End-of-2021 Bonus-sode #1: Creating an Abundant Place with God Right Where You Are

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Grit ‘n’ Grace — The Podcast

End-of-2021 Bonus-sode #1: Creating an Abundant Place with God Right Where You Are

Cheri Gregory
Hey, this is Cheri Gregory.

Amy Carroll
And I’m Amy Carroll

Cheri Gregory
and you’re listening to Grit ‘n’ Grace —

Amy Carroll
THE PODCAST that helps you to lose who you’re NOT, love who you ARE, and live your ONE life well.

Cheri Gregory
Well, friends last week we told you that Season five was “a wrap”. But we’re back with a special bonus-sode for you today

Amy Carroll
and a very special guest!

Cheri Gregory
Five years ago, she was our very first interview. She’s been Grit ‘n’ Grace’s most frequent and beloved guest

Amy Carroll
and once again, she’s the co-author of a brand new book with our own Cheri Gregory.

Cheri Gregory
Oh, all the pom pom sounds!!!

Amy Carroll
And jazz hands!!!

Cheri Gregory

Cheri Gregory
A huge Grit ‘n’ Grace “Welcome back!” to Kathi Lipp.

Kathi Lipp
Okay, guys, we just have to unpack so much of that. First of all, five years? I can’t even believe …

Cheri Gregory
It’s been at least five years, I may need to do the math, it may have been more!

Kathi Lipp
Seriously, I thought it was like three. I had no idea. And I just love that you guys are still serving women in this way, who desperately need it. Just yesterday, I was on the phone with somebody. And I was coaching them. And I just said, “Wait, do you know about the Grit ‘n’ Grace podcast? Because you need to have this in your life! So it just makes me so happy that you guys are still doing this and serving so many women and it’s become such a valuable resource.

Kathi Lipp
And can I just say if I’m your “most beloved guest” — which you know, I’ll take the flattery wherever I can get it — you guys are my most beloved podcast to be on. So I’m just super grateful to be here. Seriously, seriously. Love you guys.

Amy Carroll
Awww … we love all of that. So Kathi, tell our friends who are listening about this beautiful new book: An Abundant Place: Daily Retreats for the Woman Who Can’t Get Away. Oh, my gosh, that title tell us about what inspired that amazing title,

Kathi Lipp
A pandemic, maybe? I don’t know, like, y

Amy Carroll
You can’t get away!!!

Kathi Lipp
Which is kind of hilarious right now as I sit here in a half a foot of snow with the driveway that you can’t drive up when it’s snowing. So I can’t get away right now. Like I am housebound.

Kathi Lipp
But here’s what I, at least what I’ve come to learn. And Cheri, I know has her own thoughts on this, that we have all had … I love Cheri’s illustration of “I bend, I don’t break.” And I can’t remember where that’s from. And there have been a lot of opportunities to break over the past couple of years. And we just needed some more permission to bend.

Kathi Lipp
And I feel like saying, hey, you know what, I can’t get away right now. But let me acknowledge I have a need to get away. And so I’m going to figure out how to do that where I am in the circumstance. Now most people are not currently snow bound, but they might be child bound or job bound. Or … you know, we’re still in the midst of a global pandemic. And so some people, you know, may be house bound, but our minds, our souls don’t have to be bound by our location.

Cheri Gregory
I think so often for us, as women, you know, when we think of going on a retreat, often there’s a beautiful location aspect of it. Like we’re going to go to the mountains, or we’re going to go to the beach, you know, so much, it’s “a destination location” kind of thing. And so to bring those retreats home, to say, “find that aspect of the beautiful location without having to leave” it’s a little more challenging. But it’s also means that we can be more consistent. We don’t have to wait.

Kathi Lipp
And so Cheri getting to talk about the life that she’s created right there on the Pacific coast, and this weird life we’re living in the mountains, and just what God has taught us about living in these very diverse but interesting places — it’s just been such a delight to work on this book, and really discover God in new and fresh ways for me.

Cheri Gregory
I know, for me, I tend to be the kind of person who waits and puts everything off until I can “finally … ” and sometimes “finally …” doesn’t come or when it comes, it ends up not being you know, as a Highly Sensitive Person, I have to realize when I go to a retreat, it’s often not as restful as I think it’s going to be — it’s kind of a lot of stress along with that rest. And so to be able to create that kind of atmosphere in our own homes and to see what God has put around us. You know, Kathi’s got those beautiful … how many acres do you guys own? Like you guys own forest! I just I cannot wrap my mind around this.

Kathi Lipp
Oh, you know, it’s just ridiculous because it’s 33 acres, but we can use about one-and-a-half of them currently. So like, you know, we have weird things like we have a dilapidated gold mine on the property. Now, along with that we also have this pile (I’m not even I’m joking you guys) this pile of spray starch cans from the 70s and 80s.

Amy Carroll

Kathi Lipp
So when when you have gold, it’s in quartz, at least where we’re at … I’m not a goldologist. But to get the gold out, you have to spin the quartz and the gold to separate it and you use spray starch to do it. So as magical and fun as it sounds to say “We have a goldmine!” We also have a pile of dead spray starch cans from the 70s and 80s. So like, there’s a whole bunch of weird stuff like that on our property. But yeah, I It’s so interesting where we live.

Kathi Lipp
And you know, Cheri, when you were talking about as an HSP, going to a retreat, and how it’s not always what you expect, I’m just gonna say this as somebody who’s entered her 50s: I have to bring my own stuff when I go away. Like, there are blankets involved. And teas involved. I have to be my own self-contained retreat. And so sometimes it’s like, yeah, that sounds pretty, it’s just easier to stay at home and take care of myself here.

Kathi Lipp
And I think that that may be a sign of maturity to say, “You know, what I need, I already have. And so I can do my own retreat here.”

Amy Carroll
Well, I love this creative concept. And I have to tell you that after two years, I’m at the end of my bendiness. I’m just at the end of it. And I need this book so much like so. Okay, we’re in pre-orders season right now. So it will be available soon. But right now, it’s pre-orders. Talk to us about pre-orders: Why are pre-orders important? And what extra fun stuff will our friends receive when they pre-order?

Kathi Lipp
Okay, so it officially releases January 4.

Amy Carroll
So, soon!

Kathi Lipp
But I’m hearing … there is evidence on the web … that it’s coming sooner, which is super fun to see. Because as we all know, with, you know, shipping and all the things that are going on in the world, we were hoping it would come by January 4. And somehow these things got released into the world. They’re out there in the wild, but it’s still we still consider it pre-order season.

Kathi Lipp
And what we’ve come to find out is all these retailers, they’re looking at pre-orders, and deciding how much they want to invest in this book. So these pre-orders, let me just be so bold to say, if you’re a fan of Cheri’s, and you want to do something nice for her, don’t send her flowers: pre-order the book.

Amy Carroll
Preach!

Kathi Lipp
It means the world to us and let us know you did it. So we can say thank you because it means all the world to us.

Kathi Lipp
But there’s some fun stuff that comes with it!

Kathi Lipp
So first of all, Harvest House did the most gorgeous download of a journal. It’s just a gorgeous journal. And so you can get that as soon as you order.

Kathi Lipp
And then Cheri and I did something that I’ve never heard of being done for a book (I’m sure somebody has somebody will tell us no, but nobody’s let me know so far) — we did a limited series podcast, because between Grit ‘n’ Grace and Clutter Free Academy, we’ve got a lot of people who like to listen to stuff. And so this is called “Devos for Dropouts.” And we talked about the six personalities of devotional, drop out people, because both Cheri and I have been those drop outs before and why do people drop out? And how can you press forward in doing devotions on a regular basis. And that podcast was so much fun. It was so much fun to go to the dark side and say, “This is why we struggle.” So Cheri, we did six episodes — between our two personalities, Cheri and I covered the reasons in all six episodes at one point or another.

Kathi Lipp
I’m super excited about both of those resources and all that’s going with this. I feel like the book is enough, and it’s beautiful. But we wanted to give the people we love you know, we know it’s going to be our listeners … our people who are going to preorder and we just wanted to say “Thank you!” in our own best way

Amy Carroll
share Where do they find all of this?

Cheri Gregory
They can go to abundantplacebook.com and you’ll find all the information that you need there.

Amy Carroll
Okay, Devos for Dropouts … love that … another great title! (That cracks me up though, as someone who writes — that’s really great) Where did that idea for a podcast series come from?

Kathi Lipp
I’m trying to remember … I remember we talked about what are the struggles? Why do people not do devotionals? And you know, to be a devotional writer, and having had struggled with that before? And then I love some good alliteration. So when we saw the Devos for Dropouts, it’s it’s like okay, end of search. And it feels so us … and it feels accessible. Because I know so many people have it so many books .. and, you know, we all have that graveyard of devotional books that …

Amy Carroll
It’s true! I have a stack, like right behind me. Yes.

Kathi Lipp
And here’s the thing, those devotionals may be perfect for your best friend, or your mom or your cousin, but they’re just not your jive. And so, here’s what I think: you know, between us co-writing this, we have doubled our odds of at least part of this book being part of your jive. But our launch team is loving it, and they’re all finding different things in it, which makes me super happy.

Amy Carroll
And we all need a little abundance right now. So I think it’s relevant for everyone. Yes, scarcity has been the past 24 months — we need some abundance.

Amy Carroll
So Cheri, tell us again about when your new book baby officially launches and how to get all the good stuff.

Cheri Gregory
So officially, it’s January 4 — we do have lots of evidence that it’s shipping sooner. And the preorder bonuses, the preorder goodies can be found at abundantplacebook.com

Amy Carroll
Okay, Kathy, it’s been wonderful having you with us today.

Kathi Lipp
So good to hang out with you. We need to hang out when there’s just not a podcast involved. That’s the plan.

Amy Carroll
I know. I’m getting a snowplow and coming to you.

Kathi Lipp

Amy Carroll
Well, and we get to talk again next week!

Kathi Lipp
Huzzah!

Cheri Gregory
For today, grow your grit.

Amy Carroll
Embrace God’s grace.

Cheri Gregory
And as God reveals the next step to live your ONE life well?

Amy Carroll
We’ll be cheering you on!

BOTH
So take it!