Friendship.  It is a word that brings joy to your heart or sadness to your soul.  Or maybe both at the same time. To have a true, safe friend who is on your side and in your corner is what we all long for and desire, but she can be hard to find.  

Sally Clarkson, author of Girls Club, joins us for the final topic on The Healthy Wayseries:  Friendship. We talk about why friendships can be difficult, especially among Christian communities, how we can be a healthier friend to others, and how we can help our children cultivate strong bonds and friendships, with us and others.

We believe in having a tribe of sisters here at The Sisterhood.  If you do too, you'll love this episode.

As a medical physician Saundra Dalton-Smith knows about healthy living. So when she hit burnout, she knew something had to change. She began to look at what both science and Scripture say about being whole and discovered seven different types of rest are required for a sustainable life. In this portion of The Healthy Way series, we hear from Dr. Dalton=Smith about these different types of rest, why we need them, and how to get them.

Saundra’s research found we need spiritual, physical, emotional, creative, relational, sensory, and mental rest in order to live out the full life God describes in John 10:10. In a world with constant demands and distractions, we must know how best to rest in a way that will restore where we are depleted. This means examining where we give out and how to best renew that area of our lives. Part practical, part inspirational, every woman will be able to relate to the need for restoration in at least one area of her life.

For the woman whose mind races when she lies down at night, the one who feels like she is constantly pouring out in relationships and never receiving anything in return, or the one who has run out of new, creative ideas, this episode offers practical approaches to many common frustrations. A holistic approach Dr. Dalton-Smith wants us to thrive and her words direct us toward the how.

Is parenting in this day and age difficult? Well, let's start with the statistic that, currently, in the U.S. we have the highest numbers of anxiety in kids than any other time in history.  Anxiety and depression are at a peak point.  According to the CDC, the suicide rate is triple what it was in 2000.  Substance abuse?  Loneliness? All on the rise.  It is safe to say that parenting this generation of kids has some unique challenges that make it more important than ever for parents to be learning, growing, and paying attention.

The sisterhood is deeply grateful for the work that David Thomas does at Day Star Counseling in Nashville, Tennessee as the Director of Family Counseling,  And today he brings all of that wealth of experience and wisdom to the show for the benefit of all parents who are in the trenches of raising the next generation.

David offers help and practical solutions for parents on how we can help reduce our children's anxiety, how we can help open lines of communication as a family, and what it means for behavior to "travel down the leash." He also gives his professional opinion on the two actions that hurt our children most, and the two that most demonstrate love and health.

If you are a parent, this episode is an absolute must.

In the second part of The Healthy Way series we bring you New York Times bestselling author Karen Ehman to talk about getting healthy in marriage. Karen speaks from decades of experience as a married person. Her themes center around pushing ahead in the mundane and "showing up" even when annoyances are heavy. A realistic look at the everyday details of married life, we talk through the larger purpose of marriage and why we need to be paying attention to this relationship in the first place.

In true Open Door Sisterhood fashion, this interview tackles both the inspirational and practical pursuits. We hear how Karen tackled differences in parenting, disagreeing in front of their children, distinguishing between "different" and "wrong", and letting the small things go. From boredom to attraction Karen's straight talk helps us all know we are not alone in the mundane of marriage and she encourages us to not give in to mediocre, but to push forward for a marriage that is refining and refreshing to the world.

If you are a woman who is married or would like to be married someday, we encourage you to listen in on this conversation. Loving our spouse well may only be 10% sexy, the rest is showing up for the work, but the reward is 100% worth it. This episode is a great reminder of both the why and how to make our relationship a priority even when, especially when, we see the ordinary days stretch ahead.

Food and fitness can be tricky.  We often find ourselves on either end of the extreme spectrum: too strict and obsessed, or undisciplined and out of control.  The relationship we develop with our bodies matter, and it's important we give this aspect of health the time and attention it needs to be well.

To kick off our annual Healthy Way Series in 2019, Michelle Myers joins us to discuss how we can develop a healthy relationship with food by staying out of food jail, what it means to give morality to food, and how we can clean up our diet while still enjoying birthday cake on our child's birthday with no guilt.

We also dive into do-able fitness ideas that you can incorporate today into your busy lifestyle.  Our bodies want to move, and we look at some creative ways to do just that.  

As we stare down a New Year, most of us look to these two topics first, so let's tackle them together, and land in the healthiest place: the one called FREEDOM.