Shannan Martin is wife to Cory, the chaplain at their county jail, and mama to 4 adopted kiddos. She is also an author of two amazing books, "Falling Free" and "The Ministry of Ordinary Places". She is a passionate follower of Christ who desires to equip believers to better serve the Lord by loving well the people around them.
What we Chat about in This Episode:
~Shannan's books
~Her journey and their family's life story (as touched on in Falling Free!) of going from living a simple, safe, and peaceful life on a picturesque, sprawling farm to choosing to move to a lower income part of the city in order to enter into the lives of others with the light and love of Christ ~The importance of loving our neighbor and also being loved by our neighbor
~What day-to-day life looks like now in the Martin's new town (as shared in The Ministry of Ordinary Places)
~What it looks like to draw near to people who don't look, believe, or live like us (just as Christ did!)
~Slowing down to notice the people around us; the importance of the ministry at our finger tips right here and right now
~Shannan having her perspective changed on whether or not our aim in life ought to be to live safe, secure, comfortable, "common sense" lives
~Prejudices and wrong ways of thinking Shannan had to get past in order to live this new life of being a good and intentional neighbor to people who are very different from her
~The problem of living blindly under a bubble, insulated by people who are only just like us
~The reality that we are all actually not that different from one another after all - we are all image bearers of God who want to belong and be loved and trusted
~Tackling the dark, quiet places inside of us and coming face to face with wrong, judgmental viewpoints we harbor towards others
~How to start this new lifestyle of being a good neighbor to others and seeing people as Christ sees them
~The importance of learning and listening to other people's stories; the impact this can have on our hearts and views of others
~Shifting our perspective from "What?" to "Why?"
~Leveling the playing field by humbly dismantling the myth that we commit "ok" sins, while others commit far worse sins
~Our journeys out of legalism and judgementalism; Christ's disdain for legalistic Pharisaicalism; the damage it does to the kingdom
~God rescuing Shannan from the life she always wanted
~What to say to others who are accusing us of living unwise or unsafe lives
~Surrendering the idols of people-pleasing and the approval of others
~The reality that "living the American dream with a side of Jesus" is not Biblical Christianity
~Living with surrendered, open hands
~The importance of acknowledging our need for and dependance on Christ
~Our unfortunate practice of regularly parroting familiar Christian phrases from a place of theory rather than practice
~Entering into the pain of others as Christ did
~The significance of suffering
~And more!
For full shownotes, head to www.hargraveshomeandhearth.com/podcast
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