Living With Less Podcast

Pride isn't something anyone likes to admit or talk about. Which is why this episode is here, God revealed the beginnings of pride invading Chelsey's heart. He stopped her and met her with the truth from Galatians 1:10. This episode will give you a self-inventory of knowing that you're in step with the spirit or have you asking if you're trying to sprint ahead. How To Detect Pride's Invading Your Heart You dread doing something but keep showing up due to "fear" no one else can do it as well as you. You sit down at a table and believe you have nothing to learn from anyone. [You address before you confess. ](carey nieuwhof how to detect pride) Verses God used to get Chelsey's attention Galatians 1:10, "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of God." Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction." What Does Pride and Approval Of Man Do To Our Hearts? It takes our pure int

This weeks episode is all things encouraging, sweet, and a true testament to following God's call on your life. I got to talk with Shaina Kidd before she and her husband leave for a 2 year long mission trip to Cambodia. Shaina's heart for The Lord shines through every word she speaks, may this episode bless your heart to do the things God is calling you too. Near or far. About Shiana: I have been a wife for almost two years now. I am originally from Ashland, Ohio, which is where my parent’s and brothers still live, but I moved to Phoenix, AZ right after I graduated high school to go to college at Arizona State. I’ve been living here for eight years now! It’s crazy how fast time flies! Within the first couple of weeks of being here, one of my friends randomly met a pastor who had just moved here from Boston to plant a church near ASU. I’ve been a part of Antioch Community Church ever since! Garrett and I served on staff with college ministry for about a year and a half before stepping down to pursue our move

This episode focuses on keeping our eyes on the eternal perspective. "Kingdom Eyes" is the term God put on Chelsey's heart in regards to how she is supposed to view people in the world, other believers, and how to use this mindset to stand firm against the enemy. How do we address the people of the world and lukewarm Christians with Kingdom Eyes? View them as the unsaved version of yourself - you will extend 10 times the grace when you see them this way! Speak to them as the unsaved version of yourseld. Speak the truths of God over their broken hearts. His word heals from the inside out. Take it as high honor when God trusts you to speak life to a non-believer or someone struggling in their faith. Remeber God loves them just as much as you. Despite their sin, they are still His children. Give them your time, even if its 5 minutes. Let them know you see them! Why the world does what it does - Habakkuk 1 gives such great insight! How do we fight the enemy with our Kingdom Eyes? Instead of looking a

This weeks episode was birthed from Acts 4. In this chapter of the Bible it talks about the boldness we're called to have in our faith. The Lord took me back to a conversation I had four years ago with a friend that was without a doubt the boldness of the Holy Spirit. What God showed me in this is the difference between me desiring to be bold in my flesh and me being obediently bold with the spirit. Acts 4:13-14, 21, 29, and 31 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let

Episode 31 is all about God asking me to go back to a place that once left me feeling insecure and inadequate. I know I'm not the only that's felt like this. You leave a place wondering why God ever brought you there to begin with, then comes the hesitation when He's clearly calling you to go back. This week is all about the truth of Isaiah 30:21 in my life. How over the last 7 years God has used this truth to guide me in my steps of obedience even when hesitation and emotions want to take over. Why would God call us to go back somewhere? When you read in Acts 15:16-18 you'll see where God says "I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild it's ruins, I'll restore it." Here God shows that He will "go back" and restore something that was wrecked. This is the same thing God has to do with each of us. In order to restore broken things He has to take us back to where things began. Whether in memory or take us there in person. When a hurt is left unattened it can't be heale

Guarding Your Gifts is all around 2 Timothy 1:14. When Paul tells Timothy to guard the things entrusted to him. This episode walks us through the ways we can guard the things God has given us in a Godly way. Whether that be serving someone, submitting to Gods call, or walking out in obedience just by stepping out in faith. 2 Timothy 1:14 - "This precious thing God placed in your custody by the Holy Spirt who works in us." What has God entrusted us with? Marriage Children Family Collegues People we pass in the world Your spiritual gifts What are the different levels of the things He's give us? Some are lifelong - spiritual gifts, marital, parenting, loving our family Some are shorter term - jobs (because they can changed), the daily encounters with strangers How can we guard what He's trusted us with? EXPECT HIS BEST. Think of the BEST thing God can do. Even if that means expect His peace. Spirutual gifts - If God calls you to do something expect His best in HIs provisions for how this will p

Kendra Schwarz from Proverbs 31 Ministries joined me on this weeks podcast for an interview that is all things fun, gritty, and real. Kendra is an Ohio native gone southern. She's known to be overly optimistic, a little upbeat, and has a strong love for kettle cooked chips. She's passionate about the power of encouragement, showing up, and building relationships! She works as the Online Bible Studies manager with Proverbs 31 Ministries and believes staying relevant is the key to understanding the next generation. Where Kendra works: Proverbs 31 Ministries is a non-denominational, non-profit Christian ministry that seeks to lead women into a personal relationship with Christ. With Proverbs 31:10-31 as a guide, Proverbs 31 Ministries reaches women in the middle of their busy days through free devotions, daily radio message, speaking events, conferences, resources, online Bible studies, and training in the call to write, speak and lead others. We are real women offering real-life solutions to those striving to m

Guard Your Eyes shares a part of her story Chelsey wish she didn't have. It began as a 7 year old sitting at someone else home exposed to something someone her age shouldn't ever see. After years of praying why and how certain areas of sin and fear entered her life, God finally showed her it wasn't something that was done to her or anything she did, but something she saw. The seed of destruction and curiosity was sewn. This episode gives you places in God's word that bring clarity to the discernment we need to keeping the things we see at God's standards for our lives and others. Matthew 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Accountable & Responsible We are called as Christian's to be responsible to how people are directly affected by the way we live out our faith. We've got to have accountability in our l

Kaitlin wrote the book Not From God and when I saw this, I had to get her on the podcast. Her whit, love for Jesus, and biblical truth are so refreshing in our world filled with watered down Christianity. She tells us about her life, how God gave her the mission for this book, and of course all things Jesus. Tell us about you? I have been a wife for two years and a dreamer for 26. I started writing when I was about 7 years old and held art contests for my friends to illustrate my stories. I can't imagine I was the most fun play date. I have wanted to publish a book for as long as I can remember, and that prayer became a reality on December 13, 2018 when I released my first book, "Not from God: Taking Back the Narrative of Your Life." When I'm not writing or reading, I love speaking to women about how much Jesus loves them and how they can learn to love themselves. I also thoroughly enjoy a good cup of coffee and tacos and queso... just not all at the same time. My parents and two brothers mean the w

Stay On The Bus is all about God showing me these last few weeks how important these words are. Jesus doesn't get off the bus in regards to our relationship with Him, He doesn't assign anyone else to do the hard work within our hearts, He stays. Whether you've struggled with keeping your commitments or you've had someone fail you in a big way over this topic, know God loves you, sees you, and wants you to know how important His commitment is to you and the value of our commitments to others. Commitment This word is filled with the power to bring life or death to a situation. Standing by it can show an amazing act of love or choosing to forget about it can blaze a way for destruction. Fear Is what gets in the way of wanting to stick it out and stay committed to things. Fear says the situation you're in will never change, it doesn't matter if you show up. Fear trips us up into believing we know better than God. Jesus Stays On The Bus John 4: 1-26 is the amazing story of the woman at the well. A story you must n

Episode 25 is all about the power of what we speak over ourselves and what who we believe God to be. The perception I have of myself will become the reality of my life as well as the perception I have of God. If we speak words over ourselves that are discouraging, hurtful, or filled with lies from the enemy we will claim them as our identity. And the same goes for God. If we allow the world to skew our view of Him we miss the reality of who He really is. How we start our day: Do we begin our day with the words of God or with the words of our humanness? Do we being by thankful for what God has done for us or do we wake up wishing for me? The statements we start are day with will be setting the tone for everyone we encounter. Women's Conference Story: I allowed the lies I'd been saying about myself join the lies the enemy was trying to tell me and let them override what God said about me. I was trying to walk in the confidence of "man" and not in the confidence of Christ! I let others gifts become

Just Do It points to the book of James in the Bible that shares with us to be obedient to the promptings of the the Holy Spirit, that faith without works isn't a good thing and why. It shares with us when we obey God we get the blessing of being the hands and feet of Jesus to others. We end up growing in our faith while also helping to possibly strengthen someone else's, all by saying YES to Gods call on your heart. James 1:19-25 Hearing and Doing the Word 19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forg

This episode is covering what happens when we take God out of our plans and create our own expectations of what something should look like. In 1 John 5:21 it tell us to keep away from anything that might take God's place in our hearts. This is what expectation does. It creates a tendency in our heart that wants to take God's will out and have everything go our way. In that happening we end up having our expectations unmet and find ourselves in a harder place than we started. 1 John 5:21 "Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts." Expectation - a strong belief that something will happen. What expectations are and what they do It's an idea of how we think things will be. Not all expectations are bad but they become an issue when what we want to have becomes greater than what God wants us for us in that moment/season. In my story I shared, I shared how I thought this would be perfect for our marriage and make us feel closer. I never though about what God want

God has been speaking to clearly to me about a question I posed to Him a few weeks ago. "Why couldn't I have just been a good girl?". He responded to my heart with, "Your God's Girl now." This was a huge breath of fresh air reminding me of the promises God speaks about His children. This episode dives into the powerful truth that we are not deemed unworthy because of our past, we are worthy because of Christ living within us (2 Corinthians 5:17). Story of David David was the man God said chased after His own heart. David was full of sin and brokenness David knew how he needed God, and God met him in this. God called him worthy and made him a King. Repent, Receive, Believe, Grow The GIft of Repentance For the first time I was able receive forgiveness and reconciliation. I had to ask God to restore what I had given away and ask Him to restore what I had taken, God gives us the gift of restoration in deep places of pain. I'm God's Girl I posed the question to God, "Why couldn't I ju

Episode 21 digs deeper into last weeks truth that if we don't have a teachable spirit, we miss out on blessings God has for us. 2 Timothy 3 and gives 3 verses that ensure us that we'll be up against adversity, there will be imposters trying to pull us away from truth, and we've got to know what God's word says not just believe it because someone else said it to us. 2 Timothy 3:12-14 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. What does it mean to be teachable? Have a spirit that wants to know who God is, what His word says, and wants to live out the calling God has for them. To take the time to learn His word, even if it means starting with a bible verse a day to get comfortable! He knows your heart, and honestly you know yourself if you're in a place of really wanting to

Stiff Arming God. This is what happens when we allow our pride, discouragement, and lack of trust take over. We put our hand up to God and demand He just stay out of it. God used this analogy with me to speak into a place I couldn't see before and I pray it meets you where you are. Despite the hard parts that can come with sanctification when we allow God to gently or abruptly take the ick out of our hands the hard becomes worth it. Stiff Arming God Throwing my hand up to God's face when I'd rather work things out my way. I begin protecting the very things causing pain in my life. Pride, fear, discouragement. I'm doing this all while God is simultaneously trying to free me! Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Lord Help This Girl, I Am This Girl When I'm clenching tightly to the hard things and not handing them

It takes a village has been a motherhood mantra for years but I believe we need to take this mantra one step further and apply it to our faith. As Christians our village, our community, our prayer warriors matter. These need to be people who can point us to Jesus, get into the hard places with us, and push us to keep following the call God has on our lives. This week is digging deeper into the noise going on in our lives that comes from our community. Are our friendships life giving or life altering distractions? If you're a believer you need your village to point you to Jesus, to point you to the truth, and to point you to the cross when you're headed the wrong way. 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Bad company, ruins good morals." We typically fall to temptation because of someone else's bad choice first. (not in all cases, but most.) Peer pressure goes far beyond the younger years, it goes well into adulthood. Especially if you're running around with the wrong crowd. We also need to know that the wrong cro

Episode 18 dives deeper into last weeks truth of "If I can't hear God's voice, He can't heal my heart." You'll hear all about John 10 and the guidance it gives us in knowing God's voice and hearing God's voice above the noise in this world. God put it boldly on my heart that it all has to begin with knowing the spiritual condition of my own heart, learning His voice by getting in His word, and then begin trust His plans even when I cannot see past my circumstances. Knowing The Spiritual Condition of Your Heart In seasons of adversity, suffering, and chaos it can be hard to see past the fog of your circumstances. If you're struggling to get in God's word ask a few others to be praying specifically for what's happening and for the supernatural desire to get in the word. When you begin to feel the fog lifting you can find yourself secure in His hands. John 10:27 - My sheep hear my voice I know them and they follow me. We as believers have discerned the difference between God's voice and the rest of

Episode 17 is full of thirst quenching truth to get quiet with God. When our pain feels like it has no purpose, our strength has run out, and the noise of the world is taking over, we've got to get back to the basics with God. What does His voice sound like and where do I find it? In this episode I'm sharing about my current season and how God met me with the truth that if I can't hear His voice, He can't heal my heart. Psalm 76:23 My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever. Fleshly Failure Our failures typically stem from someone else failing us in the same area. Even though I fail and others fail me, these things don't change who God is. God is the STRENGTH of my heart This truth can sting when we're in a hard season and can't see Gods heart within hard places. This is where we have to allow God's light to permeate the darkness trying to seep in. I cannot be the strength to my own heart. My strength runs out, my hope can become hopelessness, and my flesh ca

Episode 16 is an open heart surgery in the form of God's hands. I'm taking you guys through a current season of pain that just unfolded but I have full belief in Gods redemption. The hardest parts of our life can become the very best God parts of our story. I hope you feel met in the midst of your messes, big or small. I pray this leaves you knowing no matter the condition of your heart spiritually God loves you where you are, but loves you too much to leave things in the dark. Job 34:32 Lord teach me what I cannot see. ask to see the unknown within myself and others that need to be brought to the light. know that when you ask for super natural changes in others close to you God will be doing a work in you as well. remember the Lord knows all things and prepares us because He is a Good Father. When life lends itself to a big qustions mark, remember it all sifts through His hands. God loves you no matter what condition your heart is in spiritually. God loves you to much to keep to keep things in the dark.