Sifted Wheat

"Love your Friend"

We are moving deeper into the relationships of our lives, and how to love one another in order and safely, with a conversation about friends. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” We hear this a lot, but are we really considering what it means? Or if we are, do we think that somehow our relationships could be the exception?
 
In this episode, we talk about what “tension” might look like in a friendship and how allowing challenge, expressing boundaries and providing accountability is the best way to love one another well. As usual, I share a combination of my understanding of the Word, my experience as a counselor, and my own life story to help flesh out a better path of understanding what it is to “love your friends.”
 
Scriptures for deeper context:
Proverbs 27: 5-6, 17
Genesis 38
1 Samuel 20
 
Thanks and deepest gratitude for:
Tuxradio – audio production
Tina Marie Alvarenga – Logo design
 
You can follow me on Instagram:
@siftedwheatpodcast
Or email me at siftedwheatpodcast@gmail.com

Love your spouse

This is an episode that stepped all over my toes... but don't let that scare you away because even in creating the content, I experienced encouragement and empowerment to make changes in my marriage!
I take the time evaluate why Ephesians 5 feels threatening and the revelation the LORD gave me to help me distinguish His plan for love in my marriage versus what I fear that holds me back.
Not only do we discuss what loving our spouse includes and what we can do to improve our relationship, but I also provided very practical ways to shift our communication so that we are calling up our spouses and not criticizing and condemning them.
As always, I present opportunities to consider your role and engagement and provide guidance to move in a healthier direction, the way to love your spouse well!
Scriptures discussed:
Genesis 2
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Ephesians 5:21-25
Philippians 2:1-4
Luke 6:45
>> Sandpaper Marriage Podcast that talks about your "marriage mission":
⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/greg-mcgaha8/episodes/Episode-21-Does-Your-Marriage-Have-an-Identity-e2hq8v6⁠
Unending thanks and gratitude to:
Tuxradio - audio production
Tina Alverenga - logo design

Love your children

Do you want to understand your children better? Do you want to love them in a way that will make them healthier individuals? Do you desire to have a better impact on your kids? Young or old, in school or in a crib, this conversation opens up some practical ways to love your children well.
Another purpose of this episode is to reach into the hearts of soul wounds inflicted on us as children, and how we can extend healing instead of inflict those same injuries on our own children. This is an important conversation about necessary choices that can help us guide our parenting in a way that models the ways of our heavenly Father (the perfect Parent) parents us, safely and healthily. We explore what it means to "bring our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" that is often translated out of context.
Scriptures highlighted:
Matthew 18:6
Ephesians 6:4
If you haven't yet, would you leave a rating and a review so that others can make their way to our community? Thank you for listening and joining the journey!
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Audio production - Tuxradio
Logo design - Tina Marie Alverenga

Love your parents

Are you struggling with setting boundaries with your parents? Do you need support to assess the relationship and give yourself permission to say "no" or create space? Or on the other side, do you struggle with not involving your parents in your lives, having them take responsibility for your kids or your emotions when that is no longer their role?
If any of those answers is "yes" or "maybe," this is a conversation for you! And as always, its a space where we look at scripture and see how Jesus engaged his mom and brothers and what He says about loving Him first.
Hopefully, this will help you think through some things and make some choices that will help you learn how to love your parents well.
Scriptures included:
Luke 14
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (yep, again!)
Mark 3:31-35
Matthew 12:46-50
Luke 8:19-21
John 2:1-11
Exodus 20:12
Genesis 2:24
If you haven't yet, would you leave a rating and a review so that others can make their way to our community? Thank you for listening and joining the journey!
Also, for reels and more content follow us on social media:
https://tr.ee/v5MWP77Qfc
Audio production - Tuxradio
Logo design - Tina Marie Alverenga

Love others, WELL!

We’ve all heard the statement “The church is a hospital” but if we are honest, we are looking less like a hospital where people can come and find healing and leave better, and have become more like a hospice where we choose to remain comfortable until we die. If those feel like harsh words, maybe it is because they fatefully ring true. This episode is about discovering what it means to love people enough to help them get BETTER! This requires engagement and conversation and intimacy that goes beyond what “feels good” into what is actually “beneficial.”
Scriptures referenced:
Mark 10:17-22
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
1 John 4:8, 18
Matthew 5:43-48
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Out of Order Series: Love others SAFELY

Disordered "love" opens us up to harm.
If we aren't careful we can elevate our love for others, making what God created the SOURCE of our love instead of Him being the source through which we love others. This often happens through the magnification of others meeting our needs, allowing them to be "god-like." This opens us up to get hurt and for us to be victimized in ways that God's love for us seeks to protect us. Or, the other extreme of that is, we become aggressors in our demand towards others to meet and gratify our desires or for our need to be the only one to gratify those things in them. Loving God first allows Him to meet our needs, and from there, He will move us into relationships so that we can love others safely.
Scripture referenced:
1 John 4:18
Resources on attachments:
Attachments - Clinton and Sibcy
God Attachment - Clinton and Straub
Unending thanks and gratitude to:
Tuxradio - audio production
Tina Marie Alverenga - logo creation/design
Follow for more content at:
@siftedwheatpodcast on instagram
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Out of Order Series: Love Yourself

We are continuing to open up about the order of “love” with “Love Yourself” in part 2 of the Out of Order Series. Hopefully, you are learning what “love” is so that you can operate in it more fully and more safely. Remember, God wants to guard our hearts to guide our hearts, and He can only do that if we get the order right. So today we are allowing that love for Him to guide us in loving ourselves.
 
“Self love” is a word that gets a lot of attention, and it should, but more often than not, it ends up being more akin to lust – fueled by possession and need rather than protection and companionship. We don’t want to be “lovers of ourselves” which leads us into self-gratification to the exclusion of others, but rather we want God’s love to extend to our worth and lead us to be loving and gracious towards ourselves, keeping us guarded instead of open to deception, and engaging care for self for continued health.
 
If I love myself OVER God, it becomes dangerous to others, setting them up to be hurt, misused, and/or abandoned. When the narrative of my love shifts into only what is “best for me” then I am excluding a huge majority of the population. God’s love, in its purity, includes self but extends to embrace and acknowledge others in a way that promotes value and grace.
 
Love without limits (read that as “boundaries”) isn’t freedom, its chaotic and oppressive. Keep listening to learn why and how.
 
Scriptures to follow up with:
Romans 12:1
2 Timothy 3:1-2 and 3-5
Hebrews 12:16
 
Unending gratitude to:
Tuxradio – audio editing and production
Tina Marie Alverenga – logo and design

Out of Order Series: Love the LORD, your God

We open a new series about the order of love and how we often get it out of order with the first episode and the first order: Love the LORD, your God.
Do you ever wonder what love is? Do you wonder what God's love means and how it sets us up to have healthier relationships? This episode explores why this is the first and foremost commandment and how it is also the foundation for any other love that we receive or extend. It also explores more of what it means to love God with our whole heart, mind and strength and provides some support in how to get back in order.
Scriptures referenced:
Matthew 22:34-40
Mark 12:29-31
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Unending thanks and gratitude to:
Tuxradio - audio production
Tina Marie Alverenga - logo creation and design

How do I trust God when it doesn’t feel good?

This episode is opening the door to my own sifting season that is presently being experienced. Sometimes what is happening in our lives doesn't reflect God's promises, and if we aren't careful, we might even think that it doesn't reflect His goodness.
I want to take some time and talk through 4 things that I have committed to doing which has helped me both in this season and also in past seasons:
1. Believe God over your circumstances.
2. Talk to God to gain His perspective.
3. Lean not on your own understanding.
4. Focus on His character over your needs.
Join me as I walk through each one of these steps and how to practically apply them to your life.
Resources and scriptures referenced:
"Holier Than Thou" - Jackie Hill Perry
Hosea 14:2
Psalm 139:17-18
Psalm 27:13
Proverbs 3:5-6
Genesis 15:1-12
Psalm 145:8-9
1 Corinthians 10:13
Jeremiah 29:11
Unending thanks to:
Tuxradio - audio production/edit
Tina Marie Alverenga - logo creation and design

Do it afraid

We are continuing the conversation with Trey Oldham, and this time we are going to dive into more experiences of being obedient in the face of fear or even discomfort. We are called to be generous and loving regardless of our preferences or preconceived notions. Trey reminds us "Grace and love is messy" and as followers of Christ we are called to love well. Join us as we walk through our own struggles and the uncovered and unexpected blessings of obedience.
Scriptures referred to:
Matthew 6:3-4
Hebrews 13:12
Unending thanks and gratitude to:
Tuxradio - Audio production
Tina Marie Alverenga - logo/graphic art
Feel free to follow me on instagram @siftedwheatpodcast so we can continue to connect!