by Barb Roose | Mar 14, 2018 | Joshua & Winning the Worry Battle
By Barb Roose
Over the past 15 years, I’ve learned a lot about how to allow God to give me victory over fear and worry. I created the C.A.L.M. Technique for myself to reduce my physical distress so that I could pray. This easy-to-use tool works to slow down my heart rate, break the pattern of negative thinking, and relax my body. Then, I can invite God into my distress and ask Him to fight my battles for me. The C.A.L.M Technique isn’t just a neat idea – I use it! (I used it last week.) Recently, I had a chance to teach it to the folks at my church and that was pretty cool. Would you like to learn it?
C.A.L.M. Technique
- Count to 10 (Inhale on the number; Exhale the word MISSISSIPPI)
- Acknowledge God’s presence by saying: God, I know that You’re here with me right now.
- List – Tell God what you are afraid of or worried about
- Meditate – Keep repeating the following: God is here and He will take care of me/this.
When it comes to the counting, you will need to boss your emotions so that you can push your count to 10. Those supercharged emotions will definitely fight the technique. But, stick with it because it does work! This is one of those tools that becomes more effective the more you use it. Your body will calm down. I love this tool because it equips us to walk in the blessing of God’s promise in Joshua 1:9:
The point of this exercise is to reduce your physical distress and open up a conversation with God. I love this tool because it equips us to walk in the blessing of God’s promise in Joshua 1:9: “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
I don’t know what’s on your mind today. But, if you’re prone to meltdowns like me, practice the C.A.L.M. technique a few times so that you can use this tool to help you calm down during anxious times and connect with the God who promises to take care of you.
*Looking for MORE tools? Order my new book, Winning the Worry Battle releasing next month for even more practical tools to help you fight your worry battle! Click here to find out where you can order your book today!
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by Barb Roose | Aug 27, 2017 | Better Together Podcast
How do we learn contentment in a culture that is always pushing us to pursue more? What are we missing out on if we’re always searching for the next best thing? Listen to this episode by clicking the “play” button above.
Author Melissa Spoelstra shares lessons that we can learn from her new Bible study, Numbers: Learning Contentment in a Culture of More about the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness. While God planned to bring them to the Promised Land, their arrival was delayed because they complained too much.
Listen as we talk about why we default to complaining – even though we know shouldn’t. What are some of the secrets to contentment that we can learn from God’s word?
Here are the takeaways from today’s Better Together podcast episode:
1. We can learn to “secret” to contentment, even if everything in our lives are upside-down.
2. Join Melissa’s Contentment Project – Have you been complaining a lot lately? Learn to move from complaining to contentment by participating in Melissa’s “Contentment Project” starting in early September. Click here to sign up today!
3. Check out Melissa’s new Bible study, Numbers: Learning Contentment in a Culture of More. Available at all Christian retailers.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THIS PODCAST?
My heart’s desire is for Better Together to women across our country and the world who are starving for hope. I want to reach the women across our country who are tired of living fake lives and are looking for real meaning. I want to deliver hope to the thousands of women who are hurting or feel alone. If you’d like to support Better Together, you can do so in these ways:
- Write a great podcast review on iTunes.
- Share your podcast experience on your Facebook page.
- Contribute toward the monthly cost of hosting this podcast by clicking here.
by Barb Roose | Mar 6, 2017 | Better Together Podcast
Have you been praying for something for a long time? Maybe you’ve been praying for:
…healing in your marriage or for a marriage proposal;
…healing from cancer or another disease;
…the restoration of a broken relationship;
…a pregnancy or solution to infertility; or
…a loved one’s salvation or freedom from an addiction.
Whenever we pray, we do so with the expectation that God will answer our prayer at some point in some way. But, what do we do when it seems like God isn’t doing anything at all?
Speaker and author, Marlo Schalesky grappled with this question during her 20-year battle with infertility. Her story is more than just trying to get pregnant. Marlo’s story is about her fight for faith while learning to wait on God.
During this new episode of the Better Together Podcast, Marlo and I discuss what she’s learned about waiting on God when the waiting gets hard. We talk about her new book, Waiting for Wonder and what we can learn from Abraham’s wife, Sarah’s long wait for baby. gritty conversation is a no-hold bars honest reflection on how God can handle our heartache while we wait for His divine purposes to be fulfilled in our lives.
Our candid conversation is a no-holds-barred, honest reflection on how God can handle our heartache while we wait for His divine purposes to be fulfilled in our lives. After you listen, please take a moment and share a comment about the broadcast. I’d love to hear from you.
One more thing…if you know of a woman who’s been struggling with waiting on God, especially a woman struggling with infertility, share this podcast privately with her.
TODAY’S SHOW RESOURCES:
Marlo’s Website
Marlo’s Book – Waiting for Wonder
Marlo Schalesky is an award-winning author of 10 books, including both fiction and non-fiction. Her novels have garnered the high honors of the Christy Award and ACFW Book of the Year. Schalesky’s non-fiction releases include Wrestling with Wonder: A Transformational Journey through the Life of Mary (Zondervan) and the latest, Waiting for Wonder: Learning to Live on God’s Timetable (Abingdon Press).
More than 1,000 of Schalesky’s articles have been published in various Christian magazines, including Focus on the Family, Today’s Christian Woman and In Touch. She has contributed devotional books for couples and children. She is a speaker and regular columnist for David C Cook’s Power for Living.
Schalesky is a graduate of Stanford University and has earned her Master’s in Theology, with an emphasis in Biblical Studies, from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is the founder and president of Wonder Wood Ranch, a California charitable organization bringing hope to a hurting community through horses.
Schalesky lives with her husband, six children and a crazy number of animals at her log-home ranch on California’s central coast.
by Barb Roose | Jan 15, 2017 | Better Together Podcast
Have you ever felt like your child was your parenting report card? If he or she was doing well in school, then you felt great. But, if your precious cherub was causing the teacher to pull her hair out, then you were failing.
How do we snap out of making our kids our “report card” and instead love and raise them as God calls us to do?
Proverbs 22:6 tells us to direct our children onto the right path so that when they are old, they will not leave it. If the Bible tells us to teach our kids God’s ways, how do we teach when we’re not always sure on how God wants us to live?
Today’s guest, Melissa Spoelstra coaches moms through eight areas that we need to teach our children so that they can develop their own relationship with God. As the mother of four kids, Melissa understands the difficulties and hard decisions that go along with parenting. According to Melissa, parenting is never about perfect, but intentionally planning out how to disciple our children so that they can learn to love Jesus.
In her book, Total Family Makeover, Melissa discusses how Jesus modeled certain disciplines, like prayer, mentoring and service. Then, Jesus taught the disciples how to integrate those same disciplines into their lives. Melissa will share her experiences as a mom, stories about how she’s “failed forward” as a parent and encouragement for any mom who’s at the end of her rope.
In today’s podcast, listen to my interview with Melissa as we discuss:
- Why we make our children into our parenting report card;
- How not to disciple your children into worriers;
- The CRUCIAL importance of finding a mentor mom to help you stay sane during your parenting years;
- The differences between parenting young kids and parenting older kids;
Melissa Spoelstra’s Website
Melissa’s Recommend Parenting Resources:
About Melissa…
Melissa Spoelstra is a popular women’s conference speaker, Bible teacher, and writer who is madly in love with Jesus and passionate about helping women of all ages to seek Christ and know Him more intimately through serious Bible study. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Bible Theology and enjoys teaching God’s Word to diverse groups and churches within the body of Christ.
She is the author of the First Corinthians: Living Love When We Disagree, Joseph: The Journey to Forgiveness, Jeremiah: Daring to Hope in an Unstable World Bible studies, and the soon to be released Total Family Makeover: 8 Steps to Making Disciples at Home book.
She lives in Dublin, Ohio, with her pastor husband and four kids. Find her on Twitter @melspoelstra and Instagram @daring2hope, and follow her blog at MelissaSpoelstra.com.
