Conversations With Cinthia

Gratitude is a key to our spiritual and emotional health, and it can even impact our physical health.  But what does it look like on a practical level?  Why does it work so powerfully on the people who practice it?  How do we move toward gratitude when we are in the middle of tragedy or other painful circumstances?  Join Cinthia to explore the discipline of gratitude. 

Do you ever long wistfully for a time when your life seemed full of potential, when it seemed your life would be filled with meaning and you would truly make a difference?  Just because we start counting ourselves out doesn't mean God does.  Sometimes, when we think a person has passed his prime and is beyond the age when people can make something of themselves, God is just getting started.  Whatever your failures, whatever your age, whatever your circumstances and however life has happened, God is still working, or He wouldn't still have you here.  Join Cinthia to rethink your ideas about what "too late" really means and to reignite your willingness to let God take you places you may not have dared to dream.

How much hope do you have left?  Is your hope strengthening or waning?  Our culture likes to tell us to reach for the stars and make our dreams come true, but reality often steps in to crush our highest and deepest hopes.  The Bible, however, acknowledges that life is often crushing, and it seems to associate hope with attachment to things bigger than ourselves —God, His law, the Truth as He communicates it to us, etc.  Cinthia explores what it means to place our hope in Jesus rather than in our dreams, systems, or social and political processes.  There is a hope that does not disappoint; join Cinthia to consider how to more fully cling to this hope.

Is addiction being adequately discussed in church?  Ron Smedley is a pastor, as well as the Executive Director of Mission Recovery, a project of S.A.V.E. (Survivors and Victims Empowered) that seeks to advocate and educate regarding addictions, including opiate addictions.  He has also been a parole officer and a caseworker with Child Protective Services, and is currently a trustee on the local school board as well as serving on several other boards for non-profits.  Today he joins Cinthia to discuss the crisis, as well as the programs he and others have created to help people who are struggling with addictions, whether their own or those of loved ones.  He and Cinthia discuss shame and stigma, barriers to recovery, and ways the church can address addiction inside and outside its walls.

In a world of soundbytes, really listening to each other can seem a dying art, one that takes more energy and time than we want to allow.  But we have a God Who listens to us, Who truly attends to us.  Following His example requires learning how to listen to Him and to others -- and even to ourselves.  Today's guest is Dr. Leighton Ford, a man who some say has mentored more people (especially Christian leaders) than anyone else alive!  He and his wife Jean began a ministry to Christian leaders after losing their 21-year-old son.  He joins Cinthia today to discuss his books A Life of Listening:  Discerning God's Voice and Discovering Our Own and The Attentive Life:  Discerning God's Presence in All Things.   Whether you listen for a living or have trouble truly hearing and discerning anything these days, join Cinthia to learn from a master of attending to what matters.

We hold on so tightly to the things we think give us life.  We fear loss and change, and we desperately cling to our own self-definitions.  But so often God knows we are hanging onto the things that kill us, thinking they are our salvation.  He longs to give us life, real life, but to do so He has to kill parts of us that are choking the life out of who we were meant to be.  Today Cinthia revisits an excerpt from her book God Wants You Truly Living, Not Walking Dead.  Are you willing to let God kill what's killing you?  Will you let the One Who made you define your identity?  Whether you're ready to do it or ready to panic at the very thought, join Cinthia to consider what's really at stake, what we really gain, and what we really lose by holding onto what God wants to end.

Our culture tends to value accomplishment, busyness, and a fast pace.  We may not always get the sleep we need, and describing ourselves as "tired" is common.  Tired, however, is different than weary.  Weary is a deeper problem, and it needs a deeper remedy.  If you feel beaten down, if apathy is creeping into your life, if pain and loss of hope are nipping at your heels, join Cinthia to consider what kind of refreshment your heart, mind, and body need today.

Have you ever wondered if events in your life were orchestrated by God or happened coincidentally?  Rob Ekno, who once lost a thriving broadcasting career to drugs and alcohol, is celebrating 28 years of sobriety this fall!  Today he joins Cinthia to discuss his book Is It God or Coincidence? Coming to Grips with the Unexpected Wonders in Life.  Sometimes life is confusing, but Rob Ekno encourages us to be open to see God at work in our lives.

Forgiveness is one of the toughest issues we face in life, whether we are struggling to forgive ourselves, people we love, or people we never want to see again.  Today Cinthia is delighted to welcome Ruth Graham for a discussion of her book Forgiving My Father, Forgiving Myself.   Ruth Graham describes her own realization that she knew nothing about forgiveness after a visit to men on death row at Angola Prison, as well as what she learned about what forgiveness is and is not.  If you have ever struggled to forgive yourself, others, or even God (and we’re not saying God actually does anything wrong here, but we’re using this phrasing because we get angry and disillusioned with Him sometimes), this episode is for you.

Loneliness is about more than how many people we have around us or what level of contact we keep with others.  The relationships we have with ourselves drastically influence the relationships we have with each other, which means that the work of reducing loneliness may need to begin inside us.  Today, Cinthia encourages us to look at what’s really going on inside us.  Are we judgmental of ourselves and others?  Do we get angry about the things that disturb God, or are we fighting and ranting about lesser issues?  Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, and we need the love of God for ourselves to rescue us from our sense of isolation.

Loneliness has reached pandemic proportions during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Studies are showing loneliness, suicide, and other troubling relationship-oriented problems to be skyrocketing.  Today Cinthia is thrilled to talk with Josh McDowell about the impact of the current circumstances on Generation Z.  The two note that our society’s emotional state going into the pandemic contributed to this but also discuss ways that contributing to the lives of others, even while locked down and isolated, is possible and is key to maintaining mental health.  Josh McDowell also discusses his own experiences fearing the idea of a Heavenly Father until he experienced relationship with Him.  Cinthia then further discusses the current struggle with loneliness and why God wants us in relationships in the first place.  If you are struggling with loneliness at any level, this episode is for you.  Join us.

When is it appropriate to confront someone else's annoying habit?  Is it healthy to self-censor regarding our own habits?  Cinthia continues her discussion of irritating and annoying habits we and others may display that inadvertently get in the way of social enjoyment, relationship intimacy, or business success.

Pain has been part of life on earth since Adam and Eve ate the fruit.  Sometimes it becomes so intense that we wonder where God is or how such pain can exist when a loving God is ultimately sovereign.  Today Cinthia discusses the Book of Job and what God does with the suffering that plagues His creation.  

Object constancy is the ability to trust relationships to survive despite conflict, absence, or other difficulty.  This doesn't come easily for everyone, especially if it didn't develop well in childhood, and some people may find themselves thinking a relationship is over anytime they have a fight.  Others seem to act as though the relationship is irrelevant whenever their partner is out of the room.  But Jesus told us that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that He is with us always.  He is the One Who can heal our wounded sense of object constancy and bring us to approach our other relationships with greater health and objectivity.  Join Cinthia to explore how to start working on this today!  

Have you ever met anyone who just seemed angry all the time?  Have you ever been that person?  Have you ever pushed anger down to the point that it was running your life without even being acknowledged?  Anger is a healthy, normal emotion, one that is given to us by God for a purpose.  It's a great place to visit but a terrible place to live.  Today Cinthia discusses what to do with our anger so that it helps us and those around us instead of destroying us and them.  She is joined in the latter part of the episode by Michael Clark, who is in recovery from engaging in domestic violence and who has now founded the Ananias Foundation for others who struggle with it, as well.  

The term "critical thinking" is popular in education these days, but actual critical thinking often takes a back seat to villainizing each other, ranting, and even name-calling.  Christians, unfortunately, are vulnerable to this, too, and we are currently divided over a number of issues, not the least of which is Donald Trump.  Is he sent from God?  Is he the enemy?  Today Cinthia discusses what it means to think critically, then talks with Michael Brown about his ideas concerning evangelicals' reactions to Donald Trump.  No, we aren't planning to turn this into a political podcast; today is a look at what it means to think critically about issues in ways that move us toward being our own best versions.  

What made Jesus angry?  What makes you angry?  Anger is normal and healthy; God feels it and gave us the ability to feel it for a reason.  But living with ongoing, unresolved anger can be harmful, and anger can begin to inordinately influence our health, relationships, decisions, and lives.  Today Cinthia discusses the purpose of anger, what it does in our bodies and brains, warning signs that anger is playing too powerful a role, and managing anger well.    

COVID-19 has struck fear into the hearts of people across the nation and around the world, and those considered to be in "vulnerable" populations may especially receive the message that they should be afraid.  For some of us, though, fear is a familiar foe.  Today Cinthia begins by looking at fear in general and is then joined by Bruce Bruinsma, author of Retirement Reformation and leader of a movement by the same name.  Mr. Bruinsma asserts that, instead of conforming to the portrayal of seniors as fragile and weak, those of retirement age can be leaders in the fight against fear, using their experience and learning to help younger generations know what to do with their fear in the current situation.  Whether your fears focus on the coronavirus, aging, or entirely separate matters, this episode can challenge your perspective and help you gain strength.  Join us!

How free are you?  Do you truly experience liberty?  Liberty and freedom are big concepts with big implications for politics, but they are also important concepts for those of us seeking to live our best lives, be our own best versions, and generally manage ourselves and our lives in healthy ways.  Victor Frankl, for example, lived for years in concentration camps and found that he and other captives experienced differing levels of internal liberty, despite being equally deprived of their outward freedoms.  If liberty involves the power and freedom to act as you choose to act and to manage your own mind, are you experiencing that power and freedom, or have you given up control to habits, grudges, regrets, addictions, codependent attachments, thinking patterns, or other forces?  Join Cinthia to discuss what it means to live as truly free people and as those who embrace liberty, regardless of our circumstances. 

Some decisions seem like such good ideas at the time… but they don’t always turn out that way. While we can’t predict all the factors all the time, wisdom enables us to make better decisions, ones that will benefit us long-term instead of simply making us feel better right now.  Wisdom is different from intelligence or knowledge; it’s not even the same as education.  Wisdom has to do with how we apply those things, and there are times when the wisest people don’t have the credentials we tend to value.  God is eager to give us wisdom and urges us to ask for it.  So why does wisdom seem so hard to grasp sometimes?  And, if wisdom is supposed to increase with years, why do we sometimes find ourselves aging and confused at the same time?  Join Cinthia to explore what wisdom is, how to get it, and how to keep walking as you seek this most valuable treasure.