I CHOOSE MY BEST LIFE

Kimberly Woodhouse joins us this week to share simple ways everyone can start on their journey toward health. Register for free to join A Million Miles with Kim. Get your copy of Welcome Home: Our Family's Journey to Extreme Joy. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Debbie Ryan joins Dr. Saundra to discuss how choosing a health partnership can improve your physical, mental, and financial health. Learn more about how Christian Care Ministry can help. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Donna Kincheloe shares ways we can choose to improve our spiritual tool kit and live with more joy. Connect with Donna on Facebook and Instagram. Get your copy of A Life Just Like Mine: How God and Nursing Turned Past Pain into Present Peace. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

This week on I Choose My Best Life, Nicole O. Salmon helps us choose courage and confidence through unboxing who we were created to be. Download Nicole's 3 Myth Busters and Prayer For Moving On HERE. Get your copy of Courage and Confidence A Bold Guide to Unboxing Who You Were Created to Be. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Lee Ann Mancini joins Dr. Saundra to explain how parents can prepare the ground of their kids' hearts to receive the seed of God's truths. Connect with Lee Ann on Facebook and Instagram. Get your copy of Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Stephanie Rousselle joins us this week to share how we live our best life when we define success as a life intentionally lived in delight for the glory of God. Check out the Gospel Spice podcast. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

In this episode, Sarah Frazer helps us see how life's plot twists and interruptions are actually the ways in which God is working. Connect with Sarah on Facebook and Instagram. Get your copy of I Didn't Sign Up for This: How to Rest in God's Goodness When Your Story Shifts. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Rachel Miller joins Dr. Saundra to discuss honoring our unmet longing while not becoming a victim of it. Download Rachel Miller's Prayer Guide for Unmet Longing. Get your copy of When It Hurts to Hope: Honest Conversations about Living with Unmet Longing. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

In this episode, Danielle Cobo joins us to share ways to break through roadblocks standing between achieving our goals. Check out Danielle's Unstoppable Grit Podcast. Get your copy of Unstoppable Grit: Break Through the 7 Roadblocks Standing Between You and Achieving Your Goals. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Dieula Previlon shows how God meets us on our trauma-healing journey to remind us we are seen and known. Connect with Dieula on Facebook and Instagram. Get your copy of Does God See Me?: How God Meets Us in the Center of Our Trauma-Healing Journey. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Cody Andras takes us on a journey to envision what it looks like to be one who walks with Jesus by your side. Connect with Cody on Facebook and Instagram. Get your copy of Jesus By Her Side: Finding the Nearness of God Through the Eyes of the Women in the Gospels. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Dr. Tim Elmore joins me on this episode to help us identify leadership qualities in ourselves and those around us. Connect with Dr. Tim on Facebook and Instagram. Get your copy of I Can't Wait. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Janet McHenry helps us discover our unique prayer personality and begin our journey to an authentic lifestyle of prayer. Take Janet's Prayer Personality Quiz. Get your copy of Praying Personalities: Finding Your Natural Prayer Style. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

In this episode, Erin Warren helps us to live a life of feasting on truth and daily releasing prayers of faith. Connect with Erin on Facebook and Instagram. Get your copy of Everyday Prayers for Faith: Finding Confidence in God No Matter What. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Brant Hanson shares how we can choose to find joy and dance while living in a world that sometimes appears to have gone mad. Learn more about the work being done at CURE International Children's Hospitals. Get your copy of Life Is Hard. God Is Good. Let's Dance.: Experiencing Real Joy in a World Gone Mad. I Choose My Best Life Podcast is one of the Top 20 Christian Women Podcasts I Choose My Best Life Books: Colorful Connections, Sacred Rest, Come Empty, Set Free to Live Free Connect with Saundra: Twitter: @DrDaltonSmith Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdaltonsmith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSaundraDaltonSmith

Danielle Brooks joins me on this episode to share how we can choose to amplify our freedom in life and business. Check out Danielle's Amplify Your Income Resource Guide. Get your copy of Profit & Proof. Show Notes: Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: Welcome everyone. This is Dr. Saundra and you're listening to I Choose My Best Life. Today we're chatting with Danielle Brooks, who's going to help us be able to choose to amplify our freedom and get to a place in our life and our businesses where it does not feel so stressful. So Danielle, I want to thank you for joining us and welcome you to the show. Let me have you begin by sharing a little bit about yourself and the type of work that you do. Danielle Brooks: Hello, Dr. Saundra. Thank you so much for inviting me and allowing me to be on your platform. So, a little about myself. I am a mom of four kiddos who are under seven years old, and I've been married for nine years to my college sweetheart. And I've been a virtual CFO for the past 11 years. So, we help small business owners with their accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll all across the country. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: Excellent. And that's perfect for this time of the year with everybody thinking about getting all their taxes and all their stuff together. So, I would love to go a little bit deeper into how you tend to work with small business owners. Now, for you, I know this has been a journey of learning how to create freedom and flexibility in your life. What inspired you to start sharing that with other business owners? Danielle Brooks: What inspired me to create freedom and flexibility for small business owners was truly my mom. She had been in business for seven years. Before I started helping her grow her business, and she had not had a vacation, she was working a whole lot more than I felt like she should at that point in her life. And I honestly just wanted to help her. And so she asked me to help her with sales because I came from a sales background. I used to work for ExxonMobil in a sales territory role. When I asked her for her financials, because all my sales meetings started with the finances, she ultimately didn't have clean financials to present to me. She didn't have a profit and loss statement. She didn't have a balance. She didn't know what her numbers were. And so I ended up creating her financials from just basically creating all her accounting and bookkeeping system. Then, there is a time tracking for her staff. Ultimately I was able to help save her over 40 hours per month. Within a year of working with me, she and my dad took two weeks off, and they went to Italy and Rome. they really just wanted more freedom for their own life at that stage in life. And she didn't really know how to do that because she had grown this business beyond where she had planned and was literally going week to week payroll to payroll and was just truly, I feel held hostage by her business and staff that she created for herself. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: This is such an important topic for those who are business owners and entrepreneurs, and getting in when you first start off with the business, you're so motivated to see the business succeed. But I think sometimes it's easy to get to a point where you don't realize that you have become hostage to your business, that you've gotten into a place where you can't take time off, and you can't move with freedom within your company and have that flexibility in your life. And I know that you, as a business owner, have dealt with this as well, wanting to find that level of, I don't like to say, balance. I oftentimes say harmony. And one of the ways you found that to be possible is by hiring the right people. Can you elaborate on the importance of hiring the right people and how it improves business operations and can lead us to a place of freedom as an entrepreneur? Danielle Brooks: Yes, I feel like so many people that start their business journey by themselves, the...

In this episode, Dr. Tope Keku joins me to discuss how we can choose to trust God when we face bitterness, unforgiveness, and resentment in our relationships. Take Dr. Tope's Healthy Marriage Quiz. Get your copy of Weathering Storms: Finding Treasures in the Ruins. Show Notes: Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: Welcome everyone. This is Dr. Saundra, and you're listening to I Choose My Best Life, where today we're going to be chatting about trust in our marriage. How do we get over hard situations? How do we keep staying faithful to the one we said yes to? And I have with me today Dr. Tope Keku, who is a certified life and marriage coach, as well as an author, speaker, and Bible teacher. To help us with this journey so that we can stay faithful, even during times of difficulty. Tope, welcome to the show. Dr. Tope Keku: Thank you, Dr. Sandra. Thank you for having me Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: here. I know most of the time when someone writes a book or goes deep into a topic, there's usually some backstory to it. So I'd love for you to begin by sharing a little bit about who you are and your journey in this topic. Dr. Tope Keku: Okay. So a little bit of a back story about me is that I am a child of God. And I'm passionate about helping women find their way out of these terms of life. And how did I get to this place? A little bit is that I am from Nigeria. Originally, I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. I grew up in a Christian home, always known the Lord since I was a child, I've always known the Lord. But at age seven, I gave my life to Christ. And this will make sense in a minute. So I just need to give you a little bit of this backstory so you can understand where I'm coming from. I gave my life at age seven, was raised in a Christian home, and always had a relationship with the Lord. There's never a time that I can remember that I haven't had a relationship with the Lord. One thing that sets that relationship about is that when I was four years old, I started to have dreams and visions, and I would share them with my parents. And when I shared those dreams and visions my parents did, I didn't understand what they meant. But they would. Take it seriously. They would help me. And this kind of taught me to nurture that. So that became what began my relationship with the Lord one-on-one. And then seeing my parents for us to model that. Daily living in faith was a backdrop to where I am today as a Christian and as a child of God. Now, fast forward to my marriage. My husband and I came to the U. S. from Nigeria. We went to school here. Both of us went to graduate schools here. And we got involved in the American life. Just, the good old American life taking care of family, running daily, working hard, trying to make ends meet, all of that. But we lost something vital in relationships. And that's connection. We lost that. And so as we lost that, that became then a bone of contention, a lot of arguments, a lot of back and forth, and just the peace was out the window. And so, for me, where my comfort is in the Lord. So that's why I needed to give you that background. So I went back to the Lord. And I said I don't understand what is going on here. And because we had hit this crisis point where it was constant tension, I decided to leave for two weeks. And as I left for two weeks, it wasn't just, I'm done. I'm out of here for me. It's, I want to gain clarity. My heart is always towards the Lord. What do you want to do here? What are you doing here? And so, while going away for two weeks, I was fasting, praying, reading the word, listening, and asking the Lord a lot of questions. And in that process, he began to show me what would happen. What would happen? If I trusted him, and the question he asked me was, will you trust me? And you might say, did you hear him audibly? No, I didn't hear him audibly. I didn't hear audibly, but he came to me again. The way he speaks to me is in dreams. He came through two dreams. The...

Caris Snider shares how we can choose to find sacred pauses even in the car line while waiting to pick up our kids. Connect with Caris on Facebook and Instagram. Get your copy of Car Line Mom. Show Notes: Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: Welcome, everyone. This is Dr. Saundra, and you're listening to I Choose My Best Life. Today, we are going to talk about how we enter the presence of God, even when we have a lot going on, especially if you're a mom with kids and you're transporting them all over the place. I have Caris Snider with me today, the author of a new devotional called Car Line Mom. I want us to talk about that because I feel like there are certain seasons in our lives where it seems impossible to break away and find time for God. But there are always opportunities. Caris, thank you so much for joining me. Caris Snider: Thank you for having me today. I'm excited to be here. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: I Want to start just by learning a little bit about you. You wrote a book. With a title that I adore because it brings back so many memories of sitting in that car line. I just want to know a little bit about your background. Tell us a little bit about who you are and your family. Caris Snider: Absolutely. So, I am a car line mom. I have two daughters. I have a daughter. We are in high school. We have entered into that season of life as well. She's a ninth grader. And I also have a daughter who is in fifth grade. So we have a teen and a tween if you will. So we are absolutely in the car a lot going and coming. My husband and I, Brandon, have been married for 19 years and we live in the great state of Alabama. I have practically literally lived here my whole entire life. So if you hear that accent, everyone, yes, I am. It's that Southern drawl, if you will. But we love living here. We even have a little mini golden doodle. He's a part of our family as well, but I graduated from the University of Alabama with a child development degree. Over the past few years, I have been speaking and writing and just sharing my own journey with moms and with teens and with any generation that needs to know, Hey, your faith and mental health go together. God cares about it. And there is hope. And so to have this opportunity to write about it, to encourage our moms who are feeling stressed and overwhelmed, I am just thankful how God, never wastes anything and how he's brought everything together. For good in my life. So that's a little bit of me and who I am and what I do. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: I really wanted to speak with you because I feel like you, you truly get it. And I think that for a lot of us when we approach motherhood, we approach it with a can-do attitude, which is good. We need some of that to be able to persevere, but we also, I find, sometimes we. Almost forget in the process as we're nurturing other people that we have to be nurtured as nurturers of ourselves. We have to keep that part of ourselves that can reflect on our own needs and the places where we need to be restored and where we need to seek help and assistance. There was a study that you mentioned from a 2023 state of Motherhood survey. And it said that it revealed that the top source of worry for mothers is mental health concerns. Share a little bit about why that's concerning. Caris Snider: I think that's concerning because mothers are aware of this mental health crisis that we have going on, not just for our Children and our teenagers, but for ourselves. They are struggling to find those safe places where they can talk to you about what they're struggling with and what they're going through. I think, for our moms for all of us. We put this expectation of perfection on ourselves to get it right. When those sweet babies are put into our hands, we leave the hospital to know all the answers, to know what to do, and we just don't know. And then we put ourselves on the back burner and we give everyone the steak, the mashed potatoes, the good...

Christine Trimpe helps us crush our carbohydrate cravings, decrease our sugar consumption, and improve our overall well-being in this week's episode of I Choose My Best Life. Get Christine's FREE Crush Your Cravings Wellness Guide for Christian Women. Show Notes: Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: Welcome, everyone. This is Dr. Saundra, and you're listening to I choose my best life today. I have Christine Trimpe with me, and we're going to be talking about how we get our health and wellness back on track this year by focusing on improving the way we eat. And a big part of that is getting some of the unnecessary, over-processed sugars out of our lives. Christine has an amazing story and journey she's been on with God. She has lost over 100 pounds and now helps others do the same to get their health back on track. Christine, thank you so much for joining me. Let me have you begin by just sharing a little bit about your background. And how did you come into this type of work? Christine Trimpe: Hello, Dr. Saundra; thank you so much for hosting me today. I'm overjoyed to be here. I am what I call an accidental author and an accidental speaker. I had no idea that God had this story in store for me. But he did take me on an amazing journey of a health and heart transformation, starting back about seven years ago on the side of a mountain in Colorado. I had been living morbidly obese for about three decades at that point. I tried to climb up a trail with my husband in the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park, and I ended up gasping for breath, and I just could not go another step further. And that was really my turning point, my story of where I finally began the process of surrendering all of my cravings, my fleshly cravings, everything that was separating me from God's best for my health and wellness. So that's where my turning point started. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: I love that you're just very honest about that. I started because I was trying to do this walk and basically couldn't because of my weight. I think a lot of people have been in that situation, whether it's trying to chase grandkids or on vacation, and you're trying to do something, and you're like, wow, this seatbelt on this plane's not quite fitting anymore. There are so many times when we can be in those moments where we just don't feel comfortable in our bodies anymore. However, I think just about everyone's had a time when they've tried to lose weight. And so, how was this time different? I'm sure that wasn't the first time that you thought about your weight or losing weight, but something had to change this time to end up with a hundred-pound weight loss that you have kept off. Christine Trimpe: It was definitely time for me to start taking back control of my health and all of those years, those 30 years. Of course, I had tried dieting. I tried everything: counting calories, eating less, and moving more. And at one point, I was even in a hospital-based program where I was only drinking liquid shakes. I do not recommend it; looking back, that was a very bad decision, but yeah, I had tried all the things. When I look back on that moment on the side of the mountain, I just remember gasping for air and feeling so defeated and humiliated that my husband continued up the path, and I told him to go on without me. I was fine sitting on the side of the path, but I did have tears welling in my eyes when I contemplated my circumstances. And I can remember just saying, God, I want to feel better. At that point, I had already given up hope that I would ever live at a healthy weight because every time I approached a healthy weight, something would happen. I would jump on that yo dieting rollercoaster again, and I would gain the weight back, and then I would also gain what they say about 10 pounds more than what it originally started at. So I just, at that point, I wanted to feel better. I didn't want to be sucking down air, and that path wasn't that strenuous; it was...

In this episode, Victoria Riollano leads us in a discussion on how to spiritually protect our children by creating a war plan for our family. Get Victoria's free War Plan Template when you subscribe to her newsletter. Get your copy of Warrior Mother: Equipping Your Heart to Fight for Your Family's Faith and get her free resources. Show Notes: Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: Welcome, everyone. This is Dr. Saundra, and you're listening to I Choose My Best Life. Today, we're chatting with Victoria Riollano, and she will help us understand how we can be warrior moms who stand in the gap for our families. Victoria is a mom of eight. She's also a military spouse and knows a lot about this process. So I'm looking forward to our conversation. Victoria, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. I want to hear a little bit about your background. What made you write a book about being a warrior mom? Victoria Riollano: Yeah. So, as you said, I do have eight kids. I didn't start off that way. In fact, when I had two kids, I realized that motherhood was extraordinarily more overwhelming than I expected. As a person who has a background in child development, that's what my degree is in. I just figured motherhood would naturally come. But I will say a couple of years into my journey, I found myself hiding in closets for my kids when they were too noisy, just not knowing what to do, crying all the time, anxious, depressed, fearful, all the things motherhood was basically taking its toll on me and it wasn't until I really started to put my trust in God and allow him to lead my journey and rest in him that I started to see things change and realize that I was more courageous, more resilient than even I thought I was. So yeah, that's what kind of encouraged me to write this book for other moms so that they could know that they could rise up above those daily challenges and really be warrior mothers themselves. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: I love the fact that you come at this from someone who has experience with just what it looks like to be a warrior in your own family because you have a spouse who is in the military. What has your experience been as a military spouse as it relates to parenting and home life and just supporting your spouse in that process? Victoria Riollano: Yeah. So, one thing about being a military spouse is you always get to hear the stories when they come home. One thing that has always been a central theme is this idea of the commanding officer taking the lead and being the people who have to follow the commanding officer is something that my husband will always talk about. And that really came to life to me when I started to write this book because, for so long I was the commander in chief of my own home, of my own heart, of my own parenting journey. So just being a military spouse helped me realize that there is power in submitting to authority sometimes. For me, Submitting to God has really been that pivotal thing that's changed my parenting. And so, even throughout the book, I give so many of his stories as examples of how we can allow God to take the lead and take charge of our parenting. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: Now you talk about having a war plan inside of your book, Warrior Mother. So what is a war plan? And why do we even need one? Victoria Riollano: Yeah, so that chapter is my favorite chapter because I am a planner. I plan when I go to the grocery store, I plan when I go to the mall, and I plan vacations for months and years at a time beforehand. And so, for me, what I realized is when it came to my parenting, I had no plan. I just let each day happen as it may. And most of the time, it didn't end very well. And so the work plan is just an opportunity for mothers to take that pencil and to pray and to take that paper and to say, God, what is it that you have for my family? And so, the work plan includes a foundational verse. It includes things that are non-negotiables for your family, things that...