The Jar Podcast | Dignity, Restored, Marriage, Healing, Forgiveness

Maybe you’re the girl in the coffee shop, sitting across from a friend, and dabbing at your tears as you share with her how frustrated you are that your husband “just doesn’t understand” this… thing in your heart. Maybe you’re the mom on her phone at the park, being misjudged for ignoring your kids, when you’re just trying to let them have fun and not see how defeated you really feel as you text a...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to The Jar Podcast and all of YOU who have listened once or have been here since the beginning-- thank you.  God can do SO much with our obedience, and the results are always up to Him. Any "success" is a testament to His faithfulness in my life, in healing me from the inside out, in mending my broken marriage, and in reclaiming my identity in Him.  As a Christian wife,...

And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: “When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes on the skin of his body like a leprous sore, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest... The priest shall examine the sore on the skin of the body; and if the hair on the sore has turned white, and the sore appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, i...

Is it ok to be angry with God?  What if He takes away everything important to us, we face a broken marriage, our child is diagnosed with cancer, and all the dreams we had of what was "good" are stripped away... What if our pain makes no sense? Is God still good? Is He enough? From coworkers teaching at the same school, to sharing some pain surrounding cancer, to walks and talks about God's so...

If you’ve had an encounter with God–He knocked you on your butt, healed you, broke you, met you on the bathroom floor at your lowest of lows...and that led you to surrender, full surrender, and you are now surrounded by community and have accountability and wise input from mentors– you can trust that this next step of transformation is REAL and TRUE and you can experience freedom from your past li...

It’s easy to want to hide in a corner and lick our wounds, cover up the scars and signs of our brokenness and need for a Savior and recent surrender to Him after facing our realities and sinful actions or natures. God gave us something to keep us from getting kicked while we’re down, stepped and trampled on in our vulnerable moments just after surrender to Him, something to empower us to grow spir...

You know how it goes: one side wins. The other side loses. One comes out victorious, and the other side has surrendered and is the loser and defeated. The losing side that surrendered took the easy way out.  Or is it? What if surrender was actually the hard part? The better choice? What if the "defeated" were actually the victors?  You have experienced Step 1 in finding freedom from sin...

Whether or not your husband got you flowers, made you breakfast, is taking you out to dinner, or if he completely forgot, or you are single or separated and feel unloved by a man you're with. As much as the flowers and candy and extra attention might be nice... As much as maybe gestures of love and affection from your person on this day are extra special.... Or even if you absolutely can’t STAND t...

Are you stuck in a pattern of behavior that is damaging your marriage? Have you tried to stop, make better choices, and change but you keep coming up short? You repeat the cycle and then you spiral into negative self-talk, shame, and you just feel defeated. I know you've tried. I know you want to find freedom and the strength to resist sinful urges, to persevere and not let this sin define you any...

You're just minding your own business, doin your thing, when your husband makes a comment that rubs you the wrong way. Your eyes fill with tears and your stomach grows hot inside. You scrub the pot a little more aggressively or cut the sandwich you're making with extra force, feeling at that moment much like that sandwich--cut deeply.  Whether your tendency in the next moments would be to sil...

What do you do when you're stuck in a negative Nancy spirit? You can't seem to kick the cranky and stop spinning in a negative mindset about your husband or your marriage. And it's starting to feel like things will never get better. Listen, Linda, today I have 6 practical steps you can take to biblically shift those thoughts and change your mindset. Loads of Love , Lydia --> SUBSCRIBE so y...

Ever had a moment where you looked over at your husband on the couch or when he wakes up and thought, "Who is this man I'm married to? This is not the same person I married ___ years ago" and wondered when and how he'd changed?  Maybe those thoughts invoked feelings of sadness or resentment or maybe just a feeling of distance and loneliness.  Maybe it's even gotten so bad that you aren't...

You ever climb into bed at night with an extra grunt and wince in pain and promise yourself you're going to start doing more stretching or exercise the next day? Sick and tired of feeling...sick and tired? STUCK in the stiff place of feeling drained, exhausted, and needing something to change? Linda, listen... maybe you got some aches and pains physically (who doesn't??), but I think your soul nee...

Are you avoiding change, refusing to participate, letting it run you over, or getting mad at it?  If change is inevitable, life happens, and circumstances and people don't stay the same, then... what do we DO with change? How do we deal with it without falling apart? In today's episode I give you three ways to use change to your advantage so that you can actually grow closer to God and deeper...

Is change good or bad? Do you love it or hate it? Guess what? Some change is inevitable whether we like it or not... and the New Year is often what brings both desire for change and/ or resistance to it to the surface. We are going to spend the month of January talking about newness and change (the good, bad, AND the ugly). What does GOD say about it vs. the world? How do fears surrounding change...

What's wrong with me?? Why am I feeling this way? Sad, unseen, unloved, unappreciated, lonely, etc. Believe it or not, that's the PERFECT time, the perfect moments, the perfect places for Love to come down and meet you where you are. Tune in for a short episode on how to let God's ultimate Gift of Love, fill you up, heal you, and be ENOUGH for you. Loads of Love , Lydia --> SUBSCRIBE so you don...

Is it just me, or are the holidays especially rough on us wives/ women?! SHEESH! The errands, the gifts, the cookie baking and gift wrapping... so I know if I'm not alone in feeling overwhelmed, I must also not be alone in reacting emotionally when I'm overstimulated from it all, right? (Don't leave me hangin' Linda!) LADIES. You & I...we are most likely contributing to the chaos, and I'm here...

Does Christmas or the holidays bring up tough stuff: buried feelings, sadness around a loss, discord with family members, loneliness? Do you find yourself sneaking away not just for the overstimulation of the music, lights and crowd but also the inner turmoil that's been triggered? Here are 4 tips that will help you process and HEAL as you learn to anticipate the change and growth through the disc...

There's something about Advent, the season of waiting, anticipation, and ardent desire for HOPE. But you feel pretty hopeless in your marriage right now. Maybe you're just hopeless that it will get any better or that you're stuck in this feeling of unhappiness. Maybe you're hopeless for reconciliation as you battle divorce papers. Whatever your circumstance is, as you hope for a miracle in your ma...

Sitting in the aftermath of post-holiday disappointment and let down? Replaying scenes filled with frustration, arguments, or division? Chalking it up to family members and their typical tendencies, knowing the next holiday will be just the same?  Don't let these 5 reasons you're feeling disappointment drive a wedge between you and your husband. Use it as fuel to ignite a bond and closeness t...

How do you just "let go and let God"? Is it that easy when it feels like life is crushing you and you're struggling to see the point? Do you find it easier to just numb the pain, find pleasure in other things, or give into temptation?  It isn't easy, but I have the solution. Tune in and find out how a simple (not easy!) shift in perspective can help change everything. Loads of Love , Lydia --...

Tune in for a special *bonus* episode of a little behind-the-scenes Holy Spirit moment that led me through a dark time that YOU will find hope in! (Spoiler Alert: NO ONE is too damaged for Him to redeem) Loads of Love , Lydia --> SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a show --> Leave a 5-star rating & written review --> Join the Christian Wife and Marriage Facebook community

Your husband walks in the door, takes one look around the messy living room, and says, "What did you do all day?" Cue the ball of fire in your stomach and the shame in your gut. As mad as you are at him for that question (or is that a statement??), you find yourself questioning if you're really cut out to do this whole stay at home mom thing... you shut down, start picking up the mess, and you qui...

Hold up. Wait a minute. You're telling me that *I* am "empowered" to communicate better with my husband when HE's the one not getting it? I feel misunderstood and disappointed because he's not listening, and you want ME to work on how *I* communicate?  Yep. Listen, Linda, we wives hold more power than we think we do in situations like this, and I've got some simple tools you can use!  Co...

Will the competitive wives please stand up??  As a former athlete, my competitive nature needed some sort of outlet, and unfortunately, my husband was often it! But just when I thought I was "winning," WE were in fact, losing.  Listen in for what NOT to do, gain some biblical tools that can help you course-correct an argument, and walk away ready to fight FOR your marriage, not against y...