The Jess Connolly Podcast

Tomorrow we mark the dawn of a new year, and we love starting a new year with purpose and intention. As we gear up for the gift of another year ahead, we want to be intentional about finishing well and starting strong. This episode wraps up our three-episode series, Finish Well, Start Strong. We're completing the series with a conversation about personal goal setting as we embark on a new year. Jess and Kennesha ask and answer questions like: Does goal setting and vision casting even work?  What are different forms of goal setting/vision casting that we can try?  Why do we set goals? What happens when our goals don’t come to fruition? Whether you're the world's biggest goals girls or if talk of goal setting make you queasy, this episode is for you. Dig in deeper with our Finish Well, Start Strong guide, found here! We made this brand new, FREE resource just for our podcast gals. We pray these resources (this series + the guide!) leave you feeling hopeful that you can finish 2021 well and start 2022 strong, because God is mighty in you and in the year ahead. Our other favorite goal-setting resource mentioned in this episode: PowerSheets by Cultivate What Matters!

We're just a few days away from Christmas, and a week away from 2022. As we gear up for the gift of a new year, we want to be intentional about finishing well and starting strong - and today, we're doing that with a family mindset. In this episode specifically, Jess talks with her husband, Nick, about how to lead a family, team, or group through a vision casting/goal setting session. We’re talking:  How to squash limiting beliefs How to invite others into thinking about their future with intention How to live as people of agreement instead of accountability How to have a family vision session Plus - a few fun family secrets along the way Dig in deeper with our Finish Well, Start Strong guide, found here! We made this brand new, FREE resource just for our podcast gals. We pray these resources (this series + the guide!) leave you feeling hopeful that you can finish 2021 well and start 2022 strong, because God is mighty in you and in the year ahead.

Can you even believe we've got just two weeks left in 2021?! As we gear up for the gift of a new year, we want to be intentional about finishing well and starting strong. We're starting a new three-episode series for that exact purpose. For the next three weeks, we'll ask:  How can we end this year well and start the next one with strength?  What do we do if we’re overwhelmed and exhausted from the last two years?  How do we catch vision for what’s ahead? In this episode specifically, Jess and Kennesha talk about counting the fruit of all that happened in 2021, and catching a vision for all that's to come in 2022. Come with us as we reflect with gratitude and look ahead with intention.  Dig in deeper with our Finish Well, Start Strong guide, found here! We made this brand new, FREE resource just for our podcast gals. We pray these resources (this series + the guide!) leave you feeling hopeful that you can finish 2021 well and start 2022 strong, because God is mighty in you and in the year ahead. 

Friends! In this episode, we're wrapping up our 4-episode Friendship for Real Women series. Jess, Anna, and Caroline (from Team Go + Tell Gals) are on the podcast together for the first time ever answering all YOUR real questions about friendship. We asked on Instagram and received an overwhelming outpouring of questions, centered mostly around:  How to actually make friends Balancing input and energy in friendships Setting and communicating boundaries in friendships How to have life-giving friendships and how to handle a lack of depth in friendships Handling hurt, pain, and betrayal in friendships How to let friendships go when it’s time If you're a mom with teen kids, a married woman, or a newly graduated single gal - this episode is for you. We're tackling these friendship questions from the perspective of all of these life stages. We hope this real-life insight encourages you wherever you're at in your friendships, and keeps you going when seasons feel difficult. We've so enjoyed digging into this important (but often neglected) conversation within this community. If you haven't already, make sure to listen to our three other Friendship for Real Women episodes! And if you're looking for other women on mission to process with, join our community group on Facebook! Who knows, you might even just make a new friend.  Grateful for you, friends. We're so glad we get to run alongside you as you go and tell the good news. 

Our Friendship for Real Women series continues! Join Kennesha Buycks and her friend, Carla Haskins as they talk about what it looks like to be friends through many different seasons of life. In this episode, listen in on an honest conversation about what it means to be a friend and how real relationships take time. Join Kennesha and Carla as they answer authentic friendship questions like: What does friendship actually mean? How does friendship actually develop and become meaningful? How do you take a friendship from life-giving to life-changing? How do you press past a season where a friendship might hit a tough patch or you don't see eye to eye? How does the gospel empower us to keep going? How has friendship empowered you while you run on mission?  We're so grateful to Carla for joining us and vulnerably sharing what friendship means to her. We’re so excited about this series because we were made to be in community. Share about it with your friends, or join in the conversation with other mission-minded women in the Go + Tell Gals community Facebook group. Who knows - you might just spark a new friendship! You might have heard Kennesha talk about her shop, Restoration House. Be sure to visit and shop beautifully curated goods for your home and life. We love you and commission you to go and tell the good news, in Jesus’ name.

Friends! And you know we don't use that word lightly...  This is the second episode in our Friendship for Real Women series - and we're calling in an expert.  Danielle Bayard Jackson, a certified women's coach, focuses primarily on female heteronormative friendship and communication. She conducts surveys, creates research-based strategies, and teaches women how to have better relationships with one another. Out of her love for all things female friendship, she founded Friend Forward, a digital community that provides coaching, research articles, and connection events for women looking to create and maintain true friendships. She's changing women's lives through her gift of coaching, and we're so grateful for how she's paving the way for women on mission to dig deep together. In this episode, Danielle helps us dive in head first, answering questions like:  - ​Is friendship hard for everyone? Do all of us feel like we’re the only ones who never quite figured it out? - Why does it seem like women especially struggle with friendship? Where are we going wrong? - How do we define friendship? Is the definition different from woman to woman? - How can we readjust what hanging out looks like to maximize the time we have? - How do we communicate expectations and find balance in our friendships? - How do we handle 'friendship breakups'? - And more! (Seriously, this is a power packed episode.) We're so grateful for Danielle's generosity in sharing with us. There's no blueprint for friendship - no one has laid it out or given us a guidebook, so we're grateful to have a friend who's doing just that. We’re so excited about this series, because we were made to be in community. Share about it with your friends, or join in the conversation with other mission-minded women in the Go + Tell Gals community Facebook group. Who knows - you might just spark a new friendship! You might have heard Jess mention Good Body Gals and the incredible "Freedom Friday" deal happening there. Get a yearlong membership to Good Body Gals, plus the Body Shame Detox e-course, for $100 ($167 value). Click here to be one of the first to claim! We love you and commission you to go and tell the good news, in Jesus’ name.

Friends! And we actually mean it when we say friends. (Segue into today's episode...) Today we're so excited to launch a brand new podcast series - Friendship for Real Women. We know that we're created for community, so why do so many of us women struggle to experience abundance in our friendships? Over the course of the next four episodes, we're diving in deep. We may not have all the answers, but we want to ask the questions and process with you. We'll talk with each other, some experts, and some real-life friends in hopes of spurring us all on toward deeper, more fruitful friendships. In this episode, hosts Jess and Kennesha open this new series on friendship by speaking real words, telling real stories, and asking real questions, like: Is friendship hard for everyone else? Do all of us feel like we’re the only ones who never quite figured it out? What do we actually need from friendships as women on mission? After the forming, there’s storming. What do we do when something goes wrong in a friendship? We’re so excited about this series, because we were made to be in community. Share about it with your friends, or join in the conversation with other mission-minded women in the Go + Tell Gals community Facebook group. Who knows - you might just spark a new friendship!  We love you and commission you to go and tell the good news, in Jesus’ name.

We keep talking about revival in the office, wondering if anyone is actually experiencing it right now. And when we think of who is actually experiencing rest and renewal, it’s immediately our friend, Rebekah Lyons. This episode is packed with incredible wisdom, and we’re so excited to share it with you today. Rebekah is no stranger to the Go + Tell Gals Podcast (you can listen to her previously on the show, way back on episode 21!), and we are so grateful to have her back to share about her new devotional, A Surrendered Yes: 52 Devotions to Let Go and Let Free. Rebekah is a speaker, the host of the Rhythms for Life podcast, and a bestselling author. She shares her life honestly and vulnerably, and we are constantly blessed by her. In this episode, we’re diving into: How suffering actually serves us by pointing us back to our need for God, How surrendering leads to our freedom, How even when we insist on self-reliance, God offers mercy and compassion, And how God delights in simply being with us. We pray this episode encourages you today. God is mighty in you.

What is our physical environments are really just a reflection of what is happening inside of us? And what if it was easier - that we could actually have freedom? Allie Casazza is on a mission to eradicate the "hot mess mom" stereotype by empowering other women.  Allie began the conversation around minimalism after she struggled once having her second child. Every mom seemed to have it together, and if they didn't, "coffee 'til wine" was the mantra that was preached. Allie set out to change the narrative around motherhood and mission. Now, she offers several online courses and online communities, helping women, specifically mothers, simplify everything in their lives. In her own words, anything can be decluttered. In this episode, we sit down with Allie to talk about: why decluttering matters, especially in a season where we have all just spent so much time at home how freedom is actually accessible and how the less we have, the more content we might actually be. We pray this episode leaves you feeling more free and ready for abundance. God is mighty in you.

We sat down with our friend Jessica to have a sort of end-of-year check-in. Jessica Honegger is the founder and co-CEO of Noonday Collection, a wildly successful ethically-sourced, artisan-supporting jewelry and accessories company,  and she shares openly and vulnerably what 2021 has looked like for Noonday. The way that she leads with confidence and with honesty is incredibly encouraging, and we just know Jessica’s wisdom with bless you. In this conversation, we talk about: Adjusting to a new normal as we head in 2022 Refocusing our vision, remembering that the world needs us to walk alongside it Hearing from God And how living on mission really means you aren’t living for the outcome. As we all start to dream about 2022, we pray this episode gives you courage to recognize the feelings from 2021 and bravery to step into 2022, sowing seeds that will have Kingdom impact. We’re on your team, cheering you on, forever. If Team GATG can do anything for you, please let us know by emailing Brenna at podcast@goandtellgals.com. God is mighty in you today, sister.