Wrestling With Life

We are all wrestling with something – especially us twenty and thirty somethings who are navigating the most transitional, confusing, overwhelming times of our lives thus far. We’re doing so many things for the first time: getting started in our careers, living on our own, moving to new places, dating (or marrying) new people, making new friends, and asking the big life questions like “What is the point of all of this?” And on top of all that, our generation is up against something none of our ancestors before us have ever navigated: growing up in a tech savvy world full of constant distractions. We’re more connected than ever before – yet we’re largely lacking purpose, in-person community, and faith in anything besides “quick fixes” to give us relief. Instead we’re overwhelmed with information, addicted to our phones, and desperate for a more meaningful existence. Whether you’re wrestling with your self-image, your faith in God, or your entire life’s purpose – I’m here to tell you that you are not alone and to encourage you to find both beauty and purpose in the midst of your struggle. My name is EmLed and this is the Wrestling With Life podcast :) I’m in my late twenties and spent the last few years in my “healing era” – going to therapy, reading tons of self-help books, and pouring myself into my career ambitions. This is what the modern mental health movement tells us will fix our problems, right? But my obsession with self-improvement slowly morphed into a pursuit of perfection, outperforming my competition, and total self-absorption. Funny enough, all the time I spent “finding myself” left me feeling more isolated, more insecure, and more sad than ever before. Then God brought me to my knees and opened my eyes – I can’t do life without Him. Wrestling With Life is for anyone like me who is tired of trying to play God and rely on themselves to find peace. Together, we’re gonna look to Jesus for inspiration on how to live and love and give and feel. We’ll kick perfection and control and pride to the curb and intentionally seek how God may use our pain for good. We’ll explore how we can build community and lift others up and embrace humility. And above all else, we will strive to accept our beautifully messy, limited human nature and remember that the point of life is learning to unconditionally love one another – not rise above each other. And real quick, before you dive in, let me be very clear on what this podcast is NOT. Wrestling With Life does not exist to judge you or replace the voice of God. I am absolutely NOT a preacher, life coach, or therapist – nor will I ever pretend to be. I am simply a deeply flawed human on a mission to eliminate the messages of perfection, self-reliance, and materialism that the world worships. Because sometimes I can forget the truth – and when I buy those lies, my world never feels darker. And if you’re here, I’m willing to bet you can relate. Whatever you’re wrestling with, you are not alone – let’s Wrestle With Life together. Follow @em_led11 on Instagram for more <3 Follow Wrestling With Life

We're back baby!! :) In this episode, I cover: Why I took a break from the podcast for a few months How my heart has shifted during this time Why my old episodes are no longer available What you can expect from the pod moving forward & who it's for! A lot has changed, but one thing is always gonna be the same around here: whatever you're wrestling with, you are not alone <3 Follow Wrestling With Life

What's up y'all! I've been talking to God a lot about what our generation needs to hear from Him. I've also been posting a ton of polls on my Instagram (@em_led11) to get an idea of what we're all struggling with. And PHEW. There's a lot to unpack and talk about, but I've boiled it down to one main issue that keeps coming up again and again in all my research: our obsession with ourselves is what's making us all so miserable. Our first series on the podcast is gonna be allll about this!   This series is for you if you are: - Between the ages of 22-35, working full time, and don't have kids - Feeling a lack of purpose, peace, and community in your life - Questioning God, faith, and this whole Jesus thing   We're keeping it real, honest, and vulnerable as always baby. Let's go! Follow Wrestling With Life

Episode two of our first series is still all about how our self-obsession is making us miserable, but now we're talking how we can find purpose and community outside of ourselves. How many times have you heard... "Focus on yourself!" "You HAVE to put yourself first." "Pour all of your energy into your career right now and worry about the rest later." These sound like innocent messages and good ideas, right? But they're actually a sneaky way the enemy isolates and distracts us from attaining our full potential. Let's talk through how we can fight back against these messages from the world and find a deeper purpose in our relationships with others. Follow Wrestling With Life

Let's be honest: we all wanna win, right? The argument, the competition, the promotion, you name it -- we wanna be on top. The hardest thing to do is to choose loving someone else (especially someone you don't vibe with) over our pride. ESPECIALLY when that person is belittling you, insulting you, or straight up attacking you. Sometimes we don't even want to love other people and would rather see them lose more than anything else. But when this is our heart posture and mindset, we actually end up hurting ourselves more than anyone else. In this episode, we're talking how we can shift our heart posture to one of love instead of our default posture -- pride -- and how that helps us to find more peace, purpose, and community in life. Follow Wrestling With Life