In today's episode, Cheri and Amy grouse about grumbling. Sounds like fun, right?! Although they start with a little hilarity, your co-hosts finally switch from talking about what's grumble-worthy to what's praise worthy. Tune in for a few giggles at the beginning and some sore toes by the end. Becoming grumble-free is a daunting but worthwhile process!
The complaining of the people around us seems relentless. Sometimes even our own grousing seems overwhelming. If you committed to a grumble-free life, how long would you make it? A day? A week? Longer? (Or maybe not through the next hour!)
Author Tricia Goyer, along with her family, committed to a grumble free year. Listen in for the lessons they learned and the strategies they adopted for less complaining and more praise. This episode is a life-changer!
Disappointment at Christmas seems like the worst, especially if someone else is disappointed in YOU. But what if we embrace the reality of disappointment rather than running from it? That paradigm shift could change the everything!
Instead of lowering your Christmas joy to the level of the unhappiest person in the room, Amy and Cheri discuss gearing expectations for the greatest happiness and how to move past others' disappointment by getting comfortable with it.
"You can't choose joy for other people." ~Amy Carroll
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5
Let's leverage the pre-Christmas months this year to launch a holiday season that won't disappoint . With powerful punches of insight and truth, Kathi Lipp delivers secrets that all of us need to de-clutter Christmas. There's essential advice in this episode that you can't live without (no joke!), and it's not too early to start planning for a dose of Christmas joy!
Amy and Cheri give last words on how Exhale is changing and shaping them as well as a few life and family updates. This is no ho-hum, re-hash episode, though. Listen carefully for a question that could change your family life in the same positive way it's changed Cheri's! And giggle along at an unexpected example of boundary-setting.
We all have plans—plans about where we're going and what we're doing. But often those pre-determined destinations become subject to a detour, and the final stop isn't where we planned to be at all. How we respond to the unexpected road is everything. This week's seed-sender, Shantell Brightman, has found delight in a new destination, one that maximizes her gifts in talents in ways she never imagined. And she shares how you can find joy in the place you never saw coming.
Often, we see focusing on ourselves and our gifts as selfishness, but what if it's really stewardship? This episode's guest, Cindy Finley, is a woman who has overcome the paralysis of not being able do everything with the joy of doing something. She's done it by watching God's work as He pulls the bits and pieces of her life—gifts, talents, experiences—together into a calling, and she's grown in the process. Listen in to this great interview to learn steps to grow your gifts!
God uses every part of us, even our personalities, for His beautiful purposes. He made that personality of yours, after all! Karen McNary, today's guest, tells how God has used her wiring over and over again to connect people and bring His message of reconciliation into the world. Let this wonderful interview give you a glimpse into how your God-given personality might impact your world.
Just when you think a story is unredeemable, God walks in and uses it in a beautiful way. That's what happened for Kim Tshirret, founder of Hope Reins. God used her childhood love for horses to spark an inspiration for helping children who have suffered abuse, just like she did as a child. The rest of the story is a true miracle! The combination of horses and transformation is irresistible, so don't miss this episode... and have your Kleenex ready.
Cary Heise, this week's "seed-sender" guest, has always been a people-gatherer. Now she uses this gift to draw people around a table for great good. Instead of down-playing your gifting, what if you identify and start to leverage it? If you've been unsure of how to step up into your calling, this episode will spur you on and inspire you!
Do you have a passion to make a difference, but you feel alone? Amanda Davison, founder of A Wife Like Me, used what she once considered a weakness to build a dynamic team. Using social media and engaging online content, she and her team have created a community where they're lowering the divorce rate by strengthening existing marriages through the hearts of wives. You'll learn how to view your weaknesses in a whole new way in this episode of the Seed Sender Series.
Today's guest, Jenn Hand, moves into disaster instead of away from it. On purpose. With the seeds of trauma counseling and personal joy in her hands, Jenn has ministered to hundreds in crisis situations including the earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. How can she possibly bring joy into the midst of death and devastation? Listen in as Jenn explains the source of strength in her seed sender life.
When you think of producing spiritual fruit for God, how does it make you feel? Amy and Cheri confess that guilt was their long-time reaction. "Surely we're never doing enough!" they thought. But fruit production doesn't happen the way we've thought. Learn in this episode how to step into the fruitfulness for which you're created!
Why are we constantly shocked by our humanity? Our limits? Our needs? Amy and Cheri discuss the difficult beauty of our neediness and the exquisite solution that ends our struggle against weakness. If you're constantly fighting to be more, listen to this episode about the power of being less. This isn't a place to wrestle. It's a spot to rest.
"What is my calling?" When our heart's desire is to follow God, that's the question in our Top 10 during every phase of life. While it often feels hard to know what to do next, it's actually simpler than we ever thought. Amy and Cheri boil down our best life—led by the calling of God—to two basic steps that we can all take. If you're struggling to find your current calling, make sure to listen to this one. You're doing better than you think!
When did we decide that it was our job to re-work ourselves, the woman God created? Cheri and Amy discuss the difficulties of releasing transformation to our Creator while embracing every facet of the person He made us to be. Sometimes the the very quirk that we've hidden that He wants most to use in this world. If you're not convinced, we get it—but listen in for more!
Turn about's fair play, so this is Amy's week to get into Cheri's business! As usual, a little drama and a lot of giggles ensue. In this episode, Cheri and Amy discuss the unexpected power of dis-appointing people and the beauty of embracing the story you never wanted. Their final conclusion about over-authorizing people and demanding a happy ending will surprise you.
Amy's not usually confrontational, but in this episode she asks Cheri, "Why do you have to be all up in my business?!" In return, Amy gives an "anonymous caller" the answer she least wants. Listen in for all the drama and the tool Cheri created that's proving to be both a curse and blessing in Amy's life. We guarantee that you need it too... even if it gets all up in your business!
How can you shed an old label? When you're facing conflict, is there a way to handle it besides faking fine or ghosting? If you're tired of the worn out habits that hold you back, today's episode hold fresh ways out that will propel you forward. And don't miss out on hearing Cheri and Amy's super-hero names. It might inspire you to make a cape of your own!
Okay... maybe failure isn't the best thing, but it's definitely not the worst! Amy and Cheri discuss the upsides of failure (their second-most-dreaded word) as well as a counter-intuitive perspective on expectations. Want to have a paradigm shift on two of the pitfalls of perfectionism and people-pleasing? Tune in today!
Most of us live in the tension between suffocating pressures and the fear of change. We want to live differently, but we're running-on-empty, unsure of whether we're able to move into a new way of life.
In this "short for summer" episode, the Grit 'n' Grace intern team shares great insights as Amy and Cheri unpack the struggles and solutions they've found while creating change in their own lives. Ready to live above life's inevitable pressures? This one's for you!
Cue the drumroll, please... this is the both the third anniversary of Grit 'n' Grace and the launch episode for Cheri & Amy's new book, Exhale! (Party sounds, wooohooos & all the rest in the background).
In this episode, guest hosted by Grit 'n' Grace's first and favorite guest, Kathi Lipp, we dish on losing old labels, loving the person God created us to be (weirdness and all), and living our one life well. Join the party and enjoy the celebration!
In this second part of the Friday night message from the first ever Grit 'n' Grace Girls Getaway, Amy and Cheri discuss their baddest bad rules and biggest "ah-ha!" moments from three years of processing life together.
Join in, as Cheri shares the results of a recent listener survey (download it and see for yourself!) and Amy reveals the impact of seeing 3 years' worth of bad rules in one long list. You'll hear about the evening's powerful closing exercise and laugh along as perfectionism sneaks up on Cheri right at the very end.
In their first ever Grit 'n' Grace Girls Getaway, Amy and Cheri unpacked All The Things for good girls. In this episode, you'll get a virtual front seat to hear the replay as they talk about the roots of Grit 'n' Grace and the two different kinds of perfectionists. Amy also explains why there's no set formula for a "bad rule," but she quotes a fellow blogger with a word picture that you'll never forget. Don't miss this fun!
What's your reaction to being given the immeasurably more life? Maybe you feel a mix of emotions similar to Cheri and Amy's: excited, scared, anticipating, and out-of-control. In this episode, they process these conflicting emotions as well as what each says about our beliefs about God. Amy and Cheri also end with a discussion of the ways they've seen God's immeasurably more promise come to pass in their own lives. Not as scary as it may seem! Tune in to embrace this amazing life that you've been promised.