My Favorite Christian Podcasts

Podcasts are life. I LOVE them!

I think I got hooked back in community college when I had a 40 minute drive to school and back (or, tbh it was Harry Potter audio books most of the time), and these days I hang out with them daily—on walks, while I’m cleaning or cooking, while I’m doing business tasks, when I need some inspiration, when I want to learn something new.

There are SO many options, and I am obsessed with all of them. Business tips, Christian lifestyle, female topics, motivational, funny, dramatic—literally anything that you like, there is a podcast for you.

Continually learning and growing is one of the keys to moving our lives in a positive direction, so it’s not just about entertainment for me, it’s also a priority to keep my mind fresh and focused on things that will help me make better decisions, lead a healthier life, and driven to be my best (and ultimately the best for God!). And, to be completely honest, it’s so stinking easy and feels like I’m not doing any work at all to gain valuable knowledge and insight.

Here we go, my FAVES of last year:

Focus on the Family

This podcast is AMAZING. I adore Jim Daily and John Fuller, and you can find hope and Biblical inspiration on marriage, raising kids, depression, loss, how to live well as a Christian. There’s so many topics and none of them fail to inspire me, even if they aren’t topics that directly relate to me. The marriage and family-specific broadcast is awesome too!

My favorite episode: This podcast is pulled from their radio station, so there are 100s of episodes. Honestly all of them are so good. I’d recommend finding a topic that speaks to you or your situation, and then also expand your knowledge base and listen to a topic that isn’t something you know about, but one that could help you better understand or relate to others. One I loved and found very interesting was Understanding Sexual Trends In the Dating Culture

She Podcast

I mean, who doesn’t love Jordan Dooley. That’s not even a question. She’s awesome. This podcast is fairly new, but there is some incredible Christian content in here—business tips, buying a home, anxiety and fear, acne, dreams, relationships. I mean, literally every girl needs to listen to this podcast.

My favorite episode: Navigating the Awkward Post Grad Years and the Tension of Transition. No explanation needed for why this one is so good.

The Porch

This podcast is a series of sermons from Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas, and it’s specifically catered to young adults. The pastor talks about everything from dating, to doubting our faith, to what happens if you get pregnant, to if you can be a gay Christian. There are definitely some hard topics in here, but I think that’s the value of it and I have learned SO much already

My favorite episode: To be honest I just started this podcast, but one that really spoke to me so far was called Finding Freedom From Anxiety. I deal a lot with stressing out and having minor anxiety, and this episode gave me so much peace and motivation to overcome with God’s love and promises.

Rise Podcast

Rachel Hollis is so comical and fun to listen to, and she’s also a business boss and incredible motivator. It’s not specifically Christian content, but Rachel is a believer, and that motivates and molds how she runs her life and business. If you want to become a kick ass person, awesome mom, killer business owner, or just receive some incredible motivation—listen to this podcast. And, because I’m just being honest here, you know how some podcasts have hit and miss episodes? This one doesn’t. They’re all so good simply because Rachel is a great speaker, fun to listen to, and has so many great things to say.

My favorite episode: I haven’t listened to all of them, and seriously every one is good, but I will give you one that really moved and inspired me- This Daily Practice Changed My Life and My Business

The Hope Podcast

Lina Abujamra spoke at the college I attended several years ago and I was hooked. She is such an inspiration and has the biggest heart for God. This podcast deals with some tough issues, but it is so inspiring and truth giving. If you need to hear from God and be encouraged with stories of his love and transformation—I highly recommend you take a listen.

My favorite episode: With Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. Loss, purpose, daily life, singleness—just listen to it.

The Ed Mylett Show

Ed Mylett is an incredible leader in shaping your life into what you want it to be and living your absolute best. Honestly, his tenacity intimidates me sometimes, but it gives me a kick in the butt to give my all and really use the skills God has given me. If you want someone with a Godly perspective on improving your body, mind, business or family, Ed is the guy.

My favorite episode: Eric Thomas - The Hip-Hop Preacher. So inspiring and energetic. This episode will inspire you in so many ways.

Okay, I’ve given you enough for a lifetime of Jesus and inspiration, so I think that’s a good place to stop for the day. Drop me your favorite podcasts! I love finding new ones!

P.S. I have a few other favorites that aren’t necessarily Christian, and I will forewarn that I don’t agree with all of the opinions/beliefs in some of them, but they are full of so much knowledge and valuable content, and are just fun to listen to!

The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast: This podcast is honestly just fun. It’s a lot of girly stuff—skincare, business tips, hair, makeup, health, food, fitness, and some deeper ones on mental health and other interesting topics. I love it and listen almost every week.

The Grind and Be Grateful Podcast: Marie Wold is such an inspiring and sweet person. She is in her early 20s and runs an awesome influencer business focused around healthy, balanced, and confident living. I found her on Instagram and have never looked back. She talks with people about mental health surrounding food and fitness, business topics, women’s health, and loads more. And she’s a fanatic about practicing gratitude. It’s awesome.

The Goal Digger Podcast: Jenna Kutcher is the master behind this podcast and she is one of the sweetest and most grounded women alive. She is a business boss, but is also just freaking real about body image and life, and she brings to much value to the table. She is an Instagram, Pinterest, and email marketing boss, and she has the best tips and tricks out there for anyone wanting to run a killer business or just have some great tips for life.

Okay, that’s all for now. Until next time! Happy listening!

My #1 Marriage Advice After the First 6 Months

We’ve been married for 6 months this week.

6 MONTHS!

I know, I know, that’s nothing compared to 10 and 20 years, but what blows my mind is just how truly fast it’s gone already. I remember just talking with my husband last spring about how I couldn’t wait for the long distance to end. It felt like ages until our wedding day, and now here we are.

So I thought it might be interesting to do a little reflection on our time so far and what hasn’t worked for us and what has. For time’s sake we’re going to dive right in.

What’s Worked

1. Talking about money extensively, learning to budget, and learning how to have a conversation about it openly.

   I am naturally a saver and my husband is not, so talks about strapping down on our budget so that we could pay off our school loans quickly was HARD. We were introduced to Dave Ramsey’s practices a while back, so it was always a goal of mine to make sure we could handle our money since we were coming into the game young and without much job experience under our belts. Let me tell you, we don’t make very much yet, but our finances are under control, we have zero arguments about it (okay, every now and then, but barely. Monthly allowances help A LOT with this), and we have been able to set up an emergency fund and pay several thousand dollars on our loans already.

2. Getting really real with one another.

   I won’t go into it much in this post, but let’s just say that I had been struggling with an issue that I kept secret from my husband for several months. I tell him everything, so this was not normal, but I was so embarrassed and ashamed I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him. One day he found out on his own, and what it led to was a us holding each other on the floor with tears running down our faces as I told him about my struggles and he sat there devastated because he hadn’t known the pain I’d been going through. And he was so hurt that I didn’t feel that I could confide in him. I was so worried that I would embarrass him or make him ashamed of me, when in the end he was in pain because he couldn’t be there for me or feel that I fully trusted him. He also ended up sharing with me something that had been holding him down. Guys, telling each other everything is SO important for intimacy and closeness. When you truly love one another, NOTHING you say can make your husband ashamed of you, so please confide in the Lord and in him, as your God-given partner.

3. Figuring out a plan for family time

   I wish I was one of those amazing daughter’s-in-law who does great with his family, adores spending time with them, and never bawks at an impromptu entire afternoon at their house, but I’M NOT. I try to be loving, but as a type- A introvert, I need to know, in advance, when we will see family, how long we will be there, and what to expect. We agreed to split family holidays every other, but we live a lot closer to his family than to mine, so we end up meeting with them almost every week. This is perfectly fine, but it helps my sanity to plan it out. For instance, we plan to have dinner with them, for sure, every other Sunday night. Or, we get lunch after church every Sunday and then head our separate ways. That works for me. I’m not a spontaneous planner.

4. Talking about health goals

   I am pretty health conscious and my husband is not, and while this doesn’t seem like a big deal, it can really be hard for us to understand where the other one is coming from and to not get frustrated. He wants pizza. I want grilled chicken and broccoli. Or I want to get a work out in and he wants to relax all day. Again, it’s about planning ahead for us. I learned quickly that I needed to share that I want to eat healthy and workout during the weekdays, and that he could do otherwise but I wasn’t going to cook that way or eat with him. I get that it may sound harsh, but we each have goals, and we have to be true to ourselves as well.

5. Being really cheesy

   This one doesn’t sound as concrete as the others, and it’s not. But mannnn is it amazing. You know that experience when your totally googly-eyed for your man and other people with you are like “gross, gag me.” Or maybe you don’t do that overboard stuff in public, cause, believe me, I don’t. So uncomfortable. But let me tell you, my hubby and I are SO cheesy and lovey dovey and cute with one another at home, and it inspires the most special, giddy feeling to be treated that way. I cannot tell you how loved I feel, and how much more loving it makes me want to be towards him.

   IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE IN YOUR MARRIAGE, DO NOT STOP GOING OVER THE TOP FOR YOUR MAN.

   I promise you it is worth it and will be so great for both of you. It might be silly or childish or totally over the top for anyone outside your marriage, but INSIDE YOUR MARRIAGE IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP THE FIRE BURNING HOT. So, I mean, if this will help, then duh, just do it. It’s fun, I promise.

What We Need To Work On

1. Devotional/Prayer Time

   I hate to admit that, but hey, that’s the point of this, right? We started having a Sunday night “meeting” where we would pray, have a devotional, and share needs, thoughts, goods/bads, etc. in preparation for the coming week. Well…we haven’t done that in probably 2 months. Yikes..so, moving forward, it is my goal to make sure we are focusing on the precious time. I have set an alarm on my phone that will go off every Sunday night at 7:00pm, and my hope is that we will get into a routine of doing this every week and learn to look forward to it and cherish it.

2. Goal setting

   To be completely honest I don’t know what all of the goals we should have are, but I want to be more thoughtful about this and work on setting goals that inspire and push us to have a deeper, better relationship, reach our financial goals, know God better, keep life exciting and driven, and so forth. I want us to live each phase of our lives intentionally and be excited about what we are working towards, so this is in the works! We have set some goals, but I want it to become a monthly practice so that we continue going in a positive direction and don’t become distant or complacent with each other or our lives.

3. …Sex

   I’m embarrassed to say this one, but I am also so incredibly driven to have the best marriage possible, so I know that this needs to be a focus. I am incredibly attracted to my husband, but I have a pretty low sex drive. Not very inspiring for a new marriage, and also something that brings me guilt when I feel that I am not satisfying my husband as often as he would like. I am completely open to recommendations on this, but I also think part of it is me learning how to enjoy sex and get excited for it even if I am not initially “in the mood.” In Girl, Wash Your Face, Rachel Hollis talks about how she had to learn how to enjoy sex and make herself think that it would be the best thing that could possibly happen to her in that moment. Not whatever show she was watching, not an incredible dinner, not the kids, not anything but sex with her husband. That seems kind of crazy, but it’s honestly the mindset I want to have. I often think oh, we don’t really need to do this right now. I’m tired, I just want to watch TV. Ugh, I could kick myself. Sex is important for our marriage, and I don’t believe you have to have sex, but it is one heck of a way to keep intimacy and stop your relationship from drifting to a point where you don’t do anything special together anymore. So, long story short, I believe it will take a mindset shift and also practice. Practice to make it awesome and something I get used to enjoying. Maybe a weird way to look at it, I don’t know, but it’s something that I want to be better.

4. Expectations

   I had lots of expectations going into marriage. I thought we would each help clean up the house and eat all of our dinners together and have deep, meaningful conversations all the time, and being on our phones would never be an issue. Well, I’m here to state that I was laughingly wrong, and it’s not because we have a bad marriage. We actually have a really great one, but I was stopping us from creating our own marriage by expecting things that I had seen in my parent’s relationship, in movies, or just made up in my own head. There were other times where I expected my husband to react in certain ways to my emotions, or to love me in certain ways, but HE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT I EXPECTED, and thus he wasn’t able to meet my expectations. It wasn’t his fault at all. It was mine.

   The solution is as easy and as hard as simply telling my husband how I need him to handle certain situations, and vice versa. Obviously we aren’t trying to manipulate one another, but if, say, when I am discouraged and need to talk everything out to him and need him to fully listen and converse back, even if he can’t fully sympathize or understand, then I need to tell him those things. Only then can he be more prepared for the situation if I’ve told him that I need that kind of support. Or if I want him to take the garbage out every week and I’ll take care of all the cleaning, we need to discuss that situation up front so that both of us know the expectation. If somebody doesn’t do their part, then grace must come into play, but the point is that expectations are harmful and they hurt. No bueno, and it’s something that I need to consciously be thinking about and have an open mind and a willingness to talk about my needs with my husband.

5. Wishing we were further along than we are

   Marriage is just like our lives in general. We look at others and wish we had what they had. We wish we had our college paid for like that one couple, or we wish we landed amazing jobs like our friends did. We wish we lived in a nicer apartment or a town we liked better. This happens to me more than my husband, but I get discouraged that life isn’t exactly how I want it and I just can’t wait for us to move on to the next phase. Well, as I’ve learned just from reflecting on this post, time flies. We are already six months in, and I don’t want to look back a year or five from now and remember how bummed I was during our early months because we didn’t have “it all.” It brings me down and then brings my husband down, and it doesn’t help the situation at all. We have so many beautiful moments in our current situation, and I know that God has important lessons in every phase of our lives and doesn’t want us to miss them. Practicing gratitude is big these days, and I believe starting to do that will greatly help this challenge. There are so many things to be grateful for every single day, and my goal is to begin writing out 3 things in detail every single day to help shift my mindset. Hey, I never said I was perfect, so I’m sharing things that I need to work on, and maybe it will inspire someone else as well. That’s my only hope.

There are loads of other lessons we’ve learned throughout this season, but those are some of the bigger ones I’ve realized. Overall I believe my challenge as a wife is to remember to submit fully to God and to my husband, and remembering to have that as my first intention above all else is the first step to making the other choices, actions, and emotions fall into place.

If you took away nothing else from all of this, just remember to go crazy for your man and love him like you mean it. Have fun and don’t take anything as too gushy or childish. I believe love like that is the ultimate glorification of God and the marriage that He’s give to us.

Why We Need To Stop Stressing About Doing Enough

Take a breath, slow down. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You have plenty of time.

Okay, I’m talking to myself here—and to anyone who feels like they are rushing around, trying desperately to get a job, find a passion, feel purposeful, work hard enough, satisfy everyone, make everyone proud—you name it!

I could go on!

I am naturally a planner, and I like to know what is going to happen. When things unexpectedly come up at 8:00 p.m. I have a REALLY hard time wanting to go or change what I’m already doing. And let’s be honest, I am probably in my pajamas, makeup off, and ready to be in for the night.

I don’t handle lack of structure well, but I am also the biggest dreamer and want so badly to feel completely fulfilled in my life, work, marriage and want to feel used by God. I don’t currently feel that way, but let me back up a little. I got married about 6 months ago, and I absolutely LOVEEE marriage and I adore my husband, but friends, life is not easy.

We moved to a completely new area, had to get completely new jobs, and are currently trying to find completely new community. Man is it hard. I took on a new job that has incredible moments, and also incredible employers, but it’s just not for me. I don’t feel purposeful. I don’t feel like I am using all of my skills, and then sometimes I feel guilty because I don’t know what more I should be doing. I want so badly to serve the people I work for to my fullest, but I also don’t want to be there most of the time.

So then I wonder, what is it you want me doing God? What is my purpose? Where do I fit in?

Do you feel me? Are you reading this and thinking yes, I feel that way. I feel lost. I’m grasping at 20 different straws trying to see if one of them is for me. My mind is all over the place and I don’t know what God wants from me.

Well let’s just start with that last one. God doesn’t want anything from you. God doesn’t have any expectations or bars to meet. All He asks of us is this:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34

The reason I feel that verse is necessary is because for a while now I was going CRAZY trying to figure out what God wanted from me—what He wants me to do. I have a side business that I wondered if He wanted me to grow and go full time with. Or, get this, I went and started another side gig too. I am working full time and trying all of these different avenues to feel fulfilled in God, and you know what? It’s not working.

Because God doesn’t need me to find the perfect job or be worthy of His love by doing this or doing that. He just wants me to love Him and love others. If I’m doing that then I’m literally satisfying my only true life purpose.

Let that sink in for a minute, because it’s just now really sinking in for me. And God has tried, man has He tried, to comfort me and direct me and speak to me lately.

I mean, listen to the titles of some of my devotionals lately:

“Don’t Stress Out! Trust God to Provide For You!”

“Your Thoughts Control Your Life”

“Think of These Three Things For Mental Health”

“Feed Your Mind With God’s Word”

Ugh, God I’m am so sorry. You’ve been trying to speak to me for months now. You don’t want anything but just my heart, but i’ve been trying to hard to do a million things to feel worthy or good enough or like I’m doing something with my life.

There are tons of things in the world that make us think we have to be climbing mountains, killing the social media game, building businesses, making thousands—but we don’t. Those things can be fantastic, and if God pushes us in a direction that makes that happen, that’s awesome, but it’s not an expectation.

Trust me, God has some BIG plans for your life and mine, but I think that we struggle to even see straight enough to notice those things when we are so worried about doing, running, worrying, succeeding, etc. We need to slow down and realize that God is in control, and He will guide us if we give Him our entire hearts.

Since he did not spare even his own Son for us but gave him up for us all, won’t he also surely give us everything else? Romans 8:32

We worry so much about if we are doing enough to make it, or to be successful, or to do as well as this person or that person, or to make the decision God wants us to, but we forget that God already gave up everything for us. He has our absolute best interests in mind, and He will do anything for us. He will provide and guide, but we can’t be so busy worrying about doing things correctly to notice His gentle prods.

I am not preaching to anyone here because I certainly don’t know it all, but this message came upon my heart this week because I know I have been crazy anxious about life lately. I hope that if that’s you right now too, that you feel a sense of peace knowing that you don’t have to do it all or know it all. You don’t have to have your life’s work or purpose figured out today, next week, next year, or in 10 years.

Our purpose will evolve as we let God work. Some of the greatest people of faith and influence started businesses or began doing big things when they were 40, 50, or even retired already. I’m not saying don’t have goals and try to do big things now, because heck, I want to! But what I am saying is that we don’t have to stress out about figuring out life.

We simply have to live for today and live for God and His love.