Girls Night #270: Answering Kids' Toughest Questions About God (and Finding Answers Yourself) — with Mariko Clark and Rachel Eleanor

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! I’m so excited about today’s episode. Today we’re talking about how to take the first step (and then next 10!) when pursuing your dreams. We all are dreaming about something — maybe it’s something we want to happen in our lives, maybe it’s something we want to happen in the world because of our lives. And if you have a dream, you also have a few things that go along with it — fear, insecurity, uncertainty, and discouragement. (Among other things.) Sometimes, figuring out what we even want to do in the first place is the issue. Other times we know what we want to do, but getting started (and then keeping going!) is a whole other story.  No matter where you are with your dreams for your life, I cannot WAIT for you to meet our Girls Night guest for today.  Our guest for today’s episode is Liz Bohannon. Liz is a social entrepreneur and the founder of Sseko Designs, a socially responsible fashion company. She is also a Forbes Top 20 speaker, the author of the best-selling book Beginner's Pluck, the host of the Plucking Up Podcast, and a partner at Noonday Collection. I’ve followed Liz for years and her book, Beginner’s Pluck, totally changed my life. I cannot wait for you to hear from her! Let’s hop into our conversation!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! Friends, I’m so excited because today we’re back with another episode in our How She Does it Series where I’m sharing profiles of women we look up to. Today’s guest is my new friend, Bri Summers! After Bri landed what she thought was her dream job after college she quickly realized that her dream job — the one she’d been working toward FOREVER, wasn’t actually so dreamy. In fact, she realized that she wanted to do something totally different and that’s when she decided to strike out on her own and build a business based on her hobbies, passion, and expertise — and that’s when her company, Brighten Made was born. Brighten Made is an artful branding and web design studio for lifestyle brands. I first stumbled upon Bri’s work as I was in the design process for my apparel line, The Girls Night Gift shop, and fell in love with everything she does!  In this conversation, we’re talking through the things Bri had to overcome and figure out to get to the place where she is today — from receiving pushback from naysayers to navigating the pressures of motherhood and overcoming her own fears and insecurities that held her back.  Bri is someone who is doing incredible things in the world and making a difference in the creative community — I know you’re going to love her! Okay, with that said, let’s hop into our conversation! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! I’m so excited about today’s episode. Today we’re talking about color analysis and finding your personal style.  To walk us through this, I invited my new friend Lindsey Myers, to join us! Lindsey founded Created Colorful in 2020 while navigating being a new mom. Pouring any energy she had into her kids, Lindsey slowly realized she had nothing left for herself. Hope came crashing into her life once she learned color analysis–a process where each person has a set of colors that objectively flatters them. From there, she was hooked. Through sharing her findings on Instagram, Lindsey quickly was flooded with requests and became a CEO “overnight” when Created Colorful was born. Lindsey and her team have helped more than 20,000 clients to date find their colors and reignite self-confidence. I was blown away by the impact colors can have on our style, but also our confidence and how we show up in the world! I can’t wait to share this with you! Here’s my conversation with Lindsey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! A few weeks ago, I recorded a video to share with women in our community who purchased something from my shop during my blog birthday sale. It was called the 12-in-12 workshop and in it I shared 12 of the most important things I’ve learned in the last 12 years of my life. But, the more I thought about it, these are things that I wish I could tell every woman, so, instead of just sharing it with a portion of our community, I wanted to share it with everyone! So that’s what we’re doing today! In this conversation, we’re talking about boundaries, friendships, figuring out what you want to do with your life, how to dream, how to fail, and so much more!  These things have absolutely changed my life in the very best way, and I cannot wait to tell you about them!  Okay, let’s dive in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! I’m so excited about today’s episode. Today we’re talking about how to stop running on empty and prioritize your emotional, spiritual and physical needs. If you’re anything like me, you’re trying your best to do it all and be the person that everyone needs you to be, even if it comes at the expense of your own health and well-being.  We all know that isn’t a sustainable way of living and eventually leads to things like stress and total burnout. That’s why I invited today’s guest, Debra Fileta, back on the show to help us out! Debra is a licensed professional counselor, podcaster, speaker, and author who specializes in dating, marriage, and relationship issues, along with mental and emotional health. She recently released a book called Soul Care where she teaches us 6 practices Jesus implemented in His own life and ministry and how we can apply those same practices to our lives.  Two of my favorite practices she explains in the episode were protect and savor. More about that soon!  Okay, let’s hop into my conversation with Debra! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! I’m so excited about today’s episode. Today we’re talking about how to understand your personal finances and build a stronger relationship with your money! If you’re someone who feels overwhelmed by budgets, savings, and investments, you're not alone. In this episode, we explore what financial freedom and security really mean — and why it doesn’t require giving up everything that brings you joy (Any other coffee shop lovers appreciate that?). Our guest for today’s episode is my new friend, Shanna Skidmore. Shanna is a former fortune 100 financial advisor turned business consultant, educator, and international speaker. With clients and students in more than 26 countries, Shanna has helped thousands of entrepreneurs over the last 15 years build profitable & sustainable businesses while leading a life they love. She also has amazing advice for managing your personal finances, whether you’re an entrepreneur or not.  I loved this conversation because Shanna takes the scary or intimidating parts out of personal finances and offers really practical tips on how to set yourself up for a great financial future, whatever that looks like for you!  Okay, I cannot wait for you to hear from her. Let’s dive in!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! I’m so excited about today’s episode. Today we’re talking about how to unplug from our devices so we can be more present in our everyday lives.  I couldn’t wait for this topic because I know firsthand how tough it can be to break free from the constant pull of our devices. We tap into social media with the best intentions, only to emerge from the digital haze thirty minutes later, wondering where the time went. If you can relate, today’s conversation is for you!  Our guest for today’s episode is my dear friend, Hannah Brencher. Hannah is a writer, TED speaker, and entrepreneur. She founded The World Needs More Love Letters, a global community dedicated to sending letter bundles to those who need encouragement. She also wrote a book called, The Unplugged Hours: Cultivating a Life of Presence in a Digitally Connected World. In this book, she shares about the exhaustion she felt from her constantly plugged-in lifestyle and the challenge she undertook to change that — the challenge being unplugging from her device for 1,000 hours in one year! Her results after completing the challenge are pretty astounding – you’ll hear more about them soon! My hope is after hearing Hannah's story, you'll be empowered to reassess your own relationship with technology and be more present for the things that matter most. Alright, friends, let’s hop into my conversation with Hannah! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! I’m so excited for today’s episode because you get to hear from two of my favorite humans on the planet, my dear friends, Mariko Clark and Rachel Eleanor. Marri and Rachel have a brand new kid’s Bible coming out this week called The Book of Belonging and to say I am overjoyed and ecstatic about it is a huge understatement.  I knew I needed to invite them both on the show to not only talk about the book and incredible backstory, but also what the process was like while writing and illustrating it.  I loved this conversation so much because it reminded me that when God stirs our hearts to action, he equips us to do the hard thing, no matter how daunting the task (or how unqualified we feel!).  I can’t wait for you to hear from them! Let’s dive in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! ​ I’m so excited because today we’re revisiting an amazing conversation I had with my dear friend, Hanna Seymour, a few years ago. If this is your first time meeting her, Hanna is an amazing writer, mentor, Bible teacher, and she’s the host of an incredible podcast called No Matter What with Hanna Seymour. She’s also one of my closest friends, and I just love the conversation we have in store for you! ​ Here’s a little bit of background on this episode before we dive in: ​ So, awhile back, I got a message from one of our listeners that just stopped me in my tracks. I’m going to read it to you. ​ She said, “Hey Stephanie, I have been listening to Girls Night for awhile now, and hearing you and your guests talk a lot about God and having a relationship with Him. I am not a Christian, but I think I might want to be one. I think I might want to have a relationship with God, but I’m not sure what that really means, or where to start. Can you help me?” ​ I LOVED her question because I remember exactly where I was when I was asking the very same thing. Also, as I was writing her back, I realized that there really aren’t very many resources to help with this specific moment in faith. ​ If you go to church, or read a book about Christianity, or listen to a Christian podcast, you’re usually walking in the middle of the story. It’s sort of assumed that you’ve started the journey, that you have some background information about God and Jesus, and for a lot of us, that’s not true. ​ When I became a Christian, I didn’t know ANYTHING about God or Jesus. I had been to church a few times, but I didn’t remember a thing from it. I really was starting from square one. (You’ll get to hear more of that story today!) ​ In this episode, you’ll hear me ask Hanna all of the questions I was asking at the very beginning of my faith journey. ​ Questions like: ​ What does it mean to have a relationship with God? ​ How do we actually begin a relationship with God? ​ What kind of life change should we expect to see in becoming a Christian? And what if we become a Christian but our lives don’t really change? What do we do then? ​ How do we put our full hope and trust in God, even when we can’t physically see Him? ​ And that’s just the beginning. ​ If you are new to your faith journey, or if you’re like, “I’m not a Christian, but I have some questions,” this episode is for you. ​ But also, if you’ve been a Christian for awhile, or even for your whole life, this episode is for you too. ​ I think so many of us come to a place where our faith just feels a little bit stale. We’ve been doing this forever, and so in some ways, it’s become routine. I know for others of us, we’ve been a Christian for a long time, but we’ve never really had a big transformation moment with God. We hear other people talk about how much God has changed their lives, and while we would LOVE to experience God in such a tangible, life-changing way, that just hasn’t been our story. ​ If you’re in either of those places, I know this episode will really help. ​ Guys, I have to be honest with you: This is my favorite episode about faith that we have ever done here on the podcast, and I can’t wait to dive in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night! ​ Today, we’re revisiting a conversation I had with my friend, Dr. Sasha Shillcutt, on setting boundaries. ​ If you’ve been a Girls Night listener for a while now, this isn’t the first time you’re hearing me talk about boundaries. And it’s because this has been a HUGE lesson for me. ​ I am historically bad at knowing what I want and what I need — at drawing lines and saying no. ​ And for the longest time, I was okay with that. (Maybe even a little bit proud of it?) ​ I like being helpful. I like being needed. I like feeling useful, capable, and strong. ​ For years I thought that this was the best way to love the people I love: To always put their needs above my needs, to say yes to everything, to give but never take, and to have everything that’s mine be theirs without limit — whether it was my stuff, my space, my time, or my energy. ​ This is what I thought would lead to the healthiest, closest relationships. But over the last few years I’ve learned that the opposite is true. ​ Boundaries are an absolutely essential part of healthy relationships. They’re an essential part of a healthy life, of a healthy US. ​ And that’s what we’re talking about here today. ​ Our guest, Dr. Sasha Shillcutt, is a renowned cardiac anesthesiologist, professor, bestselling author and CEO and Founder of Brave Enough. Sasha is also a wife and a mother who has walked through seasons of loneliness, anxiety, and complete burnout. Needless to say, she has had to learn about boundaries the HARD way. ​ She wrote a book called, Brave Boundaries: Strategies to Say No, Stand Strong and Take Control of Your Time where she helps us find the courage to implement boundaries in our own life. ​ Here are just a few of the things she’s going to teach us in this episode: ​ How to take a personal boundary inventory and identify what boundaries we need ​ Why saying no to others and yes to ourselves isn’t selfish and can actually help us be a better version of ourselves (and love our people better!) ​ How to kindly respond to someone if we receive backlash for the boundary we’ve set ​ And so much more! ​ ​ One of my favorite things that Sasha says in the episode was, "The world will set your boundaries if you don't set them for yourself” and that couldn't be more true. ​ Friends, if you’re feeling anxious, burned out, or overwhelmed in life right now, this episode is for you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices