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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast
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Content provided by Renovaré. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Renovaré or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
A place for honest and unhurried conversations about interactive life with God. Hosted by Nathan Foster from Renovaré, a nonprofit that offers resources, events, and learning communities to help people become more like Jesus. Learn more at renovare.org.
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303 episodes
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Manage series 79361
Content provided by Renovaré. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Renovaré or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
A place for honest and unhurried conversations about interactive life with God. Hosted by Nathan Foster from Renovaré, a nonprofit that offers resources, events, and learning communities to help people become more like Jesus. Learn more at renovare.org.
…
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303 episodes
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×In this audio meditation, Nathan Foster weaves together a selection of beautiful and challenging sayings by 17th-century spiritual director, Jean Pierre de Caussade that invite us to embrace God’s formation deep into our souls.
Nathan talks with Walter Strickland about his new book Swing Low and the way that the African American Christian experience adds crucial wisdom to living a with-God life.

1 Amanda Held Opelt — God, Goodness, and Grief 38:08
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Amanda Opelt talks with Nathan about finding her theological assumptions challenged during a season of deep grief. The two discuss the difference between wholeness and happiness and between goodness and prosperity in this music-filled episode.
James Catford joins Nathan to talk about Jean-Pierre de Caussade's 18th century classic book on trust, Abandonment to Divine Providence — book 4 in this year's Renovaré Book Club. Show Notes James Catford joins Nathan to talk about Jean-Pierre de Caussade's 18th century classic book on trust, Abandonment to Divine Providence . Join several thousand readers in the Renovaré Book Club to read Abandonment to Divine Providence (reading begins March 3, 2025). Join the club at a reduced rate Purchase the hard copy or e-book…
Reward Sibanda joins Nathan on the Life With God podcast to share his insights on fasting as a God-designed process of total surrender through which our bodies, minds, and spirits grow wide-awake to God.
Matthew Lewis joins Nathan to talk about his new book Human and the beautiful way God designed for our deepest longings — when we give them our attention — to lead us home to Jesus. Where to find Matthew The Follower Podcast: https://wearefollower.com/podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattlewis516/ Follower Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/we_are_follower/ Website: https://mattlewis.co.za Matthew's book — Human: How our deepest longings lead us home…
Today’s podcast is a 13-minute meditation — an audio retreat — on a prayer by the French priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Put on some headphones, find a comfortable spot, and let your soul be quieted.
"There are open vistas available to us in Christ," says Rich Villodas in this conversation with Nathan about the narrow path of Jesus and the quality of a life transformed by the perspectives and practices of Christ. Show Notes Rich Villodas is the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large, multiracial church with more than seventy-five countries represented in Elmhurst, Queens. Prior to becoming lead pastor, he gave oversight to New Life’s small group ministry and served as preaching pastor. Rich graduated with a BA in pastoral ministry and theology from Nyack College. He went on to complete his master’s of divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary. He enjoys reading widely, and preaching and writing on contemplative spirituality, justice-related issues, and the art of preaching. He’s been married to Rosie since 2006 and they have two beautiful children, Karis and Nathan. You can find Rich on social media @richvillodas The Narrow Path (Rich's new book) New Life NYC (Rich Villodas' church)…
Nate visited with Luci Shaw in her home and recorded this special episode about her life as a poet and the potential she sees in words to call us into conversation with the art form itself and with God.
Mindy Caliguire says that stepping into life with God is like underwater breathing — we have to learn how to do it and use the practical supports available to us. Join Nathan and Mindy for a great conversation about practices for spiritual thriving.
Brandan Spencer, Renovaré’s Director of Church Engagement, talks with Nate about family life, church renewal, and Renovaré’s new initiative to help communities step deeper into with-God life.
Author and teacher Jan Johnson joins Nate to talk about Jesus' parables that help us understand God's reign. The kingdom parables are the topic of a new book—created from Dallas Willard's teaching archives—and a companion workbook that Jan Johnson created. Show Notes The Scandal of the Kingdom Workbook The Scandal of the Kingdom Downloadable resources: The Foreword and Chapter One Chapter One of the Workbook Six-Part Sermon Series. The original audio series (for The Scandal of the Kingdom ) is being released week-by-week on The Dallas Willard Podcast . Want to participate in a course on the book? You can join the interest list here .…
Renovaré’s Education Program Coordinator Wendy Dean talks with Nate about wanting what’s best for our kids—and letting God’s vision of the best supersede our own.
Winn Collier, director of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination, talks with Nathan about hardships that shatter false hopes and the one reality that provides a sturdy place to stand.
Steve and Nate have an honest conversation about whether Christian spiritual formation is a movement or just a moment or fad. They also delve into the importance of total abandonment to God and the gift of brokenness.
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

1 Sarah Clarkson — George MacDonald’s Fairy Stories 34:42
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Nathan welcomes author Sarah Clarkson to the show to discuss Scottish preacher and fiction writer George MacDonald—a key influence on Sarah’s literary career as well as her faith. Show Notes You can find Sarah writing regularly at her Substack, From the Vicarage ( sarahclarkson.substack.com ) or discover her books at sarahclarkson.com Recommended by Sarah Free online version of The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories Free online version of Princess and the Goblins , one of Sarah’s favorite children's novels by MacDonald Free online version of Lilith , Sarah’s favorite adult fairy tale by MacDonald Sarah’s friend, Dr. Amanda Vernon, is a MacDonald scholar and children’s literature enthusiast. A website dedicated to books, articles, art, and music about, or inspired by, George MacDonald's sermons, lectures, poems, prose, and prayers. Recent Word on Fire edition of The Golden Key .…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

Poet laureate, professor, and author Ben Myers joins Nate to discuss a book that has been a constant and formative presence in his life: Dante's The Divine Comedy . Benjamin Myers is the Crouch-Matthis Professor of Literature and the director of the Great Books Honors Program at Oklahoma Baptist University. A former poet laureate of Oklahoma, he is the author of four books of poetry as well as of one previous and two forthcoming books of nonfiction. His poems, essays, and stories have appeared in many journals and magazines, including Image , The Yale Review , First Things , and Rattle . He is a contributing editor for Front Porch Republic and lives in Chandler, OK. His most recent book of poems is The Family Book of Martyrs (2023). Show Notes The "100 Days of Dante" project. The entire Comedy without commentary . Ben's article “ A Disgusting Poem on God’s Goodness .” Ben's book The Family Book of Martyrs .…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

1 Mimi Dixon and Richard Foster — Worth Celebrating 43:22
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Nathan Foster has an in-person conversation with Mimi Dixon and Richard Foster about the two introductory books in the 2024-2025 Renovaré Book Club season — Richard's classic Celebration of Discipline and Mimi's Worth Celebrating (a book biography that explores why Celebration of Discipline started a movement). Registration for the Renovaré Book Club 2024-2025 season is open! Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster Worth Celebrating by Mimi Dixon (Read an excerpt here .) Other articles, books, and podcast episodes by Richard Foster and by Mimi Dixon can be found at renovare.org…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

Author and podcast host Nick Page shares some guidelines for understanding the Bible and reading with a heart open to encountering God. Show Notes The Mid-Faith Crisis Podcast Some of Nick’s Books Nick Page on microblog
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

1 Mariah Velásquez — Practicing the Presence of God 27:27
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Mariah Velásquez, Director of the Incarnatio Center for Formation and Integration at Westmont College and Associate Director of the Martin Center, joins Nate on the Life with God podcast to talk about a favorite book—Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God. Show Notes 1. Book excerpts: Practicing the Presence of Christ An Habitual Sense of God's Presence Living Each Moment with a Sense of God's Presence 2. Lectio 365 Prayer App - A helpful way to re-orient to God's presence in the morning and evening. 3. Content from the Martin Institute's recent academic workshop, "A Crisis Among Us: The Problem of Christian Immaturity" is available here . 4. You can find Mariah's writing on Conversatio.org The Practicing of Presence . A roadmap report on spiritual formation…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

1 Julia Roller — The Right Book at the Right Time 30:32
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Writer and editor Julia Roller joins Nate to talk about how God uses books to guide us into transforming ideas and encounters and shares about the book that changed her life. Julia Roller is an author and editor living in San Diego, CA with her husband and three children. She is also the MomCo Coordinator at Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church. Julia's most recent book is Mom Seeks God, but some of her other books include A Year with God (with Richard J. Foster), A Year with Aslan , and 25 Books Every Christian Should Read. Connect with her at her web site, juliaroller.com , or on Instagram Julia (@julialroller) or Facebook . Julia's suggestions for continued reading: In “How Should We Read?”, Christopher Hall discusses some ways to slow down our reading and ruminate over the text. I love that although Hall’s thoughts are inspired by a desert monk (of course they are, Chris!), one of his suggested techniques involves his smartphone. I can’t think of anyone who’s written as much about spiritual reading as C.S. Lewis, and Zach Kincaid’s “A Reading Life” post on the official C.S. Lewis site is an admirable compilation of some of Lewis’s best thoughts about reading. Lyle Smith Graybeal and I wrote “How to do Spiritual Reading”, an excerpt from the introduction for 25 Books Every Christian Should Read , to offer some practical ideas for spiritual reading as well as some reasons why we should all engage in it. Richard Foster reflects on the books that shaped him as a young man in this article from Leadership Journal, “How Significant Books Become Good Friends.” Many of these books made the cut for 25 Books Every Christian Should Read. My discussion with Nathan inspired me to look critically at my own all-consuming reading practice. In examining my lifelong love of reading, I had to ask the question: “Is Reading Bad for You?” (See if you can guess my answer.)…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

Deep relationships take time. Renovaré board and ministry team member Margaret Campbell shares with Nate what she's learned through the years about the slow and beautiful unfolding of true friendships — with people and with God.
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

1 Joe Davis and Nick Page — Disagreeing and Staying Friends 32:58
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Joe Davis and Nick Page have been friends for over 30 years and co-host The Mid-Faith Crisis Podcast. They share with Nate about disagreement as a productive part of friendship and faith that helps us work through concepts that impact our ability to love God and others. Show Notes The Mid-Faith Crisis Podcast Some of Nick’s Books Nick Page on microblog…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

1 Adri-Marie van Heerden — Learning to Look Again 29:16
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South African Spiritual Director Adri-Marie van Heerden talks with Nate about making friends cross-culturally, the need for humility, and learning to see others as God sees us — with great regard. Adri-Marie's organization is called Tending the Fire. You can contact her at a3mvanheerden@gmail.com .
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

1 John Paul Westin — Befriending the Prisoner 29:45
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Nathan talks with prison chaplain John Paul Westin about the penitentiary as parish and learning to see each person there as God's "friends and special ones." Show Notes A few annotated book suggestions from John Paul: Cur Deus Homo — Anselm of Canterbury thinks about why God needed/chose to become human. The 3 Colors of Community , Christian A. Schwarz — How highly flawed individuals can use their propensity to sin to help build healthy Christian community. Fearfully and Wonderfully , Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancy — The human body (sick or healthy) can show us so much about the wonder of God and our human nature. The Shack , William Paul Young — God can heal the deepest wounds and betrayal. John's Gospel, John son of Zebedee — A look at life through the eyes of the beloved. Life of the Beloved — Henri Nouwen's beautiful consideration of the nature of Jesus' friendship. The Brother's Karamazov — Fydor Dostoevski's brilliant and crazy story of God's presence in a chaotic Russian family life. The Heart of the Parish , Martin Thornton — Seeing wherever you are as your parish and your life as filled with your neighbors and parisioners. Everyone. Hearing God — Dallas Willard's encouraging challenge to believe Jesus when he tells us we really can talk to God like we talk to one another. Reading the Bible with the Damned — Bob Eklad's believes that people on the margins often have intense experiences of God's involvement in their lives that are of biblical import. Letters and Papers from Prison —Dietrich Bonhoeffer's reflections on seeing God's loving presence in prison and how it transformed his thinking.…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

1 The Liturgy of Friendship — Elizabeth Moore and Audrey Elledge 37:46
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Audrey Elledge and Elizabeth Moore, authors of Liturgies for Wholeness , join Nate to talk about the formational power of liturgy and friendship. Friendship is a relational connection point many people struggle with, but it's a grand invitation into deeper relationship with God. —Nathan Foster Show Notes Books by Elizabeth Moore and Audrey Elledge Liturgies for Hope: Sixty Prayers for the Highs, the Lows, and Everything in Between Liturgies for Wholeness: 60 Prayers to Encounter the Depth, Creativity, and Friendship of God in Ordinary Moments Also mentioned in the episode: Every Moment Holy (liturgy series by Douglas McKelvey and other authors) Ways to connect with Audrey and Elizabeth: Elizabeth Moore: Instagram Twitter Audrey Elledge: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

1 Audio Retreat: The Cup - A Meditation for Holy Week on Luke 22 19:14
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This meditation by Nathan Foster on Luke 22 invites us to the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed “let this cup pass from me.”
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

Trevor Hudson shares reflections on the influence that Desmond Tutu had on his life — as a friend, colleague, cellmate, and “contemplative in action.” Show Notes Desmond Tutu's Nobel Prize biography page Made for Goodness by Desmond Tutu Books by Trevor Hudson Other Episodes With This Guest Ep 47: Trevor Hudson — Friendship with God Ep 73: Trevor Hudson — Holiness is Better Than You Think Ep 131: Trevor Hudson — Listen to the Groans Ep 154: Trevor Hudson — Meeting Christ in Our Tears Ep 153: Trevor Hudson — The Litmus Test for Lent Ep 215: Trevor Hudson and Jan Johnson — What Is Spiritual Direction? Ep 239: Trevor Hudson — Seeking God…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

“We enriched each other.” Luci Shaw speaks with Nate about her rich friendship with Madeleine L'Engle and how they made one another better writers and better followers of Jesus. Show Notes + Transcript Nate: Lucy, we get to talk about your friend today. How did you first come to meet Madeline? Luci: Well, Madeleine and I met originally at Wheaton College at a conference on, on literature, and she was a speaker and I was a speaker, and so we just happened to connect at that, at that time, and we discovered we had a lot in common. Madeline had just written a couple of poems that she wanted published. So, since my husband and I had just started the publishing company, Harold Shaw Publishers, I asked Madeline if she would like us to publish her poetry. Which is one of the things we had planned to do, was publish poetry people of faith. So, we did. We published two of her books. One was called A Cry Like a Bell . And the other one was Oh, I can't even remember the name of it. But this was very early on. And we discovered the more we talked, the more we found we had in common. We loved Bach. We loved the music of Bach. We had a number of common friends. That was way back when. Nate: Now, was this before she'd written Wrinkle in Time? Luci: She had written A Wrinkle in Time . Nate: And then you two went on to write some books together. Luci: That's right, yeah, we had our publishing company, and we were trying to publish, books by people of faith who had a literary bent. Anyway, that was the beginning of a really fruitful friendship. We found that, though Madeline had a number of people who were devoted to her and looked up to her, she didn't have many colleagues who were sort of meeting her at the friendship level, not just the sort of worshipful level that she had managed to accumulate. So, the first book that we did together, I asked her to write a book on faith, how faith and literature work together. So she, at one point, handed me this very untidy typescript. Piles and piles of typed notes and possible chapter headings and so on. So I had to just take the whole thing, pull it apart, I emptied my dining room, got the table out of the way, and started making piles. of different ideas that would flow together. We called it the Weather of the Heart . She needed someone who could sort of say, Madeline, you can't say that. You know, that's... not orthodox. We'll have to talk through that one. So, we did. We did a lot of discussion. She came from a very liberal background in New York City. I came from a very conservative background. And we sort of met in the middle and discovered that we loved each other's works. And we learned a lot from each other and through each other. Nate: What did you learn from her? Luci: I learned to be a lot more open about what faith in God was all about. That you didn't have formulas by which to describe your faith. That this was a freeing thing, that the Holy Spirit of God could work in different ways. We just enjoyed each other's experiences with the Spirit of God. We shared so much. We found that working together was truly an act of worship to God. I remember after working through an entire manuscript, The Weather of the Heart , we finished all the copy editing and so on, we spontaneously stood to our feet and sang the doxology, "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow." Nate: What do you want people to remember about her? Luci: I want them to remember that she loved God with all her heart. That she wanted to be God's child and servant. And I think that what I could bring to her was a sense that God was larger than either her understanding or my understanding of God. That God was so magnificent and so wide, in the ways we could reach to God through the Holy Spirit. So it was a very Trinitarian friendship. She loved Jesus, and you know, the fact that God was both Jesus and also the Divine Creator of the world. Nate: How did you see her work influence people spiritually? Luci: I think she asked a lot of questions that people had. People you know, had a lot of questions because God is knowable through various ways, but not always easily understood. And because Madeline had a very great respect for the Bible and for Holy Scripture, and she realized that, throughout Scripture, God speaks to us through metaphors. God spoke to Moses with the Ten Commandments, but also through acts of grace and love. It was, an ongoing, free flowing relationship that God wants to have with us as his children, as his followers, and both Madeline and I wanted to have that characterize our life and our writing. Nate: Mm-Hmm. . Do you miss her? Luci: I miss her a lot. I think I was the only true friend she had at the level where we could be honest, really honest with each other. We rescued each other several times. Once she was in California speaking at a conference and she became very ill and was hospitalized. And I was living in the state of Washington. And she phoned me and she said, can you come down and be with me? So I went down to the hospital in Santa Cruz and spent three weeks. I lived in a motel nearby, and came in and spent time with her, telling jokes, writing things together, just conversing at the deepest level about what our lives were meant to be, and what was truly significant and important for us to believe and to do with our writing. And of course, I was a poet. She's a fiction writer. And sort of, we met in the middle, which was a really good place. We enriched each other at that wonderful level. I also got to know her family. I spent quite a bit of time visiting New York and staying with her in her apartment on the Upper West Side. Most days we would walk over to the cathedral, Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Divine. And go to communion there at noon. And that was the sort of thing that we were able to join in wholeheartedly with no reservations. But also, when we had questions, we were able to share our questions with each other and search what the great theologians had to say and what Scripture had to say about topics and about themes. When we had doubts, when we had huge questions about what God was doing in the world. We could share those with each other and pray together. We did a lot of praying. Nate: Sounds like a really special friendship that you two had. What was the role she filled for you? Luci: She filled for me a challenge. She would ask me to move beyond my evangelical faith and open up to various other questions about who we were to be in the world, how we were to reflect the Holy Spirit's wide ranging creativity in the world. So we can be part of that flow of creativity that comes through the Holy Spirit into the created world. Nate: What was she like as a person? Luci: Well, she was quite-- she was, pretty strong minded. Yeah, she didn't suffer fools gladly, but she was very loving to people who were questioning, who were seekers after God. I think one of the things that blessed me was that ...…
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Life with God: A Renovaré Podcast

Amisho “Sho” Baraka joins Nate for a fascinating conversation about George Washington Carver — a man whose faith directed his genius toward the good of others. Resources The Man Who Talks with the Flowers: The Intimate Life Story of Dr. George Washington Carver , by Glenn Clark Essential Writings of the American Black Church , by John Hunt Tuskegee University He Saw That It Was Good , by Sho Baraka Album: “The Narrative,” Sho Baraka, 2016 “Bravery to Faithfully Create,” article by Sho Baraka on renovare.org Other episodes with this guest Episode 234 : Sho Baraka — He Saw That It Was Good…
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