#560 Untangling Your Faith While Decluttering Your Home: An Honest Conversation

#560 Untangling Your Faith While Decluttering Your Home: An Honest Conversation

560: Untangling Your Faith While Decluttering Your Home: An Honest Conversation

In today’s episode Kathi dives deep with author Amberly Neese, as they discuss how their clutter journeys and spiritual journeys collide. Feeling guilty about getting rid of things we no longer need, or being paralyzed by the fear of needing more in the future, reveals what we believe about the goodness of God and how much we can trust Him to provide for us.

How do we untangle our faith while working through our cluttered closets?

  • Recognize how God provides for our needs – often through the generosity of other people.
  • Take the words “bad” and “good” out of the conversation in regards to buying. Recognize the patterns and make different choices in the future. 
  • Think of the person who will receive the items you donate and pray for them.
  • Keep what you use, and be okay without the excess. A house with less clutter allows for more peace and joy. 

Amberly is giving away 2 copies of her new Bible study – Untangling Faith: Reclaiming Hope in the Questions Jesus Asked. To enter to win, leave a comment below telling Kathi and Amberly what is it that you are untangling in your life? 

Pre-order your copy now in order to access the online study with Amberly. Simply send your purchase receipt to Amberly by email. 

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to be notified when the next episode is released. When you do you will also receive a free Clutter Free Kit with handouts and video interview with Kathi!

Untangling Faith: Reclaiming Hope in the Questions Jesus Asked

A six-week Bible Study focusing on the questions Jesus asked in the New Testament

Are you struggling to provide guidance to your children in their faith deconstruction?  Have you ever struggled to find your faith footing? Join Amberly Neese as she explores the questions Jesus asked as a way to reclaim that faith. Chapters explore our own questions like: Can God Be Trusted? and How Can I Grow in Faith? Amberly’s unique humor and wit help the whole group find their way through deep and rich issues of personal faith, doubt, and growth.

In her trademark style, Neese combines Bible study with delightful humor to create a refreshing and engaging experience that will encourage and equip others to pursue deeper relationships and true belonging by loving, serving, and helping others (including our kids) do likewise. She describes Untangling Faith as an exploration of the big questions of faith through the lens of the questions of Jesus.. The study is designed to encourage, empower, and equip participants to ask questions, seek answers, and find hope in the journey.

Components for this six-week Bible study, each available separately, include a Participant Workbook with daily reading and reflection, a full Leader Guide to help plan full group sessions, and video sessions with six 20 to 25-minute segments (with closed captioning). Order your copy here.

Question:

What is it that you are untangling in your life? Tell us in the comments below and enter to win a copy of Amberly Neese’s new Bible study!

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Amberly Neese

Amberly Neese is a speaker, humorist, emcee, and encourager with a passion for “GRINspiring” others. She is currently on two national tours, writes Bible studies with Abingdon Publishers, and tries to save the world one coupon at a time.

With a master’s degree from Biola University, Neese serves as a professor at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and an adjunct professor at Grand Canyon University. She and her husband, Scott, have two adult children and live in Prescott, Arizona, where they enjoy the great outdoors, the Food Network, and all things Star Wars.

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#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

In this Clutter-Free Academy episode, Kathi Lipp teams up with her favorite clutter co-conspirator, Tonya Kubo, to address a common household nemesis: the overflowing coat closet. Perfect for those with or without a traditional coat closet, Kathi and Tonya share...

#558 Lessons Learned from Living Through a Renovation Part 1

#558 Lessons Learned from Living Through a Renovation Part 1

558: Lessons Learned from Living Through a Renovation Part 1

Have you ever second guessed a decision you’ve made, even after doing thoughtful and thorough research? Have you vacillated between decisions and then ended up doing… nothing? You are not alone, friend. It’s called thrashing and Kathi and her three-time coauthor Cheri Gregory are with us today discussing the concept of thrashing as well as some lessons each learned during their recent home renovations. Cheri has three lessons for us regarding clutter and renovations, the first of which she shares in this episode. Listen in to Part 1 of this two part episode to find out:

  • Cheri’s #1 sanity saver during the renovation
  • How a renovation can reveal clutter habits you didn’t know you had
  • The importance of “putting a pin” in your decisions

Remember, you can do anything for a short period of time. If you know you’ll be moving soon (or even if you aren’t), start with one area or one room and work from there a little bit each day. You can do it!

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to be notified when the next episode is released. When you do you will also receive a free Clutter Free Kit with handouts and video interview with Kathi!

Overwhelmed: How to Quiet the Chaos and Restore Your Sanity

 

Feeling overwhelmed? Wondering if it’s possible to move from “out of my mind” to “in control” when you’ve got too many projects on your plate and too much mess in your relationships?

Kathi and Cheri want to show you five surprising reasons why you become stressed, why social media solutions don’t often work, and how you can finally create a plan that works for you. As you identify your underlying hurts, uncover hope, and embrace practical healing, you’ll become equipped to:

  • trade the to-do list that controls you for a calendar that allows space in your life
  • decide whose feedback to forget and whose input to invite
  • replace fear of the future with peace in the present

You can simplify and savor your life—guilt-free! Clutter, tasks, and relationships may overwhelm you now, but God can help you overcome with grace.

Kathi and Cheri Gregory, co-author of Overwhelmed, get together for this episode for a little discussion regarding the concepts of being overwhelmed and being clutter-free. So often we find that our clutter overwhelms us and that being overwhelmed contributes to our clutter. It can be a vicious cycle.

Kathi and Cheri discuss five steps to keep from getting overwhelmed as you declutter your home, your heart, and your life. Order your copy of Overwhelmed here.

Question:

What is something you’ve gotten rid of that you never thought you could OR something that you are contemplating getting rid of that’s hard? 

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Cheri Gregory

Through Scripture and storytelling, Cheri Gregory delights in helping women draw closer to Jesus, the strength of every tender heart. She is the founder of the Sensitive and Strong Community Cafe: the place for the HSP Christian woman to find connection. With Kathi Lipp, she’s the co-author of You Don’t Have to Try So Hard, Overwhelmed, and An Abundant Place. Cheri speaks locally and internationally for women’s events and educational conferences.

You can connect with Cheri at CheriGregory.com, SensitiveAndStrong.com, on Cheri’s Facebook Page, and on Instagram

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#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

In this Clutter-Free Academy episode, Kathi Lipp teams up with her favorite clutter co-conspirator, Tonya Kubo, to address a common household nemesis: the overflowing coat closet. Perfect for those with or without a traditional coat closet, Kathi and Tonya share...

#553 Cleaning Your Closet, Guilt, and Lent

#553 Cleaning Your Closet, Guilt, and Lent

553 Cleaning Your Closet, Guilt, and Lent

Do you feel guilty that you’re not doing more? Keeping your house up to snuff? Taking care of yourself and others? If guilt seems to follow you around wherever you go, then this episode is for you!

Kathi is talking with author and Bible teacher Barb Roose about her struggles with perfectionism and performance, and how that affects both her closet and her faith in God. 

Here are Barb’s 3 rules for a better closet:

  1. Don’t wear it if it makes you sad.
  2. If it doesn’t fit your current body or style, get rid of it.
  3. Don’t let fear or shame make you keep clothing that doesn’t fit your current size.

Barb says that our closets are full of memories, and our relationship with God is the same way. How can we move on from experiences in our past that bring up feelings of guilt today? Barb has been on a spiritual journey: moving from a place where guilt robbed her of feeling like she could connect with God, to a place of freedom and understanding of how big God’s love is.

Her life has been changed by focusing more on the promises of God, and less on her performance for Him. Her favorite prayer in a time of need? “Save me O God.” That 4 word prayer is a whole prayer. Barb reminds us of God’s promise from Isaiah 43: “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.” 

So take a deep breath, remember God’s promises to you, and then do the next right thing.

Giveaway

Barb is giving a copy of her book to one lucky Clutter Free Academy listener! To enter, let us know in the comments below what is one thing, figuratively or literally, that you want to declutter from your closet.

Finding Jesus in the Psalms: A Lenten Journey

Looking for less guilt and more Jesus? That is what Barb Roose promises you will find in her new book, Finding Jesus in the Psalms: A Lenten Journey. Inside you will find an exploration of Jesus in the Old Testament as we see Jesus through the Psalms of David. Each week features one psalm that focuses on how Jesus is showing up in the reality of life. God has a much bigger plan and we have a hope that is not just for today, but is a hope for eternity, especially when life is feeling really hard. 

Order your copy of Finding Jesus in the Psalms: A Lenten Journey here.

Do you have an article of clothing that makes you feel guilty? Tell us in the comments!

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Barb Roose

Barb Roose is a popular speaker and author who is passionate about teaching women to live beautifully strong and courageous in spite of their fears so that they can experience God’s great adventure of faith and purpose for their lives.

Barb is a real woman who has experienced depression and anxiety, parenting challenges, family addiction trauma and long seasons of walking by faith in unanswered prayer. Rather than teaching audiences to follow God to get what they want, Barb inspires audiences to discover that God is all they need!

Writing creative and challenging Bible studies brings Barb great joy! She’s the author of multiple Bible studies, including: Surrendered: Letting Go and Living Like Jesus, I’m Waiting, God: Finding Blessing in God’s Delays, Joshua: Winning the Worry Battle and Breakthrough: Finding Freedom in Christ. She is also the author of multiple books including Surrendered: 40 Days to Help You Let Go and Live Like Jesus Devotional, Winning the Worry Battle: Life Lessons from the Book of Joshua and Enough Already: Winning Your Ugly Struggle with Beauty . Her newest book is Finding Jesus in the Psalms: A Lenten Journey.

Barb lives in NW Ohio and she is the proud mom to three adult children. Barb enjoys traveling, reading, walking and whenever possible, she prefers to eat dessert first.

Barb Roose
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#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

In this Clutter-Free Academy episode, Kathi Lipp teams up with her favorite clutter co-conspirator, Tonya Kubo, to address a common household nemesis: the overflowing coat closet. Perfect for those with or without a traditional coat closet, Kathi and Tonya share...

#552 Helping Older Relatives Declutter Part 2

#552 Helping Older Relatives Declutter Part 2

552 Helping Older Relatives Declutter Part 2

Sorting and shifting through a life time of memories and mementos can be emotionally and physically overwhelming for our parents and older relatives. But space is a finite resource. So how can we best start this process of helping our parents or older relatives declutter? In Part 2 of this two part series our host Kathi Lipp and her co-conspirator in decluttering Tonya Kubo discuss Korean food and simple, stress relieving strategies to help your parent or older relative declutter such as:

    • Defining the three options for decluttering help
    • Documenting the process to record their memories?
    • What to do when they want you to take some mementos home with you. Be prepared, they WILL want you to take some mementos home with you!

Kathi and Tonya provide a variety of tips and techniques in this episode. Listen in and discover hope and help for the parent, older relative, and you on this clutter free journey.

The Clutter-Free Home: Making Room for Your Life

When it comes to your home, peace is possible…

Longing for a place of peace from which you can love others well? The Clutter-Free Home is your room-by-room guide to decluttering, reclaiming, and celebrating every space of your home.

Let author Kathi Lipp (who once lived a life buried in clutter) walk you through each room of your house to create organizational zones that are not only functional and practical but create places of peace that reflect your personality. Kathi will help you tackle the four-step process of dedicate, decide, declutter and “do-your-thing” to reveal the home you’ve always dreamed of, and then transform it into a haven that reflects who you truly are meant to be.

If you’re also feeling overwhelmed by the care and upkeep of all the stuff under your feet or sense that your home is running you, instead of the other way around, come discover how to create a space that doesn’t have to be showroom perfect to be perfect for you and the people you love. Order your copy of The Clutter Free Home here.

 

 

When helping an older relative declutter, have you ended up taking items home? Tell us in the comments below!

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Tonya Kubo

Tonya Kubo is the illustrious and fearless leader of Kathi Lipp’s Clutter Free Academy Facebook group and the Clutter Free for Life membership program. A speaker and writer, Tonya makes her home in the heart of California with her husband, Brian, their two spirited daughters, and one very tolerant cat.

Visit Tonya at  www.tonyakubo.com

Transcript

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#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

In this Clutter-Free Academy episode, Kathi Lipp teams up with her favorite clutter co-conspirator, Tonya Kubo, to address a common household nemesis: the overflowing coat closet. Perfect for those with or without a traditional coat closet, Kathi and Tonya share...

#551 Helping Older Relatives Declutter Part 1

#551 Helping Older Relatives Declutter Part 1

551 Helping Older Relatives Declutter Part 1

Has this happened to you yet? A parent or older relative asks for help decluttering their space. Do they really want help? Are they telling you what they think you want to hear? Having a parent or older relative who needs to declutter is an acute pain point. Kathi Lipp and her guest know this pain far to well. Listen in as Kathi and Clutter Free Academy Facebook Group guru Tonya Kubo discuss those questions as well as:

  • Why do they ask their children instead of a friend to help declutter?
  • What are they actually asking for when they say declutter?
  • Is it okay to let people live the way they want, baring a safety issue?

Kathi and Tonya admit to opening a can of worms in Part 1 of this two part series but they do not leave us empty handed. They provide some practical tips to starting the decluttering process with older relatives and parents to tide us over until Part 2.

 

The Clutter-Free Home: Making Room for Your Life

When it comes to your home, peace is possible…

Longing for a place of peace from which you can love others well? The Clutter-Free Home is your room-by-room guide to decluttering, reclaiming, and celebrating every space of your home.

Let author Kathi Lipp (who once lived a life buried in clutter) walk you through each room of your house to create organizational zones that are not only functional and practical but create places of peace that reflect your personality. Kathi will help you tackle the four-step process of dedicate, decide, declutter and “do-your-thing” to reveal the home you’ve always dreamed of, and then transform it into a haven that reflects who you truly are meant to be.

If you’re also feeling overwhelmed by the care and upkeep of all the stuff under your feet or sense that your home is running you, instead of the other way around, come discover how to create a space that doesn’t have to be showroom perfect to be perfect for you and the people you love. Order your copy of The Clutter Free Home here.

 

 

Have you helped an older relative declutter? Tell us in the comments below!

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Tonya Kubo

Tonya Kubo is the illustrious and fearless leader of Kathi Lipp’s Clutter Free Academy Facebook group and the Clutter Free for Life membership program. A speaker and writer, Tonya makes her home in the heart of California with her husband, Brian, their two spirited daughters, and one very tolerant cat.

Visit Tonya at  www.tonyakubo.com

Transcript

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#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

In this Clutter-Free Academy episode, Kathi Lipp teams up with her favorite clutter co-conspirator, Tonya Kubo, to address a common household nemesis: the overflowing coat closet. Perfect for those with or without a traditional coat closet, Kathi and Tonya share...

#539 How To Make Clutter Decisions With Counselor Michael Gembola

#539 How To Make Clutter Decisions With Counselor Michael Gembola

539: How To Make Clutter Decisions

With Counselor Michael Gembola

 

Do you struggle to make small daily decisions and it leaves you feeling stuck? You know the ones. The decisions that feel like they shouldn’t be this hard to make and they seem to come easy or naturally to “everyone else.” Join Kathi and guest Michael Gembola for this hopeful and healing conversation that cuts right to the heart of the why behind the “what” of our clutter. Small decisions don’t always seem small to the person making them. If we want to grow in our clutter free journey, learning to make these decisions is essential. Listen in to discover how to make decisions about getting rid of things including: 

 

  • Learning to risk regret
  • Why we need “the accelerator and the brakes to drive safely” – Michael Gembola
  • Knowing “even if this is the wrong decision, most things are recoverable” – Kathi Lipp

 

ANXIOUS ABOUT DECISIONS: FINDING FREEDOM IN THE PEACE OF GOD

 

Do you get anxious when you have to make a decision? Do you overthink, overtalk, and overanalyze? When anxiety surrounds every decision, the result can be decision-making paralysis. Counselor Michael Gembola explores this common struggle and then points to the peace that comes from knowing God as your refuge and ever present help in trouble. Learning to trust God, even when the path is not clear, will give you courage to move forward one step at a time.  

When you’re faced with decisions both big and small, God offers you something better than certainty and the absence of risk. He promises to be with you. And when you allow the Good Shepherd to lead, you will find that he uses times of decision-making to make you more peaceful and become a better steward of the opportunities in front of you.  

Anxious about Decisions will help you learn to approach decisions more confidently with a conscience shaped by God’s Word and values shaped by God’s heart. Learn to undertake decisions in the context of the community of believers and your identity as God’s child. 

Anxious about Decisions is part of the Ask the Christian Counselor series. This series walks readers through their deepest and most profound questions. Each question is unpacked by an experienced counselor that gives readers the tools to understand their struggle and how the gospel brings hope and healing to the problem they are facing. 

Order your copy of Anxious About Decisons here.

Kathi’s Favorites:

Let’s stay connected

To share your thoughts:

Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.

Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.

Meet Our Guest 

 

Michael Gembola

Michael Gembola, MAR, MAC, is an ordained minister and licensed professional counselor. He serves as executive director of Blue Ridge Christian Counseling in southwest VA and has taught counseling as an adjunct professor at several seminaries.

Gembola holds master’s degrees from Westminster Seminary in Counseling (MAC) and in Biblical Studies (MAR), and Certificates in Professional Counseling and Global Trauma Recovery from the Missio Graduate School of Counseling. He teaches at the Blue Ridge Institute for Theological Education and at Westminster Seminary in partnership with CCEF. He is the author of After an Affair: Pursuing Restoration, Anxious about Decisions, and several articles on counseling.

He and his wife, Kelly, live in Roanoke, VA with their two sons and daughter.

Learn more at brccva.org

and follow along on Twitter (@BlueRidgeCCVA

).

Transcript

More Posts 

#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

#663 – Coat Closet Decluttering Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide

In this Clutter-Free Academy episode, Kathi Lipp teams up with her favorite clutter co-conspirator, Tonya Kubo, to address a common household nemesis: the overflowing coat closet. Perfect for those with or without a traditional coat closet, Kathi and Tonya share...