Raise your hand if you've ever felt lonely! In this pandemic world we're living in--and even more, just in general--loneliness is something we all experience--and none of us talk about. Today, we welcome Jason Gaboury, author of Wait With Me, to tackle the uncomfortable and vitally important topic of loneliness. Why do we experience it? What do we do about it? Where is God in the midst of it? Join us as we answer these questions and more this week! //: Highlights: “What most people don’t know is that the Christian tradition, that the Bible itself, has powerful tools that can lead people through loneliness into deep connection with God, deep connection with themselves, and deeper compassion for other people.” -Jason Gaboury “Jesus doesn’t skip to the end...God isn't that kind of God. [He is r]adically present to you…Radically present right here, right now, in the midst of this.” -Jason Gaboury “That feeling of loneliness. That feeling of ‘I need to connect with other people for it to be right’—That’s not a result of the Fall, that’s not a result of sin. And the fact that we feel shame about needing other people is…because we’re formed as Western individualists, not biblical Christians. Biblical Christians should feel no more shame in feeling lonely than they do of their need for food and sleep.” -Jason Gaboury //: Do the Next Thing: Check out Jason Gaboury’s book, Wait With Me! While you’re at it, check out “Spiritual Disciplines for Seasons of Loneliness,” also by Jason Gaboury. Join our BOOK LAUNCH TEAM! 

It’s Election Time! Is the gospel still good news...? Today, we invite Michael Wear, Chief Strategist of the AND Campaign, to discuss how to hold onto Christ’s heart in the midst of intense election year. For a few years now, Michael and the AND Campaign have been wrestling with the tension of unity and diversity, especially when engaging in politics. Join us as we discuss unity in the Body of Christ, primary and secondary issues, how to speak up with grace, and how to receive grace from Jesus as we vote. //: Highlights: “The vocational question that has sorta guided my life is, ‘What does it mean to be faithful in public things?’” -Michael Wear "As Christians, in all of life, we are not responsible for the outcome of things that happen. We are to steward the influence and responsibility that we have in the most faithful way that we know how.” -Michael Wear “The state of our politics is a reflection of the state of our souls.” -Michael Wear //: Do the Next Thing: Go and get Compassion and Conviction. Do it. And follow & Campaign on all the things. It will edify you. While you’re clicking around, we’d love to hear from you via a review of the podcast, or simply by sharing the episode with a friend. “Hey, I thought you might like these guys.” Also, you can now join our launch team for the NEW Impossible Marriage book! Do it today! 

Has it ever been hard for you to come to Jesus? What do we do in those moments? When we are at the end of our rope, how to do we approach God exactly as we are? Today, we welcome Rashawn Copeland, author of Start Where You Are, to discuss his experiences with these questions and more. Rashawn brings good and gracious wisdom to the table, inviting us to come to God from the place we're in--not where we think we should be--and trust Him to meet us there. Join us as we hear Rashawn's heart on this issue and others, always coming back to how the gospel is good news for everyone, everyday. //: Highlights: “I wouldn’t go to God as I actually was, I always went to Him how I pretended to be. And I just want to encourage someone to go to Him with a broken and contrite heart…That’s the sacrifice He loves. Come to Him…with all your mess, all your brokenness, and He’ll meet you there. He wants to. He’s longing. He said, ‘Draw near to Me, and I’ll draw near to you.'” -Rashawn Copeland “Even if you feel too dirty, you’re not too dirty to be cleansed. You’re not too broken to be fixed. You’re not too unworthy to be loved. Just come to God as you are and He’ll take you where you need to be.” -Rashawn Copeland //: Do the Next Thing: This week's dare: share this podcast with ONE person!  Check out I'm So Blessed Daily's website here:  And like their Facebook page here:  Pre-order Rashawn Copeland's book, Start Where You Are, today! 

Parents...this is your week! This week, Matt and Laurie take your questions on the advice they give to parents of LGBTQ+ kids--and, really, it's just good advice for everyone, always coming back to the gospel and the purpose of our lives in God's eyes. Topics include: What is the advice we offer to all parents of LGBT+ kids? Would we bake the cake/do the photography/do therapy for a same-sex couple? How do we know if we are called to marriage or singleness? //: Highlights: “The most—for me—winsome reason for God’s design for marriage being between men and women is because we’re so different. God did that on purpose. Because if Matt and I, in our difference can be one...I’m showing you a gospel picture...” -Laurie Krieg "I don’t know how to answer the singleness piece, but the marrying piece, it had to be [Laurie]. God didn’t want me to just marry anyone. He didn’t call me to general marriage—He called me to [Laurie].” - Matt Krieg "It’s important to not make [marriage]...an idol, to not make that thing the focus of my worship, but to take it as a gift from the One I worship.” -Steve O’Dell  //: Do the Next Thing: And while you're at it, check out Laurie's YouTube Channel! Listen to Episode #123: Single but Not Solitary with Peter Valk, to learn more about the call to singleness here. Also, check out Greg Coles' book Single, Gay, Christian here. Jump on our sale this month--FREE SHIPPING on our Journey Well Study for the month of August! Find it here. Sign up for our next webinar: "What We Tell Every Parent of an LGBT+ Child" on September 15th (it's free if you become one of our partners!). Find registration here.

Welcome to Season 4! We're kicking off this season with a discussion on endurance and courage! What do we do when suffering hits and we're called upon to continue in the work God has given us? Join Matt, Laurie, and Steve as we explore practices and experiences that help build up "endurance muscles" for any form of suffering.  //: Highlights: “More and more, [looking back] instills more trust that the God we worship is going to be with me.” -Matt Krieg “Staying in the world, where God has us, is where endurance is required—*and* dependence on Him is required.” -Steve O’Dell “ ...[I]f I can do that vulnerable place and open it up to Jesus, throughout the day, if I’m continuing that practice, I actually am able to receive surprises from Him.” -Laurie Krieg //: Do the Next Thing: Join our Facebook group for weekly discussions of each podcast! Sign up for our next webinar Saturday, August 1, 9:30-11am EST to hear more about the practice of lament in everyday life!  And here's the DARE this week: Share this podcast with ONE person!

Guys! It's the season three finale! After walking through this episode, we felt this season gutted us in the best way and offered hope when we needed it. We did get practical (our theme this season), and we did get real (our constant desire). We were so grateful to listen back to highlight clips from some of our favorites and yours: 1. Episode 99:A Gender Conversation Part 2 Heather Skriba 2. Episode 92: Broken/Beloved Pastors Part 2 with Johnny and Amanda 3. Episode 96: Healthy Friendship and Touch as a Single Person with Meg Baatz 4. Episode 104: Practically Living Life in the Presence of God with Ken Boa 5. Episode 109: When Life Doesn't Go as Planned with Sheridan Voysey 6. Episode 128: Engaging Today's Suffering with Hope with Sam and Toni Collier 7. Episode 116: Maturity is Not an Option with John Eldredge Join us as we pick up themes from each episode, and, of course, talk about how the gospel was good news for us this season. Thanks for being a part of the podcast fam, fam! See you in August! *You can find the links to all of the above episodes here.   //: Highlights: "I'm so glad that he's living in the open. And I know that pain of the deceit, and the having to hide and to mitigate every circumstance of being found out, and it's so much better on the other side." -Matt Krieg "Every one of us can take something away from that because we've all experience some kind of heartbreak, disappointment...whatever. And...that just really helped me to...look at it differently. And that's what intimacy with God does, it reframes that stuff." -Steve O'Dell "Let's get gritty...Let's turn into gold, because the fire's gonna hurt but if we're staying in the fire with Jesus and with each other, we are going to be gold." -Laurie Krieg //: Do the Next Thing: Take our HIMH Podcast Survey to help us make season four the best yet!  Take advantage of our BOGO deal for Journey Well. Listen to Matt and Laurie's story here. And Producer Steve's story here. 

*Real* talk: Authenticity seems to be currency we can "use" to deepen friendships, feel seen, or even to get more followers.  But that type of authenticity--that is an end in itself--isn't what we are calling "authentic authenticity." There is selfishness in it, and the fruit produced from it ... tastes gross. How can we and why should we be truly authentic? How can single people experience this? How can married people if their spouse is unwilling to go to the emotional depths?  Let's get this this real conversation rolling with author and Fierce Marriage creator, Ryan Frederick. *Note: The QOTW we give at the end of this episode was answered in 128. 128's is answered next week in 131. ;) Sorry about that!* //: Highlights: “The beauty of [speaking emotionally deep] is that it is not a skill that is un-learnable. It’s not something that people cannot overcome. The biggest hurdle is just the desire…until that desire is there, it’s like pulling teeth.” --Ryan Frederick “One of the biggest issues of our day and age and culture is not the conscious, ‘I’m burying this thing because I just don’t want to got here,’ it’s more, ‘I’m just so distracted I’m not even thinking about going there.’” --Ryan Frederick “Prayer is not nothing. What is prayer if it is not our expression of our need for God’s explicit intervention in our lives?” --Ryan Frederick //: Do the Next Thing: Check out Ryan and Selena's latest book See-Through Marriage here. Their Fierce Marriage site? Here. There's a conversation happening on our HIMH Pod FB page! Join it here. Take our end-of-season survey HERE! 

Today is question and answer time with Matt and Laurie! We cover a lot including these questions: How did we first meet Steve? How do we handle Pride Month? How do we plan to address our mixed-orientation marriage with our kids? How can straight, single guys and girls be friends without the relationship getting weird? If we, as a married couple, invite a single person into our home how can we prevent it from becoming a situation where one of us falls in love with the single person? How can I care for my bisexual friend without compromising my beliefs or pushing my beliefs on her? How can I be committed to a worldview that has caused so much pain and depression for so many LGBTQ+ people? How do we grieve well—whether for trivial things or deep, human loss? Let's go, fam.   //: Highlights: “It always has to be this recognition of what is good about Pride Month—about people being able to be open and not hidden. But there is also this sorrow: … the unity that comes from Pride Month is not oriented toward your relationship with God, it’s about something completely different.” —Matt “Ya’ll, we got to repent for the last x decades of idolatry of marriage, idolatry of sex in marriage, and really? Not honoring this thing that we have eye-rollingly said is ‘Every man’s battle, every woman’s battle,’ and ‘Oh, just hurry up and get hitched and put a ring on your lust.’” —Laurie “Yes, it costs LGBT+ people something to follow Jesus, but the gospel should cost all of us our lives. And if it is not, are we actually following Jesus?” —Laurie //: Do the Next Thing: That BOGO deal for our Journey Well Study? (We will send you two for the price of one!) It's here. We mention "Safe Place Prayer with Matt" podcast episode. It's here. Follow us on the IG.

**FIRST: We have VIDEO!! WATCH this episode here.** In the midst of national and global suffering, it seems almost wrong to put the word "hope" near it. However, pastor and author Sam Collier, alongside his wife and ministry leader, Toni Collier, know how to carry both hurt and hope in each hand. How can we do that, too? Just ... listen. //: Highlights: “It’s impossible to pursue justice without hope.” –Sam “The gospel compels us to be one. I don’t think we get the luxury as believers to forfeit the fight of racism or anything that is keeping us apart. It is a gospel mandate. People say, ‘Just preach the gospel.’ This is the gospel.” —Sam “We all need to get into our brains the if we are to demand equality, fairness, and love for our own sphere of influence in the world, we dang sure better be willing to demand it and stand for it for everybody else.” —Toni //: Do the next thing: GO and preorder Sam's book! Find it here. Broken Crayons Still Color page that Roni founded? Here. Follow them on the socials here and here. The Journey Well Study we mention? Find it here.

How would you respond if you found pornography on your kid's phone? (Listeners without kids but who are equally valuable disciple-makers: How would you recommend your friend respond to their kids if they found this?) Author and speaker, Lee Neinhuis, had to deal with this exact situation, and it taught her, her son, and her family a lot about grace and truth. But how do we engage not only this specific satiation, but how do we cultivate deep roots in our kids/friend's kids/youth group kids when they are growing up in this extremely challenging cultural context? Let's dive in.   //: Highlights: "I know my own battle, I know my junk. I know what I think in my head ... They do not give you blinders when you head down the altar ... I notice all the same men the day before I got married, and I still feel attracted to them.  I still have to tell myself 'no' every day ... So, I'm just not surprised. I think if a parent doesn't spend some time exploring, 'What are you tempted toward?' and 'Where are you broken?' then this is going to catch them at a totally different level." --Lee Neinhuis "He has a testimony that involves [pornography]. I never would have wanted that, but I am so grateful that we fell in that pit, and we walked out as a family stronger." --Lee Neinhuis  //: Do the Next Thing Find all of Lee's beautiful work here. Her book? Here. Find that Mom's in Prayer Podcast and more here. Follow us and all of our own parenting/marriage madness on IG here.