Women World Leaders' Podcast Julie T. Jenkins

When the worst tragedy of life hits, how does one cope?
 
Our guest, Renee Scheidt, a biblical teacher and author who holds a master's degree in theology and music, shares her tragic story of pain and suffering. Despite two major trauma experiences in her life, she was able to move forward through each one. Listen to find out how God intervened and delivered hope and healing in her darkest hours of living. 

In a world where we compete to "BE" for everything and "everyone," sometimes we need to be reminded as God's daughters, that we are HIS CHOICE! Join Dr. Jia Conway for this empowering and inspirational message.

Comparing is an exercise in futility and can actually be very harmful…and yet we all do it. Would we be so inclined to give in to this trap if we really understood God’s perspective? Join host Julie Harwick as she explores this topic.
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Welcome to Women World Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Julie Harwick. Thank you for joining me today as we celebrate God’s grace in our lives, in this ministry and around the world.
In the summer of 1981 I, along with nearly every other female on the planet, was captivated at the prospect of a royal wedding. Charles and Diana fever was spreading with every print publication in the checkout line and every television or radio news broadcast. The elusive prince had finally selected his princess from all the fairest maidens in the land.  Lady Diana Spencer was part of the nobility, but she was a kindergarten teacher for heaven’s sake; what could make her more relatable than that? As we watched her walking through the Scottish Highlands with her prince, showing the world her royal engagement ring and answering some of the hundreds of questions being shouted to her by the press, we imagined what it might be like to be her.
 Nearly every little girl dreams of being a princess: wearing beautiful gowns and tiaras, dancing the night away at elegant balls, living in incredible luxury, being adored and admired by the people and especially by a charming prince!  Diana Spencer was about to have all  those dreams come true. When she walked down that long aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral with angelic flower girls monitoring her enormously long train, we couldn’t help but envy her. Her face didn’t show the excitement we felt, but we wrote it off to nerves and shyness.
Years later, we discovered that her lack of enthusiasm on her wedding day was due to something much deeper than nerves or shyness. What had appeared to be a dream come true to her adoring public was becoming more and more of a nightmare to the young princess. We could see the distance that was growing between her and her prince, but we couldn’t see the depression and sense of betrayal that led to bulimia and five separate suicide attempts. We had never considered what it might be like to have to put on a happy face and make unrelenting royal appearances while being hounded by paparazzi and reporters in the midst of an emotional crisis.  The life that had seemed so idyllic and desirable turned out to be anything but that.
How many times have we looked at someone else’s life with envy, thinking that, in comparison to the life we’re living, they seem to have it all. Our human tendency to compare what we have with others goes way back. In fact, 20% of the 10 commandments God gave to Moses have to do with comparison and envy.  We are cautioned not to covet a neighbor’s spouse or possessions. If we already have a spouse or possessions, what would make us want someone else’s?  The only possible answer is that we’ve compared the two and theirs looks better. The ancient Israelites struggled with it and so do we…especially with the advent of social media.
Author Srinivas Rao says, “ There’s always someone who has more…more fans, followers, traffic, likes, etc.  Social media-fueled comparison is a game in which there is no endpoint. It causes us to lose sight of the fact that we are getting a deliberately,  highly- filtered, one-dimensional view of someone’s life.”  A study published by security and research firm Kapersky Labs  surveyed  over 16,000 people and concluded that sites like Facebook, X and Instagram can often leave people feeling upset or “bitter” rather than happy and content.  Contentment is elusive - especially for those who spend a lot of time on social media. Google reports that in a study involving 1500 Facebook users, more than 60 percent felt inadequate or jealous after comparing themselves to others on Facebook.
Social media can be a great way to maintain long distance r

Please join us as today's guest, founder of Guard Your Heart Ministries, shares her transparent story of how she dealt with wounds from childhood which led her to accept toxic relationships. 
 
Tewannah Aman's personal Redemption Story provides an example of developing healthy, Christ-centered relationships for a future of freedom and love. 

In today’s episode, Tawana Lowery shares about a God dream she had and what it taught her about how we should Vote for our Spirit instead of our Flesh. This is one vote that impacts our influence for eternity. 

It’s easy to get discouraged by all the darkness we see closing in on us. There are so many things wrong in this world, but the darker the night, the brighter the light. Today, host Julie Harwick gives many examples of believers shining brightly in the midst of darkness and reminds us that we have been called to do the same.
 
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Welcome to Women World Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Julie Harwick. Thank you for joining me today as we celebrate God’s grace in our lives, in this ministry and around the world.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the annual National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s been going on for 80 years, but this was my first experience attending. It was fascinating, exhausting, sometimes disheartening, but also inspiring and encouraging – kind of a microcosm of life on this planet.
I was there to represent Barnabas Aid, a ministry to the Suffering Church. Very, very few people approached our little booth to learn more about the Persecuted Church. Most who did approach, were eager to promote their own ministries which wasn’t a bad thing, because they were also willing to hear about mine. But in order to effectively represent Barnabas Aid, I had to  try to make eye contact with someone passing slowly enough to ask, “How familiar are you with the Persecuted Church?”  Some pretended not to hear me or mumbled, “I’m good.” But fortunately many were willing to listen and consider getting involved. There were people from all over the world there and it was interesting to note that nearly every foreigner I encountered was well-acquainted with the Persecuted Church. Americans were far more likely to know little to nothing, but that’s probably because suffering for your faith is not a normal part of being a believer in this country. I was most encouraged by meeting people from Morocco, India and Pakistan who had actually worked with our organization in those countries. Hearing their stories made the work of Barnabas Aid more real to me and allowed me to put faces with the people we serve.
The disheartening part came from some of the booths I encountered where televangelists were selling supplements guaranteed to give you energy and good health and others just seemed to be all about glitz and glamour. There may be nothing wrong with these ministries. It was just hard not to notice the contrast between them and less flashy ministries whose sole focus was bringing the gospel to people who hadn’t heard or fighting for the lives of unborn babies.
Overall, it was very encouraging to see the massive convention center filled with people who are devoting their lives to God-honoring businesses or ministries. Every form of media was represented: radio, television, film, podcasts, video games, books and social media. All appeared to be committed to using every method possible to grow the Kingdom of God.
I was especially encouraged to see that the booths next to me and across from me were both engaged with reaching Muslims for Christ and supporting Muslim Background Believers who live under restrictive and even dangerous conditions. Islam is the world’s second largest religion and it’s estimated that there are nearly 2 billion Muslims worldwide. One organization, Cresent Project, has a vision to equip 100,000 believers, many of them from a Muslim background to reach 120 counties where Muslims have never heard the gospel. At Lighthouse Arab World, I talked with Johnny, a Lebanese man who was born into a Christian family but has a great love for Muslims all over the Arab world. He told me about the crushing inflation that his native country is suffering and how his ministry is helping to alleviate that suffering while pointing people to Jesus. He also told me a fascinating first-hand account he had heard about a Christian missionary who attempted to evangelize a remote tribe in Tunisia. These devoted Muslims were mostly hostile toward him and wanted n