Pasture Experience Podcast

Welcome to the Season 1 's Finale! Find a cozy, quiet spot and let God's Spirit minister to you as I lead you through an imaginative prayer experience. Thank you for joining us for Season 1 of Pasture Experience Podcast. I'd LOVE your feedback. What do you want to hear more of as I'm praying about next season? bekah@bekahpogue.com Grace & Space, Bekah Show Notes Imaginative Prayer Resources Imaginative Prayer: A Yearly Guide for Your Child's Spiritual Formation by Jared Patrick Boyd The Ignatian Adventure: Experiencing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in Daily Life by Kevin O'Brien Inner Compass: An Invitation to Ignatian Spirituality by Margaret Silf Spiritual Formation/Direction Resources Sustainable Faith Wellspring, A Resource for Christian Spiritual Formation Receiving Spiritual Direction: Bekah@bekahpogue.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

Enjoy this 26-minute soul conversation with my sweet friend, Brianna Brown, as she shares her real time vulnerability about being a mama of 3 young boys and heading to Taiwan as a missionary family. We laugh about how we met over Instagram and ended up living in the same town. Presently, Brianna finds herself in the "valley of the shadow of death," specifically when it comes to navigating her oldest, adopted son's special needs. We discuss how she is experiencing peace and comfort, how God is cupping her face, and where she is noticing tiny pockets of grace and love in the present. Brianna ends our time by reading a poem she wrote about her current pasture season. *cue tears* Show Notes Follow/ Support The Brown Family's Taiwan Story via IG: mrsbribrown www.worldventure.com/thebrowns Brianna's reading recs: Here Now by Kate Merrick The Listening Life by Adam S. McHugh Bekah's reading rec: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. - Psalm 139:5 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

Enjoy Ep. 14 where I share my journey about practicing presence. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

In Ep. 13 I'm sitting down with my hubby, Bryan Pogue, as he shares his (our) journey of intentionally stepping away from vocational church ministry to simply love people, even if we don't get a paycheck from the church. Bryan talks about how his identity was wrapped up in what he did for over 15+ years, and his continual discovery that he is not what he does, but whose He is. Show Notes Bryan's Reading Recs: Redefining Sanctuary by Bekah J. Pogue The Gift of Being Yourself by David Benner Critical Journey by Janet O. Hagberg & Robert A. Guelich Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos + Spiritual Direction If you're interested in receiving Spiritual Direction from Bryan, contact him at: poguebryan@gmail.com Thank you for listening, sharing, and supporting Pasture Experience Podcast. What resonated or encouraged you? Let me know: bekah@bekahpogue.com My hope is that our journey encourages you to find your identity in who God is continually transforming you to be; not simply in what you do. Apply for Pasture Experience Retreat here: Pasture Experience Connect with me: BekahPogue.com Grace & Space, Bekah --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

We're at a dozen! Enjoy Ep. 12, where I share my confessions as a former pastor's wife, and redefine the term 'sanctuary.' Whether you're on a church staff, have been wounded by church, or want to run as fast as you can away from organized religion, this episode will speak to you! How do you experience sanctuary in the everyday? Inside or outside church walls? Plus, the release of my newest post: Redefining Sanctuary I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. As always, humble thanks for listening, sharing, and supporting Pasture Experience Podcast! Let's spread the love! Show Notes: New post: Redefining Sanctuary: http://bekahpogue.com/2019/11/18/redefining-sanctuary/ Apply for Pasture Experience Retreat (March 6-8, 2020): http://www.pastureexperience.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

* Be sure to listen to Episode 10, Finding the Answer, before enjoying this soul-nourishing conversation. Gosh, what a sweet 30-minute conversation with my friend, Rebecca Stilwell, owner of Spring Hill Antique Mall (SHAM) + Columbia Antique Marketplace. After coming out of a 27-year career in Financial Services, Rebecca shares about how her perfectly planned life took a detour, ten years ago. "One by one, the wheels came off, the track; my dad's health, financial service was in a hard time, life just got messy." She shares about her mom's encouragement that God was not wringing His hands over her situation. That mattered. Then her dad, in the latter stages of Alzheimer's said, "It's going to be okay." That mattered, too. Presently, Rebecca most resonates with Psalm 23: 1... "I lack for nothing." We talk about how humility has changed her for the better, what she wishes she would've done differently in parenting, and her wisdom nuggets from 58 years of life and faith experiences. Rebecca tells us about how she became the owner of a 1958 former-gymnasium-turned-antique mall, and then, two weeks later, her dad passed away. The antique mall vendors rallied around her and allowed her time to grieve. "That's how the SHAM is. It's a pasture. A haven. A sweet place with great people." - Rebecca Stilwell The SHAM is what connected Rebecca and I. It's where I held Pasture Experience local gatherings before I chose to shrink the size and host weekend retreats in our home. Show Notes: Rebecca Stilwell's Wisdom Nuggets: 1. The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing. Don't get too busy. 2. Humility is important. Pray for it. 3. Stay in the Word. Search it intently. Seek diligently. To visit/connect with Rebecca at the Spring Hill Antique Mall (and her newly opened store, Columbia Antique Marketplace) Spring Hill Antique Mall @thespringhillantiquemall Rebecca's newly opened store: Columbia Antique Marketplace @columbiaantiquemarketplace Learn about Pasture Experience Retreats: PastureExperience.com Apply for our Spring Retreat: March 6-8, 2020 *Space is limited My humble, grateful thanks for listening, subscribing, sharing + supporting! - xo, Bekah @BekahJanePogue BekahPogue.com My humble, humble thanks to: Bema Meda Production + Team Andrew Cache, Editing Sel Thomson, Graphic Designer Jeniece Harris, Original Art Rebecca Stilwell, Owner of Spring Hill Antique Mall (SHAM) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

In this 11-minute episode, I invite you to find Him as the Answer, while we're looking for all of the other answers. Where are you waiting on an answer? A job? A college application? Healing in a relationship? How do you find yourself responding in the waiting? When we allow ourselves to be human, to say, 'I don't know what's going on. Why isn't this connecting?' it frees one another up to say, 'we don't know either.' Join me as I share a story about ugly crying in a restorative yoga class, how I'm experiencing God's comfort in the unknown, and how freeing it is to vulnerably say, "I don't know, but He does." ** Join us next week, for Episode 11, as Rebecca Stilwell, owner of the Spring Hill Antique Mall, shares her humble story about experiencing the beauty of vulnerability while searching for life answers. Show Notes Contemplative Questions to Consider: 1. What's an area you long to have an answer? 2. What does your soul need while you wait? 3. Practice the phrase, "I don't know, but He does." How does this feel inside your body? 4. What would it look like to allow those vulnerable layers to come forth? 5. What does it look like to shift your perspective to look at God as the One who has the answers, instead of needing to have the answer on your own? The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23 Thank you for subscribing to Pasture Experience Podcast. This ensures you will automatically receive the next available episode! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

You are in for a treat with this 25-minute episode, where I interview Trina Paulus, the feisty, 88-year old author & illustrator of the beloved book, Hope for the Flowers. Trina shares about the theology of hope that inspired this message, her experience working in Egypt, about how she crawled off the expected "pillar" of becoming a nun, and how her message has reached China, Korea, Russia and beyond. As Hope for the Flowers celebrates its' 50th anniversary, Trina shares about what is bringing her hope in the present. Stay tuned for the surprise when she flips the tables and begins interviewing me! Enjoy our witty banter and laughing about how we are doing life scared. "We all have our pillars. We are all wounded healers." - Trina Paulus "You have to go through something, but the change is much more dramatic than most people dream of... this amazing transformation is radical, and we need that today." - Trina Paulus Show Notes: Buy a fafillion copies of Hope for the Flowers and pass them out for Halloween: Hope for the Flowers Connect with Trina at hopefortheflowers.com More about how Hope for the Flowers came to be: "It all started many years ago while sharing comfort with a friend who just experienced the death of someone close. What does one say? How can we dare imagine that life can go on – we have no proof? The amazing transformation of a caterpillar, a lowly worm, into a glorious flying creature is also hard to believe. But because we have actually seen a butterfly we can hope for other transformations invisible to the eye. In face of loss beyond words I would draw a card with a caterpillar, a cocoon and a butterfly illustrating a favorite text, “Life is changed, not taken away.” - Trina Paulus Thank you for listening + subscribing to Pasture Experience Podcast! Be sure to listen for next Monday's episode: When Searching for an Answer What would you like to hear more of in Season 2? Connect with me and let me know: BekahPogue.com Thank you, thank you for listening, sharing, and supporting this podcast. xo, Bekah --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

In this 15 minute episode, I share my journey about feeling stirred to unclimb the author/speaker ladder. "I felt called to descend the ladder and lay the ladder down and sit among the rungs because I am most at home with the broken. I am them and they are me." How is God winnowing your journey in order that He, not you, gets the glory? What is left? What is no longer needed? Show Notes Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus (next week's podcast guest) Yay!!!!!! Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Pasture Experience Retreat Spring 2020 is now OPEN: April 3-5, 2020 in Spring Hill, (South of Nashville) TN. Apply HERE. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

In this 27-minute conversation with artist and gallery owner, David Arms, we talk about stillness and quiet, and what part of Psalm 23 he most resonates with: still waters and the banquet table. He talks about his best-selling painting, Be Still and Know, inspired by a hummingbird at rest. "When you're still, you can feel His embrace; a touch through peace, through the calmness." - David Arms When sharing about his art gallery, David says: "I told my friends I'm going to Leiper's Fork to start a church but there will no sign, nor a steeple, and lo and behold, it's become a church, and a sanctuary and I'm just blown away by the response of what God is doing in people in that space." - David Arms Show Notes: Watch this interview on YouTube Visit David Arms Gallery in Historic Leiper's Fork, TN: 4136 Old Hillsboro Road, Franklin, TN 37064 Visit David Arms Gallery online: Davidarms.com Abbey of Gethsemani Silent Retreats Learn more about Pasture Experience Retreats Connect with Bekah Pogue: BekahPogue.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

In this 13-minute episode, I share my love/hate journey with stillness and how I'm coming to experience God's presence and comfort in the quiet. For many of us, quiet and stillness is scary. What worth and value do we have or bring to the table when we're still? This is where the magic begins! "Show me somebody who knows the beauty and the art of intentionally stilling themselves, and I'll show you someone who is so content in the un-doing, in the listening, in the space that comes, and the stillness, and the way that way that God meets in the quiet." --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

In Episode 4, I invited you to experience how to listen to yourself and God first. Now, in this 24-minute episode, join a soul-nourishing chat with Lucy Malone, my spiritual director, as we continue the conversation about listening, spiritual direction, and how every moment is a miracle. Lucy shares about how she was drawn into spiritual formation and then spiritual direction, defines "hospitality of the heart," and exhorts us to the value of listening. "Spiritual Direction is not a guru or even a life coach. Spiritual Direction isn't counseling or therapy. It is a companion, and we're on the journey together and listening to each other, listening to God, listening to the Holy Spirit. And you need help sometimes. People need help seeing what's going on. That listening process, that discerning process is really better when you go to someone and they help you along. They guide you, and that's what a Director does." - Lucy Malone "Listening to a heart is one of the most important things you can do. It is a hospitality, a welcoming, a warmth... people need to be heard." - Lucy Malone Show Notes Watch Episode 5's conversation on YouTube If you are longing for spiritual direction and/or a retreat at Poustinia (Russian for "desert place"), email Lucy Malone (Columbia, TN): lucyfmalone@msn.com Daily Examen, a spiritual discipline, invites questions to reflect on at the end of the day: 1. How, today, was I drawn toward faith, hope and love? 2. What gave me life today, God? 3. What was draining today, God? There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. - Albert Einstein Recommended books on spiritual direction & listening: Holy Listening by Margaret Guenther Sacred Companions by David Benner Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton The Listening Life by Adam S. McHugh Soul Feast by Marjorie Thompson Interested in a listening retreat? Attend a Pasture Experience Retreat in Spring Hill, TN: PastureExperience.com Interested in having me facilitate a Pasture Experience Retreat at your home, camp, or church? Email me: bekah@bekahpogue.com Instagram: @BekahJanePogue Humble thanks to: Bema Meda Production Team Andrew Cache, Editing Sel Thomson, Graphic Designer Jeniece Harris, Original Art --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

In this 12 + minute podcast, I invite you to listen. Listen to yourself. To God's voice. To your journey. As we listen, we experience a quiet confidence in learning to listen to His voice first. What are you listening to? What do you want to stop listening to? Listening and being heard is a healing gift. Show Notes: Read Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom: https://www.amazon.com/Tuesdays-Morrie-Greatest-Lesson-Anniversary/dp/076790592X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3RE4G1DBWYRLG&keywords=tuesdays+with+morrie&qid=1568255104&s=gateway&sprefix=tuesdays+%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-1 "Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God." - Maya Angelou Learn more about Pasture Experience: http://www.pastureexperience.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

In this 27-minute episode, I share a soul-nourishing conversation with Come as You Are Cakes founder and owner, Suzanne Roberts, where she shares her story about surrendering expectations, entering into imperfect family dynamics and how God is restoring her soul. Show Notes: Listen/watch on YouTube Follow Suzanne Roberts, Come As You are Cakes Learn more about Pasture Experience Connect with me: @BekahJanePogue Website: www.BekahPogue.com Buy Choosing REAL Book Buy Choosing REAL Devotional Thought Journal Psalm 23 ESV The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

In this 25-minute episode, I invite you to come, however you are. So, how are you? Like, really? Here, I share my passion for giving yourself permission to be where you are, share a cool story about that time I put up Come As You Are doors on the side of our house, and why bringing our true selves is healing. I close by reading Psalm 23 and inviting you to notice where in the pasture you most resonate with today. Join us next episode as I share a soul-nourishing conversation with Suzanne Roberts, Creator of Come As You Are Cakes. Show notes: Buy The Gift of Being Yourself by David Benner Learn about Pasture Experience Connect with me: @BekahJanePogue My website: www.BekahPogue.com Listen/ watch on YouTube Psalm 23 ESV The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support

Hi Friend! Welcome to Episode One of Season One of Pasture Experience Podcast. I'm Bekah Jane Pogue and am so honored to journey with you. This podcast emerged from the retreats I host + facilitate in our near-Nashville, TN home. This is your invitation to be honest and listen to yourself, know God's voice, and join soul-nourishing conversation's, wherever you are on your Psalm 23-inspired "pasture" journey. A bit like soul care + spiritual direction + a whimsy conversation! In this 23-minute episode, I'm sharing the story behind how Pasture Experience came to be; how this has evolved from a local meet-up, to gathering at the Spring Hill Antique Mall, to weekend retreats. And now? This podcast, which was given as a gift by Bema Media! It's my humble honor to turn this back around and offer this time to YOU as a gift. What can you expect here? 100% honesty. This is a safe space to wrestle, ask all the questions, and not feel like we have to have the answers. Just our own personal experiences of how God is meeting us in our current pasture season. Anticipate the initial episode to bring us into listening to ourselves and God. The following episode will be a soul-nourishing conversation with a guest about that very topic. This intentional rhythm will be throughout Season One: listening and then talking, listening and then talking. :) I'll close every episode by reading Psalm 23. Notice where you resonate with the pasture. Today. Thanks for listening + subscribing. Hoping you feel known and loved here. Grace & Space, Bekah Show Notes: Listen/watch on YouTube Learn more about Pasture Experience Find out more information on my website: www.BekahPogue.com Instagram: @BekahJanePogue Buy Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle Buy Choosing REAL Book Buy Choosing REAL Devotional Thought Journal Humble thanks to: Bema Meda Production + Team Andrew Cache, Editing Sel Thomson, Graphic Designer Jeniece Harris, Original Art Kim Leggett, City Farmhouse Rebecca Stilwell, Owner of Spring Hill Antique Mall (SHAM) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekah-pogue/support