This Is What You Said: What to Expect in 2023

Hey, my friends. Welcome back to Let’s Encourage One Another.

Not only is it near Christmas, if you’re listening to this live, but my family and I are also going through a pretty large transition in this season, and so there is a lot we are holding in prayer and waiting to see what God is going to do. If you’ve been listening for a little while, you know we’ve experienced quite a few transitions in the past couple of years, from me stepping down from my job in children’s ministries so I could focus on my work here at Love Does That, to starting to homeschool this past fall.

And I have found that in times of transition, and even in heavier seasons like grief or loss, it can be good to find moments of light-heartedness and laughter when we can. I’m sure I’ll talk more about that on a future episode, but all that to say, in light of the season we’re in as a family and the time of year it is, I have kind of a fun episode for us today.

You all know how much I like to plan, right? I love sitting down and creating a schedule or putting together a course or study or anything like that.

And as we near 2023, I have been brainstorming ideas to talk about on the podcast, essentially trying to map out what the next several months of podcast episodes might look like. To do this, I looked back through past episodes that have seemed to really resonate with you all, plus I reached out to those on my email list with a survey to ask you some questions.

And today, I want to share some of those results with you and how that’s going to impact the direction of this podcast. Because I want to make sure I am coming alongside you in the very real, very heavy, very practical concerns of daily life. That’s what it’s all about, right? I don’t want to give you a bunch of fluff, but the real stuff. The honest stuff.

So we’ll start out by talking about the survey and then I’ll share the top five ranking episodes right now. Are you ready?

You Are in Multiple Roles

The first question I asked on the survey was, “Which one describes you best?” And the options were (1) going through a difficult season, (2) caring for someone else going through a difficult season, and (3) both—going through a difficult season while caring for others.

Remember, a difficult season can be anything like grief, depression, anxiety, fear, a major life transition, caring for an aging parent, or health issues.

I asked this question because I wanted to know if I should gear content toward helping you encourage others or if I should talk directly to those who are hurting. I’ve been doing a sort of a mix between the two over the past several months.

So one of the first things I learned right off the bat was that most of you fit into both roles: caring for someone who is hurting, and also going through a difficult season yourself.

What does that tell me? It tells me that you are incredibly caring individuals, who desire to come alongside others even though you, too, are hurting.

Now, because of this, I want to make sure you know about my resource, “Tips for Encouraging Others When You’re Still Healing.” It’s a short guide that helps you navigate that somewhat unique circumstance of being in both roles. You can grab that at lovedoesthat.org/healing.

Because so many of you fit into both categories, I will continue offering both types of content: episodes geared toward helping you care for others and episodes talking directly to those who are hurting.

Topics That Are On Your Heart

Some of the other questions on the survey asked what kind of topics you wanted to hear about, what questions you had for me that you wanted addressed on the podcast.

These are some of those topics that are weighing on your hearts:

Physical healthcare, mental healthcare, and emotional healthcare
Working with a team of support professionals
Specific episodes about depression and anxiety
Living with a disability, especially the isolation that it can cause
Prodigal children and believers
Mid-life transitions
Times of waiting
Having energy to do things

Mental and emotional health were actually mentioned a lot.

Knowing what you all are currently going through really helps me to create content for upcoming episodes and find others who can speak to issues that I can’t. So I thank those who filled out the survey and shared those topics with me.

And if you have other topics or questions, you can email me at any time at kari@lovedoesthat.org, and remember, my name is spelled K-A-R-I.

Current Top Podcast Episodes

And that brings us to the highest-ranking podcast episodes since I started the podcast in March 2021. Do you have any guesses?

Now, these sometimes change week-to-week or month-to-month, so just know that this is what is currently ranking as the top episodes, okay?

#5 is “Supporting a Friend Walking Through Grief (And Walking Through It Yourself) with Karen Altizer.”

#4 is “How to Create a Personal Spiritual Retreat (And Reflections On My Own).”

#3 is “How to Respond When a Friend Won’t Let You Help.”

#2 is “How Elisha Inspires Me to Look After Others.”

And #1, the highest episode—by far, and one that has continued to be the top episode—is “How to Decline Someone’s Offer to Help Gracefully.”

I’ll link all of those in the show notes below in case you haven’t listened to them yet. I’ve actually talked about two of those episodes before and why I think they’re ranking so high. That was in episode 67, “We Have a Hard Time Saying and Accepting ‘No.’”

I’ll talk more about that in 2023 and try to speak more to this idea of saying no, creating boundaries, and accepting the boundaries of others. I’ll also keep speaking to grief, because I know that is something so many of us struggle with. And I’ll be sure to keep creating resources and episodes about those spiritual practices that help us stay close to God when we are caring for others or going through a difficult season ourselves.

What do you think? Did any of those top episodes surprise you?

Invitation to Journal Gently

So there we have it: I’ve gotten to know you a bit better through the survey and by taking a look at top episodes. And I can also take what I know from those of you who email me—which, by the way, I love to hear from you all. I’ll be taking all of that information in prayer to God and putting podcast episodes together for next year.

Now, before we go, I just want to remind you that you have until December 31 to save $30 on the Journal Gently program. The New Year really is a great time to start a journaling practice in your life, especially as it relates to processing those heavier topics and questions we are all dealing with, like grief, anxiety, illness, isolation, and depression. You can learn more and sign up at lovedoesthat.org/journalgently.

And friends, if you’re new here or trying to discern if Journal Gently is a good fit for you, and maybe you want to get to know me a little better first, then you can watch a free 30-minute workshop called 3 Ways to Encounter God on the Pages of Your Journal. Access that at lovedoesthat.org/journalingworkshop. It’s a video workshop, so you see me and get a sense of my teaching style and my heart for meeting God through journaling.

Okay, my friends, that is all for today. Until next time… let’s encourage one another.

RESOURCES:

Free Guide: Tips for Encouraging Others When You’re Still Healing
Free Workshop: 3 Ways to Encounter God on the Pages of Your Journal
Episode 15: How to Decline Someone’s Offer of Help Gracefully
Episode 28: How Elisha Inspires Me to Look After Others
Episode 14: How to Respond When a Friend Won’t Let You Help
Episode 56: How to Create a Personal Spiritual Retreat (And Reflections on My Own)
Episode 9 and Episode 10: Supporting a Friend Through Grief (And Walking Through It Yourself) with Karen Altizer
Episode 67: We Have a Hard Time Saying and Accepting “No”