Beautiful Ashes Podcast Series: Authors Beth Shuey McGuire & Victor Fadool

Stepping Stone Seven: The Mission

“Mission work is critical to kingdom advancement. I’m not claiming missionary status—rather, I am agreeing with God on my assignment. My mission has been years in the making. So many nights I lay in bed wondering, “God, what are You going to do with me?”  With confidence from Christ, I’m encouraged to share that my mission is to serve, in a large capacity, the enormous realm of women struggling to hold their families together.  My mission is to pour into the lives of couples struggling with the prospect of starting families.  My mission is to help no man separate what God has brought together (Mark 10:9 ESV).  My mission is to love my garden with Christ-like patience and grace.   My mission is to partner with ministries around the world, fighting the good fight, and changing the world.  My mission is to bring the Word of God into any untouched areas of human life starving for fellowship and faith.  My mission is to help build the house of God.”  - Beth Shuey McGuire, Chapter Seven, Beautiful Ashes    BEAUTIFUL ASHES PODCAST SERIES: THE SEVEN STEPPING STONES TO HEALING In this Beautiful Ashes podcast, Stepping Stone Seven: The Mission, we’ll encourage you as hear Beth discuss the Beautiful Ashes Mission! If you haven’t read the book, we encourage you to follow along in our podcast while reading Chapter 7.  Joining the conversation will be founding pastor and director of the Healing Place at Cross Timbers Church. Brian’s experience alongside Beth and Vic will begin the process of navigating out of the ashes and into the beautiful life God has in store. LET'S LOVE ON OUR FAMILIES TOGETHER.  We’d love for you to share with your family, friends, and anyone you know that would benefit from our journey! 💜 Beth Shuey McGuire & Victor Fadool www.beautifulashesbook.com

Stepping Stone Six: The Family

“Family is God’s way of providing unsolicited accountability. There are so many beautiful scriptures on family and what family means to the Lord. Psalm 103:17-18 (ESV) says, “But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.”  When a home is built on a solid foundation, we are given an environment to raise our families into relationship with each other, and hopefully with God. I’ve noticed that the steadfast love of the Lord then streams through generations of life. What a beautiful design. If you’ve ever wished you had an instruction manual, the Bible has suggestions on raising up a thriving family. The choice to incorporate a relationship with God into the home, I feel, is crucial to surviving life’s toughest blows. Reflecting on choice in Christ, another verse is brought to mind from Genesis 18:19: “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him” (ESV). No wonder I held on so tightly to the idea of my family unit. It’s God’s natural design!”  - Beth Shuey McGuire, Chapter Six, Beautiful Ashes    BEAUTIFUL ASHES PODCAST SERIES: THE SEVEN STEPPING STONES TO HEALING In this Beautiful Ashes podcast, Stepping Stone Six: The Family, we’ll encourage you as hear Beth discuss the role of family in her process of healing. If you haven’t read the book, we encourage you to follow along in our podcast while reading Chapter 6.  Joining the conversation will be founding pastor and director of the Healing Place at Cross Timbers Church. Brian’s experience alongside Beth and Vic will begin the process of navigating out of the ashes and into the beautiful life God has in store. LET'S LOVE ON OUR FAMILIES TOGETHER.  We’d love for you to share with your family, friends, and anyone you know that would benefit from our journey! 💜 Beth Shuey McGuire & Victor Fadool www.beautifulashesbook.com

Stepping Stone Five: The Road

“Direction. That word frustrates me and encourages me at the same time. I’m talking about instructions and guidance in God’s kingdom more than perhaps what Siri says on your maps app. When someone gives me explicit directions, there is little margin for error outside of detours that still eventually get me to where I’m going. Directions are instructions. Direction is guidance. Someone can provide me with directions, while simultaneously directing me where to go.        Not only is God’s direction for my life clear, but it’s become my heart’s desire to follow His direction and respond with disciplined acceptance. The acceptance is of my inability to control the outcome nor foresee what God’s plan is on the other side. At the same time, it’s listening intently for God’s prompting and then choosing a sometimes convoluted and fantastical journey that, to the world, looks crazy.”  - Beth Shuey McGuire, Chapter Five, Beautiful Ashes    BEAUTIFUL ASHES PODCAST SERIES: THE SEVEN STEPPING STONES TO HEALING In this Beautiful Ashes podcast, Stepping Stone Five: The Road, we’ll encourage you as hear Beth navigate the twists and turns of the road of her life. If you haven’t read the book, we encourage you to follow along in our podcast while reading Chapter 5.  Joining the conversation will be founding pastor and director of the Healing Place at Cross Timbers Church. Brian’s experience alongside Beth and Vic will begin the process of navigating out of the ashes and into the beautiful life God has in store. LET'S TRAVEL THIS ROAD TOGETHER.  We’d love for you to share with your family, friends, and anyone you know that would benefit from our journey! 💜 Beth Shuey McGuire & Victor Fadool www.beautifulashesbook.com

Stepping Stone Four: The Community

“Relationships are essential to healing. The hardest place to exist during the divorce was in the community, yet in the community, I found my solution to healing. The way God uses people, specifically family and friends, to usher us into peace, is an art. The author of Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ” (NIV). This means we are fulfilling the law of Christ when we love someone through service and lightening their load. What an honor. Naturally, this is not easy, but it is most certainly fulfilling.”  - Beth Shuey McGuire, Chapter Four, Beautiful Ashes    BEAUTIFUL ASHES PODCAST SERIES: THE SEVEN STEPPING STONES TO HEALING In this Beautiful Ashes podcast, Stepping Stone Four: The Community, we’ll encourage you as hear Beth navigate building community. If you haven’t read the book, we encourage you to follow along in our podcast while reading Chapter Four.  Joining the conversation will be founding pastor and director of the Healing Place at Cross Timbers Church. Brian’s experience alongside Beth and Vic will begin the process of navigating out of the ashes and into the beautiful life God has in store. LET'S BUILD COMMUNITY TOGETHER.  We’d love for you to share with your family, friends, and anyone you know that would benefit from our journey! 💜 Beth Shuey McGuire & Victor Fadool www.beautifulashesbook.com

Stepping Stone Three: The Secret Place

"Conversation is required for a relationship to grow. For me, the word is synonymous with prayer and meditation. When praying, I’m talking to God; when meditating, I’m listening to God. When I do both, I’m engaging in conversation with God. Talking and listening to God is all we did before the fall and, from what I understand, should be our primary goal amidst the fallout and confusion of sin. My conversations with God were born out of desperation. It began in the secret place. Let’s start with the Lord’s Prayer, found in Matthew 6. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven,  hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come,  your will be done,  on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,  as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation,  but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:5-13, ESV)"  - Beth Shuey McGuire, Chapter Three, Beautiful Ashes   BEAUTIFUL ASHES PODCAST SERIES: THE SEVEN STEPPING STONES TO HEALING In this Beautiful Ashes podcast, Stepping Stone Three: The Secret Place, we’ll encourage you as hear Beth navigate experiencing and finding her secret place to relationally connect with Jesus. If you haven’t read the book, we encourage you to follow along in our podcast while reading Chapter 3.  Joining the conversation will be founding pastor and director of the Healing Place at Cross Timbers Church. Brian’s experience alongside Beth and Vic will begin the process of navigating out of the ashes and into the beautiful life God has in store. LET'S ESTABLISH A SECRET PLACE TOGETHER.  We’d love for you to share with your family, friends, and anyone you know that would benefit from our journey! 💜 Beth Shuey McGuire & Victor Fadool www.beautifulashesbook.com