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 Oct 29, 2019
Tuesday Oct 29, 2019
Brandy and I chat about her extra marital affair and the work God has done in her life during the past 10 years since the affair ended. We chat about the unrealistic expectations we often put on our spouse, destructive behavior we use to numb ourselves, the Christlike invitation from her husband, and pressing in to recovery work.
6:08 Brandy shares how her faith journey with Jesus began
10:07 Brandy shares how she and Matt met. She talks about the early years of their marriage
- Discipleship Training Course
- Year of Biblical Studies
"When God is pursuing you, you can not outrun Him...but I sure tried."
"We got married in 1995 and I expected that everything from that point on was going to be exactly as I had planned...We're going to have 2 kids. We're going to have a cat and a dog. a white picket fence and he's going to be the spiritual leader and I'm going to be the Donna Reid type of wife....and that is 100% not what happened."
16:45 Brandy shares some of the warning signs in her personal life and in marriage that she can now see were precursors to her extramarital affair
It boils down to unrealistic expectations..."I had the notion somehow that Matt would be able to meet all my needs."
Brandy is an enneagram 4- "I need a ton of validation." Matt is anenneagram 5. "He is very much a thinker."
"I don't fault myself for having those needs, but I fault myself very much for where I was looking for those needs to be filled."
20:09 Brandy shares about how the affair began. We chat a little about the danger of thinking, "It will never happen to me."
"One day a door opened and we both just decided to walk through it. And it wasn't anything either of us had planned. It wasn't anything we had set out to do, but it was definitely something...we had both imagined or fancied or fantasized about for years."
23:55 Brandy shares her thought process and ideas about God while involved in the affair
"I was running so far from God....Our marriage looked like it was doing fine. Anybody on the outside would have said our marriage was good. And the whole time I am thinking, 'I am living a complete double life, but if God didn't want this to be happening, then why would He allow all of these opportunities for us to keep getting together. He wouldn't allow it, if He didn't want it to be happening. 'So it was the most bizarre justification you can possibly imagine, because I knew God wasn't approving of this relationship, but it didn't seem like He was closing the doors to it either and for some reason that seemed logical to me."
27:30 Brandy shares about when the affair was exposed
SHOW NOTES continued
-------------------------------------------
Listen to The Road Home To You Podcast with Brandy and Matt HERE.
-------------------------------------------
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
---------------------------------------------------------
The Root Collective Affiliate of the Month
Ethically made Shoes and Bags. A free compliment every time you wear them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tuesday Oct 22, 2019
Tuesday Oct 22, 2019
Susan and I chat about learning to walk through transition with a sense of adventure vs. anxiety, about setting realistic expectations, and constantly focusing on the character of God.
4:28 Susan shares how her journey with Jesus began
8:36 Susan shares some typical life transitions
Susan’s article: How to Trust God in the Midst of Transition
“You have to learn to change your expectations.”
“It helped me to name it, re-entry. When you return from something special, where you leave responsibilities and you come back to responsibility, just count on being a little blue. Call it re-entry and realize it will go away in three days.”
“We tend to think and live as if stability is the norm. That’s what we expect, when things just calm down, but the reality is life never calms down. We have to switch gears in terms of our expectation. Our expectation is not that stability is the norm, but the reality is transition is the norm…Stability is those rare exceptions. I think the first thing that helps with coping with transition is to realize that this is the norm.”
12:03 Susan shares how she learned to view and walk through transition with a sense of adventure vs. anxiety
"When you are young and a young mom, you have this vision, one day I will get there, to whatever that mystical there is. The there is where you trust Christ. You live in that trust relationship. You don't struggle. You don't have fear. You don't fall a part. We have this unrealistic expectation that we'll get there, but really we'll never get there this side of Heaven. In heaven, we'll be there, because we are fallen people in a fallen world. We're citizens of Heaven, so we will always have this bit of restlessness within our soul of wanting to get there. It is a God given restlessness, because we were created for Heaven, not this earth. The question is, how can we grow in relying more on God and being less controlled by the frantic things going on in our lives?"
One way you can deal with transition is anticipate and plan ahead as best as you can (ex. setting realistic expectations when you go home with baby #4).
Psalm 139: God knows us
"Who is in charge? Not right now. Who is really in charge? God is in charge and He's got my back"
SHOW NOTES continued.
------------------------------------------
Follow Susan Alexander Yates at susanalexanderyates.com and IG
--------------------------------------------------------
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
---------------------------------------------------------
The Root Collective Affiliate of the Month
Ethically made Shoes and Bags. A free compliment every time you wear them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tuesday Oct 15, 2019
Tuesday Oct 15, 2019
Tim and I chat about spiritual discernment. What is it? How to grow in it? How it relates to wisdom and more.
5:01 Tim defines spiritual discernment
“The ability to tell what is true as opposed to what’s false on an objective level and then on a moral basis the ability to distinguish what’s right and what’s wrong.”
5:33 Tim answers how one goes about obtaining discernment.
Primarily by spiritual growth, Christian maturity
6:38 Tim answers the question, “Are wisdom and discernment synonymous?”
“Wisdom is a knowledge of the Lord, so knowing who God is and what He demands of us. Discernment is…comparing that [who God is and what He demands of us] to the evil alternative and being able to separate the two.”
7:23 Tim discusses if we can have wisdom or discernment without the other
“One of the conundrum’s of the Christian life is how some people who are so godly in some ways can be naïve in other ways, so I think we both know people who love the Lord deeply and have followed Him for a long time and still don’t seem to have really developed the kind of spiritual discernment we might expect.”
8:48 Tim talks about Solomon and how his life relates to discernment, wisdom, obedience, disobedience, and worldliness
“I do think there are people who don’t fit our neat categories, he [Solomon] may be one of them.”
“God specifically told the kings of Israel not to accumulate women, wealth, or the weapons of war. In all three ways, they’re supposed to be sexually pure and then, when it came to the military, they were supposed to rely on God and when it came to wealth they were not to hoard it. They were to be dependent upon God and be generous. Yet, Solomon was known for his extreme wealth, his great number of wives, and his strong military, so he disobeyed God on a very fundamental level there, so again that seems to be foolishness that he exhibited there or just plain disobedience. Maybe, we’re dressing it up to much. Maybe, he just stopped caring and grew apathetic.”
--------------------------------------------------------
Follow Tim Challies at challies.com or on Twitter
--------------------------------------------------------
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
---------------------------------------------------------
The Root Collective Affiliate of the Month
Ethically made Shoes and Bags. A free compliment every time you wear them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tuesday Oct 08, 2019
Tuesday Oct 08, 2019
Jeannie and I chat about parenting from a place of grace and conviction vs. perfection and condemnation.
4:00Jeannie talks about the season of mothering that led her into writing Parenting the Wholehearted Childand Mom Set Free
"I started on this journey in Scripture, what is His grace and what does it speak into the hard places of motherhood? And then, I just felt like He [God] was inviting me to share that, which I didn't understand, because I wasn't a writer...but as we all know where the Lord calls, He equips." "He wants to set us free from that pressure to get it all right..."
8:09 Jeannie shares what it was like when she parenting with a mindset of "I have to be a perfect example" or my kids will be messed up.
"There was so little joy in the day to day, because I was so focused on me getting it right."
"One of the most beautiful things about grace is God works through our weakness. His goal is ultimately for our children's eyes to be on Him, not on us."
"...Really just learning how to understand my weakness in light of God's grace and know that it's not something to be ashamed of or feel guilty about, but it's always an invitation to return to the cross and say Jesus, 'Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to they cross I cling. Thank you that you never give up on me.' Because grace doesn't just free us. It transforms us."
"It's not a bad thing to want to get it right for them [our children]. But when we want to be on the throne, when we want to be worshipped by them, when we want to be looked at by them as flawless and invincibly, that's where we have to step back and be like, Who do I want on that throne? Do I want you looking to me as your perfect example or ultimately....looking at Jesus?"
15:32 Jeannie shares some of the changes she experienced in her parenting when she began parenting from a gospel and grace filled perspective.
"If there is not internal heart change, all we are doing is raising rebels who will ultimately break free from the laws we put in place that they are confined to. They're performing to expectation, but there is no internal heart change going on. God said, He who began a good work in you will complete it on the day that Jesus Christ returns and so sanctification is a life long process."
"Beauty and brokenness dance."
SHOW NOTES continued.
--------------------------------------------------------
Follow Jeannie Cunnion at jeanniecunnion.com or IG
--------------------------------------------------------
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
---------------------------------------------------------
The Root Collective Affiliate of the Month
Ethically made Shoes and Bags. A free compliment every time you wear them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tuesday Oct 01, 2019
Tuesday Oct 01, 2019
Mo and I chat about how God created sex, how honesty about sexual sin defeats the enemies schemes, how God desires a pure heart, and privacy vs. darkness.
5:11 Mo begins by sharing how she came to know Jesus and an overview of what she wrote in her first book Wreck Your Life.
"I knew a lot about God, but I didn't know God and there's a big difference."
High School: "I didn't know who I was or whose I was. I didn't know how that whole Jesus component merged into the other 6 days of the week, so when identity issues came perfectionism began to bind me in a lot of ways."
Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. -Matthew 11:28
"His [God] invitation to me was just begin to give Me the glory. You've lived so focused on self....Look at the things I am doing and we'll go from there."
"I went from this incomplete perspective of God to God in a box..to still this incomplete view of God: I give You the glory and You give me the blessing."
"Suicide suddenly interrupted my story, especially the spiritual side, this faith walk layer. Suddenly this God I had been following and tip toeing with and figuring out and seeing all the goodness of, I felt like was a faros or had abandoned me or was not as good as I thought He was. Suddenly when things didn't feel so good or the circumstances didn't look so good in life I took off running. I ran into depression, into anxiety, into promiscuity, into any sin sized piece I could find to fill the God sized hole in my heart."
John 16:33 says, In this world you will face trouble, but take heart, have courage, I have overcome the world.
"When we know God. When we hunger and thirst for His Word. When we know the character and nature and complexity or who He reveals Himself to be to us , there is a vast difference in how we handle the hardships. There is a divine hope in the valley."
"He will wreck your life to save your life and save your eternal story."
"I will use anything and everything to disrupt your lost journey and point you back home and lead you and intersect your heart and your life."
Be still and know that I am God -Psalm 46:10
25:10Mo shares what led her to write her 2nd book Sex, Jesus, and The Conversations The Church Forgot.
"Scripture says sin is defeated by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, so I think people seeing they're not alone in something and hearing the radical truth of God all over it has been really neat to see the wave it has created."
SHOW NOTES continued
-----------------------------------------------------
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
-----------------------------------------------------
Follow Mo Isom on IG and Twitter
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tuesday Sep 24, 2019
Tuesday Sep 24, 2019
Lindsay and I chat about her journey of becoming a foster parent, the need for more Christians to step into the role of foster parenting, and what she would like the biological parents of her foster children to know.
3:52 Lindsay shares how her relationship with Jesus began
6:05 Lindsay shares how she and her husband became foster parents
"In our church, there was a lot of national talk bubbling up about social justice...."
"This organization was going to churches and to Christians and was saying, 'We are in a capacity crisis here and we don't have people stepping up.' Hillsborough County is the worst in the state of Florida, in terms of the number of children that are removed from their homes."
8:29 Lindsay shares some of the fears she experienced prior to becoming a licensed foster parent
Biggest fear: How having a foster child would affect her biological children.
"We've been very open with our kids about why we have chosen to foster, about who Jesus is, and what He calls us to do, and about the lives our children lead and how different they are from the lives of our foster children. How the inequality of justice should spur us on, so our kids our incredible."
---------------------------------------------
Follow Lindsay on IG @ micah6.8mom
---------------------------------------------
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
__________________________________________________________________________
SPONSOR: Hope Threads
Click over and check out their new fall line.
This organization was founded by moms in north Raleigh, who have been inspired and motivated to join with highly resilient and talented refugees as they learn English, and develop marketable skills to support their families. These women come from countries with political turmoil, where they had to fight for the safety of their families. They’ve been given the opportunity to come to the United States and the challenges still exist, though they’ve changed face. Their children are generally thriving in school, though they lack the language skills to understand what’s being said in parent teacher conferences….or to know how to get their children proper medical care in the maze of a medical system.
Hope Threads was born out of relationships formed over years of serving these women by teaching them English or caring for their children as they learn. They are graciously hosted by North Ridge Bible Chapel and have virtually no overhead costs, as volunteers teach sewing skills and care for children in a gospel centered children’s program.
You can find them online at hope-Threads.com or on Instagram at hope.threads.
Your purchase empowers a resilient woman as she acculturates, learns new skills, and supports her family. Please visit Hope Threads to view their catalog and for OPPORTUNITIES to SPONSOR refugee women.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tuesday Sep 17, 2019
Tuesday Sep 17, 2019
Treva shares with me her story of losing her husband, Jeff, in a tragic car accident. She walks through her grief during the first few months following his death and how God has walked with her and her children every step of the way. She encourages widows and shares of Christ's redemptive work through her suffering.
Raleigh Muralist: Lisa Gaither
4:58 Treva begins sharing her faith story with us and what life has looked like for her the last 5-10 years
She and her husband, Jeff, were married for 22 years.
8:16-17:04 Faith and grief collide in Treva's story. She takes us back to 2017 and walks us through the tragic car accident where her husband lost his life.
"That was something I feared, losing my husband. He was such a good dad, such a great husband, a godly man, very strong in his faith. I used to call him, my Boaz. I didn't think from the abandonment I had already suffered as a daughter that the Lord would ever allow me to be a widow (before 80)."
Treva and her husband, Jeff, did ministry to teens together for 17 years.
"Your dad makes sure you have fun and I make sure you're alive."
17:06 Treva shares about what the months were like following the loss of her husband, Jeff.
"It was the most beautiful act of love that the Lord had for us every day that week. It is where joy and sorrow collide. Where we saw the hand of God so mightily, but in the worst circumstance. I used to always says, 'We have the best scenario in the worst circumstance,' just how God carried us. If I had ever doubted God's love for me or for my kids, it was in those first few months afterwards that God solidified for me who He is and how He loves our children....He doesn't have to have all the pieces that we think He has to have to finish the good work that He started in them."
18:53 Treva shares how her relationship with God changed as a result of losing her spouse, her best friend.
SHOW NOTES continued
------------------------------------------------------
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
--------------------------------------------------------
Follow Treva at Not Just A Widow
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tuesday Sep 10, 2019
Tuesday Sep 10, 2019
Sharon and I chat about the difference between niceness and kindness, the dangers of making words like authenticity and courage trendy, how God cultivates the fruit of the Spirit in us, and how knowing the depth of God's Word is vital as a believer. Our conversation surrounds her newest book Nice: Why We Love to Be Liked and Why God Calls Us to More.
5:58 Sharon shares how her faith journey with Jesus began
Sharon worked for Proverbs 31 ministrywhen she graduated from college. It was a small ministry at that time with about 5 people on staff.
“I went back to seminary, because I realized I really wanted to equip myself for ministry.”
8:50 Sharon expounds on the first line in her new book Nice: Why We Love to Be Liked and Why God Calls Us to More, “God didn’t call us to be nice.”
The book came from a paragraph she wrote in her first book, Free of Me.
“I was a really good kid. I was a nice Christian girl. I was a rule follower. I was an achiever. I was a people pleaser. That was a big part of my identity. As I looked back, I think all along I felt like I was a good kid, because I loved God and I wanted to honor God. To some extent that was true, but I could also see that it was really rewarding to be a good kid. It earned me a lot of affirmation from all of the adults in my life. I could look back and see these mixed motives in my heart and how that was blurring my identity as a Christian.”
“The more I noticed this [nice Christian mentality] the more I thought this is a false virtue in our culture, but it is also a false idol in the church. We don’t see anywhere in the Bible that tells us to be nice. We are told to bear fruits of kindness and patience and gentleness and love, but nowhere are we told to be nice.”
“We will often excuse sin or dysfunction if a person is simply nice to us. “
“He doesn’t call us to be mean. He doesn’t call us to be aggressive. He doesn’t call us to be divisive, but He doesn’t call us to simply be pleasant.”
15:15 “Nice Christianity looks a lot like the real thing. Jesus says the way you can know it’s not the real thing is look at the fruit it is producing.”
“Some of the fruits [of niceness] are unexpected like self-righteousness. This doesn’t look like niceness on its face, but it is a fruit of it. That was 100% my story, because I was such a good girl, I would think, ‘’Being good is so easy. What’s wrong with these other people who aren’t nice like me?’ Instead of owning the fact that part of the reason I was good was I was a slave to people’s affirmation and approval.”
SHOW NOTES continued.
----------------------------------------------------
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
-----------------------------------------------------
Sharon Hodde Miller at SheWorships.com and IG
SPONSOR: Hope Threads
You can find them online at hope-Threads.com or on Instagram at hope.threads.
Your purchase empowers a resilient woman as she acculturates, learns new skills, and supports her family. Please visit Hope Threadsto view their catalog and for OPPORTUNITIES to SPONSOR refugee women.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tuesday Sep 03, 2019
Tuesday Sep 03, 2019
Dr. Deering and I chat about common mother/daughter relationships experiences that shape their communication, some tips for addressing a broken relationship and more from her book "What Mothers Never Tell Their Daughters."
4:26 Dr. Deering shares how her personal story plays into the work she does with mothers and daughters.
Her interaction with young moms in her neighborhood prompting her writing the book What Mothers Never Tell Their Daughters.
9:32 Dr. Deering observed young moms complaining about their moms yet repeating some of those same behaviors. She discusses how that pertains to her relationship with her 2 daughters.
"I have owned up to when I have done something incorrectly. I've apologized...I am quick to say I am sorry."
11:15 Dr. Deering shares a few common mother/daughter experiences that shape the way they see each other, which ultimately influences how they communicate with one another.
"How moms and daughters deal with their experiences of difference is key....For instance, the first time a mom will notice her daughter is doing something that's different than how she would think it ought to be done and how that mom reacts to that and in turn how the daughter responds to that or reacts to that. That then, starts a certain dance between the two of them, because ultimately what a daughter wants is to feel accepted and love."
15:49 Dr. Deering shares a few ways mothers and daughters can begin the reconciling process
"I think there is an element (this is not to say anything negative about the body of Christ), but I think sometimes there can be this expectation that reconciliation is the definite goal. Reconciliation actually takes two....It is the same way God deals with us. Jesus died on the cross. It's out there for everyone. It's available....The fix really takes two if you want the full reconciliation, but sometimes it is just one willing to come to terms with some things."
SHOW NOTES continued
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Deering and Curative Connections
--------------------------------------------------------------
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tuesday Aug 27, 2019
Tuesday Aug 27, 2019
Steven and I chat about being a "good kid", becoming an Army Ranger, his role in the death of Pat Tillman, PTSD, and how the grace of God literally changed his heart.
4:15 Steven begins sharing his faith experience as a child and how he was a "good kid"
"The lens I would describe a lot of my faith journey, I suppose, is through the lens of the prodigal son....In retrospect, as I grew up, I am a good rule follower. I can't stand it if people aren't approving of me. I viscerally need that...."
Steven talks about pride and how the idea of do X and get Y was very appealing to him.
"Going into the military in 2003, I was very much the older son in that story [prodigal son]."
7:55 Steven shares about joining the army in the wake of 9/11 and becoming a Ranger
He describes how one becomes a Ranger in the Army.
11:32: Steven became a Ranger in the 2nd Ranger Battalion based at Ft. Lewis where he was assigned to his platoon. In his platoon were two brothers, Pat and Kevin Tillman.
April 2004: Platoon sent to Afghan/Pakistan border to conduct combat operations (raids and patrols)
12:47: Steven explains what a raid and/or patrol looks like for a Ranger Unit.
15:22-27:40 Steven shares the details of April 22, 2004
"Once the smoke cleared our platoon had sustained 2 casualties (2 dead and 2 wounded). One of those that were killed was an Afghan military soldier....the other who was killed that day was Pat Tillman."
28:00Steven shares how the narrative surrounding Pat Tillman death varied greatly between the American media and what actually happened on the ground
SHOW NOTES continued
Steven Elliott's book: WAR STORY
__________________________________________
Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB
__________________________________________
SPONSOR: Hope Threads
This organization was founded by moms in north Raleigh, who have been inspired and motivated to join with highly resilient and talented refugees as they learn English, and develop marketable skills to support their families. These women come from countries with political turmoil, where they had to fight for the safety of their families. They’ve been given the opportunity to come to the United States and the challenges still exist, though they’ve changed face. Their children are generally thriving in school, though they lack the language skills to understand what’s being said in parent teacher conferences….or to know how to get their children proper medical care in the maze of a medical system.
Multiple barriers exist that prevent these women from traditional employment opportunities, as most of them do not have cars to get them to work, the finances to pay for childcare, or the language skills to communicate and advocate for themselves. Hope Threads was born out of relationships formed over years of serving these women by teaching them English or caring for their children as they learn. They are graciously hosted by North Ridge Bible Chapel and have virtually no overhead costs, as volunteers teach sewing skills and care for children in a gospel centered children’s program.
You can find them online at hope-Threads.com or on Instagram at hope.threads.
Your purchase empowers a resilient woman as she acculturates, learns new skills, and supports her family.
Please visit Hope Threads to view their catalog and/or sponsor a refugee woman.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices