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Love Life Sober - Holy and Hormonal: Periods, Alcohol, and Why Your Body Is a Temple | Kim Gargano · LifeAudio

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: And so I just sat there and I was looking
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: up on my phone, trying to see if there was
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: any other woman of faith that talked about this. And
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I found nothing, not a single video of any woman
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: talking about periods and how your cycles can affect your
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: faith and just the struggles that we go through as women.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: And I felt so burdened in that moment.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I just picked up my phone, opened TikTok and started
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: ranting about everything that I was feeling.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: And it just blew up like two million.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Women from around the world saying, oh, my gosh, thank
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: you so much for talking about this. I thought I
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: was going crazy. I thought I was the only one
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: struggling with this. God was like, all right, this is
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: now going to be your ministry.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Welcome to Love Life Sober. I'm your host and your coach,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Christy Osborne. This podcast is for the woman who loves
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Jesus or is longing to reconnect with him and who
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: knows deep down that alcohol is no longer serving her.
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: Here we talk honestly with grace.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: And truth about how stepping away from alcohol opens the
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: door to the love, joy, peace, and connection you've been
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: searching for. Because babe, those things were never meant to
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: be found in a bottle of wine. They're found in Jesus.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Through scripture, coaching, and neuroscience, I'll help you make sense
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: of your habits, your nervous system, and what you're really
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: craving so that freedom feels not only possible, but sustainable.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: You don't have to do this alone, babe. Let's dive in.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Hi, my beautiful friend. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: so glad you're here. Have you ever had a week
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: where you felt like a completely different person? Short-fused, weepy, exhausted,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: and you couldn't put your finger on why? Maybe you
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: even looked at God and thought, Where are you in
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: all this? If that's you, babe, today's conversation is a gift.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: My guest is Kim Gargano. She's the author of the
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: brand new book, Holy and Hormonal, a holistic hormone health coach,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: and the voice behind a ministry that started one day
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: when she was crying in her car. She searched for
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: a Christian woman talking about her periods, hormones, and faith
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: and couldn't find a single one. So she picked up
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: her phone and started talking. And two million women answered, me. too.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: I related to Kim's story so much because I had
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: my own version.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: Of that moment.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: I remember asking, where are the Christian women talking about
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: alcohol and sitting in church hungover? Nobody was saying it
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: out loud. And isn't that just like God? He takes
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: the very thing we've struggled with the most and turns
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: it into the place where we get to help somebody else.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: In this episode, Kim shares how she went from being
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: terrified of God to meeting Jesus on her bedroom floor.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: We talk about the pain of the pit and how
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: God uses it to make us more like him. And
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Kim explains something I think every woman in this community
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: needs to hear, what alcohol actually does to our hormones.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: I also share a little bit of my own story
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: of hitting perimenopause a few years into sobriety and why
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: being alcohol-free helped me finally hear what my body was
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: trying to tell me. We talk about why your body
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: as a temple was never meant to be a weapon
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: and and why slow is holy. So grab a cup
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: of tea, take a deep breath, and let's dive in.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: Here's my conversation with Kim Gargano.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: Welcome, Kim. Welcome to the Love Life Sober podcast.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I'm so happy you're here.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you for making the time in your busy
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: book launch.
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: I know how that is, and so we're grateful for you.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: I would just love for you.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: To tell the gals listening a little bit about you
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: and what brought you to that moment of, Winding up
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: on the bathroom floor, meeting Jesus and figuring out that
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: this was going to be your message. Yeah.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: So a little bit about me. I didn't grow up
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: in a Christian home at all.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I grew up in a very religious school, but Jesus
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: was not talked about in my home. And I had
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: a really hard time growing up. So I was bullied
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: really bad. I grew up in a very judgmental household,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: a very judgmental family, especially the women.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: On my mom's side of the family. They're very judgmental.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: And I was a very anxious and nervous and scared kid.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I was a very fearful kid. And I didn't know
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: that I had anxiety and OCD until I got older.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, people's brains don't work like this.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: That's interesting. There must be something wrong with my brain.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: But I had this instance in school where a priest
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: walked in on me using the bathroom.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: And It was very traumatic.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: It was very confusing because I'm in school and I'm
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: supposed to be learning about how God loves me, but
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: my experiences with his church are the opposite. And so
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I grew up fearing God, but in the actual fear
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: of I'm terrified of you and I don't want anything
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: to do with you.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: You're scary and you let bad things happen to me.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: So when I got to high school, I started to rebel.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So I was a very rebellious teenager. And then I
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: got sick with an autoimmune disease that put me in
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: the hospital.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: For about two years.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Wow. And fast-forwarding through a really crazy story, I ended
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: up getting non-radioactive chemo that put me in remission, but
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I actually had a make-a-wish. And it turns out you
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: don't have to be dying to make a make-a-wish. You
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: just have to be sick for six consecutive months. So
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I wasn't dying. I definitely wasn't terminal, but it was
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: not looking good. I thought I was going to be
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: in and out of the hospital for the rest of
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: my life, but by the grace of God and modern medicine,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: I was healed.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: But I still didn't know Jesus. And I That was
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: the end of my high school career.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I got to college and then I went wild because
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I had all my freedoms taken away from me. I
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: was the weird sick kid in school that looked sick
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: and couldn't play sports, couldn't really drive a car.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: So when I got to college, I just let loose.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I started drinking, partying, sleeping with guys, just trying to
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: fill every single void possible.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: That only lasted so long.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: I actually went down a road of new ageism and.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Was reading tarot cards.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I was the girl in my sorority known for reading
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: your astrology chart.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Like I knew everything. I was seeing mediums.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I was trying to connect with my grandma and who
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I know now was a demon that I.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Was talking to.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: But all of this to say, I was looking in
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: all the wrong places for the right thing. Like I
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: wanted that love and that identity and that purpose, but
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I wasn't finding it in the world.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I moved out to LA and then COVID hit. And
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: then I was like really alone, really isolated.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: And got into a relationship with someone I know I
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: shouldn't be with, kind of just hit a wall and
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: was like, God, I don't have any other option right now.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Like I've tried everything. I've tried literally everything and everyone,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: and I'm not.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Finding what I need.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give you a shot, but I'm terrified
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: of you. So please be gentle with me and please
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: show up. Otherwise, I don't know how I'm going to
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: handle the rest of my life. I was unlearning who
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I thought God was while learning who he was. Fast
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: forward about a year and a half of living one
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: foot in, one foot out with Jesus, I decided I
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: was going to get baptized.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, that's cool. I was baptized
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: as an infant into the church, but I didn't think.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: That like I was eligible to do like the water baptism.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I always wanted to do that. And then I got baptized.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: And four days later, my life flipped upside down. That
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: man broke up with me over the phone. But in
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: that phone call is when Jesus said, like, don't cry,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: don't cry, don't cry.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: This is supposed to happen. This is supposed to happen.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: And that was the first time I ever had an
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: encounter with God. Like I knew God was real hypothetically,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: but then the Lord actually encountered me and I was like, oh,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: this is real, real.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Like this is what the born again believers are talking about.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Like this is it.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: And I just sat there on my floor during this
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: breakup call, crying my eyes out. And I just also
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: saw a vision of Jesus running through a field coming
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: to save me. And that was the moment my life
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: changed from then on. Cold turkey, everything changed. on social media,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: my whole entire life became about Jesus, just preaching his
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: name and sharing my story.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: And so that was going on for about two years.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: And I got married.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: There's like so many details in the in between, but
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: ended up moving back to New York, found my husband.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: He just showed up at my church and never left
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: until he got the girl. And he did. And I
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: was just sitting in my car one day.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: I'd always struggled with really bad, like mental issues during
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: my cycle. which is known as PMDD. It's called premenstrual
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: dysphoric disorder, PMDD. And I didn't know that I had
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: this until I realized that, again, not everyone's brain works
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: this way. And it's not really normal to have suicidal
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: thoughts before your period. It's not normal to have such
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: high and drastic swings back and forth on this pendulum
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: of joy and grief and joy and depression. And I
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: just kind of sat in my car one day. I
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: was crying my eyes out like, God, I don't even
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: like care about you right now. I actually like don't
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: want to talk to you. I'm repulsed by you. I
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: don't have any faith right now. And so I just
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: sat there and I was looking up on my phone
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: like Jesus, periods, hormones, trying to see if there was
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: any other woman of faith that talked about this. And
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I found nothing, not a single video of any woman
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: talking about periods and how your cycles can affect your
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: faith and just the struggles that we go through as women.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: And I felt so burdened in that moment.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: I just picked up my phone, opened TikTok and started
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: ranting about everything that I was feeling.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: And it just blew up like two million women.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: From around the world saying, oh, my gosh, thank you
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: so much for talking about this. I thought I was
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: going crazy. I thought I was the only one struggling
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: with this. And God was like, all right, this is
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: now going to be your ministry. He just downloaded the
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: words holy and hormonal onto my heart. And I just
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: took it, ran with it. I was just being obedient.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I was listening to what he wanted me to do
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: and the women that he wanted me to speak to.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: And that leads me to where I am now. I
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: have a book coming out called Holy and Hormonal on
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: August 4th.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I have a podcast. This ministry is growing. It is insane.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Got certified as a holistic hormone health coach and nutritionist.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: And yeah, God is doing something crazy. I never thought
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I'd be here talking about periods and Jesus.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: But here I am. Here I am, I'm doing it
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: with joy.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: I relate so much to your story babe and obviously
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: mine is not hormones it's alcohol because I had that
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: moment where I was like where is the where are
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: the Christian women that are talking about alcohol and being
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: hung over in church And it's so funny because when
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: I was pitching my book, one of the big publishing
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: houses was like, what woman is going to hold that
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: book in church?
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: And I've told that story before.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: And I got a DM this morning from a gal
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: in my community who said, I just want to let
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: you know that I held your book in church yesterday.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: And I was like, oh, God, you're so good. That's
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: so sweet.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: But I love that so much.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: And that's why I related to you.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: And that's why I wanted to talk to you because
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: isn't that just so cool that God does that? Like
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: he gives us this struggle and then he's like, okay,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: you have overcome. And some days it's obviously ongoing, especially
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: with the hormones, right? But you're going to turn around
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: and help others and shine your bright light of Jesus.
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: And I just think it's so cool. It is so,
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: so cool what you're doing. Yeah, thanks.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: So it really is true.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Like God will bring you through something really hard and
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: then heal those wounds so that you can go and
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: heal other people's wounds who are walking through that same
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: thing right now. And I got really great advice the
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: other day from someone in my church when I'm doing
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: public speaking or whatever. He's like, just talk to like
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: the little version of you in the crowd, because there
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: is a younger version of you sitting there who needs
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: to hear a message like this so badly. So when
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: you're out preaching, when you're on podcasts, you just think
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: about that little Christy that like, needed to hear that
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: so bad, who was struggling with just drinking and wanting
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: to feel loved and accepted because she's in the crowd.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: And whether she wants to admit it or not, she's there.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And I think that was like a really great piece
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: of advice because we are doing this for Jesus, but
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: we're also doing it for the little versions of us.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: That know that they need help, but they won't ask
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: for it.
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, 100%. We'll be back right after a quick word
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: from our sponsors.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: I love in the book how you talked about this
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: idea of sanctification. Like you talk about kind of struggling
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: with your hormones and like realizing you had PMBD and
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: all of that and then learning about it, growing closer
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: to Jesus, renewing your mind, obviously, as part of your
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: sanctification process in a similar way that we talk about
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: overcoming alcohol as part of your sanctification process and how
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: in those pits, we're calling on Jesus. And so will
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: you talk a little bit about that and why this is,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: even though it sounds like a curse, it's actually obviously
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: end up being about a blessing.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the chapters in the book is called
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the pain, the pit and the process of sanctification.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: And it really is so true.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, in those pit moments, like you've got to
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: rely on Jesus. And I love how Paul talks about
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: the thorn in his side.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: And I think about the struggles that we have.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: And sometimes God doesn't take every single struggle away, but
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: he keeps them there because he wants us to remain
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: dependent on him. And Paul says like this, I can't
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: not have this thing because then I'll just boast.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: And I don't want to boast in my greatness. I
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: want to boast in my weakness.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And I think in the same way, when we're struggling
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: with hormone imbalances or when there's things that are off
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: in our bodies or like even chronic illness, autoimmune disease,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, there's like some form
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: of long suffering in this that God is teaching us
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: endurance and endurance builds our character and our character builds
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: our faith and our faith only grows through the trial
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: of tribulation, through the fire, the furnace of affliction. And
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: instead of viewing my PMDD and instead of viewing all
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: these things that are happening to me or these things
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: that still kind of linger like underneath the surface as burdens,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I think of them as just little reminders of like, hey,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I'm only human and I have to rely on a
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: very divine and good and sovereign God. to help me
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and strengthen me through it. Otherwise, I will boast. Otherwise,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I will take all the good things and run away
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and not give God credit. I'm too prideful to be
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: able to sit here and say that like that wouldn't happen.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: My ego isn't that big. I can't let it get
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: that big.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: And so I think these things really help us know
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Jesus more and look more like his son if we
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: let it.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: Can you encourage the woman right now who's listening to
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: this and she's like, I am in that pit.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: I don't see.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: I don't see how this is somehow helping me. I
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: don't I don't maybe I don't trust God with what
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: he's given me.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: What would you say to her?
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: I think when you're in the thick of it, the
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: last thing you want to hear is that it will
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: get better. But I think my advice is it's going
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: to stink. And then one day it just stops stinking
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: as bad. And then the day after that, it doesn't
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: stink as bad as it did before. And then suddenly
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: you feel lighter, you feel more hopeful. There's something about
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: just sitting in it and just taking it day by
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: day and saying, all right, God, I have this diagnosis.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: I have these appointments. Let me just get through the
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: appointment and then we'll take it from there. I think
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the spiral that we have in our minds about the future,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: about what our lives are going to look like, Am
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: I stuck in this forever? I think that's really harmful
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: for our minds because God knows that the battle is
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: often in between our ears. And I think something really
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: beautiful about sitting in it and just taking it day
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: by day and just saying like, all right, this is
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: my situation.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: It's not ideal. It stinks right now. God, I'm being
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: honest with you. And then I'm.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Just hoping that one day I will wake up and
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: I won't feel this way. And I promise you that
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: day will come.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%. And we talk a lot too about sitting
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: in the suck, right? Sitting with that uncomfortable emotion, sitting
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: in that feeling that probably isn't actually fact, you know,
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: because our brains are meaning making machines and they're spinning
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: stories all the time. And I think that takes practice
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: and endurance like you were talking about.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: And it's not fun.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: Like I was saying yesterday on a coaching call, like
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: the refiner's fire is hot being, you know, molded. As
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: the potter's clay is probably not very fun. And but
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: it's for us, you know, it is for us. And
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: whether that struggle is hormonal imbalances or your journey with alcohol,
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: whatever it is, like God's using it somehow.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: He uses everything.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Amen.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Even if you don't see it right now, he's going
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: to use it.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: And which is so evident in your story, right?
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: With like being from this place of just really like
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: awful suffering to being able to She'll encourage millions of women.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: So you mentioned hormonal imbalances, which the book goes into
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: at a great detail and is a great resource for that.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: I'd love for you to tell the.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: Gals what you've learned in your research about how alcohol
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: affects hormonal imbalances.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: This is a really good one because I didn't know
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: this until I started researching it. So a little background
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: about like my relationship with alcohol. I never really had
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: like in a drinking problem. I would say that if
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: I was given the choice of not drinking that day,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: I probably wouldn't have. It was not something that I
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: really relied on a lot, but I did it because
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: everyone else was doing it.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: And I liked the way that I felt more social
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: and whatever.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: But I went sober almost two years ago, right after
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: my wedding. And I was like, you know what? I
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: don't even like drinking. Whenever I drink, like I just
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: have one and my stomach hurts. I feel like blah.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Like I just don't like who I become on it.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: And I don't like the way that I feel. And
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: so I just decided to go sober about two years ago.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: It's been the best thing ever. And I love being
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: the person at the family party that's like sipping on
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: a seltzer or a poppy or something. It's also a
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: really great evangelism thing, too, when people see that you're
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: not drinking and they ask why and you.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Get to share the gospel with them.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: But specifically something I found in my research with alcohol
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: is that a few glasses of wine, even one, increases
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: your estrogen by almost 45%, which is insane because when
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: you think about it, you don't think that alcohol is
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: affecting your hormones, but everything is affecting your hormones, specifically
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: with the liver too.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: So the liver is like your body's detoxification system.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: And when you're drinking alcohol, obviously your liver is needing
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: to pump more and more and more juices to help
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: detox what you're drinking. So you add alcohol on top
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: of a liver that's already working so hard. It's not
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: going to detox excess estrogen as well when it's overcrowded
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: with alcohol.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: So estrogen goes through like a recirculation process where the.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: The more alcohol and the more substances we put on
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: our liver, the harder the liver is going to work
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: on just clearing your estrogen normally anyway.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: So alcohol will raise.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Your estrogen levels and it will slow down your liver
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: to detox estrogen out. And so a lot of women
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: struggle with estrogen dominance, which is higher estrogen in the
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: luteal phase, which is the two weeks before your period
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: versus progesterone. Progesterone should be the hero of that luteal phase,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: but estrogen is still higher. That leads to worse in PMS.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: That leads to possibly more growth of fibroids. It will
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: worsen your endometriosis, your PCOS. It will just cause, it
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: will wreak havoc on your hormones over time.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: I love the way that you explain that.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: And I think it's so important for women at like
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: any stage of your hormonal journey. For me, I quit
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: drinking like before I went into perimenopause.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: I'm a little bit older than you, babe.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: You don't look it.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: Oh, thanks.
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: Sobriety. No, I'm just kidding. So I was, I don't know, three,
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: four years, something alcohol free.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: And all of a sudden, all the benefits that I
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: had gotten through sobriety, which was amazing sleep and energy
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: and like stable moods and everything like this just like vanished.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: And I wasn't sleeping. And I had these like moments
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: of crazy rage. And so I was like, there is
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: something up. And sure enough, I was like, no S
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: no progesterone, no testosterone.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: I had none of it. But the only way that
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: I would have ever found that out is.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: If I hadn't been drinking because a lot of the symptoms,
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: you know, physical effects that you feel from a hangover
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: are similar to what we feel when we have hormonal imbalances, right?
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: And so It's really hard to be in tune to
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: your body and therefore like be able to act intentionally
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: to help yourself.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, 1000%. Thank you for sharing all that too.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I was curious about your story a little bit and
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I'm glad that you just talked about that because that
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: was going to be one of my questions.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: I was going to be asking about any hormone changes
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: that you saw while you were drinking.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: And that's crazy because leading into perimenopause, you want to
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: at least have some sort of hormonal structure to help
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: ease your transition. And when those levels are so low,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: it just makes perimenopause and menopause like so much harder.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: I'm so grateful for that ability, right, to be able
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: to actually get in tune to what our body is
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: trying to tell us, which is what your book is
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: all about, right, is How are you feeling and why?
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: And what is the reason behind that? I would just
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: love for you to talk a little bit, as you
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: do so beautifully in the book, just why the whole,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: I guess, general concept of Is it hormones in general
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: or periods or why?
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: Why is it?
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Why do we grow up thinking that this was like
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: a shameful topic that we're not supposed.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: To talk about?
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's a few factors. I think there's
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: a cultural issue. I think there's a lot of misogyny.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: The cultural issue also ties back to like biblical times
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: where Leviticus and Leviticus 15, where it says that like
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: women are dirty on their menstrual cycles.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: They shouldn't be touched.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: They have to be ritually like purified and things like that.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: So there's the cultural, there's the misogynistic, and then there's
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: also just like our own personal struggles with our body
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: and our relationship with other women in our lives. I
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: think for me personally, no one in my family grew
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: up talking about it because one, they probably felt embarrassed
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: or shamed about it, but they also didn't have the
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: resources to help them understand what was going on. Like
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: I have conversations now with my mom and she's like, oh,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I didn't know that. I just like, I didn't talk
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: to anyone about it either. Like I just kind of
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: sucked it up and it was what it was. But
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: there really is this cultural piece that tries to say
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: that women are, you know, less than men.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: They're dirty. Period blood is disgusting.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: But we see in scripture that Jesus was born of
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: a bloody woman. He came out screaming full of blood
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: from a woman. And it's the shedding of blood that
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: brings forth new life. Like Jesus, his blood washed us clean.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: And where Leviticus says that women had to go to
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the outside of the camp, Jesus died outside of the
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: city gates and shed his blood. And so he meets
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: us outside of wherever we're proverbially supposed to be. And
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: he meets us in those places. And what I love
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: so much in Leviticus is in that verse is that
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: he set a place where women could go and rest.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: So where society said, oh, you have to go out
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: there and be isolated and not touch anything and wait
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: your allotted time and then offer a sacrifice to come back.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Jesus sat in that camp with those women and he
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: ministered to them and he gave them community and he
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: gave them other women who they can relate.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: To and talk to and share stories with and not
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: feel alone.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: So we can look at verses like that as like, oh,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: that's not really like a part of the scriptures that
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I want to read or agree with. We can look
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: at it from a different angle of like, hey, God
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: has been in this the whole entire time.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: He's there. And then he died for us and his
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: blood washed us clean.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: So I think there's like a new way we have
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to view blood in general, because it's incredible that God
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: has given us as women the ability to bear life.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: And it is an emotional experience. Like even if you're
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: not pregnant, an egg is dying in your womb. Like
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: that is an emotional experience. No wonder why you feel
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: more moody and sad and all over the place and
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: crying spells and crampy. And so I think that the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: more that we understand how our bodies work, the more
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: we can appreciate God's craftsmanship in the way that he
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: designed us.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: I love the way that you just explained that.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: We'll be back right after a quick word from our sponsors.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: Babe, can I pause this just for a moment?
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: If you're listening to this and thinking, I don't wanna
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: do this alone anymore, I wanna tell you about the
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: Love Life Sober community. This is the space where the
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: podcast turns into real connection and real support. Inside the community,
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: we gather weekly for live connection calls where you can listen, share,
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: or simply just be present. There's a beautiful leadership team
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: who hold this space with wisdom and care, a dedicated
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: prayer request area, regular masterclasses led by expert guests, and
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: even a worship music playlist to help you reconnect when
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: your nervous system needs it. There's also a dedicated coaching
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: space called True Vine for women who want even deeper support.
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: The Love Life Sober community is a place to connect
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: with like-minded women and open up in a way you
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: might not be able to in your church or small group.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: This space was specifically created for women who are questioning
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: their relationship with alcohol and who want the kind of
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: freedom that only can be found in Jesus. All the
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: details to join us are at the link in the
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: show notes.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: I can't wait to meet you. Let's jump back into
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: the episode. Knowing how we know.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: How previous generations really were tight-lipped about this, didn't want
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: to talk about it, maybe viewed it more negatively, There's
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: a lot of gals listening right now who have daughters
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: your age or have daughters that are teenagers.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: My daughter's 16.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: Gals in the community who have teenage granddaughters or maybe
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: granddaughters about to get their periods. And so for the
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: first time, they're maybe hearing this message and thinking, I
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: want to be able to talk to my daughter or
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: my granddaughter in a way that supports her. What would
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: you say like to encourage that mom or grandma? What
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: did you need to hear from your mom or grandma?
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, those are great questions. Great questions.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I would I'll start with what I would want to hear.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: So one, I would want to hear that I'm not
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: alone and I'm not crazy. I would have mood swings
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: out of control. I would feel rage that came out
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: of nowhere and I couldn't put language to it because
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: I didn't know where it came from. I was like, okay,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: normally if I'm angry on a regular day, it's because
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: something provoked me to anger. But with hormones, it's like
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: there's nothing you can pinpoint it on. You just are
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: that thing. And so I would say that I needed
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: to hear that I wasn't crazy, that there was actually
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: something physiologically going on in my body that made me
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: feel these emotions and these feelings. but I don't have
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to wear those feelings as my identity. Like that doesn't,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: now my anger isn't my personality trait for the rest
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: of the day. I can partner with joy. I can say, okay,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling a little impatient. I'm feeling angry, but I'm
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: going to partner with something else. Like I still might
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: feel blah and out of it, but there's still joy
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: on the table.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: So I think that that's something I really needed to hear.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: And when it comes to mothers or aunts or grandmas
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: or female figures, spiritual mentors in young girls' lives, I
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: think the more that you can relate to them with
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: your story, the better.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: They just want to hear that someone else has walked
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: in their shoes.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: And so even if you don't have all the period
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: education and all the explanations for why they're feeling the
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: way they're feeling and the way that estrogen and progesterone, testosterone,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: all these hormones work, Just saying like, hey, I also
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: really struggled with this and I couldn't put language to
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: it for a while, but I just want you to
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: know that I'm a resource here. If you're feeling just
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: emotional and like you don't want to go out for dinner,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: like let's stay home together and like watch a movie
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: or let's do something fun. Let's do something that you enjoy.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: I think just offering a lifeboat is more effective sometimes
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: than even just like spitting information at people.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: But of course, my book also covers all the period education.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: We go over the four phases of the cycle, exactly
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: what's happening in your body in a simple way where
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: you can explain things. But I often find that the
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: more that you could just share your story and relate
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: to someone, that hits the heart deeper than anything else.
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, 100%.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: As you were just talking, I was like, oh my gosh,
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: this is going to be such an incredible resource and
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: like gift. Like if you're nervous, like as a, you know,
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: a mom or grandmother to have this conversation, like your
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: book is, it lays everything out in a way that's
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: also really understandable and digestible for a younger reader as well.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: You're going to help a lot of different age groups
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: is what I'm trying to say with the book too.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you. That was the goal. Like people were asking,
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: what's the age range for your book?
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I was like, if you've menstruated before or you're still
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: menstruating or... you're transitioning out of menstruating, you'll relate to
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: the book. It's just such a wide net of it's
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: for the girl who's just getting her period, but it's
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: also for the women helping shepherd those girls and the
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: women struggling with perimenopause, menopause as well. It's all over
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: the map. And there's something that every single woman can
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: take out of this book. and use it in their
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: daily life.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: I want to talk about your beautiful chapter about your
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: body is a temple, which I love that you wrote
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: a chapter on this because I feel like you've reclaimed it.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: This was something that I feel like it sounds like
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: for both of us, like growing up was used as
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: like a sword, right? Of like, don't do that, don't
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: wear that, all the things. You write in the book,
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: it is a misconception to separate physical health from spiritual health.
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: I would love for you to expand on that.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, God created us mind, body, soul, spirit.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: He created all of it. And we love to separate it.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: I think people weaponize this, your body's a temple to
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: have crazy self-discipline that's borderline OCD, obsessive with what you're eating,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: how much you're exercising.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: You're losing the joy of life.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: You're losing the spontaneity and the beauty of just being
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: a human. And so with this chapter specifically, I wanted
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: to just highlight the fact that we can't separate the
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: physical from the spiritual. Because spiritual, our lives spiritually is
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: also a muscle you.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Have to work. It's a relationship with Jesus, but it's
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: also endurance. And it's also a race that we have
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: to run.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: And if we're only focusing on our physical health, then
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: our spiritual and our emotional health are going to fall
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: way behind.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: And that's not what God intended.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: And Jesus had a physical body, but he was also
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: incredibly spiritual, just like all of us. And I think
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: specifically in this chapter, breaking down what it actually means
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: to steward our bodies well, in a way that isn't obsessive,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: but in a way that helps you listen to your
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: body's cues is so beneficial for overall health. I mean,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: how many of us women are stuck in survival mode?
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: How many of us women have elevated cortisol levels through
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: the roof that we can't seem to bring down? The
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: second that we stop and listen to our symptoms, because
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: symptoms are literally your body screaming for help.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: It's telling you what's wrong.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: The second we listen to it, slow down and say, Jesus,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: how do I steward this? Like, what do I need
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: to do with this? Do I need to get a
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: blood test? Do I need to work out more? Do
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: I need to maybe change my diet and take things slow?
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: That's where true healing comes. And I say in the
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: book a lot, like, do your sustainable best, because I
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: have gone from crazy extremes where I get this idea
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: in my head that I want to start. This isn't
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: actually me, but like someone saying, I want to start
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: training for a marathon. They buy the shoes, they buy
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: all the gear, and then the next day after not
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: running at all, they try to run 13 miles. You're
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: not going to be able to do that. Your body's
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: going to give out. And so many of us want
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to run at that pace. But Jesus says, like, come
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: to me, all who are weary, and I will give
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: you rest. Like, take my yoke upon you and learn
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: from me. So when we are yoked to him and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: we learn from him and walk at the pace that
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: he's walking in the way that he did it, then
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: we find true healing and rest. And then our physical
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: and our spiritual will start thriving because we're working now
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: and walking in a Jesus pace versus our own Kim pace,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: our Christy pace, our own human pace that wants us
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: to go so fast. So yeah, the more we yoke
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: ourselves to him, the slower we walk, the more we
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: learn and the more we heal.
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's so, so good, babe.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: And I love how you write about how caring for
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: your body is an act of worship.
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: I think that is.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: a really helpful like mindset reframe for women who have
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: maybe struggled with disordered eating or like always wanted to
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: be thinner than, you know, happen, which is my story.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: And I just have really felt recently it's, and I,
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: it's so funny, right? How God like reminds you of
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: things and then you forget. And then he reminds you again,
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: because I wrote about this in the book, which was
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: out in 2024 or whatever. And, about like reframing my
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: view of exercise as something that gives me energy. And
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: I had recently forgotten about that, went through a stretch
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: of not exercising, exercising again, lifting weights. And I'm like,
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: oh my gosh, I'm so much more alert and ready
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: to like do what God has put in front of
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: me at four o'clock in the afternoon if I take
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: care of my body. Whereas if I get up and
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: I go straight to emails and I don't move my body,
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: if I have a 4 p.m.
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: Coaching call, forget about it. I'm brain dead, you know?
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: So like, I can't do what God has asked me
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: to do well unless I am caring for my body.
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: And the going back to caring for your body is
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: an act of worship. I mean, literally, we are temples
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: Like God chose us as his dwelling place. And if
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: we think about how.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Much we need to take care of our bodies and
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: honor the Lord, then we will start taking care of
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: our bodies and honoring the Lord. Because if we are
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: vessels of the Holy Spirit, That deserves reverence and care
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: and worship.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: And we're not worshiping our bodies.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: We're creating the best possible vessel for the presence of
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit to thrive and dwell in. And I
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: love scripture when it says, like, don't be drunk on wine,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: always be sober and ready to give an account for
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: your faith. That ties into this so well, because like
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Jesus is saying, like, don't wreck your body because I.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Chose to live there. And I love living inside of you.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: And I want you to remain sober at all times
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: so that I can work through you in any and
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: every situation. So when we care for our bodies, we're
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: allowing the Holy Spirit to move more like fluidly through
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: us so that we can preach the gospel and reach
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: the people God wants us to reach.
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I love that you just said that. That's so,
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: so good.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, you touched on it a little bit, but
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: I would just love to kind of end on talking
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: about the slow is still holy, because I think that
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: is something that we all go through fits and starts
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: of forgetting. You know, I have a girlfriend over here
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: in the UK who launched a whole ministry. It's called
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Still Waters, and she just does a yearly thing and
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: we go and We all put our phones down and
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: like we walk on the beach and it's just so lovely.
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: And it's not it's lovely because we're on the beach,
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: but it's more lovely because we're just going slow and
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: we've disconnected and we've, you know, all of that. I
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: went on that that trip last October and I was
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: really good for a minute, you know, of like I
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: even oh, my gosh, you're going to laugh. I literally
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: got a separate phone. My kids make fun of me.
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: I got a separate phone. I'm like, this is going
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: to be the Instagram and social media phone. I'm only
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: going to pick up and do at my desk because
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: I am no longer going to scroll anywhere else in
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: the house.
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: It lasted for a week.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, relatable.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: So talk to us, I guess, about why slowing down
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: is still holy. And maybe for the woman who needs
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: to slow down today, like what what should she do?
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Well, everything I say in the book and everything I say,
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: I'm saying now just models Jesus's life and the pace
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: that he walked. He walked slowly through crowds. He scanned,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: he scanned the room. He was present. He was so
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: ever present. And he retreated to the mountain a lot.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: And there's a book I'm reading called Anonymous by Alicia
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Britt Chloe, who I recently just met on a retreat.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: She's absolutely incredible. And the first few chapters of her
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: book is comparing Jesus's life to an iceberg where you
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: only see 10% of an iceberg and 90% of it
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: is underneath the water. And same thing with Jesus's ministry.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: We only saw 10% of his life, but 90% of
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: his life was in the hidden and in the unknown and.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: In the tucked away, in the secret place.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: So I think there's something really beautiful about modeling our
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: lives after that.
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: I think as people like us who are more in
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: the public.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Eye, have social media presences and things like that we
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: want to run really fast or even for the woman
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: who has a crazy job schedule is trying to feed
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: kids and take care of the home and maybe some
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: of them are doing them as a single mother there's
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: so many things that we have and so many feelings
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: of just feeling you have to catch up and you
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: have to stay there like you have to stay relevant
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: you have to stay on top of it because if
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: you fall behind you'll crumble and I want to speak
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: against that because Jesus was only seeing 10% of his life.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: And maybe even less than that if we really do
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: the math.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: And I think there's something precious and sacred about taking
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: time to slow down and retreat. Because when you do
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: that and you let Jesus minister to your soul, you
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: won't crash out in a few years when you keep
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: trying to do it in your own strength and hit
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: a wall. Like we need to bake in these rhythms
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: of rest as women so that we can have endurance
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: and longevity. And I think that's something that also plays
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: into our health because our sleep is affected.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: Our immune system is affected. Obviously, our hormones are affected.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, literally just not sleeping and not getting enough
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: rest changes your hormonal profile so much. It also triggers
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: your hormones for hunger and fullness. So basically, the way
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: that sleep is affected is through melatonin and serotonin. So
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: your eyes from the natural light through the suprachiasmatic nucleus
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: in your eyes, such a big word, takes in sunlight
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: and converts it to serotonin throughout the day. And then
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: at night, around 9 p.m., that serotonin gets converted to melatonin,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: which we know is a sleepy hormone. So if we're
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: not getting enough time in the sun, if we're not
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: well rested, if we're not taking our time to slow
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: down and be present, we're not going to sleep as
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: well throughout the night because our hormones are actually being
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: messed with. And so that's my encouragement to the woman
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: listening to this.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: That's like, I really just can't. You don't understand my schedule.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: I do. And that doesn't mean you have to take
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: a week off and go into the mountains. It just
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: means that maybe there's five minutes throughout your day that
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: you can just deep breathe. I love doing breath prayers
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: where you just meditate on scripture. You inhale and say,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: be still. And you exhale and know that I'm God.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: It's just two minutes, not even five, two minutes. Just breathe, inhale,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: exhale longer than you inhale.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: Just repeat scripture in your mind and then continue on
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: with your day.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Start there and then you can build in more rhythms
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: of rest where you can find it throughout your schedule.
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's so encouraging. Thank you, babe.
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: Can you tell the gals where they can find you,
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: where they can find the book?
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: I will link everything in the show notes.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so my book is available anywhere you buy books, Amazon,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Barnes & Noble, Target, etc. It's called Holy and Hormonal.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: And you can also find me on Instagram at Holy
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: and Hormonal. My personal is Kim Gargano, but hit me
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: up on Holy and Hormonal. I definitely would chat on there.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: I just want to thank you so much and honor
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: you for your ministry and your life and this podcast.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: And I loved reading your book. I loved learning about
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: your story.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: I think it being a devotional style was really, really
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: unique and really cool.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: I haven't seen that in a concept for.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: A book because as I was opening it, I was like, oh,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: this isn't a typical chapter book.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: Like this is a journey that you're bringing with people.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: And I think that's so appreciated for someone who is
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: struggling with alcohol because you kind of want someone to
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: hold your hand every single day. You don't just want
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: to be told like, hey, you should be sober. Like
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: you want an accountability partner. And I think your book
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: really was a huge accountability partner for a lot of people.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: And so I just.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Want to like honor you and sing your praises and
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: give you your flowers on that because all your hard
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: work does not go unnoticed. And I just appreciate you
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: so much. And I'm so grateful to be on this podcast.
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: I really am.
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: Thanks, Kim.
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: You're so sweet. I will take the flowers. Oh, thank you, friend. Well,
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: I appreciate you.
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: We'll link everything in the show notes.
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: Please go get this book. Get it for yourself. Get
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: it for your granddaughter. Get it for your daughter. Get
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: it for the women in your life.
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: It's such a great resource. We appreciate you. Thank you
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: so much.
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: All right, ladies, we will see you next week. Thank
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: you for spending this time with me on Love Live Sober.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: If today's conversation stirred something in your heart, don't rush
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: past it.
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: Take it to prayer.
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: If you're feeling ready for deeper connection and support, I'd
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: love to invite you into the Love Life Sober community,
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: a grace-filled, shame-free space where real connection grows and lasting
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: change takes root. You can find the link to join
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: us in the show notes. Love Life Sober is part
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: of the Life Audio Podcast Network, where faith-centered podcasts help
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. You can
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: find more faith-centered podcasts at lifeaudio.com. Until next time, be
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: gentle with yourself, stay curious, and trust God's promises. He
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: has freedom waiting for you.