Arise, My Darling Podcast

We see Mary display penetrating intuition as she visits Elizabeth shortly after finding out she is expecting in her old age. Given that Elizabeth's husband had lost his ability to speak, Mary's supportive and encouraging words were probably needed in the hard months of preparing for birth. As women, we have a great gift to offer the world of pouring kind words and blessings over others in our life. We can allow these words of encouragement to be an outpouring of the ways we feel encouraged and pursued by Jesus himself. In this episode, we talk about how as mothers (spiritual and physical) our role is to hold space for other souls to flourish. We have done that for people in our lives and others have done that for us!Send us your comments!

What does it look like to show limitless fidelity and tireless devotion to our work?  Mary was a mother of one son who spent her days caring for her family and keeping their home in Nazareth. We can assume her days would have been filled with many ordinary and mundane tasks. In this episode, we reflect on how Mary is the model that the Lord gives us to imitate as a measure of living out authentic femininity. Mary is a "gentle mirror" of femininity that gives us permission to claim the limitless fidelity and tireless devotion it takes to care for our spouses, children, and others as service to God. Redemptoris MaterImage of Mary Hanging LaundrySend us your comments!

We continue to reflect on Mary as she "mirrors the loftiest sentiments of which the human heart is capable." This episode we unpack "the strength that is capable of bearing the greatest sorrows." During Lent, we are all invited to visit places of suffering in our own hearts and reflect upon them. How do these places make us feel? To what capacity have we invited others into our sorrows? What role do we allow Mary to play in our places of sorrow? Andrea and Lizz were also both drawn to deeper mediation through pieces of artwork and invite you to be aware of what is aiding you in your meditation.The Return from Calvary by Herbert Gustave SchmalzRachel Weeping for Her ChildrenRedemptoris Mater*apologies for Lizz's mic quality, it was not working during the recording but the content was so good we just rolled with itSend us your comments!

As we enter the season of Lent, we are given a time to reflect on our spiritual lives and the ways we want to prepare our hearts for the Easter season. What better way to prepare our hearts than with the help of Mary. She plays a maternal role in the "birth and development of divine life in the souls of the redeemed." She is the role model for us always as women in the Church. In this episode, we dive into one aspect of Mary, her self-offering totality of love, which we pull from Redemptoris Mater by St. Pope John Paul II. In the light of Mary, the Church sees in the face of women the reflection of a beauty which mirrors the loftiest sentiments of which the human heart is capable: the self-offering totality of love; the strength that is capable of bearing the greatest sorrows; limitless fidelity and tireless devotion to work; the ability to combine penetrating intuition with words of support and encouragement.Find the full encyclical here: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.htmlSend us your comments!

We thought we would do a little Advent special because we both missed doing a podcast! During this episode, we reflect on how Christ has prepared our hearts for the celebration of His birth at Christmas. We both realized in typical fashion that the Lord was pursuing us more in Advent than we were pursuing Him. Christ is constantly pursuing our hearts and we hope this serves as a reminder to take a moment to become aware. Send us your comments!

This week we reflect on one of Andrea's favorite psalms- Psalm 1. This psalm is a simple psalm about life with God vs. a life without God. We share our insights from personal mediation while continuing to add to our scripture tool box and discuss how different translations of scripture can help to paint a fuller picture of the richness of God's word.Translation Resource: https://www.biblegateway.com/Send us your comments!

Oftentimes we can exhaust ourselves trying to figure out what the Lord is trying to tell us in prayer. Spending time in scripture can give space for God to penetrate our hearts and speak to us clearly."The word of God is alive and active" (Hebrew 4:12). When trying to discern the movements of our heart, the psalms are a great place to spend time in scripture because the psalms are songs of the heart.  In this episode, Andrea and Lizz take time to pray with Psalm 51 using Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is a way to pray with scripture that allows us to acknowledge and ponder the ways God is speaking to us through scripture. We hope this becomes a daily practice that you can incorporate into your prayer time! 

As we find ourselves entering into a new season, we would like to take a moment and ask, "What has Jesus done in my heart?" Let us never forget that Jesus is constantly pursuing our hearts and meets us where we are at to usher us into new depths of our own heart and deeper relationship with him. Andrea and Lizz kick-off the season talking about what Jesus has done in their hearts over the summer and encourage listeners to take time in prayer to reflect on what Jesus has done for them in this past season. 

As we wrap up our fourth season and our study of women in the geneology of Christ, it seems only fitting that we study Mary's life and what she teaches us about being a woman.  We often overlook the humanness of Mary. Just think how awesome it was being the mother of God and hugging little Jesus as he was growing up. She shows us how we are called to live out great faith and give our yes continuously in our ordinary lives. 

The next woman's story we dive into in the geneology of Christ is Ruth.  Ruth is connected to Rahab because she ends up marrying Rahab's son, Boaz. Ruth is a Moabite woman who leaves everything behind to follow her mother-in-law Naomi back to her homeland. In this episode, we ponder Ruth and discover the ways we see ourselves and want to see ourselves in her story. We talk about the beauty of Ruth's faith and how we are moved by her obedience. She is another woman the Lord has given to model our hearts after.

So, which women should we model our lives after? 5 women are named specifically in the genealogy of Jesus: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah's wife (Bathsheba), and Mary. Each showcase qualities of womanhood that we are called to model our lives after.  In this episode, we dive into the story of Rahab (Joshua 2). We talk about what strikes us in her story, how we can see our own stories reflected, and ways we want to model our faith after Rahab. 

"It's literally impossible to be a woman." This is how Gloria starts her monologue in the Barbie movie about how difficult it is to be a woman by the culture's standards. We have all been hit with the impossible feat of trying to keep up with the culture's ever-changing standard of women. In this episode,  we dive into ways that we have become victim to chasing this impossible standard, things that have helped us on the journey, and also ponder some beautiful truths the Barbie movie displays. We pray this episode gives you  hope that you can live in greater freedom in Christ's standard of what it means to be a woman. 

We are excited to continue our conversation about womanhood while diving into a specific charism of women: receptivity. Everyone wants to be received by a woman and we also want to be received as women, but we can quickly find ourselves in places where it is hard to receive and be received. In this episode, Andrea and Lizz talk about things that have gotten in the way of their own receptivity, aids to increasing receptivity, and the gift that your receptivity is to the world!

Where are all the  places and who are all the people that have taught you about womanhood? Our moms, the culture, social media, and people in our lives tell us things about what it mean to be a woman.  We are continuously being exposed to a stream of thoughts that we have to then decipher if their true or not.  In this episode, Andrea and Lizz begin the conversation about what has formed their understanding of womanhood and how the definition is ever evolving. This discussion comes with an invitation to take what you believe to be true about womanhood and bring it to Jesus. Let Him be the one to help inform your identity as woman. 

Being in seasons of suffering or hardships can really test our faith and makes it easy to forget the truths about who God is and what He wants to do for us.  In this episode, Andrea and Lizz walk through hardships they have been experiencing and share some thoughts on how to keep your eyes on Christ. In this Advent season, they hope you will reflect on the places of your heart where you have experienced or are experiencing suffering and let the Lord draw you more intimately to Himself  through kindness, continuing to show up, and looking for the ways He is constantly pursuing your heart.

We all have strong memories that are connected to scent and find ourselves drawn to or repelled by certain scents. This idea can serve as a metaphor for us in the spiritual life. 2 Corinthians  chapter 2 speaks of us being the "aroma of Christ." In this episode, we talk about what kinds of "aromas" we are attracted to in others and what "aroma" we are giving off. Is our aroma one of life that draws people to imitate the way we are living or are we giving off an aroma of death that repels people from the Christian life?

Andrea and Lizz came into their relationship with Jesus from very different backgrounds and with different sets of preconceived notions. This episode explores the difference between what they thought being in relationship with Jesus was going to entail versus the reality of a life with Christ.

Every Christian from their baptism has been called to be a missionary but it can be easy to convince ourselves to leave the missional work to the "professionals." We hope that this conversation shows the humanity of missional work and that God wants to transform your heart through going on mission to share the gospel. The only qualification that you need to share about Jesus is a love of Jesus.

Preconceived notions feel inevitable when walking into marriage and the role of being a wife.  In this episode, we talk about preconceived notions we had and how the reality of being a wife differed from our expectations. Andrea brings 30 plus years of experience while Lizz  speaks from a fresh couple months of marriage. We hope this episode will help you to hold your preconceived notions with open hands, ready to receive the reality that God has in store for you. 

God shows up in the big and small events of our life. He showed up big for Andrea on the day of her father's funeral and for Lizz on her wedding day. This episode dives into the unexpected abundance of Jesus' love in pivotal days of our life. We hope it will reignite the excitement to look for how the Lord is pursuing you with unexpected abundance in your everyday life.  We are so excited to be back on this journey with you!

In this episode, we reflect on the journey of our podcast thinking about where we are and where we have been.  We began this journey during COVID and we promised to create a space that encouraged you and made you constantly aware of how God is pursuing your heart.  We prayed that, you would be awakened and on the look out for sweet kisses that our Lord gives to you each day. It is our most sincere hope that we have both created a space and encouraged you to enter into the intentional love of God. We don't know where the Lord will take us and who knows, maybe we will be back one day, but for now we will lay our podcast to rest.  Thank you for listening and loving us so well!

Season 5 Finale! We could tell stories for days that recount all the ways we have encountered the faithfulness of God. For the sake of the episode, we just pick a few! St. Paul tells us in Corinthians, "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." In this final episode of the season, we talk about how God has been faithful in material and relational ways in our lives.  We also tell of the journeys we are on knowing He will continue His good work to completion. We pray this episode leads you to recall the ways that God has been faithful in your life and we encourage you to share these glory stories with others. 

Upon reflecting on the state of one's heart in relationship to Jesus, the image of clay continued to be present. Like in Jeremiah 18:1-6, we must go to the Potter's house and allow him to fix any part of us that has been spoiled and remain pliable to his skilled hands. In this episode,  we discuss properties of clay  we should try to imitate, the necessity of suffering, and the importance of the journey to become the final vessel. 

This episode continues to explore the story of the hemorrhaging woman but goes a little further to include the story of Jairus and his little girl being raised from the dead. In order for us to be able to encounter others, we must first allow ourselves to be encountered by God. The key to allowing ourselves be encountered by God is simple: embracing our poverty (need for Jesus) and opening our hearts to a posture of receptivity. We expand on these points as well as some of the obstacles we face in our lives that make it hard to us to be encountered by God.

This week, while Lizz is in Peru on a mission trip, we have the special treat of having Rachael White (Lizz's Mom) join us on the podcast!  Together we discuss how Jesus models for us how to encounter others by meandering through the story of the hemorrhaging woman in Mark 5. The woman comes to Jesus desperate for healing after years of pain and no answers. Not only does Jesus offer her healing, he also restores her soul and dignity with tenderness and kindness. May we offer those around us the same gifts.This is a wonderful discussion between two mothers whose friendship has been woven together by God. Rachael has been an elementary teacher for 30 years and is the mother of 4 amazing children.  She also gives us a great story about how Lizz came into the world!

If our lives are suppose to model the life of Jesus, then why does the god of efficiency get served constantly? Jesus was inefficient in His mission. He lived gently. This involved sacrifice and initiation but His life was rightly ordered.  In this episode, we discuss how to embrace gentleness in your life and avoid anxious toil.Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest- Matthew 11:28

As we return with Season 5, we kickoff reflecting on the story of Peter walking on the water (Matthew 14:22-33). We are struck with Peter's passion and his ability  do impossible things as long as he keeps his eyes on Jesus. In this episode, we reflect on the things that distract us from Jesus, checking in on the disposition of our hearts, and what the "other guys" in the boat might be thinking as this scene pans out. 

Often times we run a lot faster than our souls want to run, which causes us to push away our needs and ignore the ache that we feel. Jesus was doing similar things in our hearts so in this episode, we talk about the ache, how to avoid numbing it, and the importance of carving out time for Jesus (especially in the holiday seasons.)We have been on many adventures this season and we thank you, our darlings, for journeying with us. Until next season! 

St. Francis said that it is in giving that we receive. Serving our neighbor is a love for both of us. It allows us to come out of ourselves and see not only the poverty of our brother but our own life as well. In this episode, we talk about material and spiritual poverty, share stories of serving our fellow brothers and sisters, and call our listeners to think about the disposition of your heart while serving. 

In the beginning, we were created with one desire which was to serve God with all our heart, mind, and strength, but the fall led to shattered desires and fragmented lives. For us to return to holiness (wholeness) we need to strive to live lives that are integrated. In this episode, we discuss the importance of allowing your faith to spill into all aspects of your life and the freedom that comes from Jesus being your only desire.

"The heart's thirst and the body's longing cannot be eliminated; thus, man unknowingly stretches out in search of the Infinite." Pope BenedictThis week Lizz is interviewed on her experience attending a course this summer on theology of the body. She dives into the restoration of eros and unpacks why the deep restless ache within our hearts never goes away. There are also some practical tips  on how to start forming your heart and mind to fall more in love with Jesus and see Him as your Lover. resources:TOB Institute: https://tobinstitute.org/Podcast: Ask Christopher WestBook: Theology of the Body for Beginners by Christopher West  https://www.amazon.com/Theology-Body-Beginners-Rediscovering-Meaning/dp/1635820073

"This is the moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities - what we value, what we want, what we seek - and to commit to act in our daily life on what we have dreamed of."In the midst of  going through COVID, God brought the book Let Us Dream by Pope Francis into Andrea's life. The book is broken up into three sections: a time to see, a time to choose and a time to act. This book helped usher in the journey of Andrea discovering the cry of her deep heart. In this episode, Andrea is interviewed about her journey with the book, what she took away, and how our listeners can begin the journey of discovering the cries of their deep heart. Link to purchase book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/let-us-dream-pope-francis/1137580629

An icon is something to be viewed as a window into heaven that leads us to anticipate what is to come while an idol turns us in toward ourselves and consumes our worship. In this episode, we talk about the difference between icons and idols. We then give you a tangible example through a dive into beauty, wonder, and awe.  Link to document mentioned in podcast: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20020824_ratzinger-cl-rimini_en.html

"The light shines in the darkness and the light has not overcome it. " John 1:5 This litany was born out of a need for freedom. It speaks truth over places that we feel too ashamed to bring to the light and gives you the language to not let darkness overcome you. In this episode, we share the litany of healing in sexual addiction, talk about our own experiences with discovering distortions in our perception of our gift of sexuality, and speak into the goodness of our desires for intimacy.  Please use this litany to pray through spaces of your own heart and share it with women in your life so they may do the same.  We pray that this episode blesses you! 

The litany of truth was born out of a low point in Sr. Faustina's prayer life. Jesus said to her "I don't want your 'yes' to go to a  bunch of circumstances. I want you to give it to me. I don't want your trust to be in the safe realm of your understanding, but in Me." In this episode, we discuss our journey with the litany of trust, the parts that are piercing our hearts, and how we can use litanies as a tool for transformation. And we just laugh a lot! Litany of Trusthttps://sistersoflife.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mobile-Litany-of-Trust.pdfInterview with Sr. Faustinahttps://eventhesparrow.com/the-incredible-story-behind-the-litany-of-trust/

Our first reaction when reading the litany of humility was one of resistance. There was wrestling that happened in both our hearts. Through praying this litany, God wants to invite us into freedom from desires and fears that are not necessary if you are living in the truth. In this episode, we reflect on the litany of humility. The challenging and freeing parts of the prayer and how it has played a role in our lives. Link to the litany: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/litany-of-humility-245

Welcome back, our darlings! We can't wait to invite you all into the movements of our hearts and what Jesus has taught us since we last talked. In this episode, we give all our listeners a few highlights from our summer and share a couple things that we learned. Lizz talks about deeper trust in God's providence, intimacy with Jesus and how marriage is meant to be a window into heaven. Andrea talks about indifference, restoration in her relationship with her Father, and idol of rightness.  We hope this podcast will get you thinking and hungry for more as we dive into Season 4.  

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.  On the contrary:“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:17-21Welcome to our last episode of Season 3! We have been so blessed to be on this journey with you through Romans 12. We end our journey reflecting on finding peace rather than taking revenge. The gift of forgiveness always allows us to sit in places of peace no matter how our circumstances or the people around us respond. Thanks for another great season!

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” Romans 12:15-16In this episode we talk about the power of entering into vulnerable, shared spaces with others. We invite you into areas of our lives that are still difficult such as having control and pride. You also learn practical tips for holding space as someone shares experiences  in times of mourning and rejoicing. These shared moments create strong bonds and great harmony amidst the body of Christ, so lean into them and do not be afraid. 

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." Romans 12:14Welcome to the 400 level class on persecution. This verse calls us to something bold. In this episode we discuss the importance of asking Jesus to reveal the ways that we persecute Him on a daily basis, some thoughts on why people persecute others, and how to respond in moments of persecution.

"Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. " Romans 12:13The gift of hospitality is wonderful to receive, requires practice, and can lead to believing in the lie of needing to be perfect. In this episode, we discuss how to respond and anticipate people's needs and our experience with hospitality.

Romans 12:11-12Never be lacking in zeal but maintain your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope. Patient in affliction. Faithful in prayer.

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love.  Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:9-10We cannot love sincerely without being taught by Love himself, God. This episode we discuss what is sincere love, the importance of being taught how to love sincerely by spending time with Jesus, and honoring our brother and sisters by  knowing their inherent dignity as children of God.  What is love? Peter Kreeft https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9375

 "For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith;  if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;  if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully." Romans 12:4-8In this episode, we talk about the importance of serving the body of Christ out of our gifts, which builds up the body of Christ and refreshes the soul. We give three pointers of how to determine your gifts and common lies we fall in to regarding our gifts.

" For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." Romans 12:3This episode invites us all to reject the standard of perfection that is impossible to reach and step into freedom. We can begin to see ourselves with sober judgement through greater humility. Take time to pray through the Litany of Humility and hear relateable struggles in Lizz and Andrea's life regarding humility. Litany of Humility Link: https://ascensionpress.com/pages/litany-of-humility

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2Its is easy to fall into the pattern of the world, which is unkind and unpredictable; instead, let us conform our minds to the pattern of God, which is one of consistency and kindness. In this episode, we discuss how to conform our minds to Christ, discover patterns of the world we each have conformed to, and why it is imperative we have renewed minds.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." Romans 12:1In a culture where our bodies seem to be in a constant state of attack, it becomes difficult to view our bodies as a gift from God and for God. In this episode we discuss how we can offer our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, the gift that our bodies are, and how we can take care of them.

Last season we discussed all the ways Jesus is the perfect lover! In this season, we will discover how to live out that relationship through a transformed life with Christ by journeying through Romans 12. We must live lives transformed in Christ. We were not meant to live according to a "to do" list but rather to live a life filled with truth, beauty, and goodness.In this episode, we cast vision for Season 3 and set the foundation of how to live a life transformed in Christ.

Merry Christmas, Darlings! Thank you for journeying with us! You are all a blessing to us and we love sharing our hearts with you episode after episode. We pray that we can all continue to draw closer to the heart of Jesus. “O Marvelous Exchange! Man’s Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity” ~ CC526If you have ever wondered the shenanigans that happen behind the scenes of recording our episodes- here you go! We hope this brings a little laughter and joy to your day!

To love is to "will the good of another." Love is not void of suffering and can sometimes be given to us in the ways that we don't anticipate. Our perception of what would be loving for God to do is sometimes incorrect because we lack eternal perspective. In the final episode of the season, we talk about the greatest fruit of the spirit- love! Everything builds up to this story where Jesus shows that He can conquer death. The story plays out in an unexpected way. Jesus delays going to Mary and Martha, He weeps with them, and then uses the death of his friend to display the glory of God. We talk about the areas of our own lives that have not played out how we anticipated but have turned out to be great testimonies to Christ's love.Thank you for journeying with us through this season of adventures and we look forward to growing with you more next season!

"Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing."- John 15:4In the midst of chaos sometimes you need to take a pause and reorient yourself toward heaven. This episode was recorded while we were reclaiming our joy by remembering what we love and who we are loved by. A branch detached from the vine will soon die, so we need to stop trying to produce our own fruit and let God do the work.https://www.arisemydarlingpodcast.com/