Simply Stories Podcast Emily Humphries

Taylor Turkington is an author, Bible teacher, teacher of Bible teachers. She is is passionate about training women to interpret and teach the Bible informally or formally through her ministry Bible Equipping. She has a love for the word of God that is so life giving and it pours out onto the pages of her book Trembling Faith: How a Distressed Prophet Equips Us to Trust God in a Chaotic World. Its a book that unpacks the book of Habakkuk in the Bible and offers an invitation to investigate what it means to lament.
 
For those of us who have ever even considered lament, we sometimes get hung up on doing it “the right way.” Whether that be in regards to formality, worrying about the right kinds of prayers or various Biblical application tools to use, or what have you. Taylor would offer however, that “lament is informal and natural and its expressing our great need because of the people that we are. Its saying this world is not right, but God, you are right and good. And there is a discrepancy here, and I need You to do something.” We unpack the gift of what lament offers in deepening our relationship with God, and coming to God with our emotions is a healthy practice.


Taylor also shares the historical context of the prophet Habakkuk, the uniqueness of the book in the midst of the minor prophets, and Habakkuk’s raw sharing with God, and his belief in God’s goodness despite how messed up the world still is and how real his heartbreak continues to be. 
 
This episode I think is such a powerful gift as many of us are approaching the last lap of Lent and are following Jesus straight into a week ripe with lament, for the joy set before the Messiah, in the days leading up to the His death, burial and resurrection.

Connecting with Taylor:
Book Trembling Faith: How a Distressed Prophet Equips Us to Trust God in a Chaotic World
Facebook
Instagram
Ministry
Twitter
 
Sponsor for this Episode: Hopefuel
Use the code 'SIMPLY15' for 15% off
Instagram
Website

References:
-Bible Equipping
-The book of Habakkuk
-Learn It + Give It 
-Learn It +Give It Intensives
-Missiology 
-There are spiritual gifts of teaching
-The book of Lamentations
-Sons of Josiah, staring with Jehoahaz… not good
-King Jehoiakim… REALLY not good, hello Babylonian invasion
-Concrete beaches of Croatia
-“Katrina Babies” Documentary (and a picture of the power of community in cultures of color)
-Dr. Jemar Tisby - (our episode, his podcast, his substack, his books The Color of Compromise, and How To Fight Racism he is such a powerful teacher)
**Quick note- the audiobook release has been delayed! But forthcoming :) 
-Resources for Trembling Faith
 
Scripture References:
Hebrews 4:12- The word of God speaks
Habakkuk 
Isaiah 7:14, 52:13-15, 53:1-12- Isaiah talks about Jesus
Jeremiah 29:11
Matthew 28:19-20-All believers are called to learn God’s word and share it with others 
Ephesians 4:25, 1 Thessalonians 5:11- Using the Word to encourage 
Acts 2- Church is a group of people who are called to minister to each other and to the world
1 Corinthians 12- You have a spiritual gift, go use it!
Job 42:1-3, Proverbs 20:5, Romans 8:28- You were made on purpose for a purpose 
Luke 10:27-Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength 
Luke 1:39-56- Mary and Elizabeth proclaim the King 
John 4- The woman at the well goes and evangelizes Samaria
John 20:18- Mary Magdelene gets to go and tell the Disciples Jesus is risen 
Habakkuk 3- Habakkuk points to the choice we have in how to respond and what we choose to believe 
Lamentations
2 Kings 2-23- The revival under King Josiah
Psalm 102:1- Lord, please help
Ephesians 5:14, Isaiah 51:17, 52:1, 60:1, Malachi 4:2, Romans 13:11- Awake, oh sleeper 
Psalm 130:6- More than watchmen wait for the morning 
Habakk

Dr. Jessica Peck is a professor, nurse practitioner, author, and mama who has written a book called Behind Closed Doors: A Guide to Help Parents and Teens Navigate Through Life’s Toughest Issues, and it is precisely that. It's an incredible resource that talks about what Jessica sees in her office with parents and kids and teens of varying ages as well as in her own home. We are going to talk about A LOT of things today and some of them may feel kind of scary, or uncomfortable. Still, the goal of this conversation is to learn how to engage in very uncomfortable things in a “quasi-comfortable” or at the very least approachable way. Things like the mental health crisis in this country among young people, the effects of social media, living at the speed of a smartphone, conversations surrounding suicide, the drive to be perfect, and more.


The goal is not for those of us who love young people as parents, ministers, doctors, nurses, teachers, coaches, aunts, uncles, or whoever you are to be scared of the world that young people are facing but to remember the hope we have in Jesus no matter what happens in this world. AND through people like Dr. Peck, we can be empowered with knowledge and equip us for what may lay ahead.


I am so hopeful that you find something in this conversation for you and your relationship with the young people in your life. We cannot protect them from everything. We will not do this perfectly. But we can build healthy, honest, relationships with the young people and teenagers in our life. Remember: it is never too late to redeem a relationship, ask for forgiveness, or to change the trajectory of our decisions. I hope you find hope in that today. The Lord is not finished with your story. He has plans for a hopeful future for you, and He will carry them out until the very end. You matter, and your story matters.


*Connecting with Dr. Jessica Peck:
Audiobook 
Book
Facebook
Instagram
Podcast
Website 

References:
-“Jumani”- THE OG!!
-Simone Biles’ mental health decision at the Olympics
-University of Tennessee of the 90’s
-Eye contact secretes oxcytocin
-My instagram live with Dr. Peck about Sex Trafficiking 
-Human trafficking resource
-Signs of sex trafficking
-Lunchbox questions for kids/teens
-Lunchbox jokes Harry Potter and Star Wars (Pinterest is a gold mine!) 
-Cece Winans’ “Goodness of God”
-Pediatric Clinic in India through Baylor
Scripture References:
Ephesians 6:10-18-put on the full of armor of God
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8- -there is a time to reap and a time to sow
Lamentations 3:22–33; Psalm 30; 2 Corinthians 8:1–9-God’s mercies are new every single morning
Ezekiel 37:1-14-God’s power can raise bones from the desert
2 Corinthians 12:9-God’s power is made known in our weakness
John 16:33-In this world we will have trouble, but God
Psalm 84:11- No good thing will God withhold from me 
Jeremiah 29:11 The Lord has plans for a hopeful future for you
Philippians 1:6- He will complete the work He began in you 


JOIN OUR PATREON COMMUNITY!!!! I would be honored to have your support to keep the Simply Stories Podcast going. You can sign up for as little as $3 a month and each tier offers gifts that I hope will bless you in return.
Connecting with Emily and Simply Stories Podcast:
Instagram (Em life // Podcast Life)
Facebook
Twitter
Blog 

Irene Rollins is the author of the book Reframe Your Shame: Experience Freedom from What Holds You Back. In her book and in our conversation today, Irene shares her story of adolescent addiction to alcohol that consumed her life and rewired her brain chemistry until she found herself in college, tired and desperate for life, which she found in a relationship with Jesus, and the love of a wonderful man. As they grew their family and begin to pastor churches together, the old coping strategies, shame narratives, and lure of alcohol’s offer of escape began to pull on Irene’s weary heart until she found herself steeped in functional alcoholism. Perfect wife, mother and pastor by day, passed out in the bathroom by night, Irene’s life was falling apart. In 2017, she went to rehab. After incredible amounts of recovery work, thousands of prayers and redemptive reconciliation, Irene is celebrating 7 years of sobriety. She now, alongside her husband Jimmy Rollins, lives with a renewed purpose for ministering to people struggling with addictions, how to spot unhealthy habits that we use to help us cope with pain, brain hijacking, trying to work through crises in marriage, and speaking truth to the lies of the enemy that are keeping people in the crippling cycle of toxic shame, codependency, and powerlessness, and the difference Jesus brings with a life of pursuing healing, reconciliation, repentance, and freedom in Him.
We covered so much ground in this episode. Everything from types of addictions, mental health struggles, sexual abuse, toxic shame, the narratives we tell ourselves, the difference between conviction and shame, and normalizing discomfort as we learn and grow, and use our feelings as teachers and not masters. Recovery is not exclusive to alcoholism. We are called to throw off everything that hinders us. What an opportunity to examine how we can reframe the narratives in our lives and pursue God’s heart for how He sees us, allowing Him to transform our hearts and mind.
Wherever you are in your story, what hinders your growth, or keeps you captive from healing, you are worth the work. Yes, we are weak. Yes, we have believed lies that have allowed people to hurt us, or we’ve hurt ourselves. But in our weakness God is strong. He has good for you in the land of the living and a future of hope. Take heart, friend. This isn’t how the story ends. You matter, and your story matters.
Connecting with Irene:
Book: Reframe Your Shame: Experience Freedom from What Holds You Back
Facebook
Instagram
Their ministry: Two Equals One // Their instagram: 
Website
Scripture References:
1 Corinthians 6:12- I can do anything, but I must not become a slave to anything 
Romans 3:23-24, James 4:17- Sin keeps us from being who we were made to be (we all have sin)
2 Corinthians 3:18, 5:17,  2 Peter 1:2-4- Jesus can transform our lives 
2 Corinthians 12:9- Seeing His power be made known in our weaknesses
Psalm 51:10- Create in me a clean heart
Luke 10:38-42-Martha syndrome
John 10:10- The enemy comes to seek, kill and destroy
Romans 8:1- Therefore there is now no condemnation 
John 3:16-17-Jesus died on the cross for our sins
Hebrews 12:2-Focus on the joy that is set before us
Luke 22:42- Jesus asked the Father to take this cup from Him, but He surrendered to His will 
2 Corinthians 7:10, Romans 2:4- Conviction leads to repentance 
Jeremiah 6:14-16- You can’t heal a wound you don’t see 
Psalm 139:13-14-God created me in my Mother’s wombs
Deuteronomy 31:6, Matthew 28:20,  John 14:16-17 God is ALWAYS with us
Psalm 23- His rod and staff lead and comfort me 
1 Corinthians 15:58- Nothing is wasted 
Psalm 27
References:
Find a therapist near you
Codependcy 
Reframing Your Shame Prayer Prompts (scroll to the bottom to sign up for them for free!)
Alateen
Alanon
The Language of Letting Go App
Episode Sponsor:

On the podcast today, I have the absolutely amazing Sara Billups. Our show’s format is very conversational and I love it that way. Truthfully I was so impressed, curious and moved by Sara’s book Orphaned Believers: How a Generation of Christian Exiles Can Find the Way Home that this episode is a little more like a conversations with friends over dinner. It ebbs and weaves and then starts one way and moves another with the feverent pace of “oh man, you too?!” and also, “holy smokes I’ve never thought about that before.” Sara shares pieces of her story of growing up in the environment of end times prophecies being commonplace over her plate of macaroni and cheese as a child, or a booth at a milkshake shop with a friend. She unpacks huge terms like premillenial dispensationalism, how heavily focused rapture narratives held her family captive from engaging life on this side of heaven, and asking big questions like how does tradition become theology in the middle of a genuine love for Jesus and then how do things get lost in fear or just being human?
 
Sara would define an orphaned believer as someone who looks around the American church or just general broad strokes Christian culture and doesn’t know where they belong. Or they are people like myself and Sara who sometimes struggle with what they’re experiencing with many beloved brothers and sisters in Christ who are not acting like the Jesus we have experienced or of the Gospel. In that tension, how do put our eyes back on who God has always been and who He always will be? How do we pursue and embrace what role or gifts God has for us in this journey of healing? How do we allow God to use suffering, doubt, and confusion to draw us closer to Him no matter how much we desire to escape the pain? Its a lot, but its SO good. 
 
Even though I was a bit of a poor conversation steward today, (my over excitement can get the best of me sometimes!) I hope and pray somewhere along the way you found a space for you in this conversation. You get to bring all of you and your questions and your broken experiences to the Jesus who knows people better than we know ourselves. He’s aware of what comes against His church, distracts His people and distorts His name. But He’s not finished. There is so much more hope to be found here on earth, and together with Him in Heaven, no matter when we get to see Him, He is coming back for us. BUT He has SO MUCH for us before He comes. That’s just one of the many gifts of the Gospel is the promise, and assurance that He will be with us no matter what happens next. You are so loved, friend. You matter, and your story matters. 
 
PS: Guess what y’all, the podcast book club is actually going to be reading this book together, AND Sara is (hopefully!) going to come talk with us about it as well because there’s just so much more to unpack. So be sure and check out how to join us for the book club in our show notes, website or link in social media bios!



Connecting with Sara:
Book: Orphaned Believers: How a Generation of Christian Exiles Can Find Their Way Home
Instagram 
The Bitter Scroll Substack
Website
 
Episode Sponsor: Tony Crabtree of Crabtree Homes with Exit Realty
Facebook
Instagram 
Tik Tok 
Website
YouTube
 
References:
The Late Great Planet Earth- Hal Lindsey
“The Late Great Planet Earth” movie 
The rapture
Pre-millienial dispensationalism 
The Cold War 
Cessationism
Mars Hill Church
John Mark Comer
This Cultural Moment podcast 
Rise and Fall of Mars Hill story (via podcast)
Mark Driscoll (Proceed with caution on this website…)
Real time article of Mars Hill Church disbanding 
TO Fuller State Park in Memphis 
Schools of thought on when the rapture will take place 
John Nelson Darby
Social Gospel Period
Left Behind Series- authors Tim LaHaye, and Jerry Jenkins
L. Ron Hubbard books
Scientology belie

Blake Guichet, better known as the Girl Named Blake, is the host of the Confessions of a Crappy Christian Podcast, and the author of her book with a similar title, Confessions of a Crappy Christian Real-Life Talk About All the Things Christians Aren’t Sure We’re Supposed to Say and Why They Matter to God. Blake shares a little bit of her story of growing up at war with herself because she felt like she didn’t fit anywhere, and the journey of making her faith her own as she grew up. She began asking big questions like who is God really? Who does he say that I am? What have I culturally believed is true and what do I actually believe is true because God’s Word says its true?
In the middle of that season, she tried all the things that seemed like the next right step for a woman with a voice who loved Jesus, but hustle culture took a devastating toll on her mind, body, and heart. Then, the Lord had to meet her in that place and to trust Him and His timing to be the One who would lead her to what it meant to work and minister for His glory, and to live from her heart for Him from all the platforms He’s given her.
We talk about what it means to to have self confidence and also posses humility, and how to honor God in the way He designed us. Trying to peel away the stigmas that surround big topics everyone faces, and normalize Christians talking about mental health, shame, being female and maybe not the “typical” and “expected” Christian female, Blake’s reckoning with the Proverbs 31 woman, not the one from the tote bags, but the one that was written in the original language of scripture, all of it is on the docket, and you won’t want to miss it!
I hope that in this conversation you can find some piece of yourself in it. No matter how God made you, no matter whether you feel like you fit in or not, you matter to the Lord, and your story matters.
 
Connecting with Blake:
The Girl Named Blake Website : Home for all her services, the podcast, etc.
Facebook
Instagram
Podcast Instagram
Episode Sponsor: Tony Crabtree of Crabtree Homes with Exit Realty
Facebook
Instagram 
Tik Tok 
Website
YouTube
JOIN OUR PATREON COMMUNITY!!!! I would be honored to have your support to keep the Simply Stories Podcast going. You can sign up for as little as $3 a month and each tier offers gifts that I hope will bless you in return.
Resources:
Confessions of a Crappy Christian Podcast
Confessions of a Crappy Christian 
Ann Swindell
Adrenal Failure
Ennegram 8
Hard work is Biblical 
Kāḇôḏ (Honor) (from Psalm 62:7)- 
'iššâ (woman or wife) or ḥayil (valor) 
Doris Day
Katharine Hepburn
Ash Abercrombie first episode with her and the second one
Mary Magdelene
“Vulnerability hangover”- Brene Brown-ism
Scripture References:
John 1:16-The fullness of grace 
Ecclesiastes 3-There is a time to tear down and to build 
Gensis 32:22-32- Wrestling with the Lord
1 Corinthians 12- Spiritual Gifts
Psalm 62
Genesis 31- Laban is angry at Jacob 
Genesis 41:41-46-Joseph being elevated 
Exodus 13:20-22, 33:1-23- Shekinah Glory (God’s presence in the Exodus and Wilderness)
Galatians 2:20-I died and it is Christ who lives in me 
Philippians 4:8-9- (whaatever is true, whatever is lovely)
Ephesians 6:10-18, John 10:10, 1 Peter 5:8- Spiritual attack
Colossians 3:3- You are hidden in Christ
Proverbs 31:10-31- The Proverbs 31 Woman 
Judges 4-5- Deborah 
Judges 4:17-21- Jael - the tent peg killer ;) 
Acts 18, 1 Corinthians 16:19, 2 Timothy 4:19- Priscilla and Aquila
1 Corinthians 12:12-27- The body of Christ needs all its parts for it to work
Luke 1:26-38, Luke 2, John 19:25-27- Mary Mother of Jesus
Genesis 2-3- Eve
Ruth the Moabite
Gensis 12:11-13-Sarah- we’re gonna do what now?? (Just one example)
Genesis 6:22-Genesis 9- Noah’s wife
Gensis 19- Lot’s wife
Ge

I am so delighted to share with you my conversation with author, Christian communicator and teacher Wendy Speake. In this episode, she shares with me her journey of God calling her into a life of using her words for His glory and honing her craft as a storyteller, God meeting her as she mothers her 4 boys, rubbing elbows with others in the trenches, and it is such an encouraging word.
Wendy is passionate about God’s word and encouraging others to learn how to engage it and identify what keeps them tripped up and triggered in their relationship with Him, His word, and with other people. She pushes us to ask ourselves HARD question such as: How do we respond when we fail? How do we grow to be more like Christ so we get triggered and tripped up less? How do take our triggers to the lamplight of God’s word and how do we do right when “they”- whoever they is in our life- do wrong? A lot of these questions she offers in the context of parenting, but isn’t that a call for all relationships? We cannot control anyone’s actions or reactions towards us, but we can step into the process of God sanctifying our own story, and see where He is calling us to grow, and what our triggers are so that we can heal and grow and become more like the parents, spouses, friends, and neighbors God made us to be. 
We’ll talk about fasting and how Wendy has found in her own journey that fasting from various things in her Instead of moving from high to high, sugar, social media, shopping, whatever it is that is tripping us up and that we chose to reach for so we can cope with what’s happening in our life, the process of fasting can point to the Most High God and offer opportunity to feast on His word. 
Friends, I hope you walk away from this conversation encouraged and open to the invitation to engage God’s word so that you can find nourishment and healing. No matter where you are in your relationship with Him, or His word or His church, He is always present and near to us.
No matter where you are in your story friend, the Lord is with you. Closer than you even realize. Ask Him to make Himself known to you, because you matter to Him, and your story matters. 
Connecting with Wendy:
Facebook
Instagram
Website
 
Episode Sponsor: Tony Crabtree of Crabtree Homes with Exit Realty
Facebook
Instagram 
Tik Tok 
Website
YouTube
 
JOIN OUR PATREON COMMUNITY!!!! I would be honored to have your support to keep the Simply Stories Podcast going. You can sign up for as little as $3 a month and each tier offers gifts that I hope will bless you in return. 
References:
MOPS
Amber Lia
Amber and Wendy’s work together
Triggers: Exchanging Parents' Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses
Parenting Scripts
The 40 Day Sugar Fast 
The 40 Day Social Media Fast
“Gilmore Girls” – “Oy with the poodles already!”
The 40-Day Feast: Taste and See the Goodness of God’s Word
Jesus Storybook Bible
The Serenity Prayer
David Thomas and Sissy Goff of Daystar Counseling - “Raising Boys and Girls Podcast”
David Thomas’ episode with me! (Epiosde 134)
DT’s Instagram live with me
Tyndale Bible
William Tyndale’s story
The 40 Day Fast Journal
 
Scripture References:
John 3:16- God loves you 
Psalm 119:105-God’s word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path
Proverbs 22:6-Training a child up in the way they should go
Becoming more like Christ (a whole list of verses!)
Book of Proverbs (Video for insights and overview)
Book of Matthew (Video for insights and overview)
Genesis 2:16-17, Joshua 24:15,John 8:36, 1 Corinthians 6:12, Galatians 5:16-17, Revelation 3:20-  God values us enough to give us free will 
Mark 12:31-Love our neighbors
Psalm 139:14-We are uniquely and wonderfully made
John 1:1-5-Jesus is the light that the darkness cannot overcome 
Deuteronomy 11
Romans 12:21- Do not overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good
Psalm 34:8-Taste and see that t