Her Solid Ground

This week, we welcome guest Melissa Kachin to the pod! Melissa is a wife, mom, and licensed therapist specializing in women’s issues and trauma recovery. She is also a member of Hickory Creek Church and leads and coordinates our Advent study. As we head into Christmas season, we wanted to lean on Melissa’s expertise to help us navigate all the feelings and expectations that usually come with the h...

As we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, we all know that our focus should be on gratitude. But what happens if that is not how we actually feel? Do we just go through the motions and offer superficial thanks to God, or is there a way to be honest about our true feelings and still honor God? This week on the pod, Lisa and Ali discuss what God has to say about lukewarm worship, whether...

How many times have you heard: Judge not, lest ye be judged? Or, in common culture: Don’t judge others. But is that what scripture truly instructs? Many people are framing this idea around the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:1, but you might be surprised to know that this verse—and those that follow—are often misunderstood and misconstrued. Yes, Jesus gives some important information about whether or...

“Both/and" is a phrase we use often on the pod. It’s a way of thinking that acknowledges that ideas that appear to be opposites can both still be true at once. For example, as believers, we can find comfort and hope in the promise of eternal life and yet still feel deep grief when we lose someone we love. We find the idea of “both/and” to be especially true in the Kingdom of God, which is oft...

The Grace Episode is back! This recurring feature of the pod gives us the chance to revisit some past episodes and offer corrections and/or clarifications. Tune in as Ali and Lisa discuss some of their missteps, as well as the personal lessons they’ve learned so far during Season 2. To help us LIVE IT OUT, this week’s episode also talks through Hebrews 4:16 and teaches us how we can humbly admit o...

Control–it’s what we all want, isn’t it? Or, at the very least, we want to appear to have things under control. Our tendency is to try and operate in our own strength and accordinging to our plan, but of course, that only works until it doesn’t. Sooner or later, we realize that God is the One in control, and we end up on our knees. So, this begs the question: Why don’t we just start there? This we...

We talk a lot about the importance of being in God’s Word. However, in this episode, we dig a little deeper and ask the question: How do we approach the Word of God? Do we treat it like our Spotify playlist, reading only our favorite passages and skipping over the challenging verses and stories? Or, rather, are we willing to sit in the hard parts of scripture, meditating on them and asking God to...

Most of us would rather live a life free of conflict, but the truth is, that’s just not possible on this side of heaven. Human relationships are messy and emotional, and we are fooling ourselves if we pretend like we won’t ever have to deal with some level of conflict. The real question is: How do we handle conflict in a healthy and biblical way? In this episode of the pod, Ali and Lisa open up ab...

When you open your home to host others, what comes to mind? For many of us, distractions like Pinterest, charcuterie boards, and sparkly floors take over and add stress and a whole lot of pressure. But is that what God intended when He describes hospitality as a spiritual gift? Are we completely missing the mark when it comes to using our homes as a way to connect with people in our lives? In this...

Let’s just get real honest for a second—friendship as an adult is hard. As we get older and busier, many of us tend to devalue the role friendship plays in our lives, sometimes even ditching it all together. However, the truth is that we were created for community. God designed us for relationships, both with Him and with those around us. We weren’t meant to do this life alone. In this week’s epis...

We know that God asks us to share the gospel, but what does that look like in the middle of real life? How do we remain mission-minded without coming off as a salesman or start treating someone as a project? This week on the pod, Lisa and Ali get into the weeds of how we can be intentional without being a total turnoff to someone who doesn’t share our faith. Our motives always matter, and like Jes...

We all prefer comfort. However, as believers, we are called to something more. Our faith is not supposed to be for our personal benefit alone. It is a gift, yes, but it is a gift we are supposed to share with others. In this episode, Ali and Lisa unpack The Great Commission and what it means for us to get a little uncomfortable as we answer the call to share the gospel with “all 8 billion.” How ca...

Welcome back to the pod! After taking the summer off, we are back for Season 2 and ready to talk about all the things—dropping the ball on dinner, pool hair, and most importantly, what it looks like to get back on track. Although most of us love the flexibility of summertime, we often fall into the trap of letting our most important priorities fall to the wayside. In this episode, Ali and Lisa tal...

Today we wrap up Season 1 of the Her Solid Ground podcast. What a crazy fun ride it has been! A huge thank you to each and every one of you for listening each week. When we were brainstorming about how we wanted to close out our first season, we decided the best way was with a healthy dose of grace. For those who listened to Episode 9, you know that The Grace Episode gives Ali and Lisa the chance...

Body image: It’s a touchy topic, no doubt. However, so many of you asked us to talk about it, so this week we decided to go there—but not in the way you might expect. Instead of talking about diet culture or exercise tips or even our own personal health philosophies, we decided to ground ourselves in what God’s Word has to say about our bodies. Do they actually matter in light of eternity? Does ho...

Last week, we discussed how to identify the need for a boundary in a relationship. In this week’s episode, Ali and Lisa unpack what it looks like to put those boundaries in place in a way that honors God and enables us to love others well. As Christians, can we be peacemakers without being doormats? Can we establish boundaries without an agenda? Tune in to the second-half of this series as we disc...

The concept of drawing relational boundaries has created quite a stir in our culture. Is this just a worldly idea people use to justify their own preferences and poor behavior, or is there a healthy way to apply this idea that actually helps us love each other better? In this week’s episode of the pod, Ali and Lisa debunk some of the more secular ideas surrounding the term “boundaries” by focusing...

When we think about Holy Week, most of us want to focus on hope and light and empty tombs and a glorified Savior—all the best parts of the Easter story. But what about all the days leading up to Sunday—days filled with betrayal, suffering, death, and darkness? Are we willing to lean in and meditate on those days, or is our instinct to gloss over and skip past all that it took for Jesus to be victo...

No one really likes to talk about money, especially in faith-based spaces. And yet Jesus talked about it constantly. In fact, experts estimate that there are more than 2,300 verses on money, wealth, and possessions in the Bible. So what gives? Why do we shy away from this topic? This week, Ali and Lisa open up the conversation. Pulling from Ali’s experience with Financial Peace University (FPU), A...

We all need rest. That’s just the truth. But far too often we make rest a “should” in our lives: “I should get more sleep. I should slow down. I should make time to refresh and reset.” In our minds, we know these rhythms are a good idea, yet most of us never make the time for physical rest and in many cases, soul rest. In this episode of the pod, Ali and Lisa discuss the demands culture places on...

For many of us, saying “yes” is not a problem. In fact, we often say it too much, which leaves us feeling exhausted and overcommitted. Because we want to be caring friends, parents, and spouses, our instinct is to do all the things for all the people. The problem? We have limits. So, this begs the question: What is our best yes? In this week’s episode, Lisa and Ali talk about discernment and what...

Let’s be honest for a second. Winter isn’t all that great (to put it mildly). January is like 79 days long, and by February 2, we are all hinging our sanity on some groundhog that may or may not promise us that spring is on the way. But is complaining the best option? Probably not. The truth is that God created the seasons for a purpose, and even more so, He brings purpose to every season—yes, eve...

Surprise! Our three-part series on Faith, Hope, and Love isn’t over just yet. In this  week’s episode, Ali and Lisa welcome their second guest to the pod, Dr. Julius Wong- Loi-Sing. As the podcast’s resident pastor, mentor, and theologian, it was only natural to  have Dr. J share his biblical knowledge and understanding of what he refers to as the  “Pauline triad” of faith, hope, and love. Listene...

It’s Valentine’s Day week, and yes, that means we are talking about love. But don’t  worry—we’re not talking about roses and chocolates and knights in shining armor. We  are talking about God’s definition of love and how we can be intentional about sharing  that love with others. Rounding out our three-part series on Faith, Hope, and Love, Ali  and Lisa talk about viewing love as a verb, not a nou...

As believers, we often take hope for granted. We forget that even though we don’t always understand the ways of God, we always have hope because of Jesus. We have the promise of eternity, and just as importantly, we have the blessed assurance that God will work all things out for our good according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). The problem? We often try to define what those purposes should be. We...