Peace That Outlasts the Storm with Shelli Jo

We talk with Shelli Jo about peace that holds steady in a broken world, especially when anxiety, divorce, or relationship conflict makes it feel hard to breathe. We lean on Philippians 4 and practical prayer habits to trust God again when outcomes are slow and life stays messy.

SHOW NOTES:
https://www.shellijo.com/

Transcript

Peace Beyond Understanding

SPEAKER_01 0:00

On today's episode.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

And God says, bad things are going to happen. This life is not easy. It's broken. And the passage I go to that has given me peace, it's from Philippians 4, verse 6, and it says, it's a command. And it says, do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation, by prayer and petition, just ask you with thanksgiving, present your request before God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ. So it's beyond our understanding, this peace that God is going to give us. And so just don't worry. Give it to God and just throw it at Him and say, Lord, I let you have it.

Welcome And Meet Shelly Jo

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Welcome to the Life Challenges Podcast with Christian Life Resources. Our world today presents people with complicated issues of life, death, marriage, and family, health, and science. It can be a struggle to understand or deal with. We're here to help by bringing good information and a fresh biblical perspective to these matters more. Join us now for Life Challenges.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Hi, and welcome back. I'm Krista Putritz, and I'm here today with Pastor Jeff Samelson. And today we have a special guest joining us. We have Shelly Joe with us. And welcome, Shelly, to the podcast. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

I'm really excited to be here. And this has just been on my bucket list, so I appreciate the invite and actually letting me be on.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah, well, you know, you have a lot of stuff going on right now. And we definitely have you on to talk about your book. And we also are gonna explore the topic of peace today and the peace that God gives us, uh, especially during the challenging things in in our life. But before we get started on today's topic and talking to you about your book and everything, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Yes, I basically have been a Christian all my life. I just want to tell people that because of the fact that with the book, I'm kind of talking to or wrote it for people who didn't know Jesus all their life. So, but I still had to learn things and I'm still learning things. So the book journey is for anyone on that spectrum. And I um was able to publish the book, and that happened in August of 25. And so right now, my journey is just to spread the message of it by God's glory, and I am excited to share it. I am a mother of two daughters, I've been divorced for almost well over 10 years now, and a thriving Christian through that all, and just love women and want to share this ministry of how can I breathe again and just give bridge this relationship so that we can be closer to God and then put God in our lives and in our our other relationships too.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Well, great. Well, thank you. Yeah, like I mentioned, I mean, we want to talk about your book and in it, would I mean, do you want to tell people that the title of your book?

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Sure. It's called How Can I Breathe Again? 10 Bible Truths, Enjoying Peace in Your Relationships.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Your book explores navigating life's hard moments. And I'd would love it if you would just be able to

Why The Book Was Written

SPEAKER_01 3:30

tell us a little bit about what first inspired you to write your book and what personal challenges shaped its message.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

This is a big loaded question, just so you know. But um basically, I was a case manager at New Beginnings, which is your sister company. And that was just a true blessing how God put me there. And I was serving these mothers who had taken the Bible information class, but they weren't what I call at that point living Christians. They didn't have a relationship with God, they necessarily didn't weren't searching for one. And it was my job to help them have life skills and spiritual skills and to hopefully live as a Christian if we could get to that moment and point. And so I could not find resources that were gonna dig deep into what they were dealing with and what I was hearing. And so I made myself write a relationship study once a month at our group sessions, and so thus the chapters were born. So and then the personal stories basically what personal challenges shaped the message, but it was really for the moms, what I was hearing from them, and then my story as well. And so, just to give a concept of the book, the first chapter was who really God is, you know, the gospel nutshell, you know, Jesus died for us, and we needed a savior because of our original sin and nothing we could do about it, but this is our situation, we're sinful. And so, just to have them know that God loved them, God forgives them, and they have heaven waiting for them and meat as well, and you as well. And so that's where chapter one started. Chapter two was really now that we know Jesus, we're in this fight, we need to put off our sinful self and how do we live as a saintly self and tools for that. And then my story came in as a I'm gonna say the trauma of going through a divorce. I was able to relate to some of their trauma that they had lived through and kind of how is God in our story, and it was to help them process that and to identify that, and then also peace and the fruits of the spirit because we have to live in joy and peace and forgiveness with one another, and how do we do that? And then the peace of the heavenly father, right? Because a lot of us may have great earthly fathers, but some of us don't. And so who is the heavenly father for us? And then peace with our people, a lot of people, a lot of women were dealing with, and I dealt with toxic behaviors, and toxic is sinful, it's it's just a big word for sinful nature, and what tools do we have to help get through that? And then peace in the perfect plan for sex, because they had lots of questions about that, and what does God truly say? And how can we live in the peace and forgiveness of blessings that God wants us to have through that? And then peace in my calling because they

What The Chapters Tackle

SPEAKER_02 6:40

were single, but they wanted to get married, and I was divorced. So, what does God say about all those callings and how can we serve Him and all of them? And then peace and obeying. I was hearing I just want to let my child choose what they want to believe when they grow up, and I just wanted to really be intentional about training, and then the risk versus reward, it is all worth it. It's fighting the good fight because we have the count of life right now, and we want to live that way, and it can ultimately have it. And so that was the personal challenges, and then the theme of the book is really how do I love that and love neighbors and my neighbor and enjoy peace in the process of all this.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

What inspired the your your title? I I I I have a sense there's something personal there with how can I breathe again?

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Yeah, I had to go back to my beginning thoughts of the trauma stages of because you just felt like you couldn't physically breathe. You had all this pressure and stress and emotions. But where can we find our peace? It's in God. And that's where all the scriptures in the book go in each chapter. And so we can breathe because of Jesus, He helps calm all of our fears through the good and the bad. So it just all that stress of not being close to God or being distant from God causes that not being able to breathe physically.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

You know, uh yeah, I I I think a lot of people, if they were in your situation with the um uh at New Beginnings with the new mothers, they might have approached it as you know, the same way that a a student might approach an assignment uh project, or that a uh uh, you know, maybe somebody at work, you know, they get they get a new project or something, and and they say, okay, here's a topic, I need to, you know, find it find something out about it. And then when they're ready, they they kind of, you know, the results something like, well, I did some research, and these are the things that I learned that you should do. I didn't sense that from reading your book, that it that that's that's what you did. If you'd like to expand a little bit on on how this book and in your ministry is a reflection of your own life story.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Thank you for saying that. I'm glad you took it that way, number one. And two, that you know, we're just always turning to God. We're gonna have trials and tribulations and suffering, and we just need to persevere. And I just know God's got me, literally, in the palm of his hand, you know, and I just remember always wanting to tell people about our identity. You know, God formed us. We are the Lord's. I just want to live and breathe that, and just always going to him and turning away from all the other stuff.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Yeah, when you were describing all the different chapters in your book, definitely I feel like a word that you

Defining Peace In Real Pain

SPEAKER_01 9:45

kept saying, of course, was peace. And I think sometimes God's peace can feel very abstract or oh, maybe just we're just not connected to it during really hard and difficult times. But how do you personally define that peace, especially in the middle of real pain or uncertainty or the challenges life brings?

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Very good question. So just being calm, being trusting that God gives us this discernment in the middle of the storm, or even with you're at the mountaintop of life, I say too, that it doesn't matter man's opinion, you know, you just have this connection with God that you know you know his truth through the word, and you can just breathe peace. And then the one passage that I come to is in Romans 4, verse 5, it says, justified through faith is peace with God. Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and in suffering. It produces perseverance, character, and hope. The gift of love is the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts. We forget that we're living with the Holy Spirit in us. What a godly miracle that is that you know he's gonna give us this calm and discernment and peace.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

And you know, can you share a specific moment in your life when you felt that peace that God gave you?

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Yeah, this is an aha moment. It was about 20 some years ago because my daughter was six months old. And I was moving across the country with my husband for his new job and leaving all my security, all my family, everything. And I was getting anxious, nervous, stressed, could see physical things going on. And I finally am like, okay, Lord, we're talking. I need to have peace in this move. And I know you want us there, but I need to be okay with this. And so I made a list of things I wanted. And literally, my husband was a contractor, so he could build a house from bottom up. And but I wanted to just move in and not think about anything about a house. So I wanted pale yellow walls. I wanted a neighbor that would come and just be friendly and maybe have daughters that could help babysit. I wanted a nice walking area, and I knew there was a church close to us, but I didn't know how you know close and far it was. But I wanted a good church with an amazing pastor. And so literally, when we got there, I moved to Virginia Beach from Michigan. There were pale yellow walls. The neighbor knocked on the door with a pie and said her daughters could help babysit. There was an amazing trails, and um, we had the best church literally 15 minutes down the road with an amazing church family and pastor, and I was just still getting teary eyed thinking about it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

I think too, um, I mean, many people really do get overwhelmed in in trying times in life and struggle maybe to find that peace. Maybe what are some practical ways people can begin to access or experience God's peace right

Scripture, Prayer, And The PRAY Method

SPEAKER_01 12:55

where they are at?

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Yeah, I say just really opening up the Bible. I forget, or opening up your Bible app, that I take it for granted that my Bible really should have a halo around it because this is God's almighty powerful word, and He wants you to read it. It's directly for you at the moment. And so the Holy Spirit wants to talk to you. So I and then he wants you to talk back. What a blessing that God wants to have a relationship and communicate with you through prayer. And so the acronym I use in the book, and still in my personal use, is P-R-A-Y. P is for praising God, R is for repenting, asking how to turn away from sin but turn to God. And then um, A is for ask for others. And you can make a list of, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Monday could be your family, Tuesday could be your coworkers, you know, anything like that. And then why is yielding to God's will and then asking God for yourself? God wants you to ask, seek, and knock. And so go to him like I did in that first little section that we just talked about moving across country. He wants to give you good things. He is your father and wants to give you these great gifts.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah, I you know, I I like that advice too of praying. And and I think sometimes, you know, people might say, Well, man, I mean, I've prayed, but I still feel anxious or I'm still unsettled. Um, I how how would

When Anxiety Does Not Lift

SPEAKER_01 14:25

you respond to somebody who might might say that?

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Yeah, prayer isn't a magic wand, right? We can't say, Well, God, I prayed for this, but you didn't give this to me, so I'm not gonna trust in you anymore. All this bad stuff is happening in my life. And and God says bad things are gonna happen. This life is not easy, it's broken. And the passage I go to that has given me peace, it's from Philippians 4, verse 6, and it says it's a command, and it says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, which is asking, with thanksgiving, present your request before God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ. So it's beyond our understanding, this peace that's got God is gonna give us. And so just don't worry. Give it to God and just throw it at Him and say, Lord, I let you have it.

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SPEAKER_00 15:26

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Trust, Perseverance, And God’s Timing

SPEAKER_01 15:56

You know, your your book talks about perseverance too, you know, really persevering through difficult times. And just kind of wanted to know, too, like how do faith and peace work together when a challenge doesn't resolve quickly? And I think, you know, that that's really one of those things where maybe our time and God's time are different, where you know, it's like we've we feel like, well, we've done all we can, we've given it to the Lord, and now we just have to wait. And yeah, so so what I mean, what would you say, you know, to to that?

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Yeah, for sure. The word that comes on to my brain is the word trust. That's like the connecting word, man. And and it's just giving, giving it to God again. And Proverbs 3 is um three verse 5. It says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, and all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. And I really think of Joseph, because I've been through lots of stuff, lots of different job divorce, you know, you can name, we all can name stuff that our life story is. But I look at Joseph, who was sold into slavery, and then by his own brothers, and then he's off to a faraway land, and he gets thrown into jail, wrongly accused, and then he's forgotten about. And then, but through all this, God is in the process and he leads him to be ultimately the second command of all of Egypt during a famine, and God saves the Israelites through him. They would have been extinct, died of starvation, but God put Joseph there, and for a reason, through all that stuff, and he was able to forgive his brothers and live as the Israelite family, and through that, God's promise of the savior came through. And so just I look at Joseph and I'm like, he didn't complain. We don't hear him complaining once in the Bible, and just being like, Okay, God, you got one, just like you had Joseph.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Yeah, the thing that always hits me, you know, with Joseph too, is just how long that was. I mean, yeah, from the time he was sold into slavery until he became the ruler and everything. I I mean, there's there's a lot of time there. I mean, you know, we can we can read that story in like 20 minutes, like it from you know, the one one point to the other. And for Joseph, it was many, many years before he really saw that. And I think that's something too that we all struggle with. I know I have too, about just surrendering to God's plan. And, you know, and I mean, I'd love to just hear your thoughts too on what maybe what why you think like that's just such a difficult thing to do, to surrender to to God's plan.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Yeah, surrender is a near and dear word to my heart, believe it or not, because it's giving up control to God ultimately, and just and we like to be in control and we like to manage for me a lot of things. And so I'll just tell you this little story about surrender because I was let go from a job, and as a single mom, that's very stressful, and I didn't want to have bad feelings about any of the situation or the people involved, and but I was just crying. I was driving home from this meeting, and I'm like just freaking out, and I'm like, I'm like, Ward, I surrender to you. Like, you got me, you know my future when I don't, you know my situation. And I basically said that word surrender, and up flies. I'm driving in a car, this Walmart grocery white bag flying on my side mirror like a surrender flag, and I literally bust out laughing. You see me, you got me, I'm okay now, and so I just remember that grocery bag. I mean, I should probably frame one.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah, it's it's amazing those little things sometimes that we get. Yeah, God is good.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

You know, I was thinking that with um uh some people will react to a uh a story like like your story and the the lessons that you've learned and that you're trying to pass on. And uh, you know, I think you know, maybe maybe like like the mothers you worked with at uh at New Beginnings, that they will say, Oh, oh, you know, you've been a Christian all your life. Um you know, and so they'll have kind of like an inferiority complex. It's like, I'm not like you. I I I I can't do what you could do. So

Peace For Skeptics And Lifelong Christians

SPEAKER_00 20:45

so so basically, so none of the advice that you're giving is really gonna apply to me, because I couldn't be you. But on the other hand, there are also gonna be people, and I'm we all meet these kinds of people, they're gonna have more of a sense of superiority. It's like, well, you know, uh, I would never make the mistakes you did. I would never get into the situations that you got yourself into. So you know, I don't really need your advice, the things that you have to say. That that's just not gonna relate to my life at all. I mean, both of those are really kind of negative, you know, basically saying, you know, just you know, leave me alone. You know, I don't want to hear what you what you have to say. How would you respond to that? And or how do you respond to that and uh and turn it into a positive direction?

SPEAKER_02 21:32

I I just try to say, you know, one, I've always prayed for for me to be humble, that God has given me this gift to write this book. Through the whole process, I prayed for people that helped me and because this was not the plan, but I kept having people come and ask me, hey, you should teach this in this setting and in this group. And I was able to, maybe this will help relate to the question, but I was able to talk to the prison ministry volunteers and do the study with them. I was able to talk with college groups, um, WLC and um GCU, and and then I did a summer group with moms and um teachers. And then my retired pastor at my church did it with the men's Bible study group. And so, and we did um a high school group um with the moms, even different studies. So it's been through I'd say the gamut of life. I even had a an elderly woman read it, who was a volunteer at the home, and just we would always have conversations and she was praying with me and she loved everything that she was reading. And so just we're all in this together in this broken world and with sin, but we have Jesus, and Jesus is there for everybody, no matter what background, what what you do or don't believe, God wants you in heaven with him, and so he wants you, and it's the only religion really that God a God ever says that. The other gods say, do this for me or else. Our God doesn't. He says, I love you, I forgive you, and I I want you in heaven with me, and you don't have to do anything, it's done, it's free. And so I invite people to enjoy that peace and the freedom of not having to do anything. It's it's a gift. Salvation's a gift.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Yeah, and that really is you know such such a key way to answer those kinds of you know complaints or negativity or whatever. It's like it's you know, you're you're looking at the wrong person, you know. If you're looking at me, that's that's not where your focus should be. You should be focused on on Jesus and your relationship with him. And um, yeah, no, very good. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Shelly, I wanted to ask you too, as you were writing the book, were there any surprising lessons that you learned that maybe even changed your own perspective on hardships or peace?

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Yeah, the first chapter really um just a side note was I had was learning how to do a TED talk. But technically, TED talks can't really allow you to be, I call it the full Christian. They might edit things or something. And I was like, well, if I could speak as a true Christian on a TED talk, what would I say? And so that's chapter one's video called Stop Scrolling. And through that, I really dug deep into Genesis, into the Adam and Eve creation story. And my new perspective was wow, thank God for Adam and Eve, their their faith, their trust, because they saw what we never will see until we get to heaven. They saw perfection, they saw God walking with him, they saw they didn't have sin and death and shame and guilt. And God made them with their own free will. They could choose, and they did choose to sin, but God did not condemn them and let them die right away. He graciously forgave them and let them live in peace for the promise of the savior. And I look at that story and I am just in awe of their faith and their perseverance because really, you know, I can see 9-11, I can see COVID, those were hell on earth, but they really experienced a deeper level of hell on earth from total perfection to total destruction of sin. And they saw that and they still were faithful and they trusted God, and the line of the savior was carried on through their faith. So that was my big aha perspective. Yeah, thanks for sharing that.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

You know, if uh if a listener is going through a hard and difficult season right now, and you know, they're listening and tuning into the podcast today, what is one truth from your book that you would really want them to hold on to

First Loved And A Daily Reminder

SPEAKER_01 26:05

and to know?

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Yeah, I guess the common theme in the book is my theme for the business that had to come out of this, in which it is first loved. And the passage that goes with that is um in 1 John 4 and 7 through 19, if we want to remember that, that's God's love chapter to us, 1 John 4. And it says, We love because he first loved us. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as our atoning sacrifice for our sins. So right there we know Jesus is the reason. And the biggest fears that I've heard in the universe from Tony Robbins is we're afraid of we're not of not enough and we're not loved enough. But God answers that right in that passage. And I always try to let people know that the Holy Spirit in John 14, one of the passages is But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. My peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. And so I put a visual to this and how we can combat those fears of I'm not enough and I'm not loved enough. That passage says it all, but then we can say an affirmation truth statement to ourselves, and we can say, I am loved, I'm enough because of Jesus. And we can use a heart. We can teach our kids this, we can teach our classrooms this, we can put this on our mirror, we can put a heart with a circle and a cross. Um, and dry race marker, I have that on my mirror. And it's I when we can say I am loved, we show the our hands with a heart. I am enough. It's a complete circle because Jesus made us enough through his son, through his death on the cross before the Father. And I am loved because of Jesus. So I'm loved, I'm enough because of Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Well, thank you very much for talking with us today, Shelly. We really appreciate

Where To Find The Book

SPEAKER_01 28:20

it. And can you tell us a little bit about how people can um order your book or find you or get in contact with you and maybe some of the things you've got going on? Sure.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

The website is Shelly S H E L L I J O.com. So you can register there to be on a monthly newsletter and just connect with me. I would love to do that. You can get the book on Amazon through that website, but it's also on barnesandnobles.com, Walmartandtarget.com as well. Yeah, I would just say come and join, join me, get to know me, um, email me, and um shellejowauthor.com if you have any direct questions, but you can reach me through the website as well. And I would be honored to hang out with you. We're always having different um events. I am doing a summer one, so you can check out the website for more information on that. And it's really for women right now, but men have loved the book and are reading it, so it's open to men as well. And I say seventh and eighth graders to adults, anyone who wants to just dig deep into building a relationship with God and kind of the how-to do that.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Thank you so much for joining us today. Uh, it was great to have you on. And we just encourage too,

Closing And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 29:45

if any of our listeners have any questions, you can reach out to Shelly, um, or you can also reach out to us at lifechallenges.us. We'll see you back next time. Bye. Bye, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Thank you for joining us for the Life Challenges Podcast of Christian Life Resources. Please consider subscribing to this podcast, giving us a review wherever you access it, and sharing it with friends. We're here to help. So if you have questions on today's topic or other life issues, you can submit them as well as comments to suggest life help. Please check it out. For more of a life.