The Living in Truth Project

Father’s Day can bring up a lot more than celebration. For some, it brings gratitude. For others, it brings grief, longing, anger, regret, or the ache of a relationship that is not what it should have been. In this episode, Jon shares a deeply personal reflection on fatherhood, grief, generational legacy, and the kind of man he is striving to become. He talks about losing his own father to brain c...

Description Can reconciliation happen if someone refuses to acknowledge what they did? In Part 2 of this Q&A conversation, we talk about what reconnecting should look like after no contact, especially when the other person refuses to admit wrongdoing or take accountability. We also address the belief that family estrangement is always caused by Satan or evil forces trying to destroy families —...

Description What does it really mean to honor your parents as an adult — especially when the relationship has become painful, controlling, or unhealthy? In Part 1 of this Q&A conversation, we talk about the difference between childhood obedience and adult honor, why boundaries are not dishonor, and how to navigate family relationships when peace requires truth. We also answer a tender question...

Was Encanto really about magic… or was it about family trauma? In this episode of Leave Then Cleave , Jon and Ashley unpack Disney’s Encanto through the lens of family systems, generational trauma, scapegoating, emotional roles, truth-telling, and healing . Why did We Don’t Talk About Bruno resonate with so many people? Why did Mirabel feel so familiar to those raised in emotionally complicated fa...

For many Christians, the hardest part of setting a boundary is not the boundary itself. It is the guilt. The fear that saying no means you are selfish. The fear that needing space means you are unforgiving. The fear that limiting access means you are dishonoring your family. The fear that protecting your marriage, your home, your peace, or your children somehow means you are failing to love like J...

How can you tell if someone has truly repented? In this episode of Leave Then Cleave , Jon and Ashley talk about one of the most confusing dynamics in faith-based families: when someone claims repentance but refuses accountability, repair, or honest conversation about the harm they caused. Using Christ’s teaching that “by their fruits ye shall know them,” they explore the difference between true r...

This is Part 2 of our conversation with Rachel Wood on boundaries. In Part 1, we talked about why boundaries are not unchristlike, how people-pleasing can become a form of control, and why healthy love requires truth, agency, and self-respect. In Part 2, we move into one of the hardest questions many people face: What do you do when you are trying to get healthy, but the other person does not want...

One of our most-listened-to conversations is back. This episode originally aired a couple of years ago, when our podcast had a different name and a much smaller audience. But as our community has grown, we realized that many of you have probably never heard this conversation before, and it continues to be one of the most important discussions we’ve ever had. In this episode, we are joined by our f...

If you are afraid that setting boundaries, going no contact, or disappointing your family will ruin your life, this episode is for you. Most conversations about boundaries focus on what they cost. The grief. The backlash. The loneliness. The fear of being misunderstood. The pain of relationships changing. But in this episode, Jon and Ashley talk about what boundaries can give back. After years of...

What do you do when a sermon, a Bible verse, a conference talk, or a spiritual principle gets used against you? In this episode, we talk about a painful dynamic many people experience in unhealthy family systems: when teachings about peacemaking, forgiveness, humility, honor, or reconciliation are twisted into pressure, shame, control, or spiritual superiority. This conversation was prompted in pa...

What do you do when your spouse has not fully left and cleaved? Why do siblings experience the same family so differently? And how do you stop letting unhealthy family dynamics live rent free in your mind long after distance has been put in place? In Part 2 of this Q&A episode, Jon and Ashley respond to some of the most common and painful questions they hear from this community around marriage...

How do you know if you are setting a healthy boundary… or just creating more family drama? In Part 1 of this Q&A episode, Jon and Ashley respond to some of the most common and emotionally complex questions they receive from this community. Together, they talk through the guilt that often comes with setting boundaries in religious and enmeshed family systems, what it really means when family me...

Holy Saturday is the day in between. Friday’s pain has already happened. Sunday’s redemption is coming. But today… it can still feel quiet. In this Holy Week episode of Here’s the Lesson , Jon reflects on the meaning of Holy Saturday and what it teaches us about waiting, grief, unanswered prayers, and the sacred growth that can happen in seasons of silence. Drawing from personal experience—includi...

Good Friday brings us to one of the most sacred and sobering moments in all of scripture: the cross. This is the day when betrayal, grief, abandonment, and suffering seem to reach their deepest point. And yet Good Friday reveals one of the most powerful truths of the gospel: love stayed. In this episode of Here’s the Lesson , Jon reflects on what Good Friday teaches us about suffering, family pain...

Holy Thursday brings us to one of the most sacred and deeply human moments in all of scripture: The Garden of Gethsemane. This is the night Jesus is not before the crowds. He is alone. In anguish. In prayer. Under the full weight of what is coming. And what makes this moment so powerful is this: Jesus did not deny the pain. He did not rush past the sorrow. He brought the full weight of His sufferi...

Holy Wednesday confronts us with one of the most painful truths in all of scripture: Jesus was not betrayed by strangers. He was betrayed by someone inside the circle. Someone who had walked with Him. Sat with Him. Learned from Him. Shared meals with Him. That is what makes this day so deeply human. Because some of life’s deepest wounds do not come from obvious enemies. They come from people close...

Holy Tuesday gives us one of the most sobering lessons of Holy Week: not everyone who sounds spiritual is safe. Jesus was not hardest on weakness. He was hardest on what looked righteous but quietly harmed people . In this “Here’s the Lesson” episode, Jon explores what Christ teaches about hypocrisy, spiritual pressure, false holiness, and the difference between appearance and fruit . Jesus never...

On Holy Monday, Jesus does something many Christians do not know what to do with: He cleanses the temple. He overturns tables. He drives things out. He disrupts what everyone else had learned to tolerate. And He does not do it because He lacks love. He does it because something sacred is being violated. In this episode, we explore what Jesus cleansing the temple reveals about faith, truth, boundar...

On Palm Sunday, the crowds welcomed Jesus with praise, palm branches, and celebration. But beneath that moment was a painful tension: many people were not surrendering to who Christ truly was. They were embracing who they hoped He would be. In this mini episode of Here’s the Lesson , Jon explores what Palm Sunday reveals about discipleship, people-pleasing, family pressure, Christian boundaries, a...

What does it actually mean to be a “peacemaker” as a Christian? For many of us, “keeping the peace” meant staying quiet… avoiding conflict… and carrying things that were never ours to carry. But that’s not the peace Jesus talked about. In this episode, we break down the difference between true peacemaking and unhealthy appeasement , and why so many people—especially in family systems—confuse silen...

Have you ever been told, “Don’t talk about that… it’s gossip” —when you were just trying to make sense of something painful? In many families and faith communities, truth-telling gets mislabeled as gossip. And when that happens, harmful patterns stay protected, voices get silenced, and the people who need support the most are left carrying it alone. In this episode, we break down the difference be...

Why do conversations with your parents feel impossible? Why does it feel like you’re asking for something simple—honesty, accountability, understanding… and getting defensiveness, silence, or “we did the best we could” in return? In this episode, we break down what’s actually happening beneath the surface. This isn’t just a communication issue. It’s not just personality differences. 👉 It’s genera...

What happens when you set a healthy boundary… and instead of being met with understanding, you become the target of a smear campaign? In this episode of Here’s the Lesson , Jon shares a personal story about what unfolded after he and his wife Ashley set boundaries within their family—and how quickly the narrative shifted from the truth… to attacks on his character. Rumors were spread. Assumptions...

If you’ve ever set a boundary with your family and immediately felt guilty… this episode is for you. That voice that starts asking: “Was that too harsh?” “Am I hurting them?” “Am I being selfish?” For many people, that guilt is enough to pull them right back into old patterns—people-pleasing, over-explaining, and abandoning themselves. But here’s the truth: Guilt doesn’t always mean you’re doing s...

This episode is a special release from our new book, Leave Then Cleave: Breaking Unhealthy Patterns Without Losing Your Faith . What you’re about to hear is the opening segment from the book — a chapter we call “The Letter.” It tells the story of the night everything changed for our family. After months of trying to address difficult patterns inside a family system built on silence, control, and s...