Western thought and male leadership frequently dominate church spaces in the U.S., and this impacts how spiritual formation is typically taught. What if spiritual formation teachings were to be thoughtfully de-westernized? What if the voices of women had been uplifted historically in the Church? What difference does this make for moms of young children? Dr. Cindy Lee, a professor, preacher, author, and spiritual director with a PhD in Practical Theology and Spiritual Formation, unpacks these questions and more on today’s episode.

Cindy and Lisa also dive into the role of intergenerational community in motherhood, collective parenting, deeper meanings of spirituality and hospitality than what we may be used to, and what we learned from the scripture passage from Episode 8A about Anna and Simeon—spiritual grandparents of sorts—who meet Jesus as an 8-day-old baby.

Follow Dr. Cindy Lee at www.findingeden.org and on Instagram @FindingEden!

Show Notes:

• More information on the Meyer’s Briggs personality types
• The Nap Ministry on Instagram: @thenapministry
• A deep dive into the idea of the motherhood of God: Showings of Julian of Norwich: A New Translation, by Mirabai Starr 
• Simeon’s Song by Porter’s Gate: this is a song about the scripture passage we meditated on about Anna and Simeon (Luke 2:23-40); it’s part of a beautiful 2021 Advent album 

Please subscribe to the SoulNourished Mama Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow us on Instagram @soulnourished_mama_podcast!

​​Today, we soak in the story of Anna and Simeon. They are two people who have very close relationships with God, who get to meet and worship Jesus as a baby and speak prophetically to Mary, Joseph, and others. At the end of the passage, we also get a small glimpse into Jesus’s early childhood.

You’re invited to rest in God’s presence through this lectio divina-style guided meditation about worship, the Holy Spirit's guidance, and Jesus’s earliest days in the world.

The passage is read by Dr. Cindy Lee, a spiritual director and author of a forthcoming book on de-westernizing spiritual formation. She'll be our guest in episode 8B, where we'll talk about this passage, "alloparents" and parenting in community, de-westernizing spiritual formation in motherhood, and more.

Find the SoulNourished Mama Podcast on Instagram @soulnourished_mama_podcast

Thank you, Mesmi, for the beautiful meditation music, and Ketsa for the theme music!

Today, Lisa and Nina Lau-Branson talk about the desperation of early motherhood and Nina’s journey into discovering the greatest gift she could give to her children—her own deep soulwork with God. As the mother of 2 grown sons, and a spiritual director, consultant, and coach, Nina has an abundance of practical wisdom to share.

In the first part of the episode, Nina shares about her journey and story of motherhood, then we explore the scripture passage from Episode 7A about the woman who boldly anoints Jesus before his death. 

The final part of this conversation is truly a treat: Nina takes a deep dive into the intersection of her cultural (Chinese-American), spiritual, and emotional stories. We talk about how our culture and emotions reside in the body, and she shares about listening to God with our whole bodies, especially in motherhood. Nina shares a beautiful, helpful framework about how each of our emotions can, if we allow, guide us towards our own preciousness, our own belovedness: the reflection of the image of God within each one of us.

• Guided meditation for breastfeeding mothers who pump 
• Books Nina referred to: The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner and The Language of Emotions by Karen McLaren
• Book: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk (how trauma emerges in the body)
• Book: My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem (racialized trauma living in the body)
• Kids’ Book: Listening to My Body by Gabi Garcia (Teaches emotional and physical regulation for kids)

Please subscribe to the SoulNourished Mama Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow us on Instagram @soulnourished_mama_podcast!

Bold. Courageous. Loving. A beautiful worshipper. One who will be remembered.

The woman in the gospels who anoints Jesus is often referred to as "the woman with the alabaster jar." But she is so much more than the object she holds. Her bold actions are praised by Jesus.

Come rest in God's presence and meditate on this powerful passage through this 11-minute guided scripture meditation. Nina Lau Branson, a spiritual director, consultant, coach, and mother of two grown sons, reads the Matthew 26 version of this story. In Episode 7B, Nina and Lisa will reflect on the experience of meditating on this passage and on the spiritual journey of motherhood.

Find the SoulNourished Mama Podcast on Instagram @soulnourished_mama_podcast

Thank you, Mesmi, for the beautiful meditation music, and Ketsa for the theme music!

Hannah Lee (MA, MSW) is a therapist and mom of a 2-year-old boy. Today, we talk about how motherhood has broken each of us down in hard and good ways, navigating conflict and finding healing within each of our interracial marriages, learning from Mary (Jesus’s mom) and her reflections, mindfulness in parenting, and the scripture passages from Episode 6 Part A, a 10-minute guided meditation on passages from Ezekiel and Luke. What does it look like to not judge our own hardened hearts, but to have self-compassion and offer our hearts to God for healing and refreshment? 

It’s a joy to learn from Hannah’s insights as she shares valuable wisdom from her personal and professional experiences, interwoven with her strong sense of faith and love. Hannah holds master’s degrees in both Crosscultural Studies and Social Work. She’s a co-host on Erasing Shame, a podcast at the intersection of mental health and the Asian American experience. Her clinical areas of expertise include identity, spirituality, anxiety, depression, trauma and intercultural relationships. 

Please subscribe to The SoulNourished Mama Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow me on Instagram! @soulnourished_mama_podcast

Episode links:

• Erasing Shame Podcast (Hannah is a co-host)
• The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective, By Richard Rohr 
• A great podcast episode about the Enneagram - Balanced by Beth, Episode #29
• Meyers Briggs personality inventory
• Shalom Sistas: Living Wholeheartedly in a Brokenhearted World, by Osheta Moore

This 11-minute guided scripture meditation (lectio divina) focuses on the state of the heart and God’s power to transform hardened hearts. First, we meditate on Ezekiel 36:26 about God transforming the hearts of God’s people. Then we meditate on Luke 2:8-19, where we witness Mary holding onto God’s miracles and promises about Jesus in her heart and thinking about them often. 

In part B of this episode, therapist Hannah Lee, MSW, observes that we often feel ashamed of having hardened hearts. She encourages us to instead look at ourselves more compassionately, as God does. In this meditation, we find space to come before God, name the feelings that emerge as we ask God to reveal the state of our own hearts, and receive God’s invitation for the transformation that can only come from God.

Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh.”

Thank you, Mesmi (@mesmi), for the meditation music, and Ketsa for the theme music.

Please subscribe to The SoulNourished Mama Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow me on Instagram! @soulnourished_mama_podcast

In a solo episode, Lisa explores the communal and individual lament found in Psalm 40. She shares about grieving and mourning racial injustice as well as the personal struggles due to the pandemic. From her experience as a chaplain, she looks at different types of loss and grief, and speaks to the “pandemic wall.” 

In Psalm 40, we see vivid imagery of God lifting the author, King David, out of a muddy “pit of despair”.” Lisa shares about her own experiences of God’s uplifiting healing through relationship with God, self, and others. She talks about the freedom and healing found in identifying the lies we tell about ourselves and discerning what God believes about us instead—what is true about ourselves—and finding the people who will remind us of those truths when we need it most.

After feeling like he was lifted out of the pit by God, David writes in Psalm 40 about being given a “new song of praise” by God. Lisa shares about how she sees this new song relating to the story of the woman with the alabaster jar, who came to Jesus with hope-filled, extravagant worship borne out of acknowledging her own brokenness (Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 7).

How can our own lives—as moms, as women, as whole beings—be extravagant offerings of worship? Lisa shares about the expanded vision for the podcast, which, besides nourishing our relationship with God and exploring parenthood as a space for spiritual growth, will also include growing in contemplative activism, working towards justice and anti-racism as an outpouring of faith. The SoulNourished Mama Podcast is a space to recognize that our homes are where the next generation are learning to love God and to care for our communities and our environment. And it’s a space for all parents, especially those who identify as BIPOC or are part of interracial families, to explore the ripe intersections between identity, parenthood, and Christian spirituality.

Grief and loss reflections in this episode are based on the work of Carrie Doehring in “The Practice of Pastoral Care”.

Follow me on Instagram! @soulnourished_mama_podcast

Thank you @mesmi for the beautiful scripture meditation music, and to Ketsa Music for the theme.

This guided meditation brings us through Psalm 40:1-3 and three themes that emerge: lament, hope, and a new song.

As we enter a new year, many of us are weary and worn out by the global pandemic, and the losses we've faced in the midst of it. In this meditation, we'll take some time in guided, silent prayer to intentionally cry out to God, as the psalmists modeled. We'll look to God for our strength and hope, to lift us up in ways we could never do on our own. And we'll ask, what is the new song we are being given to sing as we forge ahead?

Find me on Instagram @soulnourished_mama_podcast

Thank you, Mesmi (@mesmi), for the meditation music, and Ketsa for the theme music!