The Importance of Friendships - Still Going Strong After 30 Years with Julie Bagwell & Frieda Younts (re-release)
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
Release Date: 06/25/2024
Ep. 139: How God Used My Small Story to Bring Hope: Encouragement for Christian Women Who Want to Make a Difference with Carol Roper
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
Have you felt God calling you to step outside of what you know how to do into an unknown arena? Over 12 years ago I felt led to begin writing. Me, the girl whose college English teacher said that if I didn’t start writing shorter essays, I would flunk her class. I had no idea why God wanted me to write, and sometimes the question still begs an answer, but I was obedient, and God opened doors I never knew were there. In this personal episode, I share my journey of stepping outside my comfort zone—from drawing house plans to writing stories—and the doubts that nearly made me quit. But...
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Ep. 138: Christian Marriage Advice That Will Make You Laugh, Cry, and Actually Use with Arlene Pellicane
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
Do you ever wonder if marriage can be great—not for the rare few—but for you? Today’s episode answers that question with a resounding yes. In her new book, Making Marriage Easier, Arlene Pellicane shares lots of funny (and painful) stories that we’ll talk about today. Like her mortifying story about electrolysis and how her wedding almost went off without her! She also gives practical wisdom like the four key decisions that make marriage easier and how to keep a marriage vibrant when you feel like roommates. Arlene was a delight to interview, and you’ll love her honest feedback when...
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Ep. 137: Addiction Almost Took Everything-But God Had Other Plans with Scott and Noelle Lawson
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
Twelve years ago, Noelle Lawson died from alcohol poisoning. Her husband, Scott, had just been trained to do CPR and was able to revive her before the ambulance arrived. Their lives have never been the same since. Scott and Noelle share their story of alcoholism and how a deadly accident Scott was involved in while in high school delayed his obedience to follow God into the ministry for over 30 years. Both Scott and Noelle share how God transformed them by breaking their addiction to alcohol and move on to become counselors. Scott is the former pastor of Happy Trails Cowboy Church in Pelzer,...
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Ep. 136: Surviving a Night of Terror at the Hands of Her Ex-Husband: A True Story of Hope with Kim Haar
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
Have you or someone close to you experienced trauma? Most of us have at one point in our lives to various degrees. Kim Haar had an extreme trauma when her usually calm ex-husband broke into her home one night, beat her for three-and-a-half hours, shot holes in her walls, kidnapped her and took her to her boyfriend's house where he shot him ten times. This horrific story plays out like something from a movie, but unfortunately Kim knows all too well how real it was. But thankfully she's still alive to share her story and give others hope that there is healing on the other side. Kim is a...
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Ep. 135: A Love Story Worth the Wait: For Singles and Moms Believing for Marriage with Wes and Elise Younts and Frieda Younts
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
Today I have three very special guests, my daughter, Elise Roper Younts, along with her husband, Wes, and his mom, Frieda (who's also one of my best friends!). Elise and Wes walked their own lonely journeys through singleness before finally finding each other and marrying last March. Even though for most of their lives they lived exactly 7.3 miles apart, and Wes's mom and I have been best friends for 28 years, they'd never met except in their preschool Sunday School class. You may remember Elise's story from episode 19 about how her fiancé broke off their engagement and left her heartbroken....
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Ep. 134: From Murderer to Messenger: How God Transformed a Prisoner Through His Word with Henry Mitchell
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
One Wednesday night after church I struck up a conversation with another church member, Henry Mitchell, and he shared all of the great things God had been doing in his life. Now I knew Henry had been released from prison over two years prior and that he'd served a long time in prison, but I didn't know how long he'd served or why he'd been arrested in the first place. Henry shared that three weeks after his 24th birthday he killed two people in a drug sale gone bad. he spent four-and-a-half months in solitary confinement after his arrest and was sentenced to life with a possibility of parole...
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Ep. 133: How to Successfully Raise a Strong-Willed Child with Cynthia Tobias
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
Cynthia Tobias was on my bucket list since before I started this podcast because of the work she's done teaching about the strong-willed child. Her book, You Can't Make Me: But I Can Be Persuaded, was a key influence in helping me raise my strong-willed daughter, Elise. Before I knew how to handle her stubborn temperament, I would frequently end up frustrated and in a puddle of tears. But once I learned some of the tools and tips Cynthia shares, it became easier for me to understand how to get Elise to cooperate more (hint: it doesn't involve getting angry or raising your voice). In this...
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Ep. 132: How Death, Debt and Comedy Led to a Life of Faith with Molly Stillman- Summer Throwback
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
Molly Stillman has lived the type of life that when shared, people stop in their tracks and ask, “Wait, what happened?” Molly’s mother, Lynda Van Devanter Buckley served as an Army nurse during the Vietnam War and wrote the bestselling memoir, Home Before Morning. When Molly was seventeen, Lynda passed away after an eight-year battle with an autoimmune disorder due to her exposure to Agent Orange. Four years later, Molly turned twenty-one and unexpectedly inherited a quarter of a million dollars from her mother’s estranged family’s estate. Through “retail therapy” and a...
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Ep. 131: Breaking Free from Shame: Pregnant at 15, Redeemed by Faith with Christy Braddock
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
Christy Braddock has struggled with shame from a teen pregnancy and years later, abortion. The guilt became a heavy weight to carry. Christy got pregnant at 15 and gave her baby up for adoption. Then at 21 she became pregnant again, but this time she decided to keep the baby and get married, thinking this was her second chance to raise a child. But because her marriage was so dysfunctional she made some poor choices, including abortion, that she’s had to overcome with Jesus’ grace and forgiveness. Today, Christy’s passion is helping women to break free from shame and boldly share their...
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Ep. 130: Lessons Learned and Victories Won Through Our Son's Struggle with ADD with Carol Roper
Building Strong Homes: Blueprints to Strengthen Your Faith and Family podcast
As we’ve entered the last week of May, I remember how crazy this time of year is for those who have school-aged children. I know a lot of parents are in what many call Maycember. The chaotic final days of the school year entail so many parties, ceremonies, graduations, proms, concerts, teacher appreciation gifts and sports tournaments. It can also bring lots of anticipation, with kids looking forward to summer break and wondering what teacher they’ll have next year. For me, however, I’m often reminded of a difficult memory that occurred over 20 years ago at the conclusion of my...
info_outlineSummer Throwback! My guests for the first episode of this podcast were my two very best friends, Julie Bagwell and Frieda Younts. We’ve been friends for over 30 years now! Over time we’ve experienced lots of ups and downs but have remained close through it all. How did we do it? By being honest and real with each other, for one thing, but mostly by building our friendship on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
Growing up I only had one friend at a time and always felt like I never belonged. In my late 20’s I began praying for God to bring some good friends into my life and He was faithful to do just that through Julie and Frieda.
Each of us has been married for at least 30 years and have grown children and now grandchildren, so we have lots of experience under our belt—some good and some bad. But we’ve held onto each other through it all and are grateful God has helped our friendship to remain strong.
In this episode we talk about how hurts and jealousy, especially in a group with three friends, can be easy to fall into. But instead of letting them fester we bring it out in the open and talk about these things in the spirit of love. Friendship is work, but it’s so worth the reward.
As I listened to this episode again, I thought of how much changed since our conversation. It's amazing to think we didn't know the good and the bad that were about to happen in just a few short months. But even through it all, we can still say God is good.
Our desire through this conversation is to help other women experience friendship like we have, because good, godly friends can have an amazing impact on your life. But in order to make it work we must be intentional. Listen in as we discuss simple and practical ways we learned to grow and sustain our friendship.
Go to CarolRoper.org/podcast to check out the shownotes