Episode 155 :: Meredith Boggs :: Stories of Growing in Faith and the Enneagram Journey
Release Date: 06/05/2023
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_outline Welcome to summer, my friends! This month, we’ll be talking about how to engage who we are on the inside so we can better connect with God, get to know who He has always been, and walk with Him from a more authentic place. Once we can do that, it spills over into our relationships around us. Past me would think it was completely crazy to pursue space for growing myself in the summer but present me says that this part of our story matters. We’ve got self-examination, growth, and care to do. God has much to show us and heal in us. Are you willing to come along for the ride?
Today we’ll start with Meredith Boggs. Meredith is a podcaster and an author. Her book The Journey Home: A Biblical Guide to Using the Enneagram to Deepen Your Faith and Relationships tells the story of her life as a young adult and doing all the good Christian things, but finding herself burned out and confused. Looking for a way to breathe life back into her soul and her faith and the Enneagram became a tool that God used to minister to her.
Ohhhh the Enneagram: We’re going to talk about the beef people have with it, the understandable concerns many have about it, the misuse of it, AND if it is a useful tool to you, then how could we see what God has for people of faith in it so they can grow into who God made them to be. Maybe you’ve never even heard of it or only heard weird things about it OR you’re over it. Give us another chance today because how Meredith breaks down perspectives about how the enneagram can be used well and not well in relationships, and how it can build one another up in the body of Christ is really beautiful and unique. Of all the Enneagram content I’ve consumed over the years, Meredith’s voice has become my favorite. Her book is about spiritual growth more than a personality evaluation. It is grace-filled, but honest and nuanced. I loved this conversation with her so much where you will get to hear some of Meredith’s story and hear her share about her journey with recognizing weaknesses and surrendering in recovery and learning how to trust God in those places.
I hope that this conversation ministers to you today. If anything, I hope you hear that we are ALL in progress. We all have weaknesses and limits and the Lord can and will make Himself known in all of them. Transformation takes time, it is messy, and grappling with who God really versus how broken people sometimes claim Him to be can be an adventure, but a worthwhile one. You matter, and your story matters.
Connecting with Meredith:
Book: The Journey Home: A Biblical Guide to Using the Enneagram to Deepen Your Faith and Relationships
Episode Sponsor: Tony Crabtree of Crabtree Homes with Exit Realty
References:
Enneagram Test (a free one) Enneagram Test from Enneagram Institute (paid one!)
Annie F. Downs’ Enneasummer series
Harry Potter (y’all know I’m a #Potterhead), the beef with it when the books were coming out
Codependency (more words about this here and here)
John Calvin quote- “Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other.”
Our friend Kelsey is Kelsey Chapman. You can hear my conversation with her on episode 73
Attributes of God Daily Grace Co. study (Affiliate link, thank you for your support!)
Communicable vs. incommunicable attributes of God
Aslan who creates (From Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis)
Meredith’s resources on her website
Scripture References:
Galatians 5:22-23- Fruit of the Spirit
1 Corinthians 12:12-27- How the body of Christ functions (all its unique parts)
Lamentations 3:40- see ourselves rightly
Luke 10:27; Matthew 22:36–40; Mark 12:28–31-Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself
Psalm 90:12- Grant me a heart of wisdom
Ephesians 1:18- Enlighten the eyes of my heart
Isaiah 9:7- God’s power has no end and He has no limits
2 Corinthians 12:9-11- In my limits/weaknesses, He is strong
Ephesians 3:20- Even more, than we could ask or imagine
Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28- He has a purpose for you
Isaiah 63:7- God is kind to us
Psalm 27:13-God is good (just one scripture!)
1 Corinthians 3:9- We are co-creators with God
Philippians 1:6- He will complete the work He began in us
Philippians 4:19-God does provide for all of our needs
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