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A cave near Bethlehem. Stone, straw, and a light that still reaches us. We follow Saint Nicholas’s quiet pilgrimage and find our own footing in a season when headlines blur, and hearts grow tired. The story of Emmanuel, God with us, becomes more than a lyric—it turns into a lifeline you can hold, a place you can enter, a presence you can trust when love feels heavy and the calendar won’t slow down.

We open with Nicholas’s years near Beit Jala, exploring how a humble cave shaped his generous life. From there, we turn to the liturgies of Doug McKelvey's Every Moment Holy, to name the ache of too much information and too little strength. What if the most faithful move is to honor creaturely limits? What if justice and mercy begin with yielding the unbearable to the One whose shoulders can carry it? That shift reframes compassion, helping us respond to real needs that intersect our actual lives—family tensions, impatient lines, neighbors on edge—without going numb.

Along the way, we offer simple prompts to list your griefs, discern your small share in God’s redemptive work, and carry a single phrase of Scripture through the week. The goal isn’t to escape reality; it’s to live it with Emmanuel—fully God, fully human—beside you.

If this speaks to you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs rest, and leave a quick review to help others find this space. What burden are you ready to place on God's stronger shoulders today?

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Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:

1. Support the show: Your Donation Matters
2. Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
3. Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International
4. Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
5. Download the 2025 Advent Guide: The Great Glimmer Hunt
6. Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon

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What if love didn’t start with your effort but with God’s presence moving toward you? This guided, unhurried reading of 1 John 4:7–21 explores a radical claim—God is love—and shows how that truth can steady anxious hearts, transform relationships, and make faith visible in everyday life.

We walk through the text line by line, hearing how the sending of Jesus redefines love as concrete and self-giving. Together we consider why living in love means living in God, how the Spirit anchors our assurance, and what it looks like to “live like Jesus” in the world. The passage dismantles the fear of punishment, replacing it with confidence rooted in perfect love that drives out fear. Then it turns the spotlight on practice: if we say we love God, we must love the people we can see—especially the difficult ones. That challenge is not a burden to earn approval but an overflow of being loved first.

Along the way, we pause for reflection. What is your picture of God? How does that picture shape your capacity to receive love and extend it to others? With a simple invitation to open your hands and welcome a fresh touch of grace, this episode blends scripture, stillness, and honest questions that lead to action. If you’ve been craving a faith that feels less like striving and more like abiding, these words offer both clarity and comfort.

Listen and share with someone who needs courage today. If this resonated, follow the show, leave a review to help others find it, and tell us: where do you want perfect love to quiet fear in your life?

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Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:

1. Support the show: Your Donation Matters
2. Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
3. Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International
4. Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
5. Download the 2025 Advent Guide: The Great Glimmer Hunt
6. Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon

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"Understanding is the essence of love" (Thich Nhat Hanh).

The quiet before wonder can change everything. We move through Advent by stepping into the story of Saint Nicholas—not the myth, but the young man whose hidden generosity saved daughters from slavery and modeled a love that protects dignity. From that spark, we explore how real love is trained, not assumed: a discipline of attention that seeks to understand first, then act with compassion, joy, and freedom.

I share why understanding is the essence of love and how it becomes a practical way forward when relationships feel stuck. Drawing on Thich Nhat Hanh’s wisdom, we test our affection with two questions: Does this love bring joy, and does it protect freedom? Then we get tactical with Nonviolent Communication, reframing conflict from a win-lose standoff into a process grounded in connection before strategy. You’ll learn to name needs clearly, separate needs from solutions, build trust through empathy, and translate requests into positive, actionable language—skills that can change your family table, your marriage, and your holiday gatherings.

Threaded throughout is a faith-centered reminder that no human can meet every need we carry. Rooting our belonging in God lightens the load we place on those we love and helps us set boundaries that honor both safety and dignity. With stories of courage, hard choices, and repair, we map a path to wholehearted living where generosity is quiet, presence is powerful, and hope is stubborn.

If this conversation helps you breathe deeper or love better, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help others find the show. What relationship will you train your heart for this week?

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Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:

1. Support the show: Your Donation Matters
2. Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
3. Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International
4. Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
5. Download the 2025 Advent Guide: The Great Glimmer Hunt
6. Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon

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A storm-tossed sky lantern lands in a front yard with a daughter’s message to her dad, and a simple response turns into a global moment of shared grief and hope. That story becomes our gateway into the real Saint Nicholas—an early Christian bishop who noticed the vulnerable, met practical needs with courage, and quietly changed lives in a collapsing empire.

We sit down with author and screenwriter Matt Mikalatos to explore his devotional, Praying with Saint Nicholas, and the surprising history behind a figure too often flattened into myth. From Patara to Myra, we step through persecution under Diocletian, the pivot of Constantine, and the Council of Nicaea, where core beliefs were hammered out amid risk and conviction. We revisit the famous dowry rescue that inspired stockings, the confessor tradition that modeled reconciliation after failure, and the gripping moment Nicholas halted an unjust execution—mercy with a spine of steel.

Threaded through it all is a practical Advent invitation: become a noticer. Pair 1 John 4:7–21 with small daily acts that restore dignity in your neighborhood. Slip generosity where it’s needed, listen deeply to someone who feels invisible, and choose sustainable compassion that protects your mental health while expanding your capacity to love. We also clear up confusion around venerating saints, reframing it as asking trusted elders in the great cloud of witnesses to pray with us, not instead of us.

If you’re longing for an Advent that feels grounded, historic, and fiercely hopeful, this conversation offers both story and structure. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a one-sentence review to help others find the show. Your voice helps carry this light further.

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Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:

1. Support the show: Your Donation Matters
2. Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
3. Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International
4. Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
5. Download the 2025 Advent Guide: The Great Glimmer Hunt
6. Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon

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Sharing a Thanksgiving Prayer/Meditation of Gratitude: Ask for Something Greater. Matthew 7:7 heralds a beautiful message: "Ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you."

This week's question: "What if your prayers are too small for the life you’re meant to live?" In this focused, six-minute guided meditation, we slow down, breathe, and move from timid requests to bold, honest asking rooted in God’s generosity. We open with a calm invitation to welcome God into the room, then step straight into the questions we often avoid:

• Am I afraid of being disappointed?
• Do I feel unworthy?
• Do I doubt that God will help?

Naming these barriers out loud becomes the first act of courage.

If this moved you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. What “greater” are you asking for this week?

Support the show

Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:

1. Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online coaching center and meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
2. Download the "Overcoming Hurtful Words" Study Guide PDF: BECOMING EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY
3. Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon
4. Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
5. Learn more about my books and work: Janell Rardon
6. Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International

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"Learning to say no to good things so we can experience better things may sound easy, but it can feel really hard - hard to know when it's the thing to do, and hard to do it. Yet there's a healthy vulnerability that comes with saying no."

-Dr. Arianna Molloy, Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout to Sustainable Work

Silence and emptiness emerge as surprising allies. Drawing on Thomas Moore, we treat emptiness not as failure but as space for meaning and healthy detachment. Emptiness quiets overcontrol, loosens ego-driven giving, and clears room for wisdom. In today's episode, I offer practices you can start today: guilt-free hobbies, shorter lists, pauses between tasks, and a single-page heart journal.

Join our growing community that prizes thoughtful dialogue, empathic listening, and actionable hope. Connect on Heartlift Central (Substack) and our private Facebook group to share your reflections, your haiku, and your next brave step. If this ad-free work serves you, consider a tax-deductible donation at janellrardon.com to help spread the influence of the podcast. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a gentler pace, and tell us: where will you create space this week?

Support the show

Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:

1. Support the show: Your Donation Matters
2. Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
3. Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International
4. Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
5. Download the 2025 Advent Guide: The Great Glimmer Hunt
6. Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon

Send us a text

"You're allowed to stop."

In this conversation, I explore rest not as a luxury or reward, but as a sacred practice woven into the very heart of creation. We dive a little deeper into Dr. Arianna Molloy's book, "Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout to Sustainable Work."

If God rested, why is it so hard for us?

We'll discuss the pressures that drive us to perform and strive, the stories we've inherited about productivity and worth, and what it means to honor our humanity by slowing down.

This is an invitation to step into living a life from a place of rest, not when everything is done, but right now, right where you are.

Order Dr. Arianna Molloy's Book: Healthy Calling
Visit Taylor University's Center for Scripture Engagement
Read Hebrews 4:9-11: biblegateway.com

Listen to Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith on E. 93: REST
Listen to Eryn Lynum on E. 318: REST
Listen to E. 273: Nurturing the Soul with Forest Bathing
Listen to Asheritah Ciuciu on E. 183: Everyday Prayers of Rest
Listen to Asheritah Ciuciu on E. 182: Everyday Prayers of Rest
Listen to E. 14 with Janell: REST: Collecting Strength

Support the show

Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:

1. Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online coaching center and meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
2. Download the "Overcoming Hurtful Words" Study Guide PDF: BECOMING EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY
3. Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon
4. Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
5. Learn more about my books and work: Janell Rardon
6. Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International

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Have you ever been asked, "What is your calling?" In Episode 344, Dr. Arianna Molloy, author of "Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout to Sustainable Work," shares her research and helps us answer that question from a beautiful place of understanding and maturity.

In this episode, we reframe calling as a living relationship with God, grounded in community and guided by humility, rest, and gratitude. I also unveil a new monthly format that helps us metabolize ideas, practice spiritual skills, and cultivate sustainable rhythms.

Drawing from Dr. Arianna's work on healthy calling, we unpack a practical triad for a sustainable life of purpose: dialogue with God that starts our mornings, interaction that turns trust into action, and maintenance that gently course‑corrects when we drift. We name the third key player—community—and show how burnout ripples outward, while healthy rhythms multiply good in every direction. Along the way, we get honest about enforced rest, health scares, and the sobering gift of learning to move from rest rather than toward it.

Humility anchors the conversation. Not self‑erasure, but clear awareness of strengths and weaknesses without fixation. Not hustle, but a lifestyle of learning and the courage to unplug. Gratitude then becomes humility in motion—remembering whose we are, who we are, and who is in charge.

Visit Dr. Arianna Molloy's website: Learn More

Order Dr. Arianna's book: Healthy Calling

Watch Dr. Arianna: Meaningful Work; Should You Put Your Phone Down?; What it Means to Walk Humbly With God; More Than Just a Job

Support the show

Support the show

Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:

1. Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online coaching center and meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
2. Download the "Overcoming Hurtful Words" Study Guide PDF: BECOMING EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY
3. Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon
4. Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
5. Learn more about my books and work: Janell Rardon
6. Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International