Episode Summary

Twelve men stood in the exact same place, looking at the exact same evidence of God's faithfulness and walked away with two completely different stories. In this bonus episode, Valerie shares a message she recently gave live at a ladies' conference, unpacking the account of the twelve spies in Numbers 13–14. Why did ten of them see giants and two of them saw God's faithfulness, standing in the very same moment? Valerie walks through what actually separated Caleb and Joshua from the rest of the camp, what it costs when fear gets to write the story instead of God, and what it looks like to walk into the next part of your own promise with courageous faith instead of self-doubt and fear.

In This Episode, You'll Hear:

• Why two people can stand in the exact same moment and walk away with two entirely different stories.
• The "invisible backpack" every one of us carries throughout our lives and how it quietly shapes what we actually see.
• What happened when the twelve spies returned from exploring the Promised Land (Numbers 13–14).
• Why the problem was never the giants and what Caleb and Joshua saw that the other ten scouts didn't.
• The difference close relationship with God makes in how you interpret what's right in front of you.
• What it means to walk into your next promise with courageous faith instead of waiting for more clarity.
• Why this matters beyond your own story and what's at stake when you opt out of it.

Scripture Referenced

Numbers 13–14 | Numbers 13:32 | Joshua 1:9 | Joshua 21:43-45 | Psalm 33:4 | Exodus 33

Going Deeper

Exodus 33:7-11 | Hebrews 3:16-19 & 4:1-2 | Deuteronomy 1:19-38

Featured Quote

God doesn't need a list of your credentials. God needs your yes. That is courageous faith.

Connect with Valerie

Website: thepurposeproject.us Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

Support the Show https://www.thepurposeproject.us/support

About the Podcast The Purpose Project Podcast is for Christian women leaders navigating the messy middle — the space where expectations and reality don't line up, but God is still present. Host Valerie Jones creates thoughtful, faith-rooted conversations where biblical truth, emotional health, and spiritual growth belong together for life and leadership.

Support the show

Have you ever noticed how a truly great question can change everything? In this episode, Valerie takes us to one of her favorite scenes in the Gospels, the Pool of Bethesda in John 5, where Jesus asks a man who'd been sick for thirty-eight years a question that still confronts us today: Do you want to get well? Drawing on Scripture, neuroscience, and her own story of learning to answer that question after the loss of her two children, Valerie unpacks why we so often stay stuck in what's familiar, even when it isn't good for us, and what it actually means to choose healing and wholeness when it's offered.

In This Episode, You'll Hear:

• Why a truly great question can change a conversation and why Jesus asked so many of them.
• The story of the man at the Pool of Bethesda and the question Jesus asked to challenge him.
• Why "Do you want to get well?" isn’t always a simple question to answer.
• What neuroplasticity reveals about why your brain defaults to the familiar, even when familiar is unhealthy.
• Valerie's own story of being confronted with the question, ‘Do you want to get well?’ after losing her children, Tyler and Hailey.
• The three-part command Jesus gives the man that required active participation in the process.
• The difference between agency and control, and why healing is not passive.
• How answering this question means freedom from the places we feel stuck.

Scripture Referenced: John 5:1–9 (CSB, NLT, NIV)

Going Deeper: John 9:1:12 | Philippians 2:12–13 | James 2: 14-26 | Galatians 5: 15, 25

Featured Quote: "You don't have to stay stuck. You get to choose."

Learn More:

• On the power of a good question, drawing on peer-reviewed research, from Association of Psychological Science: "Asking Questions Increases Likability."
• On neuroplasticity and why staying stuck feels safer than change from the Cleveland Clinic: "Brainwork: The Power of Neuroplasticity."
• The Biblical Archeological Society on the history of the Pool of Bethesda: "The Bethesda Pool, Site of One of Jesus' Miracles"
• Modern day photos of the excavated site of the Pool: HolyLandPhotos.org — Pools of Bethesda

Mentioned in This Episode: The Leading Brave Group Experience is Valerie's 8-week live group coaching experience for Christian women ready to trade overthinking and self-doubt for clarity, courage, and confidence. Doors are open now through September 20th for the Fall cohort. Learn more here.

Connect with Valerie: Website | Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

Support the Show: https://www.thepurposeproject.us/support

About the Podcast: The Purpose Project Podcast is for Christian women leaders navigating the messy middle — the space where expectations and reality don't line up, but God is still present. Host Valerie Jones creates thoughtful, faith-rooted conversations where biblical truth, emotional health, and spiritual growth belong together for life and leadership.

Support the show

What if the clutter in your home isn’t really about the stuff?

That’s the question at the center of this conversation, and the answer goes deeper than you might expect. In this episode, I sit down with professional organizer and author Melinda Grace to talk about why our physical spaces have a direct impact on our emotional and spiritual wellbeing, why letting go can feel an awful lot like grief, and how her G.R.A.C.E. Method creates room not just in your home, but in your heart and mind for what God has next.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us to strip off every weight that slows us down. Sometimes that weight shows up in our cupboards, closets, and piles in the corner. And sometimes the most faithful thing you can do let go to make room.

“What you needed in the last season won’t always serve you in the next one. And sometimes the most faithful thing that you can do is let it go.” — Valerie Gibson Jones

This is a Bible and brain conversation through and through. Pull up a chair.

In This Episode:

• Why clutter is rarely about the stuff and what’s really underneath it.
• The science of clutter and what elevated cortisol levels have to do with your ability to hear God.
• How our surroundings send millions of tiny subconscious signals for better or worse.
• Why letting go of objects can feel like losing a memory or a person and what to do with that.
• How to invite God into the organizing process.
• A full walkthrough of the G.R.A.C.E. Method: Gather, Release, Acquire, Cultivate, Enjoy.
• Where people most commonly get stuck and how to keep moving.
• Where to start when you’re overwhelmed and don’t know how.

About Melinda Grace
Melinda Grace is a professional organizer and lifelong follower of Christ with over 15 years of experience in business, nonprofit, and the entertainment industries. Realizing that grace, home, and faith were everything to her, she started her organizing business in 2020 to help working moms declutter and reconnect with their calling. She is the author of Reclaim Your Space with G.R.A.C.E., built around her signature G.R.A.C.E. Method.

Resources Mentioned

• Get the book Reclaim Your Space with G.R.A.C.E. by Melinda Grace
• Get the Freebie Kitchen Hack Guide from Melinda

Scripture Referenced

• Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)
• Psalm 46:10
• Matthew 9:17 / Mark 2:22 / Luke 5:37–38
• Ephesians 3:20

Going Deeper
The themes of this conversation — clutter, release, seasons, and the God who makes all things new — are woven throughout Scripture. If today’s episode stirred something in you, here are a few passages worth sitting with:

• Hebrews 12:1 — “Let us strip off every weight that slows us down.”
• Isaiah 43:19 — “See, I am doing a new thing.”
• Ecclesiastes 3:1 — “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
• Philippians 4:11–13 — On contentment and sufficiency in every season.

Connect with Melinda

• Melinda's Website
• Instagram: @melindagraceorganizing

About Your Host

Valerie Gibson Jones is a board-certified Christian Life Coach, Mental Health Coach, and Grief Educator, and the founder of The Purpose Project. Each episode of this podcast exists to help you navigate the messy middle — the gap between where you are and where God is calling you — with faith, courage, and honest conversation.

Connect with Valerie

• Website
• Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach
• Join the email list.
• Support the show

If today’s episode encouraged you, would you share it with one woman who needs to hear it? And if you haven’t yet, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps this podcast find the women it was made for. Thank you for being here.

Support the show