Episode 159 :: Ray Leight :: Stories of Mental Health, Faith, and Maturing into Yourself
Release Date: 07/18/2023
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 Today we are continuing our conversation about mental health and faith and caring for our hearts with identity coach Ray Leight. Ray and his wife Kathryn lead Faith by Grace, a coaching practice and ministry designed to equip people to do deep inner work to live lives of freedom and joy. Ray shares with me today how the Lord led him into ministry and a passion for identity coaching through his own journey of coping with trauma as well as living with undiagnosed neurodivergence and bipolar two until he was well into adulthood. Ray brings some really fascinating insights into this conversation that brings to the surface some of the points of contention that can confuse Christians about spiritual healing, maturing in faith, and neurological and biological roadblocks that occur genetically or as a result of trauma and life experience.
Have you ever had a breakthrough in a struggle and then after time you feel like you go backward? Have you ever questioned God’s healing in your life? Do you lack clarity with terms like ‘codependency’ or ‘boundaries’, but find it confusing about how that might actually apply practically? I’d love to invite you to give this conversation a listen with Holy Spirit-led discernment for your healing journey. His discernment is always available to those who call on Him! And I ALWAYS want to encourage you to pursue His leading in any conversation we have! But I think some of the things we discuss today touch on places we can get tripped up in the church, so I just want to remind us all to have ears to hear and hearts tuned to the One who made us and will bring us to the day of completion.
We are professionals with our tools we fashion for survival, aren’t we? But friends, we have to hand over those tools to the Carpenter who made us by hand and have Him give us new tools, new skills, and new ways of living life. The Lord can and will recalibrate and reset what you have always known and how you have coped. God’s goodness and mercy and hope are always there and are always enough as we walk out this journey. As Ray shared, “It is not selfish to care for yourself.” In fact, it honors God and makes space for Him to continue doing a work in you. You matter, my friend. Your story matters.
Connecting with Ray:
Book: Maturing into Yourself
Twitter
Website (and Coaching information)
Sponsor for this Episode: Hopefuel
Use the code 'SIMPLY15' for 15% off
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References:
CRU (Campus Crusade)
Leanne Payne’s Pastoral care model
Bethel Church (Just a quick word of using the Holy Spirit-led discernment here)
Sozo and shabar work (same here)
We’re all just spiritual beings walking around in earth suits - Well I royally screwed this one up. I merged multiple quotes together and CS Lewis didn’t say one of them. Good times. But this was insightful.
On-Site Podcast on Treating Trauma, and the other about Living Centered- (this is the episode I was listening to) - On-site is a REALLY sound resource at the intersection of faith and mental health.
codependency
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Bod in the Healing of Trauma- Bessel van der Kolk (this is an incredible resource for understanding how trauma and experiences stored in the body and affects us over time)
An example of a study of people believe that they are actually saved or not
Also studies of what do people mean when they say they’re Christian and how Americans and faith have shifted since the pandemic
Example of some stories we’ve heard on the podcast of spiritual things we may or may not understand Tessa Afshar, Michael Heiser, and Todd Nettleton.
Scripture References:
Genesis 3 - Adam and Eve believed the lie and ate the fruit
John 8:42-47- We have an enemy that lies to us
Romans 5, Romans 14:16-19, 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, 2 Timothy 1:7- Kingdom of the world is fear, shame, and guilt. Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
Deuteronomy 6:4-7,Matthew 22:37-40,Mark 12:30-31,Luke 10:27-We are called to love the Lord our God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength
Philippians 1:6- Jesus is working on you until the day of completion
Psalm 51:10-19- Create in me a clean heart oh God
John 16:33- In this world you will have trouble
John 10:10- He is the One who gives us life and to the full
Galatians 5:22-23- Fruits of the Spirit
1 Corinthians 12- Gifts of the Spirit
2 Corinthians 5:17- You are a new creation
Jeremiah 17:9- The heart is deceitful above all else
Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10- We are given a heart of flesh for our heart of stone
Hebrews 10:16, Jeremiah 31:33- Jesus wrote the Law on our hearts
Hebrews 10- Jesus fulfilled the Law
Matthew 28:19-20- We are called to go and share the Gospel
The Holy Spiri has the power to save
John 17- Jesus talking to God about bringing Him glory in the garden
Ephesians 1, Romans 8:31-39- Your identity is who you are in Christ
Matthew 13:31-32-Faith of a mustard seed parable
Matthew 7:5-Take the log out of your own eye
Mark 12:30-31- Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself
1 John 4:19- We love because He first loved us
Ephesians 3:14-21- How vast God’s love is for us
Romans 5:8- While we were still sinners (us and all our issues) Christ died for us
Colossians 1:24-27-Christ in You the hope of glory
Connecting with Emily and Simply Stories Podcast:
Instagram (Em life // Podcast Life)
Facebook
Twitter
Blog