Today's Heartlift with Janell

Send us a text When was the last time you did something "childlike?" Not "childish," but "childlike?" In Matthew 18:2-4 (VOICE), Jesus shares, "This is the truth: unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. In that kingdom, the most humble who are most like this child are the greatest." Those three little wo...

Send us a text As Season 11's "Let's Be Remarkable Tour" comes to a close, we can't move forward in becoming remarkable humans without talking about our picture of God and how we might limit receiving His love in our lives. Many of us equate receiving God's love with earning God's love through our good works or good behavior. To help us reframe, redraw, and reaut...

Send us a text Sometimes a pause is the most important moment in a beautiful piece of choreography or a magnificent symphonic presentation. Everything stands still for a second or two. This week, we pause in order to take in all of last week's episode with Curtis Chang, author of "The Anxiety Opportunity: Worry is the Doorway to Our Best Self." The wisdom of his words needs to linge...

Send us a text What if anxiety isn't the enemy but is a doorway to our very best self? May is Mental Health Month, so Season 11's "Let's Be Remarkable Tour," will close out with remarkable conversations about bridging the gaps between faith and mental health. In his new book, "The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry is the Doorway to Our Best Self," theologian, popula...

Send us a text Poet David Whyte defines regret as "a short, evocative, and achingly beautiful word; an elegy to lost possibilities even in its brief annunciation...Sincere regret may in fact be a faculty for paying attention to the future, for sensing a new tide where we missed a previous one, for experiencing timelessness with a grandchild where we neglected a boy of our own. To regret fully...

Send us a text Do you have an inner critic or maybe two that try to keep you safe by whispering limiting beliefs in your ear? They hold you back from taking necessary risks that lead you to true freedom and fulfillment. Andrea Mein DeWitt, author of "Name, Claim, and Reframe: Your Path to a Well-Lived Life," shares her remarkable story of transitioning from a 30-year career in academia t...

Send us a text With Easter's aria to the resurrection of Christ, let's take a moment (or two) to listen to the powerful words of Dr. Curt Thomspon, author of "The Soul of Shame," in this repeat performance from Season 5, Episode 8. Curt shares the miraculous resurrection of Christ in such a fresh, deeply meaningful way and leads us into an authentic space to consider what that...

Send us a text How do you handle the rejections that Life brings? In Part 1 of my conversation with Jessica Van Roekel, author of "Reframing Rejection: How Looking Through a Different Lens Changes Everything," Jessica guides us through the four types of rejection: Perceived Rejection, Actual Rejection, Unintentional Rejection, and Intentional Rejection (ouch). In Part 2, she shares lesso...

Send us a text Rejection is a really big part of living this life and being a human. We will be rejected. That might sound a little doom and gloom, but it is a vital reality that we need to face and equip ourselves to deal with. Welcome Jessica Van Roekel, Author of "Reframing Rejection: How Looking Through a Different Lens Changes Everything." In Part 1 of my two-part conversation with...

Send us a text Fear. What a gloomy shadow fear casts over our minds and hearts. It keeps us in lockdown. It can keep us emotionally, and even physically, paralyzed and incapable of moving toward a really good life. In Part 2 of "Is Fear Holding You Back?", Author Kathy DeGraw builds us up even more and infuses an IV of courage and bravery into our hearts. She invites us to take the much-...

Send us a text Is fear holding you back from your living a rich and meaningful life? Is it holding you back from creating an atmosphere of strength and resilience in your home and family? Author of "Mind Battles: Root Out Mental Triggers to Release Peace," Kathy DeGraw, has a powerful word for us. Kathy grew up in an atmosphere of fear where "fear was the first reaction to anything....

Send us a text Happy International Women's Day. A day set apart to celebrate the gift of being a woman. In Part 2 of Janell and Lisa's conversation, they touch on questions like, "Have you ever felt, 'I just don't measure up? I'm not really important. What I do doesn't matter.'" Meet two women who both can answer yes to those questions. One is an introv...

Send us a text What does it really mean to be an authentic human being? What does it mean to feel really comfortable in our own skin? Whether an introvert or extrovert, a public or private figure or hugely popular vs secretly a misfit, what does it mean to feel entirely at home in who God created us to be? In Part 1 of this remarkable conversation, Author Lisa E. Betz shares her journey with becom...

Send us a text We serve a remarkable God who "remarks," again and again, blessings in our lives. Day after day, He sends forth blessings, yet we often develop spiritual amnesia and become dull, numb, or even blind to them. It is HIS nature to bless His children with "good and perfect gifts" (James 1:17). The question is: Do we stop and notice these blessings? In his new book, &...

Send us a text Have you ever heard a parent or family member say, "You are just like Aunt Esther," or "Don't be like Uncle Joe," or maybe even, "You're just like your mother!" If you are desiring to be a wholehearted, highly integrated self, understanding the genetic code of your DNA is critical to the process. We must know why we do what we do. Did this tri...

Send us a text We are in a mental health crisis of epidemic proportions. Rates of addiction, mass violence, and suicide are at an all-time high. This data is evidence of the failures of both society and mental health treatment, and even perhaps, proof of the failures of our modern-day church systems. We have to do better. Today we talk with Sudhir Gadh, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist with a pr...

Send us a text What does it mean to let your heart speak? Heartlifters, this episode with Author and Graphic Recorder, Sherrill Knezel, went long, but every second of this remarkable conversation is filled with life-giving, heartlifting wisdom. Sherrill's story speaks of courage, strength, openness, flexibility, and a remarkable belief in her gifts and talents and images what it means to let...

Send us a text The world is looking for "a few remarkable people," to shine forth their "remarkability."  Remarkability is a concept I began curating a few years ago. Today, we find out exactly what this means and how to develop it in our lives. Here are the prompts for this week's episode: 1. What overwhelming relationship conflict, circumstance, situation, or shocking me...

Send us a text A few years ago, I asked myself this question, "What does it mean to be remarkable?" I desperately wanted to be a woman of influence who positively impacts her spheres of influence with all things healthy. When I began this journey, I discovered that tucked inside "remarkable" is the root word, "remark." I then asked a deeper question, "What am I r...

Send us a text Irish poet and priest, John O'Donohue writes, "Sometimes the greatest challenge is to begin; there is something deep within us that conspires with what wants to remain within safe boundaries and stay the same." We are invited into new beginnings and beautiful changes at the beginning of a brand new year. It will be challenging...but we can do this together. This onlin...

Send us a text “Celebrate endings—for they precede new beginnings.” —Jonathan Lockwood Huie Looking back at 2022 and celebrating our three seasons of great conversations and remarkable guests. Our journey invited us to reimagine our lives and consider how we want to really live our everyday lives. Janell reflects on a very important lesson she learned and why she is making it a high-priority initi...

Send us a text We are closing out Season 10 with a bang! In Part 2 of this conversation with Dr. Michelle Bengtson, Author of "Today's Going to Be a Good Day: 90 Promises from God to Start Your Day Off Right," Janell and Michelle share strategic, highly practical ways to CHOOSE a "good-day mindset." Also, mark your calendars and save the date for the "GOOD DAY CHALLEN...

Send us a text We are closing out Season 10 with a bang! In this two-part conversation with Dr. Michelle Bengtson, Author of "Today's Going to Be a Good Day: 90 Promises from God to Start Your Day Off Right," Janell and Michelle share strategic, highly practical ways to CHOOSE a "good-day mindset." Also, mark your calendars and save the date for the "GOOD DAY CHALLENG...

Send us a text In Part 2, Janell opens with a short "heartlift" on "Fighting the Wind," then continues her remarkable conversation with Rachel Dodge, author of "The Secret Garden Devotional." Rachel shares about her "Dreaming Chair," and inspires us to create a sacred space in our homes for "dreaming" and "childlike faith."  Support the s...

Send us a text Rachel Dodge, Author of "The Anne of Green Gables Devotional," and the new, upcoming "The Secret Garden Devotional," invites each of us to take the time this Advent Season to nurture our childlike faith. In Part 1, she shares and encourages us to dream and experience faith like the charming Anne of Green Gables and to remember what it is like to experience God in...