Keep the Heart

Have you mastered the plaster smile? You know, the one that we wear when our insides are not smiling but we don’t want to reveal our true emotions. It’s easy to hide discouragement, but it’s not a solution to pretend to be fine when we’re not. This episode from the top ten in 2021 shares three biblical suggestions for handling discouragement wisely. (2023 Summer Season Rerun) Ponder the Path Devot...

Have you ever dragged your feet on forgiving someone because you thought they deserved to suffer? Or were you so hurt by their words or actions that you felt they deserved punishment? Human nature is painful like that. We don’t like people to hurt us, but we’ll cancel that rule when we’re hurting someone in revenge. We’re not the first to struggle with the issue of not wanting to forgive. Consider...

BONUS MINI-EPISODE FOR WIVES: Let’s blame this bonus episode on the blueberries. They were in season and I was about to sit down with a bowl of these fresh beauties when I had a flashback to how much my husband loved blueberries. I didn’t even try to like them back then, but now I wish I had tried. We could have shared the joy of a fresh harvest together. This is not an episode for couples with de...

Welcome to Soundbites: Topics that are scripturally sound in bite-sized episodes. This week's topic: Anger. Are you angry with someone right now? The strong emotions and reactions that come with anger can get us into trouble. Being angry is not a sin by itself, but the way we express that anger can become sinful and harmful. This brief study will give us biblical patterns to follow, helping us to...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, "We Don't Have to Be So Broken Down." is for anyone who feels like you're in a ditch and you don't know how you got there! So much of what happens in our lives begins internally. The external things will happen daily, but our responses to the dailies are coming from our spirits. We...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, "Is It Toxic or Is It Us?" is a call to take a step back from slapping labels.  Is it possible that we've become infected with buzzwords and the misguided philosophies behind them?  Yes, it is possible. This is not an attempt to be the word police. It's merely a call for biblical co...

Have you been wavering in your mind with a decision, having a monologue with yourself that alternates between lecturing and venting? You know what you should do, and then you change your mind. Back and forth the internal speech goes, until finally you realize that you are riding the fence on your decision. This is another way of saying, you’re double minded and it’s uncomfortable. God gives us the...

BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 12 on Build Your Bible Habit. There is a difference between Bible reading and Bible study. Reading provides information. Study increases our understanding. If we’ll take the time to study our Bibles in addition to reading them, God can reveal where we may have slipped into unhealthy spiritual conditions. After you've listened to this chapter, you’ll...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, "Are You Overdosing on Bad News" was a timely question last year, and still qualifies today. Have you noticed how headlines are written sensationally to get you to click on an article? The agenda for these "clickbait" articles can often be summed up in three words: Fear for sale. Ar...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, "I Am Slap Wore Out" is in the group that received thousands of downloads in 2022. Maybe it's because so many people are fried and laid to the side? Whether you have been believing the lie that we don't need rest, or whether you're afraid to ask for help because you are sure you can...

Have you ever shared something with a person in confidence, only to find out later that they told someone else, or maybe several people? You met a talebearer. They’re as old as the Old Testament, and they caused trouble then and they're still spreading trouble like weeds to this day. A talebearer has an overwhelming desire to share other people’s business. "Talebearer" is a word that we don’t use...

Welcome to Bonus Replays, where we play the most popular episodes from our bonus breakout sessions. Normally, our episodes are for general audiences, but this episode is for wives of any stage, or for women who are engaged to be married. It's great to have a wonderful marriage, but most marriages are not wonderful all day, every day. In fact, a lot of us have experienced some rough waters along th...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, "Prayer is Not Like Same-Day Dry Cleaning, has been popular ever since it first aired in February of 2022. I wonder if that's because so many of us struggle with patience in prayer. After all, prayer and waiting are inseparable, but many of us aren't so great at waiting! We are near...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, "We Are Not Called to Be Argumentative," was downloaded thousands of times in 2022. Maybe this is because arguing, bursting into a rage, and other outbursts have become viral in their own right.  People are so confrontational today, and they feel emboldened because it’s popular to b...

Have you ever gone through something so distressing that you’ve cried yourself to sleep? I mean, the kind of crying where you can barely breathe and your eyes are puffy and red? Those are the kinds of tears that lead to exhaustion, but falling asleep out of exhaustion doesn’t mean we’ll be rested. Crying that hard is a lot of labor! We need to put those tears to work. That's called "crying with pu...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, "Lessons from an Unexpected Diagnosis," struck a chord with many listeners last year, and it's still being downloaded as one of the top ten episodes from 2022. Receiving an unexpected diagnosis is like being drafted into a club that you never wanted to join. We make our plans and go...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, "Effective Problem Solving," received thousands of downloads over the year. This made me wonder if there are a lot of listeners out there just like me, who tried to solve a problem and ended up making it worse! When things go wrong in our problem-solving, it's generally just a diagn...

Have you ever smiled at someone and pretended that all was well between you when it really wasn’t? Or have you ever “overshared” information about someone else, even though you were asked to keep it confidential? Or maybe you’ve said some really unkind things about someone behind their back, but in their presence, you never mention these things? What do these questions have in common? They are sim...

Bonus Episode: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all have accounts of the life of Christ, including the final events leading to the cross. This episode covers Luke 22, with significant marks throughout the chapter. Did you remember that one of the reasons why the disciples fell asleep when they were supposed to be praying was because of sorrow?  Or do you remember reading about the blindfold? Yes, cru...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. Wait until you hear the buttery voice of this seasoned radio host, Janice Wolfe. She was my sub last year during conference season, and her episode continues to bless listeners a year later. Janice walks us through Luke chapter 15, which is a declaration of God’s love for the lost.  This episode will re...

Welcome to the seventh and final segment of Psalm 119 on Build Your Bible Habit. As you may already know, Psalm 119 has 176 verses divided into 22 sections called stanzas. The last four stanzas sound like prayers of a troubled heart, mingled with hope and praise. This is also the end of the chapter. Now that you’ve finished the largest chapter of the Bible, you can go back to the beginning and rep...

Relationships have moments, don’t they? We shouldn’t be surprised by that because humans are included, but there are things we could do to prepare ourselves to have better responses and fewer overreactions. Not perfect, but better. Imperfect people can’t have perfect relationships, but God left us with the wisdom of scripture to help us do a better job, if we’ll employ this wisdom. This episode sh...

Welcome to the sixth segment of Psalm 119 on Build Your Bible Habit. This passage is full of personal prayer requests. All of the requests are related to a transformed life. You’ll hear words such as, “Teach me, be merciful unto me, deliver me, and many others. This segment reads like a tutorial in how to pray.  God is personally interested in our lives, and we can speak with Him about all our con...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season. This time last year, we had the incredible surprise of being selected as one of the podcasts of the week at Podbean, the podcast hosing platform for Keep the Heart . This resulted in thousands of new listeners from all over the world! As part of the collaboration with Podbean, Keep the Heart wrote four...

Welcome to the fifth segment of Psalm 119 on Build Your Bible Habit. This passage begins in verse 97 with the declaration, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." This is what happens when we’re in God’s Word. It becomes the focal point of our thoughts. Build Your Bible Habit was launched as a special bonus segment Keep the Heart Podcast in 2022 with Proverbs, and now it includes...