Sweet Grace For Your Journey

232. Am I Greedy?

April 17, 2024 07:00 - 29 minutes - 25.6 MB

Episode 232-Am I Greedy? I never really thought of myself as greedy, but my journey has really been one of greed. What is greed? The definition of greed is “an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.” Did you get that? It’s not just an intense desire for money or position. It’s also a selfish desire for food! Are you greedy? Listen to this episode to find out if you are and what to do about it. Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker...

231. Deception

April 10, 2024 07:00 - 29 minutes - 20.8 MB

Episode 231-Deception A person who deceives is one who misleads by a false appearance or statement. Isn’t it interesting Satan can appear as an angel of light. One big deception the enemy threw to me was that I needed food to eat so I could eat all I wanted to. The devil is a deceiver who turns something, which looks good, into something which leads to death, even though it may be a while coming. So what can we do when we have bought into a lie that has become such a habit we think we...

230. Prayer Answers

April 03, 2024 07:00 - 30 minutes - 25.8 MB

Episode 230-Prayer Answers For many years I was frustrated because I would pray and it felt like God wasn’t answering my prayers. I knew the Bible said He would, but I didn’t believe it because I wasn’t experiencing the answers I wanted, which was to have my mother healed of her bipolar disorder. They weren’t selfish prayers so why wasn’t He answering? This episode examines two huge instances of how God answered prayer but it wasn’t because of me. It was because it was because it was in ...

229. This is My Surrender

March 27, 2024 07:00 - 32 minutes - 22.1 MB

Episode 229-This is My Surrender The other day I was listening to a church service and they were singing, “I will Make Room”. As I sang along with them the words arrested me. “Here is where I lay it down. Every burden and every crown. This is my surrender. This is my surrender.” God stopped me and asked, “How are burdens and crowns alike so that when we lay them down they define surrender?” Burdens are negative. Crowns are positive. We want to get rid of burdens. Crowns are what God giv...

228. Backdoor Grace

March 20, 2024 11:34 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MB

Episode 228-Backdoor Grace "Crisco, Crisco fat in the can" churned around and around in my head for decades after a three-year-old said that to me when I was 11. He said it so he could distract me. Thoughts of I am fat went through my conscious mind and were archived in my subconscious right then. Our childhood emotions can lie dormant for years ready and waiting to be retrieved and then expressed in our actions. Through the years I did gain weight. God told me what to do, but I didn...

227. Lies or Truth?

March 13, 2024 17:01 - 35 minutes - 30.3 MB

Episode 227-Lies or Truth? It’s hard for children to separate truth from lies. When we grow up lies from childhood still chase us and take us down treacherous roads. Then my lies sounded like this: “I can eat whatever I want whenever I want it. If I want sugar or dessert I can eat as much as I want. It doesn’t hurt me. If I’m upset foods with carbohydrates will make me feel better.” Losing physical weight is wonderful. Many things change just because of being thinner, such as having m...

226. I Can't Lose Weight

March 06, 2024 08:00 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MB

Episode 226-I Can't Lose Weight I CAN’T lose weight, I just can’t. I carried this feeling of defeat with me for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I was always outgrowing my clothes. Hey, it’s what kids do. They grow. It was true, as a child I couldn’t lose weight. I was designed to grow, not lose weight. The difficult part, especially for a child, is separating out what is true and what is a lie. A child is not meant to understand all of this. They are to be loved and supported by ...

225. Listen to God

February 28, 2024 08:00 - 34 minutes - 29.1 MB

Episode 225-Listen to Gdd All the time there are at least three voices vying for our attention: my voice, the tempter’s voice, and God’s voice. For years, though, I listened to the tempter’s voice constantly. It always has an element of truth to it. What he tells me is half-truth, half-lie. In the past he hadn’t needed to be too subtle. He just put the bait out there and like a hungry, naïve fish, I’d bite, and gobble it up plus more. I listened because my rational mind agreed with him....

224. Fighting the Battle

February 21, 2024 08:00 - 36 minutes - 30.4 MB

Episode 224-Fighting the Battle Eleven years ago I weighed 430 pounds. Now let’s be honest that’s really, really large, especially for a woman who isn’t that tall. I’ve lost 250 pounds and I feel a whole lot better. However, to me the more important thing is I’ve undergone a total lifestyle change of a slow, steady weight loss. No matter what the quick fix, it doesn’t work to keep the weight loss off. We must change our habits. It’s not easy, but it is worth it. The only way to change o...

223. God's Great Adventure

February 14, 2024 08:00 - 32 minutes - 27.3 MB

Episode 223- God's Great Adventure Most of us love a good adventure story. I love Sunday nights when we’d hear foreign missionaries tell us about their adventures. They seemed so different from my life, which was very boring in comparison. I longed for a bit of adventure, and a great adventure with God would be even better. Back then I didn't have the concept that following God completely would always be a great adventure all on its own. I’ve learned since then that there is nothing mor...

222. Confessions of a Sugar Addict

February 07, 2024 08:00 - 31 minutes - 26.8 MB

Episode 222-Confessions of a Sugar Addict I am a sugar addict, set free by God Almighty. Most people greatly dislike the concept of surrender. It feels too hard, too difficult, too unnerving to actually give in to God. To me it is just the opposite. Surrender is beautiful because we finally discard everything we’ve been holding on to that is keeping us from being all-in with God. Surrender is a key concept on the journey out of sugar and food addiction. It took me a long time to surr...

221. Eating Myself to Death

January 24, 2024 08:00 - 34 minutes - 24.5 MB

Episode 221-Eating Myself to Death Most of us want to blame someone else for any problem we have. I knew good and well no one was to blame for my extreme weight gain, but me, myself, and I. My desire to do my own thing regarding what I ate and how I didn’t exercise or listen to God about my health was not working well for me. As a matter of fact, I was eating myself into an early grave. The cardiac surgeon told me that and stamped an expiration date on me if I didn’t lose 100 pounds and...

220. Move My Mountain

January 17, 2024 08:00 - 31 minutes - 26.5 MB

Episode 220-Move My Mountain In order to lose weight and keep it off we have to begin and continue. We have to be committed to transformation. I was a reluctant loser, but God helped me lose 250 of the 430 pounds I once had on my body. I say I was a reluctant loser because God told me to give up sugar and I didn’t want to. Today, I'm a Christian weight loss author, coach, speaker and podcaster. I pray my story impacts and moves you to do what God wants you to do, whatever that is. If...

219. Overcomers Academy New

January 10, 2024 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MB

Episode 219-Overcomers Academy New God called me to coach others with weight issues after I lost 250 pounds. With His help I’ve been coaching now for 10 years. I was hesitant, but I have learned if God calls me I don’t have to worry about my qualifications. When God asks us to do a specific task, He and He alone will qualify us. He goes before us to pave the way. He is all we need to complete whatever He calls us to do. “It is not your strength, but it is God who is effectively at work ...

218. God's New Thing

January 03, 2024 08:00 - 28 minutes - 25.4 MB

Episode 218-God's New Thing I read this somewhere and it resonated with me. I don’t know the author. “God is telling me today, rest in Me. I am already ahead of you, working in your life. I will turn around every bad situation you are in. I will bless you and your family with all that you need. I will heal all that needs healing. I will wipe away of your tears. You will be blessed.” Rest became my word for 2024, but it’s not the ordinary sleeping kind of rest. God showed me some new reas...

217. Here's My Heart, Lord

December 27, 2023 08:00 - 25 minutes - 22.2 MB

Episode 217-Here's My Heart, Lord You’ve likely gotten all kinds of gifts for Christmas already, but I want to give you another one. When I take the love language test, mine comes back words of affirmation, imagine that. It’s what I love to receive, but it’s also what I love to give. Words can build us up or tear us down. I hope these words, which one day may become a picture book or illustrated book, will make you think and cause you to draw closer to our loving Heavenly Father. So ...

216. Season for Temptation

December 20, 2023 08:00 - 25 minutes - 21.8 MB

Episode 216-Season for Temptation It’s the season for temptations especially for a sugar and comfort food addict like I used to be or like you may be right now. How can we resist falling into temptation? If we are surrendered to God it can help us resist temptation. Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/

215. Make Time for God

December 13, 2023 08:00 - 25 minutes - 22.2 MB

Episode 215-Make Time for God With so many time-stealers in our lives, how do we make room for God? First, we have to first above everything else. If we don’t have time set aside specifically to spend time listening to God, How will we know what He’s saying to us. How will we know what He wants us to do? James 4:8 NLT tells us, “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.” It is really up to us to find time to meet with God. It boils down to making time, space, and room for Him. ...

214. Stubborn Surrender

December 06, 2023 08:00 - 26 minutes - 19.4 MB

Episode 214-Stubborn Surrender My mother used to say to me, “You’re so stubborn you’d argue with a fencepost if it would talk back.” Stubbornness is not a good trait when you are not wanting to do what you know God wants you to do. It just reveals a whole lot of the very worst of our humanness. Stubbornness is a huge part of being human and we think we don’t really need any help from God. However, if we stay stubborn and never surrender to God, we will just sink deeper into sin. We wil...

213. Grace and Surrender

November 29, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 25.9 MB

Episode 213- Grace and Surrender Without the grace of God, I would never have surrendered to Him. I’d still be trying to work my way to heaven by trying to earn God’s favor God understands us though. He is not a distant far away God. He is the God of grace. We don’t have to earn anything. Failure is part of the learning process. God gives us grace. It’s a gift, but its more than just a box we unwrap on Christmas morning. It has substance to it. It is endless. From grace we take and gr...

212. Efficacy and Surrender

November 22, 2023 08:00 - 30 minutes - 18.6 MB

Episode 212-Efficacy and Surrender It was during my quiet time recently when kind of like a benediction on our time, God said, “May your day be filled with efficacy.” He does this kind of stuff to me a lot. It is one of the great benefits of a real quiet time. I said, “Efficacy? Why are you giving me this word, God?” He was quiet and I sensed He wanted me to look-up it’s meaning. It means the ability to produce a desired or intended result. It also means to produce effectiveness. It does...

211. Surrender to His Majesty

November 15, 2023 08:00 - 30 minutes - 25.9 MB

Episode 211- Surrender to His Majesty Lord, Don’t allow me to make a mess of my life, for I cling to Your commands and follow them as closely as I can. (Psalms‬ 119‬:31‬ TPT‬‬).‬‬‬ We all need to pray that verse every day, especially in the days we’re living in now. Everywhere I look it seems like everyone is in a world of self-doubt. Today I got a flyer in the mail. Don’t usually read these flyers this one happen to be from evangel University, where my daughter graduated. It’s talking t...

210. Surrender Bad Habits

November 08, 2023 08:00 - 32 minutes - 29.3 MB

Episode 210-Surrender Bad Habits As humans we want to be in charge of what we want. We want others to listen to us. We don’t want anyone telling us what to do. We don’t want to give up what we think we have to have in order to endure this life and all its temptations, desires, wants, needs and must haves. We want stuff and we don’t want the trials, tests, and troubles. We think we know what we need but if we get what we want, we don’t have what we really need. Our desires have become o...

209. Surrender the Hard Stuff

November 01, 2023 07:00 - 34 minutes - 29.8 MB

Episode 209-Surrender the Hard Stuff Why is this topic of surrender so difficult for us? As soon as I said that I answered my own question. “We can’t surrender to God, because the only one we have ever fully surrendered to and trusted in is ourselves.” It’s hard to trust in Someone you can’t see. While this is true, there have been many times when I have surrendered things to God that looking back now seem like small things. After we surrender them, they become easy because we’ve alr...

208. Why Surrender to God?

October 25, 2023 07:00 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MB

Episode 208-Why Surrender to God? Why should we surrender to God? The unstated question here is, what’s in it for me. I mean I’m doing pretty good here on my own. Besides I know a lot of people who say they are Christians and they are just as bad off as me. I don’t really see a reason to give over control of my life to anyone. How do I know what God’s going to do when I give things over to Him? Things might get worse than they are now. Here are six reasons to surrender to God. And just t...

207. Surrender Control

October 18, 2023 07:00 - 31 minutes - 27 MB

Episode 207-Surrender Control Surrendering what little control we have feels impossible. The truth is when we are trying to be in control, we many times wind up out of control while trying to be in control. That became the story of my life. I had been trying to be in control of everything and everyone in my sphere of influence. I finally had to admit the truth. That wasn’t working. I was exhausted and in control of nothing. The truth I didn’t want to face was: I will never be IN control ...

206. Intentional Surrender

October 11, 2023 07:00 - 31 minutes - 27 MB

Episode 206- Intentional Surrender Surrendering to God is a choice we make, but it’s much more than just choosing whether we will eat a huge piece of cake or not. It’s an intentional, purposeful choice to lay everything at the feet of Jesus and then follow Him completely. That means we will be intentional about listening for His voice. We will be intentional about making sure we know what He wants us to do. We will have intentional focus on God. We will be committed, purposeful and deli...

205. Surrender Takes Trust

October 04, 2023 07:00 - 28 minutes - 24.9 MB

Episode 205-Surrender Takes Trust I know, above and beyond everything else, God is my source and the source for my family. I trust Him as the ultimate Puzzle Master, the only One who really knows what my final picture or story will look like. I didn’t always trust Him as my total source. My future used to be rather disconcerting. I said God was my source, but I relied on things I felt were more tangible, like foods made with sugar and flour or my job. I still don’t know exactly where all...

204. Surrender and Destiny

September 27, 2023 07:00 - 22 minutes - 19.3 MB

Episode 204-Surrender and Destiny Why do we think it’s OK to ignore what God is telling us and yet get mad at Him when He doesn’t magically make the money appear to pay our bills, or stop one of our kids from doing drugs or getting in with the wrong crowd. Why do we refuse to surrender to God, but we still want Him to answer our every prayer exactly how we want it? There is something missing from this equation. God is not our genie in a bottle so all we have to do is just speak and all o...

203. Fear and Surrender

September 20, 2023 07:00 - 30 minutes - 27 MB

Episode 203-Fear and Surrender Through the last nine years, I have coached many women who tell me they want to surrender to God, but are afraid of giving up the foods they love. Surrendering to God reminds them of giving up. It reminds them of being forced to do something. When we feel forced, many of us rebel. That’s because it reminds them of a fear from their past. If that fear involved a father or father figure, we may transfer those fears to Father God. Then unknowingly, this fear ...

202. I Surrender All

September 06, 2023 07:00 - 31 minutes - 26.5 MB

Episode 202-I Surrender All What does it mean to surrender all? What things is God asking us to surrender that we haven’t? Does it really matter if we don’t surrender everything to God? Can’t we hold back a little for ourselves? When we think about surrender, we should immediately think about what Jesus did for us. When He came to earth was and still is God, but even before He came to earth He surrendered to the Father’s will and laid aside his Godly position to become like one of us. ...

201. 7 Steps to Surrender

September 06, 2023 07:00 - 33 minutes - 29.1 MB

Episode 201-7 Steps to Surrender God wants to be first without a second in our lives. He wants us to be totally surrendered to Him. He told us this in the first commandment. “You may worship no other god than Me.” (Exodus 20:3 TLB). Here are seven steps to surrender. 1. Have a relationship with God. 2. Get to know God better. 3. Understand what God wants from us. 4. Confess when we mess up. 5. Pivotal moment of surrender 6. Surrender requires God’s strength 7. Surrender ...

200. This Thing Called Surrender

August 30, 2023 07:00 - 30 minutes - 26.6 MB

Episode 200-This Thing Called Surrender God’s desire is for each of us is to totally surrender to Him so He can lead us to be victorious in Christ! Our surrender delights God, but most of us don’t really know what surrendering to God means, how to do it, or why we should do it. We think surrender means the same as being a prisoner. It's what happens when one side defeats the other. They get taken captive. Surrendering to God is not like that at all. We don’t surrender to God because He ...

199. Resisting Temptation

August 23, 2023 07:00 - 33 minutes - 28.6 MB

Episode 199-Resisting Temptation What should I do if I’m tempted? Well, first it’s great that you know when you are tempted. Many don’t recognize that they are being tempted. However there is not an “if” about it. If you are a Christian trying to follow Jesus, you will be tempted. And the tempter will offer you exactly what you want because he’s been watching and knows your habits, behaviors, and weaknesses. He will tempt you with them. It’s a given. He knows your weaknesses better tha...

198. What is Self-Control?

August 16, 2023 07:00 - 30 minutes - 27.5 MB

Episode 198-What is Self-Control? We all know that self-control is part of the fruit of the Spirit. You know the list from Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. I could always see that I had some portion of the other eight qualities, but that last one always tripped me up. I wanted to be in control of my wants, desires and cravings but I wasn’t. This was frustrating because being in control was something I valued. Ho...

197. Seven Lessons in 70 Years

August 09, 2023 07:00 - 35 minutes - 30.2 MB

Episode 197-Seven Lessons in 70 Years I turned 70 last week. I’m not any wiser, but God challenged me to come up with the seven most important lessons I’ve learned. These principles really do guide my life today but in order to learn them I went through a lot of trials and turmoil. I go into depth with each of these on the podcast along with scripture references. Listen to God. Don’t bite off more than you can or should chew. Surrender everything to God. The devil is real. Sin lea...

196. Victory is Here!

August 02, 2023 07:00 - 32 minutes - 27.7 MB

Episode 196-Victory is Here! Victory can be defined as overcoming or winning in a competition or struggle over an opponent, or difficult problems. The Bible tells us we already have the victory if we have Jesus. “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4, NIV). The problem is when difficulties, troubles and hard seasons come, we tend to forget God’s glorious promise. His promise is if we stay true to Hi...

195. How Can I Hear God?

July 26, 2023 07:00 - 30 minutes - 26.6 MB

Episode 195- How Can I Hear God? How do we hear from God? We listen for His voice. We have a conversation with Him. He most often speaks to us and we hear Him as the still, small voice. He speaks to us from the depths of our souls, which we hear in our minds. Then we make a decision as to whether we will do what He says or not. Many times we tell God what we want Him to do and then it doesn’t happen so we wonder is He really listening or not? We go to Him with our to-do list and then say...

194. Do I Trust Jesus?

July 19, 2023 07:00 - 32 minutes - 28.4 MB

Episode 194-Do I Trust Jesus? Do I trust Jesus? How do we know if we really trust Jesus completely or not? He’s the member of the Trinity who is most like us because He knows what it’s like to live as a human. If we have a trust issue with Jesus it will affect our relationship with those we think we love. One day God dropped these words into my heart. “Any disconnect with the one we are closest to here on earth will affect our intimacy with Jesus.” When I asked Jesus if I trusted ...

193. Work With God

July 12, 2023 07:00 - 31 minutes - 27.6 MB

Episode 193-Work With God For most of my life, I’ve been working for God in some shape or form. It’s good to do things for God, but it’s better to do things with Him. After all, He is our commander-in-chief. He’s in charge. The other day I was busy trying to get everything done, which seemed impossible. During my time with God He told me, “Never focus on the work you do for Me. Focus on being in My presence. Never mistake work for Me. Always make Me first place. Then, the work will get ...

192. Fears, Tears and Freedom

July 05, 2023 07:00 - 32 minutes - 27.8 MB

Episode 192- Fears, Tears and Freedom Fear is a huge obstacle to overcome. Fear comes in many different shapes and forms. It can be the fear of I’m not enough. I’m a failure. There’s nothing good in me. I never do anything right. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be abused. I’m not good enough and so much more. When we finally get to the point where we can identify our fears and their roots, it can be a difficult process. The fears we have many times cause us to self-protect ...

191. Pay Attention

June 28, 2023 07:00 - 30 minutes - 25.8 MB

Episode 191-Pay Attention What are you paying attention to? Is it how great, mighty and strong God is? Or is it how stressed you are trying to get everything done that you think you, and you alone, have to do? You are stressed. You want the stressors, whatever they are, to go away. However, the things that stress us are not going away unless we make God more important than what we are stressing about. We need to pay attention to God. We need to give Him the power instead of stress, whi...

190. Called and Anointed

June 21, 2023 07:00 - 30 minutes - 26.9 MB

Episode 190-Called and Anointed What I’ve learned through my weight loss journey of losing over 250 pounds is growing closer to God is not an add-on in any area of my life. Growing closer to God is God’s main objective for us. Weight loss is the add-on. He has a calling and anointing for each of us, but He won’t unveil it until we are all-in with Him. We have to shift our total dependance back to Him. We were there one time for sure. That was when we accepted Jesus into our hearts. We vo...

189. From Shame to Faith

June 14, 2023 07:00 - 29 minutes - 26 MB

Episode 189-From Shame to Faith For every single thing that brings us down, God has provided a portion of the fruit of the Spirit to combat it. This is more than true when we are dealing with fear of shame and condemnation. It feels like there is no way to break free from addictions we have given into. When we are Christians and are indulging in sins that have become addictions we will feel shame. When we realize what we are doing, if our next step isn’t desiring to discover how to get ...

188. What Destiny?

June 07, 2023 07:00 - 29 minutes - 25.3 MB

Episode 188-What Destiny? God loves to talk about plans and destiny. You may be thinking, what does that have to do with me? Let me assure you that you are here on earth because God has a plan for your life. You may have no clue what it is or you may have an inkling. In either case, He’s working out your plan even right now. He’s even given you gifts to help you reach your destiny. Part of the plan is for your very bones to vibrate with life. We talk about that and more on this episo...

187. Overwhelmed

May 31, 2023 07:00 - 30 minutes - 25.9 MB

Episode 187-Overwhelmed I used to live in the land called Overwhelmed. Now, I live in the land called Surrendered. I certainly prefer Surrendered. It’s such a peaceful town. When I am overwhelmed, it is because I am doing too much and trying to figure everything out myself. When am surrendered, I have put everything in God’s capable hands. I let Him be in charge. I do what He tells me to do. When we are overwhelmed, we feel defeated by everything we have to do. It feels too challenging f...

186. Don't Give Up!

May 24, 2023 07:00 - 31 minutes - 26.9 MB

Episode 186-Don't Give Up! When we have a need we want God to fix it right now. Not a week from now. Not a month from now. Certainly not a year from now and for real, not 10 years from now. We are impatient people and we want what we want done right now. David said, “Here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Don’t give up; don’t be impatient; be entwined as one with the Lord. Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting for He will never disappoint you!” (Psalms‬ 27‬...

185. Don't Stress, Trust God

May 17, 2023 07:00 - 32 minutes - 26.5 MB

Episode 185-Don't Stress, Trust God When everything is falling apart, what is the first thing we do? We try to fix it and if we can’t fix it, we worry about it. Then, worry leads to stress. When I am stressed, I am not trusting in God. I am trusting myself to fix what I am stressing about. Jesus said, “Which one of you by worrying could add anything to your life?” (Matthew 6:27 TPT). We know worry doesn’t help. It leads to stress, which will harm us if we don’t get it under control. ...

184. Noisy to Quiet

May 10, 2023 07:00 - 31 minutes - 26 MB

Episode 184-Noisy to Quiet Do you feel like you have so much noise in your head you can’t even think? Or are you at the point where spending time being quiet and in God’s presence is the highlight of your day? The latter is definitely preferable. Still, why do we continually find ourselves caught up in the noise of this life? Our incessant thoughts govern us and drive us crazy telling us to do this, this, and oh, that and on and on. Our minds was crammed full of to do lists, agendas, and...

183. From Defeat to Victory

May 03, 2023 07:00 - 30 minutes - 26.5 MB

Episode 183-From Defeat to Victory There are so many things that feel defeating in this life. We just get through one overwhelming issue when another pops up. The battles seem endless. We defeat one and feel victorious. Then another rears its head. It’s like an endless whack-a-mole game. The only good thing about this game is that it ends. In life, the problems never stop. We want them to end. We want to feel victorious at something. In order to win at the game of life, though, we have t...

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