Jesus Fix It with Jess & Steph!
Life is beautiful, crazy, messy and ever-changing. Thank the Lord, Jesus can handle it all! Jesus Fix It with Jess & Steph is about finding your way through the clutter; and perhaps having some laughs along the way. The Christian walk doesn’t always come wrapped in nice pretty packaging, so count on us to keep it real.
You can listen to Jesus Fix It on the Spirit FM website, the Spirit FM APP, and wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
The Jesus Fix It podcast with Jess & Steph, brought to you by Your Encouraging Spirit FM.
Jesus Fix It with Jess & Steph!
Jesus in the Mess
Faith meets real life in this heartfelt summer catch-up episode where Jess and Steph tackle life's unexpected turns with honesty, vulnerability, and plenty of laughter.
Jess opens up about her upcoming knee replacement surgery - initially bringing tears not of relief but of concern about letting others down. After suffering with knee pain for five years, she's reached a turning point where health has become her priority. Watch out world - there's a new knee on the horizon that needs a name!
Meanwhile, Steph shares how her husband Mike's job loss became an unexpected blessing, opening the door for him to pursue certification as a home inspector - a perfect fit for his naturally curious personality. Their story beautifully illustrates how God works behind the scenes during difficult seasons, ordering our steps toward purposes we can't yet see.
Through stories of loss, transition, and unexpected joy, a powerful message emerges: God's faithfulness runs through every challenging season. For parents sending children to school or college this fall, they offer this comforting reminder: "God loves your children far more than you do."
Join Jess and Steph for this refreshingly honest conversation about finding God in life's messiness, and discover why valleys aren't dead ends—they're pathways to new beginnings God has prepared especially for you.
Hey, welcome back, or welcome to the Jesus Fix it podcast, the show where we talk about life, the ups, the downs, a little pop culture and everything in between. I'm Jess and I'm Steph.
Steph:Every other week we dive into the things we're asking Jesus to fix. And let's be real, there's a lot. You can always count on us to keep it real.
Jess:Share some laughs with us and maybe a few tears, as we tackle the big and small stuff with faith and honesty. So grab your coffee and let's get into it. Well, hey, welcome back, fam.
Steph:She didn't want me to say well, hey no, but hey, we're excited to be joining you.
Jess:We're just going to apologize in advance, because it has been so long since we had a chance to sit down and hang out with you guys. First of all, we really missed y'all and, second of all, we're real immature today. Fair that is exactly it Real immature. I don't even know why?
Steph:yeah, you know, but I bet, uh, I bet y'all are definitely understanding this and relating, because you've probably it's the end of summer, bingo and stir crazy kids at home all day I don't like you saying it's the end of summer, I know, because there's still a lot of summer left, kind of it's near the end of summer, which means, why is it? It might potentially be getting comfortable outside. It is fine. It is not Okay, okay.
Jess:I will agree that it has been, and I cannot believe I'm saying this because I don't like it when people say it's a scorcher out there. It feels so old. Y'all, I told y'all, I don't know what is wrong with us today. Like we are, giddy we are. I don't know what is going on with us.
Steph:Too much coffee? There's no such thing as too much coffee. It's really not. But y'all.
Jess:First of all, let me just cut in and say this Y'all, when I had to stop and start our recording like two or three times because I said hey, I say hey all the time, steph wanted to say hey, it's for horses. Yes, I did.
Steph:Every time you're like hey, I'm like in my head hey, it's for horses. When you're inner.
Jess:When you let your inner thoughts take over.
Steph:Or my inner child just comes out, or my inner child just comes out.
Jess:Anywho, like we were saying before I interrupted, yes, it has been extremely hot, but I don't like cold weather at all, so I will gladly like take the summer heat. I'm sorry, I feel bad for everybody who's had to work outside in this heat. I don't like that.
Steph:I don't.
Jess:I really don't. I have really felt for, like construction workers and people who have had to, you know.
Steph:Landscapers.
Jess:Landscapers. I felt so bad for all of you. You know people who've had to do that. If that's been you, so sorry. But, I personally, I will take the heat over the ice. Cold weather that's coming. Don't like it, I'm so excited for it.
Steph:No, I have to give you some props though, jess, because so we're going to talk today about just catching up from the summer, different things that happened and something that was cool as a staff, we got to go throw our own pottery and it was a lot of fun for some of us. I tried, I tried, I participated, she did, she did try. But my props are it was probably during that really, really hot heat wave that we had that we went to this place. Well, if you've ever been to a pottery place, then you know there are kilns that are drying pottery at like 2,300 degrees drying pottery at like 2300 degrees. So we're inside this cement building, no air conditioning, no real ventilation, with all these ovens going, and Jess actually said, oh, I might've gotten slightly warm, and is this how Steph feels all the time?
Steph:I did, you did so. I appreciate that you understand why in the world, heat is terrible.
Jess:Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, thank you, I did feel your pain and this is so weird because, well, first of all, if you are a fellow listening right now, I apologize if I'm making you feel weird by saying this, but I am perimenopausal right now. Feel weird by saying this, but I am perimenopausal right now and this is the one part of menopause that's not affecting me is the hot flashes. I'm not getting those and I'm not bragging, I'm just saying, yeah, you are.
Steph:For those of us that deal with it, you're bragging.
Jess:Everything else, like I may have like one or two sporadically here and there, very few and far between, but I'm usually freezing and I mean, okay, you know what the look I'm getting right now tells me I need to shut up.
Steph:No, not shut up. That's rude. You can just say, hey, it is for horses, moving on, okay, okay, just you've got some major stuff happening soon. Talking about things that are happening.
Jess:I am getting ready to have knee surgery. I'm getting a whole new knee, y'all and we need to name it.
Jess:Why? Because that's fun? I don't want I don't know. I got to really think about this because, first of all, I am so super excited. Who gets excited for surgery? You do, because I am so tired of being in pain. My knee has been hurting for several years now. Several years now, probably for the last five years and when I first found out I was going to have to have a total knee replacement not going to lie I cried. And I cried because you know, if you are anybody who has a lot of responsibility, what's the first thing you think about? Not, oh, yay, I'm going to get myself healthy. I've got to do this. What's going to happen to this? Oh well, what's this person going to do without me? How long am I going to be down? Is that not?
Steph:pitiful, you know, but that goes to talk to how selfless you are selfless.
Jess:You are, I guess. But you know, now I'm really thankful that I am in a position to be able to have the surgery and focus on my health. I'm very, very focused on my health right now. I am trying to get into the mode of you know what? What happens while I'm out? It's going to happen Once I have that surgery. Then you know what it's all about getting healthy. I'm trying to get there. I'm almost there, but I'm going to get there.
Jess:But I will admit, once I found out I was going to have to have surgery, that was not my first thought. My first thought was oh my goodness, how is life going to go on if Jess is not like, come on, life is going to happen, like you know. Yeah, it does, it keeps going. It's going to keep going whether Jess is in it or not. You know what I mean. But yeah, so very thankful and just praying that God would just guide doctor's hands and that I would just be a good patient, but so very excited to prayerfully not be in pain and just to see what this knee is going to do, because the one that I got now she is done, she is donezo.
Steph:Yeah, well, we're excited for you. I mean, my goodness Y'all, when you see Jess out and you Walking around the studio.
Jess:Here we have a couple of steps.
Steph:Hobbling yes, watching her Just try to get Okay. The other day, oh, oh, here we go. The other day I'm sitting at my little cubicle and jess came up to walk to talk to me about something, and she was near it and then all of a sudden she grabs it. Her knee had gone out on her, bless her heart. But I was like I caught her. I caught her red-handed, trying to play it off as though it hadn't happened. We just sat there and cackled for like five minutes.
Jess:Because it's so sporadic, because it's like some days I'll be walking a straight line and I'm like, oh, you're acting right today, and then, all of a sudden, it'll buckle and I'm like, no, why are you going to do that? Why are you acting up? I don't know. Just take care of your body parts. Why you can't Wait a minute. That didn't come out right, but okay, you know what, moving on, I'll keep you posted on the new knee.
Steph:Yeah, well, other thing that I want to keep you posted on my husband Mike. He lost his job at the beginning of the summer and is still in the process of finding one. But God is good All the time. Talk about some things that Jesus has fixed through this process.
Steph:My husband Mike was always one of those people who is super loyal wherever he's at oh my goodness, so loyal. And he was in a grocery store for years and years and years as a cook. It just was where he ended up. It's not something that was a passion or anything, but he was good at it. He could do it Organization Fabulous. Now he's realized his real passion and God is allowing him, through these steps of losing his job, to go into new schooling. He's studying to become a home inspector. I mean to know. Mike is to be asked, probably like a toddler does, all the time well, why does this work this way and how is that happening that way? I mean, like goodness, mike has asked me why do we have hair on our big toes? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
Jess:I can see your husband asking that I can Right.
Steph:Right. So you know through the struggles of losing a job, if you've ever been in that situation.
Jess:Yes.
Steph:Wow, you know what a struggle it is, but God is so good.
Steph:And he is taking care of us and we are just continuing to trust in Him through this process and it's still, you know, not a guaranteed job once he's done with His schooling. There's still some more steps he has to take, testing and certification and all that. If you've been through that specific, very specific niche, then you get that. So we're still looking for something that he'll be able to land into, but praying and trusting that by January he's going to land into a position and it'll be good. Praying for you guys.
Jess:And I love just watching your eyes light up when you talk about your. Yeah, thank you. And at the time I couldn't see what God was doing in my life. When I first lost my job I was just so, just hurt by the whole situation and you know, it's not always easy to see what God is doing when you're right in the valley. But then, looking back, I see every step he ordered. I see everything that he was preparing me for. I just see it all. I see how everything came together.
Jess:And it really is true, you don't always see the blessing in what God is doing in those circumstances or in the valley. Sometimes you see it immediately, sometimes you see it way down the road, sometimes you see it immediately, sometimes you see it way down the road. And during that whole season I always kept seeing Jeremiah 29, 11 pop up or I would see 29, 11 somewhere. I would always see those numbers. And now I know God always had a plan for me during that season and it was in that season that I started working at Spirit FM and I'm just so grateful to look back and see where I started all the things that happened, because they all led up to where I am now, and so I'm just so thankful for just how God just orders our steps every step of the way, and even when you think there's no way he could be with me in this situation, he's always right there, never leaving you.
Steph:That's yes, no matter what. Like. I love that Because there are times where you're like, where are you God? Where are you? Why did you leave me out here? He never does, he does not leave us and when we can look back and see those steps that he has ordained and it's just a beautiful testimony. And your situation there of losing the job and then getting the position at Spirit FM and Mike's position, you know situation like while they're similar but different, it's so cool because then you can talk with someone who's walking through that same or has walked or just might have learned about a situation. And when somebody can have that conversation with someone who's specifically walked through, that is a great way to just point them to God and say, yes, I trust this, I trust him Check this out.
Jess:All right. Well, you know what else Not to like, drastically change subjects or anything. And although I'm not looking forward to a cold weather season coming, I know we still have, you know several more months. Don't tell me several.
Steph:Well, I mean it's only August. Yeah, september it should turn to nice and crisp and fall.
Jess:Yeah, but you know, sometimes the warm weather can go into October. I hate to tell you that.
Steph:But okay, I'll hold on to the butt Pumpkin spice is on the way. If y'all just saw this little dance that she did only from you know, waist up because she can't move the knee, I can't move.
Jess:I can't move my knee, but I can move these shoulders and arms.
Steph:Pumpkin spice yeah knee, but I can move these shoulders and arms. Pumpkin spice yeah, are you not a pumpkin spice girly?
Jess:not at all really I don't know why. I just can't. Wow. I figured you for a pumpkin spice girly. Nope, wow, okay, you are not on the pumpkin spice train. I'm a pumpkin whoopie pie fan, though what is that?
Steph:Oh girl, what is that? Oh girl, Like the moon pie thingies no, no. They are very different Very very, very different.
Jess:Oh, I think I know what that is.
Steph:Oreo tried to do a ripoff and call them cakesters. They are still not.
Jess:Oh, I know what that is.
Steph:Oh, it is like a cake like cookie I know what it is now with made out of pumpkin and it's a little bit gooey. I don't like that. Okay, rude. And then you put cream cheese icing in the middle of it.
Jess:Why do I want to mess up cream cheese like that?
Steph:Oh, mm-mm, oh, it's so, I am going to make them, I'm going to make them and I'm going to make you eat a bite.
Jess:You go ahead. I did make some of these keto cheesecake things last night, mm-hmm.
Steph:How'd that go for you? Wonderful, wait, you just. You said cheesecake, yes, but you know what a main ingredient of cheesecake is? Not the cake, no, not the cake. Cream cheese, yeah.
Jess:I love cream cheese.
Steph:But why are you saying that putting cream cheese icing inside a whoopie pie is messing up the cream cheese.
Jess:It's the whoopie thing. I like the cream cheese, I just don't like the whoopie.
Steph:Okay, okay.
Jess:Moving on Okay, whoop, moving on. Okay, whoopie pie okay, moving on what.
Steph:I took a lot of trips to pennsylvania, so maybe that's why I'm thinking about whoopie pies so much, because that's where I learned about them was when I moved up to pennsylvania I think that's a country thing too.
Jess:Okay, yeah.
Steph:You would know about that, being from the country.
Jess:Was that a jab? I don't know, it wasn't.
Steph:But I mean, I put myself in the country area rural. Rural is you know. No, I'm country, okay, well see you own it.
Jess:I was just making sure you weren't trying to because I didn't take offense to it.
Steph:Yeah right. No, it wasn't supposed to be. Okay, yeah.
Jess:Just making sure Y'all. I don't know what is wrong with us, but here we go, switching subjects again. You know what was really sad? Theo passing away, oh my gosh, Y'all. Yeah. Okay, so we're talking about Theo Huxtable.
Steph:He's gonna always be. He will always be.
Jess:I know he's been in a ton of different things, but he's always gonna be Theo yeah, no matter what, I guess we could call him by his real name, malcolm Jamal Warner. Again, this podcast is, you know, much later since he passed away back in July. But when I forget where I was, I think I was at home and my sister sent me a text and her text message didn't say Malcolm Jamal Warner died. I think her text message actually said Theo died. And I knew exactly who she was talking about because I was like stop it.
Steph:Stop the presses.
Jess:Yes.
Steph:Yeah, if you you know, millennials and Gen Xers definitely grew up watching the Cosby show.
Jess:Yeah, and even my son, who is 25, we were talking about this with him and he kind of sympathized with us because he was like you know, I don't you know obviously don't feel the loss like you know y'all do, but I did watch the Cosby show reruns and so I kind of get it because you know he used to watch all the reruns of you know, growing up with a Gen X or you know he watched all the shows and so he kind of he kind of got it.
Jess:You know what I mean, um. But there's some science behind mourning like your favorite um TV stars when they pass away and like musicians and famous people that you've never even met. There's some science behind that because you grow close to them, you grow up with them and some people you kind of feel like they kind of help raise you and shape you. You know what I mean. That makes sense. Yeah, because there were a lot of people online, um, who thought that people were kind of going overboard and were just like how can you guys be mourning somebody that you don't even really know in real life?
Steph:they don't understand that yeah, yeah, but I yeah it's. You know, I think about probably one of the best scenes ever from that show. I mean, a lot of them were great. But yeah, talking about finances, do you remember this scene? It?
Jess:was. Where was it when he was? The monopoly money? Yes.
Steph:Theo was saying to his dad. He's like hey, I want to move out. I've got like $1,000 or something like that. And his dad's like, okay, well, let me take away this much because you need that for rent. And then he's like and what about utilities? And do you plan on eating? Well, obviously. And then he's like and do you plan on dating? Something like that? And by the end of it he had no money left. It was like, oh, real life, that's his real life. One of the best finance lessons ever.
Jess:Lessons. Yeah yeah, so you just grow close to people. I remember, do you remember, the show Growing Pains? Oh yeah, the Seavers. I wanted to go next door and have dinner with them. I feel like 90s sitcoms, 80s and 90s sitcoms. It was just different then. It was.
Steph:They were like the 22-minute-esque shows and they always had some kind of they wrapped up the whole storyline, even if they had something that kept going. It was some kind of moral story at the end of it.
Jess:It's just so different from the way shows are now. Do you know what I?
Steph:mean, yeah, and it was okay if you missed an episode or a few weeks or whatever. It wasn't like you were totally out of it, right, and you completely have no idea what's going on anymore, right.
Jess:Yeah.
Steph:But there was just something about that moral wrap up and the compass stuff. Yeah, it was great, yeah. So other things in talking about loss, we'll stick on this for another second. I lost my cat Flynn. Oh, I know, yeah, I know he had cancer and it was a very bad situation and so Mike, my husband, and I had to make the decision to have him pass with dignity and it was very difficult for me, crazy to think about.
Steph:Flynn was 12 years old and, other than my parents and my brother, flynn was the only thing I had constant for 12 years, other than my parents and my brother. Like that is just kind of mind-blowing. I think I counted up that he had moved 17 times. Oh, my goodness, he lived in three different states. Um, like he was a well-traveled kitty had been to I call him kitty. He was 17 pounds but it was a lovely fluff ball. But you know I, I mean I'm we're looking at getting a new cat and maybe by the time this podcast is out we might have one. And guess what? What you get to be, auntie jess, I'm so happy I can tell you will be.
Jess:Oh, I'm not a fluff ball I'm not a pet owner or a big pet person. Right, I have a furfew. That's my pet nephew nico. He's my furfew, but as far as like a big pet person, that's not me, yeah.
Steph:But you've seen enough videos and photos of my dog, Penny, that you could be interested. Don't want to pick her up.
Jess:She's only seven pounds. She's tiny. That doesn't mean I want to pick her up. I would be in the room with her.
Steph:Oh, okay, let me text my husband now and have him bring her. Let me text my husband now and have him bring her.
Jess:Okay, calm down, but you don't want to be in the room where it happened to have her around.
Jess:Nico and I, actually we have an understanding now. We say hello to each other. He even. This is his thing. Whenever I spend the night with my sister, he has to sleep with me, oh, but he sleeps at the foot of the bed on my feet. He keeps my feet warm, okay, but he knows, don't touch anything else. Like we have an understanding, yeah, and I like that. Like it's taken us years, penny, doesn't we? Penny and I don't have an understanding yet is what I'm saying, right, right.
Jess:And this new cat that might be named pierogi, y'all don't have an understanding yet, but we'll see, you'll get there right, exactly, but y'all, the fact that Jess is even willing to meet Penny is ginormous.
Steph:Like my mind is just blown right now, because I've known you for almost a year and you did just say you don't have an understanding yet. So that means that you're willing to meet Penny, but I don't want to touch Penny?
Jess:yeah, that's okay, she'll touch you see. See, you know what? We just went back another year. None of y'all pet people come for me, okay. I have a past, I have a history with a bad situation with a pet, so don't come for me, okay it's that and that's totally fair.
Steph:I remember being little like I mean, well, I'm still short, who am I kidding? But I remember being young and little and getting jumped up by a dog like a dog yeah, it's paws on my shoulders. That was like I don't do big dogs. No, me neither. I was bitten by a Doberman.
Jess:Oh no, ma'am.
Steph:Yeah, yeah, totally.
Jess:Total PTSD. It's not just me. No, Like I don't like people mistreating animals Like. We spent like 20 minutes before we recorded this podcast looking at animal videos. Yes, we did, because cats of instagram are amazing, but will I ever own one of my own? Probably not gonna happen.
Steph:right me liking cold weather, better chance of that happening I mean, I'm okay taking on all the cats and all the dogs that are tiny, as long as we can have the cool weather okay, I don't okay.
Jess:Anyway, moving right along, you know what? Uh, actually we probably should wrap this episode up. We, we just wanted to just check in with you, since we kind of went on vacay hiatus for the summer. It was summer break, but we did want to check back in with you and let you know that we're back. We're back, we're back. We know you're getting back in the routine of things and we'll see you on the next episode, but we did want to say for all of you first time college moms and dads it's going to be okay. I remember that time and if you are dropping off a preschooler or a kindergartner for the first time, it is totally okay to cry. I followed my son's school bus to kindergarten. I did. Not a proud moment. Then I hid in the bushes and watched him walk into the school. Not a proud moment, but it's okay. Okay Just wanted to say that God loves your children far more than you do. If you could even imagine anybody loving your children more than you, it's him. We love you. We'll see you next episode.
Steph:Find hope and inspiration with Jess's Daily Devotion. More than you, it's Him. We love you. We'll see you next episode.
