WELCOME HEART: Living a Legacy Life

Do you ever wonder if what you’re doing really matters? Like for eternity? At 74 I think more about eternity than I did, say at 24 or even 44. Whenever I’d ask my mentor, Laurie Potratz, for advice on whether I should do something or not, she’d say the same thing: if you’re investing in people or the Word, go ahead, bec both last forever. Today we get to think about the topic, The older we get, the more we have to invest – that matters! Today is the last episode of my podcast, Welcome Heart: Living a Legacy Life and for those of you who just tuned in, I’d like to share how this all got started. I'm calling it a sabbatical. I don’t know what that will look like in my life but if God is nudging you to lay something aside, for a short itme , a year or maybe forever, it will  be good for your soul and for all the souls around you that you are investing it. Here I am about a year in - not exactly a pro, not exactly knowing what I'm doing, but God helped me so very much:   Some thoughts to encourage you live your legacy life: Mentoring is pouring out to another what God has poured into us. But we have nothing worth pouring out if we don’t first sit at the feet of Jesus. Ministry is spillage. We want to be so filled up with God that when we are bumped and rattled and pushed around, what spills out is God Himself. That’s all God is looking for: He wants us to want Him.  What do we use to satisfy our hunger instead of God? In place of God? Ahead of God? Besides God? I memorize Scripture so, as Cynthia Heald said, the Holy Spirit has a bigger vocabulary in my life, but 17 verses is all my brain can hold at one time. Maybe it's my old brain. If something you do invests in the Word or people, it will last because both last forever. Abiding is the main thing we have control over—we can’t fix people or the world or even create fruit that lasts—but we can abide. Maybe that’s the main thing about living a legacy life. As mentioned in this podcasts, you can hear more about mentoring in Episodes 14, 21,and 89. Find my book on Amazon, Table Mentoring: A Simple Guide to Coming Alongside Be sure to tune in on Mondays to hear 7 picks from 7 years of Living a Legacy Life—one on every other Monday.   

Jon Tyson said, “Our faith is an invitational faith.” We all have thirsty souls and we’ve been invited to drink at God’s well on a continual basis. Have you offered God's Living Water lately? How did that come about? Maybe through an easy conversation in line at the store or in class. Mark got saved because two guys came to his door looking for someone else. God does the real work, we just listen and obey. An exciting way to live.  Today we talk about how God wants us to build bridges, not walls, and some intriguing ways we can do that. Some gems: Make a short list of people you know somewhat, but who you want to know better. Text an invitation this week. Don’t make it a big deal. Let God make it the big deal that he has in mind. You just make the coffee or tea and buy scones at Aldi’s. Who in your life might be waiting for an invitation—not a formal one, but a “ticket” of some kind—into a deeper conversation that could include God and faith? My home is in Jesus and his is in mine. But I don't close the door. I keep it a little bit ajar in case someone needs an invitation. A friend said that listening is maybe the most important part of doing hospitality. I loved that. I don't always do that. People just needed to be together and find that they were not alone. I never intended to host wine nights. First of all, I didn’t grow up with wine but that had changed in later years although I did hide the random bottle in the upstairs closet when Mom visited. (When do we ever stop hiding things from Mom?) This is what I learned: women may feel insecure walking in the door, but sense God’s love through you and me because they did. God was mentioned but he wasn’t on any guest list they could see. He just showed up, time and time again.       ******   Have you gotten your copy of Never Alone: Stories of Invitation and Connection -- On Amazon today! Artwork by our Mary Grace.  Please leave an honest review and I thank you from the bottom of bottom of my heart.      Do you love hosting but you're not sure how to get from surface conversation to things that really help others be known? Here you go, just for you, and for that person you invite:  ORDER HERE      

Do you think of your life as bringing something significant to those around you every day? Do you wake up in the morning and say, “Who’s life can I impact for you today, Lord? And does it involve a vanilla latte with extra cream?”  Or, is it too late because my life is a mess?   Today we have the lovely, Briana Gray –a fellow podcaster and a kindred spirit when it comes to hospitality. I first met Briana when she graciously hosted me to be on her podcast, Echos of Impact and Briana loves helping women find their purpose and full potential for their lives. As a life coach, podcast host, wife and mom of four, Briana Gray, joins us today to talk about two of God's favorite topics: his purpose for our lives and our surrender to his will.  She is offering a free resource, Road Map to Purpose—here's the link. Some gems from our conversation: Whenever I think, "This isn't my idea..." that's when I need to pay attention to what God is leading me to do next. A wonderful thing about our podcast, Echos of Impact, is that we give an opportunity for some women to share thier story for the very first time. I've been learning I can be too task oriented, and people can get shifted to the side.  Releasing my schedule and agenda to God helps me remember that people are more important than my To-Do List. Investing in others has a ripple effect where God gets lifted up and we get blessed at the same time. A time of illness turned out to be a blessing in disguise where I had to slow down and reacquaint myself with God and with Scripture.  God isn't just after what we can do for him but for who we can be with him.  If someone's pain comes across our threshold, we get to do our small act of kindness to show God's love. Hospitality is a way to help people feel welcome and seen regardless of their beliefs.  We are seed-throwers and waterers and our job is to trust God with the outcome.  To get an idea of God's purpose is to learn how to steward what is right in front of me right now.  Follow Briana in all these places:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/echos_of_impact/   Listen to our podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/echos-of-impact/id1745017999   Listen to our podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0l6bdZq8HGLNfA5Gvpaz3u?si=4bf91737ef9b448d   Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EchosofImpact   Join our free Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1DfGJtjvV1/   Free Resource from Briana: Live Your Purpose Now!        

Are you someone who easily praises God, no matter what’s going on in your life? Or, are you more like me – I keep waiting for God to say "Yes" on something and holding out on thanking him until he does? Today we have speaker, author, Wendy Speake and we’re going to be talking about her legacy as well as her newly released book – a book that may need to be on our Christmas lists: A Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving: 30 Days of Rejoicing in God’s Goodness   Those of us who have known God most of our lives can still have the stance of: “I will pray and see how God answers and then I can’t wait to praise him” instead of praising him anyway, all the time, for who he is and how he loves us and directs us even if all hell has broken loose on our lives or on the lives of the ones we love. Wendy's new book is an invitation and I love a good invitation – and this one is one I’m hoping all of our listeners will RSVP to as a hearty yes! Here’s the invite: "This book is an invitation to discover the power of thanksgiving and praise, not because life is easy, but because God is always worthy. When we fix our eyes on His goodness, we find strength, peace, and joy even in the middle of difficult circumstances." Wendy closes with a short explanation of her three legacy Bibles for her three boys. A note from her: "I think the secret to not being overwhelmed with my legacy Bibles is that I do not have a timeline that I’ve set. When I am inspired, I open them up. Whether there are 30 prayers in the margins, or 3000, I am leaving legacy, both in written form and in effective prayers that have been prayed."   Check it out here on her website. And scroll down to "Scripture-Inspired Prayers." Some gems from our conversation: It's in the valley that we discover how good God is and that he's all we've ever needed all along. Because of Jesus we get the privilege of walking into God's presence to thank and praise him. A sacrifice of praise is costly when in the valley of tears because we give all that we have whether or not we feel like praising. Praising God helped me in my journey of healing so that I became alive again with hope and joy.  To go on an "Ask Fast" means I'm trusting God to be the Savior of the world instead of telling him who needs saving.  A 30-Day "Ask Fast" is where we set aside our petitions, maybe only for a month, and just praise God for who he is. A sacrifice of praise is giving something when you don't think you have enough. And God takes that kind of offering. The more I put my attention on what I know is true about God, the more my affection for God grows. My legacy is to intercede for my children in accordance with God's Word.   A giveaway this week of your latest book so be sure to comment on social media or send me an email at [email protected]   Website: https://wendyspeake.com/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WendyJSpeake/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendy_speake    

    Becky writes:  “For years, I thought my anxiety meant I was failing God--I believed if I just prayed harder, trusted more, or worked smarter, I could fix it. But I learned that Jesus isn’t asking me to prove anything—He’s inviting me to come, just as I am.” The theme of today's podcast is we can have peace in anxiety because we are not alone; Jesus is with us. Be encouraged as you listen and share with someone who may need this timely reminder.  Some gems from today's podcast:  I'm so prone to striving; peace comes from knowing Jesus is carrying the weight and leading the way forward.  Often anxiety stems from feelings of not having enough or not being enough.  My anxiety is a gift in the way God has used it as a vehicle for him to draw me closer to himself.  This book came from the message God had been writing in me for years. Anxiety is a continuum from everyday fears to debilitating stress and worry.  We need to go for support when our anxiety hits one of these two aspects: How severe? and How persistent? Self-care is not selfish. You can know that the way you feel today is not always going to feel this way. If your closest friend was feeling the way you feel when you are most anxious, what would you tell her to do? Do that for yourself.    Becky Keife is a Bible teacher, speaker, and author of books and Bible studies. Her newest release is a 100-day devotional: A Verse a Day for the Anxious Soul. Becky is passionate about helping people hear God’s voice, embrace their true identity, and see God’s kindness even when life is messy. As a mental health advocate, Becky equips individuals and churches to understand anxiety biblically and experience Jesus wholly. She loves long naps, puffy clouds, and shady trails. Becky lives in Southern California with her husband and three always-hungry teenage sons.   website: https://www.beckykeife.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beckykeife/  

Have you been surprised, perhaps, disappointed with the trials, twists and turns your life has taken whether it be illness, estrangement, grief or even infertility? Is facing one or more of those things with joy and peace and strength only a matter of rethinking your thinking?   Today our guest is Angela Mackey – an RN, mother of 3 and of a fairly recent orphan; her passion is encourage others to worship though the Word and glorify God with their daily lives. Some gems from our conversation: Changing our thought life through the Word leads to living a life of worship. As we think, so we are and so we do. I used to think that if I lived a certain good life, God was obliged to bless me. I needed to rethink my thinking. I had to ask myself: Do I want to know God better for who he is or just focus on how he's working in my life? God is bigger than any conflict or confusion in our minds and hearts. I was able to admit I'm mad at God but I still really needed him nearby.  Having a child doesn't solve all the feelings of infertility.  Understanding the Word shows us how to live. If I never have a child, I can ask God: "What are other ways I can nurture? How can I pour into the next generation?" Life is more than motherhood.    Leave a comment or email me at [email protected] to be entered to win a copy of Difficult to Conceive. Angela loves coming alongside people and helping them rethink their thinking through Scripture so they can experience God’s transforming power. On her podcast Life as Worship, she and her guests share honest stories of wrestling with God’s Word and living it out in real life. Angela brings joy, laughter, and a light touch to even the hardest conversations https://angelamackey.com/about-angela/   https://www.youtube.com/Rethinking_My_Thinking   https://www.facebook.com/AngelaMackeyChristianSpeaker   instagram.com/rethinking_my_thinking FREE 9-day Devotional based on Philippians 4:8.  

Andrea Stunz has multiple lifetimes of stories that could be shared, but the stories that will likely pop up are those of living abroad and moving often (currently at her 30th address), travel/adventure, surviving betrayal in my marriage, and taking care of her body over the last year – and today we get to spend a little time on each. Andrea, married for 37 years, now divorced, shares experience and hope for the betrayed spouse, and her best wisdom is summed up with this: you don't have to walk alone. Part of healing after betrayal trauma is to figure out who you really are. Andrea shares that her life was hidden under just trying to cope and manage. She didn't even know her favorite ice cream. She does now! It's strawberries and cream. (:  Some gems from our conversation: You can leave a generational blessing rather than one of brokeness and betrayal.  To take care of yourself—body, soul, and spirit—is part of biblical stewardship.  Learn to make boundaries of protection vs fences. When tunneling downward emotionally, turn to the Psalms and write them out. It's a way of inviting God into your story.  I'm grateful for who I've become through these struggles and I know and love Jesus more than ever before.  Don't isolate when faced with a broken marriage; healing is streamlined when you find others of faith who are experiencing the same situation.  If we continue to blame others or focus on getting our needs met competely by others, we may be still in the victim-mindset, which hinders our growth process.  Satan gets a stronghold when we stay isolated in our pain.  Go to the Word and to a community. Please don't feel you have to walk alone.  Whatever we end up going through, if we choose faith, if we choose Jesus, we will see that he will be a part of our story and we are part of his.  Part of healing after betrayal trauma is to figure out who you really are. My life was hidden under just trying to cope and manage.     AndreaStunz.com Substack FB @AndreaStunz IG @AndreaStunz    

When you began to follow Christ did you ever think: I could never be a missionary—that’s not my thing. My thing is more in tech areas and tech areas aren’t in the Bible—why would God want me to serve? I think I’d best sit on the sidelines and give my offering on a regular basis! Today we get to hear from my friend, Greg Johnson, an electronic and computer engineer – a friend who reminded me sits on the opposite end of the same pew most Sundays but it’s funny how we don’t talk all that often. Too busy talking to other people! Greg and his wife Bonnie have 4 grown daughters. He grew up with a dad who modeled serving God and the church in practical ways, and Greg went along with him to sweep the leaves and clear the gutters at their local church. When he knew he wanted to become an engineer, his pastor thought he should go to Bible school instead. But Greg knew even then how God had wired him and he came on up to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, met his wife Bonnie in college leadership at our very own Grace Central Coast. When he retired 6 years ago from a very stressful job at the local nuclear power plant, Greg discovered even more ways to serve his Savior. Hear his story and be encouraged! Some gems from our conversation: It's such a blessing to give a gift to others that they could never repay—just like God giving us His Son, Jesus. Building homes in Mexico alongside all generations has taught me the importance and joy of building all sorts of new relationships. What's fun about serving God is that you don't have to be a pastor or a missionary; you just serve God with the gifts he's given you.  Samaritan's Purse shows people during a crisis that God hasn't forgotten them. I find joy in serving God outside the four walls of the church.  I'm in my happy place with I get to use my skill-set to help others and it's made me bolder in sharing the Gospel.  I've cried more with my 4 girls since working Samaritan's Purse than all their years growing up. God's given me a new heart of compassion.  I've mostly been to conflict zones so I can't give a lot of details but it's been amazing to work alongside all kinds of nationalities, professions and generations. Helping people is the bridge to sharing the Gospel. If you want to try something different and that will build your compassion, check out Samaritan's Purse     https://www.facebook.com/SamaritansPurse https://www.facebook.com/SamaritansPurseUSDisasterRelief  https://www.instagram.com/samaritanspurse/ https://www.samaritanspurse.org/  https://www.samaritanspurse.org/our-ministry/dart-learn-more/    Amor Ministries website. https://amor.org/   

Do you ever think: I like hearing how God works in other people’s lives but I don’t think anyone would be interested in hearing my story with or without God – I mean, I’ve messed up, I keep messing up—how can I be sure God still wants to use me?   Today we have  Amanda Schaefer, podcaster, Bible teacher and author of Holy Plot Twists—God Is Still Writing Your Story. Once God came into Amanda's life, she hasn't wanted to stop talking about him and she does that best through telling her story. And says today that we can do the same. All our stories are powerful becasuse they show off God's beautiful work of redemption, transformation and love. What a way to live. You will be encouraged. Amanda is hosting a giveaway of her latest book - please comment below to be entered.  Some gems from our conversation: God gave me everything I needed while getting ready to meet Jesus. He takes all our individual stories to intersect with others to make one big God story. God interrupts my thoughts of sin and shame, and puts his hand under my chin to lift me up to remind me I'm doing a great job. God is constantly trying to get our attention so don't limit the way he may be speaking to you. It's not enough for me to be free—he wants everyone to be free! I'm a "scooper-upper", making sure people are connected to God and to one another—to make them feel welcomed, seen, heard and loved. God comes in and takes a story and does a flip to change it all around for His purposes and kingdom. Choose to look for the good, and it will change the way you view life all day long.  God does His best work while we wait.  Comment below to be entered to win Amanda's book. Amanda Schaefer is a podcast host, award-winning author, and speaker. She carries with her the goodness of looking through a lens of gratitude. The “A Cup of Gratitude” podcast is global, reaching over 147 countries and 3500 cities.      Connect with Amanda at www.acupofgratitude.org or on Social media.    www.instagram.com/acupof_gratitude www.facebook.com/amanda.f.schaefer www.acupofgratitude.org   https://youtube.com/@acupofgratitude?si=PF55x6T4ecrs7jdg

Have you ever thought about why adoption is so close to God’s heart? Maybe you know someone who was adopted or as a child you wish you were adopted (jk!) or perhaps you’ve thought at one time or another: Should we adopt? And what all will that mean to me and our family? Today we have our friends, Jill and Todd Talley, to talk about all things adoption as well as some mentoring topics. Todd and Jill Talley are the parents of three children, two through birth and one through adoption. In 2008 they were blessed to be able to fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and bring home their then 18-month-old son. Together as a family the Talleys have a passion for adoption, orphan care ministries and mentoring. So much so in 2009, Todd and Jill met with several families from Grace SLO who had adopted or fostered. Together these couples founded the Adoption and Foster Care Ministry at Grace Central Coast. The Talleys currently Co-Lead the Ministry.   Some gems from our conversation: From the first time we held baby Daniel in our arms, we loved him and knew that this was how our Father in heaven holds and loves us.  By entering in and serving our community, we show the Gospel in understated ways. Foster care and adoption starts with a loss—this child carries a great loss which we can't fully replace but God can through our efforts to love and come alongside as He does for us. Every child belongs in a loving family. The biggest challenge to doing foster care and mentoring is time management. We have to learn how to "layer in" a young person into our already busy schedule who just needs someone to show up and be there to listen. Being engaged in church community was invaluable to our venturing into adoption. Adoption and foster care is a picture of God's welcoming heart.  By utterly depending on God for grace and strength, we want to show the same grace to the lonely, the lost, and the child who needs a family.  The book Jill mentioned: There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene Baby Daniel! For information on the Foster and Orphan Care ministry, check HERE.