She's In The City By Nasheville

We all know Lauren Alaina the singer/songwriter, platinum-selling artist, and newly inducted member of the Grand Ole Opry, and we love her! But today we’re getting a more personal look at the Lauren off the stage as she shares about her newly released book, Getting Good At Being You. In the book, Lauren tells stories and experiences from the last decade and a half that have shaped her into the bubbly, talented, powerhouse she is today.  The whole book walks readers through her decade-long struggle to, as she puts it, learn to love her whole, authentic self. While the book runs the gamut of professional struggle to family issues to toxic dating relationships, much of her message focuses on struggling to embrace her body. With body image being a chronic struggle for most women, Lauren was thrown onto the public stage at just 15 when she was voted runner-up on American Idol. And while she is grateful for her childlike fearlessness looking back -- “I owe every single thing I have to that 15-year-old girl having

Nicole Zasowski is an LMFT (marriage and family therapist), mom of 3 (under age 6!), and the author of 1 of my new absolute favorite books: What If It’s Wonderful?: Release your fears, choose joy, and find the courage to celebrate. The book was birthed out of a long season of change and loss for Nicole, one that displaced her family from coast to coast and that left her grieving five miscarriages in a span of four years. After all of her loss, Nicole found herself “terrified that hope would make a fool of me… I no longer felt brave enough to dream.” She began to notice that even moments in her life warranting celebration left her feeling less joyful and more afraid of how or when that joy might be lost. She claims – through personal experience and much psychological research – that joy is the most vulnerable feeling we feel. Why? “It felt safter not to hold the joy at all than to hold the joy that might break.”  Don’t we all sometimes find ourselves waiting for the other shoe to drop? We may feel like we’re

Alita Langford is an inspirer. I don’t quite know how else to describe her. Sure, she is a self-made businesswoman, a very talented singer and songwriter, a widow, and now a wife again and mom to 8, but more than all of that, she is an inspirer. In 2016 Alita lost her late husband suddenly to unforeseen heart issues. She was 33 with 4 kids under the age of 6 and within the following 18 months, she also lost your mom and dad. It would be easy to assume her story is a heavy one, marked primarily with pain and uncertainty, both of which she’s certainly had her fill of. But to know Alita is not to know a woman of grief; to know her is to know a woman who fights for joy and life and love. To do life with her is to witness someone who lives from the victory she knows is hers in Christ, regardless of what’s happening to her or around her. FOR THOSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STRUGGLE Even in the darkest days of her grief, Alita was intentional to speak truth to herself daily, discovering the powerful practice of declaring

Sometimes all we need to make brave steps forward is a push from someone who’s made the leap themselves. Lauren Lowrey is that person. She knows the power a story can have to spur passion and hope in its hearers and she’s giving her heart, time, and talents to make sure inspiring stories are told. Not only is she an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and anchor, she is also the founder and creator of the Ampstigator podcast, a term she coined combining the ideas of amplify (to bring intensity) + instigator (someone who initiates change). She’s here to tell stories of individuals in intense pursuit of change. Lauren felt captivated by and called to champion the ampstigator lifestyle after personally facing a tough season of self-re-discovery. With more than 15 years of broadcast television under her belt, she finally realized she’d slowly become a version of herself she didn’t recognize. As on-camera talent, “there are a lot of things put on you that aren’t yours.” She’d be trained and tweaked and asked t

Mallory Ervin is a natural-born achiever. Not just as the oldest child in her big Kentucky family, but by the time Mallory reached her mid-20s, her accolades spanned from success as a childhood singer, being crowned Miss Kentucky and runner-up Miss America, as well as competing as a 3-time contestant on the show, The Amazing Race. Talk about a resumé! She opens her new book, Living Fully: Dare to Step Into Your Most Vibrant Life, by sharing the life-changing season of addiction and recovery she faced eight years ago when her obsession with achievement and approval spiraled into addiction to prescription pills. Even when doctors warned her she was going to die if she continued the pace and lifestyle she’d been living, she remembers thinking, “I’d rather go out like this than anyone know what’s going on behind the scenes; I nearly lost my life to make sure I looked a certain way on the outside.” And though her courageous journey to re-discover a fulfilling and healthy life began with at rock bottom of her addic

 Amy Weatherly and Jess Johnston – both writers, both hilarious storytellers, both moms to many kids – connected online after experiencing tough seasons of loneliness. Even in the hustle and bustle of working and writing, mom-ing and wife-ing, they’d both discovered a lack of rich friendship connections and felt sure tons of other women must feel that way too. What began as a shared love of enneagram, Mexican food, going commando in leggings, sharing too much personal information transformed into an online solace for women struggling to find and maintain a genuine adult friendship. In 2019 the Facebook page “Sister, I Am With You” was born, and now their thriving community consists of over 1 million followers as well as their new book, I’ll Be There (But I’ll Be Wearing Sweatpants): Finding Unfiltered, Real-Life Friendships in This Crazy, Chaotic World. This wildly entertaining and tearfully honest pair call the book “a handbook on authentic adult friendships” – a concept that seems simple on paper but can be

Regardless of your age, relationship status, or stage of life, it’s very easy to wake up on any given day and find yourself just “going through motions.” With work and families and the unending to-do’s and obligations of adult living, we can get in the habit of mindlessly drifting from one day to the next without ever stopping to think: Is this how I want to be living? Am I really living or just existing? What does it mean to be fully and fullfillingly alive? In this week’s solo episode, Mattie takes some time to consider the ways that culture tells us we can attain an alive and vibrant life, as well as what Scripture says will lead to our being most fully alive. I know like us you’re tired of striving and hustling and spinning your wheels for temporary hits of happiness. We want nothing less than sustaining, life-changing joy for you. In John 10:10, Jesus reminds his followers that “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” What does that abundant life really look like? And how do we get it? Ul

After the past few years, we’ve all had, facing the prolonged effects of the pandemic and what feels like constant social unrest, our friend Lisa Whittle’s new (and 8th!) book could not come at a more welcomed time. Released in September of 2021, The Hard Good: Showing Up For God to Work in You When You Want to Shut Down addresses, with profound wisdom and without platitude, the struggles of living in a painful world where hard things just keep on happening. When Lisa’s father died in 2017, she says his passing “was the catalyst to writing [the book], but in so many ways I feel like it’s just been an account of the ongoing journey of my life.” Each chapter recounts a hardship she’s walked through and her resilient work to discover God’s nuggets of good, even in very not good seasons. She never shies away from what real heartbreak looks like, but she also confidently and consistently lets Scripture have the last word in whatever she faces.  Here are a few topics we hit on in our conversation: Redefining good

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and we are so grateful to have the CEO of local Nashville social enterprise company, Strings for Hope, to share their mission with us. Strings for Hope repurposes secondhand musical strings to make beautiful jewelry, all made by survivors of addiction, domestic violence, and human trafficking with the mission to empower and employ women in recovery. Emily Winters took over the company as CEO at just 21 years-old and has since brought tremendous growth and expansion, with retail partners carrying Strings for Hope products all across the US. In spite of her lack of experience at the time, Emily fell in love with the survivors SFH employs and set out to build the company as one that could continue to support part- and full-time employees in recovery. Even at a young age, she realized “if I let this fail, I could get another job, but many of these women couldn’t.” Her whole focus became about them, and it remains about them even as the company grows.  “I felt like I s

As we enter a new year, most of us find ourselves in the same place – between a finish line and a starting line. What do we want to change? Where do we want to go? What do we need from our people, from ourselves, and from the Lord? We’re starting 2022 with best-selling author and speaker, Rebekah Lyons, who encourages us all to “take inventory,” which, if you’re anything like me sounds like a nightmare of numbers, color-coordinating pantries, and realizing you may be more of a hoarder than you let yourself believe. But in her book, Rhythms of Renewal: Trading Stress and Anxiety for a Life of Peace and Purpose, Rebekah distills this idea of spiritual and relational reflection into four simple questions we can consider to better start this new year with transparency, peace, and renewal. She simply asks herself and asks the Lord to direct her in: What’s right? What’s wrong? What’s confused? And what’s missing? While seemingly daunting at first with a potential for skeletons to surface that we may not want to fa

Laura Hutfless’s resumé and credentials speak for themselves: Co-Founder of FlyteVu, a full-service entertainment marketing agency that helps mission-driven companies and brands, large and small, integrate into pop culture and create authentic emotional connections with their audience. 2021 Chief Marketer PRO Award Billboards 30 & 40 under lists Work with clients like: Bumble, Enterprise, Jack Daniel’s, Anheuser Busch, Victoria’s Secret PINK, Converse, Norwegian Cruise Line, Drybar, Spotify  Truly one of the most driven and creative friends we know, Laura brings together pop culture and purpose to make some major impacts on companies, consumers, and the community. FltyeVu even operates on an OVER 20% gives back model, serving non-profits and individuals in need. She attributes her overwhelming generosity to her faith and to parents who raised her to live from an abundance mentality. “I never lived in fear [of giving away] because I was raised to live from a place of abundance.” Not only is Laura a busin

Over the past three years of my own grief and healing, it’s been crucial for me to have those whom I now call my “pace people.” You know, when you run a 5k or watch a car race, there’s always a pace person or a pace car who leads the pack and sets the pace. A runner or driver that goes ahead and stays a constant reminder for those behind that you can keep going. You can get keep the pace and eventually get up here to where they are. This week’s guests are my pace people. Ginger and Rachel, both having been widowed in their twenties and thirties, have not only found restoration and stability years after losing their husbands, but they have also committed their lives and hearts to, as they put it, “loving on the younger versions of ourselves.” They do this over coffee and lunch and all the things with women like me. They also do it through their non-profit, Never Alone Widows, where they create weekend-long retreats of intimate healing and comfort for widows, all rooted in the truth and hope of the gospel. We t

One of my greatest hopes through Lemons on Friday is to break feelings of isolation and usher in hope for all who have lost relationships, not just those who have lost to death. This week’s guests have both recently gone through divorce and courageously pour out their whole hearts for others struggling through the same experience. We talk about how difficult it is to face divorce as Christian women and the added layer of pressure and struggle and internal conflict that brings. “It’s like I felt this pressure to keep letting people know, it wasn’t my fault. Like I needed a disclaimer because there’s such a stigma [in the Church] when you hear the word divorce.” We talk about how their perspective on and expectations of prayer changed as they fought in prayer for their marriages but were ultimately forced to accept that reconciliation wouldn’t happen. “My prayers started as desperation for God to save the marriage. Like: ‘Please change him. Make him want to fight for me. Give me the words to convince him to com

The broken world we live in is full of lemons on Friday. Rife with sour, bitter struggles that can break our hearts and tire our spirits; accidents and losses that leave us feeling as depleted and fearful as the disciples felt on crucifixion Friday. But sweeter days are possible. Sunday will come. This week’s guest, Jennie Lusko, is here to share her story of the unthinkable loss of her 5-year old daughter and powerful truths from her book, Fight to Flourish. In it she asks: What if the struggles of life aren’t a barrier to thriving but an invitation into your most vibrant days? Jennie’s call to explore this biblical truth of sanctification through struggle came not just from her work in ministry, but from fighting through her own horrific heartbreak. Just a few weeks before Christmas 2012, Jennie and her husband very suddenly lost their five-year old daughter, Lenya. She knew well God was near, that she wasn’t alone, and that God loved her deeply, but still questions and sorrow plagued. “What does this mea

The broken world we live in is full of lemons on Friday. Rife with sour, bitter struggles that can break our hearts and tire our spirits; accidents and losses that leave us feeling as depleted and fearful as the disciples felt on crucifixion Friday. But sweeter days are possible. Sunday will come. This week we sit down with our friend, Mary O’Neill Phillips, a host on Outdoor Channel TV and co-founder/co-host of the Country Outdoors Podcast. Not only is she an avid hunter and Christ-follower, she has also played many different roles in music industry both in Australia where she grew up and here in Nashville. She shares with us the seemingly wild goose chase that led her from Sydney to LA to Nashville and how even though she didn’t know it was the Holy Spirit leading her then, how grateful she is to have followed his crazy calls on her life! Coming from a traditional Irish Catholic upbringing, an intimate relationship with God wasn’t something she experienced until early adulthood. She says most of her childho

The broken world we live in is full of lemons on Friday. Rife with sour, bitter struggles that can break our hearts and tire our spirits; accidents and losses that leave us feeling as depleted and fearful as the disciples felt on crucifixion Friday. But sweeter days are possible. Sunday will come. This fall we’re going to sit down with women of all ages who have experienced loss in a variety of different ways. We’re going to hear the truth about how they grappled with keeping faith in a good God when really bad things happen. We’re going to hear how they found hope, even through their greatest heartbreaks. Our first guest is a dear friend of mine, Hailey, who, like me, lost her young husband at age 25. By the total divine intervention and hand of God, Hailey and I met at a NaSHEville event in November of 2018, just two months after both of our husbands’ passing. From that day to now, we have walked this valley of widowhood together. Here, we sit down to share our experiences over these past three years of hea

We’ve all been at the blood-curdling crossroads of conversation where we blurt out, “You have no idea where I’m coming from!” And the Enneagram tells us, that’s actually true! This ancient, now wildly popular system of understanding how individuals see and do life tells us that each of us falls into one of nine primary “types.” This means unless you’re in a conversation, relationship, or conflict with someone of your same type (i.e. same way of processing the world), they likely don’t have much of an idea where you’re coming from. Okay, so we’ve confirmed there’s a problem, but where’s the hope here? How can another personality test help mend the broken lines of communication and expectation in our marriages, friendships, and workspaces? Evan Barbee, Nashville enneagram consultant, and teacher, shares with us just how this system of understanding ourselves and others holds the power to help navigate and deepen relationships as well as to heal old wounds in previously broken ones. And don’t be overwhelmed by t

Beth McCord is a best-selling author, speaker, and teacher, as well as founder and coach of Your Enneagram Coach, an organization whose mission is to help their clients to see themselves with astonishing clarity with the Enneagram through the lens of the Gospel, so they can break free from self-condemnation, fear, and shame by knowing and experiencing the unconditional love, forgiveness, and freedom in Christ. Love. This. The seeds for YEC that would eventually bloom into a coaching business that now spans more than 20 countries were laid early in Beth and her husband’s marriage. In a season of struggle, the two came upon the Enneagram, began learning more about it, and were blown away by “a clarity that wasn’t there before that helped our relationship immensely.” From there, they dove deep. But the more they learned, the more they realized very little, if any, of the material on the Enneagram was framed through a biblical lens. They thought, “Here’s something that really looks like truth, but how they’re see

As women it often feels impossible not to question our worth or value among the constant assault of the filtered social media world. Our friend Katrina has committed her heart, her resources, and much of time here in Nashville to reminding women of their unshakeable, priceless value as daughters of the Living God. Not long after her move to Nashville from Los Angeles, Katrina found herself where many Nashville newcomers do – trying to meet new people and make friends in downtown’s bustling bar scene. But having recently turned her life fully back over to Christ, she was keenly aware that when you love Jesus, “he’s with you everywhere.” “He’s with you at the gym. He’s with you at the park. But she’s also with you at the bars,” she reminds us. And it’s exactly there, at Tin Roof on Demonbreun Street, that her boots-on-the-ground ministry began. Katrina tells us that sharing her faith in the bars wasn’t something she’d planned, but her message has caught like wildfire in Nashville over the past several years. Sh

On last week’s episode we heard from our dear friend and health coach, Leanne Ellington, about her 15-year struggle and journey to physical health and healing, as well as her business, Stressless Eating. This week, Leanne is back to share her incredible testimony – a story that reveals God’s intentional and steadfast work on her heart, ultimately leading her to spiritual restoration as she pursued bodily healing. Leanne grew up in a Jewish family in Orlando, but claims “it was never a faith [for me], never a religion, but more of a culture and a heritage.” She was active in Hebrew school, trips to Israel and part of all the Jewish traditions. She tells us she knew of God and believed in God, but was never connected to God. “[God] wasn’t part of the paradigm of how I lived.”  Then, when Leanne found herself in a season of both personal and professional loss, something inside of her began to wonder: “I think [maybe] I need God?” From this point she began her quest to simply discover more about the Lord. Because