Jenell Shields Jenell Shields

Episode 347- Tired of Being Tired with Jess Connolly

How do we experience true rest in a culture that demands striving and encourages fatigue? What does it even look like to live from a place of rest instead of burnout and exhaustion like most people around us do?

For author, pastor, speaker, and mom of four, Jess Connolly, these were the questions she had to wrestle with in the face of all the demands coming at her from her various roles. When life hit a fever pitch and she seemed to reach a breaking point in every way, she knew that she needed more than some sort of watered down self-care answer. She needed to find a way to truly live from a place of trust in the goodness of God to provide and carry her through the noise and speed of life around her. It was through her own journey of figuring out how to deal with the soul-deep exhaustion that she decided to take others along in her latest book, Tired of Being Tired: Receive God’s Realistic Rest for Your Soul-Deep Exhaustion.

In this episode, Aubrey and Jess talk about how difficult it is to find rest in our modern culture, the different ways fatigue can show up, and how to lead in our pain and grief.

If you are tired of being tired--mentally, physically and spiritually--this conversation will show you that you don't need the world's false versions of rest, but you need an encounter with the one who offers you true rest in the depths of your being.

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Episode 331 - The Power of Personal Revival with Lisa Whittle

How do we live a more connected life with Jesus when this world offers so many distractions? What would it look like for individuals to experience personal revival in their own faith that could spark revival in other's lives as well?

For author, podcaster and Bible teacher Lisa Whittle, it was her own journey towards seeking more of God that led her to write about it. As a woman in ministry, Lisa has seen and faced many challenges, but through it all, she was able to find God more and more. By asking God for her own personal revival, Lisa began to see all the ways the enemy of her soul attempts to keep her from it. From people pleasing and anxiety to social media and the celebrity culture that has infiltrated the Christian spaces she has been in, Lisa knows that there are many things that can derail her from living out of a whole hearted devotion to God. It is why she decided to update and re-release her book, I Want God: How to Love Him with Your Whole Heart and Revive Your Soul. As God continued to draw her own heart into personal revival, she realized the message she wrote years ago had even more relevance for our current culture.

In this episode, Aubrey and Lisa talk about the challenges many women face in ministry and how to overcome them, what personal revival looks like in both seasons of normalcy and seasons of pain, and how the fear of man can keep us from the freedom God so longs to give us.

If you've ever desired to experience more of God in your own heart and life but don't know how, this conversation will teach you the simplicity of loving Him and reviving your soul in the process.

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Episode 328 - The Night is Normal with Dr. Alicia Britt Chole

What do we do when our faith feels like the darkness of night? How do we find our way through when God is hard to see or feel?

Author and speaker Dr. Alicia Britt Chole was never afraid of asking questions. In fact, it was her own father's willingness to hear and respond to the many curiosities in her spirit that gave her a picture for God's willingness to listen to and speak to all the questions, the fears, and the doubts in life. Through her personal study of scripture, she began to take notice of the idea of night, of a darkness or obscurity, that can mark our journeys with Jesus.

In an effort to normalize this very valuable and healthy part of our spiritual growth, Dr. Chole wrote The Night is Normal: A Guide Through Spiritual Pain, to help readers identify what can cause our spiritual pain and how to navigate through those seasons of disillusionment and seasons where we are losing hope. Through scriptural evidence and personal experience, Dr. Chole proves that while painful, our disillusionment and those night seasons can become our greatest gifts in our journey towards faith and hope.

In this profound conversation, Aubrey and Dr. Chole talk about how God pursues us when we are far from Him, the causes of our spiritual pain, and why normalizing our difficult seasons can help us find a way through them.

If you've ever found yourself with more questions than answers when it comes to your faith, this episode will prove that God can handle all your questions, all your doubts, and all your disillusionment and that the night you may be experiencing will not last forever.

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