What does your body already know that your mind hasn't caught up to yet? What if the thing most burning you out on the mission field is not the workload, the culture shock, or the lack of support, but something else? And what if the very traits that made you say yes to the field are the same ones slowly wearing you down?

In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Steve and Lisa Cuss, founders of Capable Life, to talk about the Big Five false needs and what happens when the missionary calling supercharges them. Steve is a former pastor and chaplain who hosts the Being Human podcast for Christianity Today, and Lisa is a trauma therapist who brings a clinical lens to everything they teach.

Together, they unpack why your body reacts before your brain does, how false needs and false beliefs are connected, and what it looks like to begin living from the gift underneath the need rather than the need itself. By the end, you will have language for something you have been carrying for a long time, and the tools to take the next right step.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• What the Big Five false needs are and how to locate yourself in them, including the physical signal that tells you which one is running the show.
• Why your body and your head can believe completely different things about your faith, your calling, and your capacity, and what to do when they do.
• How to move from living out of a false need to operating from the real gift underneath it, with practical tools you can start using this week.

Resources Mentioned:

Capable Life Free Resources

Being Human Podcast with Steve Cuss (Christianity Today)

SIFT by Dr. Dan Siegel

Hey missionaries—how are your finances on the field? At Modern Day Missions, we make it simple for missionaries to receive donations and for donors to give. Serving 1,100+ missionaries worldwide, we free you to focus on your calling. We also offer resources like our weekly podcast, fundraising coaching, and a resource-packed newsletter. Connect with us at modernday.org

Thanks for listening! Email us your questions at care@modernday.org

Website: https://www.modernday.org/podcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu3ie6N7vXvESqcHrM-SRTC7-XoPEmnv6

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The missionaries burning out fastest are not the ones who stopped caring. They are the ones who cared the most. Mindy Caliguire, founder of SoulCare, joins the podcast to talk about what research with missionaries in the Global South revealed about soul health, the relational deficit nobody wants to touch, and what it actually takes to find your way back.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why the most devoted missionaries are often the most at risk, and how a can't-stop-won't-stop work mentality builds until the flywheel breaks.
• How prayer and Bible study can become fuel for the engine of service rather than practices for your own soul, and what finding your way back looks like.
• Why the relational deficit is the hardest to address, and what one accessible step looks like for the isolated missionary.

Links From the Episode:

Free Spiritual Friendship Guide

Monthly Retreat Guide

Ignite Your Soul by Mindy Caliguire

Lacey Mason research episode: Soul Care with Mindy, Episode 2

Soul Care with Mindy podcast

SoulCare website

Hey missionaries—how are your finances on the field? At Modern Day Missions, we make it simple for missionaries to receive donations and for donors to give. Serving 1,100+ missionaries worldwide, we free you to focus on your calling. We also offer resources like our weekly podcast, fundraising coaching, and a resource-packed newsletter. Connect with us at modernday.org

Thanks for listening! Email us your questions at care@modernday.org

Website: https://www.modernday.org/podcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu3ie6N7vXvESqcHrM-SRTC7-XoPEmnv6

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moderndaymissions/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moderndaymissions/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moderndaymissions

X: https://twitter.com/Modern_Day

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moderndaymissions/

Two-thirds of global missionaries are women. And most of them will tell you they have never heard an episode like this one.

Denise Beck, Executive Director of Velvet Ashes, has spent years sitting with women in every season of missionary life, and she is not afraid to say what most people skip over. The single woman who wonders if anyone on her team actually values what she gave up. The married woman stretched between her family and her calling. The woman who has been pouring out for so long she has stopped asking what she needs. And the extraordinary strength that exists in all of them, often unrecognized, even by themselves.

This conversation goes to the places most missionary care conversations do not. We look at what it specifically costs women to serve on the field, what they uniquely bring to it, and what leaders, husbands, teammates, and fellow women can do to make sure the largest group of missionaries on the planet is actually being seen and supported well.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• What single and married women on the field are actually experiencing including the specific tensions around sacrifice, comparison, identity, and feeling unseen that rarely get named out loud
• How to stop running on empty and start building the rhythms and community that will actually sustain you for the long haul on the field
• What it looks like to practically support the women on your team, whether you are a man in leadership, a husband in ministry, or a fellow woman on the field who wants to show up better for the people around you

Hey missionaries—how are your finances on the field? At Modern Day Missions, we make it simple for missionaries to receive donations and for donors to give. Serving 1,100+ missionaries worldwide, we free you to focus on your calling. We also offer resources like our weekly podcast, fundraising coaching, and a resource-packed newsletter. Connect with us at modernday.org

Thanks for listening! Email us your questions at care@modernday.org

Website: https://www.modernday.org/podcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu3ie6N7vXvESqcHrM-SRTC7-XoPEmnv6

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moderndaymissions/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moderndaymissions/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moderndaymissions

X: https://twitter.com/Modern_Day

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moderndaymissions/