Elizabeth Peterson is a certified spiritual director and yoga instructor. Elizabeth seeks to create safe and sacred spaces for individuals and groups to reflect on their own lives, become more aware of God’s presence, and live from their truest identity as Beloved.

In this conversation, Elizabeth explains how engaging God through yoga helped get her through a very difficult season, why she engages spiritual direction and yoga in her work and how they complement each other, and she highlights the importance of connecting with our bodies in our spirituality and overall wellbeing.

Dr. Dale Gentry wants you to know that faith and science are not enemies. Dr. Gentry is the Conservation Manager at Audubon Minnesota and the founder and director of Disciple Science, a podcast and video series helping people connect with God through creation. He has a M.S. in Biology, a Ph.D. in Atmosphere, Environment and Water Resources and teaches as an adjunct professor at the University of Northwestern in Saint Paul, MN.

In this episode, Dr. Gentry details his own story of wading through deep questioning on his way to reconciling faith and science. He also talks about why he’s so passionate about birds and why we should care about them as well, how to connect with God through creation, and the role imagination plays in our interactions with nature.

Mike Kelsey is a Campus Pastor, and a member of the Teaching Team at the McLean Bible Church near Washington D.C. Mike is a third-generation pastor in the D.C. area. In this episode, Mike speaks to two distinctives of the true beauty reality that God invites us into, a life of joy and justice.

In our time together, Mike explains how witnessing true joy changed the trajectory of his life, the challenges and gifts of leading a multi-ethnic congregation, how justice is central to God’s vision for humanity, and why he believes women’s struggle with beauty is a significant pastoral and discipleship issue in the church.

Lisa DeKam has worked as a physical therapist for twenty years and in an eating disorder treatment setting for 12 years. As Lisa describes it, she loves “exploring meaningful movement, embodiment, and the incredible ways that our bodies work.” Lisa also co-founded the Axia Project, alongside Jacquie Danz, which we talk all about back in episode 73.

In this conversation, Lisa helps us see the joy and helpfulness of moving our bodies, beyond the common scripts of diet culture. She also highlights unhelpful messages she sees at work in our culture, indicators of a dysfunctional or unhelpful relationship with exercise, and how we can be intentional about directing our relationship with moving our bodies toward balance and wellbeing.

Megan Hadley is a registered dietitian nutritionist with her Masters in Nutrition. She is also the owner and founder of Simple Nutrition, where she provides in-person or virtual, one on one, nutrition therapy and coaching using Health At Every Size® and Intuitive Eating informed practices.

In today’s conversation, we talk about Megan’s new webinar, “How To Raise Kids Who Have A Healthy Relationship with Food and Their Body.” We also discuss what diet and wellness culture are and how they might be getting in the way of our relationship with food or our bodies.

In this episode, Pastor Scott Sauls helps us conceive of beauty in a refreshing, counter-cultural way. Author and pastor, Scott Sauls, currently serves as the Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

In his new book, Beautiful People Don't Just Happen: How God Redeems Regret, Hurt, and Fear in the Making of Better Humans, Scott helps us see how true beauty is forged and formed within us over years. In our conversation today, Scott tells us all about his book, how his own experiences of depression, anxiety, and struggle have shaped his views on beauty, and how his experience of God’s goodness has deepened amid his trials.

I am thrilled to have therapist, New York Times bestselling author, and the president and founder of Wild at Heart Ministries, John Eldredge, on the show.

In today’s show, John shares all about his new book, Resilient: Restoring Your Weary Soul in These Turbulent Times. In light of the pandemic, polarization in our country and around the world, the onslaught of technology, and so much else, John notes the prevalence of struggle and burnout he is seeing. He discusses trends he’s noticing in the wake of the pandemic, provides specific tools to restore our souls, and describes how, as he puts it, beauty heals.

Nicole Baumann is a sophomore and the Chief of Staff of Student Government at the University of Notre Dame. This past February, Nicole shared an original poem she wrote on social media, entitled “May Our Daughters Break the Curse.” In powerful words and images, Nicole addresses the prevalence and dangers of the normalization of disordered eating.

In her poem and in our conversation, she discusses how disordered eating thrives on the widespread acceptance of the notion that a woman’s worth is intrinsically tied up in her size. She also discusses the surprising response to her poem, shares about her own experience of disordered eating, and identifies some of the major influences she sees impacting Gen Z, when it comes to struggles with food and body image.

Amy Julia Becker is an award-winning writer and speaker on personal, spiritual, and social healing. Amy Julia’s most recent book is To Be Made Well: An Invitation to Wholeness, Healing, and Hope. Becker is a graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv). She also holds a bi-vocational license with the Evangelical Covenant Church.

In this episode, Amy Julia challenges us to look at healing, wholeness, and health in a new way; a way that helps us see ourselves as multidimensional, interrelated beings. She talks about what operating in the world of disability has taught her about beauty, invites us to see others and ourselves through the lens of belovedness, and shows us how being a specimen of physical flawlessness is not the highest form of health and wholeness.

Kellie Haddock is a self-proclaimed hope giver. The kind of hope Kellie exudes is not naïve or shallow, but real and hard won. Kellie is a singer, songwriter, wife, and mom. She is also a former widow who has lived through tragedy and found hope and joy on the other side.

In today’s episode, Kellie tells us all about her new album, Orchids from Fire; what inspired it, how she experienced God while creating it, and why this project is different from any other album she’s made. She also talks about how she is able to remain hopeful and connected to God amidst life’s struggles and tragedies, the importance of women celebrating versus competing with one another, and why she believes the role of creatives is to bridge the gap between heaven and earth.

Krispin Mayfield is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice in Oregon. Trained in attachment-based emotionally focused therapy, Krispin has served for over ten years in church-based trauma recovery programs. In today’s show, I am thrilled for him to share how our early-learned blueprint for relating impacts our adult relationships and even our relationship with God.

In our time together, Krispin helps us explore what the four main attachment styles are, how these styles impact our adult romantic relationships, and how they impact our relationship with God. Krispin also helps us understand how we might move toward experiencing a more secure attachment with God.

Jena Holliday is a Minneapolis-based graphic artist, children’s book author and illustrator, wife, mother, and the founder and Director of the online shop and platform, Spoonful of Faith. Her work can be found at retailers such as Target, Michaels, and Kirklands and her recent children’s book release, A Spoonful of Faith, was featured on Good Morning America.

In our time together, we talk about Jena’s transition from a full-time marketing career to creating her own business as a graphic artist, and what she felt God telling her in that transition. Jena also shares how she creates from a place of worship and sees her work as an incredible opportunity to co-create alongside God.

Tara Owens is the founder and executive director of Anam Cara Ministries, where she has been accompanying others in their journeys with God for 15 years as a certified spiritual director and supervisor. Tara holds a Masters of Theological Studies in Spiritual Formation, combined with a certificate in Death, Dying & Grieving, from Tyndale Seminary, and the Advanced Certificate in Supervision from the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University.

In my conversation with Tara, we talk about soul friendship; what it is, how it impacts the world, and how it plays a crucial role in resisting culture. We also talk at length about Tara’s book, Embracing the Body. Tara helps us move away from cultural trends of objectifying or criticizing our bodies, to instead befriend our bodies and see them as good.

On this week’s episode, I interview author, speaker, and former litigating attorney, Lisa Appelo. In her new book, Life Can Be Good Again: Putting Your World Back Together After It All Falls Apart, Lisa details the story of becoming a widowed mother of seven and what she’s learned in the process. In her writing and in her ministry, Lisa offers hope to those struggling with disappointment or grief.

In our time together, we talk about what got Lisa through the days following her husband’s death, her passionate invitation for us all to live life deeply, and how all of life can be viewed as an opportunity to be shaped into the people God’s created us to be.

One of the most significant spiritual mentors in my young adult years was Dr. Jeffrey Crafton. Dr. Crafton is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church, an adjunct professor at North Park Theological Seminary, and a Sacred Studies teacher at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, Minnesota, teaching classes in ethics and faith formation to eleventh and twelfth graders.

This year, Dr. Crafton is retiring from Minnehaha Academy after 26 years of mentoring thousands of high schoolers, as they wade through pivotal faith-related questions. In my time with Dr. Crafton, we tackle some of the same issues and themes that arise in his classes, including issues of faith and doubt, how he sees science as complimentary to faith, and, after studying the uniqueness of Christianity for decades, what he believes to be most captivating about the person of Jesus.

Chenoa Murphy started the violin at age 3 and was trained in and completed the Suzuki Violin method. She has achieved both her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance from the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music, as well as her Doctoral studies from the University of Iowa. She has taught violin and viola and is a member of several symphony orchestras in her area. Her opinions on race can be found on CNN, NPR Illinois, and Huffington Post.

In our time together, we talk about what it was like growing up immersed in classical and Gospel music, why black representation in classical music matters, and why she believes authenticity is cornerstone to embodying true beauty.

Sometimes light shines brightest in the darkness. And that’s exactly what’s happening at the Polish-Ukrainian border, as Davide Martello plays his baby grand piano. Davide Martello, also known as Klavierkunst, is a German pianist of Italian descent. Martello is known for traveling around conflict zones to play his baby grand piano. His mission is to bring peace through music.

Martello’s work has been featured by outlets such as CNN and has previously been recognized by the European parliament for his “outstanding contribution to European cooperation and the promotion of common values.”

Sumner Brooks is a registered dietitian (RDN), author, and mom who has spent over 13 years working in the field of nutrition and eating disorders. She most recently co-authored her second book, entitled How to Raise an Intuitive Eater: Raising the Next Generation with Food and Body Confidence.

In this week’s episode we talk about how diet culture disrupts our relationship with food and our bodies, why fear-based messaging is unhelpful in those relationships, and how to go about raising kids with food and body confidence.

Nicole Zasowski is a licensed marriage and family therapist, author, and speaker. In her new book, entitled What If It’s Wonderful? Nicole invites readers to trust joy and find the courage to celebrate when we have endured seasons of disappointment and despair.

In this conversation, Nicole invites us to open our hearts and minds to joy and celebration in authentic and grounding ways. She also makes a psychological and spiritual case for the importance of embracing joy and celebration, even when it feels scary, and discusses tangible practices to help us move from worry and “what ifs” to embracing the vibrancy of the present moment.

Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani is an eating disorders expert physician and the Founder and Medical Director of the Gaudiani Clinic in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Gauidiani completed her undergraduate degree at Harvard, medical school at Boston University School of Medicine, and her internal medicine residency and chief residency at Yale. In 2008, she was one of the founding team members of the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders at Denver Health.

In our time together, Dr. Gaudiani covers so many important topics, including the shocking percentage of people whom she believes have a disordered relationship with food, how diet culture has impacted the medical field, and how most doctors don’t understand eating disorders. She also talks about thin privilege, weight stigma, weight-inclusive medical care, and what a balanced relationship with food and our bodies looks like.