Hey, Friend!
Whether you are male or female, I want you to listen to this episode. I am thrilled that I get to talk about it AGAIN, since Episode 53 of the Heal Podcast made it to the number 11 spot in our countdown! This episode was birthed when some of my friends and I were talking about one of the numerous feminine health issues that are typically whispered about but never spoken about publicly.
While I knew it might seem embarrassing, I wanted to cover the physical pain and limitations that can come with many different issues surrounding women’s health. And what better two people than two of my best friends (who else could I get to talk this candidly with me about issues like this?!) who have their own personal and professional journeys in the women’s health sector. Please welcome back Hannah Shope and Kaitlyn Squanda for one of my favorite episodes, All Things Women!
I don't know if we cover ALL things women in this episode, but we cover a whole lot of them. From the different euphemisms we use for women’s menstrual cycles, to miraculous experiences involving women’s health, to painful topics like infertility and PCOS, birth control, and yeast infections that are often seen as taboo, the three of us try to dive deep in a vulnerable and candid conversation concerning how these physical issues have affected us spiritually.
So often we don’t feel like we can talk about certain physical health issues because they might require mentioning awkward body parts, but the truth is God created all of those processes that we can find awkward, both in male and female bodies. And if he created those parts and processes, then he cares when they are affected by the brokenness of this world, just like he cares about other chronic illnesses and pain that affect the more “socially acceptable” body parts and processes. This episode is not gross or disrespectful towards our bodies, but rather seeks to honor the host of issues that can specifically plague women both physically and spiritually.
And men, this conversation is for you, too - if you want a glimpse into a woman's mind, we're giving you a glimpse into three women's minds! I can’t give you an episode on awkward issues specific to men’s bodies since that’s not the world perspective I have as a woman, but I hope that this episode helps you better understand and love your mothers, sisters, wives, friends, and the women in your lives.
My hope in publishing this episode is that you are encouraged and empowered by this conversation to allow God into all aspects of your life, pain, and health, including women's (or men’s) health issues.
Listen to learn more about:
· Instead of joking about women’s “time of the month” and writing it off as something we can’t control, how can all of us in the body of Christ help each other out when women are more vulnerable and susceptible to emotional upheavals, attacks from the enemy, and more as a result of our fluctuating hormones?
· Specific stories of how God has showed up personally in three women’s lives through experiences of pain and healing regarding women’s health.
· Why women’s health issues should not be taboo, but be talked about in a respectful and healthy way, even in (or especially in) the Church.
Listen now:
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Favorite Quote from the episode:
· “I was just feeling really open and vulnerable and sad, and also wanting to hold onto this element of feeling back to normal, but why do I have to be on a birth control to feel normal? I was craving this wholeness that we all crave – we want wholeness and restoration in our bodies – and so the Lord was just like, ‘Hannah, you need to let this go, and trust.’ I think I realized in my life, again, not against birth control in general, but I think I was using it as an element of control, like ‘This is the only way I can be healed’ and I wasn’t at all trusting what the Lord was saying in that moment. [Since she gave up her birth control] Since that day, I’ve had a regular cycle, which I count as the Lord’s healing!” -Hannah Shope, Episode 53 of the Heal Podcast
Links from our conversation:
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For freedom,
Tera