Hole in My Heart Podcast Laurie Krieg

When we are going through suffering, we don’t usually think, “Hmm, what treasures might God have for me to discover here?”
It just feels like suffering.
However, author and major stroke survivor, Katherine Wolf, has a message for us: God has gems for us to find in the darkness. “If you have to go through hardship, why not get the treasure? My goodness, don’t waste the pain,” she says.
What else do we talk about?
What exactly are these “treasures” anyway?
How should we respond to our friends’ immediate suffering?
What if we are in a major depressive season? Is there hope for us? 
What if we don’t think our struggles are worth even naming as “suffering”? 
What steps can we take in the midst of a hard season to find hope?
// Highlights:
“Before we can ever accept the circumstances of our life, we have to go through the process of grieving the life we thought we should have had.” --Katherine Wolf
“The gift we can give one another as the body of Christ is to sprint toward one another’s pain and suffering.” --Katherine Wolf
“We need to remember that we are called and assigned to our stories.” --Katherine Wolf
“What saved my life was the logic of it all: If I should have died, I would have died. I did not die, therefore God has purpose in my being in this body and on this planet in this moment.” --Katherine Wolf
“We need less people telling you what to think in the pain and more just being with you in the pain.” --Katherine Wolf
// Question of the Week:
What two random things are in your junk drawer right now? 
 
// Do the Next Thing:
Katherine’s amazing new devotional/reflection book? Find it here
Follow Katherine on IG here
Join the HIMH FB group here
Follow Laurie on IG here
Email us with thoughts or questions at podcast@lauriekrieg.com
Watch it here
 

“Hope in the gospel and discouragement are not mutually exclusive,” Pastor Derwin Gray encouraged us on today’s episode. 
But, how is that possible? The world can feel so defeating:
Politics, racial division, pastor scandals, congregant sin, and the drudgery of faithfully trying to do this thing called advancing the Kingdom of God wherever we are called can overwhelm anyone. How can we both experience grief, discouragement, or mourning, and allow it to propel us further into the heart of God?
Author and pastor of one of the fastest growing churches in America, Derwin Gray, preaches exactly the answer and exactly what weary souls needed to hear today.
 
// Highlights:
 
“When I find my heart becoming cynical I know that I have stepped out of grace and into self righteousness.” —Derwin Gray
“I’m finding encouragement because that tomb in Jerusalem is still empty.” —Derwin Gray
“We need more local pastors not teaching moralism, sin management, left-leaning secular ideologies or Pharisaical rightism. We need them to preach the gospel-centered, beautiful, bloody resurrection power of Jesus.” —Derwin Gray
 
// QOTW:
 
What is your favorite sign of spring?
 
// Do the Next Thing:
 
Watch the video here!
Find all of Derwin’s work here
Join the HIMH Podcast here
Keep up with Laurie and the HIMH Podcast on IG here

This is a very gentle but powerful episode. 
Since having the conversation, I (Laurie) can’t stop seeing the people-as-trees metaphor everywhere.
How? You’re just going to have to listen to find out. :)  
// Highlights:
“We all have the seasons in life. We can’t expect the same things of ourselves in every single season. When we don’t experience seasons that are fruitful or blooming, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong with us, it can just mean we are in a different season.” —Joy Marie Clarkson
“You can’t have buds and the blooms [on a tree] without ... the old leaves dying.” —Joy Marie Clarkson
“I had cleared the land of my life of all the things that seemed ‘pointless’ … In doing that, I made the field of my life infertile and barren. ” —Joy Marie Clarkson
// Question of the Week:
What do you accidentally buy too much of at the grocery store? (You have grocery-nesia?)
 
// Do the Next Thing:
Find Joy on IG here
On Twitter here
On FB here
On her Substack here
Her podcast here
Join the conversation at the HIMH FB Pod Page here!
Watch the episode here

Christy grew up in a hyper-legalistic system that added rigid rules to the gospel of Jesus. 
(You might have seen glimpses of it if you watched the documentary, ‘Shiny Happy People.’)
Even after leaving, Christy internally battled the legalism that attached itself to her knowledge of the real Jesus. How did she break free—not only physically, but mentally and spiritually?
We also explore:
What is the difference between authority and authoritarianism?
How can you tell if you’re in a legalistic system?
Why would someone be drawn to such a structure?
How can we break free from either a direct cult like Christy experienced, or simple (but unbiblical) legalism?
// Highlights:
“Legalism and behavior-driven stuff (feeling like you have to perform for God) holds on tight. Even after getting out [of the cult] and going to college (I was wearing pants, I had shorter hair, and I looked way more normal than I used to look), I was still very much stuck in this idea that God didn’t like me if I wasn’t performing correctly.” —Christy Lynne Wood
“The most damaging part of this cult was the idea of who God was: He was angry, he wanted certain behaviors and activities, and he was going to judge you and condemn you if you didn’t follow these rules and behaviors.” —Christy Lynne Wood
“God wants us to be reconciled to the real Jesus, not to some fake god who is crushing us under his thumb… And, He wants this more than we do.” —Christy Lynne Wood
// Question of the Week:
Do you have grocery-nesia? Do you go to the store and think you *definitely* need something, but get home only to discover you already have four? We want to hear about it.
 
// Do the Next Thing:
Watch the episode here!
You can read Christy’s blog and more here
You can find Christy’s book, Religious Rebels, here
We talk about understanding the genre, etc. of the Bible. This book may be a help
Christy mentioned A Matter of Basic Principles book found here
You can find the Diane Langberg book we talked about that explored authority, Redeeming Power, here
Join the HIMH Podcast FB group here

Oh, wow. This story. 
How does one woman go from a childhood of following Jesus as much as she knows how, to professional hockey, to same-sex relationships, to transitioning to male for six years, to finding the real Jesus, and then to de-transitioning in the midst of a loving church community?
This episode has her story.
Hear a testimony and take part in a conversation on how to walk well with people who wrestle with gender today on the podcast.
 
// Highlights:
“I was crying out to God on the bedroom floor, and I heard him say, ‘Kyla. Return to me.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean, return to you? Can’t I follow you and be Brycen?’ I heard him very clearly say to me, ‘No.’ I was weeping: ‘I don’t know what this looks like. Can I ever be female again?’ And he said to me, ‘Do you trust me and are you willing?’ And I cried out in that moment, ‘Yes!’” --Kyla Gillespie
“Do we think we are powerful enough in ourselves to change and will somebody to love Jesus? Or do we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit who saves and changes people? That’s what [the people who discipled me] did. They called me to this gospel, but they loved me in the mess.” --Kyla Gillespie
“It’s always different when we have face-to-face relationships. Suddenly all those things we did and said on the internet turn into, ‘Oh, maybe that wasn’t so kind or so nice or so gentle. Maybe I didn’t love you the way I’m commanded to love you.’” --Kyla Gillespie
// Question of the Week:
What was your favorite childhood cereal?
// Do the Next Thing:
Find Kyla’s ministry here
Search her on IG here
Join the HIMH Podcast Group here
Watch the episode here

Is anyone else feeling like they are in a rut in their marriage?
Maybe you’re not in crisis mode, but it’s kinda just . . . meh?
It’s easy to function; to sit on opposite couches and scroll on your phone. But, do you wonder if marriage could be better than that—not with some fantastical potion or even a weekend intensive per se, but what if it began with small, simple movements of risk toward one another?
Today, marriage experts Tracy Johnson and Chris Bruno guide those of us who feel “in a rut” toward a gentle path of hope.
How? 
Grab a coffee drink you’ve never ordered before (you’ll get this reference after you listen ;)), and pull up an earbud.
(Oh, and single friends? Thanks for listening and being a friend to us as we figure out this heavenly metaphor as you figure out yours. (See episode 213 for more on this.))
// Highlights:
“In the last couple of years we have seen couples move into a devolution of trust. People have stepped away from a posture of generosity toward their spouses into a posture of protection.” —Chris Bruno 
“What I have found with the couples that we are working with is . . . they are profoundly disconnected and incredibly lonely. The surgeon general’s report that came out in May that the greatest mental health crisis we are facing as a country is actually tied to loneliness, and we are seeing the manifestation of that in the couples that are coming to us. They say, ‘I’m so lonely. How can I be so lonely in this marriage?’ . . . but without the tools to bridge that disconnection.” —Tracy Johnson
“We live in a broken world where we assume, ‘If I risk, I will be missed.’ But what if we begin to build some trust so that we think, ‘If I risk, what if I am seen’?” —Chris Bruno
// QOTW:
What is *in* for you for 2024, and what is *out*?
 
// Do the Next Thing:
Find Tracy and Chris’ work here
That year of good dates?? Here
Chris and Tracy's ReStory Counseling here
Thrive YouTube? Here
Matt and Laurie’s fave marriage book? Here
Laurie and Matt’s marriage book? Here
Join the HIMH Pod FB page here! 
Watch it here