Karen Kingsbury (Novels on the Big Screen and Dreaming New Dreams)

If you have ever wondered whether it is “too late” to start something new, Karen Kingsbury has a bold answer: if you are still breathing, God may still have your greatest work ahead. Hannah welcomes the #1 New York Times bestselling author behind more than 70 inspirational novels for a conversation that feels like sitting on the couch with a wise friend who is still dreaming, still building, and still learning. We talk about faith-based storytelling that deals with real life, from grief and loss to the messy questions believers still carry. Karen shares what it has been like to watch stories that lived in her imagination become movies and TV, and how Karen Kingsbury Productions is helping bring more hopeful, high-quality Christian entertainment to the screen. Karen also opens up about a GLP-1 journey that she describes as freeing her from constant “food noise,” reshaping her relationship with self-control, and giving her more mental space for prayer and purpose. Make sure to download this episode and subscribe to the show!

Follow Karen Kingsbury:
https://www.instagram.com/karenkingsbury/

Follow Hannah Kerr:
https://www.instagram.com/inthemiddleofit.pod/
https://www.instagram.com/hannahkerr/

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Transcript

Press Forward And Keep Going

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I would say if you're still breathing, I mean I don't care if you're 85 or whatever you are, if you're still breathing, maybe the greatest thing God has for you you haven't done yet.

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:07

So you might be in the middle of considering or you might be in the middle of doing it.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

But press forward.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Because you know, you don't just the view from ahead is going to be beautiful.

Sponsor Message And Discount Code

SPEAKER_04 0:22

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Meet Karen Kingsbury

SPEAKER_04 1:08

Hey everyone, welcome back to in the middle of it. I'm your host, Hannah Kerr. Today's guest is Karen Kingsbury. I'm so excited. Karen Kingsbury is a number one New York Times bestselling author of over 70 life-changing fiction books. She's a wife to Donald, a mother of six grown kids, a grandmother to four boys and one on the way, and so much more. She has so many exciting things in the works, including a lot of her books being turned into TV shows and movies with Karen Kingsbury Productions. So please welcome America's favorite inspirational novelist, Karen Kingsbury. Karen, thank you so much for being here today. I'm so excited. When I heard that you were going to be a guest on this podcast, I definitely fangirled a little bit because I have been a fan of you since I was a kid. Literally, I think we have like every one of your books, which you have over 70. So, like, that's a lot of books. Well, I love that. Yeah. Sweet. It means a lot that you said yes to being here. This podcast is all about talking about life in the middle of it, as things are going on, when things are not figured out yet, when it's not wrapped up in a perfect bow. We're just having conversations of what God's doing right now in real life. Um, and I just thank you for being here and being willing to be in the middle of it with us. Um, it just

Love It Hate It Quick Game

SPEAKER_04 2:23

means a lot. So to get started, we usually start with a game called Love It, Hate It, in the Middle of It. Um, so I give you a list of five random things. You tell me if you love the thing, hate the thing, or feel in the middle of it, kind of neutral about the thing. Okay. Okay, perfect. All right, number one is the beach. Love it. Yeah. You're a beach, a beach girl, not so much like a mountain.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Well, no, because I grew up in Southern California.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

So every when I got a car, like every chance I had, I was headed to the beach. I love the beach chair, and I would play Frisbee and the waves, and then I would write and write and write and write. That's journey. Write poetry, whatever.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

That's the perfect place to write. I feel like the beach is the most inspirational place. Oh, I love that. I love it. Okay, number two, grocery shopping. Do you love it? Hate it?

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Hate it. Yeah. I mean, Instacart is my friend. Me too. I can't. I'm like, what is well, I'll sometimes on the way home from church, we'll stop. And my husband will be like, let's just jump into the store and just like get a rotisserie chicken or something. And I'll be like, what is this place? Like, I don't recognize the aisles anymore. It's that bad. I truly same. And I bet you we're saving a fortune because I don't do any of that like visual, you know, kind of impulsive shopping. I just get what I need.

SPEAKER_04 3:34

I really don't like grocery shopping either, unless it's Costco. I love Costco and Sam's Club. That's where I love to shop. But grocery shopping, not so much. Yeah, not so much. Okay, number three, Hallmark movies. Do you like Hallmark movies?

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Um, I'm in the middle of it. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I like them. I feel I do. I've sometimes the writer in me is like, oh I'm sure.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

Watching something as a writer, I feel like would be hard. It's like when I go to a concert as a musician, I'm always like hyper aware of all the behind the scenes and I'm looking at everything, and I feel like as a writer, it might be hard to watch movies.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

I mean, they they definitely fill a part of the heart that's like, you know, I'm I'm just ready for something just relaxing. Yes. Right. That's good for that. But the writer in me is like, or we can, and that isn't always true. I mean, a lot of movies I'll watch, I'm just like, wow, I'm in awe. This is great. And that's true sometimes with Hallmark too. So in the middle.

SPEAKER_04 4:23

I feel like Hallmark movies at Christmas are really when I want to watch them, but normally I'm like, I need something with a little more meat. I need a twist. I need something that I'm not seeing coming, you know. Yeah, it's really the reason we opened our production company. Yes, I know to get the bigger twist, you know. So exciting. Okay, number four, sports. Um, watching or playing. I mean, I read that you got your start being a sports reporter. So I had to ask you about that.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

So I'm gonna say love it. Okay. I really I mean, I never played like really competitive sports. I swam and did track in high school.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

But I have, you know, now I have little tiny grandboys that are playing flag football, which is so fun. I mean, we we watch March Madness, we watch the Dodgers, you know. We I still love sports for sure. So I have to say love it. And I'm pretty good ping pong player. So really have you ever played pickleball? Because I've heard it's like big ping pong. I cannot wait to try it. I have not had the time, like we haven't where I got the right group people. But I think I would really like it. But ping pong, there was a time I won like the Los Angeles City Championship in middle school.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

What? That is such a fun fact.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

It's so funny. And then when I think I was like in my mid-30s and the Olympics were on, and there was somebody, there was like the low-level women's ping pong matches. It was like midnight, I'm folding laundry, and my husband's trying to fall asleep. And I was watching it, I'm like, I could take them. Like, I'm pretty sure. I'm like, I'm shaking his foot. I'm like, honey, I'm gonna I'm gonna be an Olympic ping pong.

SPEAKER_04 5:53

I'm gonna be an Olympiad.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

Karen Kingsbury becomes an Olympian.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

He's like, go back to sleep. Like, stop on the laundry. That's enough.

SPEAKER_04 6:01

I mean, you're a champion though, so I feel like the confidence was well placed.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

You know, I really am definitely, I guess, you know, Aunt Rico or something if I'm carrying my middle school championship into this fun talk. But yeah, I still I do love it. Wow, I'm gonna stick with Love It.

SPEAKER_04 6:14

Okay, I love it. And last is re-watching shows. Do you have any comfort shows that you go back to?

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Love it. Absolutely. I mean, you know, how to lose a guy in ten days.

SPEAKER_04 6:24

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Raising Helen is so good. I mean, you know, we have I think Saving Mr. Banks is one of my favorite. So good. The Mary Poppins stories perfect movie, if you ask me.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Um and I yeah, I just I I mean, even I'll be honest, I love to watch mine. I still it was on That's a good thing. It's someone like you was on Great American and they were just playing it, which we Which is probably crazy. It's crazy, it's still crazy. Like flipping through the channels, you're like, oh, that's my movie. I'm still so honored by it. And I, you know, I was doing other things and I just got sucked into it. And next thing you know, I'm wiping tears going it's so and part of that is thanking the Lord that it even got to happen.

SPEAKER_04 7:03

So cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

What a gift that he allowed us to do or is allowing us to do that.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

Yeah.

Turning Books Into Movies

SPEAKER_04 7:07

That is one of my questions today. What is it like to watch your work, your books come to life in TV shows and movies? It's just amazing.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Yeah, it really is. It's God gives me the stories visually. I mean, whenever I'm writing a book to me, I'm seeing a movie and I'm just transcribing it. Wow. So I'm laughing, crying, and my husband is like, you know, he's got some funny stories about how he's like, what's wrong? And I'm like, Irville died. Oh my goodness. He's like, Arvil, how do we know her? You have the power. Like, she's one of my characters. And he's like, Really? That's so funny. Like, you killed her. What are you doing? So yeah, I mean, it's you're the author.

unknown 7:44

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

It's very visual for me. So to see one of my stories, then if we pre especially if we're, you know, making it ourselves. Yeah. It's just, it's the most beautiful, surreal. You feel the pleasure of the Lord in that moment because this is what he gave me, and now I have the chance to put that on screen. It takes a whole team, obviously, it's not just me.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Of course.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Um, but it's a team that's catches my vision.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

And because of that, I am so happy with the quality of what we have done, the two movies we've made. I want to make so many more.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

Yes, I know. I feel like you have an endless supply of movies because you have so many books that could be amazing films. Yeah. That's so cool. And you opened Karen Kingsbury Productions in 2022, is that right? Yes. That's amazing. And you've made two movies so far, which is amazing, and many more to come. And many more to come. I read that your word for the year is development. Is that true?

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Yes, you know, we we rushed that last one. I mean, we had to make Christmas Ring. The Christmas Ring was we shot it in July and wrapped August 10th, and we had like six weeks of turnaround time for posts, which is crazy. Yeah. And it's beautiful. Like I'm just so happy with it. It'll find a streaming home here soon for this coming Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

But did a limited theatre, like a pretty limited theatrical, and then did really well in the what we call T Vod transactional video on demand space, so renting it to watch on Amazon kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Um, so but it was all so fast that came into 2026. I I know I was like, I am good to take a let's just let's develop, let's write scripts. Like I want to at least write three scripts this year. That's what I'm in the middle of, really. And then um I want to write at least one novel this year. So just you know, balancing all of that, and then it became the word for everything in my life, too.

SPEAKER_04 9:33

So you are in a development stage, both personally, professionally, all of it. I'm so impressed because we had like 15 minutes before this podcast started, and you were like, we could start early early, or I could work for 15 minutes. I'm like, and that's why you are who you are, because you had 15 minutes and thought, I could write for 15.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Well, it's easier, you know, you'd be surprised because it's at home, it's as much as it's easy to write at home, it there's times when it really isn't, because I have adult kids stopping by. We have you know four little grandboys, soon to be five grandboys with our daughter and her wonderful husband, Kyle. So, like I want to be present for all of that. And it's almost like, can I come two hours early? And then I could really get some writing done.

SPEAKER_04 10:13

You could really get some stuff done if I just did that. I totally understand. So,

Working With Family On Mission

SPEAKER_04 10:17

does your family all live in the Nashville area? Like you say, they're they're stopping by.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Yeah, they I mean, four of the adult kids do, and two live out of state, um, Tampa, uh, Florida, and then Atlanta, Georgia. Wow. But the ones that are here in town, we work together. Yes. So Kyle and Kelsey are my marketing team, which you know that's a dream to be able to do that and do it well and to enjoy each other. And the process has been a true gift. Tyler is our oldest son, and he is a director and a writer. He's my co-writer with all scripts.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Um, yeah, so and that's amazing. And then Austin acts, but he also works in our family bookstore that's like a just an online bookstore, but he oversees that and literally prays over every package that goes out.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

Oh, that's so special.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

It's such a gift. So, yeah, so we enjoy working together and we're together a lot. We're getting ready to go to the beach soon, and we'll just we just have fun playing or working.

SPEAKER_04 11:08

That's so great.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Jesus is right in the middle of it all. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_04 11:11

That's really special. And I feel like he has to be to work with family. It's like when you have the same mission, the same heart, that's how it works.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

You know, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 11:19

That's really cool. I know that Kyle acted in one of your recent movies. That's pretty fun.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Yeah, you get to play a World War II soldier, and he opens the movie, which is so fun. We really weren't sure if we would start a Christmas movie that way, but since it was going to be theatrical, we thought it was the right call and it and it really was. He did a great job.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

That's so cool. I bet you're so proud of your kids. Just watching them live into their callings as their mom, but also their their coworker, like you guys are doing something together. That's really special and really cool.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

It is, you know, and I don't remember the address of the verse when it says that I have no greater pleasure than to know that my children are walking with the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Like yesterday we gathered at the Kapeki's house for an Easter egg hunt.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

And uh it was so fun. And the boys just have the best time and they help each other. Like, I already have one of these, so if you want one of these, you know, they're so sweet. Wow. They're um three to ten right now, ten years old. And inside the eggs they put little mini scripture scrolls.

SPEAKER_04 12:16

That's amazing. That's the cutest thing.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

I've never seen that before. So here we are, and they're opening eggs, and they're seeing little little toys or little stickers or little candy, and then occasionally getting these little you know, scripture scrolls and passing it to the one who could read it. Two of the of the four can read.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

And reading them out loud, and I was just like the breeze on her face, and I thought, this just doesn't get any better than this.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

Yeah, that's really special. Wow, four boys. That's a lot of boys. I have one boy, and I'm like, wow, people have multiple kids. That's crazy. I I would like to do that, but how? I know I'll have to call Kelsey and be like, hey girl, how do you do this?

How Real Life Shapes The Stories

SPEAKER_04 12:50

Yeah. Um, I remember when I was in middle school, I read the entire Bailey Flanagan series. It was my absolute favorite. Like I read it multiple times, and she's the cover of all those books. It's so crazy. How much of your real life, your real story, ends up in your books?

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Well, I promised them with that series. That series was interesting because Bailey, you know, Kelsey was an inspiration for Bailey, really. She had we had guys, it was very similar. But initially the Flanagan family, the Bailey Flanagan, uh, the Flanagan family was a side note to the Baxters and it became its own thing because people loved it so much. So I just promised, look, I won't do any storylines from your real lives to any of our kids.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

The family is just our family. I mean, if three kids adopted from Haiti, like they were our family, yeah. But kept it to where the storyline plot twists, you know, the conflicts were original and not true to life. So yeah, I mean, I have a sign in my kitchen that a friend gave me and it says, Um, be careful what you say, it might wind up in my novel. And we all chuckle, but it's like Oh, that's so funny.

SPEAKER_04 13:55

I feel like you better be careful. When your friends are songwriters and novelists, you'll end up in their work.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Right, yeah, exactly somehow.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

Oh man, I feel like the Baxter family probably feels like a real friend, companion of family members to you. I mean, you've written so many books about them, you've explored so many storylines, and now they're coming to life in a TV show. Like that, that probably is such a surreal feeling to be like these characters have lived in my head, lived on these pages for so many years, and now I'm watching them come to life, and other people can see what's been in your mind all this time, which is so incredible to me.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Thank you. It is incredible. I'm so honored, and like the Baxters was an example of we didn't produce that. Um, I got to edit the scripts, which was so kind because it kept it accurate.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

And there are three seasons that are on Amazon Prime right now of the Baxters. But the one I'm working on right now, one of the things I'm in the middle of truly right now is writing, you know, Tyler and I wrote, and we just love, we don't really write together, like you and I are sitting together, but I'll take a draft and he'll take a draft, that kind of thing. So we wrote five books for middle grades, like ages eight to twelve, called The Baxter Family Children. And the first one was Best Family Ever. And the kids loved these books. And you know, you know, as a young mom, like you just want to have content and stories that kids will gravitate to and will find life lessons in, yep, and not the opposite.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

Totally.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

And so I am passionate right now about seeing Best Family Ever as a theatrical movie with live action, and I'm passionate about seeing it spin into a TV series. So that's what I'm really I'm literally in the middle. If I would have sat down and written for 15 minutes, it would have been on that script.

SPEAKER_04 15:40

I was gonna ask you, what would you be working on in those 15 minutes? Wow.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

I'm so excited about it. And I just I reread the book and I'm laughing, crying again, and I'm like, kids are going to families are gonna love this. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_04 15:52

I was gonna ask you about that. Like, do you ever come back to your books, reread them, and think, wow, that just hit me. Like I that's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

I actually do, and it's funny, and yeah, I can just tell you if somebody was watching me finish a book or finish the last read of a book that I'm turning in, um and like sometimes I'll have a fist in the air, like, wow, that's so good. Thank you. And my husband's like, if people didn't know you, they would think you were so arrogant. No. And I said, No, it's glory to God. Like I would read this book. In fact, when I first started writing and had no, I had no idea if it would go anywhere. I thought, well, at the very least, I want to read this kind of book. Like, I don't want simple conflicts, I want real concerning conflicts, and I have more to write about to that end.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

That give people a chance to go, I'm a Christian, but I see I understand that. You know, yeah, my best friend's husband had an affair too, and whatever, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

More difficult problems than what you might normally find in what you would call Christian fiction.

SPEAKER_04 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

And I think that's what kind of drew people.

SPEAKER_04 16:52

Definitely, because people are going through real things. It's not always just the shallow surface

Writing The Hard Topics With Hope

SPEAKER_04 16:58

level things. Like your books are exploring heavy topics, things that people are walking through abortion, IVF, grief, death, loss, all these things are present in your novels. Yeah. I think that's needed in the Christian space. How do you approach you know, coming at a topic like that? Um like how do you know what God's calling you to do with those harder topics?

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Well, a good example would be when I was in the middle of the I'll call it the S series. It was Baxter's, but it was the book Summer. Uh I think that one started with like uh someday, you know, it's sunset or sunrise, someday sunset. Anyway, um the book Summer involved the main one of our main the main characters is Ashley Baxter having a baby with enencehaly who only lives about two days. Never has a baby with anencephaly survived. There's no way to the brain is born on the outside of the head. It just doesn't, it's just don't happen. And I could feel the Lord saying to write about that, to write about a situation where the baby only is only there's not gonna be some fictional, beautiful, miraculous ending. But the baby will only live a day or a couple days. I think it's a day in this case, maybe even a couple hours, right? With Ashley. Anyway, I felt like the Lord was saying to write that, and I thought, why? Like what good could come from that? I couldn't understand it. It'd be so sad, it's hopeless. Yeah. And the Lord was so clear that life is a miracle, even if it's only a couple hours.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

And so I did my research and cried through the whole research, and then I wrote this book until she prayed the first half of her pregnancy in the book um for a miracle. And the second half, she prayed that she would accept this was the miracle. That the miracle was life at all.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

And so they all were gathered in the hospital room and I got to pass her around. And so the book was I did what God called me to do. I wasn't sure how it would land.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

But I must have had more mail from the more email, more uh snail mail probably at the time, but more response from readers.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Um, I don't even think we had social media when I wrote that. But they were saying, Thank you. I mean, I had some letters that were insane. Like one girl sent me a sound clip of her ultrasound.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

She'd had a very similar diagnosis and she said, Thank you so much for showing the reality and not some fairy tale because I'm only gonna have my pregnancy and maybe a day with my baby. And I we bought a sonogram so I could hear the heartbeat anytime and feel that connection. She sent me a sound clip of it.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

And another woman, she said, I'm in my 80s, and while I read your book, I got to hold my baby again. I could feel him in my arms because God has used it to heal.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

And that's been true with you know, several I mean, many of the books where I wrestle with it, or even 9-11, like one Tuesday morning, which was not a Baxter book.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

And uh writing a story about a firefighter if it doesn't make it out of the 9-11, out of the crashing towers. Um, it was I really wrestled with that. But yeah, always God shows me the people who literally, in that case, a firefighter, a captain who wrote to me and said nothing was gonna bring me back to God. Nothing. I was so angry, I lost so many friends, not pills, not counselors. I found your book. We donated them to every fire station in New York. And I found it and I read it, and I hit my knees, and I started weeping and the clouds broke apart and the sunlight came through, and I called my wife. He had left his wife out of his anger, and uh he said that I was able to call her and we're having a date this week, and I'm gonna see my two sons, and like it like that's life-changing. Yeah, and that's why, right?

SPEAKER_04 20:37

Yeah, but that's life-changing, it's so true. I feel like people are finding themselves in the pages of your work, and it's not all things that you personally have been through, but it's something that you are bringing to life that makes them feel not alone. Yeah, um, and that's what we're looking for when we listen to music and read books and watch movies. Like we want to know that we're not alone in the middle of our crisis, of our tragedy. Um, and it's so amazing to me to think of God just giving you the story, giving you the right words to say, and then you giving him the glory for doing that. Um I think that's why he's used you in such an amazing way because you are giving him the glory. You're saying, I am the author of these books, but really God is the one that's doing it through me. Right. And what a beautiful ministry you have and have had for so many years, and you're still having like I love that you're not just okay, I've written you know, 70, 70 novels, I'm done. I don't need to do anything else. You're like, what else can I do, God? Like, what's next for me? And that's really exciting. I'm inspired by that for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

That's

Dream Bigger At Any Age

SPEAKER_02 21:39

just so much. You don't know, that really hits because I am in the middle of that. Like I'm in the middle of that season of going, does it matter if I write a seventy first, or does it you know?

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

And uh I had that conversation with my husband just recently that, you know, do we just sail off into the sunset and like we can just be grandparents and not have that sort of a schedule? Although I write really quickly. So I mean my kids thought I wrote books in my spare time. They didn't think that that was my main thing and I wasn't the whole time I was raising them. But today, even we had a meeting earlier today, and that is the topic. And I'm I I have more to share, more to say, more to write, more movies to make. So um I'm thankful for that. And thank you for saying that. Yeah it's very sweet.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

I really do. As I was researching you, I was like, Karen has so much going on, and yet like she's still excited about what's to come. It's it's just yeah, it's amazing to me. I think a lot of people listening are in the middle of a lot of things too, and feel like, God, what's next for me? Like, is it okay for me to dream about something new? And I feel like you're inspiring them to do that. I don't know, it's just really exciting to me. I also think, like, you know, even doing this podcast, like people will ask me, Well, you do music, like, are you leaving music to do the podcast? Or what what are you up to now? And I'm like, no, I really want to do both. And I think if God's calling me to do both, then he's gonna make it possible for me to do both. And I think that's where you are with writing. You're still writing books, you're still working on books, but now you're also doing something really amazing with making Karen Kingsbury Productions a huge thing too. So that's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Well, you're an amazingly talented young woman singer. You're just beginning. You have so much ahead, so many songs to share. And I think that's good to hold on to that. Yeah. You know, it's um, I would say if you're still breathing, I mean, I don't care if you're 85 or whatever you are, if you're still breathing, maybe the greatest thing God has for you, you haven't done yet.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

So you might be in the middle of considering, or you might be in the middle of doing it.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

But press forward.

SPEAKER_03 23:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Because you know, you don't just the view from ahead is going to be beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

Oh, that's a really good word. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah.

GLP-1 Journey Beyond Weight Loss

SPEAKER_04 23:41

One thing you shared with me before we started recording was that you have started taking a GLP 1 um medication and just really the journey beyond weight loss with that, kind of what God is doing in your heart. Will you talk about that?

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Yeah, I'd love to. You know, I'm a researcher, that's the journalist in me, and um I didn't take the COVID shot. Like there's a lot of things I don't rush into. Yeah. And I knew some people who were taking GLP1s and finding really good success. And you hear the horror stories too, and yeah, oh no, Ozempic face and the different things. So I was extremely leery of it.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

And did a lot of research. Uh, there's plenty of information out there to find. It's been tested and tried and and really been working well for people who struggle with metabolic issues for 20 years for a long time. And they've gone, you know, the generation of Ozempic's kind of changed now to um Trisepit, which is under the brand name of what Zepp Bound and Montaro. And and I just um said, you know, I don't trust the high doses. That's I think for me is I always want to do it in my own way. It's like, don't give me a pen preloaded with a certain amount. And that may work for many people. Yeah. But um, before all of this, I prayed. And I said, Lord, the fruit of the spirit, I'm I'm I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. And the fruit of the spirit includes self-control.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

So do I need this? Like, and it's just like look at look at my track record, especially after menopause, it's just your body slows down, your metabolism slows down. And it's like I could be perfect for me, which is would be zero carbs. I just can't do carbs. I just wait, we'll just come right away. And and maybe because my early years of writing, a lot of times how I would get through it is with a bowl of MMs beside me. And and I would, you know, I would feel bad. And it's I could always hear the Lord being like, I think if you just turn to me, like what if you lift your eyes to the hills where your help comes from? Like Psalm 121.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

But I think it got to the place of an addiction in a way that I could be perfect six and a half days. And I do strive for perfection. You know, obviously I'm an overachiever and that's just my mindset. But I'd get to that one half day, whatever it was, a Sunday afternoon, and then something I'd eat that would have carbs in it, I would end up with a half-pound weight gain for the week or something. So I prayed about it after the good after the good research, pointing to the good of it, after some good examples around me.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

And I felt the Lord saying, This is a gift, and I heard it many times because I was afraid of it. And I literally heard the Lord saying, Karen, this is a gift.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Just go small with it.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

It's like the starting dose normally is like 2.5 milligrams. And most doctors would tell you that's not enough. Like you need to titrate up to five milligrams at least before you'll start seeing results. And I thought, you know, I want 0.5. Like I want to be just the smallest bit. Smallest bit. I'm so afraid of it. And here's something else. I'm a passionate person. And that's true with all everything I'm about and everything I love. So I'm I passionately like chocolate for a long time. But when I looked at who I wanted to be, I wanted to be passionate about health. And I wanted to be passionate about being strong. And I was a little concerned that GLP once would leave me not okay, take away the passion for any food, but also what if it takes away my passion for reading the Bible? Or it's like that was scary to me.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

But I felt the Lord's approval and uh I started at 0.5, and I've only been on it for two months. Um, I'm still taking about one milligram, is about where I'm at. Uh, but I got the bottle that you can take your own dose. So I did that, which is a lot less expensive. It's not mixed with anything, it's pure trisepatide, which is the drug. And it's a peptide. And so our bodies make this naturally. This is just a bio identical version of it. And you know, I take goodness, probably 15 different vitamins a day. But if you took this as a pill, it wouldn't work. Your stomach acid would prevent it from getting to where it needs to get. That's why it's injectable.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

But I love it. Absolutely so thankful, such a gift. Um, I lost 20 pounds in the last two months. And I'll just be on this journey. And I don't care. I don't I wouldn't mind taking that vitamin in a sense. Yeah. You know, because the side effects are coming for people that are getting up to the sevens and 15 milligrams. Yeah, high doses. Yes, and you know, if you don't change what you eat, I had to decide who do I want to be. I want to be zero carb. I love that. Yeah. Love eating like that.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

So if I can't, this is where I think people can go kind of wrong with it, is they go in thinking, well, this is great. It'll allow me to only have six French fries.

SPEAKER_04 28:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Or half a milkshake.

SPEAKER_04 28:11

Yeah. Almost like a shortcut kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Yeah, it's like a bit of a trick on it. But the truth is, and I'm walking 10,000 steps a day. That's where my I've been doing that now for several weeks, and it's been, I feel so good. But I'm not touching that stuff. Now it's very easy not to touch it with this peptide. Yeah. That's the blessing. No food noise, no, you know, noticing uh the other day a victory was um, and I just love this is the middle of this journey, is my husband said, Where did that plate of brownies go from Bible study? We host a Bible study at our house. And I said, What plate of brownies? And he said, Margie brought over brownies, whatever. I it someone had put it somewhere, I didn't even know we had brownies in the house that day. Wow. That's unusual. That is a win. Yes, it's a huge win. Because the food noise, rather than losing my passion for other things that I love, it's amplified that. So you know the Bible says pray continuously.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Well, if half your hours you're mad at yourself for eating something and then wishing you could eat something, and then you're that's not what I'm praying.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

So it has freed my mind up to be able to spend way more time talking to Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 29:17

That's amazing. It is amazing. It's a gift, that's a huge gift.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Yes, yeah.

Food Noise Fades And Faith Grows

SPEAKER_02 29:21

So I'm all in. And we'll have to come, I'll have to come back a year from now, we can talk about how it all went up.

SPEAKER_04 29:25

But I'm really, I really appreciate you sharing that because I think so many people are in the middle of that journey. Yeah. Um, and honestly, just to hear your testimony of like, okay, God's saying that I can do this, and if I'm gonna do it, I'm not gonna do it half-hearted. Right. I I mean, sitting with you for a half hour, I'm like, Karen Kingsbury doesn't do anything half-hearted. Like you're you're all in, and I really appreciate that about you. Thank you. Um, but I just feel like uh the fruit of the spirit is self-control, and I feel like you're demonstrating that. Um, and that's a testimony that I'm thankful to hear, honestly. Thank you in in this episode. So thank you for sharing that.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Yeah, I mean that's the goal, and I think this is just fixing something in my brain that broke, probably growing up. We were that family that food was love. Yeah, just had that. Yeah, and I don't I'm until I was probably 16, I didn't know what a cold cookie tasted like. It was out of the oven and into the mouth, like just one after another. Yeah. Um, and my mom was always cooking, always making something for us, or it would be let's go get a milkshake. My dad was an adventure, yeah. You know, adventure. He wanted to go on adventures to a lake or to different places or chase a storm. And it was always involved with food. It would always be let's stop and get a rip beer float, or yeah. So yeah, it's just erased that. It's just I feel fixed on that, and I feel like that part of me is getting healed. Yeah, that's and uh yeah, and you know, I still I still enjoy like I'll have a half a steak or yeah, whatever, some you know, uh eggs or whatever it is, and I still like it. It's not like you hate the taste of food, right? But you can just easily choose to eat what's right for your body at that time.

SPEAKER_04 30:56

Yeah, and I think something I was thinking about last night is in America, like our culture, food is an idol for totally so many. I mean, I say that even convicted myself that you know, after I do something hard, I'm like, oh, I could have a sweet treat now. It's a good word, you know. Um, and anything that takes our eyes off of Jesus is an idol. It is and that's really hard to you know see and to understand, but it's true. And also gluttony is a sin. And it is, you know, if if we're if we're living in that place, that is a sin and something we need to repent of. So I I just appreciate you for bringing that. Honestly, I feel convicted to be like, yeah, I need to, I need to have some self-control in that area of my life and like give that to Jesus and spend time that I am thinking about food or what you know, where can we go to eat or whatever, and be like, man, what if I spent that time with Jesus? That's really inspirational.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

And and you know, thank you. I hope that it is for people, you know, everyone listening. I think the hard thing was I wanted that and I prayed for that and I wanted the self-control. But that feels like something in my brain is truly being repaired. Now, I still have a choice. Yeah, like I could go home and say, you know, I'll have a uh have a container of ice cream instead, and this isn't like stomach stapling. I mean, you're it'll allow you to do that. You just don't want it.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

And not wanting it, I still need to have the self-control to say, I'm gonna choose to walk. You have to lift weights, I'm gonna choose to lift weights. So you have to me, you have to be building up the muscle.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Um, so it still requires the same self-control that Jesus alone can give us. But I think for the people who've gone round and round, and it comes down to I'm not ready to get on the sidelines and five years from now be in a wheelchair. Right. I want to be the person who's out there making stories that change people's lives and being the mom and grandmother that I know I can be. And this has just been a gift.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

That's really beautiful.

Final Thoughts And Thanks

SPEAKER_04 32:49

Oh, I'm so thankful that you shared that today. Thank you for going there with us. Well, thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing all of the things today. Thanks for being in the middle of it with us. You're amazing. Thank you. Thank you for having me in the middle of it. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Yay!