The Alli Worthington Show

Special Fierce Faith episode: What if things fall apart? Identifying and overcoming the fear of the future.

Merry Christmas! As a special gift for you, today's episode is a free recording of Chapter 9 of my book Fierce Faith called "What If Things Fall Apart" ,all about the fear of the future.  The fear of the future can paralyze us, leave us imagining the worst, and keep us from pursuing our God-given purpose and dreams. Today, I share a lot of my personal story with fear as my family faced illness and bankruptcy. I'll also share about the Israelites and the lessons we can take for their journey into the promised land. And, if you know me well, you KNOW there's going to be practical application as well! I'm going to give you a battle plan to fight the fear that will help you start 2020 empowered, strong, and hopeful for the future. I'm also giving away chapter one from Fierce Faith free today.    Quotes from this episode: 1. The enemy of our souls want to distract us, delay us, and discourage us with fear. The enemy of our souls has always used the fear of the unknown to keep us stuck. Instead of forging forward into the Promised Land, we wander around, lost and lonely in our own wilderness. 2. We are so busy looking for the perfect set of circumstances to line up with what we think we must have, we completely miss out on what God had for us all along. 3. The enemy of our souls fights hardest when God is doing a great work in our lives. But we know that he who has overcome the world lives in us. We know that victory is his, and even though we face a battle today, the enemy will not be victorious. We fight from a place of victory because of Jesus. We don't have to fight for victory, because it is ours already! 4. God's presence doesn't mean I'm fearless; instead, it means I can fear less. 5. God wants to strengthen us to face the future. He is building each of us to be the person he created us to be. And sometimes, to reach our promised future, we have to fight to get there.   If you love the message of Fierce Faith and want your own copy, you can grab one on sale on Amazon.   Merry Christmas, Alli   http://www.alliworthington.com/podcast/fiercefaith

Jeff Bethke on saying to with the hustle, wisdom from Frozen II, and living intentionally.

Today, I'm with the brilliant Jeff Bethke to talk about why you may need to ditch the American dream, say "To With The Hustle", and find a way to be human again.  Jeff shares why his family decided to get off the conveyor belt of overachievement, restructure their family life, and take some leaps that were well worth it.   In this episode we discuss: 1. What Elsa and Arendell can teach us about risk-taking. 2. Living wisely in an information overload culture. 3. What it means to live an integrated life.   Favorite quotes: 1. So many of us are trying to achieve spiritual perfection when God is more concerned about spiritual formation. He doesn’t want you to just reach the goal, He wants you to become a particular type of person. 2. A lot of us are willing to make certain sacrifices based on the monetary financial gain rather than asking “Is this job humanizing to me? Is this job where the Lord has actually called me?”  3. There’s a trajectory that our culture puts us on that’s just more, more, more, do, do, do. The pressure seems to compound and the farther we went down this conveyor belt of the American dream, the more we were actually losing practices, formations, rhythms, and rituals that we believe profoundly make us human.   In this episode I answer these questions: 1. How do you deal with writing about family issues and struggles in your books? (46:06) 2. If a Christian commits a sexual sin is it forgivable? If so, why are ministers who have a “moral failure” asked to step down? (52:58) 3. I’m a creative entrepreneur and I hate systems, and so far it hasn’t hurt my growth. Do I have to build systems or can I stay successful without them? (1:00:05)   Links to great things we discussed: 1. Jeff Bethkey 2. To With The Hustle: Reclaiming Your Life in an Overworked, Overspent, and Overconnected World 3. Sinach- Waymaker 4. Frozen 2 5. Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How to Find Hope 6. Chasing the Scream: The Opposite of Addiction is Connection 7. Cast iron   Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :) xo, Alli    www.alliworthington.com/podcast/jeffbethke

Beth McCord, Your Enneagram Coach, on how to use the Enneagram for a healthier and happier marriage

One of my most popular guests is back: Beth McCord of Your Enneagram Coach! Today, we are talking about is the Enneagram and your marriage.  We'll chat about how to use the Enneagram for insight into your spouse's perspective, needs, and triggers as well as how to keep turning back to the gospel for our core needs.    In this episode we discuss: 1. How Christians should view the Enneagram. 2. The new Enneagram Instagram account you can't miss 3. How to use the Enneagram for healthier conflict in marriage   Favorite quotes: 1. Understanding one another allows us to have those conversations that are more purposeful and meaningful. It averts conflict and hurting the relationship where it doesn’t need to be. 2. Conflict is not in and of itself isn’t bad. People are going to have different views and desires but it’s how we deal with that conflict that really matters. We all come from different vantage points and perspectives and if we can validate and understand one another then we can work through those conflicts. We can come together and that’s where we can really honor God. 3. The Enneagram, think of it as just a flashlight or an x-ray. It pointing out what’s there or what’s broken like a bone. But the x-ray cannot heal you, it just exposes what’s wrong and what needs healing. The Enneagram is pointing out why we do what we do, our heart condition, and then the gospel shows how to heal it.   In this episode I answer these questions: 1. What did you do for all the birthday parties when your kids were little? (45:27) 2. What do you do when you don’t want to do what God tells you to do? (49:30) 3. How do you know when it’s time to hire employees? I just started a small business and I want to make a plan. (57:02)   Links to great things we discussed:  1. Your Enneagram Coach 2. Becoming Us 3. Becoming Us: Using The Enneagram to Create a Thriving Gospel-Centered Marriage 4. Your Enneagram Coach instagram 5. EnneaDog   Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :) xo, Alli    www.alliworthington.com/podcast/bethmccord2  

Laura Wifler and Emily Jensen of Risen Motherhood on work, motherhood, and freedom.

Today, we are with the brilliant women behind the podcast Risen Motherhood- Laura Wifler and Emily Jensen.   We chat about how potty training launched their blockbuster show that millions love, what it's like to balance work and raising small children, and how we can use comparison to point us to truth.   In this episode we discuss: 1. What it looks like when two different personalities and styles work together. 2. The importance of community for working moms. 3. How to conquer mom guilt   Favorite quotes: 1. Nothing is perfect. Nothing is guaranteed. But if I don’t have enough time for Jesus then I’m missing something and that’s something that I always try to prioritize no matter what life is looking like that day. 2. When we dig under the surface of what we’re wrestling with in our soul it’s the fact that we feel before the Lord we are not enough. We are not good enough and the good news is that God has sent His son Jesus Christ to be good on our behalf to meet all the measurements and standards. 3. In Christ, we are not called to live with guilt and shame. That’s one of the beautiful things about the gospel is that we don’t have to live with mom guilt or any guilt at all.    In this episode I answer these questions: 1. Do you sleep? How do you get so much done? Tell me your secrets! (48:27) 2. As Christians, is drinking alcohol okay? (52:48) 3. I have an idea for a book. How do I know if it’s a good idea? (57:44)   Links to great things we discussed: 1. Risen Motherhood  2. Risen Motherhood: Gospel Hope for Everyday Moments 3. I asked the Lord 4. Nickel Creek 5. Educated 6. A Little Book on the Christian Life 7. Trader Joe’s Seltzer 8. EOS chapstick     Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :) xo, Alli   www.alliworthington.com/podcast/risenmotherhood  

Sarah Mae on healing, making peace with the past, and moving forward with strength

Today, I'm with one of my long-time and OG blogging friends Sarah Mae. Sarah Mae shares the powerful testimony of how she forgave her alcoholic mother, found healing in her own parenting and relationships, and how she found peace after her mother's death.   In this episode we discuss: 1. The moment she realized her cooking was terrible. 2. The hair removal product she literally carries with her everywhere. 3. The chaotic life decision she made twice.   Favorite quotes: 1. Nobody has the authority to tell us who we are but God. 2. We are all just trying to meet our deepest longings that God has given us. We want to be unconditionally loved and we want to make an impact on the world. 3. We heal in community. You have to put yourself out there. It takes work but the work ends in such wonderful fruit of good kindred friendship and really special relationship and healing relationship and so if you don’t have that in your life, you’ve got to go after it. Put yourself out there.  In this episode I answer these questions: 1. What is your best advice for raising siblings who like each other? (44:43) 2. What do you do when you feel overwhelmed by what God has asked you to do? (51:02) 3. How can I get comfortable with the concept that I need to build a platform for myself and my business? (53:57)   Links to great things we discussed: 1. Sarah Mae 2. The Complicated Heart 3. Taylor Swift- Paper Rings 4. The Politician 5. Tinkle Razor  Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :)    xo, Alli   www.alliworthington.com/podcast/sarahmae

John Mark Comer on The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Work, and Sabbath

I'm joined by the brilliant John Mark Comer, one of my all-time favorite authors and teachers. I love his work so much I think I embarrassed him just a little.  We'll talk about why I pay my children to read his books, the importance of Sabbath, and what it means to live a spiritually disciplined life in a busy, modern world.   In this episode we discuss: 1. Why work isn’t a bad thing. 2. Keeping the Sabbath holy. 3. Practical ways to unhurry life   Favorite quotes: 1. The two major areas where we actually follow Jesus and work out our spiritual formation are family or close interpersonal relationships and work. I think the church does a great job of talking about family, marriage, parenting, relationships, community. What’s there a lot less said about, though I think is changing in the past decade or two, is work and how it dovetails into our spirituality and her apprenticeship into Jesus.  2. The garden was never supposed to stay a garden. Adam and Eve weren’t there to just mow the lawn and take care of things and enjoy life. It was actually supposed to spread out and inevitably become a city had no sin had ever interrupted that project. It would become this garden-like city environment where all sorts of human beings live together in love of God from God and for each other.  3. Sabbath is a practice by which we cultivate a spirit of restfulness. It’s not just one day of the week but seven days of the week.  4. The goal is to become the kind of person in whom literally in our body, in our muscle memory, we have become people of rest.   In this episode I answer these questions: 1. What do you think of the advice that we should just follow our passion? (50:32) 2. Why do Christians say they love Jesus and still act like horrible people? (56:28) 3. When you’re working with your business coaching clients what habits or beliefs are the ones that make some of them unable to succeed? (1:00:01)   Links to great things we discussed:  1. John Mark Comer 2. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry 3. Favella 4. Educated 5. The Current War 6. God of Wonders    Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :)    xo, Alli   www.alliworthington.com/podcast/johnmarkcomer

Alex Seeley on the countercultural way to live an abundant life

I'm so excited to have the wonderful Alex Seeley back with us on the show today. Alex is powerful and wise and we talk about planting the Belonging Co with her husband in Nashville TN, why most Christians are missing the abundant life, and what it means to follow the backward life of Jesus. In this episode we discuss:1. The keys to a powerful abundant life2. Women in ministry3. Everything from Revelation to Foundation   Favorite quotes:1. We have to realize there is a beauty in waiting. There is a beauty and wisdom we gain in trials and testings and waiting for God’s appointed time. We have a generation that’s so obsessed with the now and immediate gratification that we’re losing the depth and the wonder and the beauty of how God designed us to live. 2. Abundant life doesn’t mean a perfect life but a blessed life. 3. In Christianity and in faith, we’ve taken and adopted so much of the worldly system of how to get ahead, how to have this successful life, but you’ll often find in Scripture and especially in the gospels that Jesus is teaching us a different way.In this episode I answer these questions:1. Do you ever feel extra pressure to not ever feel busy, worried, or unhappy because you write books on how to overcome it? How do you balance living what you teach? Whenever I try to teach anything, I feel like a hypocrite because I can’t walk it out perfectly. (41:35) 2. How do I help my kids develop their own faith and not just depend on my faith? (44:29) 3. How do you know when it’s the right time to quit your job and go all-in on your running your own business? (47:23)   Links to great things we discussed:  1. Alex Seeley   2. Alex’s previous episode  3. Cody Carnes- Nothing else 4. Suits 5. Discipleship On The Edge 6. Fenty Beauty by Rihanna    Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :)    xo, Alli

Sarah Bessey on Miracles and Other Reasonable Things, grace, and wilderness seasons

I'm with one of my wisest friends and all-time favorite writers Sarah Bessey to talk about her new book Miracles And Other Reasonable Things. After this conversation, you'll realize why I binge-read it in less than two days and couldn't make it through the interview without crying.  Sarah shares the tender story of healing from a tragic car accident, what God taught in the depths of tremendous suffering, and why she values healing above a quick cure. In this episode we discuss: 1. Why she's a "Jesus Feminist" 2. How she connected me to one of my most important jobs 3. How God is gracious to meet us, even when we've put Him in a box    Favorite quotes: 1. This is not about curing and it’s not about big grand miracles even though some of those things show up. It’s about what it looks like to pursue and stay open to healing and all its forms. 2. The wilderness is not the absence of God‘s presence but actually an invitation from the Holy Spirit to encounter the love of God and a new and different wider open space perhaps. 3. God is larger than your own story, yet will still remain with you where you are.    In this episode I answer these questions: 1. You seem so organized. How do you keep up with everything you do, what’s your secret? (59:46) 2. How do I encourage my husband and his spiritual maturity without pushing? (1:05:50) 3. How do you force yourself to do the boring stuff in business? (1:08:38)   Links to great things we discussed: 1. Sarah Bessey 2. Miracles and Other Reasonable Things 3. The Highwomen - Crowded Table 4. A Better Man - Lousie Penny 5. Defiant - Kelly Nikondeha 6. Ad Astra 7. Chris Tomlin 8. Blissdom Conference Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :)    xo, Alli   www.alliworthington.com/podcast/sarahbessey

Gary Thomas on breaking free from toxic people, boundaries, and purpose

I’m with the legendary Gary Thomas to talk about his new book "When To Walk Away". We'll explore toxic relationships, how we can recognize them, and examine how Jesus set boundaries in his own life.  This message from Gary is life-changing, and if you struggle with a toxic relationship in your life, he will equip you with tools to break free in a healthy, biblical way.  In this episode we discuss: 1. The difference between a difficult relationship and a toxic one. 2. Playing spiritual offense vs spiritual defense 3. Why it's so important to break free from toxic cycles   Favorite quotes: 1. If somebody is trying to get you to stop being you or get you to stop doing what you are convinced God wants you to do- for you that person is toxic. It’s an attack on your being and an attack on your mission. 2. Jesus had such a freedom to walk away and it wasn’t about failing or succeeding it was about the person just not receiving. 3. I walk away from toxic people not to go binge Netflix. I walk away to invest with reliable people. I walk away from toxic relationships into healthy relationships.  In this episode I answer these questions: 1. How can I motivate myself to make changes in my life? (43:08) 2. What’s your perspective on the best way to evangelize? (47:58) 3. What’s the best advice you can give a woman with a dream? (53:53)   Links to great things we discussed: 1. Gary Thomas 2. When To Walk Away 3. Kari Jobe: Steady My Heart 4. A Practical Treatise Upon Christian Perfection 5. Strava app 6. Peanut Butter Falcon 7. Michael W. Smith: Waymaker 8. Blissdom Conference   Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :)    xo, Alli   www.alliworthington.com/podcast/garythomas

Ruth Chou Simons on balance, worship, and business

I’m with the lovely and wise Ruth Chou Simons and we are talking all things boy mom, blogging, and blossoming in the hidden seasons.    We'll also talk about her transition from a Chinese-speaking chemistry major to a Best-selling author (in her second language) and artist and the secret behind remembering your child's birthday if you have a million kids.  In this episode we discuss: 1. What she learned in the busy seasons of life 2. Why she's glad she didn't step foot on a stage until her 40s 3. Priceless advice for women starting a business and a platform   Favorite quotes: 1. What the Lord was really wanting was Him more than my own success or my own kingdom or my own abilities. Because really if you're just chasing what you are good at then it can get kind of stressful because you think I’m good at this, can I make more money? Can I get more notoriety, and this, that, and the other. That can’t be the way we are called to live. 2. We think we want to be inspiring. We want to encourage others. We want to run out there and lead and be effective in our generation. I’m saying to all the women coming up behind me- Hey, press on and lean into Jesus first yourself before trying to make something public out of it because the very best work that you will do will come out of an overflow of a rich and invested hidden personal life of growth. 3. The art of becoming is saying I surrender to the process here and the process might include me falling on my face. 4. Cultivating the inner man and inner woman is so much more important than what you put out publicly and we’re responsible to make sure that those things line up. Because you’ll burn out if the inner person doesn’t match what you're producing on the outside. 5. The truth is we don’t just know the truth, we let the truth transform us and that process is really sanctification and God does that. 6. You’re always worshipping. You don’t get to choose whether you want to be a worshipper or not. It’s just you only get to choose what you give your love and affection and your greatest esteem to. You can either worship your own life and your own successes and your accomplishments or you can worship Him who’s worthy and that’s Christ.    In this episode I answer these questions: 1. Share a funny memory you have with your husband? (51:15) 2. How can you grow a strong community early in your faith walk? (55:10) 3. Where can I find a mentor or accountability partner when starting an online business? (56:44)    Links to great things we discussed: 1. Ruth Chou Simons 2. Gracelaced 3. Andrew Peterson Is He Worthy? 4. Longmire 5. 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You 6. Mrs. Meyer’s Room Freshener 7. Downton Abbey 8. Hillsong Worship No One But You 9. Blissdom Conference Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :)    xo, Alli   www.alliworthington.com/podcast/ruthchousimons