May 19, 2025 • 14 mins
In Spite Of Challenges, How Women Can Find Strength, Hope, And Resilience Through God's Love And Mighty Power
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Starcare's a weekly program that delves into the
issues that impact you and your family. This program is
a public affairs feature of this radio station. Now here's
your host, Michael Leach.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt often hold us back. But what
if faith could give us the strength to move forward,
for us to live on purpose with resilience and be
confident in how God can empower believers to do things
that may seem insurmountable and for his glory. Let's talk
about it. My guest today is Lisa L. Smith and
(00:36):
she is a writer, a podcaster, and an author. Lisa,
thank you for joining me, and welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hi Michael, thanks so much for having me up.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Absolutely, you've written a resource entitled Brave Woman, Mighty God,
Thirty Things you Can Do. What motivated you're writing?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Whatever book I'm writing, Michael, is a book that is
something that God is working on my heart. So I
feel like throughout my life there have been a lot
of things that I have been fearful to do. I've
made excuses to do because I've been like, oh, I
can't do that, I'm not strong enough to do that,
I don't matter enough to do that when I've doubted
(01:12):
myself worth, and God just constantly reminds me that He
is with me, and he is for me, and he
will empower me to do the things that I can do.
As I was reading through my Bible a couple of
years ago, I just was really struck time and time
again about the women specifically in the Bible that God
just kept meeting exactly where they were. So whether that
(01:34):
was a powerful queen like the Queen of Sheba or
a single mom on the welfare like Zarapath's widow, God
was meeting them where they were and giving them exactly
what they needed. And I just thought that was so
beautiful and such a great reminder to me and such
an encouragement to me as I was making decisions and
trying to be brave about some of the work I do,
(01:55):
or about some of the encounters I was having. So
whenever God's doing something in me, I just start writing
about it. And the more I was writing them where
I was digging into it. And that's how this book
was born.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So the Bible is filled with stories of strong, faithful women,
how do their narratives mirror some of the challenges that
we as women face today.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, I think there are so many examples. Ruth and
Naomi who felt like the rug had literally been pulled
out from them. They were both widowed, they'd had so
much loss and were experiencing so much grief and sadness.
And I'm sure somebody listening out there feels like the
rug been pulled out from under their feet. They've lost
something that they thought they could stand on. And Ruth
(02:35):
and Nami found out through the Lord that together they
could rebuild their lives, that they didn't have to do
it alone, that God would provide someone for them. And
they traveled together and moved to a new city together
and re established themselves and built a new family together,
and God provided all those opportunities for them and really
use the gifts that both of them had. So I
(02:57):
think one great reminder is that God will always put
people around us and that we don't have to do
it alone, which is really important to remember. I think
just hearing these women's stories that God sees us where
we are, whether that is Hagar who's alone in the
desert and doesn't think anyone even cares where she is,
or whether it's Rebecca just living in her family, like
(03:20):
doing her daily chores, and God shows up to totally
change her life and actually create great opportunities for her
entire nation. So it's just so cool to see that
God shows up where we are, how we are, and
that if he did it for these women in the Bible,
he can certainly do it for you and me too.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Which Biblical women inspire you the most and how those
stories influence your faith or your life.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
There are so many that are so awesome, I think,
as you asked me today, Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalen is
the woman who had seven demons in her and we
don't know exactly what that meant, but she was struggling
a lot, having all kinds of problems. People would have
known her as that girl, the one who had all
the demons, so she was probably scorned or looked at poorly.
(04:06):
And Jesus came and killed her of her seven demons, yes,
which amazing. Praise God for healing and for new chances
in life. But then he actually had her be one
of his super close followers who was around him all
the time. She got to see him perform miracles and
he meals with him. And then when he was resurrected.
He shows up to marry Magdalene and is like, I
(04:28):
want you to tell everyone about me. Go tell the
other disciples. And he totally empowers this woman who I
can't imagine how little value she felt she had when
she was being attacked by those seven demons, and took
her from being that girl to the girl that Jesus
was in trusting the Gospel with. And I just feel
like I've had some bad things in my life. I
had some childhood trauma that made me doubt my self worth,
(04:51):
that made me feel like I was unlovable, and Jesus
has loved me so well and empowers me to tell
other people about his great love. And I think that's
what he he did for Mary Magdalen, what he does
for me, but what he does for all of us.
When we actually receive the love of Jesus, it makes
us so excited to share it with others.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And then Hannah's story was one of deep prayer and surrender.
What does it mean to you so pour yourself out
in prayer?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah? I love Hannah's story. I mean, how beautiful is
it that we can talk to the God of the
universe anytime we want even easier than picking up our
phones to talk to God. He is always there twenty
four seven and ready to talk to us. And I
know there are all kinds of prayers. We can journal
prayers and pray with other people, but sometimes we are desperate,
we are in pain, we're confused, we're on our last leg,
(05:36):
and we can pour ourselves out to God. We can cry,
we can stomp our feet, we can like lay it
on in the ground. We can even not have words.
And the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will
take our groanings and turn them to the Lord. And
I love that Hannah just goes all out. In fact,
the priest that witnesses her praying thinks she's drunk and
accuses her. He's like, put your wine away, woman, Like
(05:56):
what are you doing. She's like, I am not drunk.
I'm just praying. I'm so desperately praying. And I just
think it's so beautiful that that was put in the Bible,
just how messy her prayer was, because I think a
lot of times we think we have to do it
just right or say the right words, and we see
Hannah's like she must have been a hot mess. That
the priest thought that she was drunk. So just that
(06:18):
we can give all of our emotions to God and
we don't have to have it look pretty or get
it right. God understands us, he hears us. He just
wants to be with us. Her problems weren't all solved,
but it just shows that when we pray, it changes.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Things for us. Today, our lives are just extremely busy.
How can we recognize and connect with God in ordinary
moments and just slow it down.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Everyone's lives and days look a little bit differently, but
let's be honest. We all seem to find time to
scroll on our phones. We all seem to find time
to catch that latest episode on Netflix. So the truth
is that we actually all do have time to connect
with the Lord. And I know that the end of
me wants us to believe the lie that we don't
(07:02):
have time, But just like Hannah when she spent time
with the Lord, it never returns void. We can just
prioritize that time and that can be anything from listening
to the Bible while you're getting ready in the morning
or on your commute, or listening to worship music while
you're cleaning the house or making dinner. It can be
every time you pull into a parking spot or into
the garage that you just close your eyes and take
(07:23):
a deep breath and ask the Lord to be with
you in the place you're about to walk into. It
can be praying as you're falling asleep at night, or
you're citing maybe a verse or a psalm that you
know first thing when you wake up in the morning,
you know you're going to need to find how you
incorporate this into your day. But find those pockets of time.
I mean, maybe just have it be like something you
(07:44):
say to yourself first time a tempted to pick up
my phone today, I'm actually going to read a chapter
of the Bible. Maybe have your screen saver say pray.
And so every time you pick up your phone, you're
going to pray for somebody or something before you check
your email or answer that text. Thing.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yes to God's calling can be overwhelming. What advice would
you give to some of us who may feel unqualified
or afraid?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, I think Mary of Nazareth, Jesus's mom, demonstrates this
for us so much. An angel of the Lord appears
to her. Mary's an unled teenager, but an angel of
the Lord appearing to you was actually a terrifying thing.
It says that she was greatly troubled seeing an angel
the Lord was a big deal. So saying yes and
that situation can feel scary and overwhelming and what was
(08:27):
that going to mean to her for the rest of
her life? But I think we can look at her
story and be like, God takes care of all the details.
God made sure that she could get pregnant even though
she was a virgin. God protected Jesuys and Mary and
Joseph when the King Herod was trying to kill baby boys.
That sent them to Egypt to be safe, and when
it was safe for them to come back, I'd let
(08:48):
them know it was safe. God took care of all
the details, and he'll do that for you and me too.
When we're saying yes to God, sometimes we're like, I
can't say yes to that giant thing. So maybe what
can we say yes to right now? Like what can
we say yus to for the next hour or for today?
So if he's asking us to stop at that habit,
or to reach out to someone who's hard to reach
(09:09):
out to, or maybe like start our own business, what
can we do today and he's so good and he's
so faithful. He will meet us where we are and
wake up tomorrow and say, Okay, I can just be
brave enough to do this again. And if please give
me the courage to do it, please give me the
strength I need, Please give me what I need, and
it'll be amazing. You'll see that he'll be faithful again tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So as we're cultivating bravery in our world full of
distractions and hardship, it can be easy to also begin
to complain and feel like we have no joy. So
how can we cultivate and sustain joy and gratitude even
in those difficult seasons.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Yeah, there are a lot of distractions in this world,
and it's it's wild how quickly we dismiss joy. You know,
something beautiful happens. It's springtime. We might notice beautiful flowers blooming,
or see a bright read cardinals fly by, and we're like, oh,
that's so pretty, that's so beautiful. We might get a
lovely text from a friend and we're like, that's so great,
(10:07):
and then literally the next second our mind is onto
something else. But we can actually learn to hold on
to joy and experience it more by kind of exercising
our joy muscles, which first of all is to notice joy,
that is by practicing gratitude. So perhaps it might be saying, Okay, today,
(10:30):
I'm trying to find something I am thankful for that
I can see, smell, taste, touch in here, use your
five senses. I think it's a great way to do it.
And you can either write that down or take a
picture of those five things. But you want to actually
acknowledge things that bring you joy, and you want to
take a moment to give them a second of pause,
like actually praise God for them, because then we just
(10:52):
see it like oh that's a pretty flower, or oh
that was a delicious meal, or oh I had a
great conversation, and you don't acknowledge it, then it's harder
for your brain to hold on to it. So our
brains are actually wired to hold on to it if
we acknowledge it. Whether that's saying out loud, thank you
Jesus for that hug from my friend, it made me
feel so good, or whether you're journaling it or like
I said, taking a picture of your friends, whatever you
can do to kind of feel that in when we
(11:14):
say thank you, when we do the work of telling
someone else about it, like whether thanking God in prayer
or telling a friend I had the best conversation with
my daughter today. That helps that joy kind of think
into our brain more and help us hold on to it.
And the more we do that, it's a beautiful circle
that if we seek joy, we will find joy, and
only find joy and acknowledge joy, we're able to find
(11:37):
more joy. The more we do it, the more we'll
find friendships.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Let's talk about that, because friendships can be a powerful
source of strength. How can we as women create trusting
and lasting friendships and find community that help encourage us
to be our highest and our best.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, it's so important to have people around this because
we were never meant to do this alone. I mean,
God tells us at the go in Genesis, and it's
not good for people to be alone. And finding friends
can be hard, and I think in our digital world
we have so many friends online, but finding real, true
relationships around us takes some intentionality. I think we'd all
(12:15):
like to just snap our fingers and have a group
of the besties for the resties, but it means putting
ourselves out there some. It means maybe attending that club
or going to that meeting, or seeking places we might
find others. If you're a runner, join a running club.
If you're a reader, join a book club. If you
don't see one that you can join, start your own.
Text women that you might know and say, hey, do
(12:37):
you want to join a book club? I'm starting I'm
reading this book and I would love to chat about it.
We need to be intentional, and then as we are
reaching out to people, we can kind of keep our
eyes and hearts open to the people who we feel
like really have a connection with, and then cultivate those more.
Text that person say you want to go for a walk,
you want to grab a coffee, and if they can't
the first time, ask them again. I have so many
(12:59):
women to tell me that they wish they had community,
and I'm like, well, have you reached out to other people?
And they're like, well I did once, and it's like no,
this actually takes some intentionality. So God wants us to
have good friends. He's build us for community, but they're
not just all going to come knocking on our doorstop.
So we need to take some positive action on our
(13:19):
own part to reach out. And of course we can
always pray and ask the Lord to give us good
friends as well.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Laura, how can we learn more about what we've discussed
today and what can we get a copy of your resource?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Thanks for asking, Michael. My website is laurasmithauthor dot com
and my instagram is at Laura Smith Author, and both
of those places have free resources and teaching videos. And
I'm always putting things out there that will point you
back to the love of Jesus. And as we talked
about the beginning, my brand new book, Brave Woman, Mighty
(13:50):
God Thirty Things you Can Do that is available at
Amazon and anywhere else that you buy books.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Laurasmithauthor dot com. Laurasmithauthor dot com. Laura, thank you so
much for joining me.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Today, Michael, Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
And thank you for listening on this special day. I'd
like to pause to thank every mother, grandmother, aunty, every
mother figure listening. Thank you for the love, sacrifice, and
faith that you pour into your families. Remember Proverbs thirty
one and twenty eight reminds us her children arise and
call her blessed. And may you feel the deep love
of God the Father today. May his peace his presence
(14:26):
is joy fill your hearts know this. You are seen,
you are loved, and you are a blessing. Until next time,
keep walking in faith, hope and love. I'm your host,
Michael Leach, and I am praying for you and praying
that the rest of your day is wonderful.
Welcome to Starcare's a weekly program that delves into the
issues that impact you and your family. This program is
a public affairs feature of this radio station. Now here's
your host, Michael Leach.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt often hold us back. But what
if faith could give us the strength to move forward,
for us to live on purpose with resilience and be
confident in how God can empower believers to do things
that may seem insurmountable and for his glory. Let's talk
about it. My guest today is Lisa L. Smith and
(00:36):
she is a writer, a podcaster, and an author. Lisa,
thank you for joining me, and welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hi Michael, thanks so much for having me up.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Absolutely, you've written a resource entitled Brave Woman, Mighty God,
Thirty Things you Can Do. What motivated you're writing?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Whatever book I'm writing, Michael, is a book that is
something that God is working on my heart. So I
feel like throughout my life there have been a lot
of things that I have been fearful to do. I've
made excuses to do because I've been like, oh, I
can't do that, I'm not strong enough to do that,
I don't matter enough to do that when I've doubted
(01:12):
myself worth, and God just constantly reminds me that He
is with me, and he is for me, and he
will empower me to do the things that I can do.
As I was reading through my Bible a couple of
years ago, I just was really struck time and time
again about the women specifically in the Bible that God
just kept meeting exactly where they were. So whether that
(01:34):
was a powerful queen like the Queen of Sheba or
a single mom on the welfare like Zarapath's widow, God
was meeting them where they were and giving them exactly
what they needed. And I just thought that was so
beautiful and such a great reminder to me and such
an encouragement to me as I was making decisions and
trying to be brave about some of the work I do,
(01:55):
or about some of the encounters I was having. So
whenever God's doing something in me, I just start writing
about it. And the more I was writing them where
I was digging into it. And that's how this book
was born.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So the Bible is filled with stories of strong, faithful women,
how do their narratives mirror some of the challenges that
we as women face today.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, I think there are so many examples. Ruth and
Naomi who felt like the rug had literally been pulled
out from them. They were both widowed, they'd had so
much loss and were experiencing so much grief and sadness.
And I'm sure somebody listening out there feels like the
rug been pulled out from under their feet. They've lost
something that they thought they could stand on. And Ruth
(02:35):
and Nami found out through the Lord that together they
could rebuild their lives, that they didn't have to do
it alone, that God would provide someone for them. And
they traveled together and moved to a new city together
and re established themselves and built a new family together,
and God provided all those opportunities for them and really
use the gifts that both of them had. So I
(02:57):
think one great reminder is that God will always put
people around us and that we don't have to do
it alone, which is really important to remember. I think
just hearing these women's stories that God sees us where
we are, whether that is Hagar who's alone in the
desert and doesn't think anyone even cares where she is,
or whether it's Rebecca just living in her family, like
(03:20):
doing her daily chores, and God shows up to totally
change her life and actually create great opportunities for her
entire nation. So it's just so cool to see that
God shows up where we are, how we are, and
that if he did it for these women in the Bible,
he can certainly do it for you and me too.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Which Biblical women inspire you the most and how those
stories influence your faith or your life.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
There are so many that are so awesome, I think,
as you asked me today, Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalen is
the woman who had seven demons in her and we
don't know exactly what that meant, but she was struggling
a lot, having all kinds of problems. People would have
known her as that girl, the one who had all
the demons, so she was probably scorned or looked at poorly.
(04:06):
And Jesus came and killed her of her seven demons, yes,
which amazing. Praise God for healing and for new chances
in life. But then he actually had her be one
of his super close followers who was around him all
the time. She got to see him perform miracles and
he meals with him. And then when he was resurrected.
He shows up to marry Magdalene and is like, I
(04:28):
want you to tell everyone about me. Go tell the
other disciples. And he totally empowers this woman who I
can't imagine how little value she felt she had when
she was being attacked by those seven demons, and took
her from being that girl to the girl that Jesus
was in trusting the Gospel with. And I just feel
like I've had some bad things in my life. I
had some childhood trauma that made me doubt my self worth,
(04:51):
that made me feel like I was unlovable, and Jesus
has loved me so well and empowers me to tell
other people about his great love. And I think that's
what he he did for Mary Magdalen, what he does
for me, but what he does for all of us.
When we actually receive the love of Jesus, it makes
us so excited to share it with others.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And then Hannah's story was one of deep prayer and surrender.
What does it mean to you so pour yourself out
in prayer?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah? I love Hannah's story. I mean, how beautiful is
it that we can talk to the God of the
universe anytime we want even easier than picking up our
phones to talk to God. He is always there twenty
four seven and ready to talk to us. And I
know there are all kinds of prayers. We can journal
prayers and pray with other people, but sometimes we are desperate,
we are in pain, we're confused, we're on our last leg,
(05:36):
and we can pour ourselves out to God. We can cry,
we can stomp our feet, we can like lay it
on in the ground. We can even not have words.
And the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will
take our groanings and turn them to the Lord. And
I love that Hannah just goes all out. In fact,
the priest that witnesses her praying thinks she's drunk and
accuses her. He's like, put your wine away, woman, Like
(05:56):
what are you doing. She's like, I am not drunk.
I'm just praying. I'm so desperately praying. And I just
think it's so beautiful that that was put in the Bible,
just how messy her prayer was, because I think a
lot of times we think we have to do it
just right or say the right words, and we see
Hannah's like she must have been a hot mess. That
the priest thought that she was drunk. So just that
(06:18):
we can give all of our emotions to God and
we don't have to have it look pretty or get
it right. God understands us, he hears us. He just
wants to be with us. Her problems weren't all solved,
but it just shows that when we pray, it changes.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Things for us. Today, our lives are just extremely busy.
How can we recognize and connect with God in ordinary
moments and just slow it down.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Everyone's lives and days look a little bit differently, but
let's be honest. We all seem to find time to
scroll on our phones. We all seem to find time
to catch that latest episode on Netflix. So the truth
is that we actually all do have time to connect
with the Lord. And I know that the end of
me wants us to believe the lie that we don't
(07:02):
have time, But just like Hannah when she spent time
with the Lord, it never returns void. We can just
prioritize that time and that can be anything from listening
to the Bible while you're getting ready in the morning
or on your commute, or listening to worship music while
you're cleaning the house or making dinner. It can be
every time you pull into a parking spot or into
the garage that you just close your eyes and take
(07:23):
a deep breath and ask the Lord to be with
you in the place you're about to walk into. It
can be praying as you're falling asleep at night, or
you're citing maybe a verse or a psalm that you
know first thing when you wake up in the morning,
you know you're going to need to find how you
incorporate this into your day. But find those pockets of time.
I mean, maybe just have it be like something you
(07:44):
say to yourself first time a tempted to pick up
my phone today, I'm actually going to read a chapter
of the Bible. Maybe have your screen saver say pray.
And so every time you pick up your phone, you're
going to pray for somebody or something before you check
your email or answer that text. Thing.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yes to God's calling can be overwhelming. What advice would
you give to some of us who may feel unqualified
or afraid?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, I think Mary of Nazareth, Jesus's mom, demonstrates this
for us so much. An angel of the Lord appears
to her. Mary's an unled teenager, but an angel of
the Lord appearing to you was actually a terrifying thing.
It says that she was greatly troubled seeing an angel
the Lord was a big deal. So saying yes and
that situation can feel scary and overwhelming and what was
(08:27):
that going to mean to her for the rest of
her life? But I think we can look at her
story and be like, God takes care of all the details.
God made sure that she could get pregnant even though
she was a virgin. God protected Jesuys and Mary and
Joseph when the King Herod was trying to kill baby boys.
That sent them to Egypt to be safe, and when
it was safe for them to come back, I'd let
(08:48):
them know it was safe. God took care of all
the details, and he'll do that for you and me too.
When we're saying yes to God, sometimes we're like, I
can't say yes to that giant thing. So maybe what
can we say yes to right now? Like what can
we say yus to for the next hour or for today?
So if he's asking us to stop at that habit,
or to reach out to someone who's hard to reach
(09:09):
out to, or maybe like start our own business, what
can we do today and he's so good and he's
so faithful. He will meet us where we are and
wake up tomorrow and say, Okay, I can just be
brave enough to do this again. And if please give
me the courage to do it, please give me the
strength I need, Please give me what I need, and
it'll be amazing. You'll see that he'll be faithful again tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So as we're cultivating bravery in our world full of
distractions and hardship, it can be easy to also begin
to complain and feel like we have no joy. So
how can we cultivate and sustain joy and gratitude even
in those difficult seasons.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Yeah, there are a lot of distractions in this world,
and it's it's wild how quickly we dismiss joy. You know,
something beautiful happens. It's springtime. We might notice beautiful flowers blooming,
or see a bright read cardinals fly by, and we're like, oh,
that's so pretty, that's so beautiful. We might get a
lovely text from a friend and we're like, that's so great,
(10:07):
and then literally the next second our mind is onto
something else. But we can actually learn to hold on
to joy and experience it more by kind of exercising
our joy muscles, which first of all is to notice joy,
that is by practicing gratitude. So perhaps it might be saying, Okay, today,
(10:30):
I'm trying to find something I am thankful for that
I can see, smell, taste, touch in here, use your
five senses. I think it's a great way to do it.
And you can either write that down or take a
picture of those five things. But you want to actually
acknowledge things that bring you joy, and you want to
take a moment to give them a second of pause,
like actually praise God for them, because then we just
(10:52):
see it like oh that's a pretty flower, or oh
that was a delicious meal, or oh I had a
great conversation, and you don't acknowledge it, then it's harder
for your brain to hold on to it. So our
brains are actually wired to hold on to it if
we acknowledge it. Whether that's saying out loud, thank you
Jesus for that hug from my friend, it made me
feel so good, or whether you're journaling it or like
I said, taking a picture of your friends, whatever you
can do to kind of feel that in when we
(11:14):
say thank you, when we do the work of telling
someone else about it, like whether thanking God in prayer
or telling a friend I had the best conversation with
my daughter today. That helps that joy kind of think
into our brain more and help us hold on to it.
And the more we do that, it's a beautiful circle
that if we seek joy, we will find joy, and
only find joy and acknowledge joy, we're able to find
(11:37):
more joy. The more we do it, the more we'll
find friendships.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Let's talk about that, because friendships can be a powerful
source of strength. How can we as women create trusting
and lasting friendships and find community that help encourage us
to be our highest and our best.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, it's so important to have people around this because
we were never meant to do this alone. I mean,
God tells us at the go in Genesis, and it's
not good for people to be alone. And finding friends
can be hard, and I think in our digital world
we have so many friends online, but finding real, true
relationships around us takes some intentionality. I think we'd all
(12:15):
like to just snap our fingers and have a group
of the besties for the resties, but it means putting
ourselves out there some. It means maybe attending that club
or going to that meeting, or seeking places we might
find others. If you're a runner, join a running club.
If you're a reader, join a book club. If you
don't see one that you can join, start your own.
Text women that you might know and say, hey, do
(12:37):
you want to join a book club? I'm starting I'm
reading this book and I would love to chat about it.
We need to be intentional, and then as we are
reaching out to people, we can kind of keep our
eyes and hearts open to the people who we feel
like really have a connection with, and then cultivate those more.
Text that person say you want to go for a walk,
you want to grab a coffee, and if they can't
the first time, ask them again. I have so many
(12:59):
women to tell me that they wish they had community,
and I'm like, well, have you reached out to other people?
And they're like, well I did once, and it's like no,
this actually takes some intentionality. So God wants us to
have good friends. He's build us for community, but they're
not just all going to come knocking on our doorstop.
So we need to take some positive action on our
(13:19):
own part to reach out. And of course we can
always pray and ask the Lord to give us good
friends as well.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Laura, how can we learn more about what we've discussed
today and what can we get a copy of your resource?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Thanks for asking, Michael. My website is laurasmithauthor dot com
and my instagram is at Laura Smith Author, and both
of those places have free resources and teaching videos. And
I'm always putting things out there that will point you
back to the love of Jesus. And as we talked
about the beginning, my brand new book, Brave Woman, Mighty
(13:50):
God Thirty Things you Can Do that is available at
Amazon and anywhere else that you buy books.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Laurasmithauthor dot com. Laurasmithauthor dot com. Laura, thank you so
much for joining me.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Today, Michael, Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
And thank you for listening on this special day. I'd
like to pause to thank every mother, grandmother, aunty, every
mother figure listening. Thank you for the love, sacrifice, and
faith that you pour into your families. Remember Proverbs thirty
one and twenty eight reminds us her children arise and
call her blessed. And may you feel the deep love
of God the Father today. May his peace his presence
(14:26):
is joy fill your hearts know this. You are seen,
you are loved, and you are a blessing. Until next time,
keep walking in faith, hope and love. I'm your host,
Michael Leach, and I am praying for you and praying
that the rest of your day is wonderful.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.