Lifting the Lifter's Podcast

Friendship is Built, Not Found

Friendship can be one of the most meaningful parts of our lives. It can also be one of the most vulnerable. This week on the podcast, I've been thinking about a phrase from the Old Testament that has stayed with me: "Consider your ways." As I sat in a lesson at church, I started thinking about my own relationships, my ministering, and the ways I show up for the people around me. Life gets busy. We focus on our families, our responsibilities, and the many demands of daily life. Sometimes without realizing it, we stop looking up long enough to see the people around us who might need connection, encouragement, or simply to be noticed. As someone who has spent years coaching teenagers through the challenges of making and maintaining friendships, I've realized that the struggles they face are often the same ones we experience as adults. We all want meaningful connection, but friendship can feel uncomfortable, risky, and sometimes even a little scary. In this episode, I talk about the "circles of friendship", why we naturally keep some people close for safety and trust, and how we can still reach outward to build connections with those around us. Who might be just outside your circle right now? This episode will give you suggestions on how to let them in. Maybe friendship, like the temple in Haggai's time, is something we build one small piece at a time.

Do I Even Use This Anymore?

This week I found myself cleaning out a bedroom after one of my kids moved out, and what started as a simple room clean-out quickly turned into a whole-house decluttering project. As we sorted through years of accumulated memories, we kept asking the same question: Do I want this anymore? Do I need this? Do I even use this anymore? It made me realize that we often hold on to things in our lives the same way we hold on to physical clutter — thoughts, behaviors, reactions, and beliefs that may have once served us but no longer do. In today's episode, we talk about learning to pause, look honestly at ourselves, and ask an important question: Is this helping me become who I want to be? Because sometimes growth begins by letting go.  

What I Told the Girls In Body Sculplting

There are to factors that impact every single human on the face of the earth.  Do you know what they are? Health  Money Those two factors influence our families, opportunities, and really everything! They require time, attention, and intention. This week, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of sophomore to senior girls in a body sculpting class, and what unfolded was deeper than sets and reps. We talked about the health aspect and where our health resides....in our bodies.   How we care for our bodies, our decisions, our food, and our exercise isn't just a matter of learning what to eat and what exercises to do; it's a matter of how we think about our bodies. If our relationships with our bodies are full of hate and judgment, our decisions and behaviors will be out of punishment. If our relationships with our bodies are with respect, love, and care, we will make deliberate decisions to care for our bodies and our health. In this episode, I talked about three things I wish I knew when I was 16.  All bodies are different. Bodies change, and they are supposed to. Our bodies are our friends.   We dive into each one of these and discuss how this can propel us forward to respect, listen to, and care for the body we have so we can have the health we desire! Listen in!

Bonus Replay Interview with Luke and Emily Grover

Welcome to the bonus replay! Luke Grover is my brother-in-law who was recently diagnosed with non-smokers lung cancer. He and his wife and their 5 kids have been on a roller coaster as they have navigated this new territory of this diagnosis, treatments, and what the future holds for them.  It hasn't been an easy road, but it's been a road full of lessons, learning, and miracles.  In today's podcast, we have a chance to hear from Luke and Emily personally as they discuss this experience and what they have learned through all of it.  We get an update on Luke, hear about the support they've had and lessons they have learned, get Luke's opinion on how to approach those going through hard times, hear about the miracles they have witnessed, and more! 

Bonus Replay Interview with Jeff Brabant

Welcome to the Bonus Replay of my Interview with Jeff Brabant! Jeff was my son Dylan's baseball coach at Miles Community College in Miles City, Montana.  Besides being an amazing coach, he was again, like Jason, a good human with so much wisdom and perspective.   One of the main things I loved about Jeff and his coaching style with the BOAC he had with each player. BOAC stands for a "bit of a chat." He'd have a one-on-one chat with each player discussing not just baseball, but ALL things.  Jeff knew that his players had a whole lot of other stuff in life, like school, family, and work. It wasn't just baseball.  He treated the players like humans, like family, and he loved them like his own.  I felt that when I met him, and I saw that when Dylan played for him.   We dive into acknowledging others' contributions to your life and your success. He said in a Facebook post, "A clock is worthless without its second hand." Listen in as we dig into this concept as we apply it to our homes, families, work, and communities!