Grace Enough Podcast

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Welcome to Grace Enough Podcast, where Amber Cullum and special guests fearlessly tackle challenging faith questions while unraveling the limitless grace of God. Through engaging podcast conversations, Amber dives deep into the hard truths of life and reveals the boundless grace of God through inspiring stories of men and women walking in the kingdom of God here on earth. Grace Enough's mission is to offer more than a Band-aid Bible verse or empty platitude to individuals on their spiritual journeys with Jesus. Discover a wealth of free resources at www.graceenoughpodcast.com. This podcast is specially designed to uplift and encourage Christians, reminding them that, regardless of their stories, God can use them to make an impact on His kingdom. Embracing surrender and trust, you'll discover that His grace is truly enough. Tune in now and embark on a remarkable journey of faith.

Episodes

Tuesday Jan 26, 2021

102: Christopher Yuan | Transformation & Holy Sexuality

Tuesday Jan 26, 2021

Christopher Yuan joins me to discuss his journey from being an agnostic gay man in prison to a follower of Jesus, who now teaches the Bible at Moody Bible Institute and travels around the world with his parents speaking on faith and sexuality

Questions Christopher and I Discussed:

(1:48) I have briefly introduced you, but will share with our listeners a little about the work you do on a day to day basis?
(3:03) What was life like for you growing up?
(4:41) In your early 20’s, you came out as a gay man to your parents, which you and your mother write about in your first book Out of A Far Country, tell us more about that experience.
(14:51) It was through realizing she was a sinner that your mom was able to begin loving and accepting you, but you went the opposite direction. You were in dental school and began making some really destructive choices. Tell us what happened that led you to read the Bible and a little about your journey from prisoner to Bible professor?.............................

Quotes to Remember:

“We were in the office [Dean of the Dental School], all four of us and my mom told the dean, ‘It’s not important that Christopher becomes a dentist. What’s more important is that Christopher becomes a Christ follower.”

“She realized that nothing is more important than our children following Jesus, even more important than education, even more important than career.”

“Before my dad left, he wanted to give me his very first Bible and I threw it in the trash can. That’s how much I despised it.”

SHOW NOTES cont.

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Tuesday Jan 19, 2021

101: Paula LeJeune | When God’s Love and Adversity Collide

Tuesday Jan 19, 2021

Paula LeJeune was born into adversity. She was born a conjoined twin, underwent more than 30 facial surgeries, lived with an abusive father, yet she has experienced the love and grace of God throughout her life.

Questions Paula and I Discussed:

(4:00) Adversity is a word that can be used to describe your literal first breath on earth. Share about your birth and the adversity you and your mother faced.
(6:38) What were your early childhood years like? (surgeries, family life, etc.)
(9:53) Did you grow up in a Christian family?
(14:01) Did you ever get the feeling that people in your congregation new their pastor was abusing his family?
(15:14) When did you personally decide, despite all that was going on, I believe that Jesus is my Savior, he is the one that can redeem me?
(16:55) As we all know, tween and teen years can be difficult and even more so if your appearance is outside of what kids perceive as "normal." What were some of the things that affected what you believed about yourself, what you believed about God, and relationships?
In addition to the adversity that came along with all of the facial surgeries, you dealt with adversity at home. We all want home to be our safe place, but sometimes home is a place of fear and abuse. Share a little of the adversity you had to overcome at home.
(21:40) Did you ever have anybody in your life that kind of helped keep you going?
(23:16) What was your deepest longing through those long years of surgeries and scarring and recovering and more surgeries and how did God meet the longing through Clifton?
(32:08) What do you think kept you serving in your dad's church as an adult, even though you knew that he was really a fraud?
(33:54) What was it like taking over the church that you grew up in, where your dad was the pastor?
(39:10) For the woman listening who may be in the midst of adversity, how would you encourage them that their current circumstance does not have to be their future?

SHOW NOTES cont.

Resources Mentioned:

Book: The Perfectly Imperfect Princess: An Un-fairy Tale Gone Right by Paula LeJeune
Lisa Whittle: Ministry Strong

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Tuesday Jan 12, 2021

100: Celebrating 100 Episodes

Tuesday Jan 12, 2021

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The host of Grace Enough Podcast, Amber is interviewed by her oldest son and daughter about her journey over the last two years, which includes 100 episodes.

Questions Discussed:

(4:00) How do you find who you want to interview on the podcast?
(5:10) How do you think up all your questions?
(6:10) How do you feel when you get a big interview?
(8:12) How do you feel when you think it’s gonna be a really good interview, but actually turns out to be boring?
(9:41) Can you tell us what it’s like to record, get ready, and post an episode of the podcast?
(11:49) Is there an episode, it doesn’t just have to be one, that the message was so amazing you felt like you were there with them?
(14:09) What was your favorite episode of the podcast?
(15:58) Has there been an episode where you didn’t really know what the guest was talking about?
(16:37) Who do you want to interview in the future?

Quotes to Remember:

“Why are they listening to [the Grace Enough Podcast]? And my response was to be encouraged to take the next step of faith, knowing God is faithful, even if it looks different than expected.”

SHOW NOTES cont.

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Tuesday Jan 05, 2021

99: Jen Wilkin | Women of The Word

Tuesday Jan 05, 2021

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Jen Wilkin joins me to talk about diving into the Scriptures and the risk of a diet made up of mostly devotional reading vs. God's Word.

Questions Jen and I Discussed:

(1:41) When did you come to know Jesus?
(3:15) What prompted you to begin leading Bible Studies and what did those early days look like?
(7:36) How would you encourage busy women who struggle to spend time consistently reading and studying the Bible?
(12:06) Your books, particularly Women of The Word and None Like Him, have been "go to" resources for me in my own time with Jesus. What led to the writing of those books?
(17:04) You recently wrote a piece titled, "Your Devotional Is Not A Bible." Share a little about that piece and the importance of not using a devotional as a substitute for God's Word?
(19:53) As we close, if someone is listening today and simply feels discouraged when they think about reading the Bible, what are a few simple steps that can take to begin?

Quotes to Remember:

"I remember [when] one girl showed up, because everybody else had something that came up. And so I taught one girl in my living room, and we just started going through books of the Bible."

"I think there's a myth out there that personal Bible study time is the sweet spot and the reality is the Bible is meant to be understood in community. There is a role for personal study time, but but it to be pointing us toward a shared conversation around the scriptures."

SHOW NOTES cont.

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Tuesday Dec 15, 2020

98: Katherine James | A Son’s Addiction & A Mother’s Love

Tuesday Dec 15, 2020

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Katherine James and I discuss her journey of loving her son through his addiction and the magnificence of God during some of the darkest days.

Questions Katherine and I Discussed:

(3:34) You have 3 grown children whom you used to pray for while looking up at Orion‘s belt. Take us back to that time and share a little about those prayers, your hopes for your little people and what your family’s life with Jesus was like at that time.
(6:19) Eventually, you discovered your youngest son was heavily addicted to drugs. Share a little of that discovery with us.
(11:59) In A Prayer for Orion, you frequently reflect on the guilt parents feel as they raise their kids: “Parenting was supposed to be if this, then that. We would raise them right and they would be all right” How did you work through the guilt and shame you experienced being both a parent of an addict and a Christian?
(15:53) What would you say to parents who struggle with guilt or feel as if they somehow failed their kids?
(19:31) Your home became a welcoming place for your son’s friends who were also addicts. You and your husband welcomed and loved, “The Lost Boys.” What did you learn from opening your home to those who were walking through addiction?
(25:05) While reading A Prayer for Orion, I could feel the heaviness of evil and the hope of God. Describe the tension between evil and magnificence you refer to in the book.
(25:58) Let’s close with the moment when “what if” became “even if.” Even if Sweetboy didn’t survive a heroin overdose, everything would still be okay. Share that experience with us.

Quotes to Remember:

“He was always a great kid at home. There wasn’t any sense of rebellion or anger.”

“The unique thing about drugs is it’s unpredictable. That’s one of the particularly difficult things about it… you don’t know if it’s going to come back or not….There’s just this, I have to trust You [God]. What I’m trusting in, isn’t the way that things are going to turn out. What I’m trusting in is that You are who You say You are, that You have not lied to me.”

SHOW NOTES continued

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Tuesday Dec 08, 2020

97: Hannah Anderson | Goodness and The Lost Art of Discernment

Tuesday Dec 08, 2020

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Hannah Anderson joins me on the Grace Enough Podcast to discuss the pursuit of goodness, derived from the character of God, and how it helps develop discernment in us.

Questions Hannah and I Discussed:

(6:37) You have described the digital age as disorienting. What do you mean by that?
(13:28) As Christians our initial response is often to close ourselves off to the world and the news and live in a bubble that we perceive as safe, but you challenge your reader to take up Paul’s charge to the Phillipians. Share a little about that with us.
(19:54) In my limited experience, what I have found is people really don’t understand discernment. In your book, All That’s Good, you take the reader on a journey of understanding discernment. For someone, who may struggle to understand discernment in practical terms how would you break it down?
(31:57) We have taken the word goodness and attached a definition to it. That is we aren’t good. There is nothing in us, which is good, which is true, but that’s not what you’re talking about when you’re talking about. Goodness, it’s not about earning God’s favor, as much as it is God’s image in all people. Tease that out for us.
(39:19) “We miss a world of good, beautiful things because we are so worried about making ourselves good and beautiful that we don’t have time to see that God has already made us good and beautiful through His Son. And we miss His good gifts because we are too busy trying to earn them.” If you could charge the listener to go into the world, into challenging and uncomfortable situations and seek out the good, what final thoughts would you share with them?

Quotes to Remember:

“I don’t think we’re any more naive or gullible than any other time in history, but we just have a lot more that we’re being asked to process.”

“So for Paul, the pursuit of silencing the chaos in our minds is not withdraw, it’s engagement in a certain way. It’s engaging with the world, looking for things that are true, honorable, just pure, lovely, commendable and excellent…. Instead of just staying away from the bad things, I want you to learn what goodness looks like, because then you’ll be able to see it, and then you’ll be able to move toward it.”

SHOW NOTES cont.

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Tuesday Dec 01, 2020

96: Alisa Childers | Truth In Response To Progressive Christianity

Tuesday Dec 01, 2020

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Alisa Childers joins me to discuss progressive Christianity and her journey of rebuilding her faith after being taught by a progressive pastor.

Questions Alisa and I Discussed:

(5:21) You have walked with Jesus a long time and as an adult you experienced a faith crisis when you began attending a Sunday School class led by one of the church pastors. Will you share a bit of that story with us?
(9:22) What were some of the steps you took to dig in and research if you what you had believed as a Christian was true?
(14:24) It was not a university professor that challenged all you believed, but a progressive Christian pastor. What is progressive Christianity and what are some of their core beliefs?
(18:24) Share a little about what you discovered when you began to research why the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God?
(31:07) How do progressives view the Bible?
(34:49) Listener Question (Erica): What are some buzz words or red flags that may point toward progressive Christian thought?
(39:10) Progressive Christianity can be very subtle changes made to God’s Word and often seem true and good and right. How do you encourage Christians to educate and prepare themselves to interact with progressive Christian claims?
(47:31) We are both commanded to love God and love our neighbor. How are these commands being misinterpreted by progressive Christian thoughts and ideas?

Quotes to Remember:

“So the Christianity that I grew up with was very wholistic…it wasn’t just a Sunday thing and it wasn’t just a church thing. This was something that we lived as a family.”

“The pastor invited me to be a part of this small class situation that he compared to seminary…. In the context of the class, the pastor early on, revealed that he was actually agnostic and that really kind of shook me…because by this point I had come to respect this guy, and really trust him as a pastor….Over the course of about four months, just about everything that I ever believed about God, and Jesus, and the Bible, in particular, was picked apart and explained away.

SHOW NOTES cont.

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Tuesday Nov 24, 2020

95: Nancy Guthrie | God Does His Best Work With Empty

Tuesday Nov 24, 2020

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Nancy Guthrie joins me to discuss how God filled her emptiness after the loss of baby Hope and Gabriel, how God demonstrates He does His best work with empty through the Scriptures, and her passion for God’s Word.

Questions Nancy and I Discussed:

(8:32) God Does His Best Work With Empty was born out of your own personal experience and the respite retreats you lead with your husband. For those unfamiliar with your family’s story of loss and your ministry, will you share that with us?
(15:39) How did the idea that God does His best work with empty come about?
(18:57) You write, “Sometimes your sense of emptiness haunts you as an undefined yet relentless ache. At other times it overwhelms you as an undeniable agony. It is amazing to me how heavy the weight of emptiness can feel, how much room emptiness can take up in our souls, how much pain can be caused by something that isn’t even there.” What are some ways you began working through the emptiness experienced when you lost your children?
(24:26) As you began to trace the theme of emptiness in the Bible, what were some things that jumped out at you?
(28:41) You point out 8 ways God fills our emptiness. One of those is God fills our emptiness with His grace. Will you share how the story of Naomi demonstrates that truth?
(33:08) You clearly love God’s Word and have been faithful to teach it to women in your local church, around the world and now are generously teaching other women how to study and teach it. Share a little of how you’ve seen God develop that love, that passion in you over the years.
(38:35) How do you go about deciding which book in the Bible you’re going to teach?
(43:54) Listener question from Allison McCoy: How do you avoid being moralistic when teaching the Bible, but still make applications for your audience?

SHOW NOTES cont.

Resources Mentioned:

Book: God Does His Best Work With Empty
Biblical Theology Workshop For Women
Respite Retreat
Book: Holding Onto Hope
Book: Hearing Jesus Speak To Your Sorrow
Book: Saints and Scoundrels
Bible Study Fellowship
Book: Even Better Than
Preaching Christ in A Postmodern World: Teaching Seminars by Dr. Tim Keller and Dr. Edmund Clowney

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Tuesday Nov 17, 2020

94: Mary DeMuth | Hope After Sexual Abuse

Tuesday Nov 17, 2020

Mary DeMuth joins me to share her story of being sexual abused as a 5 year old girl and how God re-storied her through the ministry of Young Life. Mary also shares how the church can redemptively respond to the sexual abuse crisis.

Questions Mary and I Discussed:

(5:23) You say, "Not only have I been restored, I have been re-storied." Take us back to your childhood and share what happened to you at 5 years old?
(13:03) What were some of those wounds that you carried with you and likely continue to work through today?
(17:27) What were your teens years like?
(20:10) At 15, you met Jesus through Young Life. Tell us about that experience.
(29:00) You have written, "He changed my I was statements into I am statements." Will you share some of those with us?
(31:21) One of your recent books is We Too: How the Church Can Respond Redemptively to the Sexual Abuse Crisis. First, what are some ways we are missing the mark?
(37:19) As followers of Jesus, what are some ways we can respond redemptively to sexual abuse?

Quotes to Remember:

"It's extremely rare for a child to tell, so the fact that I did is surprising, but the sad thing is the babysitter did nothing."

"I was thinking to myself, not a soul in this world cares about me, no one's gonna take care of me."

"I would say the greatest wound is or the greatest manifestation of my sexual abuse.... is disconnection. When all this abuse was happening, I would disassociate and fly away in my mind."

SHOW NOTES cont.

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Tuesday Nov 10, 2020

93: Lynn Cowell | Developing Strong Relationships With Your Daughters

Tuesday Nov 10, 2020

Lynn Cowell joins me to discuss the importance of being available, approachable, and partnering with the Holy Spirit to develop our children's gifts, particularly our daughters.

Questions Lynn and I Discussed:

(5:16) Share how you came to know Jesus
(6:33) Take us back to when your daughters were young. What were their personalities like?
(9:33) What were some of the intentional steps you took to develop a strong relationship with them at a young age?
(12:10) How did you experience the benefits of that as they became teens and now adults?
(19:09) One of the biggest fears I face is the fear of not having a close relationship with my kids as they get older and become adults. How would you encourage someone like me, who has an 8 year old daughter, to develop that strong mother/daughter relationship in the early years?
(23:58) In our world today there are so many conflicting messages for young girls and women about what makes you a strong woman. When you began facing that reality as a mom, how did you teach your daughters about being kind and gentle, yet bold and courageous?
(31:40) What do you hope a girl walks away with upon completion of your Loved and Cherished devotional?

SHOW NOTES cont. Related Episodes:

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