Up from the Muck Podcast

Welcome to Part Two  of this Pursuing Peace Series! This week I am continuing the conversation with First West's High School Minister, Garrett Hodges on how we can pursue peace in our lives. In this episode we discuss Colossians chapter 3 and uncover handles that will help us obtain and maintain peace in our lives. Links * Colossians 3 * Battle Belongs by Phil Wickham-Lyrics * 2 Chronicles 20...

Season 4 is starting off with a two part conversation on Pursuing Peace with God, ourselves, and others. In today's episode, First West's High School Minister, Garrett Hodges , discusses with me the usual obstacles that block our peace, why as Christians we should be compelled to pursue it, and what it means to be true peace makers. Links * Blessed are the Peace Makers (Matthew 5:9) * Jo...

Are your searching for community? Do you love Jesus?  Do you ache for a good girls' night that will restore your soul? We'll Aimee Swanner and her friends have created a new group just for you called NELA Ladies Worhip . Listen on to learn what the group is about and how you can join them. .........LINKS...... NELA Ladies Worship Patreon Account ...to learn more about my guests and to re...

Faith is defined as the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. A reality and a proof…without having to see it. A confidence in something without the need of physical, tangible proof. Trusting God’s plans to that degree, the way He asks us can be a tall order.  In today’s episode I’m talking with Caleb Pool . He’s going to share the different points of faith he’s had throughou...

No one likes waiting. Especially when we don’t know when the waiting will end. Proverbs 13:12 says that hope deferred makes the heart sick. And while that is true, it is also true that it is often during the waiting period where we grow the most and come closer to God. Especially when what we’re waiting on is the blessing of having children.  In today’s episode I’ll be talking with elementary teac...

Shame is such a crippling emotion. It makes us feel small and unworthy-disqualified. It's easy to get wrapped up in those chains of failure and doom. BUT GOD. ..it's because of Him that fear and shame don't have to be our story. In today's episode, Misti Guerrero, shares how God broke those chains for her while dealing with an unplanned pregnancy and the possibility of raising...

If a tree is poorly rooted or doesn’t have deep roots it is easily knocked over during a storm. Christians are no different.  But how does someone become rooted? Where do they start?   In today’s episode, I have Deano Casola tell us where to dig, so that we too can be rooted in God and not so easily knocked down during life’s storms.  LINKS Patreon Account ...for bonus material and merch! Micah 7:...

 A few shattered dreams, a broken body, and a myriad of other difficulties can definitely seem like life has come at you like a wrecking ball . But as the saying goes it's not what knocks you down, it's how you get back up that matters. And in my friend, Erin Wilson's case, this is triply true for her with the amount of wrecking balls she has endured throughout her life. Listen to h...

Money did not grow on trees in the Heckford Household and when things get tight sometimes everyone feels the squeeze.  With few resources and fewer options, financial difficulties can be enough to bring anyone down. Add three kids, a mortgage, and a spouse to mix...and well, is there any way out? Where's the hope? What's the answer? Today's message is a special one from my dad, Wayn...

Receiving a difficult diagnosis and dealing other big life changes, can make it hard to see anything good. It's easy in those moments to let fear, anxiety, and depression to seep in and take control. But with God...even joy and happiness is still possible. Listen to Landon's story of how He made God his refuge and fought back against his anxiety and depression. ***Links*** Glioblastoma F...

We all like to maintain control in all aspects of our lives. The moment we feel like we're losing even a little bit of control is when we start to white knuckle it. This is even more true when it comes to our children, especially for moms. However, when it's an unexpected illness...letting go can be the hardest thing to do. This is what Adriane White faced when her newborn daughter sudde...

It's Summer time, which means graduations and vacation trips galore! All that most people keep asking is "Where are you going?" or "What's next?" Very natural questions to ask, but what if we applied this question spiritually? Do you know where your going...after this life? Is there an after-life? How can we know? And if there is, what does that mean for you today? I...

Have you ever found yourself in the depths of despair and wondered where was God? Your prayers seem to go unheard like there's a glass ceiling keeping them from going through. Maybe God hasn't checked His messages yet? Or maybe you thought, where's my miracle? In today's episode you'll hear how Roberta struggled with those some feelings, but ultimately kept her faith in Go...

I decided it would be fun to have my two year old son help me  and my husband sound check before my guest arrived.  I was not disappointed.  Enjoy his sweetness.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Click HERE for access to extra content through my Patreon Account.

When we feel a nudge to do something out of our comfort zone or event our "interest" zone, it's hard to lean into it to see where it goes.  But the nudge persists, that's when we often know that it's God and we must answer His call.  This is Grant Tolbird's story of how he answered God's call into the deep of foster care by becoming a C.A.S.A. Volunteer (Court Ap...

Pride comes before the fall as scripture says in Proverbs 16:18. Just when we think we got it all figured out, God shows us different. And sometimes God moves us from our comfort zones for our own good. To mold us into something better. It's often because we fail to see that we have something to work on...so He brings us somewhere where we can see it. As Aimee put it, "He will move mount...

Have you ever not been sure of where the line is between just being yourself as a Christian and being professional in the work place? Have you ever felt uneasy about initiating a gospel conversation? Me too. That's why I asked Drew Coker, the Worship and Missions Minister at First West to help us find ways to be true to our calling to share Jesus with others, while also being respectful of ot...

Sometimes your passions and God's calling collide. Well, at least they did for this local photographer. In this week's episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Angela Shoemaker, the amazingly talented photographer and owner of Unveiled Radiance . We take a look a behind the lens and see what it's like starting a business, eating tons of wedding cake, and capturing priceless mom...

A series on Healthy Relationships would be remiss without an episode on boundaries. Boundaries play a huge role in our everyday lives, but often times it goes unnoticed. They are our guard rails, our bumper pads in the bowling alleys of life. They keep the good in and the bad out. So, I thought it would be good to ask an experienced counselor how we could ensure we have good healthy boundaries. In...

Healthy relationships are sometimes hard to have. They take work!  So I asked licensed counselor, Sara Beth Prewitt to join me in a conversation on what to look out for in unhealthy relationships with friends and family. We covered so many things-common toxic patterns, privacy-sharing-oversharing, codependency, using "I" statements, how to validate someone's feelings, and what inval...

What does it look like to have a healthy biblical friendship, marriage, or budding romance? And what about the parent-child relationships? Is there a way to escape all the drama? This two-part series seeks to answer all those questions and more.  For part one of this series we’’ll be focusing on how to have a healthy marriage. So I’ve asked for the director of the First West Counseling Center , To...

Welcome back to the Up From The Muck Podcast! This episode teaches us about trusting in faith during difficult times and features Kaiti McFarland, a pastor’s wife and mom of three incredible children – including twins born at just 25 weeks.  We discuss Kaiti’s journey from the preparation leading up to becoming pregnant through IVF to how they leaned on God to get them through giving birth at just...

What was God's intention when He made man? And what does it truly mean to be a man of God? Is it lording over people? Does "might really make right"? We wrap up this series of Identity by talking about what makes a man special, and we  answer the question, what is a man's identity in Christ? For part 4 of this series, I asked business owner of J.E. Dupuy Flooring Company and lo...

In Part 3 of the Identity Series, we tackle the question "What is a woman?" by asking another question, "What does God say?"    This conversation is not about rattling off Proverbs 31, but instead looking at what makes a woman divinely special. We also take a look at the distinctions between a calling and ones identity. In this episode, school counselor and pastor's wife,...

In Part 2 of the Identity Series, Julie and I talk at length of the things that plague our children and young people today.  We discuss anxiety, gender identity, "furries", but not least what it means for a child to be rooted in Christ. In a world that seems to crave chaos and anyone's "truth" abounds, how can our children be rooted in anything, especially Christ? And even...