A Conversation on Transparency, Inconvenience, and Discipleship with Yolanda Solomon

The Best Kept Secret exists to help women identify the secret to healing their hearts and connecting with others despite their past. Here, you'll find engaging conversations and important questions that help us connect to the body of Christ despite what the culture believes to be true.

During this episode, we are learning how to open our lives up to others and invite God to do the heavy lifting in the process of discipleship.

43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Yolanda M. Solomon is the director of discipleship at Epiphany Church in Brooklyn, New York, where she teaches and creates discipleship curriculum and resources. She has also worked in campus ministry at Columbia University in New York, where she was blessed to serve undergraduate students for seven years. Yolanda is a disciple of Christ, a Brooklyn native, and a lifelong Knicks fan, which richly fuels her prayer life. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Purchase Discipleship as Holy Collaboration

Connect with Yolanda on IG

Connect with Me on IG

Grab Your Copy of Selah here

Purchase your copy of Selah: A Study of 1 and 2 Samuel

A Conversation on Idolatry, Grace, and Purpose with Molly Stillman

The Best Kept Secret exists to help women identify the secret to healing their hearts and connecting with others despite their past. Here, you'll find engaging conversations and important questions that help us connect to the body of Christ despite what the culture believes to be true.

This episode, we are learning how to trust the Lord with every aspect of our lives and invite His presence to transform the hardest parts.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Molly Stillman is the host of the Can I Laugh on Your Shoulder? podcast and a sought-after speaker. The lifestyle blog she started in 2007, Still Being Molly, is a community for women who love ethical style, clean beauty, parenting, funny stories, and serving in their communities. Her deep passion lies in inspiring women to know they were created on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose. Molly lives with her husband John, children Lilly and Amos, and various and sundry animals on a small farm in Durham, North Carolina. She loves Jesus a whole lot, drinks too much Diet Coke, and eats a lot of Chipotle burritos. You can find her on the internets at stillbeingmolly.com.

Purchase If I Don't Laugh, I'll Cry

Connect with Molly on IG

Connect with Me on IG

Show Notes are Here

Purchase your copy of Selah: A Study of 1 and 2 Samuel

A Conversation on Shame, Faith, and Purpose with Mariela Rosario

The Best Kept Secret exists to help women identify the secret to healing their hearts and connecting with others despite their past. Here, you'll find engaging conversations and important questions that help us connect to the body of Christ despite what the culture believes to be true.

This episode, we are learning how the enemy wars against women who have been called to Christ and how the Lord protects them.

8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Deeply wounded as a child, Mariela Rosario grew up with pain that seemed too profound to heal. She fell into toxic habits of drug use, people-pleasing, and shame. Then, alone in her house in 2015, Mariela experienced a miraculous encounter with God that prompted her to turn away from those destructive patterns and begin attending church. As her relationship with Jesus deepened, she launched a ministry to help other women overcome their past hurts so that they, too, could walk in freedom and joy. Because when a woman’s God-given purpose is activated, she speaks fire.

Purchase She Speaks Fire

Connect with Mariela on IG

Connect with Me on IG

Purchase your copy of Selah: A Study of 1 and 2 Samuel

A Conversation on Surrender, Healing, and the Holy Spirit with Vivian Mabuni

The Best Kept Secret exists to help women identify the secret to healing their hearts and connecting with others despite their past. Here, you'll find engaging conversations and important questions that help us connect to the body of Christ despite what the culture believes to be true.

This season, we are learning how the enemy misleads church girls and to what lengths the Lord goes to restore our faith in Him.

Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: About sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

Vivian Mabuni is a national speaker, author, bible teacher and podcast host. Her writing has appeared in Christianity Today, SheReadsTruth, Our Daily Bread, Propel Sophia and her teachings have been featured on the YouVersion Bible App’s “Verse of the Day.”

With over 30 years on staff with Cru, Viv loves teaching about the Bible and its practical application to ministry and life. She has been a keynote speaker at IF:Gathering, Cru Winter Conferences, Family Life’s “Weekend To Remember,” and women’s events across the country.

Author of "Open Hands, Willing Heart”, she also serves on the Board of Trustees for Denver Seminary and is the founder & host of “Someday Is Here” a podcast for AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) leaders. Viv loves drinking coffee with her husband of 32 years, Darrin, and marveling at their young adult kids. Connect with her on Instagram@vivmabuni or on her website www.vivianmabuni.com

Purchase Open Hands Willing Heart

Connect with Viv on IG

Connect with Me on IG

Podcast Notes

Purchase your copy of Selah: A Study of 1 and 2 Samue

A Conversation on Church Girls, Witchcraft, Rebellion, and Restoration with Dr. Sarita Lyons

The Best Kept Secret exists to help women identify the secret to healing their hearts and connecting with others despite their past. Here, you'll find engaging conversations and important questions that help us connect to the body of Christ despite what the culture believes to be true.

This season, we are learning how the enemy misleads church girls and to what lengths the Lord goes to restore our faith in Him.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Dr. Sarita Lyons, affectionately called “Dr. Sarita,” is a wife, mother, speaker, bible teacher, and psychotherapist. Dr. Lyons speaks, writes, and advocates about the intersections of faith, mental health, and justice; as well as women’s issues in and outside of the church. Most importantly, Dr. Lyons is called to unashamedly preach the unadulterated Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Lyons is passionate about the emotional and spiritual health of the Church, making disciples, and developing leaders. She deeply cares about the Church being stabilized in Christ amidst the changing tides and influence of culture. She is a highly sought-after speaker and consultant for churches, women's groups, organizations, and educational institutions around the country.

Dr. Lyons will soon release her first published book titled Church Girl, published by WaterBrook & Multnomah, which is the Christian imprint of Penguin Random House.

Purchase Church Girl

Connect with Dr. Sarita on IG

Connect with Me on IG

Podcast Notes

Want to subscribe to Selah on YouVersion? Join the 7 Day devotional here.

Purchase your copy of Selah: A Study of 1 and 2 Samue

Welcome to season 7!

Unlike previous seasons that we've shared together, I will not have a specific theme for each of the seasons moving forward. Instead, it is my hope that we will learn to really listen to those who have different experiences from our own. Listening to their experiences and how the Lord has moved in their lives will give us greater empathy for one another and a deeper opportunity to pray more intentionally.

If there's anything we need in this world, it's empathy. And in the middle of a political season here in the United States, we can't have enough of it.

I'd love to convince you of this through a sermon I preached at Avenue Church a few weeks ago. Would you listen in? I'll be referencing 1 Kings 1, 2 Samuel 11, and 1 Chronicles 22:9 if you'd like to follow along.

Purchase your copy of Selah: A Study of 1 and 2 Samuel today and don't forget to leave a review.

A Conversation on Releasing Old Assignments and Walking Away with Dr. Quantrilla Ard

We are finally at the end of our series on contentment and we have covered everything from how contentment is influenced by prayer, the culture, our spiritual disciplines, sorrow, and now release.

Have you ever questioned if your inability to experience contentment is connected to your decision to hold on to assignments you should have released? Could it be time to walk away from a few things?

It's the perfect time to reflect on our motives, and this conversation is one for the books. I pray it supports your growth and the development of contentment in your lives. I know it has mine.

Quantrilla Ard, PhD, lives in the Atlanta area along with her husband and three littles. She is a faith-based personal and spiritual development author and dynamic speaker who believes in the power of collective strength, community, and fellowship.

A passionate creative at heart, Dr. Quanny has answered the call to encourage women in all stages of life and of various backgrounds through empathy, transparency, and love. She holds a doctoral degree in Health Psychology and is an advocate and champion for social and reproductive justice with a focus on Black maternal and infant health and mortality. Dr. Quanny is a professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine, and she uses her social media platforms to engage, educate, and inform others about her doctoral research and personal experience with preeclampsia. In addition, she provides expert opinions on the same in various print and online media outlets.

Dr. Quanny humbly stewards a grief and loss community and podcast, both entitled It’s All Grief to Me, as a coach and liaison for individuals navigating their loss journeys. You can find her sharing stories of triumph as well as follow her and the work she is involved in at www.thephdmamma.com.

My First Episode with Dr. Quanny on Apple

Want to subscribe to Selah on YouVersion? Join the 7 Day devotional here.

Purchase your copy of Selah: A Study of 1 and 2 Samuel

A Conversation on Suffering and Contentment with Kristen LaValley

I do know that this month can introduce a variety of emotions and lots of different women, especially as we prepare for Mother's Day. And for years, it was pretty hard to start the month for me because although I wanted to be a mama, I didn't have the opportunity. It always felt a little difficult to send out those Mother's Day text messages to various friends because although I was happy for them, I still felt some sadness.

Now that I've gone through pregnancy and labor and I've familiarized myself with lots of different research about many different struggles that women experience, as well as experiencing some of those struggles myself or with friends, I am also holding those who are feeling the loss of their children in my heart, as well.

So today, as we prepare to begin this conversation, we'll pray for those who hope to experience contentment again despite their pain.

Kristen LaValley is a gifted writer whose words provide a refreshing perspective on faith and spirituality. Her writing resonates with those who carry tensions in their faith, offering insights that intersect doubt and belief, hope and suffering, beauty and heartache, complexity and simplicity. With a deep love for the Christian faith and a willingness to explore its complexities, Kristen's writing offers nuanced conversations that challenge readers to think deeply and wrestle with important questions.

Kristen lives in Massachusetts with her husband Zach and their five children - Jonah, Emery, Anna, Chloe, and Lydia.

Even If He Doesn't

Want to subscribe to Selah on YouVersion? Join the 7 Day devotional here.

Purchase your copy of Selah: A Study of 1 and 2 Samuel