When was the last time you felt truly clear? Clarity around what you're doing, why you're doing it, and what's actually yours to carry? Life isn't slowing down. And if you're waiting for a less demanding season before you tend to what matters most, you’ll be waiting indefinitely. In this episode, Valerie has an honest conversation about what happens when self-leadership gets pushed to the bottom of the list and what it looks like to guard what God has entrusted to you. Drawing from 2 Timothy and Proverbs, Valerie introduces the biblical practice of self-leadership, not as a productivity principle, but as Spirit-empowered stewardship of your calling.

In This Episode, You'll Hear:

• Why clarity fades when self-leadership gets overlooked and what it's actually costing you.
• The difference between managing chaos and guarding what God has entrusted to you.
• What Paul's charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6 and 1:14 reveals about calling, purpose, and Spirit-empowered stewardship.
• Why purpose is about how you show up not the role or title you hold.
• Five practical ways to guard what God has entrusted to you.
• Why self-leadership and self-control are inseparable and what Proverbs says about the cost of neglecting both.

Scripture Referenced: 2 Timothy 1:6–7 | 2 Timothy 1:14 | Proverbs 4:23 | Proverbs 25:28 | Psalm 139:13–14 | Galatians 1:10 | Luke 10:38–42 | Ephesians 5:15–17 | Proverbs 13:20

Going Deeper:

You can explore the full Westminster Shorter Catechism here.

Featured Quote: "An untended fire doesn't provide the light or the warmth it was intended to provide. And neither does a neglected calling."

Connect with Valerie: Website: thepurposeproject.us | Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

Support the Show: If this podcast has encouraged you, consider supporting the work at thepurposeproject.us/support. Every contribution helps keep this conversation going.

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 does it look like to trust God in the middle of something truly unimaginable? Not a hard season. Not a disappointing season. The kind of season that brings you to your knees in a parking lot, pounding the dashboard, giving God an ultimatum because you simply don't know how to carry it anymore.

Today’s guest has been there. And what she found on the other side of that moment and on the other side of the deepest loss a mother can face is a faith that is anything but passive.

In this episode, I sit down with Jody Hudson, CEO and Founder of the Alex Hudson Lyme Foundation and award-winning author of My Promise to Alex. Jody shares the story of her daughter Alexandra — a decade-long battle with undiagnosed Lyme disease, a faith forged in the fire of unanswered prayers and closed doors, and the sacred moment of surrender that changed everything. This is a conversation about grief, about purpose, about what it means to choose light when everything in you wants to give up.

"Grief is not the end of my story. Love is." — Jody Hudson

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

• How Jody's faith shifted from passive to active through the most painful season of her life.
• What it looked like to wrestle honestly with God — and why she believes those "get down and get ugly" conversations matter.
• The story of the bluebird and how God showed up for Alex in a way Jody almost missed.
• The moment of surrender on a plane that reframed everything Jody thought she knew about healing.
• Why Jody refuses to be defined as a "grief girl" and what she chooses to be defined by instead.
• Jody's beautiful Holy Week reflection on Mary, Alex, and what it means to grieve hard because you loved hard.
• Practical wisdom for anyone who is barely holding it together in the middle of their own devastating season.

Resources Mentioned:

• My Promise to Alex by Jody Hudson — Find it here.
• Fervent by Priscilla Shirer — Find it here.
• War Room – Find it here.
• Alex Hudson Lyme Foundation — Learn More.

Connect with Jody:

• Website
• Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn
• My Promise to Alex is available wherever books are sold.

Going Deeper:

The themes of this conversation — grief, surrender, purpose from pain, and the God who never leaves — are woven throughout Scripture. If today's episode stirred something in you, here are a few passages worth sitting with:

• Psalm 34:18 — "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
• Romans 8:28 — "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him."
• Matthew 25:21 — "Well done, good and faithful servant."
• Lamentations 3:22–23 — "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning."

About Jody Hudson:

Jody Hudson is an award-winning, highly sought-after speaker on grief, transformation, and creating purpose from pain. She brings over twenty years of nonprofit leadership experience to her work, but it is her role as CEO and Founder of the Alex Hudson Lyme Foundation that she says fuels her purpose. In 2022, she published her memoir My Promise to Alex, which won Best Memoir from the Christian Indie Book Awards in 2023.

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 at thepurposeproject.us or on Instagram @purposeprojectcoach.

If today's episode meant something to 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

Episode 4 | May 12, 2026

Episode Summary Have you ever snapped at someone you love and immediately asked yourself, "What is wrong with me?" In this episode, Valerie explores why that question carries shame, and why shame keeps us stuck. Drawing from neuroscience, Romans 8, and the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, Valerie introduces a better question, “What's happening in me?” and walks through what it looks like to approach your inner life with grace and curiosity instead of criticism and condemnation. This is where real healing begins.

In This Episode:

• Why "What's wrong with me?" is the wrong question and what to ask instead.
• What misalignment is, how it differs from disagreement, and why your body responds to it before your brain catches up.
• How chronic stress activates fight, flight, freeze, and fawn — and why many of the things we call personality traits are actually coping strategies.
• How God's response to Elijah in 1 Kings 19 is one of the most tender pictures of grace in all of Scripture.
• How grace and truth work together to create space for transformation and why you need both.
• A simple three-part framework for healthy inner work: Notice, Get Curious, Respond with wisdom.
• What self-compassion actually looks like for Christian women and why it’s important.

Featured Quote: "When your inner world is well-tended, things start changing around you. You show up differently. You lead differently. You love differently."

Scripture Referenced: Romans 8:1 | 1 Kings 19:1–18

Resources Mentioned

• The Body Keeps Score by Bessel van der Kolk: Grab It Here.
• Hazel + Hunt (yes, the t-shirt from the opening story): Shop Hazel + Hunt

Going Deeper

1 Kings 19:1–18 | Romans 8:1–17 | Psalm 139:23–24 | Matthew 11:28–30

Connect with Valerie

• Website: thepurposeproject.us
• Instagram: @purposeprojectcoach

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