Keep the Heart

Digital peer pressure is a real thing, and it's creating a chaotic way of life for many. From seeking validation to comparing ourselves, the online world has become the modern day Wild West. Point. Shoot a video. Post it for the world. Repeat. Joining me in this episode is a fellow Bible-loving sister friend, Quortney Jernigan from Running Redeemed , a ministry that Quortney started to help women...

Welcome back to chapter 16 on Build Your Bible Habit. Every chapter of Proverbs includes life instructions that help us to handle matters wisely (Prov. 16:20). The Word of God is sufficient to guide us in every aspect of our lives, but we need to know what it says in order to follow the guidance. Do you trust God so much with your life that you pray for direction and then only want His will? "Thy...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where you'll hear some of the most popular episodes from previous seasons. I blame the beauty queen in the waiting room. She prompted this podcast. We were talking about things in general when she suddenly inserted that she was a former beauty queen. It was such an odd insert that it confused me at first, but as I continued to listen, I heard the voice of insecurity i...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs in about five minutes. What we gain in this daily habit is priceless! Whenever we mishandle a situation, it is due to either a lack of wisdom or the failure to apply wise principles. Wisdom helps us to make better choices and decisions. God wants to help us to become wiser, but we have to turn away from our own s...

Have you ever felt like a person or a people group deserve punishment, but you don’t? There was a man in scripture like that. His name was Jonah, and he lacked mercy but expected to receive it. Are we like Jonah? Sometimes I think we're more like the bad actors in the Bible than the good ones. A careful study of the book of Jonah reveals several common problems. It’s easy to point out Jonah’s faul...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit! The next five minutes in Proverbs chapter 17 will increase your wisdom and strength, if you apply what you learn. Daily Proverbs are to the soul what powerful nutrients are to the physical body: life-changing. Here's a verse for your week: "The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with." (...

Welcome to Replay Wednesday, where you'll hear the most popular episodes from previous seasons. This week's episode, "Did God Answer Your Prayer?" was downloaded thousands of times. Many people wonder why God supposedly "didn't answer," but is that accurate? If the answer to our prayers is according to God's will, things may turn out differently than how we prayed. If we really mean it when we pra...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs to grow in wisdom and knowledge. One of the most popular passages from Proverbs 3 is found in verses 5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6) It's one thing to know this passage. It's...

It is May 2025 and I am in a sling, recovering from rotator cuff repair surgery. This episode was recorded two days post-op, so my voice may be a little slurred at times as I tried to speak into a microphone while under the influence of strong pain medications!  Why didn't I record before surgery? Because I was in conference season, which is the same as saying that I was living in airplanes and sl...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs and learn practical truths for daily living. Proverbs 24 is a collection of application treasures. The practicality of Proverbs makes it possible for us to understand what we're learning. When we understand it, we can apply it. Make a commitment to read a chapter of Proverbs daily for the next 90 days without mis...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit! Proverbs chapter 13 is a study of contrasts: "live like this, not like that." The practicality of these verses will sharpen and equip you to walk in greater wisdom. Here's an example: "Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard." (Proverbs 13:15) When we know what is right, but we choose to do the wrong thing anyway, Proverbs 13:1...

There is a word for relationships that are stuck in a zone of alienation. That word is “estranged.” There are many reasons for people to distance themselves, but there are times when you may not even know what led to the separation. Sometimes we may know why a relationship has been damaged, but not always. There are those times when you can’t think of anything you've done and God hasn’t brought an...

Welcome to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs in five minutes or less! Developing a daily Bible reading habit is a "gift that keeps on giving." As you spend time in the Word, your relationship with God deepens and your ability to handle matters wisely increases. Proverbs 29:23 is a great reminder verse for the day, cautioning us about the temptation to think too...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from previous seasons. This week's episode, "Don't Correct a Scorner," prompted emails, messages, and thousands of downloads. We are not the first people to have loved ones who are rejecting God, disregarding biblical living, and engaging in behaviors that cause a loss of sleep for those who love them. If you have a scorner in y...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a Proverbs chapter in under five minutes! Proverbs 16 is loaded with life application principles that guide us into handling matters wisely.  God's Word teaches us not only how to live, but even how to speak. Words have power, and when we employ them like power tools--with care--we arrive at better outcomes in our interactions with ot...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from previous seasons!  This week's episode, "Three Great Relationship Habits" has a short list of goals that are easy to achieve. Life is a vapor, and that includes our relationships. Take a 10-minute break to listen to this helpful relationship-building episode from Season Three.  Apply: Living What We Learn--31-Day Devotional...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit. The first day of each month puts us at the beginning of the book of Proverbs. This introductory chapter lays the foundation for the purposes of Proverbs in our lives: "To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." (Proverbs 1:4) The word "subtilty" means "wisdom and prudence." In other words, Proverbs teach us how to apply pract...

Do you have a problem that is over 12 years old? Maybe your situation has gone on longer. One thing is certain: your issue is not too hard for God. We may not understand His timing, but we can trust His goodness. When we don’t understand, Psalm 119:68 makes an excellent prayer request: "Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes."  There was an unnamed woman in the New Testament who had...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs in about 5 minutes or less. The goal of these chapter episodes is to build a habit of daily Bible reading. While listening may not be the same as reading from a physical Bible, this is a great way to establish your habit. Here's a verse from Proverbs 18, reminding us that arrogance is destructive, while humility...

When I was a senior in high school, I was selected to participate in a foreign exchange student program that led me to live in Chile for a year. My first few months were hard. I felt like a person who didn’t fit in anywhere. There were some days when I just felt lonely and wanted my old familiar life back.  Grief is like that. The foreign land of grief is unfamiliar and can even make us feel hopel...

Welcome to Replay Wednesday, where you'll hear some of the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, Calm in the Chaos, struck a chord with last season's listeners. When life is chaotic for too long, it changes from challenging to tormenting. It's doubly distressing when we don't know why things are so disorderly and confusing. If you missed this episode in 2024, take a...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs in under 5 minutes. The point isn't to make Bible study as short as possible. The goal is to build a daily Bible habit. Time in the Word is personal time with God: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)  In less time than it takes to scroll through social medi...

The Bible has historic accounts of the lives of people who were just like us. We are not the first to wrestle with uncertainty, disbelief, or even skepticism. God can help us to grow in our ability to trust Him, but we'll need to deal with the doubt. Let’s look at three ways that doubt works against our faith, and consider how we can surrender our doubts to God. Mentioned in this episode: Secret D...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit! The habit of being in the Word of God daily builds us up, making us spiritually stronger. God uses the "knowledge of the holy" to give us understanding, helping us to make wiser decisions and choices in our lives. Proverbs 14 is full of instructions, observations, and even warnings like this: "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not i...

Welcome to Replay Wednesday! This episode, "How to Handle Discouragement" from Season One continues to be one of the most frequently-downloaded episodes. No surprise. Discouragement is a common experience, and it has a lot of causes. Maybe you've lost a job and haven't been able to find another one yet. Or perhaps there's trouble in your family and it feels like the problems are multiplying. Or ma...