There are moments in our lives when even the most devout of us feel tempted and tried in ways we just can't seem to shake. We realize we are being spiritually attacked, and this can be very unsettling. We need a battle plan for when such seasons of testing come about, and that's exactly what today's episode aims to do - give you a strategy for when you're under spiritual attack so you can survive the heat. You'll hopefully find this helpful and encouraging. Check out my weekly blog: www.graceope...
Oct 15, 2024•23 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Many of us are feeling the impact of the divisive and tense world we are currently living in - conflicts abound in many shapes and forms, and it's becoming harder to find peace and maintain it in our personal and communal lives. So how do we find lasting peace? This episode will show you the path to "peace that passes all understanding." Check out my weekly blog: www.graceopens.blogspot.com and also follow me on social media: X/Twitter: opentograce2015 Instagram: opentogracealaska Truth Social: ...
Oct 08, 2024•21 min•Season 3Ep. 6
All of us go through difficult times when we wrestle with doubts about God's love or feel absent from His presence or care. But do we often feel comfortable voicing these feelings out loud to God or trusted others? In this episode, we'll discuss the powerful role of lament in our prayer life and perspective, utilizing Lamentations 3 as our blueprint. We'll learn how to structure a lament as well as talk about why it needs to play a more important part in the faith community. Check out my weekly ...
Oct 01, 2024•21 min•Season 3Ep. 5
A lot of us are carrying around burdens of shame that we were never meant to carry, leading to feelings of guilt, depression, anxiety, and over-responsibilty. Whether we placed this on ourselves or others put it on us, now is the time to step into a life of greater freedom and peace of mind. Today's episode unpacks the impact of shame on our lives and how to properly deal with it so that we can walk in newness of life and forgiveness. It's time to let some stuff go! Check out my weekly blog: www...
Sep 24, 2024•18 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Almost all people would agree that friends are important. Yet recent statistics are showing that maybe we're not as good at making and maintaining friendships as we think. Across the world, and especially in Western society, people are becoming lonelier than ever before. Today's episode aims to help you understand God's design for friendship and give you practical advice on how to find the right friends as well as keep them for the long haul. Check out my weekly blog: www.graceopens.blogspot.com...
Sep 17, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 3
As concerning world events or even personal problems and stressors invade our peaceful lives with unwanted access, cynicism, pessimism, and hopelessness can become an unhealthy pattern for us. Using Psalm 46 as a guide, and the background story from which it originated, today's episode explores the necessity of hope and warns against giving negative beliefs too much power in our lives. Check out my weekly blog: www.graceopens.blogspot.com and also follow me on social media: X/Twitter: opentograc...
Sep 10, 2024•22 min•Season 3Ep. 2
If you were totally honest with yourself about your life, would you say that you are really and truly thriving? Are you becoming who you want to be? Doing what you feel called to do? Many of us are living far below our potentials and are merely surviving when Jesus said He came to give us "life to the full." In today's episode, we will talk about what it means to flourish and how a perspective shift in our concept of thriving may help us succeed in the areas it matters most. Check out my weekly ...
Sep 03, 2024•20 min•Season 3Ep. 1
As humans, we often have the propensity to get in our own way - to self-sabotage, self-destruct, and throw away our potential because we’ve lost sight of our real purpose. Today’s guest, Derrick Moore, knows all about that. A recovering addict, author, and motivational speaker, Derrick is here to talk all about what it takes to change your life and get out of our own way and why God is all about second chances. You’ll be inspired by this conversation! Check out my weekly blog: www.graceopens.blo...
May 28, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 37
Redemption stories are a big theme here at Grace Moments. We believe in the power of hope and God to bring good out of any pain or personal failure and love having guests on who personify these truth. Today’s guest is no exception. Tullian Tchividjian was a well-known pastor, author, and speaker with a pretty good faith pedigree to boot as the grandson of Billy Graham. But a very public downfall left him with a broken life, broken family, and no ministry. Having recently written a book in which ...
May 21, 2024•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 36
There are sadly moments in our human experience where it becomes evident that a season of our life is coming to an end... where a goodbye you never thought you'd have to say is inevitable or a painful but necessary walking away has to take place. In one way or another, it has become clear that you don't belong "there" anymore. Bad breakups, divorces, getting passed over for a promotion at work, moves, friendships going sour, job changes - all these things test how gracefully we can transition fr...
May 14, 2024•27 min•Season 2Ep. 35
Prayer can seem so ordinary and so routine if you are a person of faith who shares a relationship with God. It is natural to utilize prayer to petition or bless Him for various situations in this life. But sometimes there can be a limit to how honest we're willing to get with Him in our prayer life, almost like we've placed a holy limit on how raw and real it's okay to get with God about ourselves and circumstances. This episode explores our need for unedited prayers and why practicing candidnes...
May 07, 2024•23 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Each one of us keeps our own personal trophy case in our heart where passions or meaningful achievements live. While it is great to be proud of things we've accomplished, if our successes are all that define us, we will be disappointed and let down when we feel others haven't validated those successes as we'd hoped. We can also sometimes start to treat our faith this way as if bringing our trophies to God somehow earns us special points. This episode discusses why God alone should have your hear...
Apr 30, 2024•16 min•Season 2Ep. 30
As we encounter personal, spiritual, relational, and overall general challenges in life, it can be easy to become cynical, jaded, and despairing about the condition of others, ourselves, and even life itself. Differences in opinion, practice, personality, and even the existence of pain and loss can get in the way of finding the good around and within us. This episode is a caution against allowing the bad parts to cloud and overshadow the good ones and why negative thinking always has to be held ...
Apr 23, 2024•19 min•Season 2Ep. 32
There are moments in life when we all come across problems that seem to be far too insurmountable - situations that, to the human perspective, feel impossible. And sometimes, these can lead us to question if said circumstances are too hard... even for God. In this episode, we'll tackle the issue of unbelief and why knowing the dependable track record of God is key to having hope and good mental health. Visit and subscribe to my blog at: www.graceopens.blogspot.com Twitter: @opentograce2015 Insta...
Apr 16, 2024•18 min•Season 2Ep. 31
Home is a place many of us have mixed feelings about: some have pleasant memories, others do not. Whether it was the one you grew up in or the place you live now, home has a powerful impact on your mental state - for good or bad. This episode unpacks the important role home plays in our well-being and why protecting the peace and sacredness of its space matters so much. Visit and subscribe to my blog at: www.graceopens.blogspot.com Twitter: @opentograce2015 Instagram: @opentogracealaska MeWe: Ka...
Apr 09, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 30
We have a mixed and complicated relationship with doubts. We all have them but we also despise them because they scare us and cause us to ask things that make us uncomfortable. Especially in faith circles, doubt can sometimes be looked down upon. So this episode aims to untangle misconceptions surrounding doubt and help us see the helpful place these questions have in solidifying our beliefs. Visit and subscribe to my blog at: www.graceopens.blogspot.com Twitter: @opentograce2015 Instagram: @ope...
Apr 02, 2024•18 min•Season 2Ep. 29
Easter is coming up, and this episode is a refreshing reminder that God's redeeming work isn't just relegated to Him alone - He invites us to join with Him in the restoring plan He is working out... one that is constantly ongoing and active. And because He rose, we have hope and can rise and be transformed in our own lives. If you're struggling with old patterns that die hard or pain that seems pointless, you will find this uplifting. Visit and subscribe to my blog at: www.graceopens.blogspot.co...
Mar 26, 2024•17 min•Season 2Ep. 30
Gardening terms are often commonly used in Bible passages as ways for God to describe His cultivating and transformative work in our lives. But, in today's not-so-agrarian world, we can be a bit removed from these metaphors and the picture they produce of our own hearts and journeys. Today's episode shows you a handful of lessons we can learn from gardens about spiritual growth. Whether or not you're into gardening yourself, you'll find this encouraging. Visit and subscribe to my blog at: www.gr...
Mar 19, 2024•19 min•Season 2Ep. 28
While less familiar to the faith community now than in generations past, the hymns have offered a solace for people in suffering that few other things can afford. Perhaps surprisingly, many of the authors of the great hymns we know were themselves individuals who struggled greatly with pain and problems. This episode is a reminder that your situation is no different than that of others, and you are not alone in what you are going through. The same trust that sustained these pioneers of the faith...
Mar 12, 2024•27 min•Season 2Ep. 27
We all hold certain limiting ideas and lies that shape how we think and act. While the truth is always there and will always come out eventually, some of us have a hard time opening ourselves up to what it may show us and how it may change our life and beliefs. This episode is a challenge to not only identify what your personal lies are but also how they may be holding you back from the life God wants for you. Visit and subscribe to my blog at: www.graceopens.blogspot.com Twitter: @opentograce20...
Mar 05, 2024•18 min•Season 2Ep. 26
While perhaps not in the literal sense, exile seasons happen to all of us. We go through times when we feel incredibly dislocated, uprooted, and uncertain. Everything feels unpredictable, and we struggle to adapt and thrive in the midst. This week's episode takes you to the word God gave the exiled Hebrews through Jeremiah and reminds you to look for what God is doing in your life, even in personal times of exile that seem so unsure and difficult. Visit and subscribe to my blog at: www.graceopen...
Feb 27, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Mental wellness isn’t just about learning how to balance our thoughts and emotions and make peace with our past or present. It also involves a physical aspect as well. Healing must come from the inside out. Pulling on her experience as a wellness educator, Stephanie Singleton is our guest on the podcast to talk about how to bring our bodies into alignment, how to move trauma through them, breathing, techniques for relaxation, dietary adjustments, and more. Whether you're a boss, employee, or jus...
Feb 20, 2024•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 24
With it being Valentine's Day this week, today's episode is dedicated to the topic of relationships... but particularly, people-differences in relationships. God has created each one of us as unique persons with our own ways of doing and thinking and being but sometimes, those differences, however attractive initially, can become incredibly annoying over time. In this episode, you'll learn about how to see both yourself and others in a new light, hopefully leading to better communication, compas...
Feb 13, 2024•22 min•Season 2Ep. 23
All of us deal with anger at different times over different things. Some of it is warranted and some, not. Most of the time, our anger ends up hurting ourselves and others instead of being harnessed to point us toward deeper things that must be addressed. Anger is built into us to be our warning sign, yet we often ignore it as such. In this episode, you'll find a frank discussion on what science and faith have to say about anger and why getting control of it is so important. Visit and subscribe ...
Feb 06, 2024•22 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Common things like loss, trauma, transition, health problems, and adversity of any kind are certainly frequent and obvious contributors to mental distress. But what the health industry doesn't often talk about are the subtle things in our daily routines and diet and products that are equally, if not more so, adding to the mental issues we are dealing with. Today's episode touches on some surprising data and discoveries that prove the healing changes we need may not involve such drastic intervent...
Jan 30, 2024•18 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Suffering has a way of skewing our view and sowing lies in our mind that things are so bad they can never get better. It's a common, human problem to assume the worst after you've experienced the worst. But hope means we keep turning our faces into the dark and believing that the pain won't last forever, and sun will shine again. Digging into the wisdom of a 19th century poem, this episode will look at why it matters so much that you wait expectantly for the dawn. Visit and subscribe to my blog ...
Jan 23, 2024•13 min•Season 2Ep. 20
People using religious means to emotionally hurt and manipulate others is becoming a real concern in communities of faith. And the even more disturbing thing is that churches and faith leaders are turning a blind eye to it and are ill-equipped to handle it. This episode is a candid discussion with previous guest Rachel (Redman) Skidmore about how to address this and why the faith community needs to become a house of hope instead of a house of pain. Disclaimer: There were some audio issues at the...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Most of us have areas of our lives in which we are trying to change and grow but sometimes, it seems like are seeing little progress even with all of our efforts. We need to remember that God has given us all we need and that maybe, the key to getting from where we are to where we want to be is simply to start accessing what's already available to us. This episode will help you see that God has already given you what you need in order to change your life - you just to have start harnessing it! V...
Jan 09, 2024•15 min•Season 2Ep. 18
We've just ushered in a new year, fresh with hopes and dreams and goals. Yet, it seems as though all people everywhere, and especially people of faith, need a bit of joy. Challenges and uncertain times in recent months and years have taken their toll and many feel more discouraged and defeated than ever. This episode will infuse you with a much-needed reminder that joy can be found in (and is commanded in!) every situation and that God offers us so many reasons to take delight in Him because He ...
Jan 02, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 17
As we say goodbye to another year and look ahead to the next, today's episode helps us understand the value of distinguishing what to hold onto and what to let go of. There will likely be things we take with us going forward and things we choose to leave behind and the goal in it all is to make certain that, in looking back or in looking ahead, we don't stay stuck. Headed into a new year, that seems to be a good message for all of us! Visit and subscribe to my blog at: www.graceopens.blogspot.co...
Dec 26, 2023•16 min•Season 2Ep. 16
