Christmas Eve sits in the in-between space. Not the miracle yet. Not the ending. Just the waiting.

In this special Christmas Eve episode, Melie speaks to those who feel stuck in the middle of healing, rebuilding, and figuring things out. If life feels unresolved right now, this message offers gentleness, perspective, and permission to rest without forcing clarity or cheer.

You'll hear reflections on:

• Why waiting seasons feel so uncomfortable

• How uncertainty impacts the nervous system

• Why unfinished does not mean unworthy

• What quiet, realistic hope can look like

• Why being "still becoming" is enough

This episode is for anyone spending the holidays in the middle of the story, trusting that light is coming, even if it hasn't arrived yet.

✨ Mentioned in this episode:
Renewed Mind — a gentle resilience app for seasons that feel uncertain. Learn more at renewedmind.app

What does resilience look like when your body is worn down, your energy is gone, and productivity feels impossible?

In this gentle, honest episode of Diamonds in Dumpster Fires, Melie talks about resilience on sick days. Not the "power through" kind, but the kind that honors your limits, listens to your nervous system, and allows rest without guilt.

Blending neuroscience, faith, and real-life compassion, this episode is for anyone who feels emotionally fragile when they're sick, struggles with guilt around rest, or needs permission to slow down. If you've ever felt like taking a nap meant you were failing at life, this one's for you.

Grab your tea, wrap up in a blanket, and let's redefine what strength really looks like.

• Why being sick often comes with guilt, anxiety, and emotional heaviness

• The neuroscience of sickness, inflammation, and emotional regulation

• How illness impacts your brain, mood, patience, and decision-making

• Why resilience is sometimes about stopping, not pushing harder

• The faith reminder that even Jesus rested and honored His limits

• How to redefine resilience on low-capacity days

• Gentle, practical tools to support your nervous system when you're sick

• Why rest is not falling behind, but part of healing and restoration

• A 3-minute honesty check-in to ground yourself when capacity is low

• Replacing productivity goals with compassion goals

• A simple breath prayer to calm your nervous system

• Choosing one tiny win and letting that be enough

• Why sick days are not the time for big life decisions

Your emotions are louder when you're sick because your brain and body are working hard to heal. That doesn't mean you're weak or failing. It means you're human.

Rest is not quitting.
Rest is not laziness.
Rest is part of resilience.

Renewed Mind – a gentle, faith-informed, neuroscience-guided app designed for real life.
Created for days when you're overwhelmed, emotionally tired, sick, grieving, or simply not operating at full capacity.

Renewed Mind helps you:

• Pause and check in with how you're really doing

• Gently support your nervous system

• Practice resilience without hustle or pressure

Learn more at renewedmind.app

If you're listening to this while sick, run down, or curled up under blankets, hear this:

You are loved.
You are allowed to rest.
You are still resilient.

Even on your weakest days, you are still a diamond.

Today's guest, Lisa Skeffington, is a multi–award-winning psychotherapist, executive coach, and self-esteem expert who has spent more than 25 years helping high-achieving women navigate anxiety, burnout, and hidden emotional wounds.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• What imposter syndrome actually is (and why it's so common for high achievers)

• How high-functioning anxiety hides behind competence, control, and "hustle"

• Why traditional therapy often misses what high-performing women really need

• How childhood pressure, conditional approval, and later "dumpster fire" moments (divorce, loss, layoffs) fuel burnout

• Early warning signs your nervous system is heading toward burnout

• The difference between doing a lot… and doing a lot of what doesn't nourish you

• Practical first steps to start healing, even when you can't just quit your life

Lisa also shares about her coastal escapes on the Dorset coast, her online mentoring, and a free self-esteem quiz to help you understand what might be running in the background of your own story.

• High-functioning anxiety often looks like "drive" and "motivation," which is why so many of us miss it.

• Imposter syndrome isn't about how qualified you are – it's about old narratives you absorbed about your worth.

• Burnout isn't simply doing too much; it's doing too much of what drains you and not enough of what nourishes you.

• Emotional wellbeing doesn't kill your ambition – it fuels better, calmer, more sustainable performance.

• Healing begins when you stop performing and start telling the truth about what you feel and what you need.

• You don't have to choose between being high-functioning and being healthy. The shift is moving from chaos to calm.

• Lisa's Self-Esteem Reality Check Quiz & Resources: welcome.empoweredmomentum.com

• Learn more about Lisa's Empowered Momentum work, coastal escapes, and mentoring via the link above.

This week marks a full year of Diamonds in Dumpster Fires—52 episodes of showing up, telling the truth, and letting God work through the messy middle. Instead of a highlight reel, Melie shares seven lessons this year of podcasting taught her about resilience, creativity, faith, and showing up when life feels anything but polished.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why resilience is built through tiny acts of consistency

• How vulnerability strengthens connection and calms the nervous system

• Why creativity regulates your body and grounds your spirit

• How structure—not motivation—keeps you steady

• Why people connect to your story, not your perfection

• How God uses obedience more than expertise

• Why reflection turns your lived experience into wisdom

Each lesson comes with a simple action step you can use this week to strengthen your own resilience—whether you're building something, healing from something, or stepping into something new with God.

Melie also shares what surprised her most this year, from the power of honest stories to the unexpected joy of interviewing guests. The episode closes with a blessing for your next brave step as we head into 2026.

If this episode encouraged you, share it with a friend or leave a review.
Follow Melie on Instagram: @meliewilliams

Here's to year two—and to all the diamonds still waiting to be discovered.

In this vulnerable and powerful conversation, Melie sits down with author Emily A. Myers—a romance writer whose life and storytelling have both been radically transformed by her journey back to God.

Emily opens up about surviving a marriage that slowly dismantled her sense of self, the dark moments that nearly took her life, and the unexpected ways God intervened when she wasn't even looking His direction. From the wounds of legalistic church culture ("Bible Belt bruises") to the long road back to a faith that feels like home, Emily's story is a testament to the God who rescues, restores, and rewrites.

Together, we talk about:

• Growing up in a faith environment marked by pressure, guilt, and emotional isolation
• How trauma shaped Emily's early relationships and even her romance writing
• The moment God met her in the darkest place and whispered, "My blood is worth more than this"
• Relearning what real love looks like — from Scripture, not culture
• Healing from divorce without shame
• Why single seasons can feel like wilderness… and why they're still holy
• How God is transforming Emily's creative work through Woman in the Word
• What grace looks like when you've never been taught how to receive it

Whether you've been bruised by church culture, navigating a long single season, recovering from unhealthy relationships, or simply longing for God to feel close again — this episode is a reminder:
God meets us in our mess, not our perfection. And He never stops pursuing His children.

✨ Melie's Takeaways

• Redemption rarely starts in the spotlight — it begins in the wilderness.
• You don't have to have a perfect past to have a powerful testimony.
• God doesn't wait for us to "get it together" before He comes close.
• Nothing — not mistakes, trauma, divorce, or doubt — can separate you from God's love.
• There is something deeply healing about hearing Scripture from someone who's still in the trenches with you.
• Your story is allowed to evolve. Your calling is allowed to change. Your art is allowed to reflect the journey.
• Grace is learned slowly when you weren't raised with it.
• What God is writing next in your life may be gentler, sweeter, and more beautiful than you expect.

✨ About Emily

You can explore Emily's Woman in the Word reflections, her romance novels (including her newest release You Can Always Come Home), and follow her spiritual journey here:

• Website: EmilyAMyers.com
• Blog: Woman in the Word
• Instagram: @womanintheword_ and @emilymyersauthor

✨ If You Loved This Conversation

If this episode encouraged you, please rate, review, or share it with a friend who needs a reminder that God can redeem every chapter — even the ones we'd rather skip.

And don't forget to subscribe to Diamonds in Dumpster Fires so you never miss an episode that brings together faith, neuroscience, resilience, and real-life redemption.

What if the success you worked so hard for starts feeling… empty?

In this episode, Melie sits down with Dr. Sharon Spano — executive coach, researcher, and expert in human development — to explore why achievement doesn't always translate to fulfillment, and what it means when you reach your goals but still feel something missing.

This conversation opens up the deeper layers of success, identity, faith, and growth in a way that will resonate with anyone who's ever looked around at a "good life" and wondered, Is this it?

• Why high achievers often hit a surprising wall of emptiness

• How developmental stages shape the way we experience success

• The hidden systems influencing your relationships, work, and identity

• Why faith-based achievers may struggle with mixed messages around ambition

• Simple practices that increase self-awareness and emotional resilience

1. Feeling empty doesn't mean something's wrong — it might mean you're evolving.

2. Self-awareness is the foundation of sustainable success.

3. Journaling is one of the fastest ways to regulate emotions and see your own patterns.

4. You don't have to navigate the ache behind achievement alone.

✨ Dr. Sharon's Developmental Stages Assessment — Coming Soon!
As discussed in the episode, Dr. Sharon is releasing a free resource to help you identify your current developmental stage and understand your path toward deeper fulfillment.

sharonspano.com/dumpsterfires

(This is where the assessment will be available once released.)

• Website

• Book: The Pursuit of Time and Money

• Podcast: The Other Side of Potential

Please share it with someone who might be quietly struggling behind their own achievements. And if you're navigating your own season of transition, burnout, or "Is this all there is?" moments — you're not alone, and you're not broken. There is always a way forward, and it often starts with awareness.

And remember: even when the hustle burns out and the trophies start gathering dust, there is still beauty waiting to be rebuilt.

In this heart-centering conversation, Melie sits down with Jenn Suen Chen—spiritual director, speaker, and co-director of Summit Clear—to talk about how stories shape our faith and our sense of belonging. Drawing from her new book, Dim Sum and Faith, Jenn shares how the ancient rhythm of gathering at the table can teach us about spiritual formation, community, and what it really means to live loved.

Together, Melie and Jenn explore:

• Why stories are one of the most powerful tools for spiritual growth

• How our unique cultural and personal histories influence the way we see God

• What "intentional story work" looks like in safe, grace-filled community

• The difference between a spiritual director, mentor, coach, and therapist—and how each helps us heal

• How to begin processing pain and shame through love rather than fear

• The role of remembering and lament in gratitude and worship

• What it means to simply "come as you are" to God's table

This episode is an invitation to slow down, listen deeply, and rediscover how God meets us in the middle of our real, messy stories—not after we've cleaned them up.

About Jenn Suen Chen
Jenn Suen Chen is a spiritual director, speaker, and co-director of Summit Clear, where she and her husband mentor those serving in cross-cultural ministry. After 25 years in Asia, she brings a rich, grounded perspective on faith, identity, and belonging. Her book Dim Sum and Faith weaves together story, culture, and spiritual formation, inviting readers to experience God's presence through the art of storytelling.

📖 Dim Sum and Faith – Book Link
🌐 Jenn's Website

If this episode speaks to you, please share it with someone who needs the reminder that their story still matters.

Grief wears many faces. It can look like a death, a divorce, a friendship that faded, or the slow realization that a dream did not work out. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Audrey Davidheiser, a licensed psychologist and Certified Internal Family Systems therapist, to talk about grief in a way that feels human, faith-aware, and actually doable.

We start by getting practical about Internal Family Systems (IFS). Think of it as understanding the different parts within us that show up when life hurts. Instead of trying to "get over it," Dr. Audrey shows us how to listen to what those parts are trying to say, and how that posture can reduce shame, soften anxiety, and help our bodies settle. We also talk about how faith and mental health can complement each other, especially when prayer and grounded tools work side by side.

From there, we look at what to do when grief shows up in the body or in our dreams, why timelines can backfire, and how to move gently but faithfully through loss. If loneliness has been knocking, we cover ways to befriend it without getting swallowed by it. And if you are wondering when it is time to get extra support, Dr. Audrey offers clear, compassionate markers that remove the stigma and invite wise care.

This one is for anyone carrying a fresh heartbreak or an old ache that still stings. You will leave with language for what you are feeling, simple practices to try this week, and hope that healing can be real and steady.

• A simple way to understand IFS and why it helps in grief

• How to respond when your body signals distress

• Why timelines for healing often miss the point

• Gentle steps for addressing loneliness without shame

• Clear signs it may be time to seek professional help

• Book: Grieving Wholeheartedly by Dr. Audrey Davidheiser

• Dr. Audrey's website — https://www.aimforbreakthrough.com/

If this conversation helped you breathe a little easier, send it to a friend who needs the same. And if you want more faith and neuroscience tools for real-life resilience, subscribe and leave a quick review. It helps more people find hope here.