On The Trail

Life is hard. We all get overwhelmed at times. But some people seem to bounce back from their upset emotions faster than most. Are they just born happy? Or is there a secret to building emotional resilience that anyone can learn?

It's time for our next book study! While many topics we cover on this podcast are about repair, this topic could be thought of as construction. 

Building Bounce explains the theory behind growing emotio...

Jesus Christ takes our sin and gives us His righteousness. This great exchange is the foundation of the Christian life. 

He erases our debt, and fills our spiritual bank account. We die to a life that ends in death, and we are raised to a life that endures for eternity. 

In this episode, we talk about the exchanged life, what it is, how to walk it out, and how to enter into it if you are ready to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior a...

Over and over throughout Holy Week, we see Jesus doing the hard thing because He loves us. 

Jesus Christ was never bolder or more clear about His true identity than in the final days before His death on the cross.

He loves us enough to get in our face and call us out when we are on a path that is heading to destruction. The words and actions of Jesus may seem harsh, but in reality they were loving. 

Jesus was the king of tough love. B...

Palm Sunday wasn't just marketing for Jesus. It was an offer to accept Jesus Christ as King. 

Our Messiah—our King—is one to whom we swear allegiance because we trust Him. To be saved by faith is not just accepting the gift of eternal life. It is trusting Jesus Christ enough to follow Him and obey even when we don’t understand where He is taking us and why the journey is so hard. 

This doesn’t mean we have no doubts or that we n...

We don't interact with people as they are. We interact with people as we imagine them to be. 

How does the devil want you to see your situation? How does God want you to see your situation? 

To close our Jumpstart Your Prayer Life series, we're looking at The Word Picture Approach as a means of exposing the devil's lies and attuning to God's perspective. This approach was inspired by friend and former Deeper Walk ...

Do you ever stop to pray and instead find yourself fighting off distracting or discouraging thoughts? 

Have you ever wondered how people pray for hours not just minutes?  

Next in our Jumpstart Your Prayer Life series, we're looking at The Two Notebook Approach as a means of being intentional and focused in conversational prayer with God. This approach was inspired by Marcus's contemplations on John C. Maxwell's Partne...

Are your relational circuits on when you pray? Do they have to be? 

In this episode, we look at the brain science principles of the Joy Switch and Mutual Mind for how to relationally engage with God in prayer. Moving beyond big picture principles, we walk through the process of Immanuel Journaling inspired by the book Joyful Journey by Jim Wilder, Anna Kang, and John & Sungshim Loppnow. 

Our goal with this series is to encourage ...

God designed our brains for relationship — not just with fellow humans but also with Him! 

In this episode, we explore some of the theology and neuroscience of prayer. How did God wire us for relationship, and how can we see that reflected in our prayer life?  

Our goal with this series is to encourage you to deepen your prayer life and explore various approaches to your relationship with God. By the end of this series, we'll ha...

How do you think of God when you pray? 

Last week we began a new series on prayer. This week we continue exploring the theological dynamics of approaching God as King, Father, and Shepherd while also discussing an overview of the 5 Levels of Prayer in harmony with the Life Model stages of maturity. From infancy to our elder years, we have expanding capcacity to engage in prayer on our own and in community. 

Our goal with this series ...

Does prayer actually change anything? 

It's time for a new series that will help you jumpstart your prayer life. We like to put things into context, so we're launching with a practical overview of the theology of prayer. How does God's soveignty interact with our prayers? How do fear and joy affect our prayer life? Is God a just king? Does God want to talk to us when we're less than perfect? 

This episode covers t...

We're wrapping up the series with a look at three crucial elements for personal growth and family transformation, and you can remember them with your ABCs: Allies, Bible, and Cleansing. 

In this episode, we cover questions along the lines of...
▪️ What's the relationship between allies and accountability?
▪️ What can allies look like in a family context?
▪️ Why is it important to have a "Bible-filled&quo...

This week we're in Chapter 5 of The Spirit-Filled Home: "Jump-START-ing Your Marriage." Yes, you spotted it! We're working through an acrostic featuring five essential strategies to jumpstart your marriage and all-around strengthen your home: 

S.T.A.R.T. 

🕊️ Seek the Spirit’s leading. 

⚔️ Take thoughts captive. 

🤺 Attack the real enemy. 

💕 Resolve resentment. 

🌻 Train yourselves in the habits of joy. 

Whether you’r...

In this episode of our Spirit-Filled Home series, we tackle some of the tough stuff of the home. 

We walk through the WLVS model, which stands for Wounds, Lies, Vows, and Strongholds, and how important it is to address deeper emotional issues that often underlie surface-level problems in relationships. Understanding these issues working below the surface helps us foster healthier relationships and cultivate a Spirit-filled home. 

In this episode, we continue our book study of The Spirit-Filled Home with Chapter Three: Parenting Challenges. 

Whether you are reflecting on your childhood, working on your own personal maturity, or parenting your children, this episode is for you. 

This episode is all about the relationship between personal maturity and effective parenting. In it, we give a brief overview of the five stages of maturity development according to The...

Flesh manifests itself through relational conflict (Gal 5; Jas 4:1-2). 

In this episode, we continue our book study with Chapter Two: The Flesh-Filled Home exploring the characteristics of homes that walk more by the flesh than by the Spirit, the nature of conflict, and the importance of emotional capacity. We call out three A's of immaturity—avoidance, anger, and addiction—and highlight the need for self-reflection, tiny habit...

We are delighted to launch the year with a new book study, going chapter by chapter through The Spirit-Filled Home. Over the course of this series, we'll talk maturity development, spiritual warfare, walking in the Spirit, and more, all with a strategic flavoring of marriage and family.

(Fear not, for those of you who are walking the single road or for whom "marriage and family" may be complicated... I, Stephanie, am ...

God loves you so very much, and He has a plan for your life and your relationship with Him that He has had in the works since the foundations of the world, when you were only a twinkle in His eye. Join us as we celebrate the remarkable Love of God.

On the podcast, we've been walking through the Abrahamic Covenant of Promise as a meditation on the four themes of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, and now Love.

On the fourth Sunday of Ad...

On the third Sunday of Advent (Dec 14), we anticipate celebrating the incarnation with Joy. This year, we're looking at Advent through the lens of the Abrahamic Covenant of Promise. We remember this covenant with an acorn, because it's a big seed. The lid of the acorn represents three key blessings promised to Abraham — a seed (offspring), land, and relationship with God.

The point of the acorn represents the point of the ...

Could you use more peace in your life? 

For Advent, we’re looking at the Abrahamic Covenant of Promise. Last week we introduced this covenant and looked at the Hope of the Promise. This week on the Advent calendar is about Peace, and we’re dwelling specifically on the promise of land. 

Through this conversation, we see a sort of formula emerge: meditation on God’s provision plus meditation on what is eternal brings peace. We can reme...