Podcasts about nourishment

June 20th, 2025:  Why Should We Believe in the Blessed Sacrament; Corpus Christi - Change Your Parish & Society; Nothing but You, O Lord; Nourishment for Your Soul

Episode OverviewHappy Summer Solstice! In this episode of Spiral Deeper, our host, Gaby Azorsky, speaks with Sierra Lash, One of the topics that she is so passionate about and has to offer the world, Nourishment; she will join us each season through this year for a mini episode. How amazing! Sierra's work supports folks all over the world to make sense of life through psychospiritual healing + integration and cultivating self-nourishment practices in harmony with the earth. Her offerings include individuals/couples/family sessions, classes and workshops, and her membership - Closer Friends. In today's episode we talk about nesting in summer, romance, textures of Summer, productivity and flow, energy of the peak of the wheel of the year, making sun tea and summer beverages, recipes and foods of Summer, sadness and anxiety this time of year, pleasure, and more. Enjoy the episode!PLAYLIST MENTIONED - Ripeness of the Summer on the HorizonSpecial OfferCODE - SPIRALOFFLOWERS for 20% off your first month in The Flower Portal!Connect and Work with GabyInspiring the connection between Heaven and Earth through Reiki, Tarot, Folk herbalism, Clairvoyance, and Meditation. Together, we co-create harmony, clarity, and alignment with your True Essence. I'd love to support you!Visit my website to learn more: gabyazorsky.comFollow me on Instagram: @gaby.azorskyNewsletter: Sign Up HereBook a 1:1 Session: Book HereJoin My Membership, The Flower Portal: Learn MoreWith Spiral DeeperWebsite - Spiral Deeper PodcastInstagram - @spiral.deeperWith Our Guest, Sierra LashWebsite - https://sierralash.comInstagram - @sierrralashCreditsSpecial thanks to…Music - Connor HayesSpiral Deeper Icon - Kami MarchandCollaborate with UsInterested in advertising or collaborating with Spiral Deeper? Email gabyazorsky@gmail.com for packages and details.Support the ShowPlease rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen - it means so much. Be sure to tag @spiral.deeper if you share; thank you for your support!

Commune with Water Mother: a Deep Channel of Wisdom and AbundanceMother Earth is mostly water, as are we, her children. Water is the element of Life, of Nourishment, of Abundance and Flow. Receive exactly what you need from Water Mother through this meditation with Keira Lani.Keira Lani is a master energy healer and Mother Earth channel who guides people to connect with their true nature.https://www.facebook.com/keiralani.treegongKeira Lani https://www.facebook.com/B34R.SP1R4Lhttps://www.facebook.com/keiralani13Please set the intention to receive then relax and enjoy!Enlightened World Network is your guide to inspirational online programs about the spiritual divinity, angels, energy work, chakras, past lives, or soul. Learn about spiritually transformative authors, musicians and healers. From motivational learning to inner guidance, you will find the best program for you.Check out our website featuring over 200 spirit-inspired lightworkers specializing in meditation, energy work and angel channelingwww.enlightenedworld.onlineEnjoy inspirational and educational shows at http://www.youtube.com/c/EnlightenedWorldNetworkTo sign up for a newsletter to stay up on EWN programs and events, sign up here:https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/FBoFQef/webEnlightened World Network is now available on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Podbean, Spotify, and Amazon Music.Link to EWN's disclaimer: https://enlightenedworld.online/disclaimer/#dailymeditations#spiritualwellbeing#Divineguidance #spiritualtransformation #energymedicine

It has been estimated that South Africa’s GDP is 10% lower than it could be if our children were not physically and intellectually damaged by a lack of nutritious food. Since the 1990s, the rate of child undernourishment has hovered at around 25%, and it is an issue which needs to be addressed in order to lift the economy. Lester Kiewit speaks to David Harrison, CEO of the DG Murray Trust Good Morning Cape Town with Lester Kiewit is a podcast of the CapeTalk breakfast show. This programme is your authentic Cape Town wake-up call. Good Morning Cape Town with Lester Kiewit is informative, enlightening and accessible. The team’s ability to spot & share relevant and unusual stories make the programme inclusive and thought-provoking. Don’t miss the popular World View feature at 7:45am daily. Listen out for #LesterInYourLounge which is an outside broadcast – from the home of a listener in a different part of Cape Town - on the first Wednesday of every month. This show introduces you to interesting Capetonians as well as their favourite communities, habits, local personalities and neighbourhood news. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Good Morning Cape Town with Lester Kiewit. Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays between 06:00 and 09:00 (SA Time) to Good Morning CapeTalk with Lester Kiewit broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/xGkqLbT or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/f9Eeb7i Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

State representative Frank Burns joins Rob in the bunker to get an update on what has happened with Senate Bill 21, how he was best friends with Pope Leo growing up, and how he navigates the strange culture of legislative hall and Delaware politics.Show Notes:Gov. Meyer to defend landmark corporate law against constitutional challenge Senate passes offshore wind bill that overrides Sussex County decision to deny permitMore about Frank Burns

Worship Leader Taylor Cummings likens our spiritual journey to tending a cherry tree—showing how God's timely pruning and protective measures pave the way for a harvest of deeper faith and abundance.

https://www.khutbah.info/safeguarding-the-tongue/ And a tongue that speaks is a great blessing that people have been given. With it people are able to express what they want,… The post Safeguarding the Tongue first appeared on Nourishment of the Soul.

Charlie asked 'How to navigate?' and cast Hexagram 27, Nourishment - or Jaws - changing at line 1 to 23, Stripping Away: changing to What followed was a strongly resonant conversation between his inner imagery and the imagery of the Yi - and also the ancient Chinese motif of being in the jaws of the tiger. The featured image above this post shows a detail from the handle of the Houmuwu vessel, where you can just see the human face between the tigers' open mouths. (The original photo is by Mlogic, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.) Here's another example, from the 11th century BC:

On this, the last PauseCast episode for the season, we talk summer… what we hope to do, or be, for the coming summer break. Considering summer from a place of intention. But also, how to find our way into rest, and joy, and experiences that enrich our lives and memories to sustain us through those long winter months.As David Whyte says in his great book “Consolations”: “Rest is the conversation between what we love to do and how we love to be…”. With this, rest is the great enabler of returning to our balanced self. Summer allows times for languishing, for watching clouds and the shapes they make; sitting under deep velvet night skies and catching fireflies. Angie and I wish this for each of you, whenever summer lands in your place in this world. And Angie will embark on a summer of “Re” – re-reading, re-turning, re-membering, re-experiencing languid summer days.The thumbnail of our episode this week is a peony from my garden… to honour Angie's love of this perennial flower.Please, share our work widely, give us a review or a drop us a few stars. If you have comments or questions, please send them to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com.Episode links:Trudy's company, Chapman Coaching Inc. sponsors this podcast.You can hear Trudy's son Callum Lurie on his YouTube page. He's playing in Grand Bend and in Penetanguishene, Ontario with the Dreyton Theatre Festival.Books we mentioned: Maggie Smith “Dear Writer” and “You Could Make This Place Beautiful;” “Bird by Bird” by Annie Lamott; “On Writing” by Stephen King; Michael Ondaatje “The English Patient” and “In the Skin of a Lion;” David Whyte's “Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words”; “Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times” by Katherine May; anything by Alan Alda but we mentioned “Never Have Your Dog Stuffed” and his podcast “Clear and Vivid”You can read more from Angie on her Substack, called “the bigger picture”Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Stefan Deutsch is the founder of Global Human Development, a non-profit dedicated to advancing mental and emotional well-being through education and research. For over 30 years, Stefan has explored the power of unconditional love as essential nourishment for human growth. His work supports individuals, families, and organizations in fostering healthier relationships, reducing stress, and enhancing overall well-being.In this interview, we'll dive into how Global Human Development is transforming lives, and how Stefan's insights connect with the transformational conversations we engage in at Landmark.Learn More Here https://www.thdc.org/ Join us for a live interview www.landmarkforumnews.com/events

Send us a textIn this inspiring episode, host Andrea Atherton welcomes author and sacred storyteller Kathleen Anne Tamborino to explore the transformative journey behind The Sacred Thread Trilogy that will be released at the end of June. Through three luminous volumes — The Unraveling, The Reweaving, and The Rising — Kathleen offers a poetic, spiritually anchored map for those navigating the pain of betrayal, abandonment, and deep emotional wounds. Together, Andrea and Kathleen explore what it means to not only survive trauma but to embrace it as sacred fuel for healing, personal reclamation, and inner peace.Kathleen and Andrea unbox past trauma, once a source of shame and silence, that became the very ground from which wholeness can grow. Honoring the wound, releasing resentment, and embracing forgiveness without expecting reconciliation invites us to transmute pain into power. Listeners will hear how boundaries become acts of self-love, how reclaiming the inner child becomes a revolution of the soul, and how simple, grounding rituals like baking became her medicine. In the kitchen, Kathleen found not only a path to healing but a way to nourish others, weave love into every loaf, and rediscover joy through shared experience.This episode is a beautiful reminder that healing doesn't have to be clinical or cold — it can be warm, alive, and even delicious. Whether you are deep in your unraveling or feeling the stirrings of your rise, this conversation will remind you that your healing is sacred, your story is worthy, and your presence is a gift. Through tears, truth, and a little flour on our hands, we remember that we were never too broken to be whole — and that sometimes, the sweetest healing begins when we gather, share, and break bread together.Kathleen Anne Tamborino Links & Resourceshttps://linktr.ee/nonnadough?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=2b8b9e66-a6c9-48e3-941c-3ff6071a179f30-minute Consultation with Andrea https://www.andreaatherton.com/booking-calendarAndrea Atherton Websitehttps://www.andreaatherton.com/Love Anarchy Websitehttps://www.andreaatherton.com/podcasthttps://loveanarchypodcast.buzzsprout.comLove Anarchy Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/loveanarchypodcast/Andrea Atherton Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/andreaatherton-17/

In this episode of Revolution Health Radio, Chris Kresser welcomes food scientist and advocate for regenerative agriculture Dr. Frederic Leroy to discuss his groundbreaking work on the Nourishment Table, a new framework for assessing dietary adequacy. They explore why conventional dietary guidelines fail, how nutrient density and food processing deeply influence human health, and the evolutionary importance of animal-source foods in achieving optimal nutrition. Dr. Leroy highlights the limitations of popular nutritional models, sheds light on overlooked factors like bioavailability and organ meats, and addresses confusion surrounding plant-based diets and processed foods. Their conversation also covers practical tips for implementing this approach in everyday life and insights into navigating complex food policy and nutritional science debates. The post RHR: The Nourishment Table, with Frederic Leroy appeared first on Chris Kresser.

https://www.khutbah.info/eid-al-adha-khutbah-trials-of-ease-and-hardship/ So what do you think of Allah, the Generous, as they ask Him and supplicate Him? And what do you think of the Self-Sufficient,… The post Eid Al Adha Khutbah Trials of Ease and Hardship first appeared on Nourishment of the Soul.

https://www.khutbah.info/contentment/ Be conscious of your Lord who created you, provided for you and granted you wellbeing. He is the One who satiates your hunger and… The post Contentment first appeared on Nourishment of the Soul.

When you are feeling depleted, disconnected and weak - it's not just physical it's emotional and spiritual as well. Priestess of Motherhood Podcast with Dania Foster Season 2 Episode 20What does strength really mean? This is for you if you have been feeling less than strong but you need to keep showing up for everyone else... If you are overwhelmed with trying to invoke strength back into your motherhood I've got you! We explore: The archetypes of Strength in the Tarot and the feminine.Rest as a revolutionary act. Nourishment of foods and herbs for strengthMuscle mass and energetic empowermentRitual Rhythms and Connection as spiritual strength.

In this illuminating episode we speak with Dr. Filippa Juul. An epidemiologist and leading researcher on the impact of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) on human health. Together, we unpack what ultra-processed really means, why it's not just about calories or macros, and how these foods are stealthily contributing to the global rise in obesity, chronic illness, and food addiction. Dr. Filippa Juul is a nutritional epidemiologist and Faculty Fellow at the Department of Public Health Policy and Management at the New York University School of Global Public Health (NYU GPH). She earned her PhD in Epidemiology from NYU GPH in 2020, following a MSc in Public Health Nutrition from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and a BA in Nutrition and Dietetics from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain. Dr. Juul's research focuses on improving cardiometabolic health outcomes at the population level, with a particular interest in the role of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in diet quality, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. She utilizes large U.S. population studies to examine these associations and is also exploring the biological mechanisms underlying the impact of UPFs on cardiometabolic health.  Dr. Juul explains the NOVA classification system, dives into recent groundbreaking studies, and offers insights into why UPFs are so difficult to resist—and what we can do about it, both individually and at the policy level. Key Takeaways 

Access Nourishment started as a school project and quickly evolved into a calling that could be something more. Dr. Shelby Gonser and Louise Shines connected on the project and while they both took slightly different angles to the impact nutrition can have, both of them benefit ATs and the patients they care for. In this episode, we hear the story of how Access Nourishment got started.  Shelby and Louise share each of their passions around nutrition and how eating “healthy” as an AT isn't always easy and being able to provide good nutritional information to patients can be challenging. In the discussion they discuss what they have found so far and what resources they are hoping to put together to grow Access Nourishment to the benefit of everyone. Check it out.In this Episode+Understanding food insecurity +How Access Nourishment got started+Eating “Healthy” on a budget+Cultural and religious considerations+Creating a hub of research informationConnect with Shelby and Louise+IG: @accessnourishment1 (https://www.instagram.com/accessnourishment1/ )+www: https://accessnourishment.wixsite.com/access-nourishment-1 +AccessNourishment@outlook.comShelby+IG: @shelby.gonser7 (https://www.instagram.com/shelby.gonser7/)LINK: https://www.athletictrainingchat.com/2025/05/ep-189-access-nourishment-dr-shelby.html www.athletictrainingchat.comwww.cliniallypressed.org #ATCchat #ATtwitter #complicatedsimple #atimpact #at4all #nata #boc #bocatc #athletictraining #athletictrainingchat #health #medicine #medical #careeverywhere

https://www.khutbah.info/lessons-from-hajj/ People are drawn to Allah Almighty's Sacred House. Their hearts precede their bodies. They feel a deep longing for it. They come from far… The post Lessons from Hajj first appeared on Nourishment of the Soul.

In this episode I discuss my own observations on what it means when things feel uncomfortable that better is coming and finding peace there while acknowledging it is not what I enjoy. I discuss wanting god soul nourishment and taking a free Harvard course online.

In this episode, Dr. Jill sits down with two of the triplets ​

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Happy Satiated Saturday! It can be confusing what path to choose for your food recovery when there are many different paths you can walk. When exploring all the various avenues, you can focus on your experience of choice. There is no "right" way to decrease your food coping mechanisms. It gets to be unique to you, your body, and what supports you in feeling the way you want to feel in your life. Your recovery resources are your choice (something that the experience of trauma can feel like it took away from you). When trying out any somatic, nervous system, trauma, parts practices, you can observe how you feel before, during, and after to discover which practices resonate with you. You will receive this bodily feedback by tracking your capacity to flow through dysregulation, big emotions and sensations, and what helps you to return to yourself again and again. In this week's episode, I chat with Caroline McNally, Hypnotherapist & Longevity Coach, about: Hypnotherapy resources you can use on yourself to navigate food urges and impulsesUtilizing visualization for navigating your relationship with foodThe importance of laughter on this healing journey Reminding yourself that you have a choiceYou can also read the transcript to this week's episode here: https://www.stephaniemara.com/blog/food-cravings-with-self-hypnosis-resources6 more days to sign up for the Somatic Eating® Program! In three months together, you will walk away with an abundance of various somatic practices to navigate your food cravings with connection, embodiment, and experience of choice. Go to somaticeating.com to sign up today! With Compassion and Empathy, Stephanie Mara FoxKeep in touch with Caroline: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563544538229Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cazmcnazweightlosshypnosis/Email: cazmcnazhypnotherapy@gmail.comSupport the showKeep in touch with Stephanie Mara:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_stephaniemara/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephaniemarafoxWebsite: https://www.stephaniemara.com/https://www.somaticeating.com/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephmara/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stephaniemarafoxContact: support@stephaniemara.comSupport the show:Become a supporter: https://www.buzzsprout.com/809987/supportMy favorite water filter: https://www.pureeffectfilters.com/#a_aid=somaticeatingReceive 15% off my fave protein powder with code STEPHANIEMARA at checkout here: https://www.equipfoods.com/STEPHANIEMARAUse my Amazon Affiliate link when shopping on Amazon: https://amzn.to/448IyPl Special thanks to Bendsound for the music in this episode. ...

For 19 May 2025, Monday of the 5th week of Easter, based on Acts 14:5-18

Today's guided meditation creates sacred space for divine nourishment from our Creator. Recline, breathe intentionally, and open yourself to God's sustaining energy from head to toe. Drawing inspiration from John 6:27, we explore the difference between temporary satisfaction and lasting spiritual nourishment through a restful practice that engages body, mind, and spirit. For more, check out With God in Every Breath, featuring today's theme of Nourishment from God on page 33.Send us a text!Support the showIf you enjoy the benefits of Exploring Peace Meditations: Check out Whitney's books: With God in Every Breath, Holy Listening with Breath, Body, and the Spirit and Fully Human, Fully Divine Join our

Episode Highlights With KatieWhy your body needs safety, not just supplements, to healThe difference between stress signals and safety signals—and how your body is always listeningHow under-eating, poor sleep, and even loneliness send silent danger signals to your nervous systemSimple, free ways to tell your body “you're safe now”—starting todayWhy nourishment, movement, and sunlight are more than habits—they're messagesHow to reframe your wellness journey as a remembering, not a projectA new lens for healing that's rooted in trust, rhythm, and compassionResources MentionedBEAM MineralsMagnesiumLMNT electrolytesBONCHARGE: Healthy light bulbs and blue light blocking glassesMollie Eastman: Sleep is a Skill

Nick Jackson and Sarah Mahan recently embarked on a transformative journey from Atkinson, Maine, to Healy, Kansas, to pursue regenerative agriculture. Their passion for soil health and sustainable farming practices led them to transition from market gardening to livestock farming. With backgrounds in organic agriculture and compost production, they have drawn inspiration from influential thinkers like Alan Savory to enhance their approach to farming. Their story is not just about agriculture but also about personal growth, community support, and family dynamics as they navigate their new life in Kansas.Topics covered in this episode:Introduction to regenerative agriculture and Nick and Sarah's backgroundTransition from market gardening to livestock farmingInfluence of thinkers like Alan Savory on their practicesHistorical and ecological evolution of agriculture in MaineChallenges and emotional aspects of relocating from Maine to KansasManaging livestock in a new environment and adapting to local conditionsExperiences with flash floods and community supportInsights into grazing strategies and sustainable farming techniquesFamily dynamics and working with loved ones in a farming contextListeners should tune in to this podcast episode to gain a comprehensive understanding of regenerative agriculture through the real-life experiences of Nick and Sarah. Their journey is both inspiring and educational, offering practical insights into sustainable farming practices and the resilience required to adapt to new environments. Whether you're an established farmer or someone new to the field, their story provides valuable lessons in managing cash flow, embracing change, and maintaining a sustainable lifestyle. The episode also offers a rich tapestry of historical and ecological perspectives, making it a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of agriculture, sustainability, and personal growth.Links Mentioned in the EpisodeVisit our Sponsors:Noble Research InstituteRedmondGBT AngusGrazing Grass LinksNew Listener Resource GuideProvide feedback for the podcastWebsiteInsidersResources (Coming Soon)Community (on Facebook)Check out the Apiary Chronicles PodcastOriginal Music by Louis PalfreyChapters(00:00) - Introduction and Fast Five (00:50) - Welcome to the Grazing Grass Podcast (01:25) - Noble Research Institute Courses (02:28) - Starting the Regenerative Journey (06:01) - Transitioning to Livestock (08:34) - Challenges and Strategies in Farming (17:15) - Maine's Agricultural Landscape (25:57) - Moving to Kansas: A New Beginning (42:37) - Airbnb Adventures and Meeting Greg (43:59) - Selling Everything and Moving to Kansas (45:37) - Challenges and Changes in Kansas (48:45) - Custom Grazing and Scaling Up (52:15) - Managing Sheep and Steers (01:04:47) - Favorite Resources and Tools (01:09:51) - Working with Family and Final Thoughts

https://www.khutbah.info/this-fleeting-world/ The sun hardly rises and then it sets, and it seems like a day is merely a moment. And the new moon hardly appears then it… The post This Fleeting World first appeared on Nourishment of the Soul.

Welcome back to The Soft Focus! Imagine a food system where our choices aren't just guided by labels like "organic" or "grass-fed," but by deep relationships, integrity, and care. In today's solo episode, we're peeling back the layers of industrial marketing and exploring what it truly means to nourish ourselves—and our communities—through conscious connection to our food.Inside the Conversation: What You'll DiscoverThis heartfelt episode is for you if you:Want to deepen your understanding of food sourcing beyond buzzwordsAre curious about the real practices behind food labelsBelieve food choices can be a revolutionary act of relationship and stewardshipWant practical ideas for supporting ethical, relationship-centered farmsTogether, we'll explore:Why Labels Aren't Enough: How marketing tactics like greenwashing mislead consumers, and why relationship over checklist matters.The Loss of Family Farms: What's truly at stake when we lose small farms—and how that loss affects our health, environment, and communities.The Power of True Nourishment: How food raised with care impacts not only nutrition but our vitality, joy, and connection to the earth.Your Role in Healing the Food System: Practical, empowering steps you can take to align your eating habits with your values.Sponsored by BloomBoxes from Late Bloomer RanchFuel your meals with purpose! Our BloomBoxes deliver ethically-raised, regenerative pork straight from Late Bloomer Ranch to your doorstep. Every box supports a food system built on integrity, stewardship, and care.Your voice matters. After listening, we'd love to hear your thoughts: Subscribe to The Soft Focus Podcast Leave a review Share your insights Connect with us: hello@latebloomerranch.com IG@latebloomerranch Together, we can cultivate a future where food connects, nourishes, and empowers.

In this second full day of Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Shinzan explores the Four Bodhisattva Vows as expressions of what Suzuki Roshi described as an “inflexible determination to carry out one's will […]

https://www.khutbah.info/qualities-loved-by-allah/ The full moon is missed during a dark night. And shade is sought and refreshing breezes are coveted when the sun blazes with scorching… The post Qualities Loved by Allah first appeared on Nourishment of the Soul.

261. Edible Theology with Kendall Vanderslice   Kendall's Website   John 6:35 NIV "Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."   **Transcription Below**   Kendall Vanderslice says "Yes, before you ask, that is my true name."   Kendall is a baker and writer whose best thinking occurs as she works dough between her hands; scribbles down thoughts on pieces of parchment dusted in flour, until she can parse them out later before her keyboard. When she embarked on a career as a pastry chef, she found that her love of bread transformed the ways she read Scripture. Fascinated by God's use of food throughout the arc of the Gospel, she merged her work in the kitchen with academic study of food and theology.   As a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois (BA Anthropology), she began engaging questions of food and faith. Interested in commensality—or, the social dynamics of eating together—she studied food at Boston University (MLA Gastronomy). Her thesis on church meals sparked a range of theological questions, leading her to Duke University where she wrote a thesis on the theology of bread (MTS). In 2018 she was named a James Beard Foundation national scholar for her work on food and religion.   She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her beagle, Strudel, her sourdough starter Bread Astaire, and her brood of hens: Judith Jones and the Three Gourmands.   Questions and Topics We Cover: You've studied so much about food and theology . . . are there any favorite lessons or resources that you still think about today? Is there any other science in the bread baking that is fascinating because it also has a richer, deeper spiritual meaning? What's one recipe in the book you're especially excited about?   Other Episode Mentioned from The Savvy Sauce: 47 Relationships and Opportunities that Arise from Using Your Gifts with Founder of Neighbor's Table, Sarah Harmeyer   Related Episodes on The Savvy Sauce: 15 The Supernatural Power Present While Gathering at the Table with Devi Titus Practical Tips to Eating Dinner Together as a Family with Blogger and Cookbook Co-Author, Rachel Tiemeyer Experiencing Joy, Connection, and Nourishment at the Table with Abby Turner Fresh Take on Hospitality with Jaime Farrell   Thank You to Our Sponsor: Dream Seller Travel, Megan Rokey   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and subscribing to this podcast!   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   **Transcription**   Music: (0:00 – 0:09)   Laura Dugger: (0:10 - 1:22) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.    Do you love to travel?   If so, then let me introduce you to today's sponsor, Dream Seller Travel, a Christian-owned and operated travel agency. Check them out on Facebook or online at DreamSellerTravel.com.    We were one of those families who joined in the COVID trend of baking our own bread.   And so, I was fascinated even years later when I came across my guest for today, Kendall Vanderslice. She's an author and the founder of Edible Theology. And I've always appreciated different verses being brought to life, even things that we interact with every day, such as salt and yeast.   But God has richer meanings for all of these. And so, I can't wait for Kendall to unpack these in our conversation today. Here's our chat.   Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Kendall.   Kendall Vanderslice: (1:20 - 1:22) Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.   Laura Dugger:  (1:23 - 1:30) Would you mind just starting us off by sharing a bit about your background and what led you to the work that you get to do today?   Kendall Vanderslice: (1:31 - 3:46) Sure. So, I have always loved baking. I always, you know, when I was a child, but especially once I was in middle school and high school, I had a lot of anxiety.   And so, when I just ever, anytime I needed to work through any sort of scope of emotions, I would always turn to the kitchen. Working with my hands became this way to sort of ground me and help me find calm in the midst of sort of my mind just buzzing. I was also one of five kids.   So, it was like after everyone had gone to bed and the kitchen was silent, was the only time there was quiet in my house. And so that was kind of always became the source of calm and grounding for me. And so, then when I graduated high school and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, once again, I turned to the kitchen as a way to try and process what I should do.   And long story short, over time, I realized, oh, maybe actually this work of baking is the work that I am called to do. And so, I ended up taking a very circuitous path to get there. I took a gap year after high school.   I went to undergrad and studied anthropology in college. And in that time, learned that I could, my love of food and my love of the kitchen, I could examine not just in the practice of cooking, but through an anthropological and historical lens, looking at how food shapes community and shapes culture and how culture shapes the foods that we eat. And so, from there, I went and worked in professional kitchens.   But I had all these historical, cultural, theological questions kind of buzzing around at the same time. And, you know, I would go from my work at the bakery on Sunday morning. I would rush from work to church and I would receive communion each week with bread dough still stuck to my arms.   And I started to question, what does this bread that I spend my whole morning baking have to do with this bread that I receive at the communion table? And so that just unlocked a whole new path of what I could do with bread and with my baking beyond just in the kitchen and larger understanding how it shapes our awareness of who God is and how God is at work in our lives and in our communities.   Laura Dugger:  (3:47 - 3:58) Wow, that is incredible. And even today, do you want to share a few of your offerings? Because edible theology was a new concept to me, and it's just fascinating what all you have going on.   Kendall Vanderslice: (3:59 - 5:31) Yeah, absolutely. So, my primary program is that I teach a workshop called Bake and Pray. And so, this is a workshop where I teach people how to bake bread as a form of prayer.   So, we look at the ways that bread is at play throughout the narrative of Scripture, kind of what it is that God is using, why it is that God is using bread as the storytelling device in the narrative of Scripture, and why Jesus would give us bread at the center of Christian worship. But then at the same time, we're learning how the actual practice of baking bread can be a way to connect with God, to find rest and to understand God's presence with us in a very tangible form. So, with that, I also have a handful of books.   Most recently, I released a book called Bake and Pray. It's sort of this workshop in book form. It's a collection of recipes, but also a collection of liturgies, so that you have the tools you need to make your time in the kitchen a time of prayer. I call it a prayer book meets cookbook.    But I also have a handful of other resources, a Bible study or a small group study called Worship at the Table, where it's actually helping people gather around the table and understand how God is at work through the table. And I have a podcast that it was a limited run.   There are 30 episodes called Kitchen Meditations. They are short meditations to listen to while you cook, while you're in the kitchen. So, you can understand the food that you eat more fully and also understand how your time preparing it can be a time of worship.   Laura Dugger:  (5:31 - 5:50) I love that. And there's so much to unpack. But let's just start here with all the things that you've studied with food and theology and gone to school for years and put this into practice.   Are there any favorite lessons that stand out and are maybe ones that you still think about today?   Kendall Vanderslice: (5:51 - 6:57) Well, you know, one of my favorite books that helped shape my understanding of food is a book that was written in the 1960s by an Episcopal priest named Robert Carr-Capin. It's a book called The Supper of the Lamb. This book is just a delightful book to read.   I think everybody should read it. Robert Carr-Capin was he was an Episcopal priest, but he was also a food writer and he also was a humor writer. He and his wife wrote a satirical column together.   And so, The Supper of the Lamb is kind of the culmination of all three. It is this beautiful reflection on a theology of food in the table, but it is hilarious as well. And so, it is written as instructions to host a dinner party that is all built around preparing lamb for eight people in four different ways.   And so, it's reflections on kind of, you know, this revelation, the imagery in the book of Revelation on the marriage supper of the lamb, But then taking that to be a very liberal dinner party that he hosts in his home. And it will forever change the way that you think about food and think about the table and think about how God cares about food.   Laura Dugger:  (6:58 - 7:13) Wow, that's interesting. And even a piece of that that you had highlighted before is community, that food draws us together in community. Are there any lessons or reflections you have on that topic as well?   Kendall Vanderslice: (7:14 - 9:03) Yeah, I mean, so I spend my days traveling the country and visiting churches and eating meals with strangers all the time. This is such a central part of my work. So, my first book was a study of churches that eat together as their primary form of worship.   And so, I had the opportunity to research 10 different churches across the country and look at how does this practice of eating together regularly shape their understanding of community, but also shape their understanding of church and shape their understanding of worship. And what I saw in that practice of traveling and eating with all of these churches was that communities that were built around the table, where their primary rhythm of gathering was this practice of eating together and talking together and dialoguing together. It created such resilience within these communities as they faced conflict and tension within them that their commitment to eating together, but then their understanding of these community meals as being intrinsically connected to the communion table, the meal of bread and the cup that they also shared, it shaped their ability to have conversations and wade into hard topics that communities might otherwise try to say, you know, kind of avoid, because what they believed was that, you know, the table that we gather at regularly is a place that can kind of manage and hold on to those tensions.   And it's a place where these hard conversations can arise. But also at the end of each of these meals, we remember that we are going to share the bread and the cup together and that God has told us that we have been made one in the body and blood of Christ. And so, we have a responsibility to care for one another, even as we argue and disagree and have a really, you know, dig into these hard conversations.   Laura Dugger:  (9:04 - 9:58) That is beautiful. And I think of so many things when you say that. I'm in the book of Acts right now, my quiet time.   And so, the early churches, they were breaking bread together daily. You see that as part of the impact, the outflow that came from that. And then just, I think, gratitude as you share, because I wasn't a follower of Jesus growing up.   Our family went to church. And by the time I was in high school, all of my family were believers, including my siblings. I was the last one.   But the church that we went to, we shared a meal together every Sunday. And those relationships are long lasting. Then you hear about what people are actually going through.   It's such a natural way to dive deeper into that fellowship. And so, I love that you've traveled around and studied this. And I'm also curious if you've connected with one of my past guests, Sarah Harmeyer with the Neighbors Table.   Kendall Vanderslice: (9:59 - 10:03) I am familiar with her work, but I have never actually connected with her.   Laura Dugger:  (10:04 - 10:09) OK, you two. I'll link her episode in the show notes, but I think you two would have a lot of fun together.   Kendall Vanderslice: (10:09 - 10:14) Oh, great. Great, great. I know I've seen some of her tables on.   She's the one who builds tables. Is that right?   Laura Dugger:  (10:14 - 10:15) Yes. Yes.   Kendall Vanderslice: (10:15 - 10:19) Yes. OK. I have seen her tables on Instagram, and they look just absolutely beautiful.   Laura Dugger:  (10:19 - 10:37) I love it. Well, I'd also like to talk about your most recent book, because there's one part where you talk about the sacred language of bread. And I'd love for you just to walk us through some significant scriptures that highlight bread throughout the Bible.   Kendall Vanderslice: (10:37 - 19:43) Yeah, absolutely. So, one of the reasons that I love to think of bread in terms of a language itself is because so often we think of our faith as being something that happens predominantly in our minds, that it is the things we believe about God and the words that we say to God. And it becomes this very sort of mental exercise of worshiping God in our heads.   And we forget that the rest of our bodies and the rest of our lives are a part of how we know God as well, that we were created in these human bodies with all of these senses. And it's only through these senses that we get to know the world around us. And it's in getting to know this creation around us that we get to know our creator as well.   And so when we think of our faith as happening something predominantly in our minds, then when we have these moments where we don't feel like God is present, or we feel like we don't hear from God, or we just don't have the energy to, you know, to read scripture every day, or we feel like we, you know, I'm just like praying and praying and praying, and I've just exhausted the words I have to say. Then it's easy for us to feel like we've been abandoned by God, that we're in this sort of spiritual dark place. But Jesus, he calls himself the word, but, you know, Jesus is the word that was present with God in the beginning.   But Jesus also calls himself the bread of life. And Jesus identifies himself as something deeply tangible. And he offers his own body to us in the form of bread at the communion table.   And so, Jesus is telling us that Jesus is present with us in this very tangible form, something that we can mix together with our hands, something that we can taste on our tongues, something that we can feel in our bellies as we digest it. That Jesus is telling us, like, I am with you in this deeply tangible way. And if you don't feel my presence, and if you don't, you know, hear what I am telling you, or you don't feel like I am listening to you, know that you can eat this bread and have this very tangible reminder that I have promised to remain present with you and to remain faithful to you.   And so, the ways that we see this at work in Scripture, once we understand that, you know, bread is not just a metaphor, that bread is actually something very physical and tangible, a way that God speaks to us, I think it changes the way that we see bread show up in Scripture. That it's not just a handy metaphor that shows up every, all over the place in the Bible, but that Jesus is actually, that God is actually doing something through bread itself.    So, the very first place that we see bread appear in Scripture is as early as Genesis 3:19, “It is by the sweat of your brow that you will eat your bread until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken, from dust you come, and to dust you will return.” So, prior to this point in Genesis, we have the creation accounts, we have, you know, that God has created the garden, placed humanity in the garden to tend to this creation, to care for it. And they are intended to, you know, they are nourished by the fruits of these trees, they delight in God by delighting in God's creation.   And God gave them just one restriction, which was a restriction on what they could eat. And so, in Genesis 3:19, we know that they have failed to honor this restriction that God has given them. And we are now learning the ramifications of that fall.   And one of those ramifications is that the soil is going to sprout forth thistles and thorns. That we will no longer just be nourished by the fruits of the trees, but that we will have to labor in this soil. We will have to labor against a creation that works against us in order to have our nutritional needs met.   But at the same time, God offers us this gift, that it's by the sweat of your brow, you will eat your bread. Our bread, you know, doesn't just grow from a tree. The humanity was probably not eating bread in the garden.   But in this offering of bread, that it's by the sweat of your brow, you will eat your bread. Humans are being told, yes, we will have to labor in the soil in order to nourish ourselves. But also, we are being invited to participate with God in the transformation of creation into something really delicious as well.   So, bread is, at the same time, both this picture of the brokenness of creation and yet also the goodness of God. This blessing, this gift from God in the midst of a broken creation. The production of bread, historically, has required a lot of work.   It requires months and months of laboring in the soil to grow wheat, harvest wheat, thresh it, and then grind it into flour. Turn that flour into dough, gather firewood to heat up an oven, and then turn that dough into bread before finally being able to eat it. So, humanity has long known that it is, you know, there is this deep, this incredible amount of labor required to make bread.   And yet also, bread contains almost all of the nutrients that humans need in order to survive. We can live off of just bread and water alone for a very, very, very long time. And in fact, many humans throughout most of human history have lived off of just bread and water for a very, very, very long time.   So then when we see bread show up in other places in scripture, we see it show up as this picture of God's miraculous provision for God's people. We see it show up as a sign of God's presence with God's people. And we see it as a sign of God's promises to God's people that God will continue this work of restoration until we have this imagery of this renewed creation in the book of Revelation.   So, one picture of that is in this provision of manna for the Israelites in the desert. You know, I think oftentimes for us, we read this story and we think the miracle is like, well, I don't know about you, but I've never opened my front door and had bread strewn across my lawn that I could just go out and gather. But we can still picture just walking into a grocery store and having a whole aisle of bread to choose from, right?   For us, the miracle seems like it just appears out of nowhere, but it doesn't seem all that crazy to just have a bunch of ready-made bread available to you. But for the Israelites, the work of making bread would have been nine months or more of labor between growing wheat, harvesting it, turning that wheat into flour, flour into dough, dough into bread. That's work that was not possible while they were wandering in the desert.   And so, when God is providing this miracle of manna, all they have to do is go out every single morning and gather, and they have to trust day after day after day that God is going to continue to provide. So, then we see a mirror of this in the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Once again, I think the miracle to us oftentimes feels like, you know, well, I've never seen five loaves capable of feeding 5,000 plus people.   But still, we can picture a Costco aisle of bread that probably has enough bread to feed 5,000 people. Just the presence of bread enough for that size crowd doesn't seem all that miraculous. But for the crowd who was gathered on the hillside with Jesus, they would have had a much closer awareness of just how much work was required to grow enough, in this case, barley.   One of the accounts says that it was barley bread. So, to grow enough barley to make enough bread to feed this crowd. And at the very least, in Mark's account of the gospel, we see a very direct link to work and how much work would be required to feed this crowd.   Because in the gospel of Mark, it says that it would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread to feed this crowd. So, this distinct connection between labor and hard work in order to feed, to provide the bread for these people. But Jesus circumvents that labor required to either make the bread or buy the bread and just miraculously provides these five loaves to feed 5,000 plus people.   So then on the night before his death, Jesus takes, I think, this imagery one step further. It is not just the labor of making bread that Jesus circumvents in his provision of bread for his disciples. He offers bread to his disciples and says, “This is my body that is broken for you.”   Jesus is circumventing the very work of defeating the curse of sin and death. He has taken the labor of defeating sin and death onto his own body. And he's offering that body back to his disciples and onto anyone who remembers Him in this meal of bread and the cup.   But he's offering to us His body as in the form of bread, as this picture of the labor that Jesus has taken on, the curse that Jesus has taken on so that we can then live in freedom. And so, we're still currently living in this sort of in-between time where we know that Jesus, that Christ has died, that Christ is risen, and we are still awaiting the day when Christ will come again. We're still awaiting this imagery in the book of Revelation where creation is restored.   And I believe our relationship to bread will purely be one of delight and joy and freedom. But right now, we do still experience that brokenness of creation in relationship to bread. But also, bread is still a way in which we can know God, in which we can trust God's promises to us in this very tangible form in which we can believe that God is with us, even when we don't feel it.   Laura Dugger: (19:43 - 22:17) Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. Do you have a bucket list of travel destinations? Or maybe you have a special event coming up like a big anniversary, a honeymoon, or even just that first trip to Europe?   If so, you need to call Dream Seller Travel. Dream Seller Travel is located in Central Illinois, but works with clients all across the USA. 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Let them deal with the problems that arise while traveling so you can just enjoy the trip. Dream Seller Travel has been planning dream trips since 2005 to amazing destinations such as Alaska, Italy, Hawaii, Canada, the Caribbean, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, France, South Africa, Iceland, and more.   Where do you dream of going? You can reach out to Dream Seller Travel at 309-696-5890,  or check them out online at DreamSellerTravel.com. Thanks for your sponsorship.   In line with your brand of edible theology, I'd love to go further into the scripture. That was so fascinating. I feel like you're so succinct in the way that you put that all together.   So, I kind of want to do a deeper dive into a couple of the key ingredients of bread and then have you share their significance both in contributing to food, but also their significance for our own lives. Absolutely. Let's just begin with salt.   Will you share the scripture and insight into salt?   Kendall Vanderslice: (22:18 - 23:20) Yeah. One of the things that I love about salt, I think oftentimes, especially here in America, we have a sort of distorted understanding of the role that salt plays in our food. Oftentimes, we treat table salt.   We usually have table salt that you just add onto your food after cooking it. Maybe you add a little bit of salt while cooking, but for the most part, you just sprinkle on table salt after. And it almost is treated as this kind of added flavor.   But salt actually should not be this added flavor at the end. Salt should be incorporated into the cooking process because salt opens up our taste receptors on our tongues, and it opens up the flavors in the dish. So, salt actually should not be the predominant flavor that we taste.   Salt should be the thing that allows us to taste everything else. And I think when we understand salt in that form, it should reframe our understanding of what it means to be the salt of the earth or to be salt and light in the world. What does it mean that salt is not the thing that itself gets tasted, but salt is the thing that opens up the flavors of everything else around us?   Laura Dugger:  (23:20 - 23:30) Kendall, can you take that even a step further? What does that practically look like for believers really living as salt of the earth?   Kendall Vanderslice: (23:34 - 24:26) I think one of the great joys of the ways that these metaphors at work in Scripture is that we get to continually explore and see what that means for us and where God might be calling us. But I do think that being aware that to be the salt of the earth is to help pull out the best in the communities around us, to pull out the best in the people around us, is just this really beautiful picture of how I think God asks us to work in community. But our job is not necessarily to be the strong presence.   Our job is not necessarily to make sure everyone knows that we are present, but instead our job is to identify and build up and pull out the best parts of the people around us in the communities that we are in.   Laura Dugger:  (24:27 - 24:56) That's so good. I love how you shared that because for me, as you were unpacking it, I was just thinking that we as the salt, when you taste it, you don't want to think, oh, that's salt. You want, like you said, to open it up to others.   And so that's our purpose is to reflect and glorify Jesus and to point to him. So, I'm sure there's countless meanings. Will you also do the same thing and share the significance of yeast?   Kendall Vanderslice: (24:57 - 29:44) Yeah, sure. So, yeast is, you know, also a fascinating, fascinating thing. And we are only really just beginning to understand sort of the microbial world and the role that it plays in our lives, in our bodies, in our world.   And so, it's opening up entirely new understandings of how yeast is at work in scripture. One thing that we have to bear in mind is that the writers of scripture did not actually know what yeast was. We were only able to identify the microbes that are yeast and bacteria in the last 150 years.   And so, prior to Louis Pasteur, humans didn't know what yeast was. They only knew the reactions of yeast. You know, you saw if I mix together, you know, this, if I let this flour and water sit, it comes back to life and I can mix that into more flour and water and it can become bread.   You know, I can mix it in with a lot of water and a little bit of yeast and some hops and it becomes beer. I can mix it in with grapes and it becomes wine. So, we see the reactions, but don't necessarily know what it is that is responsible for those reactions.   So, it is fairly new that we have this, you know, in the scope of human history, it's fairly new that we have this understanding of what are the actual kind of little critters that are involved in this process. And so, I have a really dear friend who she studies theology of the microbiome. So, a lot of her research is all based around, you know, how does this emerging research on yeast and bacteria shape our understanding of what it means to be human?   And so then how does that shape the ways we read in scripture, both passages about yeast and also about what it means to be human? And so it is, I think there's just, it's a field that is ripe for exploration and we are only beginning to scratch the surface of all the beautiful imagery that's at play here. But one of the things that I find most fascinating is that leaven or yeast, it is used as a metaphor for two different things in scripture.   In one passage, it is used as a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven, the parable of leaven, the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman mixed into three measures of flour until it leavened the whole batch. But apart from that, yeast is always used as an image of sin, the ways that sin works through community. We have the passage about the leaven of the Pharisees.   I believe there are a few others as well. So oftentimes leaven is used as this picture of sin and the ways that sin sort of multiplies and works through communities. But at the same time, it's this picture of the kingdom of God, that it's this little bit of yeast that slowly multiplies and through its multiplication, it transforms the entire community.   It seems like a strange sort of tension that why would we use the same thing as a picture of both the kingdom of heaven and a picture of sin? And I think it makes more sense when we understand a sourdough culture. So, a sourdough culture is a culture of bacteria and yeast that is used to leaven bread, to raise bread.   So, we all have wild yeast and bacteria living in the air, on the surface of our skin, on the surface of everything around us. This wild yeast and bacteria is what makes the world go round. It's what makes our brains function.   It's what allows our bellies to digest food. It is what sort of makes everything work. And there is always this presence of both pathogenic bacteria and also beneficial bacteria.   That is true within our bodies. That's true sort of all around us. It's true in the sourdough culture that there is always the presence of pathogenic bacteria, but there is also the beneficial bacteria.   And so, to maintain a healthy sourdough starter, you have to feed it regularly. And as long as you feed it regularly and maintain its health, that good bacteria is going to keep the pathogenic bacteria in check. It's when you start to starve that starter that the pathogenic bacteria gets stronger and it overtakes the good bacteria and your sourdough starter goes bad.   And so, I think that's a really beautiful way to think about both how the kingdom of God works and also how sin works in our communities. We live in a broken creation. Sin will always be present.   But when we are digging ourselves, like when we are staying grounded and rooted in scripture, when we're staying grounded and rooted in church community and worship and prayer, when we are maintaining these healthy communities that are rooted to God, then we're able to help keep that pathogenic bacteria, that sin in check. But it's when we do not that it can start to take over and it can spread through a community just as quickly and easily as the kingdom of God can also spread through a community.   Laura Dugger:  (29:45 - 29:58) You just have brilliant answers. Is there any other science in the bread baking that is also fascinating to you because it has a richer, deeper spiritual meaning?   Kendall Vanderslice: (29:58 - 32:22) One of the things that I love, I oftentimes lead these bread baking workshops for groups of leaders, especially church leaders or faith leaders who are oftentimes having to manage just large groups of people where they're constantly facing internal conflict. I don't think anyone who leads a group of people has managed to bring together the people that never have any kind of disagreement. One of the things that I love about bread is that inherent to the structure of bread is tension.   The backbone of bread is this protein called gluten that is made up of two different proteins called gluten and gliadin. Gluten and gliadin have two opposing qualities to them. One likes to stretch and stretch and stretch.   It's what's called the elastic quality. One likes to hold its shape, what's called the plastic quality. When these protein strands unravel, they begin to form bonds with one another and they create this network, this protein network.   That protein network is what captures the carbon dioxide that the yeast releases and that allows the dough to both grow while also holding its shape. The strength and the structure of our bread is fully reliant on tension between these two opposing qualities, these two opposing needs. In order to build that tension in a way that brings strength to the bread, it has to be constantly balanced with rest.   The gluten will let you know when it's starting to get tired. If you don't give it time to rest, then it will just fall apart. It will start to break down on you.   This is something that I think so many of our communities really can learn from right now. That tension is good, that our differences, that diversity in our communities is our source of strength. When these differences rub up against one another and they help expand our understanding of the people around us, our differing needs, our differing convictions, our differing desires, our differing hopes, that can be a source of strength in our communities.   Also, we need to understand when it's time to step away and take time to rest before leaning into those differences even further. I love that bread then is itself this element that Jesus gives us as the sign of our unity in Christ, because it is this picture of our differences coming together and making us one even in our difference.   Laura Dugger:  (32:23 - 32:39) All of this from bread, it's just incredible. Then I even think you write about temperature and scoring the bread. Is there anything else?   We won't get to cover all of it, but any other scientific findings that have been really exciting?   Kendall Vanderslice: (32:40 - 33:33) I think there is so much in bread. I like to say that bread is incredibly simple and infinitely complex. It's made of four basic ingredients, but it can be mixed together in myriad ways.   A baker can commit their entire lives to learning about bread, and they will still have more to learn. We'll never be able to cover it all. I think there's room for endless exploration as far as digging into all that bread has to teach us.   My hope is that this book, Bake and Pray, helps to start to illuminate some of the ways that we see God teaching us through the many different steps in the bread-baking process. I also hope that others will start to get into this practice of baking, and through the practice of baking, they themselves will be able to start to see some of the beauty that God reveals through bread.   Laura Dugger:  (33:34 - 34:38) I just wanted to let you know there are now multiple ways to give when you visit thesavvysauce.com. We now have a donation button on our website, and you can find it under the Donate page, which is under the tab entitled Support. Our mailing address is also provided if you would prefer to save us the processing fee and send a check that is tax deductible.   Either way, you'll be supporting the work of Savvy Sauce Charities and helping us continue to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus Christ. Make sure you visit thesavvysauce.com today. Thanks for your support.   Well, and Kendall, you also have a unique take. You spent years as a ballet dancer, and even with your books, you're just writing about the connection beyond, like you said, just our intellect and our minds to the Lord, but using our whole bodies to glorify God. Can you share some more ways that we can use our bodies to bake and pray and glorify God?   Kendall Vanderslice: (34:38 - 39:09) Yeah, so one of the things that I love when I'm first teaching people about this idea of praying with your body, it is ironic. The whole concept of praying with your body is to try and get us out of our minds and into our bodies. But the idea of praying with our body can feel like a very sort of cerebral or like, you know, the sort of thing that doesn't quite make sense.   And so, the way that I like to help people first get started is through the practice of a breath prayer. So, a breath prayer is a practice of repeating a line of scripture or poetry with every inhale and every exhale. And so, one of the ones that I love to start with is my soul finds rest in God alone, drawn from the Psalms.   And so, as you inhale, you repeat my soul finds rest. And as you exhale in God alone. And so, when I'm guiding others through this bake and pray practice, I have a start by just closing our eyes and I will lead us in this rhythm of breathing and of repeating this line again and again and again.   And then from there, I encourage the group to start to mix up their dough while repeating this line with every inhale and exhale. And I think it helps us to see how our breath, our breath itself becomes, you know, these words of scripture so ingrain themselves in our breathing that we then understand our breathing itself as an offering of prayer to God. And then the movements of our bodies through this rhythm of breathing becomes an offering of prayer to God.   And then we realize that the words themselves are not even necessary, that we can offer, you know, the movements of mixing bread dough, but also of gardening, of knitting, of cooking, of playing with our children, of raking leaves, that all of these things can be ways to offer our movements to God as prayer and to invite God into this practice with us and to pay attention to how God is present in these practices. So, I do hope that, you know, people will take bake and pray and actually bake with it and learn to bake as a form of prayer. But I also love when I hear from potters or I hear from gardeners or I hear from other people that work with their hands regularly who tell me, I read this and I don't think I'm going to start baking, but it has reshaped my understanding of my own, you know, craft and my own vocation.   So, I am excited to hear from others who maybe will take this and say, like, this is how I see this work being a form of prayer. But I first started learning about embodied prayer and practicing it when I got to college. I was in a dance team at my college.   I had grown up as a ballerina. I left the ballet world in high school, and it was a really, really hard. My experience was really wonderful in many ways and really hard in many ways.   I was in the pre-professional ballet world, which is, you know, very, very rigorous, very mentally draining, very physically demanding. And when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to make it professionally, it was just absolutely devastating. It was like my whole world was wrapped around this.   And so, then when I got to college, I was invited to be a part of this dance company. But the dance company was for women who had experienced sort of the ballet world in the way that I had, and who were looking for healing and to understand that our dance could be a form of worship and a form of prayer. And when I first started, I thought that the whole concept was really strange.   You know, I was I did not understand. I was so grateful to have this very just affirming community that I was dancing with. It was really it was the first time that I had been, you know, affirmed in my body and affirmed as a dancer and not just, you know, told all the things that were wrong with me.   But still, I was like, this is a really strange concept that as we're dancing, we're somehow praying. And it really was something that I had to practice again and again and again to understand and to really feel. And so, if someone is listening to this and thinking like this sounds like a really strange concept, I encourage you to just try it.   And it might take a few tries. Maybe try using the liturgies that are in the book to help get you into that practice. And then I hope that as you practice, either praying through baking or through gardening or what have you, that you will just get to experience the ways that God's present with you.   And then that will transform your understanding of your craft.   Laura Dugger:  (39:09 - 39:20) Thanks for sharing that. It's important for us to understand that we are embodied beings. And that points to that awesome truth that God with us, that Jesus was embodied.   Kendall Vanderslice: (39:21 - 39:22) Absolutely.   Laura Dugger:  (39:22 - 39:31) But then, OK, so in your most recent book, Bake and Pray, what's one recipe that you're especially excited about?   Kendall Vanderslice: (39:31 - 41:04) You know, we are just emerging from the season of Advent and Christmas, and those are some of my favorite recipes in the book. One that is so delicious, that is it is a Christmas recipe. It is the Moravian sugar cake, but Moravians do eat the sugar cake all year round.   So, it is kind of a classical Christmas recipe. But here at the Moravian bakeries here in North Carolina, you can get them all year round. So Moravian baked goods are an early Protestant tradition. They actually were Protestants before the Protestant Reformation, they like to say. And they're a pretty small denomination here in the United States.   But they're largely focused in here in North Carolina, where I am, and then a little bit in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. But the Moravian baked goods are known for all of their breads have potato in them. And so, some people, you know, there are other recipes that have like a potato, a potato bread or potato rolls.   When you add mashed potato into baked goods, it makes it really, really moist and tender. It holds on to moisture in the baked good much longer than just flour alone. So, the Moravian baked goods all have mashed potato in them.   But the Moravian sugar cake is one where it's this very rich potato bread. And then you put it into a pan, and you poke holes in it, sort of like if you were dimpling focaccia. And then you pour butter and cinnamon sugar on top and bake it.   And it is like it is a mix between sort of coffee cake and bread. And it is so, so, so delicious. I love it.   Laura Dugger:  (41:04 - 41:09) And there is also just a cute little story in there with the history.   Kendall Vanderslice: (41:09 - 41:28) Oh, yes, absolutely. It is, you know, there's this lore that apparently when men were looking for wives, they would look for women that had thick fingers. Because if they had thick fingers, it meant that they would have bigger dimples in their Moravian sugar cake that would hold bigger pockets of cinnamon and sugar.   Laura Dugger:  (41:28 - 41:42) I love that. I thought that was so funny. Well, Kendall, what are some of the most creative ways that you've been able to pair bread and generosity together to minister to others?   Kendall Vanderslice: (41:43 - 43:24) Yeah, one of the things that I am doing right now is, you know, I'm on the road several weeks of the year leading bread baking workshops in churches all over the country. And I love, love, love that part of my work. But in the last year, I started to really crave a closer connection with my community here in Durham, North Carolina.   But I am traveling the country and telling other people about how to connect to home and how to connect to their communities. And that work keeps me from being able to connect to my own home and community. And so, I decided that when I am home, I want to have a more intentional way of feeding the people immediately around me.   And so, I have this practice on Fridays of bread for friends and neighbors. And so, I'll tell, I'll send out an email to friends and neighbors on Monday and tell them, you know, here's what I'm baking this week if I'm in town. And then they let me know what they want.   And on Fridays, I have this shed in my driveway that I open up and it's got this whole like really fun armoire and that I that I've sort of decorated to be a bread pickup area. And so, on Fridays, my neighbors and my friends all walk over, and they come pick up their bread. And it's just been such a gift to be able to feed my immediate community through bread.   But then also to see and hear them sort of connecting in the driveway as they all come pick up their bread at the same time. And folks who either didn't know one another are starting to connect and find and meet one another. But then also neighbors to realize like, oh, you can get kindle bread, I get kindle bread.   And, you know, it's just so fun to have that very simple point of connection, because it can be feel very easy to feel disconnected from the neighbors that you maybe see all over the place. But just that that time of connection and picking up bread, I think, goes a long way beyond just that particular moment.   Laura Dugger:  (43:26 - 43:36) Generosity is always inspiring. And where can we all go to learn more about edible theology online or all of the other things that you have to offer?   Kendall Vanderslice: (43:37 - 44:05) You can learn more at my website, kendallvanderslice.com. The website is currently sort of under construction. So, I've got a makeshift website up right now where you can find everything.   And eventually I will have more links to all of the edible theology resources. But you can find everything you need at kendallvanderslice.com. You can learn about my workshops. You can learn about my books. You can learn about curriculum, about retreats that I lead. All of it is right there.   Laura Dugger:  (44:06 - 44:24) Wonderful. We will certainly add links in today's show notes so that it's easy to find. And Kendall, you may be familiar that we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge.   And so is my final question for you today. What is your savvy sauce?   Kendall Vanderslice: (44:25 - 45:13) Well, I think for me it is allowing myself to use even the simplest moments in the kitchen as a time for prayer rather than trying to rush through the practice of just seeing food as something I have to eat three times a day and something I have to make for myself. To realize that even something as simple as heating up a pot of soup or slicing some bread and smearing it with butter is still an invitation to thank God for this gift of food and the ability to prepare it. And so, I think that small practice alone can transform the way we relate to food and our bodies, but also to try and slow down and have a moment in our day where we avoid just rushing through and take a little bit more intentionality to appreciate the gifts that God has given us.   Laura Dugger:  (45:14 - 45:31) Well, Kendall, I was so intrigued from the first time that I heard about edible theology. And I really appreciate how you shed light on God's profound spiritual truths that are around us and that we can interact with in everyday life. But you also have such a charming personality.   Kendall Vanderslice: (45:32 - 45:38) So, thank you for being my guest. Thank you so much for having me. It's been such a delight to be here.   Laura Dugger: (45:39 – 49:21) One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before?   It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.   We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, would you pray with me now?   Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you. Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life?   We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.   If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me, so me for him. You get the opportunity to live your life for him. And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason.   We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you ready to get started? First, tell someone.   Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible.   I selected the Quest NIV Bible, and I love it. You can start by reading the book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ.   I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process.   And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.   And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

Summary Award-winning journalist Roger Thurow reveals how conventional farming practices are simultaneously depleting resources and failing millions of farmers worldwide. His investigation finds that many receiving food aid are actually food producers, highlighting a fundamental flaw in global agricultural systems. Drawing from field research across multiple continents, Thurow highlights promising indigenous and regenerative farming approaches that could transform global food systems while addressing climate challenges. Chapters 00:00 The Collision of Nourishment and Planetary Health 02:30 The Journey into Agriculture and Food Security 05:42 Unintended Consequences of Agricultural Practices 10:25 Lessons from Farmers: Regret and Resilience 14:26 The Debate: Regenerative vs. Modern Agriculture 20:08 Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation in Agriculture 25:15 The Role of Farmers in Global Agriculture 27:54 The Importance of Listening to Farmers Want to stay updated on the latest news in global development? Subscribe to Devex's Newswire: https://www.devex.com/newsletters/newswire

Taurus New Moon: Grounding, Nourishment & Conscious New BeginningsAs we welcome the Taurus New Moon on April 27, 2025, we step consciously out of a potent period of transformation marked by the recent Blood Moon Eclipse and Partial Solar Eclipse. Eclipse seasons bring intense energetic recalibration, often surfacing deep shifts, closures, and profound realizations. Now, under this New Moon, we are invited into new territory—called to ground the wisdom we've gathered into tangible, nourishing action.Although the energy shift may feel subtle at first, it holds a steady and supportive momentum. With no major planets in retrograde, the pathways ahead feel clearer, offering an unobstructed flow for conscious movement and intentional creation.Taurus energy invites us to reconnect with the foundations that truly support us: nourishment, stability, and sustainable growth. It's a time to slow down, clarify intentions, and focus on what we genuinely want to cultivate for the long term. Taurus reminds us that what we nurture consistently will flourish—and that true stability is built not through urgency, but through patient, purposeful alignment.During this New Moon, energetic sovereignty becomes essential. Taurus encourages mindful discernment around what nourishes our field—and what quietly drains it. It's an ideal moment for an "energetic reset," helping us redirect our attention toward replenishment, conscious boundaries, and empowered choice.With Venus, Taurus's ruling planet, freshly moving direct, financial and relational insights also rise to the surface. We are invited to reexamine our patterns around money, self-worth, and material attachments—recognizing that true abundance is not measured by possessions, but by the vibrational quality of our inner life. Gratitude, connection, and joy are the currencies of real wealth.Adding a dynamic layer, Mars and Pluto form a T-square to this New Moon, introducing tension that catalyzes necessary action and transformation. While global unrest or challenges to authority may arise, we are encouraged to stay rooted in compassionate awareness, contributing to collective healing through our inner stability and conscious presence.This Taurus New Moon supports anchoring higher-dimensional insights into everyday life. Through mindful practices, clear intentions, and embodied actions, we can ground the new frequencies we're receiving into tangible, sustainable forms.Ultimately, this New Moon reminds us: the seeds we plant now—with clarity, presence, and nourishment—will become the foundations we grow from in the months ahead.

In this nourishing episode of She Who Paints, Michelle sits down with Gaye Del Sol for a deeply rooted conversation on healing through culture, community, and conscious living. Gaye shares her journey of reconnecting with ancestral foods as a sacred form of nourishment and remembrance. Together, they explore how building intentional community, practicing mindful finances, and honoring our roots can support both personal and collective wellness. Gaye also offers tools for nervous system regulation—like the soothing power of music—that help us ground, soften, and stay present in our healing journeys. In this episode, we explore: Reclaiming ancestral foods as a path to healing How community can be medicine Mindful approaches to finances that support well-being Cultural wisdom as a grounding force Nervous system tools for daily regulation, including the power of music Creating spaces that feel safe, soulful, and supportive Find Gaye: https://www.gayedelsolstudios.com/ https://www.instagram.com/gaye_del_sol/ Your Host: https://michelleschultzstudio.com Tag us at https://www.instagram.com/shepaintscollective/

In this message, we explored the story of Jesus feeding the multitude and its deep spiritual significance. The conversation centered around trusting in God's provision, the importance of humility in receiving His grace, and the role of spiritual nourishment in our lives. We shared personal experiences and insights, emphasizing the importance of individual intimacy with God and the abundant life that flows from that relationship.

https://www.khutbah.info/the-virtue-of-remembrance/ Indeed, the purest of deeds, the best of characteristics, and the most beloved to Allah—the Possessor of Majesty—is the remembrance of Allah, the Exalted.   Al-Tirmidhi… The post The Virtue of Remembrance first appeared on Nourishment of the Soul.

Let's be real—how often do you stop to think about how hormonal birth control affects your body, metabolism, and overall health? It's something many women take without fully understanding the long-term impact.In today's episode, Lara Briden joins me to dive into the technical side of hormonal birth control and its effects on muscle growth, insulin sensitivity, and metabolic function. We'll explore how synthetic hormones interfere with ovarian function, why they might be hindering your fitness progress, and the connection between birth control and conditions like insulin resistance and gut health.We'll also break down how the hormonal IUD and other methods can disrupt your natural cycle and what alternatives you can consider for better hormone balance and overall well-being. Plus, Lara shares insights on how to transition off birth control safely and what to expect when your body resets.Lara Briden is a Naturopathic doctor and leading expert in women's hormone health. She's the author of Period Repair Manual and Hormone Repair Manual and has spent over 20 years working with women to optimize their hormonal health.We Also Discuss:(00:16) Birth Control and Muscle Growth Study(06:40) Benefits of Non-Hormonal Birth Control(19:00) Copper IUD and Hormonal Birth Control(33:16) Understanding Body Literacy and Exercise(42:28) Optimizing Training Based on Menstrual Cycle(46:33) Metabolism and Cycle Synchronization(58:18) Metabolic Flexibility and Muscle Growth(01:10:27) Women's Health and Metabolism RepairThank You to Our Sponsors:Broads: Broads gives you structured, progressive training and a powerhouse community to keep you strong, consistent, and unstoppable. Join today at broads.app and use code PODCAST for 20% off your first month!Legion: Use code Tara20 for 20% off your first order and double loyalty cash back any order after that when you shop at LegionAthletics.comFind more from Tara: Website: https://www.taralaferrara.com/Instagram: @taralaferrara @broads.podcast @broads.appYoutube: Tara LaFerraraTiktok: @taralaferrara Find more from Lara Briden:Website: https://www.larabriden.com/Instagram: @larabriden

Show notes: (0:00) Intro (0:45) Dr. Sarah Ballantyne's background and health journey (6:37) What does “nutrient density” actually mean? (8:58) Why current food scoring systems fall short (13:09) The hardest nutrients to get & why they matter (18:54) Breaking diet culture rules (27:09) What a typical day of eating looks like for Sarah (32:58) Weight loss tips using the Nutrivore philosophy (39:52) Lifestyle habits for sustainable change (47:500 Where to learn more about Nutrivore and Dr. Sarah Ballantyne (49:39) Outro Who is Dr. Sarah Ballantyne?   Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, PhD, is the founder of Nutrivore and New York Times best-selling author of Nutrivore: The Radical New Science for Getting the Nutrients You Need from the Food You Eat. She creates educational resources to help people improve their diet and lifestyle choices, empowered and informed by the most current evidence-based scientific research. Dr. Sarah began her career as a science communicator and health educator when she launched her original website in 2011. Since then, Dr. Sarah has continued to follow the science, diving deep into immune health, metabolic health, gut microbiome health, nutritional sciences, and the compelling evidence for health at any size, while also observing the harm of healthism, diet culture, dogmatic misinformation, and predatory marketing. With Nutrivore, Dr. Sarah has created a positive and inclusive approach to dietary guidance based on science and devoid of dogma, using nutrient density and sufficiency as its basic principles: Nourishment, not judgment. Connect with Dr. Ballantyne: Website: https://nutrivore.com/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/drsarahballantyne Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePaleoMom YT: https://www.youtube.com/@drsarahballantyne   Grab a copy: https://tinyurl.com/ycxk7anw Links and Resources: Peak Performance Life Peak Performance on Facebook Peak Performance on Instagram  

Silba is a behavioral scientist, somatic coach, and sensuality educator passionate about helping ambitious women with a big heart reconnect to their bodies, rekindle their pleasure, and reclaim their full feminine expression so they can safely be themselves.With eleven years of experience in human fulfillment—first as a consultant for organisations in London and for the past six years working 1:1 with clients and leading talks and workshops worldwide, Silba brings a unique blend of science, storytelling, and accessible strategies. Her approach is warm, creative, and playful, making personal growth feel deeply enjoyable.In this conversation, Cynthia and Silba explore the profound connection between women's emotional health and their physical well-being, particularly focusing on the experience of period loss. Silba shares her personal journey of losing her period, the impact of family dynamics, and the struggle with body disconnection. They discuss the societal pressures that lead women to suppress their emotions and the importance of reconnecting with one's femininity. The conversation also touches on the role of medical diagnoses like PCOS and the journey towards self-discovery and healing through practices like the Love Protocol. In this conversation, Silba and Cynthia explore the importance of nourishment, self-awareness, and pleasure in women's health and healing. They discuss the need for honesty in assessing one's relationship with their body, the significance of rest and energy management, and the transformative power of pleasure as a guiding force in life. The dialogue emphasizes the journey of self-discovery and the importance of being curious and playful in one's healing process.TakeawaysPeriod loss can be linked to emotional repression.Disconnection from the body often starts in adolescence.Family dynamics can significantly impact emotional health.Reconnecting with femininity is crucial for healing.Medical diagnoses can sometimes mislabel women's experiences.Inner wisdom is key to understanding one's body.Practices like the Love Protocol can aid in self-discovery.Building a friendly relationship with the body is essential. There's got to be a better way to nourish ourselves.We must look inward to connect with our bodies.Getting honest about our relationship with our body is crucial.Desires are sacred and guide us towards our true selves.Rest is essential for energy and pleasure.Pleasure emerges when we align with our inner and outer worlds.Life is happening for you, not to you.Be a scientist of your own experience.Nourishment is a key pillar in healing.Curiosity and playfulness enhance the healing journey.Silba's instagram: instagram.com/silbastafflerSilba's substack: silbastaffler.substack.comSilba's website: silbastaffler.comBites of Pleasure Podcast - find it on Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/caitie-corradino0For the full show notes - please visit my website: periodnutritionist.com

In this episode of Thrive Beyond Size, I'm diving into something that's been showing up in my own intuitive eating journey lately—something sneaky that might be tripping you up too: the difference between pleasure and familiarity.Sometimes we reach for certain foods, habits, or even thought patterns not because they truly bring us joy or nourishment—but because they're familiar. They're predictable. And in a world that feels overwhelming or exhausting, predictability can feel like relief. But here's the thing: comfort isn't always the same as pleasure. And when we mistake one for the other, we can stay stuck in patterns that don't actually support us.This week, I'm exploring:Why our brains cling to the familiar (even when it's not helpful)How to tell the difference between real pleasure and short-term comfortWhy discomfort is part of the change process—and not a sign you're doing it wrongHow mindfulness can help you break free from old autopilot behaviors and make more nourishing, conscious choicesWhether it's food, body image habits, or the way you talk to yourself—this episode will help you tune in more clearly to what actually feels good (not just what feels known). No shame, no judgment—just curiosity, compassion, and a gentle invitation to try something new.Resources + Links:Email me: michelle@wayzahealth.com – I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one!Learn more about how to work with me at wayzahealth.comEnjoyed this episode?Share it with a friend or leave a review—it helps more folks find the support they need to heal their relationship with food, body, and self.

What if your favorite indulgent treat could also be a powerful act of integrity, transparency, and self-respect? In this heartfelt episode, I sit down with Lex Evan — An eco-conscious luxury bakeshop serving award winning organic & fair-trade treats with No Naughty Ingredients® and a guiding principle of Radical Ingredient Transparency®. LEXINGTON BAKES is the culmination of Lex's 20-year career in brand strategy and design, and his 15-year self-guided study of pastry. Previously, Lex led the design, strategy, and creative direction of iconic global brands, products, and teams for some of the world's most impactful beauty, health and wellness brands. We explore what it really takes to build a mission-driven brand without losing your soul — from surviving the pressures of the CPG world to staying handmade even as demand explodes. Lex shares how kindness, boundaries, and clarity of purpose have been his secret weapons in both business and life. We also talk nervous system regulation, the illusion of “making it,” the emotional nutrition in food, and the quiet power of simply doing things the right way. Lex is Queer and Non-binary, and has a personal ambition to support, uplift and empower Women and gender-minority founders and leaders. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a conscious consumer, or someone craving more heart in your hustle — this episode is nourishment for the soul. Resources:  Get 20% off Lexington Bakes with code: HEALING20 Follow Lex on Instagam Follow the host, Claudia, on Instagram and check out her website Shop Puori grass-fed protein powder + supplements (Clean Label Certified and third-party tested!!!) discount code: HEALINGTHESOURCE

https://www.khutbah.info/causes-of-heedlessness/ A person's affairs, in this world and the next, are not sound except through the soundness of their heart, adherence to the commands of… The post Causes of Heedlessness first appeared on Nourishment of the Soul.

Happy Satiated Saturday! While trauma-based food coping mechanisms, like binge eating, can feel dramatic, healing can sometimes (not always) be incredibly boring. Decreasing food patterns can look like simple acts of body care, like:Eating consistent, balanced mealsMoving your body in nourishing waysTaking time to breathe and enjoy a momentFostering a validating inner dialogue Finding ways to laugh and have fun These are the non-sexy, simple, not marketable ways of what it can look like to take care of your body and reconnect with yourself. In this week's episode, I chat with Ashley Fillmore, Coach, Metabolism Expert, and the founder of Metabolic Fix™, about: Shifting from reactive actions for your health to preventativeThe role of stress, mindset, and burnout in your health and food behaviorsFinding the right practitioner to work with for you and how to state your needs with themIdentifying progress beyond the scaleYou can also read the transcript to this week's episode ​here​: https://www.stephaniemara.com/blog/lasting-body-wellnessThe doors to the Somatic Eating® Program open on Tuesday, April 29th! If you're on the waitlist, you'll receive an email that day with a special waitlist only offer. If you're not on the waitlist yet, you can sign up now at ​somaticeating.com​.With Compassion and Empathy, Stephanie Mara FoxKeep in touch with Ashley:Website: https://www.metabolicfix.com/one Podcast: https://www.metabolicfix.com/podcasts/cheers-to-your-success Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashley_fillmore1/Support the showKeep in touch with Stephanie Mara:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_stephaniemara/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephaniemarafoxWebsite: https://www.stephaniemara.com/https://www.somaticeating.com/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephmara/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stephaniemarafoxContact: support@stephaniemara.comSupport the show:Become a supporter: https://www.buzzsprout.com/809987/supportMy favorite water filter: https://www.pureeffectfilters.com/#a_aid=somaticeatingReceive 15% off my fave protein powder with code STEPHANIEMARA at checkout here: https://www.equipfoods.com/STEPHANIEMARAUse my Amazon Affiliate link when shopping on Amazon: https://amzn.to/448IyPl Special thanks to Bendsound for the music in this episode. ...

What do you regret? Explore the human experience of looking back with Daniel H. Pink, author of The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward. Poet David Whyte offers his take on regret, drawing from Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words. We’ll also reconnect with “Tracy” from Maryland and Stormi Huhn (“Anna” from Iowa), four years after sharing their stories of parental regret. Plus, Audacious listeners reflect on their own regrets - big, small, serious, and silly. Suggested episodes: I Regret Becoming A Parent Forgiveness: How we define it and how it defines us Look For The Helpers: The Anatomy Of A Death Change Of Art: Stories About Tattoo Coverups Nothing goes as planned: A first-time offender’s prison story from arrest to release GUESTS: Daniel H. Pink: Author of The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward Audacious listeners who contributed their regrets: Mary Ailes, Jennifer Crookes Carpenter, AmyLaBossiere, Susan Tilly, Steph MacGillivary, Brenda Kestenbaum, Theresa Cannavo, Wendy Gravely, Jonathan Graham, Ann Levie David Whyte: Poet, philosopher, and author of Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words. Consolations II came out in early 2025 “Tracy”: Maryland woman who joined us for our show about parental regret in 2021 Stormi Huhn: Iowa woman who joined us for our show about parental regret in 2021 Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

https://www.khutbah.info/the-honoring-of-humankind/ Ramadan has passed with what the people have done in it. So, there are those who have done well and have gained, there are… The post The Honoring of Humankind first appeared on Nourishment of the Soul.

On this episode of the podcast, I speak with artist Andrew Schlechten. Andrew is a young creative, trained in design and fine art photography at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Andrew reached out to me a couple of months ago after hearing me on Mike Clelland's podcast and we chat about Mike a bit in the few minutes of this conversation. I checked out Andrew's work and heard him speaking about beauty and the necessity for an education in aesthetics, and felt drawn to explore these concepts more deeply. For some reason the lifting up of ideas and ideals around beauty and aesthetics feels connected to moving from Evolution through Suffering to Evolution through Joy and Creativity. Andrew and I talk about the link between beauty and health and how to connect with our personal sense of beauty. This conversation also got me thinking about ecology and beauty, goodness and ethics and how they're all related. And also, the Greys. How they don't seem to have art, sex, humor, beauty. And how that might be tied to why they abduct us. So there's that. Hope you enjoy! Andrew SchlechtenBecome a patron at the EarthLovers $10 tier by visiting ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/robinlassiter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get access to two Community Gatherings per month. Work with Diederik Rijkens at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coded to Thrive⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and check out his YouTube channel ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Projector Project⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Earth: A Love Story is now an ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AUDIOBOOK!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Experiencer Group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠My book ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Earth: A Love Story ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠exists as a physical object in the world. Deep forever gratitude to those of you who have purchased the book and left reviews on Amazon. Thank you, thank you, thank you.Our beautiful musical soundscapes are provided by Morgan Jenks. You can support ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠his new album on bandcamp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠morganjenks.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Find me on instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@robin_lassiter_honeyheart⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@earth_a_love_story⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To join my mailing list or book a 1:1 session with me, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠robinlassiter.com

2:12 Tamara's story and ministry17:09 The attack on women and their body image20:23 The connection to eternal laws24:56 The decision to no longer believe the lies of Satan.32:38 Making changes from a place of love37:58 The process of change and healing43:36 Learning God's individual nutrition plan for you50:10 Trusting your body52:33 The foods God says are good54:47 Mindful livingTamara Roberts lives in Layton, Utah. She has been married for 38 years and is a devoted wife and mother to four children and six beautiful grandchildren. She enjoys hiking, walking, cycling, gardening, (anything in nature really), as well as cooking and creating healthy meals out of just about any recipe, reading a good book, watching oldies and spending time with her family.Tamara currently serves in the Layton temple and have served in several Relief Society callings. This is where her love for helping faithful women started. She has been a lifelong learner of nutrition, mindful living, and gospel study, exploring how to live intentionally as a means to overcome depression and anxiety, as well as an eating disorder, and to align her health practices to her faith in Christ and gospel study.In 2022, Tamara became certified in Mindful Eating and Nutrition, Meditation, CBT therapy for Emotional Eating and started providing consultations for women through her business, Mindful Journey Studio.LLC. She wanted a way to connect women to Christ through Mindful Living and nutrition which she found lacking in the world of mindfulness and meditation.Tamara is the creator of Faithfully Nourished: Christ-Centered Wellness for Women on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook where she produces videos on Tuesdays and Fridays that promote nourishing ourselves body, mind and spirit with Jesus Christ at the center of all we do. She is passionate about empowering women to find healing through nourishing their bodies, minds, and spirits through a Christ-centered approach to overall wellness for women. Latter-day Disciples has recently partnered with One x One! One x One exists to bring hope and healing by breaking the cycles of addiction, resolving ancestral wounds, and restoring hearts burdened by trauma, betrayal, and abuse. Through the transforming power of Jesus Christ, we guide men, women, and couples towards lasting intimacy, wholeness, and freedom -- one by one. Join our upcoming Reclaim 3-day women's retreat April 28th-May 1st! Learn more at onexone.ai. "Consider Yourself as Eve: A Guide to Spiritual Development for Women (and the Men Who Love Them)" is available on Amazon in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats. Get your copy today! Scripture Notes - the PERFECT scripture study companion! Sign up today!

258. Pursuing Creative Endeavors While Mothering with Liz Bell Young   Matthew 13:52 "Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things that are new and fresh and things that are old and familiar."   **Transcription Below**   Questions and Topics We Cover: Will you tell us about your journey to becoming the creator of Haven magazine, which was distributed by Anthropologie and also how you were selected to be a contributor to the Magnolia Journal? What have you learned about wisely overlapping mothering and pursuing dreams? How does writing and sharing stories help us to take good care of one another?   Liz Bell Young is a writer, experience designer and collaborator in the Midwest. Her work appears in Magnolia Journal on the shelves, Artifact Uprising and Darling on the sites, Procter & Gamble in the studios, and Woman Camp in the woods.   A grad of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago + University of Cincinnati, LBY takes a multidisciplinary approach to her work and home. Favorite pairings: words on index cards, words next to rolling film, words covering real paper inside real books. She also adores rocks, oyster shells, the smell of hay and gasoline, old Austrian boots, coffee in small cups. But above all: her life with Ryan and their children.   Thank You to Our Sponsor: Midwest Food Bank   Other Episodes on The Savvy Sauce Related to Hospitality, Mothering, and Pursuing Creative Endeavors: 1 Finding Your Purpose as a Mom with Courtney DeFeo 9 Self-Care in Motherhood with Karen Stubbs 13 Managing Family, Career, and Health with Leslie Neslage 15 The Supernatural Power Present While Gathering at the Table with Devi Titus 43 Joys and Challenges of Motherhood with Podcaster and Author, April Hoss 46 Encouragement and Inspiration for your Motherhood Journey with Anjuli Paschall 57 Implementing Bite-Size Habits That Will Change Your Life with Author, Blogger, Podcaster, and Speaker, Kat Lee 67 Thriving at Work, Home, and Life with Author, Blogger, Podcaster, and Business Owner, Crystal Paine 75 Responding to God's Stirring with Elizabeth Pehrson, Founder of The Exchange 168 Experiencing Joy, Connection, and Nourishment at the Table with Abby Turner 178 Fresh Take on Hospitality with Jaime Farrell 202 Simple Ways to Connect with Our Kids And Enjoy Breaks with Beth Rosenbleeth (Days with Grey) 223 Journey and Learnings as Former Second Lady of the United States with Karen Pence   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website     Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and subscribing to this podcast!   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”   Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”   John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”   Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   **Transcription**   Music: (0:00 – 0:09)   Laura Dugger: (0:10 - 1:24) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Duggar, and I'm so glad you're here.    Thank you to an anonymous donor to Midwest Food Bank who paid the sponsorship fee in hopes of spreading awareness.   Learn more about this amazing nonprofit organization at MidwestFoodBank.org.    Liz Bell Young is my kind guest for today. She is an artist and an extremely gifted writer, and I just love the title of her book, Let There Be Havens: An Invitation to Gentle Hospitality.   So, she's going to share stories and offer practical tips for fostering creativity. She's going to talk about attuning to the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we can take good care of one another. And she also offers out-of-the-box ideas for genuine hospitality that creates a haven to offer others.   Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Liz.   Liz Bell Young: (1:25 - 1:28) Thank you, Laura. It is really good to be here with you.   Laura Dugger: (1:29 - 1:48) Well, I would love to just begin here because early on in your book, there was a line that grabbed me when you wrote, “I was raised to show love for others through action, not just in theory.” So, will you start there and elaborate and share more about that?   Liz Bell Young: (1:49 - 3:56) Sure, sure. I have this little part in the book. It's titled; My Dad Gave It Away.   And so, I'll just tell that little story because I think it's pretty representative of how things ended up playing out. But I got home from school one day and my dollhouse was not at home anymore. It was gone.   And I just stood in front of it and, you know, I was so sad. Where's my dollhouse? One of my dad's co-workers had had a horrible house fire.   And so, during the day, my dad had picked a few things from the house that he thought would bless this family, who also had a little girl. And I, as soon as I understood what had happened, you know, I felt I was very okay with that. I was, I grieved my dollhouse, but I thought, you know, when you, when you have something to give to someone who has just lost, you know, they lost really everything that it is, it's so important to do.   And so, my, my dad and my mom were very, very love and action people. You know, probably even more than we talked about it. It was just a lot of, you know, somebody has low air in their tires and my dad's filling it up.   Somebody needs counsel and they take the time to give it. My mom had a friend who was blind. And so, we would spend time like organizing her, her clothing closets and her dishes just so that she could get through.   She was an attorney, but just help her like get through her day a little bit more easy. So, they were very aware of people's needs. And we learned that sometimes like that was at cost to us, you know, giving away something that we actually still could have used or taking the time to go and, you know, paint someone's house when really we wished that we could have gone to the amusement park, you know, things like that.   That, that was their love and action, you know it really affected all of us, I think in a big way. I have three sisters.   Laura Dugger: (3:56 - 4:40) So, I love that because it's the same setup for our family. We have four daughters. And so that was your book.   But I think that example that you gave just reminds me of scripture. I was reminded of recently from 1 John 3:18, that just says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.” So, it's apparent that you were raised in really good soil with parents who lived and shared this way of life, and they shared the good news of Jesus with you.   But when and how did you make your faith your own and choose to personally follow Christ?   Liz Bell Young: (4:41 - 6:02) Oh, so if I had to pinpoint a time, I would say it was like a summer camp. I think I was 11 or 12. You know, that often happens, I think, like when you're removed from your environment.   I was just at night standing next to a lake with a counselor and I just, I'd already, I already knew God. I had always sort of felt His voice and presence and whispers. And I also felt familiar with, you know, the enemy's voice.   And I was very aware, you know, I think when you're a really sensitive child sometimes, which I was, you can kind of feel the weight of the spiritual realm. And so, you know, it was a very gradual, I think, thing turning fully to the Lord. But that I do remember that moment at camp where I just was like, I want this always, I want the fullness of this.   And I want to just completely, I just felt so completely in love with Jesus. And I was just like, very, like, lean forward, eager, you know, for that. So, but of course, you know, it's, it's a, it's a process.   There was, there were highs and valleys and all over the place along the way, but that's kind of where it took off.   Laura Dugger: (6:03 - 6:34) That is really helpful. Even thinking of sensitive children, maybe that resonates with some of us as parents, you've kind of put language around what we may be experiencing. But then just going back further into your story, you're a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.   And I'd love to hear some more about the lessons you learned there. So, what are just a couple of stories that stand out from that season of life that ended up shaping you?   Liz Bell Young: (6:35 - 8:51) Oh, I, it was a really formative time. I actually just, I did my undergrad in social work. And so this was actually graduate school, because I'd always wanted to be a writer or an artist of some sort.   And so finally, after, you know, I took some time off in between undergrad and graduate school, got back and went to the Art Institute. And one of the, the huge moments for me, it's funny for other people, it would have been like just a nothing moment. But we were, I was in a drawing class, we were doing large format charcoal.   And I'm working on a portrait, and I was working like really tediously on the nose. And my professor came up behind me and said, it's a really pretty nose. Is that what you see?   And I looked at it, and I realized I'm drawing from what I've been told a nose should look like from what I've seen from it's, she's like, I think as a writer, because, you know, I was just taking art classes, but primarily there's writers, she's like, I think as a writer, you understand that, like, you don't want to fall into cliche, but what you're doing here is, is a cliche. And so, what you haven't done is you haven't put any of the reality in it, there were no twists and turns, no shadow, barely any. And it looked pretty and commercial.   But it was not, I had not learned like the transparency of an artist yet. I'm starting to learn it with writing, but I had not learned it with a visual. And I often think about that, because, you know, as a creative, or even as a as a mother, as you know, whatever you do, I think it's very easy to just fall into the routine of what you think is the most acceptable, or what you think it's supposed to be like, or look like.   And getting, getting to that, like honest transparency, whether as a creative, or, you know, whatever you're doing, I think is so freeing, but it really took someone to point out where I was like, where I was not free.   Laura Dugger: (8:52 - 9:21) Wow, that's so helpful. Art just unlocks all kinds of things within us. So that's a really helpful example.   And this next question, I guess, kind of comes from two angles. So first, was creativity encouraged in the home you grew up in? And then also now, as a mother, how have you cultivated an atmosphere in your home, where all of the family members are free to create?   Liz Bell Young: (9:24 - 11:22) Yes, we, and I don't want to paint an idyllic childhood, because we certainly had hard points in all of this. But my mom was an art teacher, and my dad is a very, like, inventive engineer type person. So, and yet, they're very organized and orderly people.   So it was sort of this funny contrast of like, free spirit mixed with like, responsibility, you know. And so, we were allowed to sit on the counter and make up a cake recipe while my mom was making dinner, big art pieces on the driveway, we could make spontaneous choices to put up a fort under the kitchen table. So, there was a lot of like, creative flexibility in the house.   And then at the end of the day, we had to clean up like it wasn't, it wasn't like a without regulation or without responsibility to take care of the things that you own. And so I think that's what I've tried to, you know, give to our children is just like, this spirit of invent things, try things, mix things together. We did homeschool for a little bit, turns out I wasn't a great homeschool teacher.   It was very difficult for me. I thought it would be fun, but I just wanted to, you know, do art and play all day. So, I kind of missed the other stuff.   But you know, but during that time, like, you know, getting to make maps on the driveway and put rocks and sticks in places, like all of that was like, really taken from my childhood and like, you know, what I wanted to give to give our kids and still recognize like those, those boundaries of like, you know, then when we're working or, you know, I'm working in the house, like I need you to be quiet. So again, and like, not like the free for all, but still a lot of free.   Laura Dugger: (11:23 - 12:06) Well, and it makes me think of one of your quotes on page 104. I just thought this was really helpful because everybody were made in the creator's image. So, there is some creativity in each of us, but you said in the design process, it does wonders to make a physical mood board.   I realized maybe I was struggling because I had only made word lists and digital mock-ups. What I actually needed was to make the process physical. So then when I read that, my question for you, Liz, is how can we actually make that creative process physical and help our children to do the same?   Liz Bell Young: (12:08 - 14:27) Yeah. Well, I, I, I really do love physicality. I think I, I got to the point where I was working so much that I just kind of got stuck on this screen a little bit too often.   So the, what I was talking about in the book is when we were did like designing and building a house that we're now in. And I was really, you know, it was just so much it was, yeah, it was pretty bound to screens and spreadsheets and lists, like trying to like get it all organized. And I just felt like I couldn't it wasn't cohesive.   I couldn't feel it. I had to experience it. And so that's just when I, you know, began to make it physical.   And I think it's important, like you know, a lot of just, if you just think about the design world or interior design, a lot of people will do this. It's like, you know, you put your piece of tile next to the piece of carpet next to the, which I think is wonderful. But then what I recognize is if it's, if it stops there, it's, that's actually not representative of what it's going to be like.   And so, what we need to have is like the parts of our lives that that is getting added to. And so, putting in like, I mean, I just started adding in the stuff that's like always around our house. Lots of paper, of course, because I just love paper, kids homework, you know, little clay pots, the things that we that we bring to it.   So, it didn't feel like a sterile environment. So that, that was that whole like physicality and live into something. And it was literally just out, you know, on a table.   Unfortunately, it was our kitchen table. And I kept it out for way too long. So, we had to eat around it.   But yeah, I think that that's really helpful, especially for children, too. I don't, this isn't quite the parallel, but I was thinking like, you know, a lot like when you have teenagers, like I have a son who plays basketball, we, we have the best conversations when we're playing basketball together. And so just like being physical, like while we're in conversation versus just this, like, I'm trying to talk to you about this, you know, that's been really helpful for us parenting teens.   Laura Dugger: (14:28 - 16:26) Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. Midwest Food Bank exists to provide industry leading food relief to those in need while feeding them spiritually. They are a food charity with a desire to demonstrate God's love by providing help to those in need.   Unlike other parts of the world where there's not enough food, in America, the resources actually do exist. That's why food pantries and food banks like Midwest Food Bank are so important. The goods that they deliver to their agency partners help to supplement the food supply for families and individuals across our country, aiding those whose resources are beyond stretched.   Midwest Food Bank supports people globally through their locations in Haiti and East Africa, which are some of the areas hardest hit by hunger arising from poverty. This ministry reaches millions of people every year. And thanks to the Lord's provision, 99% of every donation goes directly toward providing food to people in need.   The remaining 1% of income is used for fundraising, cost of leadership, oversight, and other administrative expenses. Donations, volunteers, and prayers are always appreciated for Midwest Food Bank. To learn more, visit midwestfoodbank.org or listen to episode 83 of The Savvy Sauce, where the founder, David Kieser, shares miracles of God that he's witnessed through this nonprofit organization. I hope you check them out today.    Even back to just a small thing that also came into mind. I loved how you said physically you would bring nature into your home for designing.   And if you didn't have access to a flower, you would grab something green in the backyard. And it just had never occurred to me that I could do that and just grab some leaves or a branch. And you even have pictures of that beautiful example in your book.   Liz Bell Young: (16:27 - 16:39) Oh, yes. I love cutting branches off trees and bringing them inside, mostly because I forget to plant flowers. And so, like, I don't, you know, I could buy them, but I love branches inside.   Laura Dugger: (16:40 - 17:03) Such a creative idea. But you've gone on to have some pretty remarkable experiences in your career. So, will you tell us about your journey to becoming the creator of Haven Magazine, which was distributed by Anthropologie, and then also how you were selected to be a contributor to the Magnolia Journal?   Liz Bell Young: (17:05 - 20:59) Oh, sure. At some point, either I read it or somebody taught me this, I can't remember, about, like, making something that you want to make before you're asked to make it. And so, as a young writer, you know, I didn't have a portfolio.   I didn't have anything impressive. I'm trying to just, like, get into something with a pub, just something published, you know, that's not just, you know, me stapling a book together. And it was, you know, it was very difficult.   I mean, trying to get into travel or food writing, you know, anything, and it's just, like, rejection, rejection. And so, I just decided then, well, I have to make it. I have to figure out a way to create it myself.   And I had talented friends who were also trying to, you know, get published or get their photography out or art, whatever it was. And so, just getting that group of people together with this vision for what I wanted Haven Magazine to be, and then just doing the work ahead of time. Nobody asked for it.   Nobody wanted it. And found somebody who believed in the vision for it, who would, like, donate paper at cost. You know, so, like, we found some things to make it, like, a lighter financial lift, for sure.   And that was the beginning. So, that, and then I forget. My husband uses a word for this that I, it's not like, I don't know, grit or gumption.   I, like, I love challenge. I love trying to get something that feels nearly impossible, and any side door, just trying, trying, trying. And so, that's how, like, getting into anthropology did take a long time.   I can't even think about, maybe two years, a year and a half. And when I finally got the first one that I made through the door, and I had somebody looking at it who, you know, had clout, had the ability to make decisions, their feedback to me was, you're on to something really beautiful here, but I think that you're actually not following, like, I think you're trying, it was, again, like, the nose in art school. I was making something that I thought, okay, this is what people want right now, except it was a little bit more about, kind of, wanderlust, and travel, and that sort of thing.   And the woman on the phone was like, I think your heart is actually really about home. And so, are you afraid to take it there? And she said, you need to also just get better.   Like, I needed to, as a publication, like, I had to tighten things that, like, it wasn't, it wasn't on par with something that they would sell. And so, I did those two things. I was like, okay, well, then we have to do it again.   This one was at higher cost, you know, didn't get the donated paper this time. And my husband and I were just like, let's just do it. It feels like it's a good direction.   And so, the second one is the one that Anthropology distributed. And I'm very thankful that they pushed me as hard as they did, because a lot of times, you're just experimenting and trying something, and you have to go through these refining processes. You have to be humble enough to be like, okay, I recognize, you're right, that's not good enough for your shelf.   And it wasn't even like she challenged me, it wasn't where it was like trying to go, you know, or she didn't say this, but maybe it's that probably wasn't going in the direction that my heart and where God was pushing me wanted it to go. So, being willing to, you know, change direction a little bit with it and, and work hard to get after it. So, that was that part.   Yeah.   Laura Dugger: (21:00 - 21:24) Yes. And before you share about Magnolia Journal, just to comment on that, I think as believers, that probably deeply resonates with all of us that we all are so eagerly anticipating coming home, like with a capital H to having, and so even displaying that in your magazine. I love that she pushed you as well, but then yes, continue with the rest of the journey.   Liz Bell Young: (21:26 - 23:49) Okay. So, then I worked at a church for about 11 years, and that was a huge process of just getting, just getting more, just getting better as a writer. You know, I had done a school, but I needed practice and, and worked with a lot of designers.   So, I was getting this kind of multidisciplinary background built up. So, helping with set design, helping with video, so kind of, you know, the fullness of storytelling. But of course, primarily, I still, writing was my number one love.   And then I, after 11 years working for this church, I just, I was finished. I knew I was finished and I had been freelancing a lot on the side. So, I've always loved to be kind of in different places, not just all, you know, kind of in one spot.   And just decided to go for it and just go full freelance. And I was really nervous, very, very nervous because I, I loved, I really amazing creatives that I was working at, really great spiritual leaders. And so, to walk away from that and just think like, am I just going to be by myself?   Like trying to, you know, meld into other teams, whoever, whoever my clients are. So, it was like, I was nervous, but I also felt like it was the right time to do it. And then very soon after that, an editor from Magnolia reached out.   They just happened to be looking for someone to write a story about camping. And I had been a big part of creating a camping experience for the church I was working for. And like, because I had been in anthropology where some of the people from Magnolia now worked.   So, there, you know, again, it was just like relationship stuff that put my work in front of a person who didn't know me. And then, you know, they had a topic that they thought, well, who do we have who knows about, you know, writing about the outdoors and camping? Oh, I heard that there's this woman in Ohio, right?   So, that's, they, and then they just asked me to write a story. And I wrote that one and then just kept writing. So, it's been years now.   Laura Dugger: (23:50 - 25:00) I love that. So, fun to hear the backstory. But in the midst of building your career, you and your husband, Ryan, also have raised three children.   And again, I just want to quote you. So, on page 56, you write, “I knew I could not be a singularly focused person. I have no desire to be a solitary novelist. I want to be right in the middle of all my people, heart full and available, hands designing books, but also packing lunches. So, on some days I worked and some mornings I wrote. Then on other days, Ryan and I would drive our kids to a farm and pick blueberries and eat cider doughnuts.”   And I just love that. It was so relatable, especially to fellow moms who maybe are also squeezing in their own side career or creative endeavor while also raising children. And so, my question from your story is this, what have you learned about wisely overlapping, mothering, and pursuing dreams?   Liz Bell Young: (25:02 - 28:40) I don't, well, oh my goodness. This, it was true trial and error, and I still am making errors. But I think that, you know, it's hard.   It's definitely hard because there's a lot of just internal struggle in that, right? Like, I have this artist passion and heart. And so, I want to be, to, you know, work in that space.   And I don't want my kids to feel like I'm choosing that over them. And I know that it's also very good for them to be a part of that, to see it come to fruition. I think I learned a little bit by taking it too far, maybe a lot bit by taking it too far.   And I don't know how to necessarily avoid that. I think, I didn't know what too far was for me. I was getting sort of more and more sleep deprived without quite recognizing that I was starting to, like, sacrifice my health.   I was starting to, you know, get kind of that dizzy vertigo stuff that can happen with stress, but you don't know it's stress. Or I didn't. I just thought, okay, I'm tired.   I need a break. But it was hard. It was hard to stop.   I just wanted to fit everything in. So, I think I took it too far and then I recognized, okay, this is what too far feels like. And so, now, I have to be way better to protect my health, my, our marriage, just to make, you know, just, like, we wanted time for that.   I was, like, you know, books aren't more important than Ryan. And so, I used to do things, like, whenever the client wanted a meeting, I would just take it. Now, what I've learned is, like, I will not overpack things.   I will make sure that it works for our schedule. And just putting, that was a big one for me. Because I'd be, like, super sweaty trying to take a Zoom call while I'm at a park with three, you know, like, it doesn't work.   Or it didn't work for me. And so, I had to learn, like, don't, like, I would set myself up for failure a little bit. And so, just reining that in and kind of having better boundaries about that.   Still getting the sleep I needed. But I create best in the morning. And so, saying, like, okay, for this season, I will get up really early in the because I want this a lot.   And then I want to be able to have breakfast with my kids. And so, I just, you know, made that adjustment. So, yeah.   I guess that's the trial and error piece. But I do think if you, like, I also have friends who have not, who have put it all aside. And so, then that's very hard.   I think sometimes, especially when their kids are all in school or, you know, like, they're empty nesters or whatever. And then, like, you haven't had, you haven't had the chance to be, like, practicing in that and exploring that. And so, then there's this sort of loss and grief felt.   So, I think it's good even if it's just, like, dabbling in it. If that's a part of who you are, and creativity, or it doesn't just have to be creativity, of course. Whatever it is, if you can at least maybe just dabble, I think it's really good.   Laura Dugger: (28:41 - 29:05) I think that's helpful. That's a message of freedom that gives us permission. And that it's not selfish to do that.   It can actually be really wise stewardship. I'm curious, too, what have your children said? Have they given any feedback or appreciation even of seeing you pursue your dreams and be all in with the family?   Liz Bell Young: (29:06 - 29:55) Oh, that's a good question. I didn't used to really bring them into what I was doing and why I was doing it. I don't know why I didn't earlier.   I have since, like, now they're also, like, older and can comprehend more of it now. I've since kind of just brought them more into, this is what I'm doing, and this is why I care about writing this story. This is why this book matters to me, or why I'm helping someone else with their project.   And that has been better. I would include them, like, sometimes they would help me make stuff, or sell stuff, or deliver things. So, they were a part of that piece of it, but not, like, the sort of the heart and mind piece of it.   Laura Dugger: (29:56 - 30:03) That's helpful. So, you brought them in where possible. I wonder if any of them will, even in some ways, follow in your footsteps.   Liz Bell Young: (30:05 - 30:29) Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. I don't know.   I think it's, well, it's just fun to watch them. I know you, you know, with your girls, you probably feel the same way. And trying not to, like, over shape them, but just, like, create the space for them to try the things that they, you know, that they feel the direction that it's toward.   Laura Dugger: (30:29 - 32:27) Yes. When was the first time you listened to an episode of The Savvy Sauce? How did you hear about our podcast?   Did a friend share it with you? Will you be willing to be that friend now and text five other friends or post on your socials anything about The Savvy Sauce that you love? If you share your favorite episodes, that is how we continue to expand our reach and get the good news of Jesus Christ in more ears across the world.   So, we need your help. Another way to help us grow is to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Each of these suggestions will cost you less than a minute, but it will be a great benefit to us.   Thank you so much for being willing to be generous with your time and share. We appreciate you. Well, I just want to draw one other point, too, that you talk about in your book.   When you talk about a woman with a pen, and that deeply resonated with me. And I see the power of a person with a pen because the written word is clearly such a gift, obviously, with God preserving the Bible for us. But in the Bible, the person with a pen can be described as a scribe.   And it makes me think of this scripture from Matthew 13:52, where Jesus says, “Therefore, every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the head of the household who brings out of his treasure things that are new and fresh and things that are old and familiar.” So, that's where my mind goes when I read your beautiful words, Liz. But I want to hear your unique take on this.   So, how does writing and sharing stories help us to even take good care of one another?   Liz Bell Young: (32:29 - 35:10) I love that scripture that you just read, too. I think that when you decide to write that way, because I even talk about it in my journey as a writer, I wasn't always doing that. I could feel, I sort of had this melancholic spirit at times, especially in my 20s.   And I felt like I was actually pushing into places that I didn't want to be. And so, I thought, why am I bringing a reader there? Or writing in a way that I think stories can also be so sort of self-focused or insulated into that they're actually not offering generous space for the reader.   So, I think about that a lot. I think about how stories can take care of people. I mean, they're just like little portals or doorways into connection, whether it's because somebody relates to a thing that happened.   Like sometimes I think it can be that specific, but sometimes it's just, that's exactly how I felt. And I didn't know how to articulate it. I have this story that felt so big to me, but really small.   I didn't even know if I should put it in the book, but it was just about breaking a carton of eggs when I was babysitting and the shame that the parents walked in and saw the eggs all over the floor. And it was just horrible for me. Really small thing that happened that could seem really trivial to one person.   But then what it really was just about was shame and then grace for yourself and believing that you, you know, what, believing in your worth. And so that's where the story ends. It's real short.   It's like a page. Well, all my stories are short, I think. But I shared that story for some reason has been the one that most people have come back and said, I needed that story.   They didn't break a carton of eggs, but they knew that, that sense, that depth of shame. And so that's where I think stories can take care of people and then taking it to a place of hope and forgiveness and leaving enough white space, even metaphorically, for someone to enter into that story is something that I think about for taking care of someone.   Laura Dugger: (35:11 - 36:02) That's so good. And it makes me think at our church on Wednesday nights, I'm in the room with second through fifth grade girls and our theme verse two verses from Psalm 78 verses four and seven, just talking about sharing stories with the next generation and ultimately about God's power and his righteous deeds. But I think that is such a way to take care of the next generation.   Stories are powerful. We see that in Jesus. And I was so blessed by all of your stories.   So again, your book is entitled, Let There Be Havens: An Invitation to Gentle Hospitality. So, let's kind of shift gears. And will you explain and define what a haven is and just hear a little bit more about hospitality and creating havens?   Liz Bell Young: (36:03 - 38:13) Oh, sure. It kind of took me a minute to figure this out because I had a sense of what I wanted and thought that a haven and taking care of people was. And the way I describe it in the book is that it's people who shelter us, places that hold us and experiences that lift us up.   So, when I think about hospitality and taking care of people and just being like a little cove for someone, maybe it's so temporary because it's just, you know, passing on the street and it's something that you can do, or maybe it's something more permanent, you know, like the relationship you have with your children. And I think of it as like gentle and grounding. So, it's not over the top or forced or rigid, or it's not putting myself in the spotlight.   I think a lot of times hospitality and the pressures that come with it are because we've been sort of accumulating this message that it's a performance. And so, I think that gentle hospitality or havens is when you're just creating spaces for people, whether it's physical or emotional, and they feel easy in that space. They feel safe.   They feel like the grounding part is just, you know, it's a step outside the wild waters or the chaos of other things that are happening. It gives a chance to catch your breath, feel cheered for, loved by someone. And so that's what I see a haven as.   And the picture that I have in my mind, which I took a picture out in California that I put in the book, and it's just this rocky coast, but it just has that swoop of a cove, and the waters are quieter there. And I mean, you know, 10 feet away, it's not quiet, but just right there, there's a pause. It's a safe, easy place.   And so that's what I think of for haven.   Laura Dugger: (38:15 - 38:21) And what are a few practical ways that you've created havens in your own life?   Liz Bell Young: (38:26 - 40:53) I've always, well, I did want to open a little hotel when I was little. So, I always loved thinking about like overnight spaces for people. So, we really, that's, that is a very, that's sort of the obvious, I think, kind of in my mind of like, what is like creating a literal space?   We've had to do it on couches and in a van, like we haven't always had a guest room. Right now we do. But just like being resourceful and trying to think of like, what's a way to make someone feel like really taken care of in this space?   Like bring a lamp and a coffee maker, even if it's on a couch, give them a stack of books that you think that they would love and that sort of thing. So that's, that would be a haven in my mind. I think, and I learned this in social work actually, but where you like when you're with someone, okay, this is a little bit more of sort of being an emotional, but physical presence haven is like, I try not to top someone else's emotions.   So, like if they're really upset or they're grieving, instead of just like meeting them or even like going above it, like just to be more like just with them and hang out like a little bit under that. Like, again, it's not, it's not about you. It's about the company, you know, that you keep with someone.   So just being next to someone, holding onto their arm when they're grieving. I, and I've had great examples of this, but like you can tell someone awkward or alone and you just go and you just go next to them. You don't draw attention to it.   You just become present. Holding the doors for people. This is a big thing for my parents.   Like, oh, we always must hold doors for people. And the part that I, that then someone, another mentor taught me was just to like delight in people's presence. So, when somebody does come in, whether you know them or not, whether it's a child or your husband, but you've already seen him 10 minutes ago, but like still like beaming on, on them because you love that they're there and that they're with you and that they're here, you know, on earth.   And so, I think, you know, beaming is a big one for me, for taking care and showing hospitality. Yeah.   Laura Dugger: (40:54 - 41:08) That's so good. I love that word. And what are some other tips for ways that all of us can take care of the people in our lives and help them to feel known and cherished and treasured?   Liz Bell Young: (41:08 - 42:51) Oh, well, I'm sure if I was in your Sunday school class, if I was a second through fifth grade, I would feel exactly this because I think like, um, again, like you're just giving, you're giving those girls like your heart and attention for that 45 minutes or hour. And you know, you're getting, um, you're getting like eye to eye with them. And like you said, sharing stories and just like being concerned with them as children, as people.   And so that I think it's, I don't want to like make it more than it is. I think, I think that's been part of the problem with like the sort of the pressure of like, how can I be like the best caretaker or like the, like a really great hostess. And I think like the very first thing is just the position of your heart and just connecting to someone and they're telling a story and you listen to it instead of just trying to trump their story with your own, you know, or, um, giving someone something that, you know, that they would love, you know, that, that simple.   Um, and so it's just, I guess that's just paying attention, Laura, right? Like just paying attention to people and what would even just give them a moment of reprieve or a moment of joy, a moment of inclusion and trying to like follow, um, I mean, the Holy spirit will nudge the heck out of you, you know, so you can like listening to the Holy spirit and then like listening to people. And I think that that, um, it really brings you into that space of, of genuine and gentle hospitality.   Laura Dugger: (42:52 - 44:11) Well, in genuine and gentle, those are some great words to describe even how I experience you as a writer. And I'll just share one more of my favorite practical tips that you listed for ways to take care of people, I guess, because I've been a recipient of this and it instantly made me think of my own dear mom, who I adore. And she has just rocked mothering since the baby phase.   And even as we're adults now, I don't know how she does it, but she just loves so well and every season. And so, I thought of her when you said on page 28, a way to show how to take care of others. You write help a friend or sibling with a couple things on their to-do list.   Jump starts are huge gifts. And I just thought, wow, practically like thinking of being a young mother and having my mom come along and give a jump start. Those times, you know, still impact us today.   And what a great example. So, your book is full of ideas like this. And so, if anybody wants to pick up their own copy or continue learning ways that they can also create havens, where would you direct all of us to go after this conversation, Liz?   Liz Bell Young: (44:11 - 44:58) Oh, well, thanks for asking. I think the book is the best place, partly because I'm pretty quiet on social media. And I just can't find my rhythm there.   But maybe just because I love books so much, but I really try to give everything that I could think of to these specific pages. And so, I mean, you can buy it on Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, you know, all the book places. Magnolia will be selling it, I think, or it might be for sale there right now.   And yeah, that's it. And I have a website, lizbellyoung.com. So, if you want to visit me there too.   Laura Dugger: (44:58 - 45:23) Wonderful. Yes, we can add that link in the show notes. But that is wonderful.   And congrats. That's so exciting being sold all those places. You may be familiar that we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge or insight.   And so, as my final question for you today, Liz, what is your Savvy Sauce?   Liz Bell Young: (45:26 - 46:20) I think it's calm. I was thinking about how I have learned even because I love to solve problems and try to figure things out. And if I can even do that with a calm spirit, even if I have to work fast and hard, but if I can have that calmness or Megan Fate has a book, Relaxed, which I haven't even read yet, but I'm excited to because I think it's this similar note where, you know, I think it's the way that Jesus like literally lived was just in this relaxed and calm state.   And so that's I've always loved calm and very drawn to it, people who are calm. And I think it's what I try to embody myself.   Laura Dugger: (46:21 - 46:54) I've gotten to be the recipient of that calm and relaxed posture from you today, but you're also so thoughtful of others and gentle and talented. And I'm leaving this chat so encouraged with the way that you've stepped into your unique design by our creator. And I just pray it inspires all of us to delight ourselves in the Lord and allow him to give us the desires of our hearts.   So, thank you very much, Liz, for being my guest today.   Liz Bell Young: (46:55 - 47:02) Thank you, Laura. It was great to be with you. It really was.   I'm so glad I got to talk to you. Likewise.   Laura Dugger: (47:03 – 50:46) One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before?   It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.   We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, would you pray with me now?   Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you. Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life?   We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.   If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me, so me for him. You get the opportunity to live your life for him. And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason.   We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you ready to get started? First, tell someone.   Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible.   I selected the Quest NIV Bible and I love it. You can start by reading the book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ.   I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process.   And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.   And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

In this episode, theologian Russell Moore sits down with acclaimed poet and philosopher David Whyte to explore the terrain where faith meets poetry. Beginning with Whyte's new book Consolations II, their conversation traverses the landscapes of language, spirituality, and what it means to be fully present in a fractured world. Whyte, whose work bridges the philosophical traditions of the East and West with the everyday struggles of being human, offers profound insights on why poetry serves as more than mere decoration—it becomes essential language for our deepest experiences. Moore—bringing his biblical, theological perspective—and Whyte dialogue about the “conversational nature of reality” that Whyte proposes and discuss how it resonates with and challenges Christian understandings of communion with God. Their discussion moves through territories both intimate and universal: The ways poetry gives language to experiences that resist explanation The nature of courage as vulnerability rather than bravado Navigating anxiety in a world that demands constant performance Approaching death, as a companion or an enemy The surprising spiritual journey that led Whyte from marine zoology to becoming one of our most vital poetic voices Whether the modern world is “disenchanted” and what difference that makes While coming from different spiritual traditions, Moore and Whyte explore together how human experience requires language that opens rather than closes, invites rather than insists. Their conversation models what genuine dialogue across philosophical differences can look like—curious, generous, and alive to mystery. Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include: David Whyte on On Being with Krista Tippett Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words by David Whyte “The Journey” by David Whyte Pilgrim by David Whyte Consolations II: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words by David Whyte Selected Poems by Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes by Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes The House of Belonging by David Whyte Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment by Charles Taylor “The Opening of Eyes” by David Whyte The Book of Hours by Rainer Marie Rilke Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices