Chasing Happiness with Ryan DeMent

Ryan DeMent
  • 5.0 (55)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Chasing Happiness is a podcast about life lessons and issues that impact our lives. Some of the best episodes are where we take an honest look at current events and discuss how they might affect you - all while being completely transparent in tone from host Ryan DeMent who tells his stories with honesty combined with humor for your listening pleasure! In each episode, you'll hear Ryan and his guests discussing life's challenges, finances, career advice, health & wellness tips, and more. The goal is to help you become a better version of yourself by helping you achieve your HAPPINESS!

  1. 6d ago

    I Lost a Friend, a Mentor, and a Business Partner This Week (Here Is What God Taught Me) — Ep. 244

    This week I lost a good friend, a mentor, and a business partner, suddenly, with no warning at all. It taught me life is far more fragile than we treat it. I am not saying this from a stage. I am saying it from right where I am this week. I do not want to make this about the details of what happened. I want to make it about what it is doing in me, because I think it is exactly what God wants to do in you too. We live as if we have forever. We plan our years, our businesses, our someday conversations as if time is guaranteed. James 4:14 says we don't even know what will happen tomorrow; our life is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. It usually takes something sudden to make that verse feel real instead of just true. Here is what surprised me. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 not to be anxious about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Anxiety about the future and failing to be present in the now are the same thing wearing two faces. Life being fragile should terrify us into anxiety, and instead God uses it to call us into presence. Two days before I got this news, I was sitting in my men's group talking about being vulnerable, about needing men in your life you can actually trust, the ride-or-die kind. I did not know why that conversation hit so hard until this week. Losing somebody suddenly does not just remind you that life is short. It reveals whether you've built relationships that carry weight, or whether you have been isolated and called it strength. Ecclesiastes 4 says two are better than one, and a cord of three strands is not easily broken. That is not a nice sentiment; it is a survival principle. Do not wait for a loss to finally be honest with the people in your life. Call the friend. Show up for the group. Be the vulnerable one first. Scriptures referenced:James 4:14, Psalm 90:12, Matthew 6:25-34, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Life is more fragile than we act like, and God is not asking you to be anxious about it. He is asking you to be present, and He is asking you to stop doing this alone. Drop a comment and tell me one person you are going to be more honest with this week. I read every single one, and this week I need to hear it as much as you do.

  2. Sep 19

    The World Lied to You About Being a Man of God (Real Strength Is Surrender) Ep. 243

    The world lied to you about what it means to be a man. It said strength is control. The truth is, the strongest thing a man of God can do is surrender. It told you a real man handles it alone, never bends, never needs help, and never lets anyone see him hurt. After years of building businesses, leading a family, and sitting in rooms with men who look strong and are quietly falling apart, I can tell you that version of strength is a cheap counterfeit, and it is exhausting to carry. The strongest thing a man can do is surrender everything to God and let Him lead him and his family. I am telling you this fresh, straight from a room full of men trying to figure out the same thing. This one is personal. Surrender has not been easy for me, especially financially, in the middle of the storm I have been walking through on this channel. But I am learning that getting on my knees and saying, "God, I cannot carry this; lead me and lead my family," is the hardest and strongest thing I have ever done. What we cover: The lie the world told you about being a man, and what it costs: isolation, exhaustion, a family that fears you instead of trusting you, and a faith kept at arm's length. What real strength actually is. The strongest man who ever lived, Jesus, showed His greatest strength on His knees in a garden, surrendering to the Father. The cross was not something that happened to a weak man. It was something a strong man chose. Why a man who surrenders to God is not passive but the only leader worth following: because he follows the One who knows the way. Scriptures referenced:Matthew 26:39, Ephesians 5:25 Stop measuring your strength by how much you can carry alone. Start measuring it by how completely you can surrender to God and how well you lead the people He gave you by following Him first. That is not weakness. That is the courage the world trained out of you, and God is calling it back. If this hit you, the last episode is about what happens when you surrender, and the storm gets louder instead of quieter. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  3. Sep 12

    When You Feel Like You Are Right Back in the Storm God Is Doing This Ep 242

    Feeling like you are going backward is not the same as going backward. The storm that comes back is often where God does the deepest work. You thought you were finally climbing out, and now it feels like you are sliding right back into the storm you just survived. I know that feeling because I am living it right now. After eighteen months in my own financial storm and years of walking people through their worst money seasons, I can tell you the return is not the punishment you are afraid it is. This week it hit me again, right when I thought I was through, so this is not a lesson from the other side. It is the truth from inside it. What we cover: Why the feeling of going backward is not the fact of it. You are not at square one. You are climbing the same mountain from higher ground, and it only feels familiar because the view rhymes. Why God lets the storm come back. Elijah had the greatest victory of his life and collapsed days later. God did not rebuke him. He fed him, let him rest, and recommissioned him in a whisper. The return did what the victory could not. My testimony, from the middle of the storm. I don't have a tidy ending because I haven't reached it yet, and I am telling you the truth anyway. What the lender's seat sees. The person who quits in the last mile is convinced the setback meant they were back to nothing, versus the one who reads the second wave as the middle, not the verdict. Scriptures referenced:2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 1 Kings 19 The return is not the punishment. It is not proof you failed. It is the place where God does the work the victory could not do. Stay in the water. He is in it with you. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers how gratitude in the middle of the storm opens your hands for what is next. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  4. Sep 5

    Why God Won't Give You More Until You're Grateful for What You Have — Ep. 241

    Stop asking God for more until you can be grateful for what is already in your hands. Clenched hands cannot receive. After years of watching people chase money and blessings they do not have yet, I can tell you the real reason God has not given you more. It is not that He is holding out on you. Gratitude is the open hand that receives, and a hand clenched around what it does not have has no room for what God is trying to give. Every morning someone asks how I am doing, and I tell them I am grateful, because I made the wake-up list this morning. I mean it completely. This one is personal. I have spent 18 months in my own storm, and some mornings the only honest thing I could be grateful for was that I woke up with another chance. That was enough to get up and keep going. What we cover: Why gratitude is the requirement, not the reward. You think it is the thank-you note after the gift. God treats it as the open hand that can receive the gift at all. Why ungrateful hands stay empty. Ingratitude trains your eyes to only see what is missing, so you miss what God is already doing. The Israelites turned a short journey into forty years the same way. My testimony. Why the wake-up list became the most honest thing I say all day. What the lender's seat sees every week. The bitter client with plenty who stays stuck, versus the grateful client with almost nothing who keeps moving. Scriptures referenced:1 Thessalonians 5:18, James 1:17, Luke 17:15-17 You woke up today. You made the wake-up list. That is already enough to be grateful for, and gratitude is how you open your hands to receive what God is building next. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers what to actually do with what God places in your open hands, from the parable of the talents. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  5. Aug 29

    What the Parable of the Talents Says About Investing Your Money God's Way Ep 240

    What the parable of the talents says about investing is not what most Christians think. It is Jesus being blunt about money, fear, and stewardship. The parable of the talents is a money parable from the first verse. A master gives three servants different amounts. Two put the money to work and double it. One buries his out of fear and hands it back unchanged. The buried servant is the only one the master condemns, and not for losing money. He never lost a dime. He is condemned for letting fear talk him into doing nothing. I am recording this one from inside my own story. For a long stretch, I was the servant who buried it. I was so afraid of losing what little I had that I did nothing with it and told myself that was the responsible, even godly, choice. It was not. It was fear wearing a responsible costume. What we cover: What the parable actually teaches about investing your money. Stewardship is active, not passive. Burying what you were given is the one thing this parable condemns. Why fear was the real sin. The servant said, "I was afraid, so I hid it." Fear told him a lie that protecting what he had was safer than putting it to work. My testimony. How I moved from burying what I had to tithing consistently, one percent at a time, from five percent up to a full ten. What the lender's seat sees every week. The clients too afraid to ever make a move, versus the ones who steward what they have and build something over time. Scriptures referenced:Matthew 25:23, Matthew 25:25

  6. Aug 22

    You Are Doing God's Job Instead of Yours (I See This Every Week) Ep 239

    Stop forcing the outcome. Obedience is your job; the outcome is God's, and mixing them up is why you are exhausted. After years of doing loans for Christians, I can tell you why so many faithful people are burned out. They are doing two jobs at once, their own and God's. Your job is obedience. Small, daily, specific. Show up, do the work, tithe, steward the little. God's job is the outcome. The growth, the timing, which door opens and which one closes. When you try to do God's job for Him, you do not just exhaust yourself. You get in His way. I am recording this one from inside my own storm. For 18 months I have been trying to force outcomes God never asked me to control while completely missing the daily obedience He was actually asking of me. This week it finally started to shift. What we cover: What your job actually is. Small daily obedience, not big flashy obedience. The next right thing today, never "make the outcome happen." What God's job actually is. Growth, timing, provision, open and closed doors. Backed by 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 and Proverbs 16:9. My testimony. The three-stage evolution my prayers went through over 18 months, from bargaining with God to finally asking Him to change me instead of my circumstances. What the lender's seat sees every week. The borrower who calls three times a day trying to force a closing timeline versus the one who does the paperwork and lets the process work. Same tools, wildly different peace levels. Scriptures referenced:Micah 6:8, 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, Proverbs 16:9 You are not exhausted because your situation is too hard. You are exhausted because you are trying to do two jobs at once. Do the small faithful thing in front of you today and let God do the growth. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers why the problem in front of you was never the punishment. It was the setup for the miracle. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  7. Aug 15

    You Cannot Have a Miracle Without a Problem (I See This Every Week) Ep 238

    Stop praying the problem away. It is the miracle you have been asking for, from a Christian lender who sees this every week. Every major miracle in the Bible has a problem attached to it. The problem is not the obstacle. The problem is the setup. Lazarus had to die before the resurrection. The wine had to run out before it turned into wine. The Red Sea had to be there before it could part. God does not do miracles into abundance. He does miracles into problems. I am recording this one from inside my own storm. For 18 months I have been asking God to remove the problem in my business, and it hit me this week that the problem was never in my business. It was in me. He grabbed my attention through the business because He could not grab it any other way, and the miracle He has been building is the change in my character, not the resolution of my circumstances. This episode is teaching plus testimony. I walk through the biblical pattern that miracles always follow problems, share the internal shift that took me 18 months to see, and tell two stories from the lender's seat about borrowers I watch every week trying to pray the problem away when the problem was the point. What we cover: The pattern in scripture. Every miracle in the Bible was set up by a problem. Lazarus. The wedding at Cana. The Red Sea. The feeding of the 5000. God works into insufficiency, not into abundance. My testimony. Where I am in my own storm right now. The 18 months of chasing the Joneses. The realization that the problem was never external. Why I am starting to help others through what I have already survived, including planning to lead FPU at my church. What the lender's seat sees every week. Two borrower stories. The couple who felt inadequate compared to their friends and kept refinancing to keep up. The single guy who realized the spending was the problem and used the refi to break the pattern instead of extending it. Same tool. Two completely different outcomes based on whether the person let God work IN the problem or tried to pray it away. The guardrail: The miracle may not be that God pulls you out of the problem. The miracle may be that God changes who you are while you are in it. Scriptures referenced:John 11, John 2 The problem in front of you is not the punishment. It is the platform. God is not ignoring you. He is setting up something you could not have asked for because you did not know it was possible. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers the three quiet signs God is already elevating you through the problem. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  8. Aug 8

    3 Signs God Is About to Elevate You Financially (I See This Every Week) Ep 237

    Stop looking for the deposit. 3 signs God is elevating you financially, from a Christian lender who sees this every week. Most Christians assume the first sign of elevation is a deposit in the account. It is not. The first signs are quiet shifts in your character that you have probably not connected to God yet. You have been begging God for a financial breakthrough for months, maybe years, and you have not noticed that He has been answering the whole time. Just not the way you expected. I am recording this one from inside my own storm. I am watching all three of these signs show up in my own life right now, and I am not standing over anyone. I am standing next to you. After years of doing loans for Christians, I can tell you there are three quiet signs God gives you right before the elevation shows up in your account. And most people miss all three because they are watching for the wrong thing. God prepares the vessel before He pours the blessing, and every one of these signs is how you know the preparation is in motion. What we cover: Sign One: Your old lifestyle habits stop being satisfying. You walk through Target and put things back on the shelf. The car you always wanted stops looking as good on the lot. Doom scrolling stops giving you the dopamine hit. This is not you being disciplined. This is God changing your appetite. Sign Two: You get drawn to help people in situations you used to be in. You find yourself sending long text messages to friends going through what you already survived. You take calls that do not pay you because they need to be taken. This is not you being generous. This is God building the platform before He puts you on it. Sign Three: You start seeing money problems as spiritual problems. The old prayer sounds like "God, please fix my finances." The new prayer sounds like "God, please change me so You can trust me with the finances I am asking for." That shift is the moment elevation is closer than you think. Scriptures referenced:Ecclesiastes 5:10, 2 Corinthians 1:4, Romans 12:2 The three signs God is elevating you financially are not the ones you are looking for. You are looking for the deposit. God is watching the character. If your appetite for the wrong things is fading, if you are being drawn to help people you used to walk past, and if you are starting to see your money problems as spiritual problems, God is not delaying your breakthrough. He is finishing your preparation. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers the three mistakes that will block the breakthrough if you keep doing them. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

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Chasing Happiness is a podcast about life lessons and issues that impact our lives. Some of the best episodes are where we take an honest look at current events and discuss how they might affect you - all while being completely transparent in tone from host Ryan DeMent who tells his stories with honesty combined with humor for your listening pleasure! In each episode, you'll hear Ryan and his guests discussing life's challenges, finances, career advice, health & wellness tips, and more. The goal is to help you become a better version of yourself by helping you achieve your HAPPINESS!

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