Simply Light Hearted

We all like to be comfortable. It feels nice to know that what we are doing comes with ease and just feels right. But what happens when an opportunity comes along that will help you grow, but will take you to a place of discomfort?? Over the last few months I have been praying about changes to my job that would take me from a place of 'comfort', because it's known, to a place of discomfort, because it's not known. It has been incredibly hard to know what the right thing to do is. In this episode I am reflecting back through a few times in my life where I walked through change and how each change has taught things about myself and about God. I also looked of examples in the Bible of people who had the courage to step out in faith, away from what was comfortable, to what would likely be a place of discomfort for the sake of growth...and because God asked them too.

It seems like it should be an easy question, and for many, it might be. But for me the question "What do you want" has been one of the most complex and challenging questions to answer. A few weeks ago I was reading an excellent book called Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives For Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton. In the first few chapters, she shared the story of Jesus asking blind Bartimaeus "What do you want me to do for you" from Mark 10. She went on to talk about an important spiritual practice - naming our desires. This has always been tricky for me because the desire of my heart is to have children, and we are barren. What do we do when our desires don't match our reality? What do we do when the prayer for healing is answered with a no? What do we do when our life experiences go opposite to what we want? I've got good and bad news for you. The good news is - I'm talking about it, the bad news is - you will not find any perfect little package in this episode or a 'how to' guide to fix all our problems. I'm right here in the messy middle with you, holding onto the thread of hope, reflecting on Bible stories and trying to sort out the how to walk through these messy middles that don't seem to add up. I hope that this episode brings you some comfort, knowing you're not alone. You are seen. You are loved. Your needs and wants matter. Thanks for being here in the messy middle with me.

With the New Year being just around the corner - it is likely that you fall into either one of two approaches to the new year - team resolutions or team "New Years is dumb - I don't make resolutions." I have spent time in both camps. What I have learned in the last few years is that it's not about when we make the change or what we want the changes to be - it's all about getting up again after we fail - because we will fail. In this episode, we talk about Peter and his biggest failure ever and how Jesus helped remind him to get up again and keep on keeping on. Your fresh start could be today, it could be on a random Tuesday in October, it doesn't matter what day you start, what matters is that you get up again when you fail.

In this week's episode, we talk about the shepherds, the glory of the Lord and how "Here on earth, we will have disruptions". If you're like me and starting to sense the building tension of about the final stretch before Christmas - take a minute to listen in and wonder with me about the delightful disruptions that are right in front of us now.

The Christmas story is full of examples of lives that were going one way and then got disrupted by something totally unexpected. Listen in to this week's episode as I share some of my own life's left turns along with the story of the wise men who came from afar to worship Jesus.

Welcome to week two of this year's Advent Series. As we continue in this advent season, I want to invite us to spend some time thinking about the interesting and beautiful disruptions you could have never planned for in your life. Things you maybe prayed for you, but received in a way you didn't expect it. Or something you didn't think you wanted, but then when it came you can't imagine your life without it. The two key players in this week's story are two that do get talked about a lot at Christmas, but I don't think we often talk about them in this light. This week I want to talk about Zechariah and Joseph. With both of these men, their lives were forever changed by the disruption a child would bring to their lives. One was a longed-for, prayed-for child, the other was completely unexpected and in a lot of ways inconvenient.

When I first started thinking about Advent and this podcast series I wanted to create for you, I thought I was going to be sharing stories that were all about comfort and joy. But as I dug into the Christmas story - it turns out that although we talk a lot about wanting comfort and joy during this particular time of year, it isn't really a theme that shows up very strongly in the Biblical Christmas story, at least not in the ways you expect it to. Instead what we can find throughout the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus is a whole lot of disruption. Join me as I unpack and lean into this theme of having a 'very disruptive Christmas'.

Some days of the year feel complicated and hard. Mother's day is one of those days for me. It's complex there are many factors to mother's day that make it so. Moms are great! I love my mom! AND not being able to have children of my own means that mother's day is a reminder of that pain I feel in my life. I have not figured out a pathway through. Every angle I've tried in my life so far still feels hard, complicated, layered and full of grief. But what I have learned is that even in those messy, complicated feelings - I have a good shepherd who loves me and is with me. Especially in my messy grief. Join me as I remind my heart that we have a good shepherd who loves us deeply.

Today is Mother's Day. It is a complicated day for many. Complicated because of how some long to be a mother, complicated because of a hard choice that had to be made, complicated for so a very long list of reasons. I found so much comfort and depth to the topic of motherhood nestled into the first two chapters of Exodus. Shiphrah and Puah, Jochebed, Miriam, and the Pharoah's daughter - all very different kinds of motherhood. All with their own pain and trials, yet in the end, we can see the ways that God is at work. Motherhood is complicated. It's not a straight line. And I hope you can hear the ways that your mothering matters and is valuable in this episode.

This is a podcast where we take time to look back at what has been true about God in the past so that we can move forward with hope. In this episode, I explore the origin story of the Israelite nation. We take a step back all the way to Abram (later called Abraham) and see the ways that the string of God's faithfulness is pulled through the entire story. With this being the start of a series, the end was hard to wrap up because we have so much more to dive into over the next few episodes. Thanks for listening in.

We are entering our fourth and final week of Advent of 2020. Advent is such a special time because it invites us to put ourselves in a place we don't like to be. The middle, the waiting and the mundane. If there is a feeling we all want to escape it's the muddled mess of waiting. We have programmed our minds to skip past these vital moments of waiting for we long to get to the moment of celebration. Advent reminds us that there is something good about waiting. We can find what is true and right and good when we sit in the tension of waiting. Listen in for a retelling of the Christmas Story.

It's the third week of advent and we are talking about JOY! Can you think back to the way that you used to play as a child? What types of play filled not just your time, but your soul too? For me, it was about playing 'house' or something we called 'old fashion'. Playing house was an earmark for me and the ways that I would later see God's faithfulness on display in my life. Listen in to hear more about how to play 'old fashion' and what it has to do with my joy today.

Advent is a beautiful season that helps us slow down and take in the gift of Jesus coming to earth as a baby. This episode is about 3 different love stories. The first one is my own love story, the second is one of two famous people in the Bible and the third is about you. I hope you enjoy this storytelling offering about love this Advent season.

Hi Everyone, my name is Leora and this the Simply Light Hearted Podcast. For years I have toyed with the idea of stretching myself to build some stories that inspire light heartedness and send them out into the world. I envisioned these stories being like paper lanterns that are launched into the dark night sky. One thing that is not lost on me is that the sentiment of a paper lantern sent a glow into the sky is more about the sender then the possible observer. This podcast is my attempt to send my little light into the world and let it become whatever it was intended to be. May it be a place to come when the world feels heavy and may this space be a place where we all feel a little lighter when we leave.

Welcome to the very first episode of the simply light hearted podcast. In this episode, I share a little bit more about my reason for starting a podcast. The basic gist of it is I have been inspired by simple storytelling and the ways it brings people of all ages together and draws us closer. I love how a simple story can help us relate to one another and help us feel less alone. I look forward to sharing more stories with you in the weeks and months to come. In this first episode, I also talk about the importance of hope as it plays out in our lives and the lives of the two characters we meet from the Christmas story Zechariah and Elizabeth.