Walking with Kelley and Kristy

116 | LOVE On Mission : An Advent Conversation With Lisa McKenzie

Today we get to sit back down with a dear friend whose life is such a beautiful picture of Advent love—love that goes, love that serves, and love that shows up in the everyday places where God calls us. She is a single woman who followed the Lord’s leading all the way to Tanzania, where she now runs a primary school and pours the love of Christ into children who are growing, learning, and discovering their worth in Him. We’ve watched her walk this calling out with courage and tenderness, and we cannot wait for you to hear how God is using her story to reflect His heart in this season of Love.
We are honored to have Lisa McKenzie back with us, to share how God is using and teaching her not only to receive HIS LOVE for her, but likewise pour out HIS great love on her students and families in Tanzania. 
Merry Christmas from our families to yours. We wish you the kind of HOPE, PEACE, JOY, and LOVE that lasts all year! Thanks for Walking with us this year, and we look forward to a fruitful NEW YEAR ahead!  KEEP WALKING!

115 | Experiencing JOY On The Journey: An Advent Conversation with Jen Edwards

As we enter the third week of Advent, we turn our attention to JOY, but not the surface-level joy we often associate with the Christmas season. Advent reminds us that real joy is often born in places of longing, waiting, and even hardship. The joy of Scripture is not loud or flashy; it’s steady, surprising, and rooted in the presence of God. The prophet Isaiah spoke of a coming joy when he wrote, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom” (Isaiah 35:1). Joy shows up in barren places. And when the angel declared, “I bring you good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10), it wasn’t to people who had comfortable lives, it was to shepherds on the night shift, living under Roman rule, carrying their own burdens. Advent joy is the kind of joy that doesn’t ignore reality but shines right in the middle of it, a joy that comes from knowing that God sees us, God is with us, and God is still at work. This week, we’re leaning into that kind of joy - the kind that grows in the waiting and strengthens our hearts as we journey toward the manger, and await HIS glorious return. You can experience JOY on the JOURNEY.

114 | The Gift Of Peace : An Advent Invitation

As we step into this Advent week focused on Peace, many of us are already feeling the chaos of the Christmas season. In the middle of all the noise, Jesus reminds us, “My peace I give you… Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:27). And Isaiah calls Him the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)—not just for quiet moments, but for real life, right in the mess and busyness. So today, we want to take a breath together, slow everything down, and remember that God’s peace isn’t something we have to earn or create. It’s something He offers, even when our world feels anything but peaceful.
Hector and Norma Melendez join us to share how they choose to walk with the giver of Peace not only in their daily lives, but especially in the busyness of the Holiday season. It was an honor to have this conversation with them. We pray you too are encouraged as you listen.
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” 
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭27‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Names of Jesus Calendar by Lara Beeston
 
 

113 | HOPE In The Waiting: Advent Week One

On today's episode we are joined by David and Kim McAlhaney. They share their beautiful testimony of longing and waiting to be parents, a HOPE and dream they never gave up on, and a continued faith they place in CHRIST alone. Their story is a great encouragement to us  - as we wait with the HOPE of CHRIST too!
Hope is the unwavering confidence that because God is faithful, good, and unchanging, we can trust Him with every tomorrow. It’s the quiet assurance that the light of Christ always breaks through the darkness. It’s the joyful expectation that the God who came near at Christmas is still drawing near today—and will come again. HE offers HOPE in the Waiting!
Advent Blocks - Traditions Set – GoodKind
 
 

112 | Count Your Blessings - Happy Thanksgiving!

Psalm 100:4 says, ‘Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.’ So as we gather with family this Thanksgiving, let’s not just pass the turkey and the pie, but also pass on gratitude—speaking life, encouragement, and love into one another. Because gratitude doesn’t just honor God—it builds stronger families and deeper connections. 
The hymn “Count Your Blessings” has a beautiful and encouraging history that ties perfectly into a message of thankfulness. We pray you take time to pause today and count your blessings, "naming them one by one" - Count your many blessings see what God has done!
Count Your Blessings
We are so grateful to get to walk with you today - and we pray you have a very Happy Thanksgiving.
~❤️ Kelley & Kristy
 

111 | God's Sustaining Faithfulness: Keeping A Christ Centered Focus In Marriage & Family!

Today we’re sitting down with Rod and Angie Tyler, a couple who have been a part of our lives for almost 28 years. That’s a lot of life. They’ve walked with us through so many seasons—celebrations, challenges, growing pains, parenting, ministry—you name it. And through all of it, they have been steady. They have been consistent. And honestly, they have quietly shown us what it looks like to keep Christ at the center of a marriage.
This whole season we’ve been talking about what it means to build healthy marriages and families—how to walk it out day by day, not perfectly, but faithfully.
You know those friends who don’t just tell you what faithfulness looks like… but they actually live it? That’s who they are. Their friendship has shaped us more than they probably know, and we’re really grateful you get to hear from them today. We pray that their honesty and transparency is as encouraging for you as it continues to be for us! 
Philippians 4:12-13
 
New International Version
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

110 | Powerful Prayerful Partnerships: Walking In Healthy Marriage & Family!

We are honored once again to have one of our long-time pastors and wife with us on the podcast today. Eric & Patti Lethco have not only poured into our lives personally but have also helped mold us into the wives, mothers, and encouragers we are today.  We believe their example of walking out a Christ-centered marriage, consistent parenting, and steadfast leadership has been a living testimony of what God’s design for family and faith looks like.
Today, we want to celebrate the way they both model love, integrity, and service—not just within their marriage and family, but in the way they guide and shepherd those around them. We pray you are encouraged as you too walk through joys and challenges in this season. Let GOD be the one to help lead, guide, and direct your marriage and family steps today! We love you and are so grateful to walk along side you in life.
God, we thank You for the gift of family and marriage. We ask You to be the center of our homes, to guide us by Your Word, and to give us strength to remain faithful in every season. May our lives reflect Your love and bring You glory. Today and Forever Amen.
Instructions for Christian Households 
Ephesians 5:21-33 NIV
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
 
 

109 | Leaning Into Jesus: Walking In Healthy Marriage & Family❤️

In this episode we jump right back into our conversation about walking in Healthy Marriages and Family! We missed you over the past few weeks, and we are so honored to be sitting back at the table with Adriana to hear what God is doing and teaching her in this brand new season of marriage. God is faithful and He continues to grow and teach us through the highs and lows of life. This season is no different. Let's LEAN in towards God, let's continue to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith!

108 | Generational Blessing: Building Families God's Way

In this episode John and Brenda Sprinkle join us to share encouragement and inspiration on what walking in healthy family and marriage can look like when Christ is in the center.
John and Brenda live in Matthews, North Carolina, and have been friends and mentors in our lives for over 30 years. They have dedicated their lives to serving others in and through the local church, by encouraging families to build their lives on the foundation of Christ.
We’ve watched them live out their marriage and family life with such beauty, integrity, and deep faith. They’ve been a testimony to us of what it looks like to love biblically—and to love each other well.
We believe Generational Blessings are an overflow of Jesus to the next-generation - when they begin to experience the Love of Christ for themselves and it overflows into their children and their children's children. What a BLEESSING! That gift is available to ALL and it starts with me and You today!
We pray today’s conversation encourages you to love your spouse, family, and others with the love of CHRIST.  1 John 4:19 reminds us that “We love because He first loved us.”
 
 

107 | To Love And To Cherish - In Sickness and In Health

Today we’re turning our hearts and our attention on the beauty of marriage and family by honoring the incredible role of a Godly, selfless mother. Her love weaves through so many seasons— whether she is caring for little ones at home, faithfully working while nurturing her family, pouring into her grandchildren with joy, or even walking tenderly beside a spouse whose health is declining. Each stage reflects a heart of sacrifice that mirrors the love of Christ.
Scripture reminds us in Philippians 2:4, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
And in Isaiah 66:13, God paints a picture of His own compassion through a mother’s care: “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.”
What an honor it is to have our own mother, Kathy Corless, join us at the table today to share insight and encouragement about marriage, and her example of loving and cherishing our dad well in sickness and in health. We pray you are encouraged today to keep walking out your faith with your eyes fixed on Jesus!