Rick and Aviana Valadez on Coming Forth As Gold in Marriage, Blended Families and in Ministry

Aviana and Rick Valadez go into their marriage story and how Jesus saved and redeemed their lives. From head knowledge to a loving relationship with their Savior, from redemption from a gambling and drinking past and a compromised relationship, Rick and Aviana share the similarities in their stories is that they prayed to receive Christ into their lives yet it didn’t fully change their life until God took them to the end of themselves.

They also share how they allow Him to steer their blended family and how He led their family to street evangelism through their two boys and the journey from sharing Christ with total strangers on Friday nights to God preparing them for full-time missions.

They have a beautiful testimony and are sold out for the cause of Christ and honor Him with their whole lives.

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Jenn and Shawn Marriage Story - When God Moves Us Into Unknown, New Territory

Married 7 years, Jenn and Shawn Stocking share how God redeemed their lives and what He's done in their marriage. They also have three beautiful children! This is a fun episode as Shawn and Jenn record from their home just the two of them during this quarantine period. We decided to not let the pandemic stop us. Also, a fun game you can play while listening is counting how many times we say “quarantine”.

Jenn was raised in a “Christian” home but it wasn’t being fully lived it out. Drugs and alcohol were present and she eventually found herself in a really dark place. Hear Jenn found redemption in Jesus and was saved from that dark place she had been in.

Shawn admits he used to fall asleep in the chair on Sundays at church. He was raised in the “fundamentals of Christ” but not the Word of God. Shawn’s life took a turn away from God when his aunt passed away. He turned away from God completely and became an atheist/agnostic. Listen in to how God got a hold of his heart and reconnected him to Jenn and how they walked into unknown territory in their marriage.

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His and Her Perspective on Glowing Through Marriage, The Arts and Family ft. Kytia and Jerrell

Kytia and Jerrell have been married for 10 years. Together, they host a podcast, Glowing Through It, and it's a "his and her perspective" on an array of topics, from social media, faith and current stories. On episode 16, we get to hear the his and her sides of their marriage story.

Listen in to learn on how they knew each other were "the one", how God has called them to be "fire starters" or pioneers in new creative mediums, the conviction of saving themselves for marriage and the importance of family in a world and culture that is trying to abolish the family unit. This is a timely episode in the times we are living in. Kytia and Jerrell's platforms are a light in a dark world and I pray you're encouraged by their ministries.

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Marriage and Redefining Our Identity with Zack and Daniella Peck

Episode 15 was recorded in Brooklyn, New York. I sat down with Zack and Daniella Peck who drove all the way from New Jersey to record for the podcast.

Zack works with the youth at their church. Zack says he was working for the church for about a year before he was actually saved. It’s not about how well we do the “church” things, we can pretend all day long to be one person but God is not fooled. God wants our heart and through their testimony, we see just how patient, how loving and how kind our Father is with us. He patiently pursues our hearts and helps us work through our emotions and helps us process through them to get to the root of our heart hang-ups.

Daniella shares she grew up Catholic. She knew of God, believed in Him but it was always more about the rituals and had never opened up God’s Word for herself. Becoming a Christian was an easier transition as being raised Catholic meant believing in the same God but it became a more intimate, personal relationship with Him, knowing Jesus as God.

This episode would be great to share with a middle school or high school-aged person in your life as Daniella and Zack go into a lot of what the Lord spoke to them in their early relationship and how He called them to process through a lot of the hurt that stemmed from an immature, young “romance” and how He redefined and redeemed a lot of the idols, including each other, they had made.

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Chelsey and Corey DeMatteis on Putting Our Pasts to Death & Making Room for New Life in Marriage

Chelsey and Corey are honest that there are differences in their marriage, in some ways they are the total opposites yet at the same time complementary. God handpicked the two of them to be together. They open about the tougher seasons they’ve walked through even more recently together, and that they’re still working through.
Chelsey also shares bringing up the past has to die. There is just no room for it anymore. A tree can’t bear new fruit if you don’t cut away the dead. She shared her greatest desire for their marriage in this season is having fun together, pure God gifted joy.  All this and more in this month’s testimony behind the matrimony.

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Catching Up with Elliott and Andrea Johnson On Honoring God Through Your Finances and Finding Financial Peace

In the first year of their marriage Elliott shares it was when Andrea, his wife, came to him saying they needed groceries and they had nothing in the checking account or savings that he realized something had to change. 
“It really broke me and I realized I really had no idea how to honor God with my finances. Because I didn’t know where to turn I began a process of prayer.” Something they weren’t doing and something 78% of the couples they coach and work with aren’t doing is a consistent budget. 

AS ELLIOTT WAS DRIVING ONE DAY, HE HEARD A MAN ON THE RADIO SAY, “THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW FINANCIAL PEACE IS TO WALK DAILY WITH THE PRINCE OF PEACE, CHRIST JESUS.” This was an answer to prayer.  God began to show them through the Scripture His ways of managing the money He has given. We talk budgets, tithing, cutting up credit cards and how to work through eliminating debt, and conquering comparison in marriage!

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