Do you struggle with fear, worry, or overwhelm? Sometimes our challenging circumstances can become the breeding ground for anxious thoughts that leave us feeling crippled and afraid.
Join us for today's episode as we dive into Philippians 4 with our dear friend, Jill Savage, as she shares how we can move past fear and anxious thoughts and lead lives of peace and trust. It is possible, friends, and we want to show you how!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
Mark's episode on The Better Together Podcast!
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Jill Savage is an author, speaker, and coach who is passionate about encouraging and empowering others.
A graduate of Butler University in Indianapolis, IN, and founder of Hearts at Home, a ministry that served moms for 24 years, Jill now travels the world as an author and speaker. Called one of today’s most exciting Christian female speakers, Jill’s honest, engaging communication is strengthened by her ability to make her audience laugh while they learn.
Founder of the online Inspire Speaker Course, Jill is the author or co-author of fourteen books including the bestselling No More Perfect Moms, No More Perfect Kids, No More Perfect Marriages, and her newest release Empty Nest Full Life. She and her husband Mark have five children, four grandchildren, and a whole herd of barn cats.
We all have past mistakes and hurts that we cannot change, but we can choose to not allow our pasts to dictate our futures. Join today's conversation as Barb chats with her producer Tabitha about how we can let go of our pasts (while not ignoring the fact that they happened) and press forward in faith, peace, joy and obedience.
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Barb Roose is a speaker and author who is passionate about teaching women to live beautifully strong and courageous so that they experience God’s great adventure of faith and purpose for their lives.
Barb is the author of multiple Bible studies including her newest study Surrendered: Letting Go and Living Like Jesus, Joshua: Winning the Worry Battle and several books like Surrendered: 40 Days to Help You Let Go and Live Like Jesus.
Barb lives in NW Ohio and is proud mother of three adult daughters. Whenever possible, Barb prefers to eat dessert first. Visit Barb’s online home at barbroose.com.
Is there something God is calling you to do but you just keep putting it off? Today's special guest, Shari Braendel, knows exactly how you feel. After sensing God calling her to use her passion for fashion to help those in the church, Shari put it off for 7 years before finally taking the leap, and now she is here to encourage us to take a step of faith too! It's time to stop waiting and debating and to start taking action!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Shari Braendel is president of Fashion Meets Faith and author of Help Me, Jesus! I have Nothing To Wear (Zondervan). As president of FMF, Shari has helped thousands of women reveal who they are in Christ and shine outwardly with confidence through her conferences, online instructional videos, podcasts, consultant training, and more.
As a Christian speaker, she has presented over 500 events in 18 states, including Hearts at Home, She Laughs, and She Speaks and has shared the stage with Nicole C. Mullin, Lysa TerKeurst, and Karen Kingsbury. She has appeared on Focus on the Family, The Total Christian Television Network (TCT), K-Love, Crown Financial Network, Moody Global Ministries, and more.
Shari saw firsthand that women didn’t recognize the beauty that God gave them and lacked the knowledge of how to dress themselves with confidence. She knows women often judge themselves based on the world’s standards and are forever coming up short.
As a fabulously fun fashionista, Shari takes women on a trip through the fashion DO’s, explaining why it’s important to dress the body they have, not the one so prominently displayed on the cover of the latest fashion magazine. With electric and exciting stage presence, Shari delivers a message that women no longer need to conform to the pattern of the world, but can be confident and self-assured no matter their size or shape.
In a world full of suffering, heartache, and bad news, many of us are feeling depleted, overwhelmed, and undone. If you are feeling worn out, there's good news: hope is alive. In today's episode, special guest and friend Susan Seay shares how we can walk victoriously despite our circumstances. Whatever you are going through today, we pray this episode helps you feel seen. You are not alone.
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
When life feels uncertain and we can't trace the hand of God in the middle of our trying circumstances, it can be easy to wonder if He's really there walking alongside us. In today's conversation we have the privilege of hearing from special guests, Amy Carroll and Lynn Cowell, about their new Bible study, Esther: Seeing Our Invisible God in an Uncertain World. In this conversation, you will be encouraged with the reminder that God is always active, working out His bigger and better plan, even when we can't always see it in the moment.
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
Esther: Seeing Our Invisible God in an Uncertain World
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUESTS
Sometimes we can get so caught up in the everyday routines and busy schedules that we fail to take the time to slow down and truly connect with our families. In today's episode, Barb speaks with special guest and friend, Amberly Neese, about how we can start creating meaningful moments with our families by pressing in, building up, and prioritizing connection over perfection. This is an episode you won't want to miss!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
The Belonging Project: Finding Your Tribe and Learning to Thrive
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
No More Perfect Marriages by Mark and Jill Savage
Courses:
No More Perfect Marriages: Home Edition
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Join Barb on this new episode of The Better Together Podcast as Dianne shares from her new book Two Hundred Tuesdays, and the life-changing conversations that she had with Jim. If you are longing for a life of significance and sweet satisfaction in Christ, you won’t want to miss this conversation!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
Two Hundred Tuesdays by Dianne Derby
Connect with Dianne on Facebook!
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
An award-winning journalist, Dianne Derby is a longtime television anchor who is currently coanchor for the KOAA News5 weekday team in Colorado Springs. She met Jim Downing at a luncheon for World War II veterans and learned from him every Tuesday for the next five years. Dianne is originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and holds degrees from Florida State University, the University of Miami, and the University of Florida. She and her husband live in Colorado Springs with their young daughter and three rescue dogs.
Where is God in the middle of our suffering? How can we come to grips with the goodness of God when so much in life just doesn't seem to make sense?
Join Barb on this new episode of The Better Together Podcast as she speaks with special guest Alexandra V. Hoover. From poverty to abuse to abandonment, Alexandra knows what it looks like to walk through suffering that she just couldn't come to grips with as a young Latina. It was not until she took the time to look back and trace the hand of God in her life that she was able to begin receiving the healing that she desperately needed. And now she wants to help you do the same. This is a powerful conversation that will speak to your heart and remind you of the goodness of God in your past and in your present.
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
Eyes Up: How to Trust God’s Heart by Tracing His Hand
Instagram: @alexandravhoover
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Alexandra V. Hoover is a wife, mother of three, daughter, sought-out speaker, and writer. She’s passionate about communicating the gospel’s beauty and hope, whether through writing or speaking, online or in person. Her words spur people on to hope, healing, and their mission. She has the privilege of serving on staff at Transformation Church and spends her days loving on her family, dancing with her kids, and living on mission right where God has her.
Join Barb and travel expert, Wendy Anderson Schulz, for a fun and practical conversation about getaways, girlfriends, Jesus, and Italy!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
https://wendyandersonschulz.com/
Instagram: @wendyandersonschulz
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Wendy Anderson Schulz is the founder of Adventures Together, which leads modern pilgrimages for Christian women to France or Italy. She is also a writer and speaker who is passionate about encouraging women in their faith walk. Wendy is married to her college sweetheart Pete, and has two daughters.
God doesn’t hate divorced people! However, if you’ve gone through divorce, you may have been left with the impression that He does. On today’s Better Together podcast, Barb talks with with best-selling author Tracie Miles about her new divorce recovery resource, Living Unbroken Divorce Recovery Workbook. Six and half years ago, Tracie went through a divorce after experiencing the devastation of infidelity, addiction and finally abandonment. As a Christian woman, she knows what it’s like to experience the shame, hopelessness and fear. However, in today’s conversation, Tracie shares her story of how God healed her, how she learned how to trust Him again and as a result, Tracie learned how to love life again and experience God in new life-giving ways.
If you or someone that you know has going through a divorce and need to know that hope and healing is possible, this is the episode for you!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
Living Unbroken: A Divorce Recovery Workbook
Instagram: @traciemiles
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Tracie Miles is the Director of COMPEL Training at Proverbs 31 Ministries as well as an Author of five best-selling books including Living Unbroken, Love Life Again, Unsinkable Faith, Stress Less Living and Your Life Still Counts. She is the founder of the Living Unbroken Divorce Recovery Program. Tracie is also a contributing author to the popular Zondervan NIV Women's Devotional Bible and a monthly contributing writer for the Proverbs 31 Ministries Encouragement for Today daily devotions which reach over 1.5 million people per day around the globe. Tracie has 3 grown children and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Connecting with God doesn't have to be rigid or just about following a bunch of rules. Today's conversation is about relaxing our minds and minds and positioning ourselves to see where God is at work and receive what He speaks to us.
Join Barb and her longtime friend and editor, Sally Sharpe, as they discuss how we can be open and honest about our spiritual needs and the amazing truth that we are loved, seen, heard, and known by God.
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Sally Sharpe is a certified spiritual director who companions others on the spiritual journey, providing a safe where they can share their stories, explore their relationship with God, and attend to their souls. With a long career in Christian publishing, she has acquired and edited Christian living books and devotionals as well as developed and managed a line of in-depth Bible studies called Abingdon Women. In addition to offering spiritual direction, Sally enjoys leading workshops and retreats on topics such as journaling, prayer, and other spiritual practices. She and her husband, Neil, have two adult daughters and live Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, just outside Nashville.
It can be easy to just read the Bible as one big storybook without realizing it is filled with diversity and genres that can help us understand it in a much deeper way. Join Barb and author Kristie Anyabwile for an insightful conversation as she shares about her book, Literarily: How Understanding Bible Genres Transforms Bible Study, and shows us how we can all understand God's Word better!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
Literarily: How Understanding Bible Genres Transforms Bible Study
Connect with Kristie on Instagram!
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Kristie is the author of Literarily: How Understanding Bible Genres Transforms Bible Study (Spring 2022), and editor of His Testimonies, My Heritage: Women of Color on the Word of God. She is a Bible teacher at Anacostia River Church, and an instructor for several ministries that equip women to study and teach the Bible, such as The Charles Simeon Trust and Bible Equipping. Kristie is also a founding member of The Pelican Project, a women’s theology organization. Her work can be found at The Front Porch, The Gospel Coalition, Desiring God, Christianity Today, and Revive Our Hearts. She is a pastor’s wife and has been married 30 years. She and Thabiti have 3 children and live in Washington, DC.
Few groups in America feel the sting of negative stereotypes more than young, African Americans. Whether it’s assuming that every young, black woman aspires to be in a rap video, or that every young black male is a gang banger or a drug dealer, those stereotypes undermine the truth that we are surrounded by countless numbers of young, gifted and black souls.
Join Barb and award-winning author and therapist, Sheila Wise Rowe, for an eye-opening, powerful yet tender conversation about the celebration as well as the lament that young, African Americans grapple with each day. If your heart’s desire has been to see people through the eyes and heart of God, this is a conversation that you don’t want to miss.
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
Young, Gifted, and Black by Nina Simone (song)
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Sheila Wise Rowe is a truth-teller who writes passionately about matters of faith and emotional healing. She advocates for the dignity, rights, and healing of abuse survivors, those carrying racial trauma, and racial conciliation. Sheila holds a Masters degree in Counseling and has lived in the USA, Paris, France and Johannesburg, South Africa. For over twenty-five years she has been a counselor, educator, writer, spiritual director, and speaker.
Sheila is a member of the Community Ethics Committee of Harvard Medical School, a policy-review resource for it's teaching hospitals. She is a member of the Redbud Writers Guild and writes essays for several publications including; The Redbud Post, Mudroomblog.com and READY Publication.
Sheila co-authored with her husband Dr. Nicholas Rowe, The Well of Life: Heal Your Pain, Satisfy Your Thirst, Live Your Purpose. Sheila's essay; Awakened to Adventure is found in the anthology by Leslie Leyland Fields entitled; The Wonder Years: 40 Women Over 40 on Aging, Faith, Beauty, and Strength. Her 2020 book, Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience (IVP) was awarded the 2021 best book in Christian Living/ Discipleship by Christianity Today.
When Sheila is not writing or counseling she creates art, and crafts or searches for treasures in local antique and thrift shops.
From the top of our head to the tips of our toes, every woman wants to know that she is beautiful. Author, Dorena Williamson, dreams of teaching brown-skinned little girls that they are beautiful in a world that doesn’t always tell them that.
In this episode of the Better Together Podcast, you’re invited into a precious and tender conversation about the battle for beauty as a black woman, and how we can teach young girls, especially black girls, God’s beautiful truth about them. We’re also going to spill the tea on the secrets of black hair!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Dorena Williamson loves the power of a good story and writes children’s books that adults need too. She is the author of ColorFull, ThoughtFull, and GraceFull, and forthcoming books include A Celebration Place (IVPKids) and Crowned with Glory (WaterBrook Multnomah). She and her husband Dr. Chris Williamson planted multiethnic Strong Tower Bible Church in 1995 and they have four teenage and adult children.
Everything on social media screams that we are not good enough. We are not young enough, skinny enough, popular enough, or wealthy enough. But it’s all lies! You are God’s beloved daughter and made in His magnificent image.
On this episode of The Better Together Podcast, Barb’s guest, Aubrey Sampson, talks about her new book Known: How Believing Who God Says You Are Changes Everything and how we can let go of the false labels that leave us feeling ashamed. Aubrey shows us how to let go of self-doubt and embrace God’s best!
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
http://www.aubreysampson.com/
ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST
Aubrey Sampson serves on the teaching and preaching team at
Renewal Church in West Chicago, which she co-planted with her
husband, Kevin. Aubrey writes regularly for Christine Caine’s Propel Women and has contributed to Proverbs 31, Ann Voskamp’s A Holy Experience, Christianity Today, and more. She also speaks at churches and events around the country. Aubrey has her master’s degree in Evangelism and Leadership from Wheaton College and is the co-host of The Common Good daily talk show and the Nothing is Wasted podcast. Deeply passionate about helping hurting Christians find healing so that they can fully embrace their God-given identities and purposes, she has authored three books, Overcomer, The Louder Song, and her latest, Known. You can connect with Aubrey on Instagram @aubsamp.