by Barb Roose | Jan 1, 2022 | Christian Living/Discipleship, Joshua & Winning the Worry Battle, Reflections, Surrendered: Letting Go and Living Like Jesus, Women's Topics
Happy New Years!
It’s a new year and I’m wearing my fairly new favorite hat. So far, so good here in 2022.
This isn’t a post about goals or resolutions. I just can’t with personal goals right now. (I’ve got business goals - that’s all good.)
But I do want to be intentional.
What’s a girl to do? I need to keep it simple if I want to be successful at being intentional.
Last year, my Word Of The Year (WOTY) was KISS or”Keep It Simple, Sweetheart” and I’m keeping it again for 2022.
(I figured that if the pandemic can stick around another year, so can my WOTY because it’s still working for me. ALSO, I kissed absolutely no one at midnight last night because #omicron 😑. Kinda bummed about that.)
Here’s my thing: Rather than goals, I focus on mindset habits that will position me for what I want to experience in life, which is to live beautifully strong and courageous in Christ.
It’s KISS that gets me there. So here is my KISS mindset for 2022:
- On my worst days, I will treat myself the best.
- I will faithful in the small things and trust that God will take care of all things.
- I will keep showing up and taking risks, even when I fail.
- I am not in control of others or outcomes, so Surrender is my path to God’s peace. *
- I will err on the side of choosing love, kindness and generosity.
- I will live from the truth that I am God’s beautiful, lovable, capable daughter. I am confident in Christ and worthy of God’s best.**
SHARE YOUR COMMENT BELOW: What’s your New Year’s habits, prayer, resolution, goal or intention for the upcoming year?
*from my Surrendered Bible study
**from my Breakthrough Bible study
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 | May 22, 2017 | Better Together Podcast
ANNOUNCEMENT! CONGRATULATIONS TO TINA WARREN – SHE WINS A COPY OF NATALIE’S BECOMING HEART SISTERS BIBLE STUDY!
What is it with women and friendships?
As much as we know that we need good girlfriends, we can’t seem to stop ourselves from friendship drama! We’re surrounded by a culture that has dipped the term “BFF” in 24 karat gold, so if you don’t have a BFF, then you’re hopelessly alone forever. On the other hand, we’re flooded with “Real” television shows that make backbiting, pettiness and betrayal the norm. Recently, one “Housewife” was kicked off her reality television show because she spread rumors about another housewife plans to drug another woman. What’s going on here?
Do we even know what good friendships look like anymore?
Today, I’m talking with my friend, Natalie Snapp, author of the Bible study, Heart Sisters: A Bible Study on Authentic Friendships. She’s a strong, courageous sister in Christ whose life experiences have given her a passion for helping women develop healthy authentic relationships with each other. Her writings specifically address women who’ve been hurt by friendships and are looking for healing.
In this episode, Natalie tells us about the bullying that she endured in high school from other girls. She’ll also tell us about what happened when she realized that her non-Christian friends seemed to handle friendship conflict better than her Christian friends.
You’ll learn about the two ingredients that all healthy, authentic relationships must have as well as learn how your mother’s approach to friendship may have impacted your life.
GIVEAWAY: I’m giving away a free copy of Natalie’s Bible Study, Becoming Heart Sisters on June 5. Enter by posting a comment below. Tell us what you took away from this week’s podcast or share a friendship struggle that you’ve dealt with in the past.
About Natalie…
Author Natalie Chambers Snapp uses her own and others’ stories of successes and failures to illustrate what she has learned about girlfriend relationships. Healthy boundaries, honesty, tact, sharing, and agape love all play a part in being and maintaining a circle of close confidants. She also deals with the inevitable challenges that face many relationships including how to handle conflict; life changes like a new baby, move or divorce; and when it is right to “break-up” with your friend.
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
Are you tired of watching people fight with each other? Do you get discouraged when you see Christians unfriending each other, not just on social media, but in families and friendships?
If so, then you’ll be encouraged by today’s podcast. I’m sitting down for an important conversation with Bible study teacher and author, Melissa Spoelstra for a kingdom conversation on the Bible teaches Christians to handle disagreement. She recently released a Bible study on the book of 1 Corinthians, a New Testament letter written to church leaders trying to deal with the fighting and drama in their churches. Sound familiar?
Melissa is the author of the Bible study, 1 Corinthians: Living Love When We Disagree. This is such a well-timed topic for our culture today, especially for Christians.
How do we love each other even though we don’t share the same perspective or convictions? We do know this: That when Christians disagree poorly, the gospel message gets lost and lost people stay lost without that message of hope. Friends, we’ve got to change this!
In today’s podcast, Melissa shares powerful content on living love by sharing:
- How Jesus proposed instead of imposed himself on others;
- How we establish middle ground or common ground when we’re in the midst of a disagreement;
- How Paul’s counsel to the leaders of the Corinthian church provides encourage and practical advice for us to apply to our lives today.
Find out more about Melissa’s book and Bible studies by clicking here.
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 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.
