Conversations Unscripted with Ashley from SimplyBlessedDesignz

Click to Comment! I pay for Amazon Prime so my stuff will get here fast, and half the time it takes longer than it would on a regular account. I still check the tracking six times a day anyway. That’s how bad I am at waiting, and I think most of us are right there with me, especially when it comes to the things that don’t come with a tracking number. In this episode I’m talking about Hannah in the...

Click to Comment! Sam will order something in a heartbeat, but if it comes out wrong, he won't say a word to the waitress. Ashley is usually the one flagging her down, and it got her thinking about how many of us would rather let something slide than speak up. In this episode, she takes that question all the way to a Persian palace and Queen Esther, an orphan who couldn't walk into the k...

Click to Comment! Sam was working nights when I stumbled onto a Netflix preview for "Ruth and Boaz" — and what started as background noise turned into a story she couldn't stop thinking about. In this episode, I try to connect the modern Netflix retelling to the real story of Ruth and Naomi from the book of Ruth — a famine, two dead sons, one daughter-in-law who goes home, and one w...

Click to Comment! It's September, and if your brain already jumped from "popsicles on the porch" to "wait, is Thanksgiving in six weeks" — you're not alone. We're kicking off a brand new season, Women of the Bible, starting with two sisters most of us have heard about a hundred times: Mary and Martha. Turns out this story was never really about kitchens — it&apos...

Click to Comment! We're closing out the entire Sermon on the Mount this week, and it's a good one. Ever had a friend who talked a great game and then completely disappeared the second things got hard? Same. This week we're covering false prophets and fruit, the "Lord, Lord" warning that should make all of us a little uncomfortable, and the wise and foolish builders, the fi...

Click to Comment! "Ask and you shall receive" gets quoted like it's the simplest math problem in the world — until you've actually lived long enough to ask for something and not get it. This week we're covering more ground than usual: prayer (verses 7-11), the Golden Rule (verse 12), and the narrow gate (verses 13-14), all in one episode. We talk about what "keep on a...

Click to Comment! The "do not judge" verse gets thrown around more than almost any line in the whole Bible — usually right after somebody got caught doing something they shouldn't have. But there's a whole lot more going on in Matthew 7:1-6 than most of us realize. This week we're talking about the kind of judging that doesn't even feel like judging — the fast, quiet,...

Click to Comment! I've got two sheds, and one that was supposed to be my business headquarters is now just full of stuff, three years deep. This week we're digging into treasure, worry, and serving two masters — why Jesus says don't store up what can rot, rust, or get stolen, why worry is really a faith issue in disguise, and why I'm finally cleaning out that shed. Part of our...

Click to Comment! Jesus talks about prayer and fasting back to back in this chapter, and it comes down to the same question both times — are you doing this for God, or for an audience? We're digging into what real, private prayer looks like, why "don't babble" doesn't mean "pray less," what fasting has to do with a reels ad I saw the other day, and a special invi...

Click to Comment! We're starting a new chapter this week — Matthew 6. Jesus talks about giving to people in need, and He's not just concerned with whether we give, but why and how. We're digging into what it actually looks like to give without needing anybody to see it, why the size of the gift matters less than what it costs you, and why this might be one of the hardest things to a...

Click to Comment! Last week we talked about not getting even. This week Jesus takes it even further — love your enemies, pray for the people who've hurt you. We're digging into what that actually means, how it's different from just "not retaliating," and what it looks like to genuinely love someone who's wronged you, from small everyday hurts to the really heavy stuff...

Click to Comment! "An eye for an eye" — we've all heard it, and most of us have used it wrong. This week we're digging into what Jesus actually says about revenge, why "don't retaliate" is only half the plan, and what it really looks like to kill 'em with kindness when someone's wronged you. Part of our Living the Kingdom Way series, talking verse by ve...

Click to Comment! "On my way!" — and you were still standing in the bathroom deciding on a shirt. We've all done it. Somewhere along the way, "I promise" stopped meaning much of anything, and we started needing bigger words just to be believed. This week we're in Matthew 5:31-37, where Jesus deals with two things that sound unrelated at first — divorce and oath-sweari...

Click to Comment! Nobody ever committed adultery just by scrolling their phone at midnight. Right? This week we're talking about one of the most convicting verses in the Sermon on the Mount — Matthew 5:27-30 — where Jesus takes a commandment nobody in the room thought applied to them and quietly moves it a whole lot closer to home. It's not about your hands. It's about what you let...

Click to Comment! You can go your whole life never once raising a hand against another person — and Jesus says you might still be standing closer to trouble than you think. In this episode, we're digging into Matthew 5:21-26, where Jesus moves past "don't murder" and gets straight to the heart of it: contempt, anger we keep on simmer, and the surprisingly practical thing He tel...

Click to Comment! Jesus didn't come to lower the bar — He moved it. In this episode, we're digging into Matthew 5:17-20, where Jesus tells a crowd full of people (including the most rule-following religious experts of the day) that following the rules was never the whole point. We'll talk about who the Pharisees really were, why Jesus says your righteousness has to exceed theirs, an...

Click to Comment! Have you ever been in a room where you knew something was wrong but stayed quiet because you were scared of what people would think? That feeling right there — that is exactly what we are talking about today. We are hitting the 8th Beatitude in Matthew 5:10 and then flowing right into salt and light in Matthew 5:13-16. Because here is what I need you to understand — persecution i...

Click to Comment! Y'all. Look around at the world right now. The division. The anger. The way people talk to and about each other. And then look at what Jesus said in Matthew 5 — blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Those three things go against absolutely everything the world is telling us to do right now. And I cannot think of three things we...

Click to Comment! Okay so let me ask you something. When is the last time life knocked you completely flat and you actually felt blessed in the middle of it? Yeah. That's what I thought. We all know the Beatitudes. We grew up hearing them. Most of us could recite them without even thinking about it. But knowing the words and actually living them out on a regular Tuesday when everything is hap...

Click to Comment! We've all seen it — the new house, the promotion, the vacation photo with "blessed" in the caption. And honestly? We've all posted it too. But what happens when you open Matthew 5 and the first thing Jesus says is blessed are those who mourn? Blessed are the ones at the end of their rope? Blessed are the persecuted? That is not the social media version of bles...

Click to Comment! Is there something God has been showing you that you haven't done anything with yet? You felt the nudge. You wrote it down. You said yes Lord, I hear You — and then just kept living the same way you were before. In this episode, Ashley digs into the gap between knowing and doing — and why James 1:22 hits a lot harder when you know the full story behind who wrote it. We also...

Click to Comment! Have you ever gone to Pinterest for one quick idea and come out the other side with a full raised bed garden plan, seven saved recipes, and absolutely no answer to the question you started with? Friend, same. In this episode of Unscripted Conversations, we're talking about what it really looks like to walk steady in faith — not perfectly, not with every detail figured out, a...

Click to Comment! In this episode we dig into everyday discernment: the small, nagging “do I or don’t I?” decisions that somehow control our weeks. I share my simple, practical routine for everyday discernment — pick your top 3 non‑negotiables, use a 24–72 hour rule, and run one small test before you commit. We talk about Nehemiah’s down‑to‑earth plan (pray, inspect, plan, recruit, protect, finish...

Click to Comment! Have you ever gone out of your way to avoid people—not because you’re rude, but because you’re hiding? In this episode Ashley (Unscripted Conversations) unpacks John 4 — the Woman at the Well — and leans into the messy, everyday places God meets us. Hear a grocery‑aisle story, a close read of the well encounter, and two practical ways to move from hiding to hope. Includes reflect...

Click to Comment! You ever feel like you’re doing everything right… and it still feels like nothing is changing? Like you’re showing up, trying to do better, making the right choices… and nobody sees it, nothing shifts, and you start wondering if it even counts? Yeah… we’re talking about that today. In this episode, I’m sharing a personal season that hit me hard, when Cameron left for bootcamp and...