LOVE IS FEARLESS

We are recording again!    This episode catches our audience up on the changes that have impacted our story since we shared a conversation with podcast mics in front of us.    In this conversation, we're honest and admit that, too often, we can all unintentionally participate in a lifestyle built by fear. And, there is great hope! We have a choice to build a lifestyle of love.    Listen in as we e...

ZEALOUS is an adjective that describes someone who is passionate, fierce, and wholehearted. In a culture of love, we're invited to be zealous for the whole truth. That's very different from simply wanting to be right.  In a culture of fear, we can become apathetic and indifferent to the whole truth in our quest to keep our place in the invisible hierarchy, or because we're afraid of crossing the l...

We've been building an alphabet on the LOVE IS FEARLESS podcast for months now. We've been talking about building cultures of love in our homes and communities by choosing LOVE instead of FEAR. Without healthy attachments, fear is our only option.  Every choice for love requires that we have someone we trust to help us experience that choice. If that isn't humbling enough,  left in a home--or a co...

Conversations about racism may be at an all-time high in America right now. Conversations are the seedbed for change and it's past time for healing racism in our land. In this episode, we're offering new tools to equip you to have a different conversation about racism, the pandemic, the next election, or any topic ripe with fear and trauma. This episode leaves out a focus on right and wrong or goo...

In a culture of love, work is the way we invest our time and energy that has an impact and influence for good in our own lives and in the lives of the world around us. In a culture of fear, we learn to avoid work and avoid responsibility. We learn to use manipulation and shame to deal with apathy and negligence--just to get things done. Join us in this episode as we untangle the stories we tell ou...

Transparency, authenticity, and vulnerability are popular buzz words these days. We sometimes use them as if they were synonyms, but they're not. Transparency  means we're open and not hiding anything;  authenticity  means what we offer to others is valid and accurate. Vulnerability  means I'm willing to be transparent and authentic because I need  and trust  your help. We say, "I'm hurt" or "I'm...

In this episode, we are reminded that, as believers in the finished work of Jesus, all of our sins (past, present, and future) have been forgiven. "It is finished!" We are made new. But all this newness now exists in physical bodies that are holding onto things (toxic emotions, habits, relationships...) that we've had for a long time and that aren't going to help us live in the truth of our newnes...

A virus is an abuser--and we're all learning how to wash our hands and keep our distance so the toxic Coronavirus will make fewer people sick--especially those at high risk. Sometimes our relationships make us sick with a different kind of virus. In toxic relationships, lies can attack our integrity and weaken our emotional immune system. U in the LOVE IS FEARLESS alphabet stands for UNWILLING.  L...

If we aren't trusting love, we're trusting fear. The opposite of trusting truth is trusting lies. When we refuse to trust God, we're left trusting a resource that's less powerful and less trustworthy than a loving heavenly Father. None of us have trust issues; we have issues with the stuff we trust. Behavior is the echo of belief. For example, if I eat a sleeve of Oreos, it might be true that I KN...

As leaders, we leverage either the power of love or fear to motivate or to manipulate those in our care.  Love helps us stay connected, especially in a season of struggle. In healthy relationships, we can work together in ways that build strength and maturity.  Fear requires that we "divide and conquer." Manipulation often keeps our eyes on the prize instead of on the people around us, who may nee...

In a culture of love, we grow in our capacity for responsibility. In a culture of fear, we are non-responsive to the things that are important, or we react instead of respond. In this episode, we wrestle with some difficult topics as we offer  five guidelines for personal responsibility in a culture of love.  I am responsible for building trust in relationship with others. I am responsible for res...

The origin of the word "frantic" is a word that means "insane/gone mad." In a culture of fear, life gets noisy and feels frantic. Sometimes it seems we're at war with ourselves.  Who we are and how we spend our lives gets out of sync. We need some quiet to decide which way to shift—away from what has become normal, that feels anything but healthy. QUIET is a gift in a culture of love.  Will you gi...

John Lynch is our special guest on this powerful episode that offers freedom in the way only love can.  John is one of our favorite authors, a dear friend, and one of the few people in the world who can talk about "permission and protection" in a way that has the potential to unlock a lifetime of bondage. Many of us would make a 100 on a true/false test if the quiz asked if we knew that cheating w...

Protection is a gift of love that can get lost in a culture of fear.  Fear is the voice that demands we have no boundaries.  Without boundaries, identity gets confusing and lies boldly claim their place as truth. When we're confused about truth,  we're confused about what to protect and what to expose.  Unprotected, harm happens. Hurt happens. Exposure invites injury--sometimes to our souls. We do...

Fear invites us to experience life differently than love does. What we experience, we will share. You're in the right place if you want to experience and share love--not fear. You're in the right place if you're hungry to  discover your true PURPOSE in life  and, perhaps, let go of an invalid identity that's wearing you out and keeping you afraid. In this episode, I share a vulnerable story from m...

The power of love holds the secret to completing the stress response cycle and experiencing long-term healing from real stress.  In this episode, we'll tell you more about this one BIG reason to keep choosing love over fear. Here's what research is teaching us:  learning to power through stress isn't enough.  Even learning to eliminate some sources of stress won't provide all the relief we need be...

" We keep doing good...thinking it will make us good. "  Those are the words written on an index card laying on the desk in our living room.   This one idea is the fundamental flaw that upends our cultural compass, sends us to bed both exhausted and sick, and keeps us in racial and religious bondage. In a culture of love, we're beginning to experience the power of a different reality.  Truth tells...

It doesn't seem reasonable that we'd have a conversation with a top sports psychologist and peak performance coach when our topic this week is MIRACLES and the power of LOVE. It's NOT reasonable.  It's a miracle!   David Cook is a speaker, consultant, coach, author, and film-maker in the field of Sport and Performance Psychology.  He served as "Mental Training Coach" for the San Antonio Spurs from...

Every week we're offering new discoveries about the power of love, how we can practically CHOOSE LOVE, and how we can become aware of the ways we're choosing fear--without even knowing it. L stands for laughter in the LIF alphabet and it may be more powerful than we think.   As living beings, we literally vibrate with energetic frequency.  The body resonates at a frequency between 62 to 72 Hz when...

Welcome to the ROARING 20s!  We hope this decade will be remembered as the time in history when LOVE roared louder than fear.  Together, there is great hope. Most new year's resolutions involve self-discipline and are motivated by a lack of satisfaction with life as we're experiencing it right now.  CHOOSING LOVE OVER FEAR is a resolution that involves more self-awareness than self-discipline--and...

One resolution is all you need for the new year  and the new decade.  Imagine your life next year at this time...without fear. Most of us don't realize it's possible to live a life without fear, where love removes anxiety, anger, and shame from every conversation, every challenge, every decision. We are not people who lack faith.  We are all depending on something or someone.  The question for all...

LOVE or FEAR will be our source of strength today and our bodies will develop reliance and a comfort level with one or the other. In our LIF community, we're learning what fear looks like and sounds like, and we're learning to respond to these signs and symptoms with love. In this episode, Doug shares about a time in his life when he was afraid and living DISCONNECTED from safe and meaningful rela...

Scott Morrison was an anomaly to me (Janet) when I first met him--about 5 years ago.  In some ways, he still is.  He is kind, but he has boundaries.  He is wise, and he is tender and helpful.  He has a weird sense of humor that invites me to laugh, especially in those moments I need to be reminded just to breathe. We invited Scott to record this episode with us because we're talking about the tran...

In a performance-obsessed culture, we learn to hide our mistakes.  We defend our perspectives--not because we're always right, but because we're afraid of the penalty that comes with being wrong. In a culture of love, we build relationships of trust and value the truth that others offer us that we don't yet see for ourselves.  We change our minds on our personal journeys from hurt to healing and f...

One of the best parts of going to Chick-Fil-A is the way every employee  always responds to a customer's "Thank you" with a sincere "My pleasure!"  Have you ever wondered why those two words hit such a sweet spot...deep in your soul? It's because we are wired to find deep satisfaction having an impact for good in someone else's life.  This is what it means to love one another.  And we were made fo...