Challenges Won't Stop Me

My guest, Lisa Steven, is the author of A Place to Belong: The true story of a Teen Mom, a Humbling Leadership Journey, and a House Called Hope. She is also the cofounder and executive director of Hope house Colorado.  Lisa was the oldest of four children. Her parents’ relationship was volatile. Her brother’s accident and unexpected death caused her to be mad at God.  At seventeen, she discovered...

When I heard Dr. Saundra Dalton - Smith was releasing a new book, I knew I had to have her on the show again. I interviewed Dr. Saundra in 2020. We chatted about her book Sacred Rest, which has impacted me in many ways. Check out episode 28: Rest = Restoration to listen to our conversation. In this interview, Dr. Saundra and I are chatting about her new book: "Being Fully Known: The Joyful Sa...

I’m super excited to share the first video solocast of season 7! This episode is not an audio interview with a guest. This episode is a video of me sharing a message about Standing Firm, so hop over to my YouTube channel at Melony Brown to get the most out of this episode. This episode is the outcome of my deep dive study of Ephesians 6 for my School of the New Testament class. As I was studying t...

 In episode 115, my guest, Lauren Buice who is an adolescent and young adult counselor, and I defined achievement culture and discussed how teens are overwhelmed by all they must achieve and be to apply for college. She described the dangerous outcome associated with achievement culture: anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.    Lauren has returned for another episode to share strategies for te...

To kick off season 7 of the Challenges Won't Stop Me podcast, adolescent and young adult counselor Lauren Buice at Rise Therapy in Roswell, GA is joining me to discuss the challenge of achievement culture, specifically as it relates to teens who desire to further their education in college.  Type "achievement culture in teens" into Google, and 357,00 results populate within seconds....

My dear friend Brenda Holley joins me again to discuss how she gained a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit during her journey of fighting to overcome pancreatic cancer. Brenda is a master coach, helping professionals thrive in their careers. She and Paul have been married for eighteen years. She is mom to two adult sons.  Prior to her diagnosis, Brenda wasn’t seeking God even though she belie...

Today’s guest is my dear friend Brenda Holley. She is a master coach, helping professionals thrive in their careers. She and Paul have been married for eighteen years. She is mom to two adult sons. I’ve been friends with Brenda for several years, so I was honored when she reached out to me soon after receiving a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer has a bad reputation because the pro...

Danita Cummins joins me again for her mindset discussion about showing care and comfort to others. She is the author of her first book titled Promise Over Purpose: The Path to a Peace-Filled Life , which is due out in the fall of 2024. Danita is also the host of the Entrusted to Lead podcast, the director of the Alpha Life Pregnancy Center, and a business coach. She and Mark have been married for...

Today’s guest is Danita Cummins. She is the author of her first book titled Promise Over Purpose: The Path to a Peace-Filled Life , which is due out in the fall of 2024. Danita is also the host of the Entrusted to Lead podcast, the director of the Alpha Life Pregnancy Center, and a business coach. She and Mark have been married for 20 years and they have four adult children and two grandchildren....

Today’s guest is Kim Patton. She is the author of Nothing Wasted: Struggling Well Through Difficult Seasons and the host of the Book Therapy podcast. Kim and Kevin have been married for fourteen years and have two beautiful daughters.  Kim adopted a mindset to trust and have faith in God as her guide through life. She admits from the start of our interview that God is not very forthcoming about Hi...

Today’s guest is Kim Patton. She is the author of Nothing Wasted: Struggling Well Through Difficult Seasons   and the host of the Book Therapy podcast. Kim and Kevin have been married for fourteen years and have two beautiful daughters.  Growing up in a large family led Kim to dream of a family of her own. Hosting baby showers for her friends filled her with joy. She believed, “Someday it will be...

Today’s guest, Carol Graham, shared her story of overcoming rheumatoid arthritis, ovarian cancer, and her husband’s devastating car accident in episode 107. Be sure to check it out!  Carol is an author, host of the Never Ever Give Up podcast, and a health coach.  In this episode, Carol shares a way of life that she believes is a game changer. So much so that she published her book, Pray the Answer...

When challenges rudely intersect our path, we reach out to God for help. When His answer is slow in coming, fear and doubt fill our minds. Where is He? Is He really working on my problems? It’s human nature to think His answer is going to be too late to help or matter. Today’s guest, Carol Graham, is an author, host of the Never Ever Give Up podcast, and a health coach. When she was diagnosed with...

GOT STRESS? No one could honestly say, "I have no stress at all!" Stress is part of life, right? Yes, but too many of us are consumed by stress. We know we are stressed out, but WHAT CAN WE DO? Today's guest, Dr. Gala Gorman, shares a combination of strategies, mindsets, and habits to help you manage and even reduce the toxic stressors in your life. Dr. Gala Gordon is an acupuncturi...

Today's guest is Janet Perez Eckles. She is a speaker and the author of five books. In her story episode, we discussed excerpts from her memoir, Now I See: How God's Amazing Grace Transforms the Deepest Pain to Shining Joy , which included her son’s murderer being found not guilty. Anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness are understandable reactions to learning the man who murdered her son...

Today's guest is Janet Perez Eckles. She is a speaker and the author of five books. We discussed excerpts from her memoir, Now I See: How God's Amazing Grace Transforms the Deepest Pain to Shining Joy .  Janet Eckles grew up in Bolivia during the twelve years of the Bolivian revolution. She observed the grit and determination her mom and dad showed as they struggled to live during diffic...

Even though this episode with Pastor Phil Manginelli is a lengthier interview, I strongly encourage you to invest the extra time. You will gain an understanding of spiritual warfare and how to prepare for it, which are invaluable to your walk as a Christ-follower. Phil Manginelli is the lead pastor of The Square Church in Smyrna, GA. In this interview, Phil shares his knowledge about the challenge...

Jessica Roberts shared her story of being wrongly accused of drug conspiracy and sentenced to serve 27 months in prison in episode 101. If you haven’t listened to it yet, it would be helpful as Jessica refers to her story several times throughout this interview.   While in prison, Jessica realized she was not in control. Her story had many similarities to Job’s story in the Bible. It was clear tha...

When you hear a story about someone in prison claiming to be not guilty, do you ever wonder what that would be like if it happened to you?   I know not all who claim to be not guilty are, but Jessica Roberts was wrongly accused AND given a 27-month prison sentence. Was she upset? Yes. Did she feel wronged? Yes.    She could have fallen into negativity and anger, but she chose a different response....

Where were you when the news hit about President Kennedy's assassination (November 22, 1963)? When the news hit about MLK Jr's assassination (April 4, 1968)? When the news hit about planes hitting the Twin Towers in New York (September 11, 2001)?   Where were you when the news hit about the Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado (April 20, 1999)? I remember it clearly. I was te...

Dr. Grace English joins me again to discuss the mindset of getting real to heal. She is a speaker and the director of the Deep in the Heart Conference, which is held in Texas every spring.  Didn’t catch her story interview in episode 98? She refers to it several times, so I would encourage you to listen to it before you listen to this episode. When she found herself getting extremely anger with he...

We are discussing emotional infidelity on the show today. It’s a topic no other guest has covered. During my interview with Dr. Grace English, she shared the following statistic from Shannon Ethridge’s book, Every Woman’s Battle : “More than 90% of women have had emotional thoughts of another man that’s not their spouse.” Grace explained that she has struggled with emotional infidelity for many ye...

Are you in a meanwhile? My guest, Carol McLeod, describes a meanwhile as "the test of faith between a crisis and God's visible intervention." What do you do or say during the time between when a crisis intersects your life and when you see God's visible intervention? My guest is Carol McLeod. She's an overcomer, an award-winning author of sixteen books, host of the Signifi...

My guest, Honey Duncan, is celebrating her 7th year of sobriety today – February 20, 2024.  Since her recovery from drug addiction, Honey has been intentional about practicing gratitude.  It’s a mindset that keeps her focused on the good things in her life, helps her maintain a positive attitude, and shows her thankfulness to God for always being with her. Honey believes gratitude is a powerful fo...

My guest, Honey Duncan, is celebrating her 7th year of sobriety today – February 20, 2024.  It took just one pain pill to cause her descent into addiction. While that pain pill helped with her back pain, it also helped numb her emotional pain. She liked how that pill seemingly solved her problems.  She quotes actor Russell Brand in her interview. He said, “Drugs and alcohol are not my problem. Rea...