By His Grace
Jessica Hottle: Overcoming the Lies We Believe

Jessica Hottle: Overcoming the Lies We Believe

This week I have a fantastic conversation with Jessica Hottle host of What’s the Truth podcast. We talk about the lies we believe and how we overcome by replacing the lies with truth. Common lies include: I am not qualified, not good enough, or not worthy enough.

Key Takeaways:

  • Lies cause destruction, overwhelm, and chaos
  • Truth brings peace, life, healing, and restoration
  • Lies = Destruction, Truth = Restoration
  • What is the fruit being produced in my life

5 Step process to Restoration

  1. Acknowledge Feelings
  2. Identify the Emotion
  3. Acceptance of your feelings
  4. What is the Emotion telling you?
  5. Creating the Conversation with God to create truth in our situation

Jessica Hottle Bio:

Jessica Hottle’s passion for helping others “weigh” less emotionally, physically, and spiritually. She inspires and encourages thousands by sharing her own personal struggles, victories, and journey through life. Jessica is a successful online entrepreneur, speaker, podcaster for What’s The Truth, and author of two best-selling books, Know Your Worth and A Worthy Wife. Along with a third book, Own Your Worth.

Her passions are being a wife to her husband, Jon, being a momma to their three cats, and spending her free time outside whenever she can (playing golf, hiking, reading, or writing in her journal). Jessica has a heart that runs hard after Jesus and credits everything she has done to her Savior.

Beauty in the Broken

Beauty in the Broken

Beauty in the Broken

By Jodi Rosser

Each broken piece showed me.  Each crack and sliver revealed to me.  I was completely broken and crushed just like this clay pot.

There is something powerful about doing something physically for how you feel emotionally.

As I purposefully smashed this piece of pottery with a hammer, I remember my heart being shattered into a million pieces just months before.  My entire world had been turned upside down by one word: divorce.

Maybe your one word is different.  Maybe it is cancer or miscarriage.  Perhaps it is infertility or addiction.  As I looked at the pile of pieces on the floor, I did not think this clay pot could be salvaged.  It was broken beyond repair.

Have you ever felt like that?  As you look at the broken pieces of your life, you just cannot see how anything good can come from it.  You honestly have lost all hope.

Hope is an important ingredient as you look at your broken pieces.

Maybe you don’t see hope as you stare at another negative pregnancy test.  Maybe you don’t see hope as you are raising your kids as a single parent. Maybe you don’t see hope as you drive to another chemo appointment. 

I know I did not see hope as I stared at the shattered pieces in my hands.  As I began to glue the broken pieces back together and place a candle inside of the clay pot, I was surprised by what I saw.  The light captivated me.  It was shining brilliantly through the slivers and cracks in my clay pot.  

What if God’s light shined the brightest through our cracks and broken places? Share on X

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What if God’s light shined the brightest through our cracks and broken places?

You see, a pot with no cracks, chips, or broken places does not allow much light through it.  However, if a pot has many cracks and broken places but still shines brightly for Jesus despite those circumstances, then that is a beautiful thing.

Could our brokenness actually help us to be a stronger light?

Friends, what if we changed our view on brokenness?  I want to encourage you today to see the beauty in the broken!

  • I see beauty in a woman who perseveres in the middle of her brokenness.
  • I see beauty when God is faithful to guide and comfort a broken heart.
  • I see beauty when a broken story is shared with another hurting heart and it unleashes hope.

Just like this piece of pottery, your cracks and broken pieces are beautiful when placed in the hands of Jesus. 

Jesus is the one who gives us Hope. Share on X

Jesus is the one who gives us Hope.

If you feel like your brokenness has disqualified you, let me encourage you today with this truth: your brokenness qualifies you even more.  Your broken story is the very ingredient God can use to help another heart.

Who better to help someone through an addiction then someone who has experienced freedom from addiction? Who better to comfort someone grieving the loss of a loved one then someone who has experienced comfort during their loss? Who better to offer hope to someone who is walking through a divorce then someone who has walked that same path?

We spread hope when we honestly share our broken stories!  As we come along side others and walk through the pain, we can encourage and offer support to those grieving and hurting.

As we share God’s faithfulness in our broken story, it will unleash hope into their broken story.

I don’t know about you, but I want to unleash hope!  Hope that our brokenness has a purpose. Hope that God can use our broken story to encourage another hurting heart. Hope that God can turn my tears into my testimony!

Can you see it? The brilliant light shining through your cracks and slivers.  The reminder of God’s faithfulness.  The hope spreading through your broken story.  

Friends, I pray we can remember the beauty in the broken. 

Jodi Rosser is a writer and speaks to a steadily growing audience through her podcast, Depth, and her blog, Heartbreak to Strength. Having walked through multiple heartbreaks (divorce, miscarriage, and cancer), Jodi now inspires women to find hope, joy, and purpose through their unexpected storms. She lights up the most when she shares her testimony using her cracked clay pot, a visual reminder that God shines brightest through our broken places. She lives with her two teenage boys and a giant black lab in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.

You can connect with Jodi on her website: https://jodirosser.com

Facebook and Instagram @jodi.rosser.  To listen to her Depth Podcast, please click on the following link: https://link.chtbl.com/vZzTid7o

Jodi Rosser: Heartbreak of Divorce to Strength

Jodi Rosser: Heartbreak of Divorce to Strength

Jodi Rosser shares her heartbreaking journey from divorce to the challenge of being a single mom to teenagers.

Key Takeaways:

  • Our greatest heartbreaks become our greatest ministry
  • Only through God can we go from heartbreak to strength
  • God takes your broken heart and turns it into something beautiful
  • There is a stigmatism of shame that comes with divorce, but it doesn’t disqualify you from ministry
  • God can use your heartbreak for good

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESV

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” – Psalm 34:18 ESV

Jodi Rosser Bio:

Jodi Rosser is a writer and speaks to a steadily growing audience through her podcast, Depth, and her blog, Heartbreak to Strength. For the past ten years she has served in children’s ministry and women’s leadership at Saddleback Church in Orange County, CA.

Having walked through multiple heartbreaks (divorce, miscarriage, and cancer), Jodi now inspires women who face unexpected difficulties to find hope, joy, and purpose. She lights up the most when she shares her testimony using her cracked clay pot, a visual reminder that God shines brightest through our broken places.  She teaches science to elementary students in the STEM LAB and lives with her two boys and giant black lab in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.

Social Media/ Website:

https://jodirosser.com

https://www.instagram.com/jodi.rosser/

https://www.facebook.com/jodi.rosser/

Thank you for listening to the By His Grace Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode share it with a friend and leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. 

 

Losing Us: When Motherhood Becomes an Idol

Losing Us: When Motherhood Becomes an Idol

Losing Us: When Motherhood Becomes an Idol

by September McCarthy

No one told me that I could have such lonely, silent times in my marriage. What happened to the days that seemed so bright and beautiful and filled with such promise? 

My loneliness, the disagreements, and even the love we had shared together seemed to slowly fade into busy lives caring for children. Lives filled with exhaustion, short fuses, and a weariness that would cause us both to ignore the problem or give up altogether. After we said “I do,” life happened, and children took up residence in the cracks of every inch of our life.

I had become the mother.

He had become the father.

And we had lost us.

I had become the mother. He had become the father. And we had lost us. Share on X

Were we falling “out of love and living off the leftovers or crumbs at the end of long work and parenting days? 

We were a mess. The routine had become a steady rhythm of care for our family, with less and less focus on our first love. We moved into comfortable places of doing our jobs, avoiding the tough places and giving our first-fruits to the children before us. I wish someone had come alongside us to lovingly tell us that parenting is not a priority over marriage. 

You cannot really “fall out of love.” You just need to figure out when you began loving something else more.

We had let go of the cord of love that held us together. We watched it uncoil to the ground in a loose pile. The pull and strain of life, babies, financial stress, and marriage can shear away at the strands of love you have with your spouse until there seems to be nothing left to hold onto.

It happens slowly.

When our focus is only on motherhood, you can and will sideline your spouse. 

So, how do we find our way back to our first love?

Remember, you were created to “do this,” together. 

When my husband and I changed our perspective and focus, we became a team. If there is one word to clearly define the instrument of this change together, our restart, it is this: humility.

True love apologizes.

True love shares the wins, and mourns the losses together,

True love saves the best for the other.

True love puts the other first.

True love listens and learns.

True love remembers that parenting is a season.

True love fights for the other, not against.

True love sees the needs.

True love is available.

True love never stops talking.

True love knows change can be good.

True love learns to love the new you.

True love wins.

Seeing the pattern of our parenting priority over our marriage is the first step closer to that truest of love we can show our spouses. Share on X

Seeing the pattern of our parenting priority over our marriage is the first step closer to that truest of love we can show our spouses.

Knowing there is a way to overcome the patterns of sidelining our spouses is the second cord of hope you can hold onto. 

Living the truth of scripture and its promises for a life full of love will bring the unity God promises.

Perhaps this is you. Are you seeing the slow-moving patterns you are becoming comfortable with that leave you feeling distant, discouraged, and disheartened with motherhood or marriage?  I encourage you to hold onto your first love. Re-discover the new you together. Ask the Lord for humility and remembrance as you slowly practice new life-giving habits of love investment into your spouse that you perhaps had let go of.

Your spouse is worth it. 

September McCarthy

Bio:

September is a wife, mom to 10, author, and speaker. September co-hosts the Mom to Mom generational podcast with Kate Battistelli and Jamie Erickson. September is also the author of {Why} Motherhood Matters and the founder of September & Co., an Etsy shop for whole-family Biblically based and hands-on learning for every family. September lives a rural life, with her growing family, chickens, gardening, shelves overflowing with books, and a project always on the horizon. Her family is her #1 priority and her heart is always at home. She believes in new mercies every day and fresh grace on everyone she meets.

Instagram:
September & Co. Etsy shop:
Free gift:Life-Speaking Truths to inspire you on your motherhood journey.
https://bit.ly/lifespeakingtruths
September McCarthy: Motherhood as an Idol

September McCarthy: Motherhood as an Idol

What happens when your marriage looks more like a business transaction than a sacred relationship?  Listen in today as September McCarthy shares a portion of her motherhood journey, and how it affected her marriage relationship. She is a wife and busy mom of 10, author, and podcaster.

We discuss:

  • Loving your husband more than your kids.
  • Not allowing motherhood to take a priority over your marriage.
  • Motherhood as an idol comes as a thief in the night.
  • Practical ways to focus on our marriage
  • and more

September McCarthy is a wife, mom to 10, author, and speaker. September co-hosts the Mom to Mom generational podcast with Kate Battistelli and Jamie Erickson. September is also the author of {Why} Motherhood Matters and the founder of September & Co., an Etsy shop for whole-family Biblically based and hands-on learning for every family. September lives a rural life, with her growing family, chickens, gardening, shelves overflowing with books, and a project always on the horizon. Her family is her #1 priority and her heart is always at home. She believes in new mercies every day and fresh grace on everyone she meets.
September & Co. Etsy shop:
Free gift:
Life-Speaking Truths to inspire you on your motherhood journey.
https://bit.ly/lifespeakingtruths

 

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