The last episode uncovered the beautiful and difficult journey of our daughter Rachel becoming adopted into the Reese family. This week, my friend Cindy Schaefer takes the reins, digging deep into my story and unearthing even deeper layers of our family's narrative - of love, courage, and obedience in the middle of hard circumstances. Pursuing a life of HOT faith means living outside your comfort zone and learning to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. Sometimes, the transformations and influence may seem insignificant, yet seemingly minor "yeses" can catalyze profound, life-changing shifts—much like they did for our family!

Whatever circumstances you’re facing - or have faced in your past - you have a choice. You can choose to look at God through the lens of those circumstances or you can look at your circumstances through God and the story that he wants to write with your life. Dawnell's daughter, Rachel, joins her in this episode. She became an official part of the Reese family when she was 12 years old. She shares her journey of healing emotionally and physiologically from the dysfunction and instability of her childhood by embracing and choosing the story God wants to write with her life. Listen as she discusses how by leaning into God's truth and love for her she discovered a new life and identity in him! Watch now on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aF1V5iie8rg

Meet Brayde Bursiaga who shares her pursuit of a life filled with community and authenticity.  God shaped her story through resilience and as she leaned deep into faith to find freedom from shame. Brayde shares her deeply personal experiences of teenage pregnancy, marital crisis, fostering journey, and career in ministry. Her life began to transform when she recognized that she was battling extreme burnout. She decided to get transparent with her community and to seek counseling. Join your host, Dawnell Reese and her guest, Brayde, as they unpack the profound lessons learned from facing life's complexities head-on.

What if we could approach everything that we disagree with or don't understand with curiosity and kindness instead of defensiveness and shame? How would that affect our body, our mind, our relationships and our community? In this episode, I talk with Story Coach, Emily Baker, who specializes in narrative-focused trauma care.

In this episode of 'Let's be Hot,' we dissect the biblical nuances of guilt, shame, and condemnation, and how they can easily lead to imposter syndrome. A strong identity in Christ can guide us from guilt to grace, especially when we embrace confidence in his inseparable, inexplicable and exceptional love for us. Dawnell and Cindy highlight Romans 8 which challenges those in Christ Jesus to reject the shackles of condemnation as we walk in step with his plans for our lives and His Spirit who helps us. Their discussion tackles the modern phenomenon of imposter syndrome—an "us" centered problem. This episode encourages a Christ centered shift. From there we see how repentance, forgiveness, and faith can transform guilt into growth and turn the shadows of imposter syndrome into opportunities for authenticity. God's Spirit empowers a confident identity based on His fierce love for us.

*Today’s content deals with the topic of sex. If you are a minor, we encourage you to listen, but do so with a mature adult.* In this episode, faith meets fire in a conversation surrounding the sensitive yet crucial topic of pornography and sexual sin – an issue many men (and women) wrestle with that is taking an emotional, spiritual and relational toll on families and communities. My guest is my good friend, Mike Decker, and we dive into some of the most raw and broken places in his past to tell the story of how Jesus has radically transformed his life, freeing him from the bondage of sexual sin and setting him on a path of significance and purpose. Mike shares that through this journey, he’s learned the gospel is not some boring or archaic set of traditions, but rather a relationship that is alive and active and full of risk and adventure and excitement. We explore how life with Jesus brings joy instead of shame and leads to real and lasting freedom for broken, hurting people trapped in their pain and past. If today’s conversation impacts you and leaves you wanting more resources or help, please explore the links in the episode notes that we’ve provided. True North 180 recover Wild at Heart Celebrate Recovery I Declare War

Season 2 is finally here! Join us as we dive into the name of our podcast “Let’s be Hot”. How can we help our world heal, recover and become stronger than ever - even when life keeps hitting us hard from every angle? We dig deep into the potential of what can happen when we take radical action and love people - even in the midst of polarization, division and a cancel culture.

Counseling is finally becoming something more mainstream as our culture begins to understand and embrace it’s benefits and advantages.Gina Burrell is a marriage and family counselor. Her story empowered her to do for others what she had so desperately needed in her greatest loss and trauma. Gina introduces the “The Counselor” - a crucial aspect of how God loves and empowers us to live in health as a whole person - emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. She vulnerably shares how she dealt with the impact of situations that could have potentially derailed her from her purpose and her present family.

Have you ever been face to face with what you fear most? What do you do when the thing you've been running from most of your life catches up with you? Join me today as Renee Rhodes shares how exhilarating it is to be free from fear - even in the face of death. Weeks after taking her last Chemo treatment and months after an extremely extensive surgery to remove ovarian cancer, she shares how God uses everything, even something as “sucky” as cancer, for our good and the good of those we love. Hear how her courage and faith have given her the ability to live life more intentionally and purposefully than ever before - and how even though she no longer fears death, she has declared war - for her life and God’s plans for her family.

Few people are willing to expose their vulnerabilities - but that is exactly what my friend, Gretchen Clarkson does in our conversation about struggling against having “fluffy faith”. Hard times and desperation can force hot faith but what do you do in the mundane - when the very bravest thing you can do is stay? Gretchen proposes that when the relationship is valuable, you put in the work. Faith is an action - a series of decisions that move you forward. She suggests loving others, serving others and sharing faith are actually keys to inspiring foundational, growing faith.