Episode 154 :: Chris & Stephanie Teague:: Stories of Wrestling with Doubt, Divorce, and Experiencing Redemption Out of the Dust
Release Date: 05/19/2023
Episode 174 :: Douglas McKelvey :: Stories of Leaning into Advent, Lament, and Living with Every Moment Holy
Simply Stories Podcast
Today, I have the absolute pleasure of sharing my conversation with the one and only Douglas McKelvey. Douglas is a songwriter, author, and liturgy writer extraordinaire. I have never met someone like Douglas. His gift with words and passion for Christ cultivates a visceral invitation to be more present in this life, to find your fight again as you walk this weary way, and speaks to our hope of the next life with Jesus. Douglas shares with me his story of what led him to Nashville, TN, his journey from songwriting to fiction writing and the idea of unpacking his belief that every moment...
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Episode 173 :: Carole Holiday :: Stories of Learning Who You Are Again After Loss and Living with Grief
Simply Stories Podcast
A self-proclaimed “accidental author”, Carole Holiday was living a very full life as a wife, mother, and nana, until one day, everything fell apart. Her marriage to her childhood sweetheart of over 35 years ended, followed by losing her job and ultimately filing for bankruptcy. Then she developed heart issues because of all the stress, and a continued windfall of loss, and grief in losing close loved ones, until it felt like there was absolutely nothing recognizable about the life she had known. In her book I Don’t Know Who I Am Anymore, Carole shares her story, but it...
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Episode 172 :: Mike Nappa :: Stories from the Valley of the Shadow, and Blessing Those Who Mourn
Simply Stories Podcast
Over the last several years, I don’t think there is anyone who has not been touched by loss or some kind of grief. Today's guest, author, and literary agent Mike Nappa is incredibly familiar with loss and living with grief. In 2016, he lost his beloved wife, Amy, to cancer. In his learning how to live life without her, God has shown him why grieving is such an important part of losing a loved one. As Mike says, he learned how to cry into his keyboard and produced one of the most poignant books that bears witness to grief that I have ever personally encountered. It is called ...
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Episode 171 :: Gary Miracle :: Stories of Taking Heart, Persevering in Suffering, and No More Bad Days
Simply Stories Podcast
Gary Miracle is an author and a speaker who passionately believes in the power of storytelling and how it unites us and spurs us on when life is tragically hard, and also reminds us who we are and who God made us to be. In this episode, he shares his story of growing immersed in church culture on Sunday but then suffered from an identity crisis the rest of the week as he chased perfection, and changed personas in order to be affirmed by anyone and everyone. Finally, later in his life and career, now a married man with kids, Gary reached his breaking point and reached out to his friend Bart...
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Episode 170 :: Justin & J.L. Gerhardt:: Stories of Encountering God at the Intersection of Story and Worship
Simply Stories Podcast
Justin and J.L. Gerhardt are on the podcast today, and you will love hearing from them! There is an epic retelling of their meeting and falling in love complete with 90’s Hearthrob meet cute and all. More than that, Justin and J.L. share about their journey of God leading them both into ministry with words, calling their family to travel the world, and unleashing their creativity and courage to press into new ways to encounter God and His Word. This journey has given birth to various creative outlets for the Gerhardt family, but the one we talk about the most in this episode is Justin’s...
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Episode 169 :: Nikki Anders :: Stories of The Journey to Bethlehem
Simply Stories Podcast
I am so excited to share with you a really special conversation with the incredibly talented Renaissance woman Nikki Anders. Nikki is an award-winning musician, songwriter, and music producer in the TV and film industry. She shares some of her experiences in the music industry as a solo artist and member of the music group Avalon, her and her husband Adam’s time working on “Glee” as well as many other films, and now are the creative team behind the new movie musical “The Journey to Bethlehem.” Nikki shares how the Lord closed and opened so many doors over the last seventeen...
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Episode 168 :: Travis Thompson :: Stories of Mental Health, Addiction, Faith and Healing
Simply Stories Podcast
Travis Thompson is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who practices in Middle Tennessee. He is a PhD candidate who works with clients from many backgrounds to find the deeper meaning of their struggles and embrace long-term recovery from the pains that they experienced. His work is focused on being healed from past hurt and toward future success. During our conversation, Travis shares his journey of wrestling with his own mental health as a teenager, his recovery and healing journey, and entering the world of becoming a mental health professional serving and helping others like...
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Episode 167 :: Kelly Balarie :: Stories of The Power of God’s Word and Taking Every Thought Captive
Simply Stories Podcast
I have a powerhouse on the podcast in the form of Kelly Balarie. Kelly is an author and a speaker who is passionate about Jesus and the Word of God. She is a sister in the trenches and a self-proclaimed spiritual cheerleader. Every book she has written, she writes from a place of “this is where God has been faithful to me in this season.” Or “this is what God has been teaching me,” full of authenticity, and powerful scripture-saturated insights for women who desire to walk well and be filled to the fullness of God. In our conversation today, you’ll hear about her...
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Episode 166 :: Dr. Clarence Shuler :: Stories of Finding Hope in Dark Places and Cross-Cultural Relationships that Can Heal
Simply Stories Podcast
Dr. Clarence Shuler is the President and CEO of his nonprofit BLR- which stands for Building Lasting Relationships. Their mission is to equip others for discipleship in various venues. He and his wife both speak and write about marriage, but also dealing with infidelity, and divorce, but they especially love to minister to singles in the church. Whatever it looks like, the Shulers are committed to “loving people with God’s love with no agenda and see what happens.” During our conversation today, Dr. Shuler shared his story of coming to Christ through a relationship that would impact...
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Episode 165 ::Kayla Craig :: Stories of Curiosity & Questions in Faith & Holding Every Season Sacred
Simply Stories Podcast
Today I have the absolute joy of sharing with you my conversation with Kayla Craig. Kayla is a modern liturgist as the woman behind Liturgies for Parents online. She is a Mama of 4, a supportive pastor’s wife, and just this week she released her second book Every Season Sacred. In our conversation today, you’ll get to hear Kayla’s heart as she shares about what it looks like to pursue an honest and abundant life full of wonder and work. In all the spaces she occupies, she offers an open invitation to be curious, to express our questions, doubts, or confusion as we walk out our faith...
info_outlineToday I get to share with you a really fun and powerful conversation with my friends Chris and Stephanie Teague. In our conversation you’ll get to hear the story of how Chris and Stephanie met, their marriage when they were in college, pursuing the quintessential Christian couple life, and then the secrets, addictions, and doubts that led to their divorce in 2010. Then, during a season where they each in their own way were desperate for answers to what they didn’t understand, God met them and showed them He was trustworthy with their lives individually, freeing them both from the pressure of living a put-together know-it-all Christian life and receiving the invitation to be alive with Christ and live in hope. And then, in His grace, He also redeemed their marriage. Over a decade later, here we are hanging out unpacking this story today! Praise God.
This time with them was a special experience of hearing them unpack how God met them then, how He continues to reveal Himself to them now, and the heart of the calling on their lives now as the band Out of the Dust. Through their music, and sharing their story, Chris and Stephanie now travel the country speaking and singing hope over people who wonder if all hope is lost. As you’ll hear, it’s not about trying to fix broken marriages or bootstrapping your way to a better life, it’s issuing an invitation to encounter the heart of God. This is such a powerful conversation annnnnd for those of us who grow up in the 90’s/early 2000’s Christian world, I think there’s going to be a lot you can probably relate to, for better or for worse as well. It’s a good time and I can’t wait to share it with you.
I hope above all things you hear in this episode, you hear that the Lord specializes at making beautiful things out of the dust. Dust of things that have yet to know life, or dust of ashes where things have all burned down. He is the God of redemption and resurrection and He cares about your heart encountering healing with Him. If you have any questions about any of that, please don’t ever hesitate to reach out to me, or to someone like Stephanie and Chris, we are imperfect people who have seen a perfect God in our story, but we also know what it means to shake our fists and wonder why and have Him love us there too. Wherever you are today, friend, I hope that you can hear me say, you matter, and your story matters.
Connecting with Stephanie & Chris
Sponsor for this Episode: Hopefuel
Use the code 'SIMPLY15' for 15% off
References:
-Episodes Chris and Stephanie have helped me out on before! Our readings of Esther and Ruth
-Christy and Nathan Nockels and Watermark
-Some of Louie’s teaching based on science and faith (and devotionals for kids too! Our family loves these)
-Podcast episode where we talk about suicidal ideation with Jennifer Greenberg, her book I mention is Not Forsaken: A Story of Life After Abuse. How faith brought one woman from victim to survivor
-We got it wrong, Jehovah-Raah is the Lord is my Shepherd
-”Redemption Skies”- their song with the lyric “Let the valley teach you what the mountain can’t”
- “Beautiful Things” by Gungor
-For the record the church we attend together is Fellowship Bible Church Murfreesboro ;)
-Brooke Fraser “Who Are We Fooling”
-Another episode about working through doubts, questions and truly finding Jesus (Taylor Turkington author of Trembling Faith)
-the attributes of God (I REALLY loved this study about this from Daily Grace Co. It was a huge help to me)
-Searching For Enough- Tyler Staton, our conversation
-John Mark Comer (not Michael lol)
Scripture References:
Mark 2:15-22-, Mark 5:1-20,Luke 8:26-39, Luke 19:1-10, Luke 17:11-19, John 4-Jesus went to the raw and real places
Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 25:10, Luke 6:36-37, Ephesians 2:4-5-God’s mercy
Luke 15:11-32 (esp 17-21)-Prodigal pacing (earning your way back home)
Psalm 34:4-God is with you in the valley
Psalm 34:18-He is close to the brokenhearted
Exodus 3-A Moses, nope God you got the wrong guy
Exodus 34:6, Nehemiah 9:16-17, Psalm 103:8, 2 Peter 3:8-9-God is so patient
Lamentations 3:22-23, 1 Corinthians 1:9 -He is faithful (among many verses and stories!)
Judges 6, Habakkuk 1-He is OK with us working through questions and doubts
James 4:8-Draw near to Him
Isaiah 46:9-10, Psalm 139, 1 John 3:20, Ephesians 1-He is all-knowing, but we get to know Him
2 Timothy 3:16-17-scripture is God breathed
John 16:33 -This world is broken, and in this world we will have trouble
Psalm 147:5, James 3:17-God has infinite wisdom
Matthew 14:13-21, Luke 8:26-56-Jesus welcomed interuptions and weren’t on the plan
Matthew 26:36-46, Luke 22:39-46, John 17-18 and John 11 -Jesus grieved in the garden and at the tomb of His friend
Job 10:3, Job 19:5-7, Job 27, -Job indicting God
John 20:24-31-”doubting” Thomas
Psalm 27:13-What would have become of me if I had not believed I would see the goodness of the Lord
John 9, 2 Corinthians 12:6-7 -Using suffering for our good (example)
Daniel 3:18-If not He is still good
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