Welcome to Replay Friday! This episode had thousands of downloads when it first aired in 2021, and maybe that's partly because people like to hear about how others blew it! Ha! "Dumb Things I Did as a Newlywed" is not just for brand new wives. It's for married women of all stages. The problem with doing things incorrectly is that it may become habit-forming, persisting into the later years of marriage. Marriage is a "work of heart," including routine maintenance as well as occasional repairs....

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a daily chapter from the book of Proverbs in about five minutes. A Bible reading habit becomes a Bible study habit, leading to a closer relationship with God while increasing your wisdom and knowledge. God wants us to know how to live, so He gave us His Word, placing Proverbs right in the middle. Never underestimate the value of God's Word. It's priceless and proven: "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather...

When someone says or does something that irritates you, what comes out of your mouth? Unfiltered speech that stings, or carefully chosen words spoken according to the "law of kindness"? We are at great risk of picking up the infections of the culture, including the tendency to open the mouth with unedited harshness. If your companions, electronic or "in real life" are mouthy and careless, you will be influenced by them. But if your role models are biblically sound, that beautiful soundness...

Welcome to Replay Thursday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season! This episode, "When Plans Change," was recorded after I was released from the hospital following a health emergency. I had to cancel a trip, was grounded from flying for over a month, and had to make several other unplanned changes on my calendar and in my life. This was hard, but people face much harder changes.  We won't always understand why plans change, but it's good to remember that this is a...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit. In less than 5 minutes, you'll complete a chapter of Proverbs while equipping yourself with valuable daily living instructions for handling daily matters wisely. Here's a gold nugget from chapter 17: "He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends." (Proverbs 17:9) Disagreements grow in size when shared with those who are not part of the problem. Sharing our disagreements with others, outside of the...

According to various online sites, "self-care" is a term that became popular within the medical community in the 1950's. Regardless of its origin, the definition of the phrase is flawed. It's missing the soul: "Self-care means taking the time to do things that help you live well and improve both your physical health and mental health. This can help you manage stress, lower your risk of illness, and increase your energy. Even small acts of self-care in your daily life can have a big...

Welcome to Replay Saturday! Today's episode, "Courage Steps for Handling Challenges," takes a snake story and transforms it into a how-to session on handling things that cause fear. You may not have to face a real snake in your life, but things that make a person afraid are part of the human experience. There are steps we can take to break fears down into steps that bring the challenges down to size. Take a break for nine minutes of courage-building! Apply: Living What We Learn--Daily...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where listening to a chapter of Proverbs helps you to develop the habit of daily Bible reading. To build a Bible habit, simply begin and keep it up. Over time, Bible reading leads to Bible study, and God does the rest. With an audio Bible, you only need to press "play" and listen. Simple. Soon, your life is improved by increased wisdom and understanding. A trouble-free life was never promised by God, but instead He give us the "peace of God that passeth...

Welcome to BAM: Your Bible Application Moment. Today's application comes from Proverbs 23:9, which tells us what not to do: "Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words." (Proverbs 23:9) So why do we disobey this scripture so often and so boldly? Did you know that when we're disregarding scripture while trying to correct someone else, we will be totally ineffective because of our own disobedience? "Speak not" means "don't speak." So don't. More Bible...

Welcome to Replay Thursday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season.  Have you ever almost side-swiped a car because they were in your blind spot? We often "side swipe" people in our daily lives for the same reason: they were in our blind spot. When new cars added the Blind Spot Warning System to vehicles, it really helped drivers to know when someone was in that zone. The system detects vehicles in the blind spot and notifies the driver of their presence, often with...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs in about five minutes! "Little is much, when God is in it." If you need a way to develop a daily Bible reading habit, this will help. Invite a friend to do the same, and you can compare notes on what you've learned from each chapter. Why does it seem like people are becoming cruder, ruder, and lacking in basic courtesy? This is a result of living for self while disregarding God and His "Instruction Manual"...

Have you ever had negative thoughts replaying in your mind, and you felt powerless to stop them? This merry-go-round that you never asked to get on is taking you in circles inside your head. And what’s worse about it, is these thoughts are indicators of the condition of our hearts. Why is that? Because thoughts come from the heart. This episode title, “Managing Our Thoughts” is carefully worded. Notice that I didn’t say “Controlling Our Thoughts,” because clearly, we are not in control. If we...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, a series designed to help you develop a habit of daily Bible reading. Proverbs 31 is where we read about the "Proverbs 31 woman," also known as the "virtuous woman," but this chapter has wisdom for men and women.  Here's a verse that is good for all of us: "She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." (Proverbs 31:26) Words spoken in "the law of kindness" are easier to receive than words spoken in harshness. There are...

Disagreements with people are nothing new, but we are seeing an increase in the contentious nature of the disagreements. This is mainly because our culture is promoting a mentality that you must agree with only one line of thinking or you are automatically wrong and therefore intolerant. That’s a two-way street. Expecting people to agree with us 100% of the time is unrealistic. How did we get here? The answer is as old as the Old Testament. Listen to this verse from Judges 21:25: "In those...

Welcome back to Proverbs Chapter 15 on Build Your Bible Habit. This chapter, like the rest of Proverbs, is filled with relationship verses. When we apply the verses to our daily interactions, we have better outcomes, but when we disregard the Word, we have more messes. Here's an example from Proverbs 15:1: "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." Application: We can tell when a conversation is becoming tense, so instead of increasing our volume or using a harsher...

Welcome to Replay Friday, where we play the most popular episodes from previous seasons. This week's episode, “Four Ways to Stop Double Mindedness” was in demand back in season 3. No surprise, because this is a common problem, especially when we're faced with tough decisions.  Double mindedness overcomplicates our lives, making us unstable. This episode shares ways that we can avoid this unhelpful habit.  "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." (James 1:8) Apply: Living What We...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a daily chapter from the book of Proverbs. The second chapter of Proverbs reads like a "listen up" list of life instructions, written to help us to walk wisely even in unexpected situations. It takes less than five minutes to listen to or read a chapter of Proverbs, but this habit provides a lifetime supply of wisdom. Wise people make better decisions.  "For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and...

We tend to think of losing as an automatically negative event, but in her new devotional, "What Do I Have to Lose," Janice Wolfe demonstrates how Christ reframes losing into the miraculous discovery of an abundant life in Him. Losing is culturally scorned, but it is biblically desirable.  To find our lives, we must first lose them in Christ. This is a painful yet strength-building journey designed by God, but not actively pursued by many. Let’s face it: by nature, we like life to be...

Welcome to Proverbs chapter 19 on Build Your Bible Habit. The theme of upright living is woven throughout this chapter, giving us principles to put into practice right away. If you haven’t started doing so, I suggest that you pray before listening to these Proverbs. Ask the Lord to show you what to work on from the chapter, and then watch for pop quizzes throughout your day. Remember, sometimes people are the "tests" in life. You will find yourself applying the Bible more to your everyday...

Welcome to Replay Thursday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season.  Imperfect people can’t have perfect relationships, but God left us with the wisdom of scripture to help us do a better job. This episode shares three verses that are great for our interactions with each other. When we have better relationship habits, we'll have better relationships.  

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, audio Proverbs combined with brief commentary from your host, Francie Taylor. The Proverbs are known as God's "instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity" (Prov. 1:3). The book of Proverbs teaches us how to live what we're learning from the Word.  Chapter four reminds us that wisdom is essential. Take the next five minutes to saturate your soul with the "principal thing." Keep up this habit with a daily Proverb, and watch God show you how...

Welcome to REPLAY THURSDAY, where you'll hear the most popular episodes from the previous season. What does it mean to be “double minded? The Strong’s Concordance defines it as “two spirited,” “TWO” as in number. It goes on to define it as “wavering, doubting, and uncertain.” We’re going back and forth on an issue in our opinion, our purpose, or both. This phrase only appears twice in the New Testament, and both times are in the book of James. Listen to the bottom line from James 1:8: "A...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit. These audio Proverbs provide a great tool for getting into the Word of God daily. In less than five minutes, you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs, allowing the principles to sink into your soul. Before long, you'll go from listening and reading to living and applying!  Verse of the week: "Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Proverbs 20:24) We may not understand every "why" that happens in our lives, but God...

No matter how many times I read the book of Job, I pause and try to imagine the traumatic shock waves that must have been passing through the souls of both Job and his wife, not to mention the unnamed people who were a part of their lives. What happened to their family was beyond comprehension. It was as if they were living in a horror movie. People still go through heartbreaking tragedies today that we simply cannot comprehend. There are modern-day versions of Job. Have you ever wondered why...