Podcast & Blog
A Trip to the Past
My guest today is Ted Wright from Epic Archaeology. Ted Wright currently serves as the founder and Executive Director of EpicArchaeology.org. He has a B.A. in Anthropology & Archaeology from the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State...
The Betrothal
[Powerpress] My guest today is Dr. Dinah Hodgson. https://dinahleehodgson.com/ Although initially trained as a registered nurse, Dinah’s life was refocused in early 2000 when she sensed a call to full-time ministry. She...
A Favorite Christmas
Who doesn’t love Christmas and the memories it brings? As you think of your favorite Christmas, what makes it memorable for you? Was it where you spent it, who you spent it with, or the gift you received? Maybe it was unforgettable because of the gift you gave to...
The Gift of Hope
I have another guest post this week by Sandy Scarboro. Sandy is also a contributor to Room at the Table: Encouraging Stories from Special Needs Families. She is mother to Miles and Grace, and a retired English teacher turned writer. Thank you, Sandy, for your...
Living Nativity
Today's blog post is by Theresa Pierce. Theresa is a contributor to our book Room at the Table: Encouraging Stories from Special Needs Families, where Theresa writes about living with her brother. My favorite Christmas memory was being part of a living nativity scene...
How I came to know the Messiah
My guest today is Dr. Phil Gigliotti. He is a retired medical doctor, teacher, speaker, and lover of the Messiah. He teaches the Jewishness of Scripture online at the Messianic LAMB Network as well as https://giftofgrace.podbean.com/. He also has class at...
The Tree of Desire
My friend, Shonda Fischer, and I discuss Genesis chapters 2 and 3 on today's podcast. It's a little different format than some of my other podcast episodes--more like a Bible study. So, if you can, grab your Bibles and join us as we dive into the story of God's...
The Kingdom of God
My guest today is Michael Mistretta. Michael Mistretta is the CEO of FIRM: Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries (https://firmisrael.org/). Born in Toronto, Canada, Michael was raised in the church and later received a call to Israel where he met Pastor Wayne...
A Hadassah in an Esther World
My guest Michayla White shares with us today. Michayla is the Chief Executive Officer for INCM--International Network of Children's Ministry. https://incm.org/ She has had the privilege of serving in children’s and family ministry in various capacities. She champions...
The Albino Turkey
Today's special Thanksgiving post is by Eric and Joy McPherson. They are contributors to my and co-author, Starr Ayers', recent book, Room at the Table: Encouraging Stories from Special Needs Families. Eric and Joy live in Mid-Michigan and love spending time with...
The Jewishness and Meaning of God’s Name
Carl Gallups and I talked about, Yahweh, God's Name--The Tetragrammaton--the reason we call on Him, the importance of His Name, and the Jewishness of His Name. Carl Gallups is a critically acclaimed Amazon Top-60 bestselling author. He is a former...
The Greek and Hebrew Minds and their Differences
Best-selling author Lois Tverberg joins me on today's podcast. She has authored many books including Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus, and Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus. Lois Tverberg has been speaking and...
What does Yogurt have to do with Bible Study?
Gena and I had a great time on my podcast talking about how she came to learn the Jewish Roots of Christianity and so much more! Gena is first a Christ-follower and a Bible student of many decades. She is also a wife and mother of two young adult sons....
Do We Really Need to Study the Old Testament?
Dr. Debbie Burd talks to me today about the importance of the Old Testament in understanding the New. Debbie is the president of the Besorah Institute for Judaic-Christian Studies & Biblical Research. The vision and mission of the Besorah Institute...
To the Jew First and Equally to the Gentile
David Stern, in his Complete Jewish Bible, translates this phrase from Romans 1:16, “to theJew especially, but equally to the Gentile.” The Good News is offered “equally” to Gentiles; thus, it is “also” for the Gentiles(NASB). (Messianic Foundations, Dr....
Our Israel Tour Guide
My guest Miriam Feinberg Vamosh was an Israel tour guide for forty years. Today she "walks" us through the Temple Mount with Psalms of praise, the Garden Tomb, the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, the pool of Bethesda, and the Via Dolorosa in...
Did Jesus Start Christianity?
Diane and I tackled a whole lot of subjects on this episode of Grafted: Jewish Roots of Christianity. Messianic Judaism, Messianic Gentiles, and Jewish names for the Old and New Testaments. Diane is a graduate of Messianic Jewish Theological Institute’s...
The Torah: The Root and the Foundation
My guest, Rabbi Darryl Weinberg, discusses the Torah and its function in the Christian's life. Darryl has over 30 years of experience in sales and marketing, leadership developmentand training, and recruiting. In addition to preaching the gospel, Darryl...
Israel and the Nations
My guest, Steven Neptune, talks with me about Israel and the nations, replacement theology, covenant, and the Tanakh, as well as other topics found in his book Jesus and the Olive Tree: Re-engaging the Mystery. Steve is the Senior Pastor of Gateway Church...
The Amazing Hebrew Language
My guest, Lauren Crews, is such an engaging teacher as she unpacks the Hebrew alphabet and language. You won't want to miss this episode! Lauren is a teacher at heart and loves nothing more than teaching God’s Word. She holds a Master of Divinity from New...
The Jewishness of Jesus
My guest, Eva Marie Everson, talks about her trips to Israel and how it changed her life and the way she read the Bible.
Jesus came to make the Torah “stand up.”
My guest today is D'vorah Calic. D'vorah explains Matthew 5:17. What did Jesus mean when He said, "Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but fulfill them." D'vorah and her husband are co-founders of...
Why do we need to know the Jewish Roots of Christianity?
Episode 2 In today's episode, I have Aaron Eime. Rev. Aaron Eime is a Deacon at Christ Church, Jerusalem, Bible Historian, and teacher for CMJ Israel. Aaron studied at the Hebrew University in the Master's Program, focusing on Early Jewish and Christian...
Grafted: Jewish Roots of Christianity
Episode One of Grafted: Jewish Roots of Christianity. Introduction: Are you a Christian who wants to go deeper into the roots of your faith? In this weekly podcast, your host Stephanie Pavlantos will explore the Hebraic significance of Scripture with...
A Scenic Overlook and Mountain Experience
Have you ever wished you could have a scenic overlook of your life—a past, present, and future look to see why you’ve experienced the failures, grief, and struggles? Wouldn’t it be nice to see the bigger picture and understand what God is doing? The Blue Ridge...
When the Holidays bring Grief and Sadness
This is the last installment of my month of stories of the Holidays. We must remember that Christmas is not a happy time for all people but can bring about feelings of grief, sadness, and depression. the nearly two years have been difficult for a lot of people in more...
A Heavenly Hug
Today's post is from my friend Cherrilynn Bisbano. She is part of my weekly Christmas posts. Her story is precious and amazing. It is truly a story of God's love for us--working through a child. Please enjoy her story! Merry Christmas! Be strong and let your heart...
Long Expected- Hope Fulfilled
For the month of December, you will see more posts than usual in your email. This month I wanted to celebrate Christ's birth by getting some friends to share a story or posts this month. I have six guest posts for the month of December. I hope you enjoy their stories...
An Angel in Waiting
For the month of December, you will see more posts than usual in your email. This month I wanted to celebrate Christ's birth by getting some friends to share a story or posts this month. I have six guest posts for the month of December. I hope you enjoy their stories...
Hope That Sees Us Through
For the month of December, you will see more posts than usual in your email. This month I wanted to celebrate Christ's birth by getting some friends to share a story or posts this month. I have six guest posts for the month of December. Not all of their stories are...
Focusing on Christ at Christmas
For the month of December, you will see more posts than usual in your email. This month I wanted to celebrate Christ's birth by getting some friends to share a story or posts this month. I have six guest posts for the month of December. I hope you enjoy their stories...
The Heavenly Places
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved— and raised us up with him...
Pursuing Prayer
Today, I have guest blogger--Penny Cooke. She is an author, Certified Biblical Life Coach, and has been a women’s ministry leader for over 25 years. Her passion is to encourage and equip women with the Word of God and see them empowered by His Spirit through prayer...
The Offering
If you had lived in the Garden of Eden, what do you think your offering or gift to God would’ve looked like? Would the offering have been the most beautiful flowers from your flower garden, or vegetables from your vegetable garden, or maybe the most perfect animal you...
The Betrothal
After four months of dating, my then, boyfriend, got all our friends together and planned a three-day cruise. There were eight of us total, four guys and four girls — two rooms (one for the guys and one for the girls). Then off we went to the Bahamas. We had a great...
Wounded
The godly care for their animals....Proverbs 12:10 NLT My German shepherd, Mia, had surgery almost a month ago to remove a growth on her back foot. She injured it a couple of years ago by jumping our fence. She had a nasty wound that we cleaned and sprayed with an...
The Passover Lamb
Growing up, I loved Easter Sunday. We dressed up in our new dresses, ate the candy from our Easter basket, went to church, and spent the day with family eating a lot of food. I grew up hearing the same story every year of Jesus' crucifixion, death, and resurrection....
Happiness is….
For the past eight weeks, we have been looking into the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. The other day, I read Psalm 32 and noticed it begins with the same wording as Matthew 5. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed...
Happy are the Pursued…
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.Matthew 5:10-11 ESV Years ago, a...
Shalom
How blessed are those who make peace! For they will be called sons of God.Matthew 5:9 CJB I am a middle child. I have three older sisters and two younger. My oldest sister, Cindy, is nine years older than me, while my youngest sister, Melanie, is nine years younger....
The Pure in Heart Sees God Everywhere
How blessed are the pure in heart! For they will see God.Matthew 5:8 CJB I read a great quote on the Beatitudes by Skip Moen, PhD. He says, "[A Beatitude] is not a “blessing” that implies one party granting a favor to another party. A Beatitude is really...
Mercy!
How blessed are those who show mercy! For they will be shown mercy.Matthew 5:7 CJB One of my mom's favorite expressions of surprise is "Mercy!" (Imagine a Southern accent with that) 🙂 My youngest son, Michael loved to imitate her by repeating it when she visited. My...
Do you Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness?
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.Matthew 5:6 We are continuing our series in the Beatitudes. Today, we will examine the fourth Beatitude found in Matthew 5:6. You can go back and read the last three posts if you...
O the Blessedness of the Meek
We are continuing our series on the Beatitudes. You can go here and read about the first Beatitude called The Poor in Spirit and here to read about the second called Joy Comes in the Mourning. Now, we will look at the third Beatitude found in Matthew 5:5. O the...
Joy Comes in the Mourning
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4 When was the last time you mourned over someone or something? There are days my heart is heavy over the things I see in this world--in politics, in the church, or in our country. I have mourned over...
The Poor in Spirit
Are you on Twitter or heard of #Healthyfaith Twitter chat? You can find it when you click on Explore and enter #Healthyfaith. The topics on #Healthyfaith vary from night to night, but each leader has a different topic for at least 8 weeks. Recently, on Thursday...
Smelling the Fear of the LORD
And His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. Isaiah 11 Happy New Year! 2020 was a rough year, let's expect 2021 to be better--Lord willing, it will be. It has been a while since I have been on my blog. So many things have been going on. My publisher released my...
Fear has a Voice, but We don’t have to Listen to it!
You may have heard "Fear not!" is said 365 times in the Bible--one for every day of the year. Fear is a stronghold. A stronghold is like an iceberg--the sea of our thoughts and emotions hide the majority of it. The ten percent we show to those around us is no...
Signing the Contract!
Signing my book contract! I am so excited, and I wanted to share it with all of you who have not seen my FB page! I wrote about my Bible study, The Jewels of Hebrews, last week in the post called Gift of Gab. Mt. Zion Ridge Press will publish it in December...
The Gift of Gab
A few years ago, I had some genetic testing done through 23 and Me, a branch of ancestry.com. In addition to finding out I have a few enzymes missing, I found out I am 87% Irish/English. My great-grandfather came from Ireland to the United States,...
Breathe
As I was driving home this weekend from my sister's house, I saw a sign on the overpass with the words, "Are you breathing?" Obviously this sign referred to the senseless death of George Floyd. But, as I thought about it, I also realized that Covid-19 took away the...
Is Healing for Real?
Has God healed you from an illness, injury, or some other condition? Do you believe God heals today? In my Bible study, Jewels of Hebrews, I wrote about Jesus/Yeshua healing us body, soul, and spirit. I had someone proofread two chapters for me and surprised me when...
A Sign and Seal
This past weekend was Pentecost or the Feast of Shavuot. It is celebrated fifty days after Passover and the death of Jesus/Yeshua. In the Christian church we think of it as the day the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples waiting in the upper room. But the first...
When I Sin
Today's post is a little different for me. It's a poem which comes from a friend, Brita Alaburda, who is very artistic and has a love for words. She loves God, people, poetry, and chocolate cake (: among other things. She is also a fellow Word Weaver. Please let her...
Lord, help my unbelief
Have you ever had a very sick child? Or maybe you found out your child would be diabetic, deaf, blind, autistic, or have some type of disability. Since my son was premature, he didn't hit developmental milestones on time. He was taking his time crawling; he rolled...
Is it All Greek to You?
Did you see the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding? It has been my life. In 1992, I married my Greek husband, Mike (aka Minas). Little did I know what I was getting into. On our wedding day, An Egyptian friend brought a pan of his famous baklava to our reception as a...
The Struggle is Real
When is the last time you had a good fight? Not a fight with your spouse, or your kids, or even a friend, but against the forces of darkness? Wow, you weren't expecting that, right? For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the...
Tribulation in the Lab
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 ESV At twenty-five years old, I had a stomach ulcer from the unbearable stress of my job. I had found a laboratory who would hire an inexperienced college graduate with a...
More Than a Friend
The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. Proverbs 27:9 NLT I didn’t know I needed a friend like her, but God did. I liked her as soon as I met her. Fifteen years older than me and married with children, Marilyn was a...
Will the Real Sabbath Please Stand up?
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your...
Don’t Give in to Fear
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV. I like the King James version of this verse because it uses the phrase "sound mind" instead of self-discipline or self-control. Fear tends to make us...
Is this the Beginning of the END?
With the current state of our world, many are thinking this is the beginning of the end. While Scripture tells in Matthew 4:8, "All these are but the beginning of the birth pains." What does that really mean? Unfortunately, this world is not getting better. People are...
Deserted, but not Alone
Have you ever been in a difficult or dark time when you felt all alone? Did it feel as though everyone you knew had forsaken you? Maybe it was a crisis in your family or marriage and your friends didn’t know how to handle it. A difference of beliefs or conviction can...
Matthew’s Story
If you have read many of my blog posts, you may already know my husband and I have three children, two being twins. Two weeks ago I wrote on a dream involving the pregnancy of my twins before I knew I was pregnant. You can read that here. By the time my twins were a...
Never Give Up!
A knock on his door woke him. As he got up to answer it, he realized how late it was. “Who could be here at midnight?” he thought. As he opened the door, there stood a friend who had traveled a long way and was both tired and hungry. Realizing he had nothing in his...
A Fight for My Babies
It was night, and I was in the middle of a forest when I saw him. It was difficult to make out his features; I only saw darkness—evil. He had something in his arms. What was it? It was small but moving on its own. It was a baby! I knew it could not be his, and I...
Because He Delights in You
This is my devotional on Psalm 18. It is my favorite Psalm. You can read my article plus many more devotions in the book, Feed Your Soul with the Word of God, a compilation by Beebe and Katy Kauffman. He was in a fight for his life! He knew who he was—he would be...
What’s in a Name?
Do you know the meaning of your name? My name, Stephanie, comes from the Greek word, stephanos which means crowned. Revelation 19:12 (ESV) says of Jesus: "His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems [stephanos], and he has a name written that...
The Predator
I watched my dog, Agape transform into a predator. From my front window, I could see a herd of twelve deer, all does, walking up my long driveway. We have a six-foot-high fence and gate surrounding our five acres of property. Our German shepherd guarded it. She saw...
Brokenhearted
Two years ago yesterday, we lost our sweet dog, Olivia. It was a very warm winter day. She went out onto our pond (that was frozen the day before) and fell in. We were at a funeral for a family member and no one was there to rescue her. I was heartbroken and...
The Coat, the First Couple, and the Lamb
I feel as though it's been a while since I have written on my blog. I hope you had a great Christmas and I pray blessings on your new year. This past Sunday I was talking to friends after church and one commented on my husband's leather coat. She said it reminded her...
The Aleph and Bet of Christianity
Do you ever find the Bible difficult to read or understand? I think most of us could answer this with a 'yes'. The Bible was written over a span of 1500 years by Jewish men who lived in a Jewish culture and spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, and sometimes Greek. No wonder we can...
Hush
This week's blog post is by suspense writer, Leanna Sain. Her book, Hush, just released and is available on Amazon. Her bio will follow along with a link to purchase her book. It looks so good; I can't wait to get my copy. Please check it out! How well I remember the...
Fallen Heroes
Today's post is by my friend Diane Virginia. She is a wonderful storyteller and I love to read everything she writes. This story was first used on www1.cbn.com for a Memorial Day post. Since it is Veteran's Day, I thought is was appropriate to use it. I hope you enjoy...
Approaching God
I am almost finished writing my Bible study called The Jewels of Hebrews. It is a study covering the New Testament book of Hebrews while helping Christians understand the Hebraic roots of our faith. It's called The Jewels of Hebrews (JOH for short) because each...
From Daddy, with Love
Love makes us do crazy things. We sing more love songs than any other song. We hear Country songs about what a man will do for his love, and pop singers singing about the love of their life. And who doesn’t like a great love story? Hallmark movies, romance novels, and...
Which filter do you use?
A filter is a common word in today’s vernacular. Growing up, it meant a white, paper thingy you used in your Mr. Coffee to keep the coffee grains from getting into your cup of caffeine. Now, we have the French press and the Keurig, and there is no need of the big,...