Dear Daughters

Karen Wright Marsh is a fellow table person, storyteller, writer, and theologian. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with her husband where she runs the non-profit, Theological Horizons. She also created The Bonhoeffer House out of their own home because she wanted a space for "meals and interactions and meetings about faith, thought and life." Don't you just want to go to her house for pie right now? Karen has three adult children, and acts as mom and mentor to dozens of college students who come over for food and deep conversation and all the comforts of home. She just released her first book, Vintage Saints and Sinners: Twenty Five Christians Who Transformed my Faith.  I can’t wait for your to meet Sharon! For all the show notes, visit www.susiedavis.org

Sharon Hodde Miller is a writer, speaker, Bible teacher, pastor’s wife, and mother, who loves writing about Jesus for the women in his church. She regularly contributes to sites like: Her.meneutics, Relevant, (in)courage, and Propel. Sharon lives in North Carolina with her husband and two sons. She is releasing her first book baby, Free Of Me: Why Life is Better When It’s Not About You today, and is expecting her first girl baby to join their family in a few months! Today we talk about how to intentionally and honestly use social media, the important of the church family, dealing with insecurity, and of course, food. I can’t wait for your to meet Sharon. Find all the show notes at www.susiedavis.org

Lindsey Nobles  is a gatherer of people, an "architect of affiliation" and one of the builders of IF: Gathering. She has lived all over the country but loves the South (and as you will hear ... the Central Time Zone ;). She writes on the internet at www.lindseynobles.com and currently consults for non-profits. She is one of my favorite people to talk with about ministry, God and food.  I think you'll love hearing her vulnerable thoughts on transition, self-care and where she's headed next.  I’m so excited for you to get to meet her today. Here’s the interview on Dear Daughters Episode 34. All show notes at www.susiedavis.org

"What does it look like to love God for the next ten minutes? What does it look like to love the person in front of me for the next ten minutes? That’s the Great Commandment." ~ Jan Johnson Jan Johnson is  a spiritual director, speaker, instructor at Richmont Graduate University, and writer of 22 books (!!). She says that everything she writes or speaks on flows out of these three areas: spiritual formation, partnering with God in caring for the voiceless, and living with purposeful intentionality. Isn’t that lovely? She lives in Simi Valley California with her husband, has two adult children and two little grandbabies. In Heaven we’re going to try to live next door to each other. ;) I can’t wait for you to meet her today on DD Episode 33.    All show notes: www.susiedavis.org  

"He never leaves your side. He’s always right there holding your hand. And you know what? You’re gonna be awesome." ~ Tara Royer Steele Tara Royer Steele lives in Brenham, Texas with her husband Rick and their two boys, where they make pies, cater for Royer’s Roundtop Cafe, run the Pie Haven and lead camps on soul restoration through their newly launched Brave Gathering. Tara and her family just transitioned from one wonderful season to follow God in faith and join him in this big new work. I can’t wait for you to hear all about it. Find all the show notes here. 

"This is how change works. It’s stealthy. It delicately changes you and your perspective while you’re in it, and it is not until you are fully out of it that you look in the mirror and notice a difference." ~ Andrea Lucado Andrea Lucado is a full time freelance writer, coffee drinker, and author of English Lessons: The Crooked Path of Growing Towards Faith. Andrea has had her own crooked path meandering from San Antonio, to West Texas, all the way to England, then back to Tennessee. She now lives in Austin, Texas (yay!) where she regularly contributes to She Reads Truth and Relevant Magazine, and writes online at her own website about Jesus, love, and grace. All the show notes here. 

"You have a hardwiring from God, and it’s a beautiful hardwiring. And if you can discover what that is, that points to the reason you’re here." ~ Bill Hendricks Bill Hendricks is a native Texan, Executive Director for Christian Leadership at the Hendricks Center, and President of the Giftedness Center, where he helps people understand their unique giftedness. He lives in Dallas with his wife, Lynn, and has three adult daughters. He has written over 20 books, including his latest, The Person Called You: Why You’re Here, Why You Matter & What You Should Do with your Life. I’m excited for you to get to meet him today. Here’s the interview on Dear Daughters Episode 30. Find all the show notes here. 

I believe that each best choice that I make will add up to the best life that I can live. ~ Esther Emery Esther is an off-grid homestead wife, mama, and author. She lives with her husband and three children in a yurt (!!) in the forest (!!!) where they maintain a blog and You Tube channel about the simple life. They raise goats, and bake bread, among many other amazing things. She just released her first book, What Falls From the Sky: How I Disconnected from the Internet and Reconnected with the God Who Made the Clouds, in December.  I love talking with Esther because she makes me think big about God and people and change.  I’m excited for you to get to meet her today. Here’s the interview on Dear Daughters Episode 29. All the show notes are right here.  

"As we’re trying to find a better self, it’s not a construction project, it’s an excavation project. We’re learning to let go of those things which are not us." ~ Kelly Flanagan  Kelly is a licensed clinical psychologist and writer whose words have appeared in The Huffington Post, Reader’s Digest, Babble (Disney’s parenting website), and The Today Show. He blogs regularly at UnTangled about marriage, parenting, and exploring the redemptive life. He and his wife Kelly, (so fun, right?!) and their three children live in Dixon, Illinois. You know how I love having psychologists on the show and I’m excited for you to get to meet him today. Here’s the interview on Dear Daughters Episode 28. All the show notes are at www.susiedavis.org

"This world is huge. It is majestic. It is worth exploring just for the sake of knowing it." ~ Tsh Oxenreider Tsh Oxenreider is a podcaster and blogger at The Art of Simple, and has published several books including Notes from a Blue Bike and her newest, At Home in the World. Her writing has also been featured in the Washington Post, CNN, Real Simple magazine, and more. Tsh currently lives in Georgetown, Texas with her husband and three kids where they live simply, work on their fixer upper, and eat tacos several times a week. I’m excited for you to get to meet her today. Here’s the interview on Dear Daughters Episode 27. All the show notes here: susiedavis.org  

"Instead of trying to parent the way that God parents us, we get mad that God doesn’t parent like we do. God allows negative things into our lives. He disciplines those that He loves. He doesn’t parent like us because He knows that’s an emotionally crippling way to raise a child." ~ Dr. Jimmy Myers As a licensed professional counselor and Owner/Executive Director of The Timothy Center, Dr. Jimmy Myers focuses on helping others find God’s solutions to life challenges.  In the many years of ministry to teens and their families, Dr. Myers’ experience has shown him that it is never too late to turn a family around.  Dr. Myers has spent more than 25 years writing, ministering, and speaking nationwide on the subjects of discipleship, teenage life, and Christian parenting.  He and his wife, Beth, are the parents of 3 children and their spouses, and proud grandparents to 4 grandchildren. Jimmy is the co-author of the forthcoming, Fearless Parenting, with George Barna. I’m excited for you to get to meet him today. H

"Curiosity is a life raft." ~ Casey Tygrett Have you ever thought of curiosity as a spiritual discipline? I never did until I met Casey Tygrett. Casey is a pastor, spiritual director, and author of Becoming Curious : A Spiritual Practice of Asking Questions(coming May 2 ~ yay!). Casey lives in Rockford, Illinois with his wife and daughter where he serves as the teaching pastor at Heartland Community Church in Rockford, Illinois. I’m excited for you to get to meet him today. Here’s the interview on Dear Daughters Episode 25.   All the show notes (and there are a lot!) are at www.susiedavis.org

"Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is waste time." ~ Shelly Miller Meet Shelly, your Sabbath mentor. At least that’s what Myquillyn Smith calls her. Shelly is married to H (yes, his name is one letter!), an Anglican minister who resources church planting in the UK and they are the proud parents of two children, Murielle and Harrison. When Shelly isn’t at St. Barnabas Church in Kensington, you’ll find her clicking keys at a desk or walking around the city with her camera, exploring new places and meeting people. I’m excited for you to get to meet her today and hear about her book, Rhythms of Rest.  See all the show notes at susiedavis.org    

"God is not looking for perfect mothers to raise perfect daughters. He’s looking for imperfect mothers who are raising imperfect daughters in an imperfect world … and desperately dependent on a perfect God for the results." ~ Vicki Courtney Vicki Courtney is a wife, mother and grandmother. She is an author and ministry leader. She is also my friend. She is the kind of friend I can call to untangle questions about ministry, parenting, writing … and just about anything else. She is a woman full of wisdom and grace.    I hope you enjoy my interview with Vicki in Dear Daughters Episode 23. Show notes at susiedavis.org

The world may tell us we’re too much and never enough. But we can walk wildly in who God created us to be and rest freely in the work Jesus did for us. We do not have to be confined or conformed by cultural expectations. We are unchained from our past and unafraid of our future. ~ Jess Connolly   If you want to know what it looks like to run after God, meet Jess Connolly. Aside from starting a church with her husband, Nick, she is a mom to four young children, a small business owner and an author. She started Naptime Diaries Shop in 2011, selling scripture prints out of her home. She helped co-found SheReadsTruth in 2012. After that, she co-founded and led The Influence Network with Hayley Morgan. She also co-wrote Wild and Free with Hayley and is working on her second book which is a solo project. See the show notes at susiedavis.org

In 2013 Kate Merrick said goodbye to her 8 year-old daughter Daisy Love when she left for heaven. She wrote on grief, joy, and struggle on prayfordaisy.com. Kate is making her way back toward laughter and finding life to be filled with good things. Kate Merrick is a pastor's wife, writer, speaker, and mom to a teenager and toddler. She and her husband Britt cofounded the Reality family of churches in 2003, which began in Carpinteria, California, and has grown to include Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Stockton, San Francisco, Boston, London, and Honolulu. That's the official bio, but let's be honest ... she's a nouveaux-hippie at heart, Kate has a fondness for her mom’s blouses from the 70s, loves to cook food she grew and meat she raised, and she is one of those people who uses coconut oil for everything—like Windex. She willingly lends her chandelier earrings to her toddler, dances hard at weddings, opens the sunroof when she’s driving, and still checks to see if her dress twirls. Most of all, she enjo

The single greatest cause of homelessness is a profound, catastrophic loss of family ~ Alan Graham What does it really look like to love your neighbor? What does it look like for you to share your life and somehow be family to people who may not be just like you?  Alan Graham answers those questions in profound and practical ways. In 1998, he started a ministry to feed the homeless here in Austin.  Since then, he harnessed over 18,000 volunteers to serve over 4,000,000 meals to the hungry.  Oh, yes. That’s amazing but that’s not all. He also started a new movement to house the homeless. And the model is called Community First! Village. He writes about this and more in his new book called Welcome Homeless.  I'm just gonna make an ask here. Will you read the book, check out the ministry and ask God what he might like you to do in your community?  See all the show notes at susiedavis.org  

"Sometimes I think I’m afraid to listen to desire, the gentle heartbeat of my own life, the thing that makes me come alive because I discount that God speaks within me and to me through the Holy Spirit." ~ Emily Freeman Are you afraid to listen to the gentle heartbeat of your own life? These are the kinds of things Emily Freeman thinks about and it’s one of the reasons I love reading what she’s writing. She is the best kind of contemplative: thoughtful, creative and also playful. I’m excited to share this podcast with you because it’s going to make you think deeply about all kinds of important things. And it’s going to inspire you to love your one beautiful life. Aside from that, all the books y’all. Lots of recommended reading. I can’t wait. See all the show notes at susiedavis.org

The mother-daughter relationship is one that is delicate, beautiful and let’s be honest … sometimes fraught with boundary issues. As a mom of two young adult daughters and a daughter-in-law, my heart goal is to make sure that I love and honor them in the new stage they are in as young married wives. Not always the easiest thing because what I’d really love to do is beg, cajole and/or guilt them into moving back to Austin. (And maybe even living with me. Ha.) Of course, I know this is not the smart thing or the loving thing. So I have to constantly make the choice to be a wise, spiritual mama. A mother who gracefully lets go of the very people she loves the most. Which brings me to this whole notion of working through various seasons of life (like watching your kids grow up and move away) with deep contentment. In light of those two things, I thought it would be a fabulous idea to have my own daughter, Emily Boone, on the show and talk with her. Emily is a photographer living in Navasota, Texas with her darlin

"I thought I could pour myself into ministry and make the pain go away. But God started breaking down walls, helping me look honestly at my pain, and teaching me how to really grieve."  ~ Hilliary Cheatham In this episode of the Dear Daughters podcast, I talk with Hilliary Cheatham. She is a story-telling photographer in China as a missionary. She lives and works at Show Hope. Hilliary is also a very dear daughter of mine. She roomed with my daughter, Emily, when they were at Baylor, she lived in my house post-grad and helped me immensely during the season I was writing Unafraid and dealing with an ongoing pain syndrome. She is bright joy, constant hope and I know you’ll love hearing how even the hardest thing couldn’t touch her trust in God. All the show notes at susiedavis.org