Shows
Sweet Grace For Your Journey269. Listen!Episode 269-Listen! I tried to avoid it. I didn’t want it to be my word for the year, but everywhere I turned it followed me. I finally gave in because it was the only word that God would give me. It was everywhere I turned. The last straw was when I was filling my calendar in for January. And right there on Jan. 1, 2025, I had written down Listen! In reality, I had not forgotten that word. It had been following me around like a nagging three-year-old wanting a piece of candy. I had pretended lis...2025-01-0128 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey268. Jesus and His DadEpisode 268-Jesus and His Dad Have you ever had a question you’d like an answer to, but the answer is not available. For years I’ve thought about this question because Jesus was divine. But then when He came to earth, He was fully human. So when did Jesus figure out who He is and who told Him? When He was in Heaven He knew who He was. But when He came to earth He became a human. He came right out of His Momma’s box. He had the same abilities as His Daddy...2024-12-2525 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey267. Craving Sugar?Episode 267-Craving Sugar? It’s Christmas and you know what that means. Lots and lots of cake, candy, pies, and every other kind of desserts. It’s the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth. It’s the day we get together with family and friends. Most of us, though, aren’t focusing on the people we will see or even worshipping Jesus, who made a willful decision to come to earth, live as a human, and die on cross in our place. He did it for no other reason but to let us know how much He loves u...2024-12-1834 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey262. Time to Wake UpEpisode 262-Time to Wake Up It’s time for Christians to wake up to what’s going on in the world around us. The time is growing short. We are closer to meeting Jesus now than we were first saved. In Romans 13:11-14 Paul gives a dire warning about the future and describes how we as Christians we are still always one day closer to meeting Him. He tells us how we should live by describing a normal day. First we have to wake up to the spiritual issues around us. Romans 13:11 tells us to...2024-11-1326 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey261. Holy Spirit GlowEpisode 261-Holy Spirit Glow Do you want glow with the power of the Holy Spirit? It’s certainly something I desire. This is lesson 20 in our study of the book of Romans. We’ve learned that Romans is all about the foundations of the Christian life, how to follow Jesus, how to renounce our fleshly desires, how to renew our minds and how to transform our lives. Now in the latter part of Romans 12 we learn about serving God. After we learn to lay down our selfish desires, we begin focusing on what God wants us t...2024-11-0629 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey260. From the Inside OutEpisode 260-From the Inside Out We can be changed from the inside out. We can renew our minds which will then transform us. Romans 12:2 AMP and in the MSG gives us several keys to consider which we visit in more depth on the podcast. First, to renew our minds we can no longer just go with the flow. We have to ask ourselves, is this really what is best for me or is it just what my flesh wants? Second, we let God mess with our priorities, our habits and our...2024-10-3027 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey256. Rebuilding Jayne and YouEpisode 256-Rebuilding Jayne & You This fiction book, Rebuilding Jayne, and the nonfiction book, Sweet Grace, are very connected. My biggest issue when I was super morbidly obese and Jayne’s issue in is we are both refusing to do what God was telling and showing us to do. I resonate with Jayne because in many ways she and I are a lot alike. We’re also very different. She is wealthy and I am not for one. At one point God even told me, Jayne is you. Well, certainly at the core of her being she i...2024-10-0232 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey255. The Master PotterEpisode 255-The Master Potter We are all lumps of clay in the Master Potter’s hands. God is God. He created us for a purpose. When we find that purpose it makes all the difference in the world. Instead, a lot of us rebel against how God made us. Romans 9:20-21 TPT: “Who do you think you are to second-guess God? How could a human being molded out of clay say to the one who molded Him, ‘Why in the world did you make me this way?’ Or are you denying the right of the Potter t...2024-09-2531 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey254. Jesus Loves MeEpisode 254-Jesus Loves Me Romans 8:38-39 are some of the most dramatic, poetic and impactful words in scripture. They are so monumental that we sometimes just pass right by them. However, when we finally internalize what they really mean to us it will change how we view God and drive us to trust Him more. “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the...2024-09-1831 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey253. More than ConquerorsEpisode 253-More than Conquerors One of my main goals is to be a victorious Christian. I want to be an overcomer. I want to be able to conquer whatever difficulties come my way. Romans 8:37 tells us that in all things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. But what does that really mean? First and foremost I know I cannot be victorious without God’s leadership. That means I have to lean on Him every step of the way. Paul, in Romans 8:35, asks the question. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then h...2024-09-1131 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey251. What is My Destiny?Episode 251-What is My Destiny? You can probably quote from memory the main verse we’re talking about this week. Romans 8:28 NKJV, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” We might see this verse as meaning God is behind the scenes pulling the strings and we are all just puppets. We also focus on the word good thinking this means that nothing bad will ever happen to us. So we think, why do we need to pray if...2024-08-2827 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey249. Run the RaceEpisode 249-Run the Race We have a race to run while we are here on earth. It’s leading us towards a heavenly prize God already has waiting for us. Of course, we know we have an enemy that does not want us to run the race or obtain the prize. One big obstacle our enemy throws in our way is condemnation. He makes us feel condemned or ashamed, guilty, fearful, unworthy, forgotten, useless, good-for-nothing. God, though, tells us in no uncertain terms that we are not condemned. “Therefore, there is now no condem...2024-08-1429 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey248. The ConundrumEpisode 248-The Conundrum A conundrum is a difficult or confusing problem or question. It’s like a mystery we can’t solve. In Romans 7, Paul shares a conundrum that I identify with and I expect if you are honest, you do too. Like any problem or mystery, I want the conundrum to be solved in 30 minutes like a good tv show. I don’t want to be left hanging to find out how things are solved for a week! Good or bad, I want it brought to end right now! However, for years I had no...2024-08-0728 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey244. Why Forgive Others?Episode 244--Why Forgive Others? An important step on our Spirit-Led Transformation is forgiving others. It’s actually a command from God. He demonstrates exactly what He wants us to do for others when He forgives us. He is teaching us by example. Most of the time, this feels like a really hard thing to do so we sort of just put it in the back of our minds and leave it there. We have a problem with forgiving someone who has done us wrong because we want them to be brought to justice. How...2024-07-1027 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey242. Flesh Versus SpiritEpisode 084-Flesh Versus Spirit This episode is going to be the first in a series I’m doing based around the book of Romans. It’s really a book that talks to us about Spirit-led Transformation so that will be a topic we’ll be exploring for the next several months. Because these episodes are so foundational I am putting them into a course that will include the transcript, action steps and challenges. Those last three will only be available to those in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy. So if you want the deeper dive you wi...2024-06-2631 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey241. Finding FreedomEpisode 241-Finding Freedom One minute I was sitting in the green metal lawn chair in my uncle’s front yard, talking and laughing with my aunt while cousins and our children played hide and go seek. The next minute I felt the bending and eventual collapse of the rounded legs of the chair as they slowly lowered me to the ground. Even though I’m sure the sight of a 430-pound woman sitting on a pile of metal was funny, all laughter stopped. My uncle jumped up to help me. Being supe...2024-06-1927 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey228. Backdoor GraceEpisode 228-Backdoor Grace "Crisco, Crisco fat in the can" churned around and around in my head for decades after a three-year-old said that to me when I was 11. He said it so he could distract me. Thoughts of I am fat went through my conscious mind and were archived in my subconscious right then. Our childhood emotions can lie dormant for years ready and waiting to be retrieved and then expressed in our actions. Through the years I did gain weight. God told me what to do, but I didn’t listen to His...2024-03-2028 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey220. Move My MountainEpisode 220-Move My Mountain In order to lose weight and keep it off we have to begin and continue. We have to be committed to transformation. I was a reluctant loser, but God helped me lose 250 of the 430 pounds I once had on my body. I say I was a reluctant loser because God told me to give up sugar and I didn’t want to. Today, I'm a Christian weight loss author, coach, speaker and podcaster. I pray my story impacts and moves you to do what God wants you to do, whatever that is.2024-01-1731 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey200. This Thing Called SurrenderEpisode 200-This Thing Called Surrender God’s desire is for each of us is to totally surrender to Him so He can lead us to be victorious in Christ! Our surrender delights God, but most of us don’t really know what surrendering to God means, how to do it, or why we should do it. We think surrender means the same as being a prisoner. It's what happens when one side defeats the other. They get taken captive. Surrendering to God is not like that at all. We don’t surrender to God because He has...2023-08-3030 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey199. Resisting TemptationEpisode 199-Resisting Temptation What should I do if I’m tempted? Well, first it’s great that you know when you are tempted. Many don’t recognize that they are being tempted. However there is not an “if” about it. If you are a Christian trying to follow Jesus, you will be tempted. And the tempter will offer you exactly what you want because he’s been watching and knows your habits, behaviors, and weaknesses. He will tempt you with them. It’s a given. He knows your weaknesses better than you do. So how do you resist? 2023-08-2333 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey196. Victory is Here!Episode 196-Victory is Here! Victory can be defined as overcoming or winning in a competition or struggle over an opponent, or difficult problems. The Bible tells us we already have the victory if we have Jesus. “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4, NIV). The problem is when difficulties, troubles and hard seasons come, we tend to forget God’s glorious promise. His promise is if we stay true to Him we win in the end, even though our current...2023-08-0232 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey195. How Can I Hear God?Episode 195- How Can I Hear God? How do we hear from God? We listen for His voice. We have a conversation with Him. He most often speaks to us and we hear Him as the still, small voice. He speaks to us from the depths of our souls, which we hear in our minds. Then we make a decision as to whether we will do what He says or not. Many times we tell God what we want Him to do and then it doesn’t happen so we wonder is He really listening or...2023-07-2630 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey193. Work With GodEpisode 193-Work With God For most of my life, I’ve been working for God in some shape or form. It’s good to do things for God, but it’s better to do things with Him. After all, He is our commander-in-chief. He’s in charge. The other day I was busy trying to get everything done, which seemed impossible. During my time with God He told me, “Never focus on the work you do for Me. Focus on being in My presence. Never mistake work for Me. Always make Me first place. Then, the work wi...2023-07-1231 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey192. Fears, Tears and FreedomEpisode 192- Fears, Tears and Freedom Fear is a huge obstacle to overcome. Fear comes in many different shapes and forms. It can be the fear of I’m not enough. I’m a failure. There’s nothing good in me. I never do anything right. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be abused. I’m not good enough and so much more. When we finally get to the point where we can identify our fears and their roots, it can be a difficult process. The fears we have many...2023-07-0532 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey182. Don't Lose Your SoulEpisode 182-Don't Lose Your Soul We have to be careful that our desire for things of this world don’t become our main motivation for living. Can we be a Christian and have insatiable desires for things of this world? The answer is yes we can. Will we be a peace with God? No, we will not. Will we still want more of the things of this world? Yes we will unless we tap into the real reason why we are on earth in the first place. We want to save our souls, not...2023-04-2632 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey176. Doubt and FaithEpisode 176-Doubt and Faith Are doubt and faith incompatible? Is it OK for a Christian to doubt? Is there a good kind of doubt? Is there something we have to do in order for even a small amount of faith to work. I used to think that if a person had doubts that meant they didn’t have faith. Now I know our doubts are what God can use to solidify our faith. Not convinced? Neither was I until I realized God invites us to ask Him the hard questions. If we never have...2023-03-1529 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey174. Don't Give Up!Episode 174-Don't Give Up! God gave me a simple message to share. Don’t. Give. Up! I don’t know what you are about to give up, but God sent me to tell you this very simple, but incredibly difficult message. Don’t give up when everything in your life looks like it is falling apart. Many of us give up on God when we can’t see how everything in our lives are going to work out. We have to have faith. We don’t know how, but God is great at Plot M. Just when o...2023-03-0132 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey156. Invited to LifeEpisode 156-Invited to Life I’ve been scared to death, but thankfully I have also been invited to life. I much prefer the latter. Halloween scared me to death when I was a kid. There were things I both loved about the holiday when I was a kid and things I hated. Of course, I loved the candy. But I hated the scary houses with spooky music and adults dressed in devil costumes. I braved it because I knew they gave out the big-size candy bars. The origins of Halloween may have been Chr...2022-10-2627 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey151. Don't Rock the Love BoatEpisode 151- Don't Rock the Love Boat Don’t rock the love boat is what a lot of wives are thinking when their husband brings them home candy like he always does. She’s afraid of telling him she is not eating sugar anymore because it might hurt his feelings. How can she guard herself against indulging without hurting her husbands feelings. I give six steps towards that goal on this episode. Have a Conversation and a Plan Have Healthy Food You Can Eat Change Your Mindset Engage in Constant Renewal Have Pleas...2022-09-2136 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey143. Food Protects MeEpisode 143-Food Protects Me Protection is one of our core needs when we come into this world as helpless babies. The member of our biological or adopted family whose role it is to protect us is our father or father figure. Many who have grown up mainly with single moms or an absentee father feel that their mother is fulfilling that need. But in reality, if this need is filled, it will be by a father figure. Otherwise we learn how to self-protect, probably by watching how our mother does it.One of t...2022-07-2731 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey135. Excuses, ExcusesEpisode 135-Excuses, Excuses We’re starting a new subject for the next who knows how many weeks: Excuses, Excuses. We’ll talk about why we have them, why we use them, how they keep us from God’s best and how to put them in our past and move forward with what we know God has in mind for us. What is an excuse and how does it relate to strongholds? An excuse is very similar to a stronghold because it has an element of truth to it and yet, we all know deep down inside...2022-06-0130 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey132. I Have A VoiceEpisode 132-I Have A Voice Ever since I was 12 years old I felt I had no voice. It wasn’t a natural lie I happened upon. It was much deeper than that. It was a stronghold the evil one set up in me from an early age to keep me from fulfilling my destiny. Writing was different, though. Writing came easy. God knows me, though. He knew the day would come when my voice would be more than words on paper. I am more than mystified at how He got me to the place where I...2022-05-1126 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey128. God Values MeEpisode 128-God Values Me One issue plagued me for a lot of my life. What is my purpose? Why did God make me? What contribution am I supposed to make in my lifetime. I saw this as what am I supposed to do or achieve. Achievement became my goal in life. When my big dream of publishing a regional Christian newspaper was realized I thought I was finally on the right track. When the internet came into existence and we had to fold the newspaper due to lack of revenue, I h...2022-04-1428 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey125. Follow JesusEpisode 125-Follow Jesus As a kid I got the idea that I had to follow a bunch of rules in order to be a good Christian. Things like no makeup, no short hair, no shorts, no slacks, no jewelry, no dancing, no movie theaters, no mixed swimming with boys and so forth. These weren’t necessarily rules direct from the Bible, they were church interpretations of rules and since my dad was a pastor I had to follow them to be a good Christian girl. As an adult, I knew I was not sav...2022-03-2329 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey124. I am Not a FailureEpisode 124-I am Not a Failure Several incidents have made me feel like a failure. These triggered thoughts like, “I am fat. I am nothing.” I’ve had several of these and focusing on them kept me living in shame and condemnation for years. The first thing many of us do when we feel we have failed is to invite condemnation and shame to flood us. When the poor, poor pitiful me syndrome happens, instead of using it to propel us to do something about our plight, we bury our sorrows in ice cream, cake or wha...2022-03-1630 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey123. God of the ImpossibleEpisode 123-God of the Impossible What do you do when God asks you to do the impossible? Especially if it’s something you’ve tried and tried to do but just couldn’t no matter how hard you tried? Do you throw in the towel and run screaming the other way? God showed me that He really is the God of the impossible. Let me tell you how it happened. And what does God do? Does He just give up on trying to get you to do what He knows you must do to live in His...2022-03-0927 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey122. God's Got ThisEpisode 122-God's Got This Have you ever done anything that you felt like you had thought through completely and made the only decision available, but you still weren’t sure? Still you went ahead and did it anyway? Well that happened to me and maybe it’s happened to you too. I don’t talk much about this leg of my journey because every time I do, people think they should make the same terribly bad decision I made. This is one of those times I feel I should put a warning on this podcast: DO NOT...2022-03-0226 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey121. Real StrengthEpisode 121 Real Strength When God reveals something He wants you to do that you know you don’t have the strength to do, what do you do? At first I rejected what He told me. I told Him it was a great plan but I couldn’t do it. I didn’t ask Him to show me how to do it or to help me, I just said, “Nope God. I can’t do that.” Then one day I was reading the Bible and a verse I had never paid attention to jumped out at me. Th...2022-02-2327 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey120. Finding TruthEpisode 120-Finding Truth What is truth? Where can we find it? In college in the early 70s, I majored in journalism and Bible. Both needed to be based on truth. These days, though, both are being questioned. The dictionary gives about six definitions of truth, but I propose two answers are right. Truth is what God says is truth. Truth is what God says is a fundamental spiritual reality. What we as Christians believe is that Jesus is the truth So if I believe that Jesus is the truth, why for years did I...2022-02-1627 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey119. Goodness of GodEpisode 119-Goodness of God God’s plans are always for our good and not our disaster. God is the author and finisher of our stories. He has a plot twist for every time we throw ourselves into disaster. He will then use that disaster to teach us something that we will never learn any other way. God still has a way of taking our messes and using them to forge new pathways that will still get us to His designed purpose for our lives. It’s vital that we don’t buy into lies t...2022-02-0928 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey118. God's LifeboatEpisode 118-God's Lifeboat Do you feel stuck on your healthy living journey? Maybe you’re just getting started or you have lost weight and have gotten to a place where you just feel stuck and you want to give up. Maybe it seems impossible for you to go forward. And you just want to find out what is holding you back. As you probably know in 2020 I spent a lot of time writing my sixth book, Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds. That resulted in me also putting together a course called Breaking Strongholds which is available in...2022-02-0227 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey117. Total TransformationEpisode 117-Total Transformation Our goal in all that we do should be total transformation—Body, Soul and Spirit. The vehicle to get us there is habit change, but the enemy loves to try to throw obstacles in our way. We can’t control everything that happens to us and has happened, but we can change how we respond to it. We can change our habits. It’s a huge key. Proverbs 5:21 TPT tells us that “God sees everything you do and His eyes are wide open as He observes every single habit you have.” O...2022-01-2630 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey112. Why Can't I Stop EatingEpisode 112--Why Can't I Stop Eating? As a Christian weight loss coach, there are several questions I’m asked that all kind of fall into the category of emotional eating. Like, why do I eat when I know I shouldn’t? Why do I keep eating when I’m full? Why does it seem food is in control of me rather than the other way around? Why can’t I stop eating? We can’t stop eating because we are eating to quiet our negative emotions. We don’t know how to deal with them so we try to...2021-12-2226 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey108. Am I a Sugar AddictEpisode 108--Am I a Sugar Addict? One of the questions I am asked the most is how can I stop eating sugar like you did? That question is one I personally never asked myself because I didn’t want to give up eating foods with processed sugar. I never thought I would have to do that. I foolishly thought I could just eat less. Friends, if you are a sugar addict, eating less just never works. I didn’t know I was a sugar addict. You may not think you are either. But if you...2021-11-2430 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey107. Through It AllEpisode 107--Through It All How can we be thankful in the midst of everything that is going on in the world today? We’ve been through a lot in the last few years and I just want to stop a minute and thank God even for the difficulties many of us have gone through. One of my favorite songs is Through It All, written by Andre Crouch in 1971 after having purchased an engagement ring for a young woman. He was heartbroken when she announced that she was getting married, but not to him. He...2021-11-1729 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey104. Time to Wake UpEpisode 104--Time to Wake Up It’s time for Christians to wake up to what’s going on in the world around us. The time is growing short. We are closer to meeting Jesus now than we were first saved. In Romans 13:11-14 Paul gives a dire warning about the future and describes how we as Christians are still always one day closer to meeting Him. He tells us how we should live by describing a normal day. First we have to wake up to the spiritual issues around us. Romans 13:11 tells us to wa...2021-10-2726 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey103. Holy Spirit GlowEpisode 103-Holy Spirit Glow Do you want to glow with the power of the Holy Spirit? It’s certainly something I desire. This is lesson 20 in our study of the book of Romans. We’ve learned that Romans is all about the foundations of the Christian life, how to follow Jesus, how to renounce our fleshly desires, how to renew our minds and how to transform our lives. Now in the latter part of Romans 12 we learn about serving God. After we learn to lay down our selfish desires, we begin focusing on what God want...2021-10-2029 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey102. From the Inside OutEpisode 102-From the Inside Out We can be changed from the inside out. We can renew our minds which will then transform us. Romans 12:2 AMP and in the MSG gives us several keys to consider which we visit in more depth on the podcast. First, to renew our minds we can no longer just go with the flow. We have to ask ourselves, is this really what is best for me or is it just what my flesh wants? Second, we let God mess with our priorities, our habits and our c...2021-10-1327 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey98. How BeautifulEpisode 098--How Beautiful “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” It’s right there in Romans 10:15 NIV. It’s also elsewhere in the Bible but it is quoted here to emphasize the fact that no one can become a Christian unless someone first shares with them the good news of who Jesus is. In Mark 16:15-16 ESV, Jesus tells His us what He wants us to do. “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will b...2021-09-1528 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey97. The Master PotterEpisode 097--The Master Potter We are all lumps of clay in the Master Potter’s hands. God is God. He created us for a purpose. When we find that purpose it makes all the difference in the world. Instead, a lot of us rebel against how God made us. Romans 9:20-21 TPT: “Who do you think you are to second-guess God? How could a human being molded out of clay say to the one who molded Him, ‘Why in the world did you make me this way?’ Or are you denying the right of the Potter to...2021-09-0831 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey96. Jesus Loves MeEpisode 096--Jesus Loves Me Romans 8:38-39 are some of the most dramatic, poetic and impactful words in scripture. They are so monumental that we sometimes just pass right by them. However, when we finally internalize what they really mean to us it will change how we view God and drive us to trust Him more. “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of G...2021-09-0131 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey95. More Than ConquerorsEpisode 095--More Than Conquerors One of my main goals is to be a victorious Christian. I want to be an overcomer. I want to be able to conquer whatever difficulties come my way. Romans 8:37 tells us that in all things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. But what does that really mean? First and foremost I know I cannot be victorious without God’s leadership. That means I have to lean on Him every step of the way. Paul, in Romans 8:35, asks the question. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then h...2021-08-2531 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey93. What is My Destiny?Episode 093--What is My Destiny? You can probably quote from memory the main verse we’re talking about this week. Romans 8:28 NKJV, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” We might see this verse as meaning God is behind the scenes pulling the strings and we are all just puppets. We also focus on the word good thinking this means that nothing bad will ever happen to us. So we think, why do we need to pray if...2021-08-1128 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey91. Run the RaceEpisode 091--Run the Race We have a race to run while we are here on earth. It’s leading us towards a heavenly prize God already has waiting for us. Of course, we know we have an enemy that does not want us to run the race or obtain the prize. One big obstacle our enemy throws in our way is condemnation. He makes us feel condemned or ashamed, guilty, fearful, unworthy, forgotten, useless, good-for-nothing. God, though, tells us in no uncertain terms that we are not condemned. “Therefore, there is now no condem...2021-07-2829 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey90. The ConundrumEpisode 090--The Conundrum A conundrum is a difficult or confusing problem or question. It’s like a mystery we can’t solve. In Romans 7, Paul shares a conundrum that I identify with and I expect if you are honest, you do too. Like any problem or mystery, I want the conundrum to be solved in 30 minutes like a good tv show. I don’t want to be left hanging to find out how things are solved for a week! Good or bad, I want it brought to end right now! However, for years I had no idea...2021-07-2128 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey86. Why Forgive Others?Episode 086--Why Forgive Others? An important step on our Spirit-Led Transformation is forgiving others. It’s actually a command from God. He demonstrates exactly what He wants us to do for others when He forgives us. He is teaching us by example. Most of the time, this feels like a really hard thing to do so we sort of just put it in the back of our minds and leave it there. We have a problem with forgiving someone who has done us wrong because we want them to be brought to justice. How...2021-06-2327 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey84. Flesh Versus SpiritEpisode 084--Flesh Versus Spirit This episode is going to be the first in a series I’m doing based around the book of Romans. It’s really a book that talks to us about Spirit-led Transformation so that will be a topic we’ll be exploring for the next several months. Because these episodes are so foundational I am putting them into a course that will include the transcript, action steps and challenges. Those last three will only be available to those in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy. So if you want the deeper dive you wi...2021-06-0931 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey76. Putting Stress to RestEpisode 076--Putting Stress to Rest We’ve been talking about stress and by now our goal should be to put stress to rest not just with whatever current issue is stressing us out, but to learn how to hand these issues to God and trust Him enough to take care of them in His time and His way. However many times we don’t even realize what we are stressing over or perseverating about. We just automatically turn to food to try to make us feel better whenever the feeling of overwhelm hits us. We use f...2021-04-1432 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey72. Weighty Marriage IssuesEpisode 072--Weighty Marriage Issues If there’s one thing I’ve learned on this lifelong journey of weight gain and weight loss it is that I cannot lose weight for someone else. I can only do it for me. We can’t lose weight for our husbands. It has to be for us. We have to want it for ourselves. Recently I listened to a sermon by a Missouri pastor who essentially said if husbands stray it’s because their wives have gained weight or as he said, “have let themselves go.” His premise was that men are...2021-03-1732 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey68. Beautiful OneEpisode 068--Beautiful One Pain, heartache, mistreatment, rude comments, being treated like a doormat, being pushed around, being taken advantage of, pointed at, whispered about and made fun of. This is what it is like to be super morbidly obese. I know. I was there once. After losing more than 250 pounds, by the grace of God I am no longer there, but I coach those who are. When I hear the depths of abuse they go through and have gone through, I am angry that so-called “family” and “friends” who would treat them less than human. No...2021-02-1727 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey67. Loved Into Existence067--Loved Into Existence I woke up at 2:15 a.m. with God saying to me. “I loved you into existence.” My first thought was of course you did. You created me. Without your desire for me to exist, I wouldn’t exist, I wouldn’t have life. God literally loved me into existence, into living the life He created me to live. God created each of us on purpose for a purpose. As God’s creation you and I are priceless to Him. I was a valuable person to Him even when I weigh 430 pounds and I was eatin...2021-02-1029 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey66. Where Are You Stuck?066--Where Are You Stuck? Where are you stuck? It was a question that begged an answer. Any seasoned coach, teacher or mentor will just sit there and let it sink in. My way of dealing with any question is to answer it even if I don’t know the answer. This is obviously not the best way to deal with this question. But I’m learning that some questions are meant to make us think. Thinking requires marinating in time. A good question isn’t one you answer right away. A good question is one that y...2021-02-0329 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey63. Adulting is HardEpisode 063--Adulting is Hard It always proves to be enlightening when I wake with a thought in my mind I know came from God. I always know it because it’s not something I’ve ever thought about and it is always thought-provoking. Recently He said to me 2021 is the year to grow up and become an adult. Then I saw clearly how 21 is that year we tend to believe individuals are adults. 18 gives them certain privileges, but really they are still teens. 2021 is the year we all need to pull up our big girl pant...2021-01-1325 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey62. What is a Stronghold?Episode 062--What is a Stronghold? This is the first week of 2021, but today I’m really excited about something that happened in 2020. My new book, Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds went live on Amazon on Dec. 30, 2020. Even though I’m a Christian weight loss coach, I am a writer first. Writing and eating comfort foods were my two passions. But it was my love of overindulging in my favorite foods that eventually got me to the place that I could barely walk and weighed 430 pounds. I’ve lost 250 pounds with God’s help. What I share in Sweet...2021-01-0625 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey61. The Challenge of MoreEpisode 061--The Challenge of More Every year since 2013 God has given me a word for the year. The word He gives me is one I don’t want really want to focus on. Now He’s given me another word that is both exciting and scary for me at the same time. It’s a small simple word that packs a lot of punch. It is the word “More.” It’s not about what we want from God, though. It is about what our role is that He has for us to play in this great galact...2020-12-3025 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey60. Fooled by Our DesiresEpisode 060--Unexpected Temptation Christmas or any holiday, birthday or celebration used to be a time I looked forward to for the food that would be served. Just thinking about eating all that food made me merry. I looked forward to giving into all the temptations that would be there. But actually, eating all those foods made me miserable. Still, I continued down this treacherous path gaining up to 430 pounds until I finally listened to what God had been telling me all along. I am the only one who can change what I put into my m...2020-12-2330 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey59. Unexpected TemptationEpisode 059--Unexpected Temptation Many times we can make a plan to keep ourselves from temptation, but what happens when that plan goes awry? On the podcast I share a time that happened to me and seven things I learned from that because we need to understand how the tempter can easily manipulate us without us even knowing it is him, how he uses others to trap us, how our own desires can take over our commitment to live right and how when our plans fall through we usually fall as well. James 4:3-10 TPT helps...2020-12-1627 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey58. Comforting Temptation?Episode 058--Comforting Temptation? We love comfort and temptation. The two seem entirely contradictory. When we are tempted, it is not a comfortable feeling. And yet, what happens when we feel temptation is comforting? Temptation is NOT supposed to be comforting. To be comfortable means to be in a state of physical ease and relaxation. It is freedom from pain or constraint. It is a place where we feel that everything is right with our world. If something is tempting it is enticing us to do something that we really want to do but we know...2020-12-0927 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey57. Are You TemptedEpisode 057--Are You Tempted? We are all tempted and God tells us He will give us a way of escape. Here are seven things to do before you are tempted to help you when temptation comes. Listen to the podcast for more information. How to Avoid Giving In: Know your boundaries and limits and be living them out on a daily basis. Have a healthy alternative available. Plan for temptation. Train others, especially those you live with, in how to help you. Don’t eat b...2020-12-0225 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey56. Surviving TemptationEpisode 055--Surviving Temptation We can survive temptation during the holidays and any time. Here is a quick synopsis of this podcast. Listen to get all the information, Define what things or quantities of things are wrong for us to eat. Know your limits, commit to allowing God to help you follow them. Admit you are weak when it comes to certain foods. Submit to God. Ask God, “What are my limits and boundaries?” Follow what God told you to do. God will help us when we admit we are weak and we need His strength. Free...2020-11-2527 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey54. Searching for FreedomEpisode 054--Searching for Freedom This episode talks about how we can be in the grip of something or caught in bondage which then becomes a stronghold and not even realize it. I lived in shame and condemnation for nearly 30 years. I knew I had an issue with food. I knew foods made with processed sugar and flour were like drugs to me. I knew I was guilty of something God had clearly showed me I needed to stop. I just couldn’t give it up. And thus, shame and self- condemnation ruled my life. ...2020-11-1126 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey52. Taking Care of YouEpisode 052--Taking Care of You Most of us are dedicated to taking care of others before taking care of ourselves. This flows out of a well-meaning, but jaded way of looking at how we are to live the Christian life. JOY? I learned in my teens that JOY means Jesus first, Others second, then Yourself. The message I heard from every pulpit was that focusing on myself would be selfish and only get me in trouble. I understand clearly where this message comes from and it is true. We are humans an...2020-10-2824 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey50. It’s Not All About ComfortEpisode 050--It's Not All About Comfort The Holy Spirit is our comforter, but He isn’t just all about comfort. He doesn’t have just one facet. He is multi-faceted. John 14:26 AMP says, “But the Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf, He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.” He is what we need most in the moment we are in. This is wh...2020-10-1429 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey47. Plot TwistEpisode 047--Plot Twist The last several days I’ve been working on developing my new Breaking Strongholds course. It’s interesting going back through my journey and seeing the crazy things I believed and did. It’s sort of like my life is a movie and I’m watching it play out and rooting for myself to make the right choices knowing time and time again I didn’t. Then, I watch how God throws in a plot twist which takes my story in an entirely different direction. I’m grateful for His plot twists. Without them...2020-09-2332 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey46. What Is Comfort?Episode 046--What is Comfort? “Where did you learn your relationship with food?” The question invaded my mind. Not for a second did I wonder whether or not I had a relationship with food. I knew I did, and I knew I learned it from my loving Grandma, who fed us with every kind of food we wanted including every type of dessert. We could eat as much as we wanted whenever we wanted it. We all need comfort, but true comfort should not come from the foods we eat. When that happens, comfort foods can beco...2020-09-1629 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey41. Dealing With the Root of Anger (Dan & Susan Young)Episode 041--Dealing With the Root of Anger (Dan & Susan Young) If you or someone you love have issues you haven’t seemed to be able to get a handle on, even with traditional counseling, this podcast will help. If you have unresolved anger issues, this is a must listen. Dealing with the root of any issue will get us there faster than anything else. God loves to reveal the source of our anger and help us deal with it. The root has likely blocked the truth of who God is and how much He loves us and is...2020-08-1234 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey37. What God SeesEpisode 037--What God Sees Weight loss is the reason people come into Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy. However, I’ve really pondered changing the name to Overcomers Healthy Living Community. That is really more what I teach. However, the words healthy living really don’t trip the felt need trigger. It wouldn’t have for me when I weighed 430 pounds. All I wanted was to lose weight. Truth is, I’ve not met many women who don’t want to lose weight even if it’s just a few pounds. Believe it or not, those wh...2020-07-1534 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey36. Discovery 2020Episode 036--Discovery 2020 Discovery is the word God gave me for the year 2020. When He gave me that word, I knew it was going to be an interesting year. I just had no idea how interesting! Now, I realize how important the word discovery is for 2020 God is doing something really, really big for all of us to discover. The dictionary definition of discover is an enlightening or astonishing disclosure or a revelation. Notice that word revelation! To see it in more exact words, a discovery is an act of communicating divine truth or something that...2020-07-0827 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey35. Freedom and DestinyEpisode 035--Freedom and Destiny Six years ago today, July 1, 2014, I began my first Christian weight loss coaching group. It wasn’t my idea to do Christian weight loss coaching. It was actually the last thing on my mind. I had written my memoir, “Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor.” It became popular and people who had read the book wanted me to tell them how to lose weight. Then, God called me to begin an online coaching group. I didn’t want to do it, but when I told God...2020-07-0134 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey34. Boredom EatingEpisode 034--Boredom Eating What is the biggest issue you have regarding emotional eating? I asked my coaching that question the other day. One woman answered: boredom. Then she asked, “Is boredom a feeling.” This was a very intriguing question to me. I’d never considered boredom a feeling. I have always considered it a reaction to circumstances. But then, maybe every emotion is at its core a reaction to circumstances. Is boredom a personality type? Are there those who have a tendency towards being bored? Could all of these be just who we are or is it...2020-06-2436 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey33. Hang On Tight To JesusEpisode 033--Hang On Tight To Jesus On this episode I share transparently about some pivotal things that happened to me in my childhood. I know when I am led to share certain aspects of what I went through and how God used it teach me, it is because someone, maybe even you, needs to hear this. And if this isn’t for you, it’s probably for a friend or family member so feel free to share this with them. I talk about my mother’s emotional illness and her subsequent recovery that included a very d...2020-06-1729 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey31. What's Eating You?Episode 031—What's Eating You? “What’s Eating you?” What is the thing that is bugging the daylights out of you? What makes you angry every time you encounter it? What throws you off course and causes you to cuss like a sailor in your head, whether you actually say it or not? It’s the thing that, as my dad would say, “you about lost your religion over.” When he said that he was basically saying that situation almost made a person cuss. Dad thought cussing was the worst thing a Christian could do. So if some...2020-06-0330 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey30. The Spiritual HospitalEpisode 030—The Spiritual Hospital Several years ago, a woman I was coaching said to me, “When you are hemorrhaging, comfort food is a tourniquet and eating healthy seems like a long ride to the hospital when you might die.” Ever feel this way? I know I have. I understand what she means because when I weighed 430 pounds it seemed like I would never lose weight. Back then for me to even imagine myself losing what I’ve lost today, which is over 250 pounds, seemed impossible. What I needed was a spiritual hospital, but I thought I had Go...2020-05-2739 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey27. Susan Keays: Giving Up SugarEpisode 027—Susan Keays: Giving Up Sugar Susan Keays, a school bus driver, wife, mother and grandmother is my guest on this week’s podcast. She is a member of Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy who has lost 80 pounds by owning the fact that she is a sugar addict, surrendering sugar to God and learning how to walk out her journey. Giving up sugar for good isn’t an easy process for anyone. It was 20 years ago when God showed Susan that she needed to do just that. At the time she told some people in her Bib...2020-05-0635 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey25. Verna Laboy: Healthy Is the New SexyEpisode 025—Verna Laboy: Healthy Is the New Sexy Verna Laboy is the health educator for Columbia/Boone County, MO, public health and human services who runs the Live Well by Faith program. She is an advocate for how health needs to be woven into our everyday lives. Through various classes and programs, she helps women learn how to change their lives by incorporating ways to cook, eat, exercise, garden and live healthier. “I tell women, healthy is the new sexy,” she declared. Since heading up this program, she herself has lost 40 pounds and lowered her A1C to...2020-04-2237 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey24. Follow Me As I Follow ChristEpisode 024—Follow Me As I Follow Christ “Teresa inspires me to believe that change is possible with God’s grace and help and the support of others. I hope to follow her as she follows Christ.” That’s a review that Star 1978 wrote regarding Sweet Grace for Your Journey podcast. But when I read the last line, my tongue about caught in my throat. My first thought was what an honor that you would say that about me. My second thought was what a huge responsibility to live up to. And my third was this is what we...2020-04-1531 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey23. Delivered by His StrengthEpisode 023—Delivered by His Strength During this crazy time we are in and leading up to Easter, we need more than ever to understand that we need a deliverer! “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it,” (Isaiah 30:15 NIV). Or as it says in the Holman Christian Standard version, “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing.” God gives a gre...2020-04-0835 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey21. Towards PeaceEpisode 021—Towards Peace With everyone in panic mode, peace seems like a forgotten commodity. We are like Martha, we are worried and upset, we are concerned about many things. We are, as Grandma would say, stuck in the weeds. It’s not so much that we are worried about contracting the virus, but we are worried about the economic impact on us and our families. We are worried about what it will do to our jobs. We are worried about being isolated from everyone we know. We are worried about how to deal with our kids...2020-03-2531 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey20. Barb Raveling: Separating Truth from LiesEpisode 020—Barb Raveling: Separating Truth from Lies This week on the podcast, I’m chatting with Barb Raveling all the way from Montana. She and her husband have four children. She is a Christian weight loss author, podcaster and coach. Her podcasts are Taste for Truth and Christian Habits. Her books include: Freedom from Emotional Eating, Taste for Truth, I Deserve a Donut, The Renewing of the Mind Project, Rally and her most recent book Freedom from Procrastination. We visit a lot of topics during our conversation, but the thing Barb is well known for is th...2020-03-1834 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey19. Rest Is NecessaryEpisode 019—Rest Is Necessary Even God rested on the seventh day, so what makes you think you can get by without doing the same? The minute I heard those words I was convicted down to my toes. Indeed if the almighty God of the universe saw the necessity to rest what makes me think I can work seven days a week. Of course I was going to church on Sunday and hanging out with my family around Sunday dinner, but I had gotten in a bad habit of working on Sunday. It was a great ti...2020-03-1135 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey18. Be Still and Know GodEpisode 018—Be Still and Know God Life is noisy and somehow that noise all converges in our heads and we have no time to be silent and sort out our day or our life. Not only that but it’s really hard to hear that still, small voice of God above the cries of our to do lists and hectic lives! We can even turn off all the myriad of electronic devices we have and yet there is still noise in our own minds. It never seems to stop. Calgon take me away, right? In t...2020-03-0433 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey17. Are You a People Pleaser?Episode 017—Are You a People Pleaser? People pleasers fall into the trap of thinking that they need to take care of others before taking care of themselves. This flows out of a well-meaning, but jaded way of looking at how we are to live the Christian life. The Great Commandment actually tells us to love and take care of our mental, emotional and physical self first so that we can love both God and others. We have to take care of our passions, our thoughts, and our energy so we can love God with all th...2020-02-2627 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey16. The BreakupEpisode 016—The Breakup Do you have a relationship with sugar? If so what kind of relationship do you have? I had a co-dependent relationship. That means I have an excessive emotional and psychological reliance on my partner, which was sugar. It was this relationship that became an addiction. It’s important to understand several things to understand the level of your indulgence and your own relationship with food or sugar. Answering questions like: Where you learned your relationship with food or sugar? What is that relationship specifically? Do you have a casual flirtation, an oc...2020-02-1922 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey14. Rhonda Burrows: Overcoming Food AddictionEpisode 014—Rhonda Burrows: Overcoming Food Addiction Rhonda Burrows, an Overcomers Academy member, a trained addiction counselor and ordained minister, knows addiction well. Still, she was sober from alcoholism for over 30 years when the truth hit her that she is also a food addict. She has been walking out of food addiction for almost six years after joining my various coaching groups and courses. Today she has lost over 50 pounds off of her small 4-foot, 11-inch frame. She says there are mental, spiritual and physical components at play that she has to navigate to walk in th...2020-02-0435 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey12. SundiJo Graham: No More DietsEpisode 012—No More Diets When SundiJo Graham’s seven-year-old cousin told her his Christmas wish was for her to be able to ride the roller coaster with him, she was devastated when she failed to give him the gift he wanted the next year. It took time, lots of struggle, dealing with issues in her past and getting real with God before she would finally lose enough weight to give him his gift. She has lost 145 pounds, but she did not diet and still doesn’t. Hear SundiJo’s amazing story on this week’s pod...2020-01-2236 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey11. Lasting Weight Loss: Peggy Burgess Loses 79 PoundsEpisode 11—Lasting Weight Loss Peggy Burgess Loses 79 Pounds Peggy Burgess, 69, is a single mom of five, grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of six, with another one on the way. Since coming into my coaching courses and groups she has lost 79 pounds. She’s doing it the right way, slow and steady and incorporating habit changes as she goes. That is resulting in her lasting weight loss. She’s gone from constantly using a wheelchair, not driving and being housebound to walking, volunteering, driving wherever she wants and even babysitting her great-grandchildren and other childre...2020-01-1531 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey6. TemptationTemptation will happen to us. That is a given. The issue is how do we see the temptation coming? God doesn’t tempt us, so we know it is the evil one partnering with our own desires. What kind of strategies does he use? How can we guard against falling into his trap? How does God help us? How can we help ourselves? We discuss four types of temptation, how to recognize them and not fall prey to them again. Have a question you’d like Teresa to answer on the podcast? Send it to info@tere...2019-12-1124 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey4. Great Adventure With GodEpisode 004—Great Adventure With God We all long to take that great adventure with God, maybe go to a foreign country, save an indigenous tribe, put a little excitement in our lives. Instead, we look at our lives and feel like they are dull, ordinary and mundane. God, though, wants us to take us on a great adventure with Him. Learn the secret ingredient necessary to make that trip. Have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? Send it to info@TeresaShieldsParker.com and it might end up as an epis...2019-11-2719 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey2. What Have I Done To Myself?My world seemed to come to end when the cardiac surgeon told me I had five years to live if I didn’t lose weight and keep it off. The ball was squarely in my court. Did I want to live? And if so, why did I want to live? What did I have to live for? Have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? Send it to info@TeresaShieldsParker.com and it might end up as an episode of its own! Quick Episode Summary: When Teresa was facing open...2019-11-1421 min
Sweet Grace For Your Journey1. Move That MountainMy story is all about moving the mountain of weight that I had on my body. At one time I weighed 430 pounds. When I asked God how to move my mountain, He gave me clear and precise instructions. I just didn’t want to follow what He said. This is where my story begins. Have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? Send it to info@TeresaShieldsParker.com and it might end up as an episode of its own! Quick Episode Summary: Meet Teresa! About Teresa's family Teresa's love for...2019-11-1422 min