Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / Discover A Christ-Honoring Approach To Conflict With Donna Jones

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Discover A Christ-Honoring Approach To Conflict With Donna Jones · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

• 0:00
  Hey there guys. Welcome back to She Speaks Live.
• 0:02
  I'm so excited you are here listening to this episode.
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  I want to invite you into this year by getting yourself my
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• 1:02
  And as always, it blesses me to hear your feedback, so let me
• 1:07
  know how it's blessing your quiet time with the Lord, OK?
• 1:11
  I am so super excited to have author, speaker, and Bible
• 1:15
  teacher Donna Jones. She wrote a book called Healthy
• 1:19
  Conflict, Peaceful Life, a Biblical guide for communicating
• 1:24
  thoughts, Feelings, and opinions with grace, Truth, and 0
• 1:30
  Regrets. This is such a vital topic to
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  hear as Donna shares about how we can prevent and resolve
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  conflict in a healthy way and do it in a way that's honoring to
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  the Lord. She shares how to navigate
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  conflict by sharing some common mistakes to avoid making
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  conflicts worse and steps on how we can have those hard
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  conversations when conflict arises.
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  You don't want to miss hearing her crucial quality.
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  We need to know on how to have healthy, peaceful communication
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  with others. You guys, it's so good and it's
• 2:10
  all right here. So let's dive into my
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  conversation with my amazing friend Donna Jones.
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  Hey, Donna, welcome to She Speaks Life.
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  I am so excited you're here today.
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  I am thrilled to be with you. It's such an honor.
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  This message I'm so excited about.
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  I came across it when I saw you on the socials.
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  You have a new book that is coming out called Healthy
• 2:39
  Conflict, Peaceful Life, A Biblical guide for Communicating
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  Thoughts, Feelings, and Opinions with Grace, Truth, and 0
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  Regrets. And I have not come across this
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  message before. I mean, it is just amazing
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  because I mean, let's face it, we all, you know, run into
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  conflicts in our life and we were always running into
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  something in our relationships and we really need to know.
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  This is a valuable book. We really need to know how to
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  better understand whether the root causes of conflicts and
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  effectively communicate to prevent and result conflicts in
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  a healthy way, And I'm so excited that you're going to
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  share this with us. But before we dive in more in
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  that, I would love for you to share what is your favorite
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  scripture verse and why? Well, you know, it's funny that
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  you ask that because I probably have a favorite scripture, a new
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  favorite scripture verse each year.
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  But the worst that comes to my mind is Proverbs 35 and six.
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  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
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  understanding. In all your ways.
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  Acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight or He will
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  direct your path, some versions say.
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  And I really love that, especially as it relates to this
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  conflict issue and really all of life, is that we're so prone to,
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  to default to our own ways of thinking and relating and doing
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  and without sometimes even knowing it.
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  But, you know, we need to proactively, like, trust in the
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  Lord with all of our heart, which means that's not just a
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  hard thing, it's also an obedience thing.
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  So if God says, you know, relate in this way, even if it's hard
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  or for it's counterintuitive, part of trusting in Him is doing
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  what he says and putting his word into action.
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  So, and I love that when we trust in the Lord with all of
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  our heart, then he'll make our paths straight.
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  He'll, he'll keep directing us, He'll keep guiding us.
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  So that's I just, I love that. Such a great promise.
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  Yeah, that's one of my favorite verses as well.
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  And you know, trust is like it takes time.
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  It takes an experience in your relationship with him to just go
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  through, oh, you know, he was faithful there, he'll be
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  faithful. And this time, therefore, I
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  trust him. I trust that his word says what
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  it's going to do. And so I think that just takes a
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  close relationship with the Lord and an experience with him to
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  really just wholeheartedly say I trust him and not have any
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  anxiety or worry or fear. You know that that's a
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  challenging thing. To not just say it because I
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  know years ago I'd say I'd trust them, but I'd still have those
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  worried feelings, you know? And that's just not fully
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  surrendering yourself to him and his ways.
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  You just go, OK, it's not my job.
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  It's the Holy Spirit's job. So I just love.
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  It's such an important verse. OK, so you are going to be
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  sharing with us the tools, the mindset to navigate conflict
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  constructively so we can have stronger and more peaceful,
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  fulfilling relationships with others.
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  And I think this is so essential and important, I'm really
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  thrilled to hear what you have to say.
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  So before while we start, you know, talking about this book, I
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  have to ask you, why this book? Why are why are you the blessed
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  one? I'm like, oh, poor Ghana, I'm
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  she. She just had a.
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  Life, yeah. She's the blessed one to write
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  this. I don't know but but thank you.
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  Thank you for going through conflict so that you can teach
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  us how to use. Oh, I have something to say
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  about it. Right.
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  Yeah. OK, Well, here's OK.
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  Here's the reality. There's, there's When it comes
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  to conflict, there's three universal truths.
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  We all have it, We all hate it, and we all deepen.
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  Our hearts want to know how to handle it in a healthy way.
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  So we don't hang our head and regret and think, in retrospect,
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  why did I handle it that way, Right.
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  And all of us have done that where we've been in conflict and
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  we look back and we think, why did I do that?
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  Why did I say that? Here's the other thing about
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  conflict is that if I were to ask you, tell me about the best
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  parts of your life, you would smile and probably tell me about
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  a relationship, right? Your spouse, your child, your
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  mom, your friend. But if I were to ask you, tell
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  me about the most difficult parts of your life, you would
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  also tell me about our relationship, probably.
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  Especially, you know, if there's one.
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  That's where there's conflict or just a lack of peace, or
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  something's kind of gone sideways, either in small ways
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  or in big ways. And what ends up happening is
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  when when our relationships aren't right, our life isn't
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  right. So we still function on the
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  outside. We still go to work, make
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  dinner, run to target, call our moms, you know, we still, we
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  still do the stuff. But on the inside we're
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  completely consumed and we're replaying conversations in our
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  mind. You know, we're we're driving
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  down the the road and we're thinking, oh, you know, you
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  know, about what she said, what he said, what we said, what we
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  wish we'd said, you know, and we're just playing it over and
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  over and over again. So what happens is that when
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  there's conflict, unresolved conflict, it not only steals our
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  peace, it also affects the relationship.
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  And then it has bigger implications for our marriage or
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  our family or our workplace or even our, I mean our country.
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  This is 2024. I mean, hello conflict.
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  So it's it's got these really big ramifications.
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  So it it just makes sense that we back up and know, OK, wait,
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  what does God say about the way I should handle it?
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  That's so good. You say in your book that
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  Conflict serves as a platform for personal development.
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  How is that? Yeah.
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  Well, I mean in a number of ways, but the one that just
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  comes to the top of my mind or actually the two ways is that
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  all of us have a primary conflict style.
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  And your listeners right now might be thinking, OK, yeah, I
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  kind of know what mine is. You know, I hate it or no, I
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  kind of, I'm kind of OK with that.
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  You know, I what I like to say is that we all are on this thing
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  called a conflict continuum. So on one side we have the
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  people that are the avoiders and those are the people that are
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  like, OK, I just want peace. I just want it to go away.
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  I don't like it. Let me just run as fast as I
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  can. Then on the other side of that
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  continuum are what I call the attackers.
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  And so those are the people that are like, OK, I'm going to tell
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  you what I think if there isn't a conflict, I'm going to win.
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  And you know, I just go full blown attack mode or, you know,
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  both barrels blazing if I'm upset about something.
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  Neither of those are the biblical model Avoiders or
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  attackers. There's a sweet spot in the
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  middle where Jesus calls us to be addressers.
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  And so as we're navigating conflict, if we navigate it
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  according to how Christ wants us to, what ends up happening is
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  that not only do we have better relationships, but we end up
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  growing personally, spiritually, relationally, and we become more
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  like Christ. Yes.
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  So what would be that God honoring way of handling
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  conflict? Yeah, well, let me let kids.
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  So let me walk you through. There's a whole bunch of God
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  honoring ways to to handle conflict.
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  You know, depending on what the conflict is.
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  Because there's really only three ways to handle a conflict.
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  Number one hand, don't handle it at all, #2 handle it poorly or
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  #3 handle it well. And, you know, obviously none of
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  us, you know, as we're standing in our kitchen with a
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  disgruntled teenager or, you know, we're having this conflict
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  with our spouse or we're in a conflict with a neighbor, none
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  of us would go like, yeah, you know what?
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  I think I'm going to pick #2 and handle this poorly.
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  But what happens is that we accidentally do more often than
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  we care to admit. So one of the things is that
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  it's just being aware of our triggers, being aware of our
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  circumstances, being aware of our expectations.
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  And I'll tell you this funny story that happened to JP.
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  That's my husband and I when we were first married and we had
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  this little nightly routine. We worked really long hours.
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  We would come home from work late at night, and we did the
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  same thing every night. I mean, we were ridiculous.
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  We were. We were so predictable.
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  So we would get our jammies on, sit on the couch, watch about 10
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  minutes of TV, and about 10 minutes in, we'd get up.
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  We'd get ourselves a bowl of vanilla ice cream.
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  This never deviated. So one night, we're in our
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  jammies, we're watching TV. My husband goes into the
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  kitchen. I know exactly what he's doing.
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  So he comes back into the family room with one bowl of vanilla
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  ice cream and I said where's my bowl of vanilla ice cream?
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  And he goes, what do you mean your bowl of vanilla ice cream?
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  OK, I to this day, I don't know if it was low blood sugar.
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  I don't know if I was just exhausted.
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  I don't know if I was Pmsing. I have no idea why a ridiculous
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  bowl of vanilla ice cream made me mad, but it did.
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  I was such an idiot. But, you know, sometimes it's
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  just the stupid little things that set us off.
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  How could you not know? I want a bowl of ice cream?
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  Like, we do this every night. So you know, he's like, well,
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  how would I know unless you told me?
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  So I go stomping into the kitchen and I'm jerking open the
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  freezer door and I'm thinking I would never have gotten him a
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  bowl of ice cream. I mean, I would never have
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  gotten myself a bowl of ice cream without getting him one.
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  Blah, blah, blah blah blah, right?
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  So he says, I'm going to take out the garbage.
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  So it's summer. The kitchen window is open.
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  I see him past the kitchen window as he's taking out the
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  garbage. He comes back, he puts his face
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  right up to the kitchen window screen.
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  He leans in with a big smile on his face.
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  And then he says expectation without communication leads to
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  frustration. And I laughed and I said, did
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  you just make that up? And he goes, Yep, just thought
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  of it. Here's the thing, so many of our
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  conflicts happen because we have unspoken expectations.
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  So we have these expectations with our spouse, with our
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  children, with our Co workers, with our mother or
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  mother-in-law, with our sister. You know, you fill in the blank
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  and we have expectation without communication and then we end up
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  frustrated and we have more conflict than we really need to
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  if we could just get in front of our expectations.
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  So, you know, that's one way to to deal with conflicts even
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  really before they start. So you had mentioned in your
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  book that there's the most single important quality that is
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  necessary for handling conflict in a healthy way.
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  Can you share that and why it's so important?
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  Yeah. Well, interestingly, the single
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  most important quality. And if this is not present,
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  there's actually very little hope that conflict can be
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  resolved in a healthy way. So it's that important.
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  And it's not an action. I mean, it does manifest itself
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  in an action, but it starts with an attitude, and that attitude
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  is humility. And there's a number of reasons
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  this is true. I was a communications major at
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  UCLA and I remember they brought in a renowned, a world renowned
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  expert on conflict. And I was sitting there in the
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  lecture and she stood up and her opening line was at the the root
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  of all conflict is really a power struggle.
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  And I remember thinking, huh, And my I mentally scrolled
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  through some of the conflicts that I'd had in my life, and I
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  was thinking, are those conflicts really not about what
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  I think they're about, but at the root of them?
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  Are they really a power struggle?
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  And then she went on to explain, because a conflict answers the
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  question, or power struggles answer the question who's who
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  gets their way? Whose opinion gets validated or
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  whose feelings get validated? Whose voice gets heard?
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  Who, you know, all of those things.
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  So it's it's really who gets heard, gets their way, gets
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  their opinion, you know, and and so it's who comes out on top,
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  basically. So since at the root of conflict
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  is a power struggle, when you factor in humility, you don't
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  play the power struggle game. So that's why it's kryptonite to
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  power struggles. So humility.
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  I I will say it this way, when you're in a conflict with
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  someone, often times unknowingly, we think of it as
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  you versus me. But humility says it's not you
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  versus me, it's you and me against the problem.
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  And that's a huge mind shift. Huge.
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  And again, kind of going back to something that happened to my
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  husband and I, and again this, this conflict book is not just
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  about marriage, it's about all relationships.
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  But that same first year of marriage, JP and I were having a
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  conflict and it was escalating. And kind of like that old
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  baseball bat game, you know, where you put your hand on the
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  bottom of the baseball bat and the other person puts theirs on
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  top and it goes up, up, up. It said this conflict was
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  escalating. And then JP says to me, Donna,
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  Donna, I'm on your team. And the minute he said that, the
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  conflict completely DE escalated.
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  And what he was basically doing was reminding me, it's not you
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  against me. I'm on your side.
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  It's you and me against this issue that we have.
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  And I think sometimes what happens is that we make the
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  person the problem instead of keeping the problem the problem.
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  So it's our child is not the problem, right?
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  Our husband is not the problem. I mean, people are involved in
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  the problem, but the problem is the problem.
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  So if we can think of you and me against the problem versus me,
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  you know, against you that it's just huge and that takes
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  humility, that that just takes humility.
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  Yeah, yeah, that's so good. I love everything that you said
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  about that because it's true. I've had my husband say the same
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  thing. Hey look, we're on the same team
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  here and it totally shifts the perspective there and it
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  diffuses the fire and you know the rage that's going on.
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  And you know, because we can, we can lose sight as we're in
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  arguments and we feel like everybody's against us and you
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  know, it's just one of the enemy's tactics, right?
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  Get us to divide right and and division.
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  And so you had mentioned in your book there's 10 common mistakes
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  that make or make conflicts worse.
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  Could you name a few of them that you find that are super
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  important to? Know.
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  Yeah. I I yes.
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  And there are. There are 10 And it was so funny
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  as I was writing this chapter. I thought, you know wouldn't it
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  be just so great if somebody would come up with a list of
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  don't do these things in conflict.
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  Yeah. I guess one make things worse
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  not better. Right.
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  I couldn't find a list. So I came up with and and you
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  know, it helps to know like, what do we not do?
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  And some of them are obvious, but some of them are less so.
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  So let me talk about a view of the less so things that we do in
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  conflict sometimes that make things worse, not better.
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  One of them is being dismissive. And so let's say our child, you
• 20:53
  know, comes at us with a complaint or something about
• 20:58
  their sibling or about something going on in school or, you know,
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  you know, and they have these messy emotions.
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  When we're dismissive about that, when we say, like, oh, for
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  heaven's sakes, OK, it's not that big of a deal, Just go work
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  it out. You don't mean that you don't
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  feel that way. I don't have time for this right
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  now. Or we try to fix it.
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  Well, what you really should do is, you know, all of that is
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  diminishing their feelings about it, their their desire to
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  communicate with us. We're dismissing them when we
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  dismiss people. And especially this is really
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  easy to do if we're in conflict and somebody has some really
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  negative emotions surrounding how they're communicating.
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  So they're whining or they're, you know, they're, they're
• 21:46
  crying or they're yelling or they're whatever.
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  It's we just want it to stop right.
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  When we dismiss it, one of two things happens.
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  A conflict escalates or it ends. So because when a person is
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  trying to express themselves, what they're really saying is, I
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  just want you to understand, I don't want you to dismiss this.
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  I don't need you to fix this. I want you to understand this.
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  When we don't listen to them and just let them process it
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  psychologically, or I should say subconsciously, they escalate it
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  because they're in their mind, they're thinking, OK, she's not
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  getting it. So I guess I have to ramp it up
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  a little bit so that she'll finally understand.
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  So that's when they become more dramatic, they raise their
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  voices, they they get or they get quieter, it's the silent
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  treatment or the pouty looks on their face.
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  All of these are ways to escalate it.
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  And it's really a a cry to say please understand what I'm
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  trying to tell you here. They'll keep escalating it until
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  something in their brain goes because she's never going to get
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  it and then they end it. So that's when you're hear
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  things like, OK, forget it, you just don't get it.
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  You'll never understand. Or they'll slam the door and
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  walk out or cross their arm and and, you know, just get quiet
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  and we start to say no, no, no, no, come on, you know, tell me
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  what it is. I'm listening now.
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  And then they say no, no, I'm done, right?
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  So it escalates or it ends. And so that is why being
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  dismissive of other people's concerns is it's it's just a
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  crazy maker. So the the better option is just
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  to listen with empathy. And side note, listening does
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  not equal agreement. Listening just means listening.
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  And when we listen with empathy, what ends up happening is those
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  emotions have a chance to settle, and then we have a
• 23:58
  chance to have a more rational conversation.
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  So that's one being dismissive. I think another one is assuming
• 24:07
  the worst before you have all the facts.
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  Now, this was really interesting.
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  I did some research as I was writing the book, and what I
• 24:18
  found was that all of us in the midst of conflict, we tell
• 24:24
  ourselves a story, right. Which makes sense, you know, he
• 24:27
  said that because, oh, she did that.
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  Since, you know, we we, our, our brains are wired to make sense
• 24:35
  of things. So we tell ourselves a story
• 24:37
  about why people said things, why people did things.
• 24:41
  But the research shows that when we assign motives to people, we
• 24:46
  are only accurate 20% of the time and it only rises to 30% of
• 24:55
  the time in a very close marriage.
• 24:59
  So that means that the stories that we tell ourselves about why
• 25:04
  somebody else did something or said something is not always
• 25:09
  true. So when we we assume the worst,
• 25:16
  then, then we're operating and we're we're saying things and
• 25:22
  we're doing things in response to the story in our head, which
• 25:26
  it may not be the right story. So we have to back up and ask
• 25:31
  ourselves, OK, wait, what story am I telling myself about this?
• 25:34
  Because the other thing that we do in telling ourselves the
• 25:37
  story is we're always the innocent victim and they are the
• 25:41
  evil villain, right? So good.
• 25:55
  I love all of that and so knowledgeable.
• 25:58
  So let's talk about as we're finishing up those hard
• 26:03
  conversations that we need to have in conflict because it's so
• 26:09
  much easier to walk away, like you're saying sweep it under the
• 26:13
  rug. But it's not the healthy way we
• 26:18
  we kind of have to do the the hard to to get in a relationship
• 26:24
  back on a peaceful level or you know get it back to restoration.
• 26:30
  So how can we have those hard talks that are so difficult for
• 26:36
  us, especially for peacemakers, you know, ones that don't like
• 26:40
  to, you know, face conflict with the person?
• 26:43
  How can we do this in a healthy, helpful way?
• 26:46
  Because I think a lot of people are going to be tuning in going
• 26:49
  how can I have that hard conversation?
• 26:53
  Yeah, which that's the $1,000,000 question, right?
• 26:56
  How do I have this conversation right that makes it turn out
• 27:01
  better rather than worse? And I really do believe that
• 27:07
  part of the reason we hate conflict so much is that most of
• 27:11
  us have never learned to navigate conflict in a way that
• 27:15
  makes it turn out good. So we tend to think of conflict
• 27:19
  as bad. So I think the first step is to
• 27:25
  accurately assess ourselves like, am I more of an avoider or
• 27:28
  am I more of an attacker? So And that just knowing
• 27:33
  yourself, if I'm an avoider, that means I need to speak up.
• 27:39
  That's going to be, that's going to be my step of obedience.
• 27:42
  And if I'm an attacker, then I'm going to speak with kindness.
• 27:50
  That's my act of obedience, right.
• 27:53
  So Jesus was really clear about this.
• 27:55
  I mean, he said if your brother or sister sins against you, go
• 28:00
  privately, you know, and point out their fault.
• 28:04
  And if they listen to you, you've won them over.
• 28:07
  So there is a a really a four part step that Jesus out he
• 28:13
  outlined for us. And it's if there's a sin, if
• 28:17
  there's a heart, something that's happened, then you go to
• 28:21
  them. Right now it's at this point,
• 28:24
  the go where a lot of people fall short, especially avoiders
• 28:31
  because we're like, I don't know, I don't want to go.
• 28:34
  I, I, you know, why do I have to go?
• 28:37
  Shouldn't they just know maybe if I tell somebody else they'll
• 28:40
  go. Maybe maybe I don't need to go.
• 28:44
  You know, when would I go, How would I go?
• 28:46
  You know, we we sidestep this, right?
• 28:50
  And I I want to say this even goes back to when you ask me my
• 28:55
  favorite verse and about the trust in the Lord with all your
• 28:59
  heart and lean not on your own understanding.
• 29:02
  When we sidestep this and we don't go when we know that we
• 29:06
  really should and the relationship's not going to get
• 29:09
  better if we don't, then we're trusting in ourselves and we're
• 29:13
  leaning on our owner's standing of how we have always
• 29:17
  functionally handled conflict rather than doing what God says
• 29:21
  and he's like, just go go privately.
• 29:25
  So this is a one-on-one thing, which is huge because we have a
• 29:29
  propensity to talk about people rather than talking to people.
• 29:37
  And we when we talk about someone rather than to someone,
• 29:41
  we just perpetuate the conflict, right?
• 29:43
  Right. So if you're an avoider, it's
• 29:45
  like go. If you're an attacker you need
• 29:48
  to relate OK go kindly and and privately because that
• 29:53
  communicates respect and and Jesus says point out their fault
• 29:58
  and it's it's really interesting because the point out if you
• 30:04
  look at the original language is it's it's talking about just one
• 30:09
  specific thing so we don't and fault is singular not plural
• 30:13
  right. So we don't dump truck a bunch
• 30:16
  of stuff into somebody's lap. We're just going to like this
• 30:19
  one thing, and you know, it's one issue at a time.
• 30:25
  And then what ends up happening though, is that often times when
• 30:29
  we don't do things the way Jesus told us, we let things build up.
• 30:35
  And you know, things always come out.
• 30:37
  They always have a way of coming out.
• 30:40
  When we don't go sooner and we wait until later, then the way
• 30:46
  we communicate is usually harsher and more emotion filled.
• 30:52
  And also we dump truck things. So if we would just follow
• 30:57
  Jesus's prescription, like just go when it's one thing, point
• 31:01
  out a specific thing when you're not super emotional about it, do
• 31:06
  it privately. And then if they listen, it's
• 31:09
  all good, you know, And and I love the fact that Jesus says if
• 31:13
  he doesn't say when because it takes two humble people to make
• 31:16
  a conflict resolve in a healthy way.
• 31:20
  So it's not, it's not guaranteed, but it does, it does
• 31:24
  increase the likelihood that the the resolution will have a good
• 31:29
  outcome. So that's just some very
• 31:30
  specific one. Other thing, I just want to
• 31:32
  piggyback on something that you said earlier when you're talking
• 31:36
  about your husband and him affirming you when you had
• 31:40
  conflicts is when we are going to have a hard conversation.
• 31:47
  The best thing we can do is to lead with listening and affirm
• 31:52
  the relationship. So right off the bat we say
• 31:55
  things like I really value this relationship or I love you more
• 32:03
  than you know or I really want us to work this out.
• 32:07
  So we validate something about the relationship or we validate
• 32:10
  something about the way we might both see things.
• 32:14
  Like, I know this is probably as frustrating for you as it is for
• 32:17
  me, or I hate that I'm nagging about this.
• 32:21
  I I'm sure you hate that I'm nagging about it too.
• 32:25
  So we kind of come from it from a perspective where we're in
• 32:30
  agreement from the beginning about the frustration
• 32:35
  surrounding it, even if we don't, you know, see things eye
• 32:39
  to eye. But we both can agree on the
• 32:42
  frustration or we both can agree on we value the relationship.
• 32:47
  And I think just that right there, that kicks off a hard
• 32:53
  conversation with an attitude of humility and it really sets us
• 32:57
  up for having good conflict resolution.
• 33:00
  Yes, I agree that is so good. Just, you know, from personal
• 33:06
  experience, when somebody had said that to me, it definitely
• 33:09
  diffused it. It became more of a warmer
• 33:14
  conversation. It softened the heart.
• 33:18
  You know, if you're coming in there and you've got a little
• 33:20
  bit of a hard heart. And so all of what you said is
• 33:24
  so good, so informative, Okay. I love ending with a take away
• 33:30
  for the listener to ponder on or take action in as it's been so
• 33:34
  good. So what could you leave with our
• 33:37
  friend here that's listening, that is maybe dealing with
• 33:40
  conflict and, you know, needs that encouragement?
• 33:45
  Do you know what to do next? Yeah, such a good question.
• 33:48
  That's, that's such a good question.
• 33:50
  I would say invite Jesus in. And the reason I say that is
• 33:56
  because often times when we're in conflict, we get in our own
• 34:00
  heads and we tend to revert to just what we learned as a child
• 34:06
  or what feels comfortable to us, right.
• 34:09
  And when we say, Jesus, I want to invite you into this
• 34:14
  conflict. My daughter, as I was writing
• 34:16
  the book, I was talking to one of my daughter's about having
• 34:19
  hard conversations and she said something to me that I was like,
• 34:22
  Oh my goodness, that is so good. She goes, you know what, mom?
• 34:26
  Whenever I'm going to have to have a hard conversation, I just
• 34:29
  pray this simple prayer. Lord, let this be a conversation
• 34:34
  of three, not two. And I just thought that was
• 34:39
  golden. And so whether it's a
• 34:43
  conversation or a conflict with your spouse or your child or
• 34:47
  your Co worker or your neighbor, if we can pause and just quickly
• 34:52
  say, Lord, let this be a conversation of three, not two,
• 34:57
  I invite you into this. Then he promises, going back to
• 35:02
  Proverbs. He'll make our paths straight.
• 35:05
  He'll direct our paths and show us the the way, the best way for
• 35:10
  us to handle the conflict. I think that is just a simple
• 35:13
  take away no matter what conflict we're going through.
• 35:15
  So good, Beautiful. Thank you.
• 35:17
  Donna, Where can people purchase your book and connect with you?
• 35:21
  You're a speaker and a Bible teacher, and where can do you
• 35:27
  have speaking engagements coming up?
• 35:29
  And maybe you've got some goodies to offer with your book.
• 35:32
  I do. I do.
• 35:33
  Thank you so much. Yeah.
• 35:34
  You can connect with me at donnajones.org.
• 35:38
  You can buy my book Healthy Conflict, Peaceful Life
• 35:42
  Everywhere. Books are sold and the book
• 35:45
  actually comes out February 20th.
• 35:47
  So if you are listening prior to that, pre-order the book and you
• 35:51
  will get some fun goodies. My As I was writing this book,
• 35:55
  one of the things for me personally is I realized that
• 36:00
  this is one of those books everybody needs to have on their
• 36:03
  bookshelf, even if they're not in the midst of a conflict now.
• 36:07
  Because what ends up happening is when a conflict happens, you
• 36:13
  want something that you can go and grab like right then and say
• 36:17
  okay, How do I handle this so that I am not going to end up
• 36:22
  with regret? So you can again find it on my
• 36:26
  website, donnajones.org. You can connect with me on
• 36:28
  Instagram at Donna A Jones and I would just count in an honor to
• 36:33
  oh, and I have a podcast, which is that's just what I needed.
• 36:37
  So I would love to connect with your listeners that way as well.
• 36:40
  Thank you so much, Donna. Yes, I know.
• 36:44
  I agree. Even if you're not in a
• 36:45
  conflict, read this book because then you'll know when the time
• 36:50
  does come. Or just be able to communicate
• 36:54
  well in relationships in general?
• 36:57
  Thank you so much. We're so encouraged and inspired
• 37:00
  by your wisdom that God imparted on you to create this book.
• 37:05
  And thank you again for coming on here.
• 37:08
  It was amazing. Thank you so much for having me.
• 37:12
  It was just absolutely a joy. Thank you so much for listening
• 37:17
  today, and I trust that God has encouraged you through this
• 37:20
  story. Did you know this podcast is on
• 37:23
  YouTube? Hop on there and subscribe and
• 37:26
  you can see a live recording of each episode.
• 37:30
  And For more information on this ministry and to access free
• 37:34
  downloads, please visit my website at jamieelizabeth.com.
• 37:38
  That's JAYME elizabeth.com. And let's connect beyond this
• 37:44
  podcast by going to my Instagram handle, Jamie Elizabeth.
• 37:47
  She Speaks Life or Facebook. Until next time, my friend.
• 37:51
  I hope God reveals himself through your own life story.