We Have This Hope

I love this work—thinking deeply about what God is doing in the world and how we respond to that. But also the rubber has to meet the road occasionally. The things we analyze and inwardly process have to influence the habits of our daily lives otherwise what an incredible waste of resources. On the heels of studying some Old Testament Hebrew words and knowing I’m about to bring you more thinking-d...

Today’s story is one that I know well because it’s partly mine. I shared the experience with a lot people, others who also had storm damage, friends and family who walked through it with us, but no one knows the intricacies of the last year more than my brilliant husband Dustin. He’s joining me on the episode to tell the story. One year ago the hundred year old oak tree in our backyard dropped a m...

Part 2 is ready for you! Last week I promised you the second half of my conversation with Lael Crabtree, a missionary living with her family in the busy of Papua New Guinea. It bears repeating that this story comes in two parts because we chatted for nearly three hours and I barely needed to edit. Please don’t miss out on the first episode because Lael does a beautiful job of giving context to the...

Today I’m sharing my conversation with Lael Crabtree. She is an incredible storyteller and, unless you already have friends who live in the bush of Papua New Guinea (I mean, do you? that’d be a crazy coincidence), then you’ve never heard a story quite so unique and powerful. This is part one of a series on the work Lael and her family are doing because we talked for almost 3 hours during her inter...

I found Whitney K. Pipkin on Instagram and just really liked what she had to say. That’s how it started even though we’ve since discovered that we were both at the University of Oklahoma at the exact same time. The way she wrote about her experience of walking alongside her mother as she battled cancer for more than 20 years really got my attention. Good news for me when I discovered that she had...

I’m delightfully calling this episode a crossover event. It is equal parts learning about the beautiful work of an organization in the child welfare sphere and equal parts the story of God’s good work in the life of one person. The organization is 111 Project (also CarePortal ) and the person is Chris Campbell. Chris is a Tulsa native who recently traveled the world for a year with his family of 7...

Today I am so happy to share with you the story of Jamie O’Donoghue. Jamie is someone who I am grateful to know. He's also someone who I asked to join me on the show without knowing much of their story. In fact, I think I totally surprised him when I asked if he’d be willing to do an episode, but I am so grateful he said yes. Jamie is intentional with his words and thoughtful about his faith. You’...

Today’s episode is such a gift.  I’m sharing my conversation with author Kristen LaValley —you may know her from some of her beautiful writing over the years on her blog, from Instagram, or even right here on Substack. In this episode we talk about her upcoming book Even If He Doesn’t - What We Believe About God When Life Doesn’t Make Sense . Kristen shares about doubt and belief, hope and sufferi...

For this episode I'm looking at the gospel of Luke to answer the question " What does scripture say about women in relationship to each other and to the church? " This episode is adapted from a live talk given at Cornerstone Church in Tulsa, OK and available for you as a paid subscriber. I love creating content that helps stir your thinking and increase your hope and it means the world to me that...

Today’s episode is with my friend Andrea Bubert. Even after saying yes to joining me on the podcast, Andrea gave me the opportunity to change my mind. “If you’re sure…” she said when I told her I was certain. If you’ve ever wondered if your story was ordinary, this episode is for you. If telling your story looks more like reviewing years of faithfulness and less like “I once was blind and now I se...

You know when you see someone all the time, bump into them often and think you'd like to be friends, but you don't really know their story? That is today's conversation for me. Today I'm sharing my conversation with my new friend Kasey Rutherford, a fellow mom of 3 who lives down the street and sits near me at church. But most importantly, she's a woman whose life has been profoundly changed by Je...

I can't believe it's been over a year of We Have This Hope. Just typing those words (or saying them in a microphone) is stirring up memories of Emily circa 2021 day-dreaming and scheming, eventually planning and preparing. If you’ve been with me from the beginning, THANK YOU! Today’s episode is simple. I’m sharing the vision for WHTH in 2024 and some exciting updates that I’ll be rolling out later...

We're wrapping up 2023 and Season 2 of We Have This Hope with a really sweet episode for you! I don't take this lightly when I say today's guest is by far the cutest one we've ever had. My 5 year old son Avett has been asking to be on the show for months and he's the perfect bookend to an incredible year of interviewing wise and lovely people. I'm also sharing a Prayer for...

Most of us don’t work at church.  Or at least we don’t call our local church the place we get paid to show up every day and that was really never Amy’s plan.  Today you get to meet someone who is equal parts wise and funny, someone I dearly love, someone who has served the local church for nearly 15 years.  My friend Amy moved to Texas after college to teach elementary school when God called her b...

“Do I actually believe the resurrection is true? If it’s not, all is lost. If it is, that changes everything… ” - Sarah J. Hauser Friends, you need to meet Sarah J. Hauser . I stayed up late editing her episode because I just couldn’t find a place I wanted to stop. My conversation with Sarah had me holding back tears, laughing, shaking my head in solidarity, and thanking God for her story. Sarah l...

“Maybe this is an image of God some people find hard to bow before or praise.  But for me, a God who grieves is a God I am more willing to trust…” - Amanda Held Opelt, Holy Unhappiness: God, Goodness, & the Myth of the Blessed Life Friends, I can't wait to get this episode to your ears. Last week I sat down with Amanda Held Opelt, author of Holy Unhappiness: God, Goodness, & the Myth o...

We're launching Season 2 with an interview that I am truly so delighted to be sharing. A few years ago I stumbled upon the IG account Liturgies for Parents and was captivated by how these prayers were giving words to my actual life as a mom with three young kids. As it turns out the author of these beautiful words is a real person and she's LOVELY. Today, we get the gift of hearing Kayla C...

This season we're exploring the SPACES we occupy, the actual physical spaces where God plants us and meets with us. Each week we'll focus on one particular space, digging into where its found in Scripture and hearing stories from YOU about how you've encountered God in the spaces you occupy. Here's a little preview of the SPACES to come this Fall.... Hometowns & Neighborhoods C...

Most of us can say that our stories are shaped by their intersections with grief and hope. Not as many of us can say that our everyday professional lives do, but for today's guest that's exactly the case. Dr. Ryan Huey is a medical oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Ryan shares his story of unexpected grief and how God used this season of his life to influence his care...

In today’s episode, wife and mom of 3, Amanda Brown remembers her last year of discovering a tumor in her brain, followed by surgery, a cancer diagnosis, recovery and remission.  This story is one I haven’t stopped thinking about since recording. Not just because the story itself is compelling, but because of how Amanda tells it. Amanda shares about finding purpose in our pain, the beauty in recei...

"The crazy thing about grief is when you're experiencing one area of grief, it really tends to open a floodgate in our brains to the other areas of grief in our life that we've never dealt with..." On today's episode my friend Lauren King shares how God met her in grief and offered healing, empathy and rest. If you've ever struggled to sit in your own sadness or filled yo...

Ever try to turn your own dream into reality and find that God was writing the same story but better ? Today’s Remembering Interview with my friend Cheryl Wood will remind you that God can use us in delightfully surprising ways. Cheryl is a certified birth & postpartum doula living in Tulsa, Oklahoma and in 2021 her dream of becoming a doula to refugee women came to reality in the most unexpec...

What did you grow up hearing about Proverbs 31? Particularly if you're a woman who grew up near the church in the 90s? Join me as we unpack the context of this super familiar passage of scripture. Spoiler alert: I don't think it's actually about a woman at all. This episode is a BONUS episode in our series studying Proverbs. Feel free to jump all the way back to Episode 4 for a more in...

Anyone else feel like worship songs about being hungry were the anthem of their early 2000s youth group experience? No, just me? This week we're talking about how the Bible uses the experience of hunger to teach us. It started with the grumbling Israelites and ends with the grumbling you and me. Grab a snack :) and tune in! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other sub...

We're back with Weekly Words and we're talking about REST.  Are you tired?  Me too.  This episode we'll look at several uses of the word in the Hebrew and end with what Jesus had to say about it.  Does Biblical rest actually mean I'm not tired anymore?  How do I know when I'm rested?  Oh and the most elusive question of all...how do I get it?  Hope this prompts your thinking, praying, and studying...