Today's Heartlift with Janell

Send a text Ever feel the ground shift under your feet and wonder how to keep standing? We sit down with author and pastor Courtney Ellis, author of Looking Up: A Birder's Guide to Hope Through Grief, to explore a surprising guide to hope: birds. From mockingbirds that remix the sounds of the neighborhood to sparrows that sing through storms, we unpack how creation itself teaches us to live w...

Send a text What if the simple practice of looking out your window could change the way you carry grief? We sit down with Pastor Courtney Ellis, author of Looking Up: A Birder's Guide to Hope Through Grief," to explore how everyday birdwatching becomes a practice of attention that steadies the soul, awakens faith, and gently leads us toward hope. From the first "spark bird" tha...

Send us a text A quiet lie can steer a whole life. We sat down with Pastor Gary Thomas, author of Living the Life You Were Reborn to Live: Dismantling 12 Lies That Rob Your Intimacy with God , to name the deceptions that slip into our thinking, even inside church walls, and to rebuild a vision of intimacy with God that can weather real storms. From the first moments, we trace how distraction has b...

Send us a text Stephanie Watson, author and founder of "The Table," shares from her new book, Ruth's Need for a Redeemer: A Bible Study on Loss, Loyalty, and Unexpected Love.   We linger on Ruth’s crossroads moment: return to what’s familiar, or risk the unknown with God. It’s the same decision we all might face when our Moab feels safe, but our Bethlehem is calling.  In Part 2, we...

Send us a text Stephanie Watson, author and founder of "The Table," shares from her new book, Ruth's Need for a Redeemer: A Bible Study on Loss, Loyalty, and Unexpected Love.   We linger on Ruth’s crossroads moment: return to what’s familiar, or risk the unknown with God. It’s the same decision we all might face when our Moab feels safe, but our Bethlehem is calling.  Support the sh...

Send us a text New year, new courage. We’re stepping across the threshold with two clarifying questions—what is mine to hold and what is mine to let go—and using them to untangle people-pleasing, set clearer boundaries, and build a steadier inner life. A surprising health scare pressed pause and brought sharp focus to the survival patterns that once kept me safe, especially fawning: the reflex to...

Send us a text Standing at the threshold of a new year, we ask a hard, freeing question: what is mine to hold, and what is mine to let go? We look back on a year of conversations that shaped our hearts, then lean into a fresh practice of healthy detachment that protects, rather than weakens, secure attachment. With Karen Casey’s Let Go Now as a guide, we explore how choosing to act instead of reac...

Send us a text A Christmas Eve Meditation for You, Mom The day is loud, the list is long, and yet a quiet song can steady the heart. We pause for a short Christmas Eve heartlift, reading Mary’s Magnificat ( Luke 1:46-55, The Voice translation ) and letting its courage seep into the places where we feel stretched thin. This isn’t soft-focus sentiment. Mary’s prayer names a great reversal: the proud...

Send us a text A cave near Bethlehem. Stone, straw, and a light that still reaches us. We follow Saint Nicholas’s quiet pilgrimage and find our own footing in a season when headlines blur , and hearts grow tired. The story of Emmanuel, God with us, becomes more than a lyric—it turns into a lifeline you can hold, a place you can enter, a presence you can trust when love feels heavy and the calendar...

Send us a text What if love didn’t start with your effort but with God’s presence moving toward you? This guided, unhurried reading of 1 John 4:7–21 explores a radical claim—God is love—and shows how that truth can steady anxious hearts, transform relationships, and make faith visible in everyday life. We walk through the text line by line, hearing how the sending of Jesus redefines love as concre...

Send us a text "Understanding is the essence of love" (Thich Nhat Hanh). The quiet before wonder can change everything. We move through Advent by stepping into the story of Saint Nicholas—not the myth, but the young man whose hidden generosity saved daughters from slavery and modeled a love that protects dignity. From that spark, we explore how real love is trained, not assumed: a discip...

Send us a text A storm-tossed sky lantern lands in a front yard with a daughter’s message to her dad, and a simple response turns into a global moment of shared grief and hope. That story becomes our gateway into the real Saint Nicholas—an early Christian bishop who noticed the vulnerable, met practical needs with courage, and quietly changed lives in a collapsing empire. We sit down with author a...

Send us a text Sharing a Thanksgiving Prayer/Meditation of Gratitude: Ask for Something Greater. Matthew 7:7 heralds a beautiful message: "Ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." This week's question: "What if your prayers are too small for the life you’re...

Send us a text "Learning to say no to good things so we can experience better things may sound easy, but it can feel really hard - hard to know when it's the thing to do, and hard to do it. Yet there's a healthy vulnerability that comes with saying no." -Dr. Arianna Molloy, Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout to Sustainable Work Silence and emptiness emerge as surprising allies...

Send us a text "You're allowed to stop." In this conversation, I explore rest not as a luxury or reward, but as a sacred practice woven into the very heart of creation. We dive a little deeper into Dr. Arianna Molloy's book, " Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout to Sustainable Work." If God rested, why is it so hard for us? We'll discuss the pressures that drive...

Send us a text Have you ever been asked, "What is your calling?" In Episode 344, Dr. Arianna Molloy, author of "Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout to Sustainable Work," shares her research and helps us answer that question from a beautiful place of understanding and maturity. In this episode, we reframe calling as a living relationship with God, grounded in community and guide...

Send us a text Dr. Arianna Molloy, author of "Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout to Sustainable Work," shares on "calling burnout" and why it hurts more than standard exhaustion. Regular burnout says, "I don’t like what I’m doing anymore." Calling burnout says, "I don’t know who I am anymore." To find our way back, she offers a practical, research-backed po...

Send us a text Pull up a chair at the Dim Sum Table and discover why your story—every tender, tangled part—holds real weight. Janell welcomes Jenn Suen Chen, author of Dim Sum and Faith: How Our Stories Form Our Souls, to explore how faith, family history, and formation weave together, not as a self-help checklist but as a lived way of being shaped by Scripture. Jenn introduces a four-part arc for...

Send us a text "A heart out of rhythm has a way of revealing a life out of rhythm." Guided by insights from Tom Rosshirt's Chasing Peace: A Story of Breakdowns, Breakthroughs, and the Spiritual Power of Neuroscience , we explore the connection between breakdowns and breakthroughs. We talk plainly about the difference between happiness tied to outcomes and peace rooted in a state of...

Send us a text In this episode, we explore how trauma reshapes belief, what the ancient story of Job reveals about suffering, and how to become trusted listeners who create safe spaces instead of offering quick fixes. Dr. Michelle K. Keener, author of Comfort in the Ashes: Explorations in the Book of Job to Support Trauma Survivors , gives practical tools for mothers, mentors, and faith communitie...

Send us a text The quiet after the last suitcase leaves can feel like a freefall—or a doorway. We lean into that threshold with Kate Battistelli, author of The After Party of the Empty Nest: Mom Isn't Your Only Name, to reframe the empty nest as an after-party —a time to honor the first act of mothering and step into a purposeful, hope-filled second act. Kate shares the heart behind her direc...

Send us a text What happens when the warning signals from our bodies become so normalized that we fail to recognize them as distress calls? After experiencing a sudden atrial fibrillation episode that landed me in the emergency room, doctors asked the question that haunted me: "Why did you wait so long to seek help?" The answer was both simple and profound – I had been ignoring my body&a...

Send us a text What happens when life throws you not just a curveball, but an ongoing series of challenges with no end in sight? Katie Schnack, author of "Everything Is Not Fine," opens up about her journey through her son Shepherd's diagnosis with a rare medical condition called VACTERL . Rather than offering trite solutions, Katie shares how she's learned to hold both joy and...

Send a text *Visiting the archives today in commemoration of 9/11. k Welcome, New York Times Bestseller Michael Hingson, survivor of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, and his guide dog Roselle, as they share profound wisdom about bravery, overcoming adversity, and moving forward with faith as we celebrate our 300th episode. The conversation takes us through the powerful lessons Michael has lear...

Send us a text Licensed Counselor, A. C. Seiple, author of The Sacred Art of Slowing Down: Find Relief from Rushed Living, Soothe Your Soul, and Restore Wholeness Within , shares a transformative approach to finding relief from rushed living by embracing the sacred art of slowing down and reconnecting with our embodied selves. Through exploring autonomy, nervous system regulation, and ancient cont...