Your Next, Best Step

You finally get a day off, and within ten minutes you are up doing something, because sitting still makes you feel like you are disappearing. If a day with nothing on it leaves you anxious instead of rested, this one is for you. We look at what happens when your sense of worth gets wired to what you produce, and why a woman who does so much can feel worth so little the moment she stops. This is th...

That sentence lands like a compliment. Very often it means something else. A 60-second look at what to listen for during fall sign-up season.  Join us for the full companion episode “The Ministry Sign-Up Sheet Is Staring at Me” (Ep 138) where we walk through the called or cornered filter and how to run a fall commitment through it before you sign. Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Rese...

The fall programs restart. The Bible study needs volunteers. The committee needs a chair. And the email arrives that opens with, you would be perfect for this. You are the reliable one. You have always been the reliable one. So your hand reaches for the pen before your heart has said a word about it. Underneath that reach is a question worth asking out loud: Am I serving God here, or am I afraid o...

A word of grace for the first weeks of a new season - we all need it. Join me for the full companion episode “The Back-to-Routine Drag” (Ep 137) where I share why this season lands so heavy, and the one move that hands the remembering back to your surroundings. Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestStep.com  Weekly encouragement + practical tips: YouTu...

Look at your calendar this week, then look at July. Is anything on it actually harder? Probably not — and you are still wiped out by two in the afternoon. There is a real reason for that, and it has nothing to do with how much you are doing. If the first weeks of fall left you dragging even though your own schedule barely changed, this episode is for you. In this episode:  Why the return to normal...

What was the best part of your whole summer and what can you do so it doesn't disappear the moment fall comes around? Join me for the full companion episode where we walk through a simple three-line practice you can do tonight, while the calendar still says August. "What Are You Taking With You Into September?" (Ep 136) Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant do...

Something in your life got better this summer. Unless you choose to keep it, September takes it back, and you will not be able to point to the day it left. The last week of August carries a familiar question for a lot of us: what happens to the good parts of summer once the calendar fills back up? This episode looks at why the best things tend to disappear first, and what it takes to carry one of...

The friend who cracks a joke at the worst possible moment is not missing how serious things are. She is doing one of the healthiest things a person can do under pressure. A short word for anyone who has wondered whether their sense of humor is a flaw.  Join me for the full companion episode: "The Last Time You Really Laughed" (Ep 135) on Your Next, Best Step Ready for your next step? FRE...

When was the last time you laughed so hard you could not catch your breath? If you had to stop and think about it, this episode is for you. Somewhere in a long, full stretch of being the steady one, laughter can slip out of a whole week without you noticing. The funny things never stopped coming. Your face just settled into managing and getting through. This is a gentle look at what happens to lau...

Here is a fall decision worth making out loud: choosing the one goal that has your name on it this season. But does choosing one really mean you're quitting on the others? Join me the full companion episode "The Second January: Why a Fresh Start Feels So Possible in the Fall" where we walk through why the daydream of a fresh start backfires, what the research says is happening in yo...

There is a second January hiding in late August. You feel it when the light shifts and the school supplies show up: a pull to start over, to finally become the version of you who takes the walk and opens her Bible before the day runs away. And the strange part is this: that warm daydream about your fresh fall start can be the very thing that drains the energy to do it. In this episode, here is wha...

A goal that vague gives your mind nothing to measure, so it can never tell you that you are finished. Here is the fix.  Join me for the full episode we will walk through the September Soft Launch and the one question that tells you which preparation to choose. "The September Soft Launch" (Ep 133) Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestStep.com...

September is not here yet, and your shoulders already know it is coming. The calendar starts filling in. The invitations arrive. And once fall lands, the holidays come at you fast, one right after another, all the way to January. Here is the strange part. Nothing has happened yet. Nobody has asked you for anything. And you are already carrying the whole season. In this episode, you will find out:...

We tend to treat grace as something handed over after we have earned it. Hebrews 4:16 uses a different tense entirely. Join me for the full episode where we will walk through the “Mercy Margin:” one small practice that changes the order of your morning without arguing with that voice at all.  [Ep 132: “The Voice That Rules Against You Before You Start”] Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Dail...

You have not failed at anything today. Nothing has gone wrong. And there is still a voice inside you that has already decided you are falling short. That verdict tends to arrive early, before the day has produced any evidence at all. It rules on your morning before the morning happens and on your season before the season starts. Most of us have been carrying its weight for years, believing it was...

Structure lovers feel calm when the day has edges. Flexibility lovers feel boxed in by them. Most of us have spent years buying for the type we are not.  Join me for the latest episode “The Planner You Bought Cannot Save You” (Ep 131) With a special feature resource: Planning Personalities Quiz - Prime Time Women Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestS...

Somewhere in your house there is a drawer with a planner in it. The first three weeks are filled in with beautiful handwriting, and then the pages go blank. If you just pictured the exact drawer, this episode is for you. Most of us have decided that the abandoned planner means something about our character. We are undisciplined. We keep starting things we do not finish. The research points somewhe...

Your mind runs ahead because it thinks it is protecting you. It believes that if it pictures every version of Thursday, Thursday cannot ambush you. Here is what that rehearsal actually costs, and the one move that calls your attention home. Join me for the latest episode where we walk through why the evening sky asks nothing of you at all, and a three-minute practice built on three questions. “One...

It is the middle of August, and you are standing in your kitchen at the end of the day. Your body is here. Your mind is already in September.  And underneath it, a worry that will not settle: I have not rested enough, and life is already speeding up. This episode is one slow evening before the season leans in. Harvard researchers who pinged more than two thousand people at random moments through t...

For the woman everybody leans on. A fortress does not get to rest, and you were never meant to be one. Join me for the latest full episode: "The School Supply List for Your Soul" where we'll walk through the supply list for your soul, and the one item that belongs at the top of it. Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestStep.com  Weekly e...

There is a supply list for almost everything in August. One for the classroom, one for the dorm, one for the office. There is a list for every person you take care of. And no one handed you one. If you are carrying the thought that you are taking care of everyone else's needs while your own soul is running low, this episode is the list nobody hands you. In this episode you will find: · Why th...

Most of us buy things we already own. Five minutes in your own drawers and closets can cross several items off before you spend a dollar. Join me for latest full episode (Ep 128) "Back-to-School (and the Rest of Fall) Without Losing Your Wallet " where we will walk through the one move that lightens the load before you ever reach the register - if you decide to go shopping! Ready for you...

Fall turns the spending faucet back on — and the list in your head grows faster than anything you actually buy. One folder becomes ninety dollars. Here is why that weight is real, and the one-minute move that lightens it before you reach the register. Back-to-school is the loudest example, and it reaches far past the women with backpacks in the house. The heating bill climbs. The wardrobe stops ma...

That drop you feel on the drive home after a concert or retreat is more normal than you think. A 60-second word on why the comedown happens, and why the mountaintop still counts. Then join me for the latest episode where we walk through a small move I call the One-Song Bridge, so the nearness you feel in the big moments has a way home. “When Worship Feels Easier at a Concert Than in Your Kitchen”...

Ever felt God so close during a worship night you could barely breathe, then stood at your own sink the next morning and felt nothing at all? That gap between big-moment worship and ordinary-day faith is one of the most common things women in this season carry, and it does not mean something is wrong with your faith. In this episode, you will find: Why closeness with God comes easily in some place...