GRASP Confidence Podcast

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  #216: Define Yourself by His Stripes, Not Your Scars | Kathryn May 18.09.2026 1sa 6dk

  Stop scrolling for a second. What if the thing you've been calling a flaw... isn't actually the truth about you at all? ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   Imagine sitting across from someone who's been exactly where you are — carrying rejection wounds, performing for approval, second-guessing every step — and who found her way out. That's Kathryn May: transformational life coach, author, and host of the Freed to Lead podcast. In this episode, she and Tara open up about the beliefs that quietly run your life without your permission, and what happens the moment you finally see them clearly. As you listen, you'll start to notice your own patterns showing up...the striving, the shrinking back, the old stories you've been telling yourself for years. Picture this: you stop earning your worth and start resting in it. You hear the words "it is finished" and, for the first time, actually believe them. You feel the weight lift; not because you worked harder, but because you finally understood what was already true. That's what this conversation opens up. Kathryn walks through her own healing journey, the difference between religion and relationship, and a simple framework (recognize, repent, renounce, replace) you can start using today to break agreement with the lies and come into agreement with the truth. You don't have to keep performing. You get to rest in the finished work of the cross.   Press play now. Let this episode meet you exactly where you are and walk out lighter than you walked in. 🎧 Listen to the full episode of GRASP Confidence Podcast with Kathryn May and connect with her on all platforms.   Connect with Kathryn May:         🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #215: The Gospel Explained: From Adam to the Cross 16.09.2026 21dk

  The Gospel Explained ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   Do you know the gospel? Maybe you've heard the word your whole life; in church, in passing, quoted in a verse somewhere but never actually understood what it means, or why it's relevant to you. I didn't either, not really. My own journey to knowing Jesus started just a few short years ago, and once I finally understood it, it changed everything about how I see myself, how I move through hard days, and how much confidence I carry. This week I'm sharing my heart and walking you through the whole story of the gospel, simply — from Adam's choice in the garden, to the impossible standard of perfection none of us can meet, to why Jesus had to be born of a virgin to make it right for you and me. I'll tell you what tetelestai means; the word Jesus said from the cross, "it is finished" and why that word carries so much weight. And I'll talk about why hundreds of people who saw Jesus alive after the resurrection were willing to die rather than take back what they saw. No one dies for a lie. By the end of this episode, you'll be able to explain the gospel to someone else in a few minutes. So grab your tissues, because this is deep, and if you're anything like me, you won't keep your eyes dry as we express gratitude for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.       🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #214: "Tell Them Anyway": Sherry DePerno's Story of Radical Obedience 11.09.2026 39dk

  She Saw Jesus in Her Backyard, Sherry DePerno's Healing Encounter ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   Sherry DePerno is the President & CEO of Advanced Tool Inc., a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, and a woman who had everything the world said would make her happy and still hit rock bottom. In this episode, Sherry opens up about the moment she wanted to die, the mystery illness doctors couldn't explain, and the morning in her backyard when God appeared to her in a vision, spoke to her, and healed her instantly. She shares why she kept it a secret for over a year, what finally pushed her to write her book Tell Them Anyway, and the hard truth every high-achieving leader needs to hear: no amount of success will ever fill a God-shaped hole. If you're a CEO, entrepreneur, or leader chasing the next win, next award, or next milestone...this conversation will stop you in your tracks.   In this episode, you'll learn: → What it really looks like to hit "the top of the ladder" and find it empty → Sherry's visual encounter with God and the healing that followed → Why she hid her testimony for over a year and what changed her mind → How to stop chasing achievement and start leading from surrender → The one phrase that turned her journal into a published book   About Sherry DePerno: Sherry DePerno is President and CEO of Advanced Tool Inc., a global leader in industrial cutting tools. A multi-award-winning entrepreneur, mentor, and keynote speaker, she is also the founder of ALS of Utica, supporting patients and families affected by ALS. She is the author of Tell Them Anyway and has been married to her high school sweetheart, Rob, for more than 30 years.   📖 Get Sherry's book, Tell Them Anyway: tellthemanyway.com     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #213: Built to Hold: The Framework for Holding Success Without Losing Yourself 10.09.2026 11dk

  Confidence Gets You In the Room. Capacity Keeps You There. ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   Nobody warns you that success has a weight to it. More responsibility, more visibility, more people watching how you carry things and somewhere in the climb, the confidence that got you here stops feeling like enough for what's here now. In this solo episode, I'm breaking down what it actually means to be built to hold; not just confident, but capable of carrying more without cracking under it. Confidence gets you in the room. Capacity is what lets you stay there. And that's exactly what the GRASP Method builds in you:   Gratitude loosens your grip. When you trust God with what He's already given you, your hands open up to receive more instead of white-knuckling everything out of fear. Responsibility is where capacity gets tested. It's the decision to own what's in front of you instead of outsourcing the outcome to your circumstances or the people around you. Action is where capacity gets proven. You don't grow it by thinking about it; you grow it one obedient step at a time, even when the fear hasn't left yet. Sight is what anchors it all. This is where I get into the science; your brain's reticular activating system, and how getting clear and specific about what you want actually trains your brain to start scanning for the evidence of it, everywhere. Purpose is where capacity finds its "why." When you know what you're carrying it for, you can carry more of it; because purpose doesn't make the weight lighter, it makes you stronger underneath it.   I bring in Scripture along the way, including 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 and Philippians 1:6, because capacity like this isn't something you manufacture on your own. It's something God builds in you. If you've ever felt like you don't have room for one more thing, this episode will reframe what room actually means and Who it comes from.     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #212: You Think You Have More Time. This Brain Surgeon Sees What Happens When You Don't | Andrew Brunswick, MD 02.09.2026 29dk

  You Think You Have More Time. This Brain Surgeon Sees What Happens When You Don't. ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   In this episode, I sit down with neurosurgeon Andrew Brunswick, the honest and reflective voice behind itsbrainsurgery on Instagram, where he shares raw, unfiltered mindset reflections often recorded right from his car after a long day. Andrew has spent years in the operating room, sitting with patients and families in the moments where life and death hang in the balance, and it has shaped the way he sees everything, from an ordinary Tuesday to the people sitting right next to him. We talk about what it really means to live present instead of on autopilot, and why it so often takes losing something to finally appreciate it. Andrew opens up about a guitarist who lost feeling in his hand and what it taught him about gratitude for the body most of us take for granted. He shares the story of a patient whose entire identity was shaped by a single hormone, and the haunting question she asked him before surgery: "Will I still be me after this?" We also talk candidly about phone addiction, the way social media hijacks our attention, and how much of our lives can slip by on routine while we assume tomorrow is guaranteed. Andrew shares some powerful reflections from his years in practice, including: "I watch people run out of time for a living." "How much of who I am is just cortisol, a title, and a full OR schedule?" "We don't only lose the time when we're on the device, we lose the time around it too." If you have ever caught yourself sleepwalking through your own life, distracted from the people who matter most, or waiting for someday to finally live with intention, this conversation is your wake up call. It's a beautiful reminder that gratitude isn't something we wait to feel. It's something we choose, today, before time runs out.   Connect with Andrew: Instagram: @itsbrainsurgery Podcast: It's Brain Surgery Newsletter: The Mind Gym    🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.
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  #211: From Rock Bottom to TEDx, a Book Deal & a Promotion: Nia Luckey's 2-Year Transformation Working With Me as Her Coach and Mentor 31.08.2026 49dk

  20,000+ Views, a Book Deal, and a New Job: Inside Nia Luckey's Breakthrough Year ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   This episode is a big one for me. Nia Luckey is back for her third time on the show, and honestly, every time she comes on I get a little emotional, because I've watched this woman go from rock bottom — burnt out, finishing her second degree, not even sure what was next — to giving a TEDx talk that hit over 20,000 views, landing a book deal with a major publisher, getting promoted, and now she's stepping into a TV appearance too. We sat down and just talked through the whole two-year journey. Not the highlight reel version — the real one. The four to six months she and her husband spent vetting coaches before they found me. The moment she said yes to "the scariest option possible" even though there was no guarantee it would work. The anxiety before rehearsals. The start-stop-start of writing a book while also starting a brand new job. What got me the most in this conversation was when Nia said working together gave her "borrowed confidence" — that she could lean on someone who believed in the goal until she believed in it herself. That's exactly what this work is supposed to do. It's never about me having all the answers. It's about walking a path with someone until they can see it clearly enough to walk it on their own. She also said something I haven't stopped thinking about — that there's a "trust recession" happening in the coaching industry right now. Too many people taking on clients they were never equipped to actually help. So she shares the three questions she now tells everyone to ask before they hire a coach, and honestly, I think every person considering coaching needs to hear that part. This isn't just a success story. It's a real look at what it costs, what it takes, and what's possible when you find the right person in your corner. If you're sitting on a goal you haven't said out loud yet, this episode is for you.   In this episode, you'll learn: How a TEDx talk on trust in technology outperformed niche-topic averages by 10x The behind-the-scenes journey from TEDx talk to landing a publishing deal Why "you can't want something for someone more than they want it for themselves" A three-question framework for vetting any coach or mentor What it means to regain your sense of self while chasing a big career goal   If you're ready to become the next version of yourself; in your career, your confidence, or your calling you know where to find me.     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.
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  #210: Iron Sharpens Iron: A Conversation on Faith, Business, and Building Remarkable Lives | Ashish Bhatnagar 21.08.2026 47dk

  Don't Be a Guru, Be a Disciple ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   He's driven over $2.8 billion in enterprise value advising Fortune 500 C-suites on AI strategy and digital transformation. But behind the boardroom results is a man who refuses to leave his faith at the door. In this episode, Ashish Bhatnagar; enterprise transformation leader, published author, and founder of The Sound Mind — shares the 1987 dream that shaped his life's mission to "build remarkable lives through teaching, equipping, and mobilizing." We dig into why 70% of AI projects never make it to production, the difference between economies of scale and economies of growth, and why Ashish believes mindset must come before skill set and skill set before tool set. Then the conversation shifts: Ashish tells the story of leading a senior VP to Christ through a three-and-a-half-hour whiteboard conversation, and unpacks why he refuses to separate his faith from his work, even in rooms full of Fortune 500 executives. If you've ever felt like your success and your faith live in separate rooms — or you're leading a business and wondering how AI, strategy, and purpose actually fit together; this episode will challenge you to rebuild on a stronger foundation. Listen now, and learn more about Ashish's work at ashishbhatnagar.com and thesoundmind.org. Ashish Bhatnagar is an enterprise transformation leader, trusted C-suite advisor, and published author who has driven over $2.8B in enterprise value across 150+ transformation projects. With 20+ years of experience spanning roles at TCS, Kyndryl, Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Accenture, he helps organizations navigate digital transformation, AI strategy, and operational excellence at scale — work that has generated results like $522M in strategic partnership ARR at AWS and $180M in synergies from a $2.1B healthcare integration. Ashish holds an M.Sc. in Technology Management and Corporate Finance from Columbia University and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Maharaja Sayaji Rao University, India. He is the author of four business books, including Beyond Tomorrow: Customer Obsession in Strategic Partnerships, The DNA of Customer Obsession in the Age of AI, and The Great Recalibration: The Guide for the Indispensable Human. Beyond the boardroom, Ashish writes and speaks from a faith-driven foundation, with a mission to build remarkable lives through teaching, equipping, and mobilizing lives that have a positive impact. He is the author of three Christian books — Awakened for Purpose, Don't Waste the Wait, and The Sound Mind — and hosts the YouTube ministry channel @bridgebuildersministries. Learn more at ashishbhatnagar.com and thesoundmind.org.     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #209: Forgiveness: The One Thing Standing Between You and Everything God Promised 17.08.2026 11dk

  Forgiveness: The One Thing Standing Between You and Everything God Promised   ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   You've prayed for the breakthrough. You've believed for the promise. But what if the one thing standing in the way isn't your circumstances, your timing, or even the person who hurt you — what if it's the grudge you're still carrying? In this episode, Tara LaFon Gooch takes you inside a single verse — Luke 23:34 — where Jesus, nailed to the cross, forgives the people crucifying Him before anyone repents, before anyone asks. No delay. No gap. Just release. Tara unpacks the biblical principle of space; how every moment you leave an offense unaddressed becomes occupied territory and shares the deeply personal story of writing a letter to her estranged father, only to learn he had already passed before it reached him. What followed was a moment of unexpected grace that reshaped how she understands forgiveness, gratitude, and restoration. If you've ever wondered whether holding onto something is quietly costing you what God promised, this episode will challenge you to close the space and let God fill it with gold.   In this episode: Why Jesus's forgiveness from the cross had zero delay and what that models for us The principle of space: what moves in when you leave an offense unresolved A personal story of loss, a letter, and a rainbow that changed everything How gratitude turns pain into a teacher, not just a wound The Kintsugi picture of restoration and why forgiveness comes before the gold     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #208: What Japanese Pottery Taught Me | A Biblical Look at Kintsugi and Restoration 14.08.2026 13dk

  What Japanese Pottery Taught Me: A Biblical Look at Kintsugi and Restoration ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   There's a 400-year-old Japanese art form where broken pottery isn't thrown away; it's repaired with gold, and the once-shattered piece becomes more valuable than it was before it ever broke. That's not just art. That's what God does with your pain. In this solo episode, Tara unpacks Kintsugi as a living picture of biblical restoration and gets personal about the season she was certain her own break disqualified her, until God showed her that the very thing she was hiding was about to become the thing that made people trust her most.   About GRASP GRASP — Gratitude, Responsibility, Action, Sight, Purpose — is the framework at the center of everything Tara teaches, and it wasn't built in a strategy session. It was forged in her most broken season, while she was walking through depression and anxiety, as God met her in the pieces and taught her, step by step, how to turn the cracks into gold. Gratitude — Thanking God for what survived the break, even before you understand why it happened. Responsibility — Owning what's actually yours to carry, without picking up shame that was never yours to hold. Action — Taking one honest step toward God with your pain instead of around it. Sight — Learning to see your break the way God sees it — not as disqualification, but as the exact place the gold is about to go. Purpose — Trusting that nothing is wasted, because God takes the very thing that broke you and uses it to reach someone else who's breaking too.   You'll also walk through the theology behind the metaphor (Psalm 34:18, Isaiah 61:3, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Ecclesiastes 3:11, 2 Corinthians 5:17), and why the gold in Kintsugi isn't just decoration; it reflects light, the same way we're meant to reflect God once He's repaired us. This episode is an invitation to stop hiding your break and start letting God trace it in gold because it's already finished. Tetelestai. You are not a repaired version of who you were. You are a new creation. In this episode: The theology behind Kintsugi and why God doesn't disguise your wounds; He restores them in full view Tara's personal story of depression, anxiety, and the season that became the birthplace of GRASP A full breakdown of the GRASP framework and how to apply each step to your own restoration Key scriptures on restoration, including 2 Corinthians 5:17 and the meaning of "Tetelestai" One simple action step to move from hiding your story to letting it become someone else's hope   If this episode speaks to you, send it to the one person you know is convinced their break is the end of their story. It might be the exact thing they need to hear today.   With Gratitude, Tara   🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #207: The Holy Spirit Told Him His Own Books and Ministry Weren't True (Here's What He Did Next) | Mason Ledbetter 10.08.2026 54dk

  The Holy Spirit Told Him His Own Books and Ministry Weren't True (Here's What He Did Next) ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   When Everything You Built Isn't What God Asked For Imagine spending five years building a ministry, writing four books, and gathering a devoted following; only to have the Holy Spirit convict you that none of it was true. That it wasn't the message He wanted you to carry. What would you do? This week on the GRASP Confidence Podcast, Tara sits down with Mason Ledbetter, who lived exactly that moment. After five years fully immersed in deliverance ministry — writing four books, teaching believers how to "cast out demons," and becoming one of the very "spiritual gurus" he now warns others about — Mason received a revelation that turned his entire theology upside down. He spent two months begging God to confirm it, again and again, before he could bring himself to take his books offline, dismantle his ministry, and walk away from the community, the platform, and the identity he'd spent years building.   What This Episode Covers What deliverance ministry actually is and why its "layers of an onion" approach to freedom kept people dependent instead of free The moment the Holy Spirit revealed that Jesus's finished work on the cross means freedom isn't something to enforce, but something to simply believe The two revelations that hit Mason at once; the finished work of Jesus and the truth of sonship and how they collided to change his life How to tell the difference between a false teacher who keeps you "thirsty" and a true one who points you back to living water Why pride, not lack of evidence, is often the biggest obstacle to admitting we've built our life on the wrong foundation What it really costs (financially, relationally, spiritually) to walk away from a community that no longer aligns with truth Why freedom in Christ was never meant to come "in pieces"   Why You Should Listen If you've ever felt the tug of the Holy Spirit asking you to let go of something you built your identity around a career, a community, a belief system; this episode will give you the courage to listen. Mason's story is proof that obedience, even when it costs everything familiar, always leads somewhere greater than what you gave up. Listen now, and if this episode speaks to you or to someone you know still caught in a cycle of striving for freedom instead of resting in it; share it with them. Follow, subscribe, and leave a review to help this message find the people who need to hear it most.   Connect with Mason on all platforms here!     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #206: From Inc. 5000 Success to Rock Bottom: Carlos Hidalgo's Path Back to Christ 03.08.2026 36dk

  What if everything you've built vanished tomorrow, would you still be okay? ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   Carlos Hidalgo had it all by the world's standards: Inc. 5000 awards, a bestselling business book, international keynote stages, and the title of "most influential person" in his industry. But behind the accolades, he was living a double life — teaching Sunday school one morning and out until 3 a.m. the next night. In 2015, it all came crashing down when his marriage nearly ended and his carefully built identity shattered. In this deeply honest conversation, Carlos shares the moment God met him "with His knee on my neck" and asked one simple question: are we still doing this? He opens up about full surrender, rebuilding his marriage, and why he now calls Jesus Christ his "operating system." This episode goes beyond motivation. It's a conversation about real, lasting freedom. Carlos gets real about: The moment backstage in Charlotte that revealed his true heart before he ever said a word Why he says, "I've seen how weak I am. I've seen how useless my flesh is on its own" — and why that's actually good news The danger of tying your identity to achievement, and what happens when it's stripped away How studying scripture slowly — sometimes one chapter for seven days straight — transformed his relationship with God Why "cease striving" might be the most important advice for anyone stuck on the hamster wheel of burnout Whether you're a high achiever quietly running on empty, or someone who's ever wondered if God could really want a relationship with you, this episode will meet you exactly where you are. Because as Carlos says, love demands a choice. And God is already waiting. Book Carlos to speak at your next event and learn more about his work: https://www.carloshidalgo.co     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #205: How to Find Freedom From Addiction Through Christ | Demoris B. Hickman 27.07.2026 39dk

  How to Find Freedom From Addiction Through Christ | A Christian Addiction Recovery Testimony | Episode #205 ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   From Rock Bottom to Redemption What happens when addiction, homelessness, and hopelessness collide with a God who never lets go? Demoris Hickman knows firsthand. This is not a polished, surface-level story — it's a raw, honest look at what it takes to truly come back from the darkest season of your life, and a real example of faith-based addiction recovery in action. A Childhood Shaped by Pain Demoris's story begins in childhood, watching his single mother battle both poverty and a cancer diagnosis while raising three kids on her own. As the only son, Demoris carried a weight he didn't know how to process — comparison, stress, and a growing sense that God wasn't there. That unresolved pain became the doorway to addiction, a pattern many people who grew up in survival mode will recognize in their own lives. A Story of Darkness and Deliverance In this raw and unfiltered conversation, author and non-profit founder Demoris Hickman opens up about his 10+ year battle with drug addiction — starting with marijuana, progressing to alcohol, and eventually to crack cocaine addiction. He shares what it was like losing his job, his home, and his sense of identity — sleeping on the streets of Columbia, SC, stealing to survive, and holding a sign asking strangers for help while his mother prayed for him from her knees. Demoris doesn't shy away from any of it. He walks listeners through the gloomy day he hit absolute rock bottom, sitting homeless on hotel steps, filthy and broken, and the exact moment he heard God say, "Go home." That single decision led him back to his mother, back to sobriety, and eventually to Timmonsville Community Church — the community that took him in and helped him rebuild his life one small step at a time. Overcoming Addiction Through the Power of the Holy Spirit If you've ever wondered whether transformation is really possible — whether freedom from addiction, shame, or a broken past is within reach — this episode will show you it is. Demoris and Tara dig deep into practical, faith-centered questions many listeners searching for Christian recovery resources are asking: How do you tell the difference between conviction and condemnation? How does the Holy Spirit help you resist relapse triggers? Why is rock bottom so often the place where people meet Christ for the first time? And how does discovering your God-given purpose become the antidote to addiction and self-destructive patterns? This conversation also unpacks a powerful truth: addiction isn't always drugs or alcohol — it can be anything that steals your time, your money, and your relationship with God, including phone addiction, overeating, or other coping mechanisms hiding in plain sight. From Addiction to Author: A Testimony of Purpose Today, Demoris lives out his purpose as a published author, motivational speaker, and founder of the Demoris Hickman Performing Arts Center, using his story to reach others who are still trapped in the same prison he once knew. His journey is a real-life example of what it looks like to go from addiction to purpose, and proof that no one is too far gone for God to redeem and restore. Who Should Listen to This Episode This episode is for anyone searching for hope in addiction recovery, Christians walking through sobriety, family members praying for a loved one struggling with substance abuse, or anyone who feels like they're living in a mental or emotional prison even without a substance involved. If you've searched for terms like "how to overcome addiction with faith," "Christian testimony on drug addiction," or "finding purpose after rock bottom," this conversation was made for you. Listen, Subscribe, and Share Listen now, and if this story moves you, subscribe to GRASP Confidence Podcast and leave a review to help this message reach someone still in the dark. Someone in your life may need to hear exactly this today.   Connect with Demoris Hickman: 🌐 Website: https://demorishickman.com/ 📚 Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578706369 Support the Mission (Demoris Hickman Performing Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) — donations are tax-deductible) 💛 Venmo: @Demoris-Hickman-1 💙 PayPal: [email protected] 💜 Zelle: 854-208-0601 💚 Cash App: $DHPerformingArts ✉️ Mail a check: Demoris Hickman Performing Arts Center, 706 W Smith St, Timmonsville, SC 29161     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.    
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  #204: Build the Capacity to Receive the Blessings God Wants to Give You 17.07.2026 25dk

  How to Build the Capacity to Hold What God Wants to Give You | Episode #204   ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   The Discernment Series:  Episodes #200 through #204 are one continuous argument: almost everything you've been taught to trust; your instinct to have the last word, the teachers who sound spiritual, the universe you thank, the opinions you perform for; is a counterfeit standing in for the real thing. This five-part series walks through peace, discernment, worship, inner capacity and identity, and in every case makes the same move: strip away the substitute, and point back to God as the only legitimate source. You can't win your peace back by winning arguments. You can't discern truth without knowing the voice of the real Shepherd. You can't pray to a universe that was never listening. You can't build an identity out of other people's opinions of you. And you cannot fully accept God's blessings in your life if your inner capacity to hold it is leaking. Five different traps, one root cause and one way out.   The Vessel Problem: Why Sudden Blessings Don't Always Stay Nearly one in three lottery winners eventually goes bankrupt and studies show lottery winners are more likely to file within three to five years of their windfall than the average American. It's not because the money was bad. It's because they were never built to hold it. If you've ever wondered why God delays your breakthrough, why the promotion, the relationship, or the answered prayer doesn't seem to "stick," this episode is for you. This is a conversation about spiritual capacity; how to expand your capacity to receive blessings, and why building that capacity matters more than chasing the blessing itself. What This Episode Covers In this solo episode of the GRASP Confidence Podcast, Tara LaFon Gooch breaks down why God prepares the vessel before He pours the oil; a faith-based framework for understanding delay, preparation, and increase. Drawing from the story of the widow's oil in 2 Kings 4, the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi, and Jesus' teaching on new wine and old wineskins in Mark 2:22, Tara explores the connection between unhealed wounds, unforgiveness, and your capacity to hold what God wants to give you. If you've been asking how to receive God's blessings, how to grow spiritually before a breakthrough, or why forgiveness and healing matter for abundance and increase, this episode lays out the biblical framework in plain, practical terms.   Quotes to Sit With "God never stops pouring, but a cracked vessel never stays full." "You don't expand your capacity by avoiding what broke you. You expand it by letting God repair exactly where it broke." "The oil didn't stop because God ran out. It stopped because she ran out of containers."   Building Capacity with the GRASP Method This episode also unpacks how the GRASP Method — Gratitude, Responsibility, Action, Sight, Purpose — is the practical, daily framework for expanding spiritual capacity and building God-backed confidence. Gratitude activates the Law of Increase — gratitude for what you already hold is what makes room for what's next. Responsibility empowers you to stop living as a victim of your past and start owning your healing. Action creates the momentum that stretches your capacity, one act of obedience at a time. Sight aligns your self-image with how God already sees you, so you can recognize the capacity you already have. Seeking Purpose increases God's will and assignment for your life, positioning you for the exact pour your calling requires.   Practiced together, the GRASP Method isn't just a personal growth framework — it's a Christian confidence-building tool for anyone asking how to grow their faith, expand their capacity for blessing, and prepare for their next level without burning out or breaking down when it arrives. Who This Episode Is For This episode is for the high-achieving believer, the leader, the physician, the entrepreneur, or the elite professional who feels called to more but senses they're not quite ready to receive it. It's for anyone searching for faith-based personal development, Christian confidence coaching, or answers to why God prepares you before He blesses you. If you're navigating unforgiveness, spiritual growth, or capacity-building for the next season of your life, this conversation will meet you exactly where you are. Your Next Step Hit play, and start expanding the vessel God's been preparing you to be. Then come share which part of the GRASP Method — gratitude, responsibility, action, sight, or purpose — you're going to practice this week. Tag Tara or leave a review and let her know.       🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #203: Made in His Image, Not Their Opinion 17.07.2026 24dk

  Why You Can't Find Yourself Outside of God ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   The Discernment Series:  Episodes #200 through #204 are one continuous argument: almost everything you've been taught to trust; your instinct to have the last word, the teachers who sound spiritual, the universe you thank, the opinions you perform for; is a counterfeit standing in for the real thing. This five-part series walks through peace, discernment, worship, inner capacity and identity, and in every case makes the same move: strip away the substitute, and point back to God as the only legitimate source. You can't win your peace back by winning arguments. You can't discern truth without knowing the voice of the real Shepherd. You can't pray to a universe that was never listening. You can't build an identity out of other people's opinions of you. And you cannot fully accept God's blessings in your life if your inner capacity to hold it is leaking. Five different traps, one root cause and one way out.   Who are you...really? Not your job. Not your relationship status. Not your astrological sign. Not where you work. Not where you go to school. Not where you are from. Take those away; what's actually left? If you don't have an answer, that's not a small problem. That's THE problem. Most of us have never actually answered that question; we've just gotten good at answering around it. In this episode, I'm making the case that everything we treat as identity...the job, the degree, the relationship status, the platform; was never built to hold that kind of weight. "Your identity is something you were given, at creation, by the one who made you," not something you alone build. Genesis 1:27 says it plainly: you were made in the divine image of God. That's not a metaphor. That's where identity actually starts. We go into the book of Job; a man who loses everything external that could have ever defined him, and still isn't comforted until God simply shows up. Not with answers. With presence. Because Job, like you, carries the image of the God he's encountering. That's the whole episode in one idea: identity isn't something you perform your way into, it's something you align your way into. As I put it, "Performance says, 'prove you deserve this identity.' Alignment says, 'you already carry it, now walk in it.'" Then we get honest about why we drift from that in the first place; chasing approval, needing people to like the post, needing the energy, needing the applause. "Anytime we need something from another person to feel whole, we are functioning as a taker, not a giver," and that taker mindset is the trade so many of us are making without realizing it: a fixed, God-given identity for a borrowed one that has to be re-earned every single day. If you've been building your sense of self on anything other than the God who made you, this episode is your invitation to stop performing and start aligning. In This Episode Why "who are you, really?" is a question most people avoid answering What the book of Job reveals about identity, presence, and comfort The difference between performance-based identity and alignment-based identity Why needing approval makes you a taker, not a giver How to root your identity in being made in God's image Scripture Referenced Genesis 1:27, Job (God's response to Job), Psalm 139:14, Ephesians 2:10, Colossians 3:3, Romans 12:2, John 14:6     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #202: The Universe Isn't God, So Why Are You Praying to It? 17.07.2026 17dk

  The Universe Isn't God, So Why Are You Praying to It? | Episode #202 ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   The Discernment Series:  Episodes #200 through #204 are one continuous argument: almost everything you've been taught to trust; your instinct to have the last word, the teachers who sound spiritual, the universe you thank, the opinions you perform for; is a counterfeit standing in for the real thing. This five-part series walks through peace, discernment, worship, inner capacity and identity, and in every case makes the same move: strip away the substitute, and point back to God as the only legitimate source. You can't win your peace back by winning arguments. You can't discern truth without knowing the voice of the real Shepherd. You can't pray to a universe that was never listening. You can't build an identity out of other people's opinions of you. And you cannot fully accept God's blessings in your life if your inner capacity to hold it is leaking. Five different traps, one root cause and one way out.   Everyone around you is manifesting; journaling affirmations, thanking the universe, "aligning their energy" with the cosmos. It feels spiritual. It feels empowering. It is neither. As I say in this episode, "The universe can't hear you. It has no ears, no mind. It has no will." You cannot have a relationship with matter. A galaxy cannot love you back. This episode walks through Genesis, Romans, Colossians, and the words of Jesus Himself to expose what New Age manifestation culture is really doing: putting the creation in the seat that belongs only to the Creator. "The stars are the signature, not the artist," I explain. "The universe is the painting, not the painter." When you say "thank you, universe," you are whether you realize it or not "thanking the wrapping paper and ignoring the one who gave you the gift." This is not a trend. This is Genesis 3 with new vocabulary: manifest, align, vibrate, ascend. The same lie the serpent told Eve that she could be her own god. We also unpack why manifestation's "peace" is counterfeit. Feeling calm from an affirmation is not the same as the peace of Philippians 4:7 that "passeth all understanding." As I say directly: "Self-worship never holds weight. It collapses the moment life gets hard, because you were never strong enough to be your own source of peace in the first place." If you've ever said "I manifested this" or "the universe has my back," this episode is your invitation to redirect that prayer; off the creation, onto the Creator, through His Son Jesus Christ. Because as beautiful as the universe is, "a masterpiece cannot love you back. Only the painter can."   In This Episode Why "thank you, universe" is a modern form of idolatry The half-truth buried inside manifestation culture and exactly where it goes wrong How New Age spirituality mirrors the original temptation in the Garden of Eden Why manufactured calm isn't the same as biblical peace How to redirect your prayers from the creation to the Creator Scripture Referenced Genesis 1:1, Genesis 3:5, Psalm 19:1, Proverbs 18:21, Proverbs 23:7, Isaiah 45:5, John 1:1, John 14:6, Romans 1:25, Colossians 1:16, Colossians 2:8, 2 Corinthians 11:14, Philippians 4:6–7, Matthew 6:9, 1 John 5:21       🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #201: How to Spot a False Spiritual Teacher (Before It Costs You Everything) 17.07.2026 18dk

  Ever walked away from a spiritual teacher, a retreat, or a guru-led program feeling more empty than when you started? ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   The Discernment Series:  Episodes #200 through #204 are one continuous argument: almost everything you've been taught to trust; your instinct to have the last word, the teachers who sound spiritual, the universe you thank, the opinions you perform for; is a counterfeit standing in for the real thing. This five-part series walks through peace, discernment, worship, inner capacity and identity, and in every case makes the same move: strip away the substitute, and point back to God as the only legitimate source. You can't win your peace back by winning arguments. You can't discern truth without knowing the voice of the real Shepherd. You can't pray to a universe that was never listening. You can't build an identity out of other people's opinions of you. And you cannot fully accept God's blessings in your life if your inner capacity to hold it is leaking. Five different traps, one root cause and one way out.   In this solo episode, Tara breaks down the real test for discerning a true spiritual teacher from a false one — and it has nothing to do with whether they charge you for their time. Drawing on her own story of 21 years in a high-control religion she never believed in, followed by 17 years running from God and questioning whether He even existed, Tara shares how she was finally met exactly where she was at her lowest point and what following Him daily ever since has taught her about discernment. She unpacks what Jesus meant when He called Himself living water, why so many people cycle through six, seven, eight guru-led retreats and repeated rounds of plant medicine chasing a breakthrough that never lasts, and what recent headlines about Deepak Chopra's documented, years-long contact with Jeffrey Epstein reveal about the real cost of unchecked spiritual authority. Tara also speaks candidly about a pattern she's seeing echoed in her own network — people she respects coming forward to say they feel scammed by teachers they once trusted. Walk away with six practical, no-fluff markers you can use to test any teacher, coach, or mentor in your life right now — markers rooted in Scripture, not vibes. You'll learn how to tell the difference between a teacher who keeps you dependent and one who points you toward something that doesn't run out, why lasting transformation only comes through Christ, and how to stop mistaking a temporary high for real healing. Listen now and if this episode resonates, share it with someone in your circle who's been burned by a false teacher, or who's still searching for the one thing that actually satisfies.     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #200: You Don't Need to Be Right, Be the Light 17.07.2026 20dk

  Do You Want to Be Right, or Do You Want to Be the Light? | Episode #200 ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   The Discernment Series:  Episodes #200 through #204 are one continuous argument: almost everything you've been taught to trust; your instinct to have the last word, the teachers who sound spiritual, the universe you thank, the opinions you perform for; is a counterfeit standing in for the real thing. This five-part series walks through peace, discernment, worship, inner capacity and identity, and in every case makes the same move: strip away the substitute, and point back to God as the only legitimate source. You can't win your peace back by winning arguments. You can't discern truth without knowing the voice of the real Shepherd. You can't pray to a universe that was never listening. You can't build an identity out of other people's opinions of you. And you cannot fully accept God's blessings in your life if your inner capacity to hold it is leaking. Five different traps, one root cause and one way out.   Have you ever replayed a conversation in your head for hours, drafting the perfect response to someone who's not even in the room with you? That pull to keep explaining, to make sure they finally get it; it feels righteous. But what if it's actually a crack in your vessel, quietly draining the very thing God wants to fill you with? In this milestone 200th episode, Tara LaFon Gooch gets honest about the difference between standing for truth and needing to be understood and why those two things are not the same. Drawing from Proverbs 26:4, Philippians 4:19, Psalm 23:1, Psalm 62:1, and Galatians 1:10, Tara unpacks why the need to be understood is really a need for a source and why God, not the other person, is supposed to be that source. You'll learn the filter question that ends pointless arguments before they start ("Would I still send this if I knew for certain they'd never write back?"), the five-step practice for releasing a conversation that won't let go of you, and why walking away mid-thread isn't surrender; it's restraint. If you're a Christian woman, founder, or leader who finds your peace hijacked by comment sections, group chats, or relationships where you're not being heard, this episode will help you stop chasing validation and start resting in God-backed confidence. This week, when you feel the pull to respond one more time...pause, ask the filter question, and choose to be the light instead of needing to be right.     🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #199: She Lost Her Daughter on Her Husband's Birthday — Then God Gave Her This | Shanna Brown 13.07.2026 1sa 3dk

  Have you ever wondered how someone keeps their faith after losing a child? ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   Shanna Brown, MS, MHC, ACC, is a licensed mental health counselor, certified grief specialist, and accredited coach — and the founder of Grief Wise, a faith-centered platform helping people heal after death, divorce, trauma, and silent suffering. In this episode, Shanna shares the deeply personal story behind her mission: the 2017 loss of her daughter Brooke, who passed away from complications related to May-Turner Syndrome and lupus — on her husband's birthday. Shanna opens up about the isolation that followed, the spiritual wrestling that came with it, and the moment she decided to take her pain and turn it into purpose. We talk about grief as a "figure eight" rather than a finish line, the Japanese practice of Kintsugi as a metaphor for healing, and why unforgiveness can function as spiritual warfare. Shanna also shares the unlikely birth of her podcast, Grief Wise, and what it means to seek God's wisdom rather than the world's self-help answers when you're in the depths of loss. If you've ever asked "why" in the middle of suffering, or wondered whether faith and grief can coexist, this conversation will meet you exactly where you are.   Connect with Shanna and listen to Grief Wise on YouTube, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms. Want to be a guest on Grief Wise podcast? Email [email protected].          🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #198: Is Self-Help a Scam? The Billion-Dollar Lie I Believed for Years 10.07.2026 21dk

  I Tried Manifesting and "Self-Helping" My Way There. It Almost Crushed Me.   ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms   I used to be obsessed with self-help. The books, and the "gurus" promising the life I wanted was always just one system, one course, one retreat, or one breakthrough away. I've since come to a different conclusion: self-help is a billion-dollar industry built on a lie; the lie that you can transform yourself, by yourself. In this episode, I break down the real difference between manifestation and biblical surrender, and why so much of what gets called online still skips the most important phrase in the Lord's Prayer — "Thy will be done" NOT "my will be done."   WHY SELF-HELP NEVER FINISHES YOU Manifestation tells you to match a frequency, visualize harder, and become your own source of creation. It's toil disguised as empowerment and I've personally met people who've gone to five, six, even eight self-help, "guru" led retreats chasing that promise, spending thousands of dollars and dozens of hours of their lives, only to come home unchanged. That's not their failure. That's the system working exactly as it was designed; built to be returned to, not to finish you.   THE BIBLICAL ALTERNATIVE: ALIGNMENT, NOT MANIPULATION The biblical pattern is different. It's not about manipulating an outcome through the law of attraction or "speaking it into existence";  it's about aligning your will with God's will and trusting Him with what happens next. I'll share a personal story about something I once wanted desperately that, in hindsight, would have crushed me had I gotten it and why God, who sees the hundred-thousand-foot view while we only see the square directly in front of us, doesn't always give us what we ask for, even when He is love and wants good for us.   HOW TO SPOT A FALSE TEACHER You'll hear why I believe true transformation isn't possible through man's wisdom alone, no matter how polished the packaging and the one test that reveals whether a teacher or guru is a false teacher leading you in circles, or a true teacher pointing you to the living water Jesus promises in John 4 and why "God-help," not self-help, is the only path to lasting change.   THE INVITATION If you've ever felt exhausted from trying to manifest your way to peace, or you've found yourself stuck in a self-help loop with nothing to show for it, this episode ends with an invitation to stop striving and start surrendering.       🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.  
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  #197: The Slow "Authority Drift" That Steals Your Identity | Michael N. Fineman 06.07.2026 47dk

  Authority Drift; Finding Your Way Back to Who You Really Are   ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch on all platforms What happens when you wake up one day, look in the mirror, and don't recognize the person staring back; even though everyone around you says you're doing great? Identity strategist Michael N. Feinman joins Tara to unpack "authority drift" — the slow, almost invisible erosion of self that happens through years of micro-compromises. Like getting swept down the beach by a current you never noticed, you can wake up successful on paper and still feel completely off-center. Michael breaks down why what we call "confidence" is really just the byproduct of something deeper: authority, which only comes from authenticity, which only comes from knowing your true identity. This conversation goes straight to the root of identity — not as a performance, a title, or an achievement, but as sonship. Michael shares his own story: childhood abandonment, years in institutions, a self-taught chameleon survival style, and the moment everything cracked open — holding his newborn son and hearing God say, "I love him hundreds of thousands of times more than you ever could." Tara and Michael dig into the Father-son dynamic as the cure for performance-based identity, why money and achievement make such convincing identity substitutes, and why this generation of young people is craving authenticity more than any before it. Hit play if you've ever felt like you're performing a version of yourself that isn't quite you anymore. This episode will help you find your way back; not by trying harder, but by getting still enough to remember whose you are.   Connect with Michael + Support his work! www.MikeF360.com www.AuthorityDrift.com www.AuthorityDriftBook.com   🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world!   What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling.   🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you!   🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon/Audible | iHeartRadio   Follow Tara: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook   🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions, helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together.   💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.