Can I Tell God How I Feel in Prayer? With Suzanne Eller [Episode 253]

Tell God Feel Prayer Suzanne Eller

GIVEAWAY ALERT: You can win the book Prayer Starters by this week’s podcast guest. Keep reading to find out how!

In hard times, lots of us shy away from God, unsure of how to talk to Him about what we’re feeling. But today, author and podcaster Suzanne Eller explains why prayer is not about the number of words that come out of your mouth or how eloquent you sound. It’s about being in God’s presence. Simply showing up.

Suzanne will give you some practical prayer starters based on Scripture to unintimidate talking to God.

Spill the Beans LIVE with Kelly Minter at Fresh Grounded Faith Melbourne, FL [Episode 248]

Spill Beans Melbourne Florida Kelly Minter Michael O'Brien

Pack your bags! You’re coming with me to Melbourne, Florida for a Fresh Grounded Faith conference where this episode was recorded LIVE! Kelly Minter, Michael O’Brien, and I sat around the bistro table answering questions from the audience, and wow, did they have some great questions!

We talk about how to manage your expectations, what to do when you feel God is far away, and how to deal with doubt. Kelly also shares why she isn’t married, and I answered several interesting questions about my blindness.

Can I Build Meaningful Friendships in My Busy Life? With Bailey T. Hurley [Episode 227]

Build Meaningful Friendships Busy Life Bailey T. Hurley

GIVEAWAY ALERT: You can win the book Together Is a Beautiful Place by this week’s podcast guest. Keep reading to find out how!

Let’s face it … the older we get, the less we find ourselves spending time with good friends. Or maybe within our friendships, we’ve become frustrated with the shallow, draining conversations that barely scratch the surface.

Or, most painful of all, we’ve been rejected by a friend and feel like no one wants us.

Can I See Blue Skies Even When It’s Cloudy? With James Barnett [Episode 219]

Blue Skies Cloudy James Barnett

GIVEAWAY ALERT: You can win the book Blue Skies by this week’s podcast guest. Keep reading to find out how!

What if you started living with excited anticipation of what God is up to next? Would you live differently? What if no matter what life threw at you, you saw it all through a lens of hope, optimism, and trust in God?

Well today, author James Barnett reveals how you can move from a life of worry and fear to a life full of anticipation of what God is doing.

Can I Find Joy When the Life I Have Isn’t the One I Wanted? With Elizabeth Woodson [Episode 215]

Joy Life Not Wanted Elizabeth Woodson

We all live with some sort of longing—a gap between the life we want and the life we actually have. As we navigate this gap, we try to hang on to the hope that God will change our circumstances or fulfill our desires.

For some, those prayers are answered. Yet for others, the longing persists, making us weary at best and debilitated at worst. So, how do you find joy in this life when it isn’t the life you hoped for?

A Rational Guide to Valentine’s Day

My daughter-in-law Caroline is joining us for Java today! And even though I’ve posted this before, it’s too good not to share it again today. She’s talking about Valentine’s Day – the expectations and the reality. She’s a 20-something with a great perspective that will encourage and challenge you.


guest post by Caroline Rothschild

Today is Valentine’s Day. In the middle school world, it’s the day that roses are delivered to classrooms and kids walk around with giant teddy bears bought from the grocery store. In the adult world, it can easily move from being about chocolate to something far more complex; the day can too often become about feeling loved.

I wrote the post below about 4 years ago, and I find myself publishing it again each year because, somehow, it stays relevant. Regardless of age or stage of life or relationship status, the post stays relevant because it’s really not about Valentine’s Day; it’s about expectations. And, so often, our expectations are set so high that they are bound to let us down.

Valentine’s Day in elementary school rocked. Back then the only downside was creating the Valentine’s box. Every year I tried to make these outlandish boxes that inevitably failed, and then my dad would come to the rescue and do damage control on my box super-late the night before Valentine’s Day.