Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / It's an Epic Story | a conversation with Megan Fate Marshman

Transcript

It's an Epic Story | a conversation with Megan Fate Marshman · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hi friends, welcome back to the Simply Wholehearted podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are new here, I'm so glad you joined us.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Here at Simply Wholehearted, we are sharing our journey as we discover how to better love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: And even though you might be surrounded by a world of half-heartedness, we hope to inspire you to living wholeheartedly as our friends share their stories and simple ideas of how they practice reach over perfection in their everyday.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: And don't forget, there are a few more days to support the Yerkesas and their amazing work to raise awareness and funds for the Down Syndrome Association of Minnesota.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Go listen to episode number 20 and then help them reach their goal of 15,000.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've put a link in the show notes so you can support this year's vlog.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Today's conversation is with Megan Faith Marshman, and she is something I think you're gonna find unexpectedly fantastic.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: She is a powerhouse of a woman, and I had no idea when her publicist signed her up to share about the NIV action bible for kids what I was really getting into.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I had been hoping I'd get to share this resource for the summer, but she wasn't available in our window of recording time, so then I thought, well, maybe we'll share it at Christmas.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: But after getting to talk with Megan, I knew I wanted to share it as soon as possible with you guys.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: She's got a true passion and energy for sharing the Word of God and not just for kids.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Besides her favorite role of wife and mom, she is the director of women's ministry at Hume Lake, a gorgeous camp in Southern California, and the Young Adults Pastor at Arbor Road Church in Long Beach, California.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Megan has written and co-authored a couple of books herself, while also being a passionate supporter and advocate of the NIV Action Bible.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: She has great hopes of encouraging this new generation to love the Word of God.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: And she's gonna preach today.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So buckle up for this conversation.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I am, yeah.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uniquely, this specific city I live in.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: No one will start school for another month.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: No way.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so tired.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, like wait, wait, maybe I'm lying.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's September 9th and 10th.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be on the session.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: After Labor Day, right?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: When everyone should go back to school.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: August was always one of my favorite days of summer.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: What in the world?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: I it is so stinking hot here, and I feel so bad going, yes, you have to be at school all day.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So stinking.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, indeed.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then you send them off and you're like, bye.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, so do you have kids?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me about your kids.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I do.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I have three sixth grade, fifth grade, second grade.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I had three kids in three and a half years.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I was gonna die.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can't imagine.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: But I love to tell about it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, look at and here, yeah, and you even have simply wholehearted makes sense the name of your podcast because you have to be.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: You do.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: You so have to, yes, take it a totally different direction than I would have because I'm an Annie Graham 3 and I go like full bore, and the Lord was like, no, I have to refine you.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, wow, I can't do that.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me how'd you start the pod the podcast?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, it's so funny.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was just reflecting on that because I and some of my friends have heard this story a few times, but I was excited about partnering with my mother-in-law about a thing that she did with her kids called the Super Summer Challenge.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And um, she did that, you know, starting over 30 years ago.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: She used to teach other moms, um, worked with like hearts at home and share the message.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was like, you know, surviving, selling Norwax, and I took her to a conference because I did love to share the message because I used the tool and it changed my life.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I wanted to encourage her to get like a second wind and like, hey, you need to go out and speak and do all the things, and so but um, but it didn't quite happen that way.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, I got to carry on the message, and it was just it was the process, right?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because I wouldn't have done it alone.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: I was fine doing my thing, and um, it's kind of propelled me into a whole different direction than I ever thought.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, writing and doing the podcast and just a really neat world that has been amazing.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's taken ministry outside my four walls to my church, to whatever the Lord wants to do.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, it sounds like you've got a lot of stuff too.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: How many kids do you have?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: I have one and one on the way.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, congrats! That's awesome! Thank you.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Officially, too.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm due in January, so we're about four and a half months in to the process.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a two and a half year old little boy.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's such a fun stage.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, tiring, but very fun.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's I love this stage.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: The baby stage was actually really hard for me.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm very much like I'm always kind of like moving.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: But then part of me now watches all these moms that have two, three, four, five, you know, kids, and they're just they rock that baby carrier.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I never did that.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh, it's time.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Baby number two is just going with me.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, totally.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I felt like the first one I was so and it was so weird.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've never struggled with confidence until I had a baby.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And like suddenly I was like, wow, I'm naturally not good at this.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord's like, yeah, this is maybe like you said, refinement.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: So here we are.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: I know, right?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about like what our little what we thought was work and all the nevers we said we weren't gonna do.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, what in the world?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: We have kids indeed.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I I was really excited because I actually was born in Fullerton, California.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: My parents were yeah, born and raised there.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Grandparents, I grew up going to Long Beach all the time, and that's where you're at, right?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I am, I absolutely am.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Jealous, it's so awesome.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you live where now?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm in Kansas City, Missouri.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Can you believe that?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, wow, I know I've come a long way.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: We well, my dad was a pastor, and so we moved like we were in the military.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we ended up in Ohio at one point, and then when I was 18, I moved to Colorado, and I just had to get to the mountains, something.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's where I ended up um for 11 years, and then uh nine, nine and a half years ago.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: My husband lost his job.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: We had two babies at the time, and we ended up in Kansas City.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we've been here.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's now, I mean, it's it took a long time, but we've really found community and I'm I'm embracing the humidity when I can.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't always wreck it.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: I find the people that we can kind of you know lament together and go, Yeah, this is so fun.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, yeah, but we uh I spoke at a college, I want to say, in Kansas City, Missouri, a Christian college.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Is there one over there?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one college.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no way.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: I did last year.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's awesome.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's on the latest sun.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And my I had a great aunt that lived there and got to go visit, but I always kind of laughed, and everyone was making like for them, it's not a funny joke anymore.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Kansas City, Missouri is not funny to them anymore.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I'm like, it's not Kansas, you know, I gotta kick out of that.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And even during chapel, and everyone's like, Yeah, no, not that funny.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's so great.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, how did you end up working with um a children's Bible?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what does that look like?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because your resume, I mean, you can brag about yourself, like you can tell us a little bit about your life.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then ultimately, how did you end up working with this Bible?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I worked for uh a publishing company called David C.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Cook for three years.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I love that.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I started to uh I started actually managing a few media teams and social media teams and marketing teams, and then eventually I I have this big passion for youth.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I ended up by the end of my term there for the last two years of it, I was running all the student ministry curriculum lines and David Sea Cook events.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I found myself doing all of that.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord led me in a different direction, but all this to say, man, I learned a lot about the entire curriculum world.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um because there's so many curriculums out there and people use them and they're amazing resources, I got to hear the lifeblood behind it, the literal tears and the brainstorming sessions, the 10, the 10 different rounds of editing to make sure it's theologically accurate, even though it's meant for a three-year-old.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I worked for a publishing company that did that.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then I ended up saying uh leaving full-time when I had my son and went uh, was doing a little bit of part-time work, but found myself just wanting to prioritize my son.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Ended up working for my local church because there was a need there.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time I was still traveling around and speaking quite a bit.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: I usually speak about once a week somewhere.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's kind of a it it very much varies what the audience is and what I'm speaking on.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: But then I got to have this really cool conversation with David C.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Cook where they said, we have the action Bible and we're coming out with a new version.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I said, tell me about it, because my son, two and a half-year-old, loves the action Bible.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I sit there, I hand him a book in the back of my car.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Any other book, he's uninterested after two minutes, but there's something about the picture.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: And my goodness, if I can hand my son something that is centered around who God is and he hangs out with it, so I couldn't wait to see what the next, the next version of that was going to be.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so when they came out with the NIV, which happens to be the Bible translation that's the most popular, um, and it's a full text Bible, uh, I knew that had to be the next step, yet it has the compelling graphics and even key features.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: So they I got in another conversation with them about like, man, I believe in this because my son, my son himself loves the action Bible.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And one day I'm going to want him to bring a Bible that has a full text into church with him.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I've even worked at a church where I saw a young man um holding his the sweet little first grader holding his action Bible in church, and I watched the pastor say, Turn with me to John chapter four.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I watched him thumb through the pictures, and he just didn't know that was a new concept, but he loved his Bible.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so even that combination combined with the fact that they were doing this made me, as you can imagine, so excited because this was the next thing that would be needed, is to take all the things that are just as visually compelling and then add features that are really age developmentally accurate, which I know because I developed curriculum uh for many years for this age range.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is the next perfect step.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I love the fact that, well, the fact that it combines the two.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just pictures, it's not paraphrasing, it's the word for word and it's full color picture that's really engaging and interesting.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, my my almost 12-year-old, she she grabbed it from me when I got it in the mail and she's like, ooh, what's this?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, she last year for school she had to read through the old testament.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: She's used to heavy text, but for her for her, she's like, This is cool.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't look creepy.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: That was her phrase.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't look weird.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine on a marketing big banner just says the new Bible?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't look creepy, but it works, it's accurate.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: And as a mom, that's what you care about, is that they read and care about the Bible.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I loved it.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was definitely passed around.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: I have two girls and a boy, and I can say they both like boy, girl, doesn't matter.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: They really enjoyed it, they really liked it for sure.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's been really, really fun.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say my favorite part about this Bible is because when I was doing the curriculum for student ministries, so middle school and high school students, um, we were taking surveys and we sent it out to hundreds of churches.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we got back, not hundreds, unfortunately, but we got back a significant amount of surveys from we just we wanted to get as many people as possible to fill out these surveys.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and there was amazing questions on it.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: We got such raw answers, and we wanted to understand why don't kids in, you know, that tween age, why do they stop talking to their parents?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Why do they not trust?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is this?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just, is it the way that they parented?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is it the age piece?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the most insightful questions for me was why don't you ask your questions to people you trust, or your pastors, or your parents?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is the reason?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you ask your really important questions?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And they said, Oh, because I just asked Google.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that was the number one answer we got back is the reason I don't talk to my parents is actually I'd have to wait.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And my parents are distracted, or I'm not always with them, or they're looking at something else.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: But if I ask Google, it's immediate.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I get my answers.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what I loved about this Bible, and I don't even know uh to what extent the whys behind all the different features, but there's a feature called what about this that actually asks those tough questions within the Bible.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Within it.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think too often we're scared of those big questions, but I love that it places it within the text and it even allows young people to think of hard questions.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Another big reason students are leaving the faith.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I now work with young adults, which really is that key demographic, that 18 to 25 year olds that are leaving, and a big answer to those survey questions, as done by Varna, was they felt like the church wasn't a safe place to bring their questions.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so what this Bible does is it not only uh has some answers to the questions, the ones that have answers to, and I love that some of them it says we can't answer that, and that just should make us more in our awe of our God who is actually beyond us.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: If we could know all the answers to God, he would be you would be a tiny God, and we don't serve a tiny God.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have answers like that which are profound, but then you have the ones that are answerable.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the best part is they can look and see that the answer is precisely where they're already at in God's word.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: That for me was one of the most exciting features.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, there's other ones that we could talk about that just are fun, like you know, bringing back remembering God's word.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: So trying to take key passages and put it in a really cool graphic that allows students to go, like, oh, I uh I can memorize that.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just a sentence, I can memorize that.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: It just makes the things we want for them to become actually easily accessible.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Where unfortunately, when these tweens are handed their Bibles, they don't feel accessible.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when they get to high school, they say, I stopped reading it a long time ago, and now reading the Bible is just a guilt trick for my pastor.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, these are real conversations I've had with these students.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I love this Bible, I love the target audience, and I love that they're capturing the attention of things that they care about, asking the tough questions that they're already asking and asking in the context of God's word.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: So they can direct look up the direct reference.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And well, I mean, how many of us are gonna have some of those conversations with our kids naturally?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, in our world, in our day to age, we're like worried about getting them to all the things and we're going back and forth.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: We're not sitting down doing family devotionals.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm totally guilty of it.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we're not like processing through some of this stuff, and this is a way to where well, one, it makes it a little more manageable.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's not quite such a huge because even for us as adults, like to read the whole Bible, it's a big deal.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I think if we put something that we better communicate and like, hey, this is only like done in small chunks and bite-sized pieces, then you know it's doable.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: And to be able to ask the questions along the way is really, really good because yeah, they're thinking them, they're asking them.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: So as I homeschooled up until last school year, and um my oldest was the one who they were doing like read through the Bible, the old testament last year, and it was so funny because I mean, we'd do scripture memory with homeschool, and we'd read, you know, gloss over like Bible history and all the you know, the highlight the stories, but he was reading verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and so the questions we got.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was awesome, but I was like, it's so funny.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, actually, the Bible ruins my child's innocence.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, Noah did what judges, right?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that little verse that we don't unfortunately highlight in the Bible story.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: And and God knew how interesting that God knew that you and I, as moms, would not want to probably initiate those types of conversations or those words.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the fact that God's word would would bring about a moment for moms like us to have those types of conversations.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: I handed this Bible to my mom, and here's one of the questions it asked that she turned to.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Will every good person go to heaven?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just one of those questions where, like, that's a really important question, but I would never think to bring that up with my son.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: I would never think to bring it up in that language.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom goes, that's an amazing question.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: I said, It is an amazing question.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, Because it's a hard question because we don't like the answer to it.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Yeah, but that's an attribute of our God is like his holiness and how much he loves and every effort he's gone to.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I want to go to, I want to have that conversation with my son.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to ignore these questions.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And man, it matters.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that your kids read God's word and got some freaking up the horror ones.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as parents, I think the reason we don't do family devotionals, I've realized this as well, at least with some of my close friends, is they feel intimidated by it because they won't know the answers.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the thing that is the best gift we can give to our kids is actually the phrase, I don't know, but let's discover it together.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: If that could become a normal phrase for parents, uh, faith would feel a lot less intimidating for their kids.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, totally.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: It would, because that is reality.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like seeking out forgiveness and apologizing when we do mess up.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: It gives our kids the permission and the bravery to do it because it's hard and it's a scary thing.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: But if we example it, because we certainly need to, unfortunately, um, it just leads the way to so many things.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: So if we're honest, with like going, I don't know, let's find it together, or like you said, some of the things that you know the commentary says is like we don't totally know.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is part about you know, serving and loving a God that knows everything, and we have only a finite piece of it.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's I I love it, it's so good.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so so you get you said you had a two and a half year old.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me, like, what have you tried with him reading the Bible?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, he loves this action Bible.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what are just some fun things that you've done with him?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because I never knew one kid for more, like I my daughter was five months when I found out I was pregnant with my second.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you can imagine, like it was just yeah, some of these things.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, it would have been nice to just like have them and do some of those things.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: I never did them.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, what does it look like for you to practice, you know, reading the Bible together?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say for obviously we have every, I mean, an obnoxious amount of books that are like baby's first Bible, baby's first teen pre-study, but I mean it's just a little bit too overwhelming.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, sometimes some and I'll say a lot of the things that are made for his age, he's not that interested because they're not a little window to pull over, you know, or a little flap to pick up.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so funny the things uh no, and that's a majority of the stuff that's again given to the age two and a half for sure.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, except again, the action bible at least has those compelling graphics.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And this generation, my son included, is such a visual learner that we have to have things that are visually stimulating, of course.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but things that I've done, and I'll say um we don't sit down and I don't open God's word um in like my quiet time.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: One thing is when I do have my quiet time, I don't hide it from him.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like he knows that that's something that I'm doing.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um one thing I bought was actually a children's, I mean not children's, but I bought a journaling Bible and I read it.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: I actually am gonna give it to him at some point.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I read it with him in mind.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I the best part about this, and why I continue doing it, is I would say about maybe like the third or fourth time I was journaling in the sidelines, and I write prayers to him, I write little notes to him.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I went through the Romans Road of the Gospel and highlighted each verse and at the end said, like, this is the essence.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this verse.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it was during that time when I was going through Romans and all the scriptures, which by the way, if you're listening, uh it's just helpful to know the Romans Road of the Gospel is really a bunch of verses that allow you to walk through uh with anyone what the essence of the essence of our faith is and what it means to be a Christian.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: So Romans chapter 1, 19 through 21 um allows us to see that there is a creation.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh creation screams creator.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but verse 25 of chapter one says, But we worship and serve created things rather than the creator.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, it wasn't just them, it's all of us.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 3, verse 23.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: We can't get there on our own.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 5, verse 8.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: But God, God butted into the story.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: But God demonstrates his love for us in this while we're still sinners.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Christ died.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why did he have to die?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Good question.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 6, verse 23.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the wages of our sin is death.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: What we earn is death.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Someone had to pay for it.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's why Jesus died.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: He took that which we deserved.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And through his resurrection, he, by our faith, gives us what he deserved.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: A perfect relationship with the Father.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 8, therefore, chapter 8, verse 1, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 10, what do we do about it?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 9 to 11, that if we confess with our mouth, Jesus is Lord, not just Savior, but Lord of our life.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: How do we live?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 12, on is therefore live your life as a living sacrifice.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, by the way, I wish I would have known that, especially.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: I memorized that probably in my mid-20s.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know Romans Road, it's a worthwhile thing to memorize.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: It took me that one minute to go through, but it talks about God, talks about sin, Jesus, and then how to live in response.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it also lets me know where my kids are.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it lets me know where students are.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I go into conversations with people, I figure out what are they struggling with?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Do they not even believe in God?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start there.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Are they tackling and struggling with sin?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Do they know what Jesus and the cross has to do with their present life, or are they merely apathetic and not living in response?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: When I was highlighting that for my son in that journaling Bible, I got to this place where I was like, you have to get this, you have to.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know, in bold text writing it, and I realized it.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: But as I was doing it, I had this aha moment that I realized I'm God's child, and for me, he wants me to feel the same way about scripture.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me as a mother, journaling in that Bible.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Each time I think about him, I always have a time of reflection at the end that goes, and if I'm God's kid, will I read my notes to him as if God Himself would want me to get it to this extent?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: That for me as a mom has been one of the most profound experiences.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: So moms and dads out there, yeah, jump on, buy one journaling Bible, figure out what age you want to give it to him.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or maybe whenever he's ready and it becomes this moment where he opens it up uh one day.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: But that's one thing I've had the opportunity to do, and it's been awesome.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, other things I would say that are little things is uh showing God off.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Our God made that.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: What do you love?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Mickey Mouse.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, did you know that God made the man who thought of Mickey Mouse?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like pulling back everything he loves and making sure um to point out the main character.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, we do, I would say the other practical thing that we do every night is we we pray together and he still prays for Donald Duck and it's okay.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's just that age.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, but um we pray.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we live near Disneyland in our prayers.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we live real close.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we highlight attributes of God, that's a fun one.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then I um he doesn't know the word attributes, which talking about God like, yes, totally.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then we I say a blessing over him.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: And again, probably the someone told me, and so I feel very honored to be able to uh share with you and anyone that's listening, um blessing your child, simply putting your hand on their shoulder, looking them in the eyes, starting with their name.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: So my son's name is foster, so I look him in the eyes and I go, foster.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he knows when it's blessing time.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like he looks right back at me and I say, May you know.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then I usually pause and ask the spirit, like, what does he need to know?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: And at this age, it's so simple.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's may you know.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: God really likes you, not just like he loves you, he loves you.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's so cool.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: I I started doing it with my nephews, and they're now in the you know, 9, 10, 11 age range, and I love it, they're used to it.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: When I put my hand on their shoulder and I say their name, it's a serious moment, they receive it.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I just tell them what I what I want them to know, and I just their name, and then may you know, and then you fill in the blank with what's one thing you really want to know.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then usually I'll say a prayer afterwards, just that the spirit would make it come true about them and they would not just know it, but believe it.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: So those are little things I do with my little guy by myself.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's so good.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I I um occasionally I will have a guest who I'm like, I wish we recorded video.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: You are one of them, and I know we specifically talked about not recording video, but I just love your animation and your passion behind it.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's just like it's oozing out of you, and it's it's so cool.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure that those listening will hear it and pick up on it because the power of blessing is huge.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just reading about the this concept about um uh just like the eight touches that are really important for kids in a day.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And part of that, like if if we hit certain times of day in particular with that eye-to-eye contact contact, especially like before bedtime, is huge.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that would be such a simple practice to implement if you aren't already that eye to eye, you know, blessing them and using their name, the power of name, and calling them like up to just this greater thing of how the Lord sees them is just amazing.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that you did that with your nephews.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what what made you think to do that?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Were you really close to them?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh that's yeah.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the person that taught me about blessing taught it to me before I had a son.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that was probably the reason behind the nephew uh was very simply she taught it to me and said, This is something you have to do with your kids.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: I do it with my kids and they're in their 20s.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so and never say, like she, you know, when they come to visit her, she lives in Colorado.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when they come to visit, she sends them off with a blessing.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and this is so implemented everything I do.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: I run conferences, I speak at conferences, I do all sorts of things.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And every time I end with a blessing, having the audience stand extend their hands.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then I ask the Lord, like, what would you want this unique audience at this time, at this place to hear?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, the I just this past weekend, I was at a church speaking, and I said, you know, um, Fellowship Monrovia church, may you know.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then I waited and I said, God sees you.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: That was like what he wanted, it was kind of highlighting that God sees you.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, right after multiple people with tears going, I felt like God, God always wants to send everyone on mission, but I didn't know if he saw us us individually.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: And they were like, and you answer that.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just like this radical thing of going, yeah, guess what?
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: God does speak, he speaks through his word.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And we he and I, you know, depending on the denomination, how you believe that he speaks, but let's all agree he speaks through his word, and he speaks through his people.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and sometimes we just don't allow him to take control of our brain because he could speak through us if we let him.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, left to our flesh, we use our words to harm, you know, or to critique.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so like things like blessing, that's what I love is it slows me down enough to go, what does my little boy need to know?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And lately it's been the exact same phrase, Foster, may you know it's out of um, it's his his life verse.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: May you know that God did not give you a spirit of fear.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and amen.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Or timidity, but of love, power, and self-discipline.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And think about a little boy that I mean, self-discipline is such a key word for those little boys.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it is like so beautiful.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And and I've turned that one into a song, so now he sings it with me and has no idea what self-dis uh self-discipline means, but one day he will.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: He will and he will remember that that there's nothing I want more than him not to live in fear, you know.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm hearing, I'm hearing that young people today, the number one, uh, it's actually a tie, but they kind of use them interchangeably.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: The number one struggle is fear and anxiety.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: That is constant in young people today.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm fearful, I'm anxious.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of them wouldn't admit it, but it when I stand on a stage and I say words like, um, are you experiencing fear or experiencing anxiety?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: You just watch everyone kind of sink back and feel like, ooh, I feel exposed.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because so much in our world is playing to those and only building them up.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's only in Christ, it's only through powerful life-giving, you know, church that we are finding the antidote to fear and anxiety, and you know, in truth, if we're looking to that.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: But everything else is gonna just build upon it for sure.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: I love your passion.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: I love how you are doing motherhood and in the midst of all of this stuff.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of one more thing I wanted to know because we used to vacation in Hume Lake.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yes.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me a little bit.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to know what you're doing there and what that looks like.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, for the first six years, I ran the recreation for the high school camp.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that was fun.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Hume Lake is a Christian camp in the Sequoia National Forest, which is 90 miles east of Fresno, California.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's gorgeous.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: For those who don't know what Hume Lake is, it is anything else.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean England.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just say Sequoia's.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: My husband's an arborist, so that's his dream is to go out there if he's never gotten to go out to that part of California.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, gorgeous.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're always hiring some fun little positions that much out of it.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: But um they have yeah, they have a campus on New England, they do camp in Hawaii, life is rough, they do camp in San Diego, and then a lot of Hume International.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: But the uh Hume, like, so I ran the high school, uh, all the activities for six years, and that's about I mean, it's crazy the number of students that come through.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's 10,000 in high school, 5,000 in middle school, 2,000 in discipleship, like nutty numbers of students that come up to this camp.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then for the past five years, I've actually run the women's ministries.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I get to put on all the women's retreats, the girls' retreats, the mother daughter retreats.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's wonderful.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember when I took it over, I was still rather young.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember having the like every probably mid to late 20s something that goes, oh, women's ministry, that's all about doily and yada yada.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I made those jokes and they and they said, Well, what would it look like for you to do women's?
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, it would look different.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: And they said, Let's just try it.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was kind of shocked by that.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then I remember like about a month after I said yes, they said, Oh, and the two women that have held the position before, you each did it for 20 plus years.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: So trying, trying may not be uh, you may want to, you know, go for it.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my goodness, no pressure.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I love it.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that I think one of my favorite parts about it is, and I what I think that we've learned over the span of it is how do you make women's not just for 40 plus or even mid-30s plus, but how do you capture that 18-year-old who feels really lost and invite her into Christian adulthood?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we've done that.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so for the past few years, I've run those retreats and it's been awesome.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the intergenerational ministry that happens, obviously, uh, there's something really beautiful about sitting in chapel, yes, but then the next hour playing wiffle ball against people and laughing and falling and trying and failing and succeeding and experiencing all of life.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think people always forget how intentional we are with like even the activities, the Jeep tours, the everything.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because that's life.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: And and chapel needs to be in the midst of that, not not secluded from that.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: So and then we go to chapel in small groups and talk about it.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: That is awesome.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: I I might need to um communicate via email later because I run help run the women's ministry at our church, which looks like small groups.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I've got a a great team of um two younger in particular women who are still single and in those, you know, 20s um in those years.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're just we were talking about the very thing.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: How can we keep this really alive and fresh for their generation, for those coming through, whether they're married or not, you know, the 18 through 80.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's our goal is like, how do we get all of them?
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then how do we get them to cross-connect, like to make those connections where they're doing life together and helping each other do life in doing it together?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyway, I love it.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love your passion for all of that.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: It just is it's awesome, it's exciting.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like oh, yeah.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: I hope everyone let's do this, feels it.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Megan.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sincerely, you are the way to be way to be relational, truly.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: I do, I've done so many of these for different books, and you are very different, and that's a compliment.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that that means the world.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta be careful not to.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to compare.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's not actually, I would always try not to compare with compliments, but keep doing what you're doing.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's really helpful.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Megan.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: That means the world to me.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: You too.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: I love it, and I really hope we get to meet in person someday.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: Indeed.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: See you.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: See ya.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Wasn't she fantastic?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still smiling when I think about our conversation and her passion for the word of God.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: Her warmth is contagious, and she is someone you'll want to follow on the socials to brighten your feed.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And my kids really do like their new NIV action Bible.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: They're excited to read and share the stories they're learning.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: This could be the perfect gift coming up for the holiday season, or just a perfect I love you gift to encourage a little more Bible reading during the weekdays.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: You can find it in all the typical bookselling places.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this week's Meaningful Minutes are about building a love for God's Word.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: I figured it fit pretty perfectly with this episode.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, we'll be focusing on building our spirit by sharing or asking your loved ones their favorite story in the Bible.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there's probably a deeper reason you have an affinity towards that story.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: But why is it?
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: And how has it impacted your faith?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: For example, just the other day, my good friend Bethany was sharing with a few of us that her favorite book of the Bible is Jonah.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't just because of the big fish.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: It was because the sailors on the boat came to believe in God through Jonah's disobedience.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, think about that for a second.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, it's her reminder that the Lord can and will redeem anything.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I think for most of us, that is good news.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now today I'm gonna combine both the mind and body suggestion because I didn't figure you'd want to go act out your favorite Bible story.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, my suggestion is that you take a scripture from your favorite Bible story, then write it down, and post it somewhere you will see it often.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: You can memorize it or just leave it there, and I believe over time it will be written on your heart.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: And what a great resource to have when you're sharing with someone about your favorite Bible story.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to know if you try any of these and what you thought of the process.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Just tag us on Instagram or Facebook, or send us a note.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: We always love hearing from you.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's time to answer one of your Enneagram coaching questions.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: I've been sharing with you all about my coaching training journey throughout this last spring, and now I get to share what I've learned by answering some of your questions.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to join the conversation, of course we want to hear from you, and we'd love to know what you want to know about the Enneagram.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: You can submit your questions through our link in the show notes or reach out to Simply Wholehearted or Amy Wicks on the socials.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: You can find us on Instagram and Facebook where you can share our conversations, our meaningful minutes, and helpful resources to all your friends and family.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: We love it when you share.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Today's question is: are there patterns regarding friendships which are connected to the Enneagram?
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Such as, are certain numbers going to gravitate towards another number?
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: Or are there friendships which might require more work because of a number combination, etc.?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now this is going to be a two-part answer because it's such a great question.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: And first, keep these questions coming.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you're enjoying this segment as much as I am.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: A great resource tip is a new book recently written by Suzanne Stabil.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's called The Road Between Us, and it gives a fantastic overview for each type's possible relationship challenges and benefits.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: My short answer would be no matter what number you are or what number someone else's, you can be friends.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: The journey of the Enneagram is going to give you powerful insight into your level of emotional health for your number.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's more about the level of your friend's health, and your health of course, as opposed to the number type someone is or isn't.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: As you share with your friends about the Enneagram, I think you'll find that you typically connect well or feel a certain affinity towards a couple of types, but I highly recommend not picking your friends based on their number.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: As you and your friends move towards the optimal level of health in your emotional life, you will find a way to connect well regardless of the differences your numbers present.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: This is why the Aneagram can be an amazing resource.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: You can better understand your friends' perspective, their needs, and the message their heart longs to hear.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Next week, I'll give some detailed examples of how certain numbers might connect well with other numbers and the value of having close relationships which reflect all nine personalities on the Aneagram.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'll also be back with more meaningful minutes.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: In the meantime, join us on all the socials as we continue on our journey to living simply wholehearted.