart disease and a bad back, we also have nagging, anxious thoughts. We are also kind of wired in ways that make us more susceptible and prone to depression, for example. And not to mention the painful experiences that we have and the way that trauma shapes us. And so I just think that we need to give ourselves and other people a lot more grace.”
  • “On this side of glory, we’ve got real problems and real issues. And you know, Jesus is not insecure. We don’t have to pretend to have it all together as if we are somehow disparaging the name of Christ because we have struggles.”
  • “And so, even our traumas, our fears, our issues . . . even those things must bow down to Christ’s agenda for us, which is ultimately for our good and for His glory.”
  • “As a part of our humanity, we do have a range of emotions, and we can see Jesus in the text express a variety of emotions—from grief and lament to anger to joy and delight in friendships and connections.”
  • “We don’t have to be afraid of the sadness or the frustration or even the anger that we have. It’s what then we do next with it, right?”
  • “As women, we can demonstrate love for each other by not binding people to these caricatures of what other women are supposed to be, giving them the grace to teach us something about the fullness and beauty of womanhood.”
  • “Intimacy takes vulnerability, and vulnerability is almost like a muscle that we have to continually train and work out.”
  • “You take your car in to get looked over; we should take our brains and our bodies in to get looked over.”
  • “I would invite people to think about how, if they’re doing great, how they could be a listening ear, a supportive friend . . .”
  • “I’m so grateful that Jesus did that in the Scriptures and Jesus does that now. Jesus sees us even now.”

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

 

 

EP. 31: Embracing Your Gifts (with Sally Lloyd-Jones)08 Mar 202100:35:17

We’ve all compared ourselves to others. “Why aren’t I more like her?” “Why can’t I be good at that?” On this episode of God Hears Her, Sally Lloyd-Jones challenges that way of thinking. She shares with Eryn and Elisa the way that God changed her own view of herself and used the talents He specifically made in her for His glory. 

 

Bio of guest: 

Sally Lloyd-Jones is a New York Times bestselling children’s author, blogger, and child-at-heart. Her book Jesus Storybook Bible is beloved by both children and adults and has sold over three million copies and been translated into 46 languages.

 

Notes and Quotes:

  • “I knew Jesus loved me, but I thought God really wasn’t pleased with me.”
  • “The Bible is not about what we are supposed to do so God loves us, it is about how God loves us and what He did because He loves us.”
  • “When we compare ourselves, we are kind of missing the point that God has a specific thing that only we can do!”
  • “The beautiful thing about Christianity is that it is the most inclusive of all faiths.”
  • “It is so poignant when you realize the God of the Old Testament is doing everything He can to rescue us.”
  • “Abraham didn’t have to sacrifice his only son, but God did. God’s heart is beautiful for us.”
  • “He somehow works suffering to make it all the more beautiful for having been so sad.”
  • “I look back now, and that [failure] was my promotion.”
  • “I would love to get to the point that when things go wrong my first thought isn’t panic, but it’s ‘Oh, I wonder what God is up to?’”

 

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

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