Behind the Scenes in 2024 | Episode 228

Welcome to the last episode of the No More Perfect Podcast for 2024!

At the end of each year, we like to take a moment to look back at everything that happened during the last 12 months and look ahead at all the opportunities the upcoming year holds. We’ve been blessed to have so many wonderful experiences in 2024, and the path of our lives this year has taught us a few important lessons that we haven’t talked about openly until now.

We are so excited to share what’s been on our hearts, what God has been teaching us, and what we have to look forward to in 2025.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

How and what God has been teaching us this year
What we are most looking forward to in 2025
A few encouraging words as we close out 2024
And much more!

We hope this conversation is helpful as you reflect on this past year and look forward to the next!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

My Key Takeaways:

1) Create healthy rhythms. To be honest, we don’t have the most “normal” schedule since most of our coaching, intensives, and speaking occur over the weekends. We’ve found that our schedules look different from most people’s, and that’s alright! Our challenge for you as we enter 2025 is to review your own schedule and see what is or isn’t working for you. Is there a heavy weight you are carrying that causes you stress? How can you adjust your family schedule to make it less of a burden?

2) Learn how the past is influencing your present. We talk a lot about how much of having a healthy marriage—or even just healthy relationships—has to do with personal growth. We call this having a “2.0 Life.” In this episode, Mark shared that he had to work towards feeling confident in his role as a grandfather since he didn’t know his own grandpa. As we step into the new year, what areas of your own life do you need to take a look back at in order to move forward?

3) Do what God has called you to do. When we say we were not expecting to make multiple trips to Uganda or start a nonprofit, we mean it! However, God quite literally put a person in our path who had been praying for someone like us to act. Today, we are running the Life 2.0 Foundation, through which we work with orphanages in Africa and provide training to Ugandan pastors and their wives. Our nonprofit also provides scholarships to those who otherwise would not have the resources to attend our marriage coaching or intensives. We are so excited to be heading back to Uganda in January! Just as something unexpected has become one of the most beautiful and fulfilling parts of our lives, we encourage you to really listen to what God is calling your heart to do in this world—you may just find a new passion.

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1 Comment

Janelle Johnson on December 17, 2024 at 1:35 pm

Hi Mark & Jill!

I’m one of those women who attended Hearts at Home so many years ago, & it was WONDERFUL! And now the ministry you have is SO WONDERFUL, TOO! I LOVE your podcasts & share them often.

Summer of 2023, I had you pray for my husband, Eric, who had been in an atv accident & broke his scapula in 3 places & 7 of his ribs. He had surgery & healed in just 3 months! The surgeon was AMAZED! Praise God!

Now I would like you to pray for our daughter-in-law’s parents who have recently separated. They are Christians, but we don’t know them very well, as they live hours away, & our kids have only been married a couple years so far. Please pray that the Lord would soften their hearts toward one another again & they would reconcile. Our d-i-l is the oldest of 7 children, the youngest of which are just 12 & 13, so this has definitely been hard on their family. Their names are Nathan & Diane. With all the counseling you do, you probably know even more how to pray for them than we do.

Thank you SO VERY MUCH!! May the Lord richly bless your ministry & your upcoming time in Uganda! Such an amazing story! I would send support again, but we actually have a couple ladies at our church who are also going to Uganda to minister in January, so we have supported them instead this time.

Thank you again for all you do!