Impossible Beauty

Jo Saxton is an author, speaker, International Justice Mission Ambassador, podcast host, leadership coach, and a fellow Minnesotan. Jo invests in women leaders in a number of ways, including an initiative called the Ezer Collective, an event held to invest in and catalyze attendees’ leadership. Jo is especially passionate about helping women realize and live into their God-given identity. In today...

What if the truest thing about us is that we are loved beyond what we can imagine? In her work and in our time today, that is the reality Elizabeth Peterson invites us into. Elizabeth Peterson is a certified spiritual director and yoga instructor, with fifteen years of experience working in retreat ministry. Elizabeth seeks to create safe and sacred spaces for individuals and groups to reflect on...

Dr. Dale Gentry wants you to know that faith and science are not enemies. More specifically, he believes you can be a Christian and deeply care for creation and connect with God in the study and experience of the natural world. Dr. Dale Gentry is the Conservation Manager at Audubon Minnesota and the founder and director of Disciple Science, a podcast and video series helping people connect with Go...

On today’s episode, Pastor Mike Kelsey speaks to two distinctives of the true beauty reality that God invites us into, a life of joy and justice. Mike Kelsey is a Campus Pastor, and a member of the Teaching Team at the McLean Bible Church near Washington D.C. Mike is a third-generation pastor in the D.C. area. In our time together, Mike explains how witnessing true joy changed the trajectory of hi...

In today’s episode, I talk with physical therapist, Lisa DeKam. Lisa has worked as a physical therapist for twenty years and in an eating disorder treatment setting for 12 years. As Lisa describes it, she loves “exploring meaningful movement, embodiment, and the incredible ways that our bodies work.” Lisa also co-founded the Axia Project, alongside Jacquie Danz, which we talk all about back in epi...

Megan Hadley is a registered dietitian nutritionist with her Masters in Nutrition. She is also the owner and founder of Simple Nutrition, where she and two other clinicians provide in-person or virtual, one on one, nutrition therapy and coaching using Health At Every Size® and Intuitive Eating informed practices. Megan is passionate about helping clients find freedom in eating and acceptance of th...

In today’s episode, Pastor Scott Sauls helps us conceive of beauty in such a refreshing, counter-cultural way. Author and pastor, Scott Sauls, currently serves as the Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Previously, Scott was a lead and preaching pastor for Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, where he worked alongside Dr. Timothy Keller. He has also plant...

I am thrilled to have therapist, New York Times bestselling author, and the president and founder of Wild at Heart Ministries, John Eldredge, on the show today. It was John who first helped me see the Bible, or the story of God, not as dry history, but as a dynamic and unfolding adventure that we are invited into. John continues to be a voice of encouragement and inspiration, reminding me and so m...

Nicole Baumann is a sophomore and the Chief of Staff of Student Government at the University of Notre Dame. This past February, Nicole shared an original poem she wrote on social media, entitled “May Our Daughters Break the Curse.” In powerful words and images, Nicole addresses the prevalence and dangers of the normalization of disordered eating. In her poem and in our conversation, she discusses...

Amy Julia Becker is an award-winning writer and speaker on personal, spiritual, and social healing. She has authored four books and her writing has appeared in outlets such as USA Today, Christianity Today, and Washington Post. Amy Julia’s most recent book is To Be Made Well: An Invitation to Wholeness, Healing, and Hope. Becker is a graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Semin...

Kellie Haddock is a self-proclaimed hope giver. The kind of hope Kellie exudes is not naïve or shallow, but real and hard won. Kellie is a singer, songwriter, wife, and mom. She is also a former widow who has lived through tragedy and found hope and joy on the other side. To learn more about Kellie’s story of living through the tragedy of losing her first husband, please check out our conversation...

This week’s guest lives and breathes Attachment Theory. In today’s show, I am thrilled for him to share how our early-learned blueprint for relating impacts our adult relationships and even our relationship with God. Krispin Mayfield is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice in Oregon, where he and his wife live with their two children. Trained in attachment-based emotionally focuse...

We all have something beautiful to bring to the world. Simply being who we are or creating from a place of authenticity, we have the opportunity to bring good and beautiful things into being. Today’s guest is doing just that and, in her work and in her words, she inspires others to do the same. Jena Holliday is a Minneapolis-based graphic artist, children’s book author and illustrator, wife, mothe...

Tara Owens is the founder and executive director of Anam Cara Ministries, where she has been accompanying others in their journeys with God for 15 years as a certified spiritual director and supervisor. Tara holds a Masters of Theological Studies in Spiritual Formation, combined with a certificate in Death, Dying & Grieving, from Tyndale Seminary, and the Advanced Certificate in Supervision from t...

On this week’s episode, I interview author, speaker, and former litigating attorney, Lisa Appelo. In her new book, Life Can Be Good Again: Putting Your World Back Together After It All Falls Apart, Lisa details the story of becoming a widowed mother of seven and what she’s learned in the process. In her writing and in her ministry, Lisa offers hope to those struggling with disappointment or grief....

I am grateful to have had numerous significant spiritual mentors in my life, but one of the most significant mentors in my young adult years was Dr. Jeffrey Crafton. Dr. Crafton is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church, an adjunct professor at North Park Theological Seminary, and a Sacred Studies teacher at Minnehaha Academy, teaching classes in ethics and faith formation to eleven...

There’s something so mysterious about music. It can shift our mood, connect us with other people, or help us experience God. For years, I have been enamored with the power and mystery of music. And that is why I am thrilled about today’s interview. Chenoa Murphy started the violin at age 3 and was trained in and completed the Suzuki Violin method. Simply put, she has been immersed in the art and b...

Sometimes light shines brightest in the darkness. And that’s exactly what’s happening at the Polish-Ukrainian border, as Davide Martello plays his baby grand piano. Davide Martello, also known as Klavierkunst, is a German pianist of Italian descent. Martello is known for traveling around conflict zones to play his baby grand piano, which he tows behind his bicycle, using a powered trailer. His mis...

Sumner Brooks is a registered dietitian (RDN), author, and mom who has spent over 13 years working in the field of nutrition and eating disorders. She most recently co-authored her second book, entitled How to Raise an Intuitive Eater: Raising the Next Generation with Food and Body Confidence. Sumner earned her RDN credential and M.P.H. in Community Health Sciences from UCLA in 2008. Her experienc...

Nicole Zasowski is a licensed marriage and family therapist, author, and speaker. Back in Episode 36, I had the privilege of speaking with Nicole about her first book, From Lost to Found. In that book, Nicole shares how her journey of multiple miscarriages and crippling anxiety gave her empty hands to experience God in new ways. In her new book, entitled, What If It’s Wonderful? Nicole invites rea...

Our society is sick. Diet culture, the beauty industry, and the media have sold us a narrowly defined ideal and it has warped our views on food, our bodies, and beauty. In this week’s episode, I had the privilege of speaking with the incredible Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani all about the fallout of these warped cultural messages. Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani is an eating disorders expert physician and the Founde...

What would it be like to not just admire nature from a distance, but treat creation as a relative, a teacher, and an expression of the love of the Creator? On this week’s episode, I talk with Randy and Edith Woodley. Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley is an author, activist, farmer, scholar, speaker, wisdom keeper, and a Cherokee descendant recognized by the Keetoowah Band. In his work, Dr. Woodley addresses...

Victoria Myers is a non-diet registered dietitian and owner of the virtual private practice and online education center, Nourishing Minds Nutrition. Victoria and her staff specialize in empowering women to ditch diets, regulate hormones, heal digestion and learn to practice wellness without obsession. She is also the host of the popular intuitive eating and wellness podcast, the Nourishing Women P...

Dr. Carol Peters-Tanksley believes that we can live fully alive in the way God created us to live- physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. She believes we can thrive. Dr. Peters-Tanksley, or “Dr. Carol,” as she is called, is a licensed OB-Gyn physician and Reproductive Endocrinologist, an ordained Doctor of Ministry, an author, speaker, and personal coach. She also produced a regul...

On this week’s episode, I talk with enneagram coach and co-leader of the non-profit, 40 Orchards, Stephanie Spencer. 40 Orchards creates safe spaces for people to learn about and wrestle though biblical texts using the ancient Jewish concept of Midrash. Stephanie had a first career as a pastor and now facilitates Scripture Circles in the Minneapolis area and, remotely, around the world. She curren...