Living the Grace Life

It's the first week of our summer series, Embracing Grace: A Summer in the Psalms. I'll be reading Psalm 131, first from the English Standard Version, then from The Message Paraphrase, followed by the New Living Translation, and finally, from the Contemporary English Version.

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Welcome to a brand-new summer series on Living the Grace Life! In this kickoff episode, we explore how the Psalms invite us to bring our whole selves—messy emotions and all—into God’s presence. Whether you're feeling weary, hopeful, or somewhere in between, this series will help you discover how grace speaks into every season of the soul. Join me in embracing grace as we journey through selected Psalms and lean into God’s faithfuln...

Do you wrestle with doubt? Ever feel like your faith is on shaky ground—especially when God feels silent or when His people have let you down? Perhaps it's time to ask: God, can we chat?

In this honest and hope-filled conversation, author and speaker Niki Hardy shares her journey of asking hard questions, navigating church hurt, and discovering intimacy with God amid grief, illness, and uncertainty. Drawing from her book God, Can W...

Is it possible that doubt can actually strengthen your faith? What if doubt isn’t the enemy of faith, but a doorway to deeper intimacy with God? What if doubt is part of faith?

In our transparent conversation, author and speaker Niki Hardy shares how honest questions and spiritual uncertainty can lead to deeper intimacy with God. If you've ever wrestled with doubt, questioned your beliefs, or wondered if God can handle your uncerta...

What do you do when there’s a gap between what you believe about God and what you actually experience? When the invitation to be still and be loved feels not just difficult—but impossible?

Michael John Cusick knows that gap all too well. His story begins in unlikely places: Alcoholics Anonymous at age five, family drug rehab by age ten, and a trailer park childhood marked by chaos. He jokes that if reality TV had existed back then,...

What if truly understanding God's steadfast love could reshape your relationships, your identity, and your daily rhythms?

In this episode of Living the Grace Life, I’m joined by Rachael Adams, author of Everyday Prayers for Love and host of The Love Offering podcast—recently ranked in the top 10 Christian podcasts for women.

Together, we explore how to live loved, even when grace feels hard to come by. Rachael shares her personal j...

Do you ever struggle to receive something so incredibly good because you feel like it’s too much—or that you don’t deserve it?

In this powerful Part 2 conversation, Kim Tschirret, founder and CEO of Hope Reins, a 38-acre ranch in Raleigh, NC, reminds us of a life-altering truth: Grace honors the try. Not perfection. Not performance. Just the courage to keep showing up.

Kim shares what it means to live with open hands in the middle ...

Did you ever dream of having a horse as a kid? For Kim Tschirret, that dream became a lifeline—and later, a powerful ministry. Kim believes horses, mentors, and Jesus form a life-changing "trifecta" for kids facing today’s mental health crisis. What started as a childhood refuge became a surprising on-ramp to grace, healing & growth.

Growing up in an alcoholic home, Kim found peace and safety with her horse, Country. “The barn ...

"Don't hoard your healing." It wasn’t what she expected to hear. But it was exactly what she needed.

In this powerful Part 2 episode, Nancy Manassero shares the courageous continuation of her story—how a gentle prompting from God led her to do the unthinkable: forgive the father who had raped her nearly 60 years earlier.

Nancy, author of Heartmending: God Can Heal Your Heartbreak from Sexual Abuse, opens up about her journey throug...

What happens when grace meets the deepest wounds of sexual trauma?

In this powerful episode of Living the Grace Life, my guest Nancy Manassero shares her incredible journey of healing from sexual abuse through the redemptive grace of Jesus. During an extended honeymoon trip through Europe, Nancy and her husband Tom encountered the transformative ministry of Swiss L'Abri, where their faith in Christ was born. But they had no idea th...

Can you trust God when His answer is no? What about when He says yes? In part 2 of our desperate prayers conversation, Rachel Wojo, author of Desperate Prayers: Embracing the Power of Prayer in Life’s Darkest Moments, shares how she has lived through both.

After losing her adult special needs daughter, Rachel had to tell her own heart: “I did not die.” God still had a purpose for her life—even in the pain.

What Happens When the White Picket Fence Comes Crashing Down?

Where do you turn when blindsided by heartache? When the "Big D's" — discouragement, divorce, depression, disease, and death — infiltrated Rachel Wojo's life, she dug deep for a faith that was real. She was desperate for more than a borrowed belief; she needed to know God was real.

"I needed to know that God was real, that he was with me, and that this wasn't a farce... ...

Welcome back to Living the Grace Life! In this episode, we're diving deep into Psalm 23 for this month's Grace Prayer Tuesday. If you’ve ever felt you needed to have the perfect words to pray, let this episode be a breath of fresh air. We’re exploring how prayer is more about conversation with God than getting the words right.

• God Supplies the Words: We don't have to worry about saying the right thing when we p...

In this week's Part 2 episode, we continue our conversation on attachment styles and faith with Summer Joy Gross, author of The Emmanuel Promise. We explore how our early relational patterns influence our connection with God and others. If you missed last week’s episode on secure and insecure attachment styles, go back and listen to Ep. 30, Growing Secure Attachment with God first!

Today, we talk about repentance, reframing it as a...

Do you remember your first three years of life? Even if you don’t, your body, mind, and soul do. Whether or not you experienced secure attachment shapes how you connect with others—and even how you relate to God.

In this episode of Living the Grace Life, we welcome Summer Joy Gross, author of The Emmanuel Promise, who has guided hundreds of people toward secure attachment with God. Raised by amazing parents, Summer still wrestled w...

Did you grow up observing Lent? I didn't. My understanding of Lent was limited to observing people's ash-smudged foreheads and a noticeable uptick in McDonald's Filet-o-Fish sandwiches. In today’s episode, we’re diving into Lent—what it is, why we observe it, and how it prepares us for Easter.

Lent is a 40-day journey (not including Sundays) that begins on Ash Wednesday and goes through Easter. It is a season of reflection, fasting...

In this Grace Prayer Tuesday episode, we dive into Hebrews 11:13 and explore what it means to hold onto hope in God's promises, even when we can't see them fulfilled in our lifetime. Through prayer, scripture, and reflection, we lean into God's grace and remind ourselves that hope is not found in what we see, but in the eternal faithfulness of God.

Key Takeaways:

• Heroes of the Faith: A look at the figures in Hebrews 11—Abel, ...

How does grace survive in the face of deep injustice? When grace comes unexpectedly.

In today’s episode of Living the Grace Life, host Jennifer Sakata takes us to the powerful intersection of unexpected grace and deep hardship through the lens of Japanese American internment during World War II. February 19, 1942, marks the signing of Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced relocation and internment of over 120,000 people of ...

Did you know that postpartum depression affects more than 1 in 7 women? Yet, so many suffer in silence, trapped by overwhelming emotions and conflicting thoughts.

In this week's episode of Living the Grace Life, Amanda Scarborough shares her journey through the darkest of nights, when she contemplated ending both her life and her newborn son's. In her book, A Beautiful War, Amanda unpacks the confusion, fear, anxiety, and shame tha...