The Love Offering

When we are in the darkness--whatever that is in our own particular story--the temptation is to believe that it's over, it's always going to feel this way, we will never be anywhere else or feel anything other than we do now. We fear the darkness, and for good reason. But it is in the darkness that new life begins. Leeana Tankersley is on the show sharing the darkest chapter of her own story, the thing she never thought would happen and could do nothing to prevent. Along the way she shares how waiting patiently in the darkness allowed something incredible to take root within her: a defiant and hard-won hope that is not dependent on happy endings. If you have lost your faith, your family, your health, your home, your security, your business, or your very self, Leeana wants you to know that you are not alone or forgotten. You are not doomed to stagnation or stasis. You are not worth less than you once were. Against every last odd, you can hope anyway.“We don’t have to show up with all of the answers or solutions. We just need to sit with each other without feeling the need to fix it.”“Just checking in.”Connect with Leeana:www.leeanatankersley.com@leeanatankersleySoup recipe:https://www.thecandidappetite.com/spicy-sausage-potato-kale-soup/Support the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Whether it’s a dream that isn’t coming true, a stretch of the journey that feels especially dark, or just the basic “busy and tired” each of us braves in the crazy chaos of the ordinary, have you ever faced a season where “life to the full” feels just out of reach, light seems like it it’s just over the horizon, or lies seem to crowd out the truth? If you’re anything like Ellie Holcomb, the answer is yes. For her in these seasons, God’s Word has been a shelter, a comfort, a song, a balm, and an anchor. Ultimately, it’s been a light that has helped kick back at the darkness of the lies we so often believe. In her debut devotional, Fighting Words and in today’s episode you are invited to come alongside Ellie, as you ponder the power of God’s promises together and speak them into the darkest corners of your soul. We pray you find that little by little, you're fighting the lies with the truth, kicking back the darkness, and living in the light.“I can be a love offering by spending time talking to the author of love Himself. My job is to be a conduit of the love I have received.”Connect with Ellie:https://www.ellieholcomb.comSupport the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

If you were to pick one word for the year, what would it be?Invite . . . Abide . . . Balance . . . Simplify . . . ?Every January, many of us proclaim our word for the year, choosing something inspiring that will help us set our intention for the coming months. But what would happen if rather than choosing one word for an entire year (because let's face it, some of us forget by March), we focused on one good word each day―one thought-provoking, spiritually relevant, and encouraging word that reveals the many lovely and delightful truths of who Jesus is in our lives?The Ruth Experience is on the show today talking about One Good Word a Day. This 365 day devotional offers simple, but deeply spiritual meditations that will help us linger on one word each day to identify and reflect on how Jesus as the Word influences our daily lives.We pray you realize that Jesus is more than one word. He offers us abundance, hope, peace, kindness, courage, mercy, and so much more. One Good Word a Day reminds us that in Christ, we find all we need to live encouraged and uplifted every day.“Keep your eyes open. God sends us in the places and spaces we already are.”“Spend time with God and focus on Him. Remind yourself of His care and love for you. Then, out of that place, be aware of how you can love the people around you.”“Be intentional and look for opportunities around you.”Connect with The Ruth Experience:@theruthexperienceSupport the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Our hearts and the hearts of others are so important. God wants our whole hearts, but so does the enemy. That is why it is essential we identify and stay in tune with the lies we may be believing and replace them with God’s truth. Charity Rios is on the show today sharing about how to tend to our hearts and the hearts of the people in our lives. She is the author of My Heart's Garden, a children’s book to help kids discover their true identity in Christ, overcome anxiety, fear, and insecurity, by replacing lies with the truth.On today’s episode we chat about: Her role as a Children's Pastor and church planter. Simple practices to connect our hearts to Jesus. Loving our children for who they are and not for who we think they should be. Giving our kids a firm foundation. Making reading the Bible and prayer part of our family’s routine.We pray after joining us your heart’s garden is full of fertile soil ready to allow God’s seeds to flourish and yield a fruitful harvest for Him. Connect with Charity:https://www.charityrios.comInstagram @claritywithcharity Facebook @charityriosauthorSupport the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

At the end of the day, can one person really make any impact at all? When the world's problems loom large and your ordinary life stretches you thin, it is still possible to be a difference-maker--one small, intentional, extravagant act of kindness at a time. Rather than telling you to do more, Becky Keife’s book The Simple Difference shows you how to see more: more of the people in front of you, more of God's lavish love for you, more of his power within you. Becky is on the show helping us to:- stop getting buried in busyness and distraction and discover countless opportunities for impact right where you are - remove your perceived limitations and learn to see that your "not-enough" is exactly what the world needs - discard expectations of what it takes to make a difference and delight in the life-changing power of simple kindness The Simple Difference isn't about totally changing the course of your life; it's about letting God change you and work through you in the midst of your ordinary days. Be a part of The Simple Difference movement--your life and the world will never be the same.Be a love offering by praying “Lord, as I go on my way, have your way with me.”Connect with Becky:https://www.beckykeife.comIncourage.meBethesimpledifference.com@beckykeifeSupport the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

When it comes to disagreement, we are in perpetual fight-or-flight mode. Rather than respond with a posture of compassion and connection, we are encouraged to "resist" others. Either we engage in fruitless arguments with people who refuse to see things our way or we retreat to our echo chambers where everyone agrees with us. But the real resistance, the kind that helps us grow, is learning to love others--especially those who disagree with us. If you're tired of seeing your real-life and online communities in turmoil and you long to be an agent of peace, understanding, and reconciliation, it's time to join a new kind of resistance movement--one that pushes us toward personal transformation. Ashley Abercrombie is on the show sharing about her book Love Is the Resistance. Join us to develop confidence to communicate and connect with others, stop avoiding necessary tension, and resolve your internal and external conflicts. This week's love offering is to be kind. “You can be in conflict and mad and still be kind.”Organization mentioned:TreasuresPodcast:Why tho? Tiffany Bluhm Connect with Ashley:https://www.ashabercrombie.orgSupport the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

As a trauma-informed professional life coach, Janell Rardon spends a good deal of her day-to-day work with brokenness--broken families, broken relationships, broken hearts and souls. In response to the pleas of her clients, she developed a set of emotional-health tools to help them repair the broken parts of their lives. In Stronger Every Day and on today’s episode, she shares these powerful tools with you, showing you how to: ▫️transform pain into meaning ▫️experience secure attachment with God ▫️shape healthy thoughts ▫️shift from shame to self-compassion ▫️practice healthy assertiveness ▫️set mental and emotional boundaries ▫️understand triggers and defense mechanisms ▫️regulate emotional highs and lows ▫️cultivate healthy human connection With inspiring Scriptures, quotes, prayers, personal stories, and case studies, Rardon sets you on the path of emotional health so that you can be stronger than ever--every day.“Your greatest gift to those around you is your emotional health. Your emotional health informs your spiritual health. They are inextricable.”Connect with Janell:JanellRardon.comSupport the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Our bodies are designed to heal. We fall off our bikes and skin our knees―and without effort on our part, the skin looks like new in a few days. But while our skinned knees easily heal, it can sometimes feel like our emotional and relational wounds are left gaping open, broken beyond repair. If our bodies instinctively know how to heal physical injuries, could they also help us understand how to restore painful emotional and relational ruptures? In their book Designed to Heal: What the Body Shows Us about Healing Wounds, Repairing Relationships, and Restoring Community, and on today’s episode, physician Jennie A. McLaurin and scientist Cymbeline Tancongco Culiat:• address the immense felt need for reconciliation, wholeness, and function in our broken relationships and divided communities,• explain the science behind the stages of physical wound healing and how this reveals parallel insights into how people can recover from social wounds,• share current research on brain science as it relates to the damaging effects of trauma and the protective effects of positive emotions and experiences,• equip readers with new concepts and tools to use in resolving interpersonal conflict, and• offer hope and encouragement to readers as they pursue the healing of divisions within their greater communities.Join us to learn how the body is created with mechanisms that optimize a flourishing recovery from life’s inevitable wounds. We pray after listening, you realize we are given a model for hopeful, faithful, and enduring healing in all other aspects of our lives. Our wounds don’t have to have the last word.“We want people to be hopeful about healing and see it as the healthy design. We believe that readers can extract a lot of principles from the book so they can become better agents of healing in their lives/circles—offering themselves as agents of healing — to be essential components of the healing matrix in the circles they live in.” Cymbeline T. CuliatConnect with Jennie and Bem:https://jenniemclaurin.comSupport the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

What would you do if the unthinkable happened? Where would you find the strength to endure? The Gordon family was confronted with that very challenge when their five-year-old son, Sawyer, known for his big blue eyes and vivacious spirit, cheerfully pedaled his bike onto their busy road. Moments later, a distracted driver, someone the family knew, stood over the motionless child—the unthinkable had happened. Part memoir, part Christian apologetic, Hope Remains is much more than a self-help book on grief. It is a transparent story of loss, love, forgiveness, and the unshakeable goodness of God. Join Summer Gordon on today’s episode to realize that shattered hearts don’t have to mean shattered hope.“To be a love offering we have to spend time with Christ. When we do we are changed from the inside out and we are better versions of ourselves. Apart from Christ, we have nothing to offer.”Connect with Summer:https://summerandreppardgordon.comhttps://www.facebook.com/SummerEGordonSupport the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Do you feel crushed by your circumstances? How do we hold onto hope in the midst of despair? Jackie Aviles says, “Hope isn’t a thing we grasp for, it's a person we connect with.” She is on the show sharing her story of never meeting her biological father, becoming a pastor’s wife, and being diagnosed with terminal cancer. On today’s episode we chat about:▫️Marriage and motherhood in the midst of a diagnosis▫️Judging God’s story before He reveals His hand▫️Loving others well through a diagnosis▫️Hope killersAs you tune in, we pray you feel more equipped with the disciplines to take your next step out of your pressing situations and to keep walking toward your purpose. Resources Mentioned:Go And Tell Gals with Jess ConnollyPressed Toward Purpose“To love starts with listening. My prayer is that God makes us a people who want to hear.”Connect with Jackie:Jackieaviles.com@jackie_avilesSupport the Show: https://rachaelkadams.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.