Well, hello everybody and welcome to the messy table and ordinary space for real women, imperfect stories,

and the God who's constantly at work in our mess. So after a brief summer break, we are back,

we are ready, and as always, we're just grateful for a place to show up together and take a deep

breath of truth and encouragement.

You know when you carve out time for coffee with a friend or dinner with your spouse or even just

an intentional phone call with someone you trust?

There can be such refreshment and just exchanging stories and lifting each other up and

reminding each other of what matters most.

So if we haven't yet had the chance to meet, my name is Jen Jewel,

and I consider it such a joy to host this faith-fueled conversation-style podcast,

which unleashes a brand-new story of hope into your earbuds, your speakers, every other Tuesday.

And guys, with me today is my amazing co-host, Amy Groschelle, who happens to be

a regular here at the messy table, and we love it when she joins us. Y'all, we are partnered with

women of our church, life church, and we're big time fans of the U-version Bible app, God's Word,

literally in your back pocket, 100% free wherever you go. And we just also love

locking arms with brave women from all over the world, from all over the global church,

who are willing, just willing to share a piece of their story. You know, we flip on the news,

we scroll through social media, and there's just so much.

I don't think our brains can fully process, and maybe we were never meant to fully process

all the information we have access to all at one time.

As you're well aware, there are currently dire situations happening in the Middle East,

specifically in Afghanistan, and there's always an array of political opinions circulating on all kinds of topics here in the U.S., but also all over the world.

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