Truth Salt And Spice With Xamayta Graver

Julie and I met online over 5 years ago and have become unlikely friends. Her story is one that I hold closely to my heart. First, her mother suffers a stroke. She then undergoes a scheduled hysterectomy and almost died after complications from the surgery. Her husband informing her that he was not in love with her and wanting to get divorced. Not to mention the extra surgeries in the middle of all that. YET, Julie held onto God and trusting in his promises for an abundant life.  Psalm 61:1-3

Kai and I talk about being seasoned in our seasons. She shares how she generally she embraces changes with expectations and tries to align herself with God's plan. I, on the other hand, am not that willing to embrace change that messes up with my plans. We both share from our personal experiences and the wisdom we have gained through our experiences. Daniel 2:20-23 

We springboard from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8...There is a time and season for EVERYTHING! We talk about how we handle difficult seasons, or how we don't handle them depending on our spiritual maturity. There are times we miss the changes in season because they are subtle. The irony of waiting for the shoe to drop when we find ourselves in good seasons. We even discuss how sometimes we go through seasons of absolute brokenness and it isn't even for our benefit but for the benefit of someone else. Jesus did that for us, didn't he? Share on the socials, share with your friends. Leave a review and a 5 star sure doesn't hurt one bit. Thanks!

It's October! It's crisp and cool outside. Leaves are changing color and it's pumpkin spice season for a lot of people. As children of God, what do seasons mean for us? Psalm 1:1-6 talks about people being like trees that produce fruit in its season. What happens with us when it's not the season to produce fruit? We will be discussing this and much more this month. 

Patti is very transparent about the abuse she endured as a child. While, we don't focus solely on comparison, pay attention on the language she uses throughout the episode. Even though she didn't live from an overt WHY ME, because by saying that, it would imply that it would be OK for someone else to endure it. The WHY ME's are more of an internalized message of one's worth in the view of God. There are so many ways we compare ourselves to others and it isn't always the material or superficial. A lot of times it has to do with the deep dark times we find ourselves in and we think we are the only ones and that God must love us less or not at all.  For more information about The Haven Retreat for victims of childhood sexual abuse, hosted by The Younique Foundation, follow this link: https://youniquefoundation.org/the-haven-retreat/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwwOz6BRCgARIsAKEG4FVYvu2Gi1mZPDoztwnZKwXmkwAK392JCWrwFslriN9hOKhdJyJMUhMaAuggEALw_wcB

Leslie, Jessica and I get more personal about comparison. We talk about how our culture influenced how we compare ourselves to others. We share about how we struggle and what we do or want to do to keep comparison as an occasional struggle. We share scriptures and Jessica mentions Nicki Koziarz" book, Why Her. I don't know about you, but when a book keeps popping up in conversations with different people, I would say we should pay attention. You will find the link below! Why Her, by Nicki Koziarz https://www.amazon.com/Why-Her-Truths-Measuring-Falling-ebook/dp/B079G9P2BW

Kai Pineda and I talk about comparison and if I were to summarize the episode, I would boil it down to when Kai said this: "It isn't about who you are, but where you are." We don't promise you a secret formula for fighting against comparison, but we do know that God knew what our struggles would be and made sure we would have the tools we need to fight effectively. Link to purchase Kai's book, Dear Church  Link for the book, Why Her, by Nicki Koziarz  

Brand new season and with that comes changes to the format of the podcast. During this episode I give you details about the changes you can expect and the "WHY". After that, I lay the foundation for the topic for the month of September. We will be talking about comparison. How struggling with it is common, but why indulging in it is sin. The rest of the month we will address how it ruins relationships, with yourself and others, and we will give you tangible tools to combat it. In this episode we draw from Philippians 2:1-11, Romans 3:23 and Galatians 5:13-19. 

Jessica, Leslie and I talk about our experience and views about racism. We talked about our Black roots, as Puerto Ricans (Leslie is half Dominican, as well), and the role we play as Christians and supporting the Black community to be seen as having equal value to all of us. They too, are made in the image of God. 

This was supposed to be last week's episode, but with the murder of George Floyd, I had to take some time to lament and mourn. This chapter as a whole was a bit too much to talk about in a way that I could share Truth with you. I hope I was able to do that today. 

In this next installment of Summer of Truth, I talk about God not being fair, but most definitely just. I use the story of the woman caught in adultery to dig into this truth. 

Summer of Truth starts with talking about how God shows us he is forgiving through his relationship with Moses. We will read Deut 34:1-7

You never know which things your parents make you do as a child that will pave the way toward what God has waiting for you. Alexis' mom wanted her children to journal daily about their days at school. Little did she know how that this would lead Alexis on a path to becoming a published author. Her new devotional, " Stories and Songs of Faith",  is a compilation of her experiences, scriptures and songs that are sure to be a useful tool for anyone.  You can follow Alexis here: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlexisAGoring/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/PennedbyAlex Find Website: https://alexisagoring.jimdofree.com Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/capturingidea/ “God is Love” blog: http://capturingtheidea.blogspot.com Find her devotional here: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7260528.Alexis_A_Goring  

My dear friend Holly speaks about her life after she was raped by a man she knew. She chose to try to ignore it and move on with life, but she only found full peace and healing when she sought help and allowed God to show her who she was in Him.  A link to Holly's blog here: http://hollybirdswords.blogspot.com/

This is the final episode in these series. I wrap up by talking about authority and how Jesus spoke to the devil with authority and what that might mean for you and me.

We cover verses 8-10 of Matthew 4. Jesus continues to fight the devil with scriptures and we read the scripture in its context in Deuteronomy. I also share from personal experience how using scripture got me through a really hard time in my life.  

In part 2  we dig into more scriptures in order to help equip is in times of temptation. Which questions to ask God when we are feeling defeated and we cover more Truths in order to fight the enemy when he whispers lies.  We cover Matthew 4: 5-7.

In this episode we will dive into Matthew 4:1-4, we will explore how Satan crafts his way into our minds and finds the kinks in our armor to plant seeds of doubt and how Jesus fights Satan's half truths with scripture. 

In this episode I introduce you to a mini bible study series I felt in my heart would help us to anchor ourselves in Truth. With so much noise from outside sources, even the bleating from the sheep can block out God's voice. Join me in focusing on Jesus and what He says, so that we can walk in faith through these trying times.  We will be working from Matthew 4:1-11. Can't wait!

In part 2, we dive into the spiritual ramifications of going to social media to voice our disgust about people/situations that make us uncomfortable or are in fact sinful. We dig into scripture and discuss what we believe is the way to draw people into a relationship with Jesus.  Get to know my guests: Jessica Collazo is the customer experience manager at Proverbs 31 Ministries who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband, Jerry, two sons and dog, Sawyer. Prior to working at Proverbs 31 Ministries, Jessica has over 10 years of experience working in women’s ministry, marriage ministry and outreach. Website: Jessicacollazo.com IG: https://www.instagram.com/jesscoll721/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leslie Limardo worked as a university administrator for over 21 years. She helped hundreds of traditional college-aged students and adults ret